#I could’ve shipped those three in peace but you had to do that

[doolallymagpie]

role-reversed version of That Page in caliban’s war where it’s bobbie’s “lizard brain” going apeshit over holden but it just sounds like your average tumblr bisexual talking about blorbo from her shows

[eveningepiphany]

pirates gold | H.S series, part three

[series masterlist]

summary: finally, a break from the ship is in sight. you and harry end up in a very pirate-y bar, but even a good night can’t last forever. and seemingly, neither can uncomplicated feelings.

warnings: mentions of kidnapping, teasing, sexual mentions, tension, pining, protective h, y/n being an absolute menace, mentions of death and disappearance, alcohol, violent themes.

a/n: this is really humbling to post after so long. I hope you all enjoy it, I’m so sorry for the wait.

———

You don’t realise how easy it is to forget sometimes.

How fast an old life can fall out of view, and shed off you like an old skin. How on occasion, it happens so quickly you don’t even register it’s occurred.

The shortest periods of time can alter how you view your life. You didn’t realise how different being on a ship was when compared to living on land— not until you bridged between the two while conscious, and felt the transition with your own body.

Your feet had came to the ground more unsteady than you’d thought. Maybe you forgot how to walk too. As dark had already consumed the town, you’re not sure if you were shaking out of anxiety or genuinely from how long it’s felt like it’s been since you’ve stood on solid unwavering ground.

Harry, whose hand occupied the flat of your back, felt the intake of breath your lungs pulled in as you finally made it all the way onto the dock.

He had come back into his room to find you asleep, curled into his side of the bed, knees tucked into your chest. To it, he’d smiled… legs carrying him over to glance over your peaceful frame closer.

Examining the rise and fall of your chest, as air passed through your nose softly. He noted that your hair looked damp, and he almost chuckled at the fact you’d seemingly helped yourself to a shower.

He gently said your name, “Y/N…”

When you didn’t stir, he muttered it again, hand coming to jostle your shoulder slightly. The touch woke you up, your legs uncoiling from their tucked up position, stretching out down the mattress.

A tiny sound whimpered from your throat as you started to fully wake up, eyes flitting open with a sleep-induced glaze over them.

“Evenin’.” He remarked, “fancied a shower and a nap, aye?” When you took in his frame standing next to the bed, he had an armful of brown paper bags.

You sighed out, sitting up, “Not much else to really do.”

However your brain was rerunning the fact you had plenty you could’ve done since you found that key in one of his pockets. Mentally, you had to shove it away so you didn’t end up with a guilty look plastered on your face.

“Well, waits over, dove. Got ya some clothes, you’re welcome to pick something out before we go. Want you t’blend in.” He placed the bags down onto the bed for you to shuffle over to.

You felt oddly curious, like a child on Christmas. All these bags filled with things for you. The abundance of clothes you pulled out shocked you, because there really was half a wardrobe in there. Including a pair of boots, ones you’re not sure how he figured out would fit your feet.

There was also white linen blouses similar to his own— others black lace with intricate detailing, and brown fitted long sleeves— and also an array of pants, all slightly differing in styles. You stumbled across a black under-bust corset, and your eyes shifted to him. He was leaning against the wall watching you, a smirk over his lips. That wasn’t even the only corset he had bought, there were 2 others.

However, the satisfied look on his face only grew as you reached the bottom of the last bag. Several undergarments lay folded, bras and underwear.

“Had to do some guessing with the sizing of those…” His voice comes from a few feet away from you. All too close given the fact you’re staring at intimates he bought for you.

Your face was flaming red, unable to contain the embarrassment that was coursing through you, purely at the fact he was shopping for your underwear and bras— probably imagining you in them. Someone acting so casual about this was throwing you into disarray.

His passing comments and dirty teases were one thing, this however, was another.

“Everyday you get a little more pervy.” You bite out, and he laughs at your defensive tone.

“Did you suggest I leave you without any? A thank you will suffice perfectly fine. No need t’insult me when im jus’ looking after you.” A smug smile fell over his features.

“Harry.” You groan, voice warning him, and he let it go after rolling his eyes.

He allowed you to pick out what you wanted, watching you flush as you discreetly pulled a set of undergarments out of the bag.

You had picked a white linen shirt, matching his own, and a black pair of pants. He let you change into them in his bathroom, but when you’d come out adorned in clothes that perfectly fit the pirate energy, he was holding what he’d deemed as the final touch.

The black under-bust corset.

“C’mere. You’ll be fine.” He says at your immediately displeased face.

“You might not be.” You sneer, frowning at him as the loosened corset hangs in his hands— leather shining with the golden reflection of the candle light around the room.

He walks over to you, since you clearly weren’t going to be the one to do it, and a tut comes from his pink lips, “Always so stubborn.”

You decide to just let him— since partial freedom is in sight— and you stepped into the corset, allowing him to slide it up your body, until it was in place underneath your breasts.

“This fine?” He checks in as he tugs the strings, waiting for your confirmation before the leather was too tight to your waist.

“I still think I should just elbow you.” You glare, hands clenched at the sides of your thighs with the looming pressure of the garment.

His attempt to be courteous was to no avail, clearly. And the white linen gets sinched inward, and he wrenches the strings roughly with purpose.

His deep laugh sounds, and with that firm pull you’re bought close enough to him you can feel his warm breath against your ear as he leans down.

“Let’s not be mouthy, dove. Not when I’m in control of how tight this thing is on you.” He tugs the laces a final time, hard enough the material feels like it’s completely restricting your diaphragm— making you hold your breath for a moment.

At your silence, he lets his hand relax, in turn the strings loosening enough for you to intake a breath. Your soft gasp makes his stomach heat up, warm with an unexplainable feeling.

He ties the corset at the back, and you don’t even get to step away before he’s linking arms with you.

“You look good." He states with a nod, and your eye's veered downward to see the corset against yourself.

That was what lead you to here, stepping off the pier, lit only by the latern Harry was carrying, and onto dirt.

Dirt that may have been separated from your feet with a pair of shoes, but was amazing to feel press against your boots again.

You were so eager to touch something other than wood, that this was like heaven.

The sea lapped up against the shore a few metres away, as the earth transitioned back into sand on the shore. You felt deep anticipation to get further away from the uniting of the two worlds. Because away from anything regarding the ocean and the vessel that floated upon was freedom in your mind.

Harry could see every micro-expression on your face, despite the weak candlelight. The way your eyes had lit up at the sensation of soft dirt below you, and it was endearing. He’d never seen one get so excited over merely dirt.

The air was warm, and felt like a summer night— but the breeze that blew through your hair was crisp. Whispering hints of a change in weather sooner rather than later.

He watched the wind twirl your hair, and he was almost envious of it. Watching its fingers comb through it, in such a way he could only imagine himself in its place with an intense longingly.

“The boys are at the bar. But if that’s not your scene, what we do is up to you.” He supplies, watching your eyes slant to him.

You hadn’t really thought this far ahead, what you’d do once you were off the boat. You looked at him, and then back to the cobble path that lead presumably into the heart of Sintir.

The buildings were lit up, warm light glowing, “Do they have a night market?”

“Mhm, infact they do.” He nods, beginning a slow walk to encourage you onwards.

Oddly enough, as his body was pressed to your side, you felt safe. He was something familiar in this new environment. “How exactly are you going to hide me?”

The pressing question to you was merely a slight concern to him.

“Chances of them knowing that you’re the missing princess is unlikely. And if they have seen the posters with your face on it, I somehow struggle to believe they’ll connect the dots.”

“That’s a lot of faith you have in that.” You comment, boots hitting the cobblestone with the same clacks they did back at home. There was a sense of invigoration that rushed through the blood beneath your skin at the sound.

It bought back your nightly adventures around Kelna, where nothing mattered. And all you had to worry about is what time you were sneaking back through your window without getting caught by your own guards.

It was nostalgic in a weird way. The kind that threw your mind spinning, since the memory was so fresh yet so distant. Too much had changed in the time from then to now.

“‘Cause y’don’t really look anythin’ like your picture.” He comments, dragging his gaze along your frame again, playing a mental spot the difference. He’d seen the flyers earlier that day, and was honestly unconvinced it was really you himself.

“God— tell me they didn’t use an ugly picture of me from 2 years ago…” It’s the kind of thing your parents would do, but Harry only shakes his head, letting out a prompt cackle at your distress.

“No, they didn’t use an ugly photo of ya at all. You’re just s’put together in it, hair slicked back in this fancy satin dress and pearls.” The two of you are walking between the first two buildings facing the sea, luminaries lighting up the path.

He continues, waving his hand as though it adds something to the conversation, “Now, y’hair is down now, all wild. And you’ve got this untamed look in y’eye. No one would look at ya an’ see y’fine dining in a gown.”

You’re not sure what to make of all of this, since he’s talking of you like he’s certain. Coming from his own perspective more than anyone else’s.

“They see a pirates girl. Probably look at you and think y’wrapped around my finger.” He nudges, and you finally scoff, “I would prefer they see it the other way around. That you’re following me like a lost puppy.”

“That’s never usually how it is, though.” He raises his brows, and your arm slips out of his, walking backward as you face him.

“But maybe it could be in their mind. They see you foaming out the mouth for me. And it’s like that ship docked over there,” your point in the direction you’d both originally came from, “is all mine.”

The concept feels like a power trip. You do wonder how many female captains there are in this world. Likely not enough.

“Sounds like quite the fantasy y’ve built up.” He muses.

“I want to go to the pub.” Your tone is certain and confident. To this he raises his eyes brows in challenge.

“Perhaps you’ll share a drink with me, dove?”

“Or it could be the other way around.”

“Well, it couldn’t, because you don’t have any gold to pay with. An’ things here aren’t complimentary like they are at home.” He huffs in amusement, poking fun at your previously lavish lifestyle.

“I don’t need gold,” you begin with a smirk that’s starting to spread across your mouth, “all I need to do is undo a few buttons on this blouse and I’ll probably be able to get a round for the whole crew on the house.”

You’re walking backwards, hands clasped together behind your back, a grin on your face that makes him feel insane.

His eyes immediately darkened, pupils blowing out at the thought of what you’re insinuating. Flirting your way for a free drink… something he can’t imagine you’ve ever done before. Yet would probably succeed at like you have a million times over.

“Right,” He clears his throat, trying to calm himself down, “didn’t take much for you to start whoring yourself out for some booze.”

“It’s not whoring… men are horrible creatures. They’ll do anything if they think it’ll get their dick wet.” He thinks you’re so… uneducated and naive. That just because you’re in a court, that you know nothing of the males on this earth.

However it’s quite the opposite. Sexual topics are strictly forbidden in the palace and court meetings… but elsewhere, when it’s private and no one is around to hear it, men help themselves to the topic.

They have no concern discreetly passing by you, head turned in whisper, just to tell you what a body you have. Or just how badly they want to…

And on the street, it’s even worse. So you know more than enough when it comes to that. That makes you anything but stupid to a man’s intentions.

He picks up the pace of his steps to breach the distance between you both, so that if you were to stop walking suddenly— he would probably crash into he was that close.

“You’re not doing that.” He says, tone serious.

“Why not, afraid you’ll get a little jealous?” You’re flirting with something dangerous now. Eager to prove a point.

“Don’t try to get a rise out of me. Because I said you’re not. Do y’want a drink or not dove? Because the way you’re headed, all your getting is a glass of water.”

“Whatever.” You scoff, still unsatisfied, but resigning your argument for now.

“I’m concerned your attitude will only worsen with alcohol in your system.” He deliberates.

The streets have now fully lit up, with other people starting to appear, and the nightlife is able to be heard from where you are.

The singing happening in the tavern can now be heard as you round a corner into what can only be deemed at Sintirs town centre.

A night market is clearly running, and you can see the pub a few doors down from it. Men and women out the front, drinks in hand and cigars hanging from their lips.

He catches up to you enough to slide his arm between your elbow again, silently obliging you you to stay right by his side.

As you get closer to the tavern, he verbalises this.

“You don’t move from here,” He pulls you tighter into his frame, “and you don’t make any trouble. Otherwise it won’t be pretty.”

His tone is firm, unwavering. You nod to it, accepting the rules begrudgingly, “Yes, Captain.”

You both come to the door, and he pulls it open. The building on the outside was rustic bricks, and inside it was the same— except the flooring was wooden. As the door opened, a bell chimed, but it was drowned out by the overwhelming amount of noise.

Men were shouting, and bellowing all about. Drunkenly chatting, playing darts, and stumbling around. There were women too, but they were not near as rambunctious. All of them were dressed like pirates… and it was clear this place was specialised for them. Maps on the wall, and news clippings of what appeared to be local Sintir pirates were framed around the place.

A few blokes stopped to greet Harry. And he engaged in short conversations. But in the back of his mind, he was regretting bringing you in here. Not because anyone recognised you, but because he could see every single slimy gaze that dragged over you.

One man stopped him by the darts—Harry had called him Evan— he said greetings to the captain, but his gaze never left you.

You had noticed immediately, and it was a bit disgusting. It made you regret calling Harry a perv. Because he was nothing like this.

It immediately pissed Harry off, the way the brutish and large man was eyeing you up and down like you were an object. And his blood spiked when he considered the array of things likely running through Evans head.

The grip he had tightened on you.

It’s protective, you feel. And at the least, you know you’re safe with him.

Harry almost regretted putting that corset on you now. It made you look too good. Too enticing.

He, unlike others clearly, has a moral compass. And enough human decency to see you as a human opposed to a sexual object. He was forgetful that most men lacked that ability.

When he spots his crew, he uses it as a quickly conjured excuse to get away from the other pirate. And as he leaves, he tugs your body in front of him, shadowing your retreating figure from prying eyes.

You’re a bit overwhelmed, in all honesty. But accept it as normal— you hadn’t been anywhere so busy for a while now. Especially when it’s in such a rowdy way.

The second his crew spots the two of you— your body sheltered by his own, and his hand on your hip urging you forward— Niall, the blonde one whose name you finally remember, lets out a bellowing cheer.

“She made it!” He’s excited like you’re an old friend of his, and he drunkenly rises up from the booth the boys had taken.

Harry feels a little more at peace knowing he’s now with his crew— the two of you are less likely to be bothered now, and he knows his mates will look out for you as well. Prisoner or not, you’re still a human.

Niall barrels towards you, and Harry renounces his hold on you. Chuckling as he pulls you into a drunk bear hug.

You’re unsure what to do with your hands as he rocks you around like a child, “Glad ya here, lovie.”

“Mmhm…?” You agree, looking helplessly his crew mates as they cackle hysterically— smacking their hands down on the table and sloshing their pints of beer in fits of laughter.

He eventually slides his arms off you, and hiccups, “are ya havin’ a drink?”

His already heavy accent is slurred as you make out what he’s asking, and you don’t even get an answer in before he reaches over the table and grabs you his.

Sliding the cold glass, around 3 quarters empty, into your hand.

“‘Ave mine! I’ll go get anotha’” He chortles, and then stumbles off just like that.

Harry watches in surprise as you bring the glass up to your lips and down the rest of it without hesitation. Hoping alcohol will take the edge off all the overstimulation you’re having in here. Calm you down a bit.

The rest of his crew whoop and cheer for you, which at the least gives you a bit more confidence.

Before they can all hand you over their half finished beers, Harry comes back to your side, head craning down to talk in your ear.

“Let’s go up t’the bar, get ya somethin’ fresh, instead of people leftovers.”

You nod, walking with him as he pulls you through the crowd.

At the bar, there’s several people sat at the stools. Including a touchy couple, that are practically feeling each other up, front and centre. She is sitting on the seat, but is taller than the man that’s between her legs. Clearly she’s in charge, and you smirk.

Go girl, you thought, and Harry clocks your pride for the woman. Something stirring in his chest.

He ignores it, going up the bar to place on order.

The lady at the bar, whose got muscles on her like an absolute god, nods at him to rattle off his order.

“Two beers and a shot of the best liquor y’ve got, thanks, Naomi.” He asks, but you interrupt before she can walk away.

“Make it two shots, please.” To your quick mouth, she smiles. She has dark skin, and a beautifully done head of braids, it’s clear you’ve piqued her curiosity.

“I’ll make it two,” she smirks, getting two shot glasses from beneath the counter.

“And who is the second one for?” She asks, implying she wants your name.

You slide your eyes to Harry, who is shocked that you’re trying to get his permission for giving your name. He blinks sharply in disapproval.

“Mary.” You nod, listing the fake name off like it was nothing. It was a common enough name, so she takes it.

You don’t realise how effortlessly you and Harry are communicating without words until he ghosts his thumb over your forearm, and you know he’s thanking you.

Naomi smirks at you, “Well, miss Mary, I have to say i quite admire you.”

You give her a thanks, and she slides the two shots on the counter, going on to prepare the beers.

“Been a while since your captain here has bought a girl around… nice to see.” The irony of the situation could almost make you laugh.

“Well, someone’s oughta keep him inline. Otherwise he’d end up prisoner somewhere.” You supply, putting up your best pirate imitation for her.

He shakes his head, your play on words half amusing, half unbelievable.

“Was good to see you, Naomi, thanks for the drinks.” He says, grabbing the beer while you grab the shots.

She gives her momentary goodbyes, and he walks over to a vacant barrel to place the beer down.

You follow suit, but with only one of the shots. You toss the other back before he can say otherwise. The brownish-gold liquid burning a trail down your throat.

He watches in disbelief. You are so shockingly rough around the edges, that the idea of you being a princess feels unfathomable to him.

“You broke a lot of those royal rules, didn’t you.” He raises his brows, voice unreadable.

Licking over your lips, the strong alcohol gives a zip up your spine, “on occasion.”

“Christ.” He mutters, picking up his own shot and downing it.

The two of you take your beers back to the booth his crew was at, and you drink that and whatever else got handed to you by his crew mates— that you’ve officially learned most names of— and are well and truly a bit drunk.

You were sat between Liam and Harry, and the night was actually quite fun.

It was nice to truly forget the situation you’d landed yourself in.

That was until, as the night drew on, and once the early hours of the morning were likely in play, the pub quietened.

It was now regular noise level, just drunk and tired chatter, and someone came over to your booth.

A lanky guy, sporting long dreaded hair with olive coloured skin. Despite his moderately tan complexion, there was an almost queasy undertone to it. It stained a faint yellow tinge under his eyes, and screamed future liver failure the longer you stared.

Yet a gold tooth that peaked through when he flashed a smile. He looked like the epitome of a pirate.

“Ah, Styles and his crew are back in town.” He announces rather loudly, like as if he has an audience he’s talking to.

“Leon… Hello.” Zayn drawls, far from enthralled to see the man.

“Great to see you all,” he claps his hands together, smiling, “now, I’ve jus’ come round to spread the word…”

It piques the men’s interest slightly, and they all start to pay attention to the skinny bloke.

“Garrets boat was found the otha’ day.” He states, looking between the boys, eyes stopping momentarily on you.

Harry pipes up from where he’s sat next to you, and if there was anything amiss, the only telling thing would be the way his hand snakes to your knee, tensing around it slightly.

It’s his bruised hand, and you try to draw your attention away from it.

“I’ve heard word of that… did he not turn up with it?” Harry asks, nonchalantly.

“No… it was in perfect nick, jus’ without its capan’.” He sighs out, stepping forward to trail his boney hand over the wood pattern on the table, “Reckon someone’s got him… so keep an eye out for raiders.”

“Mm, alright. Thanks for the heads up. Hope ya’s stumble upon him…” Harry nods, hand clutching your knee harder.

The man’s missing…

And suddenly, it clicks in your brain.

Despite his crews unreadable faces, you are almost certain that the man currently in the chambers of their ship is the same person Leon is on about.

It sends a wave of anxiety through you. In a room full of pirates, you are something they all would want. Yet for varying reasons.

You’re suddenly grateful again that Harry and his crew seem to only have the intention of money with you.

What a horrible thing to be thankful for in this world, you think.

That you’re happy the people who kidnapped you don’t want to use you in worse ways. Don’t want your body or to keep you as a souvenir.

You’re drawn from your spiralling thoughts as Leon speaks again,

“Ah, and you have a las with you too…” he remarks, although it adds no substance to the conversation.

“Mary.” Harry provides, and the boys all exchange a glance.

“You keep your eye out too then, sweetheart. You women have an attention to detail that us men don’t...” He flashes his golden tooth, and gives a final nod to the crew before turning away.

You purse your lips, glancing down at your lap, trying to hide your frown. Confused if the approach was a convoluted kind of threat, or just an odd exchange.

“That’s us done for the night,” Harry says, his previous relaxed tone was gone. It was riddled with seriousness now.

“Give it ten so it doesn’t look suspicious, and then we’re leaving.”

That was confirmation to you that Garret is the man below deck… and you were itching to ask questions, but knew now was likely not the time.

The tension aided sobering everyone up, and after around ten minutes they all collectively rose. And Harry scooted out of the booth, and gestured you to follow suit.

You slide out, leather gliding against your skin as you got to the edge and took his hand without protest. Despite being upset at this situation only minutes earlier, you craved to feel safe.

So as anxiety was welling in your chest, you easily allowed him to pull you against him. Tan hand clasped around yours as he held you firmly close.

This time, he held you with his good hand, free of dark purple bruises.

You transfixed on his complexion instead now. It was completely different to Leon’s. Tan from the sun, yes. But Harry was— as always— all beauty. Liquid gold was accidentally spilt into the colour of his skin. It shone under even the dingest of bar lightings, and never failed to completely encapsulate your attention. His skin had no sickly undertone.

Tiny freckles and beauty marks that trailed up his forearm. They were colour of chocolate… and he was perfection.

Christ.

You got pulled out of your trance by the tug of his hand, his bruised one busy fishing out a small bag of gold.

It’s unbelievable the state he can put you in. It’s otherworldly, and you feel sort of ashamed how easily your mentality can fold to him.

Taking you up to the counter that Naomi was scrubbing down with a rag, he placed the small coin bag atop the bar.

“Thanks for your hospitality as usually, there’s a little extra for all your help.” He was keeping the exchange short, bidding his farewells after her gracious appreciation.

She smiles a goodbye to him, yet eyes slide back over to you,

“And you too Mary, keep y’man in-line.” She teased, and Harry genuinely rolled his eyes.

“I will.” You stated, voice oversaturated with faux confidence.

With that, you all left the tavern. It felt odd stepping into the now cold air, a change coming in quicker than expected. The market having packed up for the night likely hours ago.

Goosebumps erupted over your skin as the boys moved in haste, a unity of clanking boots against the paving.

“Y’shivering.” Harry remarked.

“It’s colder than it was earlier.”

“Even the tropics must feel the cold.” Tanner states matter-of-factly.

Once out of the town centre, they start running— it was sudden and unexpected. Like once they were fully out of view, urgency could be expressed.

“This’ll warm you up.” Harry raises his voice against the wind, pulling you along to match his pace.

By the time you made it back, storming across the pier, you were near breathless.

Blood pumping, and you did feel a little warmer at the least.

“Alrigh’, Liam, are you right enough to get us going?” He asked, patting his back as the boys walk along the temporary bridging from the pier to the ship.

“Plenty fine, H.” He nods certainly.

“That’s the way…” his voice raises, “Ashton, Miggs, batten down the hatches!”

His pirate-y tone was prevalent as he threw orders left right and centre. Before you knew it, the ship was starting to move from port. You were shocked, considering half of them weren’t even fully sober. But you supposed this wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, readying up the ship for something unexpected while half drunk.

Maybe things were done better that way, with beer in the blood, you supposed. More officiant.

Once he was finished confirming what everyone was doing, his voice lowered, and gaze softened as he turned to you.

His eyes fell where you rung the bottom of the corset cinched around you. You were evidently anxious, it was written all over your face.

“Cmon, dove…” he walked the minor distance between you, “I’ll take you back below deck.”

“To the chambers?“ your voice was abundant with sudden fear, and the thought of going down there knowing there’s likely a corpse in the room across from you made you feel sick.

“No.” He immediately clarified, “My room. You’re not going back down there, Y/N.”

He said it with such certainty, and you wondered what changed to make you a permanent fixture in his room.

You were lead down the increasingly familiar way to his bedroom, “Nothing you can task me with?”

He laughed at your question, “Nothing, love. I doubt you even know how to tie a knot on a rope.”

You couldn’t say you properly did. And then you wondered why exactly you offered to help, considering you have no business aiding people who kidnapped you.

“I don’t.” You sigh, as he lets you into his dark room. He felt oddly domestic, stepping through the doors quickly to light a wall lantern so you can see.

“Then you’re better off safe in here, the waters already a bit rocky.” The ship was rising and falling more dramatically than this morning, which added to your list of things to worry about.

“Harry,” you say his name before he can walk out.

“Y/N?”

“Can you be honest with me…?”

He huffs a laugh, “Tha’ depends.”

“Is the man in the cells dead?”

The seriousness in your tone has him dead quiet. And you can hear the ticking in his brain as he decides on whether he’s answering you or not.

The innocent look in your eye pushed him to be truthful. He wasn’t used to this. Seeing someone undeserving of being captive on the ship. It was always horrible people.

“I’ll go a step ahead of you, yes, Garret’s dead.” He answered like he knew your next question would be that. And he was right, because it was.

You draw in a breath, the only sound heard is the crashing of the ship against the waves.

“Does that scare you?” He asks, and then asks deeper, “Do I scare you?”

You pause to then think how to answer that.

“Yes and no…” You deliberate, because you truly don’t know. You felt safe with him today, but the concept of what he’s probably done to people is eye opening to say the least. And always the potential of what he could do to you.

The air was thick— the alcohol in both of your systems clouding your judgements— and something churned in your hearts. There was a shared breath in, and out.

You feel the cruciality of the moment, and are certain he can too.

Right now, this goes much further than the taking of a royal, the trapping of a person. It’s a question that the answer can only create more confusion.

Because why on this cruel, twisted earth would you be thinking of any response other than a plain, hard, yes.

A breath catches in the back of your throat, and the real answer slips out with a rasp.

“You scare me because I don’t know how to fully hate you. I hate you, but not like i should.”

A half blink, and the look in his eyes switches. It’s unreadable for a moment, blank in processing.

He steps closer, feeling an urge to touch you that he can’t explain where it come from. It’s so forceful he breaches the distance between you faster than he can rethink it. Fingers reaching out to brush a gentle stroke over your cheekbone.

Your lips part, the haze in your mind making you wonder if this was a dream of sorts.

All Harry is thinking about is the fact he wants more right now. The same whirlwind that pushed him to cradle your cheek with his hand is begging his lips to brush against yours.

He pushes it down into the pit of his stomach, replying with a tone so tender he wonders how it come from himself.

“I won’t hurt you. I promise on the damning of my own soul.” He reassures.

The lines have blurred. Blurred from keeping his prize safe, to keeping you safe.

His words feel like they carry too much weight to be coming from a pirate. Like the impact they have is meant for manipulation.

And if that’s they’re intention either way, it worked. Because a part of you resigns to believe it.

He waits for confirmation on your end that you understand, and you give that to him through a curt nod.

“Good. I’ll be back later, you go to sleep.”

Your heart wrenches for no apparent reason as he lingers close to you for a moment longer. Then he drags himself away from you, despite the intense urge to do otherwise.

You catch his eyes a final time as he leaves the room. Leaving the door unlocked…

It tempts you, but with the boat rocking like this, you think better for yourself.

Now you want to throw yourself off the ship again, but for an entirely different reason.

You’ve laid trust in him. Something you said you wouldn’t ever do. Oh how that promise to yourself broke quickly.

But you’re drunk and vulnerable, and his words were so soft and sweet. Two sides of yourself are at war.

Yet either way, you feel it can only lead to a plethora of bad things. It’s all too much for you right now.

Unlacing your own corset, you wiggle out of it, then slip out of everything else. You stand in only undergarments, realising how truly exhausted you are now that you’re back in his room.

The alcohol and emotional turmoil settles deep in your bones, you feel it rattle heavily with each step.

You grab soft clothes he bought for you today, and pull them over you, taking off your bra.

The storm is coming. You feel it within you. It’s a foreshadow of your mentality, the precursor of what’s to come with all of this— and the ever growing complexity of your feelings.

You crawl into Harry’s bed, ashamed at the way you inhale his scent. Hating the way it’s turned into a form of reassurance.

He has kept you safe this last week, which in your subconscious— whose clinging to any sort of saftety— means he is something to you that he shouldn’t be. And you wonder when he went from something you disdained to something you craved connection with.

The idea of stockholm syndrome was familiar to you, but didn’t resonate. Or maybe you were in denial… who fucking knows. All you are sure of is that he makes you feel somewhat stable. Your body craves that shred of stability more than anything.

Either way, it didn’t stop you from nestling into his sheets. Or falling asleep curled up in them.

Nor did it hinder you from when he finally returned to reach out for him, all while still hazed with the slumber you were just in.

A meek call of his name came from your mouth as he gets into his bed, it was at least an hour or so later. The sun would be closer to rising then not, but you choose to haul your body closer to him the second you could.

He sighs with relief of finally laying down, the weather sounds worse outside now. It’s gotten harsher sooner than he expected, something hurrying the system further south. Although it means it’ll hit earlier, at the least it’ll be over in a day or two.

He must’ve gotten undressed, because as you press yourself into his back, his bare skin is warm to the touch.

It was evident feeling him now that the sun coursed through his veins, it replaced the blood of a regular person. He spent so many hours in it, it seemed to be a part of him.

“You’re so warm.” You stated quietly, half conscious.

“Mm, and you’re so bloody cold.” He mutters, voice deep and ready for sleep. His comment causes him to roll into you, tugging you closer into his chest.

Somehow, regardless of if you had been asleep for an hour, you still felt exhausted. Maybe it was the drinks too, they were settling a slight hangover upon you. So, shamelessly you coiled further into his arms.

Your hands snaked up his bare back, and into the hair at the nape of his neck. The curls were damp as you played with them.

There’s definitely still something in your system, and he notices it as well.

“You’ve gotta be still a little tipsy… ya all over me dove.” He laughs tiredly.

Your front is pressed to his, his scent equally as distracting as the slabs of muscles you could feel up against you.

“Tipsy and exhausted.” You murmur, eyes fluttering shut as you carry on playing with his hair.

“Oh, are y’feelin’ needy?” He teases, voice slipping into a shockingly deep lilt, one you’d caught glimpses of yesterday morning.

It sparked a feeling in the pit of your stomach, “Shut up.”

The two of you did eventually go quiet, nothing but the sounds of mixing breath and the brush of hands against skin.

His own hands had taken refuge on your waist, rubbing gentle circles with calloused fingers. Somewhere in the back of your head you reevaluate for the seventh time just how intoxicated you still both were. Enough alcohol in your system to completely blur the lines.

You couldn’t even claim in the morning the cuddling was an accident on part of your sleeping selves. You’d have to try and pass it off as the drinks from earlier. Which although true, feels like a harder excuse to play off this significant.

You were wrapped up in his arms. Voluntarily. And… enjoying it.

It’s a horrible thing to be indulging in. It’s only going to spell you more trouble. But you can’t find it in yourself to care.

He felt you slip back into a quiet sleep, evident in the way your fingers ceased their movement where they sat, tangled in his hair.

In the silence of the night, he thought about you.

Images trailed carelessly through his mind, dragging up ideas of what the two of you looked like right now. He wished he could see it from an outside perspective.

The way you had completely settled into his frame. Chest to chest.

He could feel the ridges and dips of your body too easily, only separated by a thin cotton sleep shirt you’d put on.

Something throbs inside of him at the touch, and to make matters worse, you stir, throwing your leg over his hip just like you had the night before.

He feels dirty as he conceptualises the idea of something more with you.

He wishes he didn’t drink now, because he can’t get the vision of himself inside of you out of his head. He’s weak after some beer and liquor, he lacks self-control, even when half of him is begging to sort himself out. Now, because he hasn’t stopped himself early enough, his prick has swollen in his boxers.

Thank the stars you’re asleep.

He stays deathly still, pursing his lips, waiting his boner out.

Staving away the idea of being pushed inside of you. Such a pretty girl, you were. It’s hard not to wonder how good your mouth would be against his own.

It takes atleast 15 painful minutes for his cock to soften. He’s thankful for being tired, because once the thumping of his heart calms down, he allows himself to pull you further into his hold.

He will let himself have this, at the least.

———

Waking up was almost a carbon copy of the morning before.

A tangle of limbs, but you’ve had a warmth that’s sprouted through you the entire night.

However, this time, Harry was already awake.

The hours of sleep you got were minimal. And the sun wasn’t even fully up. It was mostly cloud coverage outside the window. The room still dim.

He watched you wake up, thankful it’s now— because otherwise he would’ve had to get up and go. Too much to do to be laying in bed with you, unfortunately.

He got to watch your eyes slowly open, their glossy appearance. They lazily scoped the room, as if re-familiarising your brain with your surroundings.

Then they dragged to Harry’s face, catching the softness of the morning still on him.

“I have a headache.” Was the first thing that croaked from your lips.

Your throat hurt and the hangover was clearly in its full effect. You did not usually drink that much.

He hums a laugh at your lack of greeting, starting off the morning with a complaint. Oddly charming somehow?

He wanted to kiss you still.

“Big night for you last night?” He asks, jokingly, but he knows you didn’t drink enough to forget anything.

“Don’t tease.” You plead, head dropping back down to between his chest.

He strokes a hand along your back, “We oughta get some food into ya.”

His gentle encouragement falls on deaf ears. All you’re able to do is fall back into his hold.

“Dove.” The coo he lets out does nothing but makes your stomach flutter.

You shake your head against the warm skin of his chiseled chest. All the muscle there… fuck it makes you light headed.

But you can’t think about that.

You just wanted him with you right now.

“Harry.”

Hearing his name makes the heart in his chest clench.

“Stay here.” You say, simply.

At his momentary silence, your voice drops.

A whisper.

A plea.

“Please?”

Everytime you talk to him like that, a piece of him unravels.

Already too far in, he throws another handful of cation to the wind. Before he knows it, there will be nothing left.

His quiet demeanour is unusual. Where was his quip that usually followed?

You were slowly poisoning him.

“You’re like a drug.” He states.

You’re not sure how to feel. Is that good… or bad?

“Is that bad?”

He doesn’t say anything, just rolls his body weight to the side, moving you to be facing one another.

He stares into your eyes, searching for something. An answer maybe.

But it’s just not one he’s going to find yet.

Time is a virtue, they say.

And maybe if he waits long enough, unravels far enough, gives away enough of himself. He’ll know.

He’ll find out what it is about you that drags him in.

Maybe you’re like the current. Yet he’s not sure if it’s taking him out to a reef, where paradise lay. Or dragging him out into a rip.

His eyes wander the plains of your face.

And finally, he speaks.

“I guess we’ll have to find out.”

———

taglist:

@saturnheartz @slap-me-harry @ilovehsstuff @ameerakane20 @matildasatellite @harrysslut7 @sunflowersey @styleswiftie @anotheryoutubefanpage @straightontilmornin @oknothanks26 @closureesny @angel-upon @brother-lauren @maddie7writes @tenaciousperfectionunknown

(—comment or reach out to be added to the taglist for future parts🤍)

[purgatory-is-life]

Mechtober prompt 19/day 19-Headcanons

i didn't get to my inhuman mechs headcanons in htis one like i initially planned, but i'd love to hear your inhuman mechs headcanons!! even just your regular mechanisms headcanons!! tell me all ur mechs thoughts,,,

@mechtober-2024

Lyfrassir Edda's Very Confusing New... Friends? - Reality666Rift999 - The Mechanisms (Band) [Archive of Our Own]

tw; mentioned torture, mentioned death, a bit of discussion about brian's backstory, i think that's it? but if there's something u need/want me to tag feel free!!

Lyfrassir was new to the crew of the starship Aurora, the Mechanisms. The space pirates had taken them in when their ship was breaking down and their food stores were running low. Lyfrassir was not aware that the crew offering them rescue was the same one that those damned three prisoners talked about all the time until after they’d been on the ship for a day and Raphaella had scrounged their ship for parts. So now, they were effectively stranded in deep space with the Mechanisms. The bird-like woman had claimed to not realize that it was their ship, said that she assumed Aurora just brought it on for scrap metal, but what’s done is done.

Naturally, they’d been doing their best to avoid the space pirates, but there wasn’t much to do on the ship Aurora besides get lost in her–strangely large quantities of hallways, or hide in the room that the crew had offered them. And after running out of things to do by themselves and running out of creative ways to steal alcohol without anyone noticing, well, there wasn’t much left for them to do but start interacting with the Mechanisms. They didn’t like it, but at least they weren’t bored anymore.

This was the first band practice they were sitting in on, though. It was only Brian, Tim, The Toy Soldier,  and Ashes at the moment, as the other four were causing havoc elsewhere on the ship. Lyfrassir really didn’t want to know what they were up to.

In the meantime, the four currently in front of Lyf were practicing a set that Brian had called ‘High Noon Over Camelot’. Out of everyone on the Aurora, Lyfrassir probably liked Brian the most so far. Other than Aurora herself, of course. She was generally very kind, when she wasn’t leading them down nonexistent hallways and getting them lost for hours on end.

But Brian was calm, collected, and generally very kind. Even if he was oftentimes brutally honest and unflinching in voicing his assessment of things–and even if he still on occasion shot the rest of the crew dead for seemingly no reason besides to get some peace and quiet. He was kind of confusing, in that manner, but to them he had been nothing but kind—outside of the moments of brutal honesty.

And, to top it all off, he had a lovely singing voice.

“Deep within the depths of the Station, You’ll find the key that brings your salvation

So take your seat, the one they warn you from Galahad

Be strong it’s visions may overwhelm, But they won’t steer you wrong,

Follow them through to your fate…”

The drumbot hummed, staring down at his banjo and readjusting the prongs, when the question popped into their mind and forced its way out of their throat.

“What did you actually tell them?” Lyfrassir asked, causing all four of the space pirates to turn to them. The blanched, suddenly self conscious and aware that that could’ve been a very wrong thing to say, but they continued forward. “The people on the space station, Fort Galfridian right? What did you actually tell them, of the… futures, you saw?”

There was a pause, and Ashes looked to Brian warily, something that Lyf was starting to assume meant concern on their face, while Tim continued to stare at them unblinkingly like they asked a foolish question. The Toy Soldier was swinging its head between Brian and Ashes, as if it was unsure what it was to do next.

“I told them what we put in the song,” Brian said, eventually. “Exactly what it was–Marius helped me write it down and figure out the exact tune for it.”

Lyfrassir blinked slowly at Brian. “…Really?”

Brian nodded, slow and creaking. “I believe I’ve always had dreams that show me things, the future or the past. Whenever I try to explain those dreams, to the people involved or too specifically, all that leaves my voice is a song that only confuses everyone around me. I don’t think it has anything to do with how Carmilla wired my brain and voice box, either. It’s always been like that, I believe. That was part of the reason I was called a witch, when I was launched into space, I think… I don’t remember too clearly. The responses were different, but my lines are as honest as our storytelling is probably capable of getting. We embellish a lot, after all, skim over things that couldn’t make a good song or would just drag the story out unnecessarily. A lot of the details get left out as we write.” Brian reached up and rubbed his neck tentatively, eyebrows furrowing as he continued. “It makes it really hard to take someone seriously if they’re just belting nonsensical songs at you, so people never really listen to the things I warn about. I tend to keep my mouth shut because of that, but sometimes I still feel the need to try. I… Galahad was one of the only ones who listened to me in a while, besides the Crew. And even then, you all aren’t the best listeners. You shrug me off and decide to do things anyway because it’ll be more ‘fun’, and then you end up dying over and over for half a century or worse–”

“It was one time,” Tim protested weakly. She had turned from staring Lyf down, to finding the neck of her guitar very interesting. “The torture wasn’t even that bad. Kinda boring, honestly.”

“But it still happened,” Brian said, turning to stare at Tim. “Because you didn’t listen to me. The only time recently where any of you listened to me about something I Saw was when we were passing Yggdrasil, and yet Marius and Ivy and Raph still went investigating anyway despite the fact that I was practically incoherent for days after that Dream.”

“They did still listen about leaving before the train came, though,” Tim pointed out, not looking at the drumbot.

“Barely– it’s– this isn’t the time to have this kind of discussion. We were supposed to be practicing High Noon.” Brian turned his attention back to his banjo, a clump of strands of copper hair fell in front of his eyes, and Brian quickly brushed them away.

Lyfrassir felt kind of awful. “I’m sorry,” they said. “I didn’t– I wasn’t thinking when I asked that. I’m sorry.”

“I don’t blame you,” Brian answered, “Marius says my music has a way of drawing things out from people. I think it’s all of us, but Marius just gets a look about him when I say that and shrugs. I tend to listen to him about that kind of thing, he’s a lot more in tune with stories than we give him credit for sometimes. Besides, I know you didn’t mean any real harm by it. You just didn’t know what you were asking.”

“…Back to work, then?” Ashes suggested, and Brian and Tim both nodded. The Toy Soldier clapped its wooden hands together.

“My! That Was Quite A Speech, Would You Desire Some Tea, Old Chap?” the wooden doll turned to Brian, who nodded.

“Actually, that’d– that’d be kind of nice TS. Thank you.”

“Of Course! I Shall Get Some For You As Well, Mx. Lyfrassir! I’ll Be But A Moment.” The Soldier patted Lyf on the shoulder, before darting off to make a quick spot of tea, while Lyf tried to swallow the lump in their throat.

“Do you want to move onto ‘Skin And Bone’ for a while, Ashes?” Tim asked.

“Sure, we could all use a distraction I think.” The arsonist shrugged, and the three Mechanisms returned to their practicing, The Toy Soldier joining in quickly after it had made its tea.

—--

Lyfrassir was sitting alongside Brian on the bridge, as the metal pilot navigated through an asteroid belt. They were fidgeting with the knitting hooks they’d ‘borrowed’ from Marius, as an octokitten swatted at the yarn in their lap with its weird paw-like tentacles. Lyf glanced at Brian as he tucked some of his hair behind his ear. He was incredibly focused, on the abyss outside, which made sense. He did have to worry about asteroids.

Aurora beeped and slammed a door.

“Just– give me a second, ‘Rora.” Brian’s voice was distant. “We’re almost through.” Aurora sighed, warm air blowing through the bridge from loud fans, ruffling Lyf’s braids and Brian’s hair, knocking his hat off of his head as well. Brian sighed, but didn’t move to pick up the fallen hat, leaving it laying sadly on the floor. Lyfrassir glanced between it and the pilot, before returning to their knitting. Eventually, they were out of the asteroid field, and the pilot relaxed, slumping in his seat. He still hadn’t picked up his hat.

Brian, after several minutes, reached up and tucked the hair that had fallen in his face again behind his ear.

“Do you– want me to braid your hair?” they asked, finally. The noise startled Brian out of his haze, the brass man jumping slightly before turning his head to face Lyf, staring blankly at them for a few moments.

“Ah– you– you don’t need to, Lyf? It’s… It’s fine. I’m– you don’t need to.”

“I want to, though– uh…” Lyf coughed into their hand and turned away, face burning as they decidedly did not look at him. “It’s always getting in your eyes… And it’s long enough that I could do some– ah, some fun hairstyles.” They were pretty sure their face was an even darker shade of purple, they were blushing so hard. “I won’t if you don’t want to.”

Brian didn’t respond for a moment, and Lyfrassir assumed that was that. And then, “Okay.”

Lyfrassir whipped their head around so fast they might’ve given themself whiplash. “Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Brian’s face was a bright red. “You can braid my hair.”

Lyf swallowed thickly, and nodded. “Okay.”

Brian moved from his pilot’s seat, to the ground in front of Lyfrassir. They set their knitting to the side and began by running their hands through his copper hair, making their way through the knots slowly. “You uh, won’t have to worry about hair ties either,” Brian said, taking some of his hair and wrapping it around his fingers. He pulled the coil up and it continued standing up. “My hair can just– stay as it’s styled, if enough of it’s clumped together. Usually, anyway. The Crew… They– the Crew likes to mess with this and shit. If I take a nap, sometimes I wake up with wild hairstyles. One time, TS made it into a swan and its baby swans. It was kind of cute, honestly.”

Lyfrassir chuckled at the image of Brian walking around with swan-shaped hair. “The Toy Soldier is… Something, certainly.”

“Yeah.” Brian sighed, relaxing into Lyf’s touch as they started splitting his hair into several strands. “We love it, though. It wouldn’t be the Toy Soldier if it wasn’t a little off. We all are, after all. Probably something to do with how we became the Mechs.”

“Oh?” Lyf wasn’t paying too much attention to what Brian was saying, focusing on braiding his hair.

“Yeah– you uh, you see it most with Marius, I think. And, well, me, but Marius is the one you see it most in who’s still made mostly out of flesh. He’s… 87% flesh, whereas I’m like… 10% flesh, because of my heart.”

“Is that why von Raum is so… annoying? Is his arm why he can just– summon violins from nowhere?”

“Oh, no, according to him that was something he could do even before he was Marius. But, well, Marius lies a lot, so maybe it is his mechanism.”

“So the mystery continues…”

“Raph’s been trying to figure it out for ages and has literally no idea. So take that as you will.”

“Hm…” Lyf furrowed their eyebrows, and grabbed some of Brian’s hair to start including it in the intricate braid they were slowly forming, when they saw something… odd, on the back of Brian’s neck. Lyfrassir frowned, and lightly touched the area around the– what looked like a switch, on the back of the pilot’s neck.

Brian tensed, freezing at the soft touch of Lyf’s fingers. “Ah- don’t touch it, please? I like the mode I’m on right now. I’ll– if I need to switch it I’ll ask.”

Lyf nodded, pulling their hand away. “Right, yes sorry…”

A few moments passed in silence, as Lyfrassir continued to work. “You can ask, you know. I don’t mind explaining.”

Lyf bit their lip, but nodded, despite the fact that they knew Brian couldn’t see them. “Okay… What– what is it?” they asked.

“It’s– have you heard any of the others say ‘MJE’ or ‘EJM’ around me?” They answered with a noncommittal hum, and Brian continued. “They’re referencing that switch. Ends Justify Means or Means Justify Ends. Fun or Boring, according to the Crew. When Dr. Carmilla made me, she implanted that switch in the back of my neck. It’s, most simply, a morality switch. It doesn’t exactly change how I view the world, but it does change how I interact with it. Please don’t ah, please don’t flip it if I don’t ask? Raph’s been working on making it less so, but whenever it’s flipped it’s… It’s not a pleasant experience for me, personally.”

Lyfrassir nodded again. “I won’t, promise. Although that is… An odd thing to give someone.”

“Don’t think too hard about it, Lyf. It’d only give you a headache.”

Lyf hummed in response. “Is– is that why your hair is so long? To hide it?” They hadn’t seen it until now, and besides a few jokes or comments here and there from the other Mechanisms, hadn’t heard anything about it. If it was truly as unpleasant as he said, it would make sense if Brian just didn’t want to talk or think about it.

Brian, however, laughed at that. Loud and bright, it did… odd things to Lyf’s heart. “No, no, uh. I just like the long hair. It’s warm, and it gives the others a fidget toy. Besides, I uh, I feel pretty? With long hair. While I was strung up in Camelot, it was actually kind of ridiculous how long it had gotten. Sometimes I cut it, but I normally never let it get shorter than just above my shoulders.”

“Oh,” Lyfrassir responded. “Huh. Well… Your hair is very pretty, and very braidable. Even then, though, we’re probably going to be here a while. You have a lot of hair.”

“That’s okay,” Brian said. “I like the company. Aurora isn’t as much of a conversationalist as she used to be.” At that moment, she decided to slam her doors and blow cold air into the room. Brian laughed again. “I’m just being honest, ‘Rora! It’s wrong to lie!” Aurora huffed and blew a stream of cold air at Brian, which just caused him to laugh again. Lyf smiled a bit.

“I don’t know, she seems plenty conversational to me,” they said. Aurora creaked in appreciation, blowing warm air at Lyfrassir’s face.

“Would you like some songs while you work, Lyf?” Brian asked. “I keep a banjo in here, just for when I’m bored.”

“I– sure, I suppose. Play away, Brian.”

The drumbot nodded, and reached over to where a banjo was skillfully hidden under his pilot’s chair. He settled back in, and began to play.

—--

“Aurora?” Lyf sighed, after turning into the same nondescript hallway for the fifth time. They couldn’t keep doing this, they had just wanted to get a snack. “Where am I?”

A screen appeared on one of the walls, as Aurora creaked and the fans whirred in a way that Lyf was starting to understand was usually laughter. They walked closer to the screen anyway. ‘You are in one of my hallways :]’ the screen read. Lyfrassir sighed.

“Yes, I’m aware that this is one of your hallways. Where am I in relation to the kitchen?”

A map appeared, showing that the kitchen was three floors above them. They furrowed their eyebrows, one set of eyes darting around while the other continued to stare at the map. They could’ve sworn that the kitchen was below where the O’Neil Rings connected to the main ship, not above. And furthermore, Lyfrassir couldn’t see any easy ways to get upstairs on the map. There were only pathways that led to other places on this floor, or down into the bowels of the ship.

“Aurora?”

‘Yes? :]’ flashed on the screen, above the map.

“How am I supposed to get to the kitchen? How do you have so many floors and passageways in the first place?”

‘I like to feel tall.’

Just as she said it, the map changed again and a new doorway appeared not far from where Lyf was currently standing. “You’re a rocketship,” they pointed out, “you’re already tall.” However, as far as they knew, there was no way that she should’ve had the space for all of the rooms and all of the hallways that existed inside of her. The O’Neil Rings themselves were confusing–it seemed like they appeared and disappeared out of existence. Lyf still wasn’t sure how exactly they were even connected to the ship, how they could walk from their room into a hallway that led into the main body of Aurora without any main connection points for the rings, at least none that Lyf had seen.

‘You should head to the kitchen before I decide to remove the stairs again, Navigator,’ Aurora wrote out. ‘Otherwise you might miss your chance. :]’

They sighed, and started walking towards the door that had appeared. They were never going to understand this starship.

—--

“Mx. Lyfrassir!” The Toy Soldier called. Lyf… didn’t know where exactly it came from. But it might have simply appeared–they were getting used to it doing that.

“Ah, hello, Soldier…” Lyfrassir turned to face the wooden thing.

“I Have Something I Wish To Present You With!” It exclaimed, smiling brightly and, somehow, blankly at the same time. They supposed that was to do with the fact that it was made of wood, and had a limited expression range due to that.

“Oh?” They responded. “What is it?”

The Toy Soldier clapped excitedly, grabbed their hand, and pulled them along to its room–which only further confused the former-Inspector. When the pair arrived at the Toy’s room, there was a tea party set up. This was not unusual, Lyf had learned pretty quickly that when it wasn’t whittling or patrolling the hallways or engaging in a game of Murder Hide and Seek or Murder Tag with the others, it was either practicing the mandolin or the glockenspiel, or more likely it was hosting a tea party with whoever it decided was its victim of the day.

“What’s this for, Toy?” Lyf asked, raising an eyebrow, their two sets of eyes split between focusing on the tea party and The Toy Soldier.

The doll walked into its room and gestured to the beautifully decorated–probably porcelain?–tea pot at the center of the party. “I Have A Gift For You!”

Lyfrassir blinked slowly at the wooden figure. “…What?”

“The Tea Set! It Is A Gift For You, I Have Sets For Every Member Of The Crew, And You’re Crew Now! Do You Like It?”

“I, uh…” Lyf walked closer, and examined the tea pot. The base color was a shiny black, and it was decorated with bubbles of rainbow and silvers and golds that made the pot look like it was painted with an oil spill. And on top of that, brilliantly colorful and shiny beetles encircled the width of the pot’s belly.

“Jewel Beetles,” The Toy Soldier said, pointing at the bugs. “They’re From Earth And Terra, But I Believe There Were Similar Bugs Found On Alfheim, And You Said One Of Your Mothers Was From Alfheim! I Thought It Was A Nice Touch, And The Colors Match That Which Paint You And Yggdrasil’s Remains. They’re Also On The Cups!”

The cups were equally extravagant, with the same base oil-spill design, with three beetles decorating the circumference of the cup. The lip was covered in silver-gilt, and the handles were carefully painted with Old Norse Runes. The plates that the cups were sat on included the same runes, and the same oil-spill design and silver-gilt lips.

“I… Toy- I… Thank you, Toy Soldier. You didn’t need to.”

“Whatever Do You Mean, Old Bean?” The Toy Soldier tilted its head, staring at them. “You’re Crew Now, Old Bean! And Everyone In The Crew Has Their Own Tea Set. And That Includes You, Now.”

“I’m not immortal like you all,” Lyf reminded the wooden thing.

“That Doesn’t Matter! You’re Crew Whether You Like It Or Not, And I’d Rather Say We Should Get On With Our Tea Party Before The Tea Gets Too Cold!”

The Soldier Sat down at the slightly too short table, beginning to pour two cups of tea. Lyf nodded, and followed its lead. “Thank you, TS.”

“Of Course, Old Bean!”

[m1ckeyb3rry]

A Ship in the Harbor

Here is the long-awaited (not really) outline to the rest of A Ship in the Harbor! As you can see, there is a lot that is yet to happen in this story, hence the estimated 475k-500k final word count, but I have no idea if I will ever get around to actually fully writing this out, so in the meantime, here are my (very rough) plans for how I think the fic would go. Thank you to everyone who has read it! I appreciate all of you more than you can know 💖

Trip to Merimark Arc:

I. Merimark is an ally of Marley but is across the ocean to the west of it, which means that the Warrior Candidates must take a ship to get there, it is their first time on a ship and Friedrich is very seasick leaving Colt and Y/N to spend most of their time together, they speculate on what Merimark will be like and what experiments they will undergo, the crew is surprisingly friendly to them despite their status as Eldians and they learn a little bit about ships, the captain explains that out on sea, there’s no laws and anyone of any blood is at the whims of the tides

II. They arrive at Merimark, which is a highly industrialized country that is suffering from the consequences of a recent war, they meet the doctor who will be performing experiments on them (Dr. Lilith Edevane), it turns out that Merimark is very intolerant of those that are different and the main three are mistreated by those around them even though Dr. Edevane herself does not seem to be particularly racist

III. The experiments are conducted separately; Friedrich’s body will be tested to see what physical advantages/disadvantages that Eldian’s gain, Colt’s blood will be tested in order to see if they can isolate the Eldian gene, and Y/N’s brain will be tested in order to prove Dr. Edevane’s theories that Eldians are mentally inferior to other races

IV. Y/N is able to pass all of Dr. Edevane’s puzzles and Dr. Edevane realizes she is the one who came up with the idea to defeat Athyae, she goes for a different tactic and tells Y/N the truth about the war on Athyae (that Marley was the aggressive party because they wanted Athyae’s resources, that the Candidates were brainwashed, etc.) and tries to convince Y/N that she’s a monster, Y/N agrees with her and says that someone has to do it (quoting her father), Dr. Edevane is frustrated as her funding for her experiments only came because the University she works for wants to deny access to education for Eldians

V. Dr. Edevane’s experiments become increasingly more hectic — Colt is often dizzy and faint due to the amount of blood being drawn from him every day, Friedrich’s muscles are exhausted as he is pushed to his limits constantly, and Y/N can feel her mental state beginning to spiral, when all hope is lost General Magath arrives and demands Dr. Edevane releases them

Beginning of the Mid-East War Arc:

I. On the way back to Marley and Liberio, General Magath explains that countries in the Middle East have formed an alliance, called the Mid-East Alliance, which senses weakness in Marley due to the Warrior Unit’s recent defeat by Paradis and Marley’s near-loss to Athyae, and that this alliance has declared war against Marley, which horrifies Y/N as she realizes that she will have to become a true monster again

II. Dr. Edevane’s words haunt Y/N even as Colt becomes stronger again and Friedrich regains his energy, she has always known she did terrible things in Athyae but now she knows that the Athyaens wanted peace and that the Marleyans were the aggressors which means everything she did had no justifiable reason to it beyond greed, leading her to once again question if she even deserves to live anymore

III. When they are back in Liberio, Porco and Reiner greet them, Porco wants to hear about Merimark but when the Candidates describe what happened, he finds it horrific and wishes that he could’ve gone in their place so that he could’ve killed Dr. Edevane, Reiner senses that Y/N is unwell and asks her if she wants to talk, she tells him everything and he doesn’t really offer helpful advice but at least empathizes

IV. The Warriors and Candidates attend a speech by High General Calvi to the Marleyan public which is propaganda about how the war against the Mid-East will soon be won, they go home and Colt, Friedrich, and Y/N discuss the war and their fears, they promise to always have each other’s backs no matter what (unlike last time), Y/N is happy to hear that Cordelia will be their nurse again as she is genuinely friends with her now and she doesn’t know if she’d trust anyone else with herself and the boys given what Dr. Edevane put them through

V. Y/N wishes farewell to her parents, who beg that she comes back safely, she promises that she will and then leaves for the train station where she finds Colt in a rage and Friedrich barely managing to hold him back, it turns out that Falco, Gabi, Udo, and Zofia will also go to war with them the way they did in Athyae, Y/N reassures Colt that at least the younger ones will have the older trio looking out for them which is enough to calm him down though when they get on the train he is still worried for all of them and especially for Falco, a sentiment that Y/N and Friedrich share (although Y/N is closer with Gabi and Friedrich is just generally concerned as he remembers his brother)

Mid-East Arc:

I. They arrive in the Mid-East and it is evident from the start that the Candidates will have a much more hands-on role with the war as opposed to Athyae, however when they go on the field Y/N nearly dies and is saved by Friedrich and Colt, leading to her having to recover with Cordelia for a little bit, frustrating her as she does not like being useless and her current situation reminds her of when she broke her ribs and stayed with the Amatas in Athyae

II. Once she is healed, General Magath remembers her perfect aim and reassigns her to more of a sniper role, which she excels at and which leads to her befriending the Panzer Unit, who all appreciate her skills and are glad to hear that she will be the next Cart Titan as they can see themselves getting along with her very well

III. The Armored Trains nearly kill Pieck and Porco before Y/N manages to shoot the people running them, although it is only temporary as the Marleyan army is forced to retreat before the trains become operational again and take out two of their biggest weapons, for the first time they realize that the power of the titans might not be enough to win but even Y/N isn’t able to think of a solution or a way to destroy them as she doesn’t understand the technology

IV. Y/N realizes that the battles on land are merely distractions/hit-and-runs which means the Mid-East Alliance is planning something bigger, as she informs General Magath of her suspicions, he receives intelligence that the Alliance is building their navy, he laments the fact that they can do nothing about it and asks Y/N in a joking-tired way if she has any ideas but she apologizes and says she doesn’t, he surprisingly is alright with it and says there’s a limit to how many wars a single person can win

V. Y/N tells Colt and Friedrich that she wants to become a monster again because she wants the war to end as it’s been a year since it began and it shows no sign of stopping, Friedrich reminds her that war is a lot more difficult when they’re truly on the defensive, they hear explosions and shouts and realize that their base is under attack, forcing them to run away, with Y/N and Friedrich having to drag Colt who is unwilling to leave without Falco

Survivalist Arc:

I. Y/N, Friedrich, and Colt are forced to find another Marleyan base and hope the rest of their friends made it, there is a lot of pining and tension between all three (trio is about 16 at this point??)

II. Colt gets injured and Y/N has to treat him using what she picked up from Cordelia, while Friedrich is gathering water and Colt is unconscious she succumbs and kisses him and begs him to be alright, he does not respond which causes Y/N to cry, Friedrich appears and tells her not to waste water, it remains unclear whether he saw her kiss Colt or not, while Colt is still unconscious Y/N and Friedrich discuss their relationship up until this point and reminisce over the times that they’d confessed their love for another, neither confirms if they meant it or not, Y/N asks Friedrich what he’ll do in the years after she and Colt are dead and he says he’ll spend the rest of his time remembering them

III. Colt wakes up, Y/N pretends like nothing happened and if Friedrich saw he does not bring it up, they eat some of the rations they remembered to bring with them, Friedrich reminds them to be careful, they happen upon a village and the people recognizes them as Marleyans but take them in anyways, they are grateful but wary although Y/N reminds Friedrich of how kind the Amatas were and that they should take advantage of whatever kindness they can get

IV. They are served food and then left alone to eat, Friedrich stops them from eating and tosses a piece of the food to a rat he sees in the corner, it eagerly eats and then dies as the food was poisoned, they realize they are in danger in the village and the people they are with are nothing like the Amatas, they find that the door is locked so they smash a window and escape through it but they realize they don’t have their stuff so they’ll be in trouble

V. Using a steak knife, Friedrich kills the guard but it turns out that there is another one who is about to kill him; Y/N shoots him using the gun she stole from the house where Friedrich got the knife, Colt rushes in and gets their things back and then they run away from the village, soon they see smoke and realize they’ve made it to a Marleyan base, they fall to the ground for a moment in gratitude

Preparations Arc:

I. Reaching the base, they realize that everyone else managed to evacuate and they were the only ones who missed the alarm due to the conversation they were having, General Magath is relieved to see them alive and does not reprimand them for missing the evacuation, Porco is grateful to have Y/N back as they have become friends, Cordelia treats their wounds and praises Y/N for treating Colt so well, Colt and Falco reunite

II. Y/N debates telling Colt about the fact that she kissed him before deciding it would cause too many problems especially as they are at war, she seeks Cordelia’s advice and Cordelia tells her to make sure she doesn’t regret anything, due to their relative downtime as Marley struggles to recover from the recent attack on the base Y/N continues to help Cordelia, speaks with the soldiers and tries to get a read on what is happening with the war so she can figure out a strategy, keeps coming up blank, Gabi finds her and forces her to spend time with them, she sees herself in Gabi and hopes that Gabi is never forced to do the things she had to do in Athyae

III. Reiner and Zeke make their appearances on the base for the first time, Y/N is very happy to see Reiner and he is equally happy to see her, she asks him if he thinks they can win the war and to her surprise he is convinced they can despite their recent defeat at the hands of Paradis, she asks him why and he talks about Marley’s general superiority leaving her feeling better, she conveys Reiner’s sentiments to Friedrich and Colt who are similarly happy to hear the news, Friedrich reveals he was able to sneak a bottle from the officer’s stores and the three of them share a drink

IV. The rest of the year is spent on various skirmishes to prevent the Mid-East Alliance from expanding their borders, although they continue to build their navy which Y/N is uneasy about, Colt and Friedrich are given their own respective squadrons to lead which are rather successful and Y/N continues to be a sniper with great success although the perspective gives her reason to believe that the war is actually a losing effort as each battle is harder and harder for Marley to win as the Mid-East Alliance’s technology continues to improve

V. They capture a Mid-East Alliance soldier who speaks the same language as them, General Magath gives Y/N the task of getting more information out of him (to her surprise) as she has experience with Dr. Edevane’s techniques, Y/N tries to befriend the soldier but he hates her and wants her dead, does not even tell her his name as he believes she is a dirty Eldian who deserves to suffer, she finally breaks him by pretending that Marley won the war and that he’ll be tortured to death for her amusement, he tells her how the Armored Trains work and calls her a monster, she says she hasn’t heard that one in a long time and that she appreciates his cooperation in helping win the war, she then privately rejoices that she is a monster again as it means they might be able to go home soon

Naval Arc:

I. Y/N’s fears come true as the Mid-East Alliance’s navy begins to perform a pincer movement, trapping Marley’s forces between the sea and their armies with anti-titan technology, she tells General Magath the information she learned about the Armored Trains and he thanks her before telling her to kill the prisoner, she assures him it’ll be taken care of, she goes to the soldier and tells him she’s going to kill him before asking what the point of the entire war is, he says it’s too complicated for an Eldian so she shoots him as his words remind him too much of Dr. Edevane

II. Despite her misgivings, Y/N writes to Dr. Edevane and asks her if there’s any difference between Eldians and the rest of the world, she asks Friedrich and Colt who think she was stupid to write to someone like that although they do share her curiosity as General Magath rescued them before they could find out the results of Dr. Edevane’s experiments, Y/N watches Gabi, Falco, Udo, and Zofia interacting innocently and she comes to the conclusion that no matter what Dr. Edevane says and whether Eldians are humans or not, they still deserve to be happy because some/most of them are good at heart and she is an outlier who only became a devil to protect the rest

III. Dr. Edevane’s response comes (indicating some time has passed) though it is barely in time as the Mid-East Alliance forces create naval blockades around the Marleyan base’s ports, Dr. Edevane is condescending in her letter, speaking to Y/N as if she is some favored pet, stating that although there is no research backing up physical differences, it is obvious that there is some difference between the Eldian race and everyone else as she’s never met anyone quite as monstrous as Y/N which must be due to her heritage, she admits that she grew somewhat fond of Y/N in the way a researcher is fond of their lab rats and so she reveals that Merimark has gained intelligence that the Mid-East Alliance’s forces (especially their navy) are based in Fort Slava, Y/N passes on this intelligence to General Magath and High General Calvi, whereupon they immediately make plans to sacrifice everything to be able to get to Fort Slava

IV. Because Fort Slava is by the coast, it will be difficult to get there, so the Marleyans decide that they must win another decisive victory first, Y/N has the idea that taking out a vital factory in the production of Armored Trains would be helpful as that would take away their biggest advantage, the higher ups agree but scouting reports tell them that attacking at the moment would not be helpful so they put the idea on pause and come up with the idea to go on smaller missions to dig trenches and gain more intelligence

V. Y/N, Friedrich, and Colt are expecting to be sent on the intelligence missions and are horrified to learn that Gabi, Falco, Udo, and Zofia will be the ones to do it as they are “older” now — about 11 years old, which supports Y/N’s theory that Marley is growing desperate for brainwashed soldiers, it is out of their control to stop Marley as training younger Warrior Candidates is out of their jurisdiction but to their surprise General Magath is equally as upset by the entire ordeal, in wake of their trip to Merimark he has begun to show a more compassionate and almost caring side to the Warrior Candidates and they realize he has all but raised them, which leads them to reflect on their complicated relationships with the man and with the military at large

Innocence Arc:

I. Falco comes back injured which makes Colt upset and also realize the fragility of mortal life (?), he spends all day with him in the infirmary and Friedrich and Y/N basically have to drag him out of there at night so that he at least gets some rest, he asks Y/N to stay for a little bit, they end up kissing

II. Colt apologizes and asks Y/N to forget that they ever did anything, she is hurt as she believes he did it to use her, in wake of the younger Warrior Candidates getting injured General Magath is able to convince the higher ups to let him send Y/N and Friedrich on a mission to gain intelligence on the Armored Train factory as they believe it might be a good time to attack it, Colt remains behind to take over both his and Friedrich’s squadrons in the meantime

III. As it will take a while for them to get to the factory, Y/N and Friedrich have to spend a night camping, Y/N (still hurt by Colt’s “rejection”) asks Friedrich if he meant that he loved her when he told her as a child, he says that he’s always loved her from the start but he’s known for quite some time that Colt loves her as well and he won’t get in the way, she tells him that Colt doesn’t love her and Friedrich is surprised, she gives him an edited version of what happened between her and Colt and he reluctantly believes her, they kiss and he promises he’ll always love her, she tells him she loves him too

IV. They make it to the Armored Train factory and realize that most of the guards have been diverted to helping prepare the navy which means that the two of them could feasibly destroy the factory, while they are in the midst of setting the traps the alarm goes off and it turns out that there are more guards than they realize, they are swarmed and there may be no way for both of them to escape, Friedrich tells Y/N to run and he’ll join her soon, she gets out of the building and makes a signal (throws a rock at a window?) so that he knows she’s out, she expects him to escape as well but then the entire factory blows up and she realizes that he knew one of them would have to stay behind in order to complete the mission and he sacrificed himself to destroy the factory and save her life

V. Y/N returns to the Marleyan base somewhat in shock as she has lost so many people but she never thought Friedrich would be one of them, reports back to General Magath that the factory has been destroyed but Friedrich is dead, then goes to find Colt and tell him the news, he asks where Friedrich is and does not believe that he is dead at first, they both grieve and realize they are the only two left of their original batch of Warrior Candidates

End of the Mid-East War Arc:

I. With the Armored Train factory destroyed, they now only have to worry about the currently active ones, which means it’s no longer a guessing game of where they have to deploy their forces but rather a strategic game, leading to Y/N and Zeke’s involvement becoming higher as they try to figure out the best strategy to take Fort Slava

II. Udo, in speaking to Y/N about Friedrich, reminds her about Athyae, she idly wonders how Hadrian is doing as she has not thought of him in many years, she then comes up with the idea to take Fort Slava, Zeke, General Magath, and High General Calvi approve and they decide they will implement it as soon as they can get airships to the base

III. Porco is surprisingly sympathetic and offers Y/N advice on how to deal with her grief as he knows what it’s like after losing his brother although he knows that Friedrich’s bond with Y/N (as well as with Colt) was unique and irreplaceable, Reiner is the one to help her the most as he reminds her they’re still fighting a war and even without Friedrich she has to persevere as she has people counting on her, like Colt, the younger Warrior Candidates, and her parents back at home

IV. The plans for taking over Fort Slava are finalized and the base is packed up so that they can move into the trenches, Y/N, Colt, and the younger Warrior Candidates are told to stick together as they are essentially one unit now, although Y/N and Colt are of higher rank due to their secure status as future Warriors, which the younger Candidates are still competing for

V. The trenches are set up and the plan to take over Fort Slava is a success (follows canon), winning the war for Marley just as Dr. Edevane said it would, although the Warriors + Y/N and Colt are worried that the power of the titans will fade soon as the Armored Trains were almost enough to take Reiner out and, without Friedrich’s sacrifice, they would probably not have won the war

Declaration of War on Paradis Arc:

I. Despite their worries, it was still a victory, so on the train ride back, Colt and the rest get drunk and celebrate, cheering Gabi on, although Y/N is more reserved and only watches affectionately, speaking to Reiner about more serious things until they reach the station and Y/N has to help a hungover Colt get to the internment zone, where they are reunited with their families again and Y/N helps a soldier with one leg and eye to stand and fixes his armband for him after the Marleyan soldiers scare all of them

II. Knowing that she needs to keep busy, Y/N decides she will help Cordelia in the trauma center again, where she meets the soldier from earlier again, who introduces himself as Kruger and is reminiscent of Friedrich in personality, as well as missing an eye like Marek Birdwhistle; Y/N spends time with him and agrees to send letters to his family and doesn’t question his actions, saying everyone does things they regret

III. Zeke holds a meeting with the Warriors, Colt, and Y/N, saying that he will convince the Tybur family to use the Warhammer Titan in order to help them regain the Founding Titan and that the Tyburs can reveal their involvement at a festival in Liberio, Y/N is in awe as she has heard a lot about the Tyburs, she goes to spend more time with Kruger and asks him about his old life, he is a little defensive but offers her good advice about her own life which she appreciates

IV. The festival is set up and Colt and Y/N enjoy themselves, although they are both a little sad as they believe Friedrich would’ve enjoyed it as well, but for the most part they have fun and are silly (very much Kingdom Dance vibes), an old woman gives Y/N a flower crown and says she looks remarkably like a princess despite her blood, they waste the entire allowance General Magath gave them for the festival on random games and food

V. The assault on Liberio happens basically like in canon except for Y/N is the one who takes Reiner to Eren and when Gabi takes Lobov’s gear, Y/N latches on and throws her off but cannot jump off herself, forcing her to board the airship where she believes she will die from the devils of Paradis, which leads to her making the choice to at least bring one of them down with her and shooting Sasha who is the only one not wearing a breastplate

Infiltrator Arc:

I. Y/N is imprisoned and gets to know the guards she is with so that she can either manipulate them to get out or figure out another way to escape, but it turns out the Garrison members are not suited to guarding prisoners, so she manages to trick her guard into thinking she’ll sleep with him, however, she then kills him and runs away into the nearby forest where she stares at her armband and wonders what she’ll do now

II. Kaya finds her and takes her to the Braus household, where she pretends her name is Xanthe Amata and she works to pay off them letting her stay and heal, Kaya tells her her story and Y/N sympathizes, Kaya also mentions that her older sister recently died and Y/N realizes that the girl is looking for a replacement in her and she wishes she could do more to help her

III. Kaya reveals she knows Y/N is from Marley and mentions that her family is going to a restaurant run by a Marleyan man who might be able to help Y/N get home, Y/N is surprised but happy to hear the news but is confused that a Marleyan is running a restaurant for the devils of Paradis, to which Kaya responds that she thinks the man actually loved her older sister, further confusing Y/N, who has somewhat assimilated Dr. Edevane’s views that Eldians are less than human

IV. Meeting Niccolo changes Y/N’s perspective as she realizes that Niccolo truly respects Mr. and Mrs. Braus and it seems like he really cared for their daughter, she goes to ask him for help in the kitchen but when he realizes who she is and what she did he hits her upside the head with a wine bottle, causing some to get in her mouth, Niccolo reveals what she did and asks Mr. Braus to kill her or else he’ll do it but the Scouts arrive and Mr. Braus stops him, Niccolo realizes what he’s done and then says that Y/N should probably rinse her mouth out as she got some wine in it which confuses the Scouts but Y/N understands and begins to laugh and then explains what she did in Athyae to the Scouts before checking with Niccolo, who says it’s only a hunch but the only logical answer, she shakes her head in disbelief that her own idea will be her downfall

V. Kaya tries to attack Y/N and is upset that she thought of Y/N as a good replacement for Sasha, Mikasa stops her and she and Armin take Y/N into another room, where she asks if they will kill her for everything she’s done, Armin says they won’t and that she talks about killing almost as much as someone else he knew, Eren enters and the table scene happens, Y/N is taken to Shiganshina and Eren is about to force her to call for help to trick the Marleyans when Pieck comes, she pretends to join Eren but Y/N knows Pieck too well to fall for it and goes along with her perfectly, Porco attacks Eren and Y/N looks up to see airships coming and realizes Colt has come to save her

Titan Arc:

I. Pieck transforms and takes Y/N back to High General Magath, where she expects she’ll be admonished but instead he hugs her and tells her he’s glad she’s alright, she is then reunited with Colt, who reprimands her for worrying him so much, she then remembers that she is supposed to turn into a titan and regretfully informs High General Magath of the news, he is shocked but thanks her for her service, knowing there’s nothing else they can do, Colt refuses and says that if Zeke comes, they’ll find him and convince him not to scream, once Zeke arrives, Colt begs him to wait as he can’t bear losing his best friend, too, and Zeke is apologetic when he screams, Colt tries to stay with Y/N but she tells him that he needs to stay alive for Falco and Gabi and that at least this way she can see Friedrich again

II. Y/N has a dream about Friedrich and wants to stay with him but he convinces her to return, when she wakes up she is with a man named Connie who she remembers from the restaurant and airship, however he is taking her to get help so she is thankful, then they get to a village with an upside down titan that scares Y/N greatly, Colt and Armin appear as Y/N and Connie get ready to “brush the titan’s teeth” and Connie presses his blades to her throat and states he will feed her to the titan, Colt tells her to use the power of the Jaw but she is confused as she is not a titan shifter, Armin nearly sacrifices himself which allows Y/N to get away and reunite with Colt once again

III. They get to Shiganshina, where they meet Annie, who decides to join them, meet up with Mikasa, and then gather supplies until they get the signal from Jean, prompting them to find Reiner where Colt hid him and then escape to meet up with Hange and the others, although Y/N is surprised to see that along with Onyankapon and Yelena, Hadrian is also an Anti-Marleyan Volunteer (who did not know about the Jaegers true plan) (might introduce him in diner scene??)

IV. The campfire scene happens basically like it did in canon except Y/N is the one who steps in front of Jean to protect Reiner and she tells him that she and Reiner and Annie and the rest did horrible things because they thought they were right and that there’s no excuse for what they’ve done but there’s no excuse for what Eren’s doing, either, and that if they don’t try to stop him they’ll have to live with the regrets of being monsters for the rest of their lives, which is a feeling she doesn’t recommend to anyone; later that night she and General Magath talk and she tells him that she’s spent so long hating him/picturing his face when she thinks of Marley that she doesn’t think she can ever forgive him, Jean returns the next morning and is gentle with her (though still rough with Reiner) (implied he might like her??) and agrees to join the alliance, even apologizing to Y/N for accidentally hurting her, although he says he will not forgive Reiner, and before he can respond to Annie asking whether he’d forgive her, Pieck appears and tells them the situation at the port

V. The port scene happens exactly as it does in canon except Y/N replaces Falco and finds she is much more confused when High General Magath dies, as she hates him for everything he did but she also knew him for most of her life and thought he did have his moments of caring about the Candidates

Battle of Heaven and Earth Arc:

Basically just what canonically happens during the manga/anime, some tension between Hadrian, Y/N, and Colt, but not that much as they’re more focused on the world ending, Y/N kisses Colt before he leaves with the others as he forced her to stay behind with Annie (he can’t bear to lose anyone else) and she pretends to do it for him before realizing that the Beast Titan spinal fluid that turned her means that her Jaw Titan has animal characteristics, and because she’s always been so fast she resembles the fastest animal in the world — the peregrine falcon

Escape to Athyae Arc:

I. After the battle is over, Colt, Hadrian, and the others will continue to fight for peace, but Y/N is tired of fighting and being a monster and just wants to be a person again, she reunites with her father and mother; Hadrian tells her to go to Athyae and stay with his parents who will accepts her, Armin is alright with it but asks her to please take Captain Levi with her so that he can retire, too, as he can no longer walk or see out of one eye, she kisses Colt farewell one final time and he asks her to wait for him and she says she will for as long as she can

II. Soon after Y/N, her parents, and Levi arrive in Athyae, its borders are closed to outsiders (especially Marleyan refugees), but they manage to make it to the Amatas, who even after everything welcome them with open arms and promise to help them no matter what because they knew how much Hadrian and Xanthe loved Y/N and they had come to care for her, too, in the month they knew her

III. Y/N and Colt exchange letters for a time, but after a bit, the letters stop as Colt presumably goes to Paradis and Y/N becomes increasingly busy at home, the same goes for Hadrian as well and although Y/N is sad when they stop writing she understands and knows that it would be unrealistic for them to think about her forever, Levi is the one to force her to face the harsh reality that they probably will move on from her and she would do well to move on from them, she says she’ll consider it but a part of her (a large part) will always belong to Colt, who is her best friend and the person she loves most in the world, as well as her safe harbor

IV. Y/N is finally at peace, living with her parents and taking care of Levi, who is kind of like a grumpy uncle, spending time with the Amatas, and though the ghosts of her past haunt her and she misses Colt, she has finally found something resembling happiness, doing things like eating pomegranates whenever she wants and finding some sort of therapeutical effect in gardening; at some point, she hears that Athyae is hosting two ambassadors from Paradis and everyone is invited to hear them speak in the town square in a month’s time

V. Ending

Ending:

Colt and Hadrian are the ambassadors to Athyae, Y/N and the Amatas go to see them, although she is unable to convince her parents or Levi to come as Levi already knows the story and her parents don’t really care

Colt and Y/N smile at each other and he waves; she waves back in acknowledgment before turning away

She realizes that despite everything they’ve been through and how much they love each other, they are not broken, desperate children anymore

Rather they are adults, and as adults they have both grown up and moved on with their lives; although there is a possibility they will one day reconnect, their relationship will be entirely different than it once was as they will no longer depend on one another for their very survival

Regardless, Y/N is thankful that they could have been each other’s safe harbors for a time (callback to the first chapter of the story/the title — a ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are meant for)

“His eyes searched the crowd, and you knew without knowing that he was looking for you. Of course he was — some part of him was still stuck back there, back in the time when the two of you were each other’s safe harbors. But ships are not meant to stay in harbors, and you both were not meant to cling to one another forever.”

“He lit up when he saw you, and then, when he was sure you were looking, he waved. Your eyes widened — for a moment, you, too, were back there, though the sensation only lasted for a moment — and then they softened as you gazed upon him for the first time in so very long.”

“Raising your hand and smiling slightly, you waved back.” ← final line!!

Leave it ambiguous — does she end up with Hadrian after everything? Do she and Colt rekindle their relationship and get married? Is she single forever? Do Reiner or Jean swoop in now that Athyae is open and Y/N is available? Does she marry someone completely new?

The story is a chronicle of Y/N’s life and her life does not end when the story does, so just like real life there is no certainty

[dino-fart]

The Perfect Storm | Chapter 1: Lift Me Up

Continuation of This Request

Summary + Chapter 1 | Chapter 2

Pairing: Namor x Female!Reader

Genre: Action, Tragedy, Adventure

Summary: You are T’Challa’s and Shuri’s sister, you are the adopted child of Queen Ramonda and King T'Chaka. You were gifted with the power of weather and storms. You left Wakanda to aide those in need of help but the news of T’Challa’s death brought you back to Wakanda. Tensions rise in the kingdom and you must aide your mother in keeping the peace. But when the Talokans come with the threat of war will you be able to stop them while protecting your family?

You felt your chest tighten when you saw the familiar sight of Wakanda. It was still as beautiful as you remembered. Only this time you couldn’t help but feel a sense of sorrow and dread. The jet landed on the platform and Aneka escorted you off of the jet. You took a deep breath and looked ahead to see your mother approach you. 

“My child...” She opened her arms and you met her halfway and hugged her. “How long has it been? Three? Four years?” She gently rubbed your back. 

“Yeah.” Was all you could say as you did your best not to let your tears fall. 

“You look well.” Your mother smiled. 

You smiled back and you could feel her warm hands cup your face and wipe your tears. It should be you wiping her tears away. “Queen Mother...” You said. Ramonda furrowed her brows at your words, you’d always called her mother. 

Ramonda was about to question you when Akoye approached, “It is good to see you, princess. We have the preparations ready.” 

You watched the general bow to you and felt a sense of unworthiness. You turned to Ramonda who took you by the hand and led you to your old room. 

A few hours later, you walked behind the queen and the princess down the hall of Wakandans celebrating T’Challa’s life. You kept your head down the entire time, not feeling right being where you were but you knew T’Challa wouldn’t have wanted you to be alone. Ever the concerned older brother...He always texted you asking you if you ate, what you had been up to, and when you were coming to see him. You cursed yourself that you had been so hesitant to come back to Wakanda. 

You couldn’t help but feel like you could’ve helped save him. Then again, what could the power of weather do to bring back the herb that was burned into extinction? If Shuri couldn’t recreate it, then all was lost. You now stood alongside Ramonda and Shuri and looked down at the coffin. You gently put your hand on the coffin then moved back when Shuri embraced it tightly, sobbing softly. You gently placed your hands on your sister’s shoulders and gently pulled her off. You watched the ship come and levitate the coffin away. 

Now you sat in your old room, holding the picture of you, Shuri, and T’Challa. You heard your door open and turned to see Ramonda walk into your room. “I didn’t move anything in here...I knew you always said it was...How did you put it? Ah, an ‘organized’ mess.” Ramonda chuckled and you smiled at the memory. She sat next to you on the edge of the bed and grabbed your hand softly. “You are forbidden to call me Queen Mother ever again.” Ramonda gently rested your head on her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry mom...” You said softly. 

“You are my daughter no matter where you came from.” 

“I know...” 

“You know but you don’t believe.” 

“I...” You had no rebuttal, for not being your blood mother, she knew you like an open book. 

“Come with me to the beach, we need to get Shuri out of the lab and complete the ritual.” 

You watched her leave your room and changed out of your funeral garb. You wore a blue sleeveless sun dress and tied your hair up in a messy bun and made your way to the beach.

Shuri embraced you softly when she finally saw you on the beach. You held her tightly and rubbed her back. “I’m so sorry for not being there.” You whispered. Shuri just gave you a smile, the poor girl seemed to have all the words taken from her. The three of you sat around the fire and you burned your funeral garb. 

You listened to Shuri as she refused to burn the garb. The elephants charging off into the distance snapped you out of your thoughts. You watched the half-naked man adorned with jewelry with wings on his ankles fly across the water and toward the three of you. You watched the man land and your mother demanded to know who he was. “I have many names...My people call me Ku'ku'lkán...My enemies call me Namor.” The dark hair man said confidently. 

He went on to talk about a scientist in his waters. You furrowed your brows at the demand to have her. Ramonda didn’t respond and you watched curiously when he set down the conch shell on the sand. “Leave my country!” Ramonda shouted. You stepped forward and your eyes began to glow. 

The sound of thunder could be heard around you. Namor was about to respond to the queen when he heard the sound. He turned to see your glowing eyes and stepped back toward the waters. “No harm will come to Wakanda...So long as you get me the scientist.” Namor said finally and dove back into the water. Ramonda turned to you and your eyes glowed brighter. 

Rain began to fall onto the ocean water. Unknown to Namor, the raindrops that hit the water would help you track his movements. “What can you see my child?” Ramonda gently put her hand on your shoulder. Shuri watched as well, not really believing in your powers not because she doubted you, it was just hard for her to understand. 

“I...I can’t see anything anymore...He went too deep in the waters.” You blinked and your eyes went back to normal. “I’m sorry mother...” 

“It’s alright...We must get back to Wakanda. I must call for the council.” Your mother grabbed you by the hand and you and Shuri followed her.

Dividers: @firefly-graphics​

[loth-wolffe]

HI LOVE, THIS IS ME ASKING NICELY FOR 39 WITH WOLFFE...it can be fluff or angst or nsfw hehehehehehehehe whatever ill love it anyways,, thank you!!!

A confession of a something he's not sure he heard

Pairing: Commander Wolffe x fem!reader

Prompt: 39. I thought that I was dreaming when you said you loved me. - Ivy by Frank Ocean

Word count: 1,7k

Warnings: uhhh, a lil (big) splash of smut so there's piv sex. minors stay bACk. also cockwarming hA. and one (1) sentence of dirty talking.

A/n: SO. ship requests drained me entirely and I was rip in peace so I decided to take a small break while I regain my strength. besides I saw s4ep5 for... reasons (*cough cough* wolffe) and wHO would've thought. that bitch got me into my wOLFFE feels. woah. commander how DARE you sir.

anyways, this is for you, anna my darling. hope you like it mwah.

He's been back for three rotations now, and even though it's like it always has been, you still feel like tiptoeing over eggshells.

Wolffe hasn't said it back yet, and it's not like you said it for him to confess it back to you, but with every hour that passes your heart broke at the thought of him not feeling the same, but at the same time, there's no sign of him not doing anything that isn't loving you.

He kisses you the same, with a fervour that makes your legs weak, touches linger more than you could expect as he worships your body, tongue leaves a wet trail as he goes down on you, relishing your skin as if he has never tasted it. And bites hard, nips gently, and sucks with a delirious eagerness every part of your body that he can find. He marks you, as if to claim something, maybe the unspoken feeling from his side of the wall you have tried to break down ever since meeting him, maybe he tries to hold on to the words you did spoke and he refuses for them to settle in his heart because there's the possibility of being scared of the unknown.

A step further into a commitment he might not be ready for just yet.

But that's not the case, though, you can feel it in your bones as you remember how it was him the one that asked if he could stay the night that first time you two enveloped in a warmth of sweat and ecstasy, and it was him the one that invited himself over every time he was around until your home eventually became his too.

It was him, the one that always took that step towards you.

Until now.

Uncertainty molds your body with every breath you take, and you want to say it again because there's there's the chance that he didn't hear you, the words always ready to leave as they wait in the back of your throat for you to push them out and into his arms.

But when is a good time, if it wasn't when you first admit them out loud? Is it as he comes home and kisses you breathless? Or could it be as he steps out of the shower?

Could you tell him when he's between you, with your legs on his shoulders as he acts on those same words and brings you to a quivering edge where all you know it's his name, a trance where all you can think is him, his mouth on you, and the feeling he brings; would it be appropriate then?

As you disregard the doubt that hammers your mind, you tell yourself it's better if you wait for when he's gone again and maybe then, –during one those calls where he's just a holo in your room, a blue image of him that you could break through with your hand if you reach out to touch him– then, you call him out on his lack of response, and if, when, you make a fool of yourself, you can always end the call before Wolffe sees the feelings he brings with his rejection.

It's a safe ground, when you're away from each other, to make silly confessions and admit your deepest secrets, a nonjudgmental space that can hold the embarrassment for you as it dissipates for the next time you look into his eyes.

Yet, it's in the afterglow of a goodbye he breaks the invisible emotional barrier that had settled between yourselves during the last few days.

It's him, again, the one that takes the step towards you.

Wolffe kisses you softly, tasting the sweat of your skin as the two bask in the blissful moments after you have reached your highs. The silence is cut by the occasional sounds of your mouths meeting, and it could've been minutes, it could've been hours of you just like this, feeling the other for what it might be the last time in months.

You sigh into his mouth when he settles better above you, feeling his length awakening once more inside you. He moves slowly, deliberate, and it's in times like these that you wish to know what he's thinking.

It's when his mouth finds your chest that he speaks, lips over your skin to muffle the words because there's no escape if you do hear them.

His voice is hoarse and his breath is warm as they not only hit the skin of your breast but also the muscle that beats for him.

"I love you."

You hear it as your fingers get lost in the dark curls, stopping the movement of your nails against the scalp, eyes snapping open and you find him looking straight at you and into your soul, trying to find something, anything, that lets him know he's not alone in this.

"What?" your voice is a thread, barely a whisper as you can hear the thump of your heart loud in your chest, he must've heard it too, as he kisses the surface of the place that holds it between your ribcages.

"Thought I was dreaming when you said it," he whispers as he makes a path of kisses from your sternum to your jaw, your breath gets caught in your throat and his lips ghost on yours, "but even if that's true, it doesn't change the fact that I do."

His mouth is hot against yours, and your walls flutter with him still inside, dragging a groan that you happily drink from his lips.

"Why did you wait to tell me?"

But you know why. For the same reason you them held back and ended up choking on the words.

"Why haven't you told me?" his words pierce through you like a knife, and you open your mouth to confess your excuse but it gets stuck before it rolls off your tongue.

You have.

Days ago, you did. In a rushed conversation where he told you he was coming home the next day, before he had to go, as darkness covered the sky and you looked up trying to find him in the vast ocean of planets and stars even though it was impossible for you to do so. You had told him right after he said goodbye, weakly, scared he might not return to you, but you had told him, in a whisper, in the safeness of your side of the line,

"I love you, be safe."

And it's until now that you're sure he heard, it took him a few seconds for the call to finally end.

"I did." Is all you say.

Wolffe smirks and leans down to suck the conjunction where your jaw meets your neck.

"Why not say it again?" He's teasing you, you know it, but it's the need of reassurance in his voice that stirs something in your stomach, a pang of guilt, perhaps, because you're taking too long, and maybe it's because you know how it feels that you don't want to drag it any longer.

"I love you."

He hums, kissing the corner of your mouth, and if it weren't for the smile on his own you would've believed his next words came from a different place.

"You're just saying that."

You shake your head, your refutation leaves in a little sound because you can't seem to think of anything else to say, not when he leaves open mouthed kisses in your skin, it is when his tongue meets the perky flesh of your nipple that you let out a breathy, "I'm not."

"Is it because I'm still balls deep inside you?"

You could cry, because he's making it hard for you when it should be the other way around; you should be the one showing no mercy because it was him the one who delayed his answer for three days instead of a second.

But you don't find it in you to tell him to stop, either. Always at his mercy.

And the way he says it, how he says it, sends a wave of arousal down to were you're intertwined, you feel him twitch inside you and only him can turn a soft moment like this, an admission such as the one you're letting on, into something lustful enough that drowns the affection that drips from his eyes.

"Wolffe, I–"

But whatever you were going to say is cut off by the thrust he gives, deep and slow and you can feel him whole, the remnants of his last orgasm lubricating the two of you and he pulls back all the way to the tip before he slips back in with a squelching sound, toes curling at the feeling of him moving again and he grunts in your ear.

You moan, not knowing what else to do as you hold him by his shoulders, nails digging on his skin as you feel your body rock with the intensity of each thrust, needing something to anchor you and keep you grounded while you try to keep up with a conversation that happens between your eyes.

"Say it." It's the need in his tone that makes you tell him with an urgency you hope that matches the one in his eyes.

"I love you."

He growls, low but powerful enough that it rumbles in his chest, and his teeth take your lobe as he pulls lightly from it. Another thrust of his hips makes you cry out.

"Again." Wolffe demands, and you realize that it's for him to not forget, to hold on to the words the best he can, and it's all because he doesn't want, he refuses, to spend another day with his own doubts.

He wants to make sure he heard them right this time.

And it's between cries and sighs and moans that you repeat it until it's only a breathy chant that falls from your lips as you reach that peek he knows how to push you towards in the most perfect way.

And it's not until he's back on that soft side that only shines in the aftertaste of it all that he says them again, as his lips caress the bruised skin once more and his hands massage the marks on your hips. It's in a light voice and with warmth clouding his eyes that he makes you know he feels just the same.

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[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E123 (Feb. 2, 2021)

After last week’s thoroughly relaxing and brief episode, tonight’s guests are Sam Riegel and Liam O’Brien!

Brian, to Sam: “You look like Tim Curry moved to Nantucket to become a sommelier.”

How did Caleb and Veth approach the ally-ship with the Tombtakers? Sam: “I mean, we got some information, and I think we got a little closer to Lucien and knowing whether he has any of Mollymauk inside of him, which is I think the most important knowledge that we’re seeking right now. Is there someone to be saved inside there? We got glimpses, and we got a little hint that Mollymauk is maybe still in there? Maybe? And we got a little more insight into their plans, so that was useful.” Liam: “We know why we were having that fucking dream.” Sam: “But other than that, it was just a road trip with assholes.” Liam: “All our plans have been ripped in a new direction, and it’s just been improvisation.” Sam notes that it feels like we’re always about to rip into Caleb’s backstory, but haven’t yet followed that thread all the way through. Liam: “It’s partially frustrating, to be sure, but also I like the idea that-- his whole shit has been selfish, it’s been dealing with the trauma that he’s been through and not the greater world, and that’s been shifting somewhat.”

Does Caleb think the book was worth it, and is he still interested in reading more? Sam: “How do you ask Caleb not to read a book?” Liam: “Caleb has spent enough time with the Nein to know you shouldn’t put a hand on a hot stove. After what happened with the book, he knows it’s a terrible idea. But maybe. But it’s a really bad idea. But reserve judgment, but it’s a really terrible idea. I think that Caleb is very aware that mages and people like him very easily fall prey to their curiosity and it can lead to bad places. But there is still that amount of scientific endeavor where you think there is value in knowing and learning, and maybe we can ride that line. He was True Neutral at the start of the campaign, and maybe he’s Chaotic Good now, but part of him is hubris, even if it’s a little bit, still.”

What about Otis has drawn Veth’s focus? Sam: “I mean, he’s a little shit. She was curious about Otis because he’s a small like she is, and in talking to him, he seemed to be real creepy, but he was just creepy and distant and didn’t value his past or family or anything like that. She sees someone who’s like her, but so not like her, and maybe that scares her a little bit more.”

How does Caleb feel about Beau being on this ride with him? Liam: “The dream is another example of how Caleb had very narrow vision of the things he wanted to do. It used to seem so massive to him, but now... To have Beauregard involved feels right. If anyone in the group is going to stop him from grabbing something he shouldn’t, it is probably Beauregard. She’ll punch him in the fucking face to stop him, which I think he needs, to a certain extent. They’re two different kinds of nerds, and I kind of like that, that this group of nine philosophers, they’ve reached out and somehow grabbed the two nerds in the party.”

How do Caleb and Veth see the Somnovum? Sam: “I mean, they seem real bad. Anything that’s a quorum of powerful entities heading towards your planet to unleash an energy of any kind, typically bad? I assume they’re bad, or at least the Tombtakers wish them to do ill.” Liam: “I think they want the kind of peace that comes from snapping your fingers and turning people to dust. Caleb sees them as a cautionary tale; they’re the worst-case scenario for arcane inquisitiveness.” He sees Allura Vysoren as the antidote to that.

Why the staunch refusal to use Halfling Luck? Sam: “I don’t like Luck! I just don’t like Luck. I think it’s cheap, I think it’s a cheat, I think it’s stupid. It just feels like a do-over.” Liam: “I am your antithesis! If I ever voice a halfling, I am going to hammer that feature!” Sam: “What I love about D&D is that you don’t know what’s going to happen. If you roll bad, okay, that’s it. If you roll well, it makes the success more enjoyable to know that it’s a pure success and don’t one where you’re like well actually... it’s so stupid. If someone was about to die, I would probably use the fuckin’ Luck feature. Well. It depends who. If it was Travis, yeah, no, he’s fucked, sorry.”

Liam drops that he’s picked Sam’s character class and race again for a hypothetical campaign three. Sam: “It’s not what I was thinking for future characters, but I’m excited to explore.”

Cosplay of the Week: an amazing Mollymauk by KatofValkyrie!

What was it like to bring the Tombtakers into the tower? Liam: “It is complicated, because he does not like him. Lucien’s just a fucking dick. But Caleb also knows that Molly’s in there somewhere. That tower’s only for the M9, and Lucien’s not in the M9. Their situation with these people is shitty, it’s terrible. Caleb doesn’t feel like they have the upper hand. He doesn’t like that they’re even going on this journey per se, because life is bigger than his bullshit. He feels like they’ve been losing over and over again, so it was a gamble to try to get on equal footing.

What spurred Veth into making sure she and Yasha have some one-on-one time? Sam: “Yasha hasn’t been getting a lot of moments to shine. Now that she’s back, I just got the impression that Yasha feels out of place sometimes, or timid, or unsure of herself. When Veth was Nott, Nott certainly had her share of those moments. I think she sees a kindred spirit and wants to make sure that she’s been giving all the opportunity she can to flourish and thrive. Dani, you’re just laughing at my mustache, aren’t you?” Dani: “Yes, that’s the only thing I’m laughing at through this whole bullshit.” Sam denies all knowledge of trolling, but eventually admits, on the topic of Yasha and Beau getting together: “They’ve made me wait this long... I’m going to make them wait a little bit longer!”

What was it like to show his friends the upper floors? Liam: “I kinda expected somebody to sneak up there before that. That being part of the tower is not even a conscious choice of his, it just is. The reason Caduceus has creeped Caleb out for a long time is because he talks about how-- Caduceus is a really kind person and wants Caleb to let go of the past. And in a really simplistic way, turn that frown upside-down. And that’s just not who Caleb is, and it’s not who everybody is. There is something to be said for trying to stay open and positivity, but thinking you can shut out the past, especially a traumatic one, is just not true. When things happen to us, we carry them. But to candy-coat it and say, ah, I’m free, or everything is good, or I’ve turned the corner... life is way messier than that. It’s not flipping a switch, it’s not bad-to-good, it is such a work in progress. Even when you make strides and start to get to a better place, you can backslide a lot. So the tower is who he is, and the tower is 7/9ths love for his friends, and 1/9th hope, but there’s still a percentage of him that carries everything from the past, and knows that he should, and knows that he should not go back to where he was. And the way to do that is not to say everything is rainbows, but to remember it. The tower is just like an extension of who he is. He’s never going to forget the past, and he’s never going to be like, I’m good, or I’ve turned a corner. He should remember the past, and he should do better, always.”

Does Veth still believe it’s possible to get Molly back? Sam: “Well, she was a person trapped in another body for many years, so has some experience there, and definitely believes that the spirit and soul of Molly is in there and just needs to be unlocked somehow.”

Fan Art of the Week: an amazing group shot by HarpySN!

How are Caleb and Veth dealing with their guilt and fear about being in the middle of this? Sam: “It definitely was a deep conversation that might have repercussions going forward. The problem with all of what we’re doing now is that we don’t have time to deal with our petty problems anymore. It’s all high tension all the time!” Liam: “It’s true; they’re not in control of their situation at all anymore.” Sam: “It’s good to have these check-ins, but it’s not like we can do anything about them. We’re reactive right now.” Liam: “He’s not happy with where they are, but they wouldn’t even be this far if the goblin hadn’t pulled him out of the mud. So part of it is, you saved me from where I was and got me on my feet again, and now it’s disconcerting to see it all just get knocked sideways by something he never could’ve predicted. I think Caleb felt nostalgic for when things were simpler, in a way, for them, when we’re both troubled drifters.”

What was it like to see Gelidon’s return? Liam: “I am the least superstitious person at the table. Ashley’s dice suck.” Sam: “It was fun fighting a dragon!” Liam: “Two massive battles in one episode, neither of which came away with a victory. I guess surviving is a victory.” Sam: “I’d forgotten about the dragon, honestly.” Liam: “I loved it. I was so upset at the idea that we were going to stealth and not get into it.”Sam: “Mercer doesn’t keep a live dragon around and not do something with it. That dragon’s coming back.”

How do Caleb and Veth feel about going to see Essek? Sam: “He can be very helpful, I believe, but as Sam Riegel, a player of D&D, I’m super suspicious. What the fuck is Essek doing up there, so close, now? I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him. And I can throw him pretty far because he floats.” Liam: “I 100% agree with you. I do not understand what Essek could bring to what we are going through. I know the audience loves him, I love him too. He’s a really cool character. But he’s fucking toxic. He out of curiosity caused a war between two nations. And Caleb has been changed for the good by the M9 from months of travel with them. Essek has had none of that. Caleb has changed for the good, but not because of people like Essek. Essek is where Caleb came from. We kept the lid on the pot during the whole treaty at sea and it almost all went fucking sideways, and only because we pressed him into a corner. I hope that guy finds some sort of balance and peace for himself, but I do not see how his input here would be helpful. There’s other heavy hitters that I would try to pull in.”

Liam notes that the Cloven Crystal is in the Bag of Holding. Sam: “Do I have Fluffernutter, or is Fluffernutter gone?” Liam: “Nope. 300 pounds of fireworks? Gone. A dead mage, a threshold crest, and fireworks.” Dani: “Your basic essentials.”

[ruewrites]

If your requests are open, may I request a dialuci fic where Dia gets extra lonely and since Luci has known him for so long that he notices pretty quickly so shows up at the castle after work to talk to him and make him feel less alone? 👉👈

Meanings Carried in Silence

AO3

Ship: Diavolo/Lucifer

Word Count: 1090

Warnings: None

A/N: Hey Anon! Sorry this was super late! I’m hoping to finish up my requests soon!I hope that you like this!

“Sulking isn’t fit for a future king.”

The voice startled him. Diavolo hadn’t been expecting anyone. Why should anyone come follow him? It wasn’t like he had wanted anyone to follow him. He just needed to get away for a bit, to forget why he  was feeling the way he was in the first place. Well, maybe forget wasn’t the right word. He knew what made him upset. Diavolo knew he would constantly be surrounded  by people who were surrounded by other people.

He was an outside observer.

There would always be something separating him from everyone. The sooner he accepted that the better off he’d be. It wasn’t forgetting that was the issue, it was accepting. 

He was the Devildom’s prince, people were intimidated by that, and therefore he would remain alone.

“I wasn’t sulking,” his voice came out a little more deflated than he would have liked, “I just wanted to enjoy the fresh air is all. It’s a lovely night out.”

Lucifer’s silhouette darkened his doorway in silence. Dia could feel it closing in on him, and the next thing he knew, Lucifer was by his side.

“You could have fooled me,” Diavolo couldn’t help but take note of how beautiful he looked. The Devildom’s moon gleamed off of his porcelain skin, his eyelashes were so delicate, and those red eyes were brighter than the most precious of rubies within his treasury. If only Diavolo could capture his beauty. Even his voice was wonderful, “You’ve been acting odd ever since you invited my brothers and I to come over for dinner two evenings ago."

Of course Lucifer caught on. There was very little that managed to slide past him, and that was one of the countless things that Diavolo admired and adored. However, in this moment, he wished that he could've slipped into the blind spot of those wonderful ruby eyes.

"Have I now?"

"Diavolo."

He could fly away. He could leave. He could keep running from his problems. He could tell Lucifer to leave him to dwell on his loneliness.

But the petulant child within him started to stomp his feet. He screamed about his loneliness and cried out about wanting to stay especially when the object of his affections was so close. 

What would life have been like if he hadn’t been born a prince?

Lucifer moved closer so that their elbows were touching. The small amount of contact was nice, and he knew it was rare coming from Lucifer making it ever more sweeter.  “I think I shall stay out here with you for a while,” Lucifer sighed, “It’s nice, and much quieter. It gives me time to think and reflect.”

“I would have thought that you’d be accustomed to loud noisy places.”

“Perhaps. But that doesn’t mean I don’t long for times when I can hear myself think.”

“And you feel like that is with me?”

Lucifer chuckled, and in a moment of comfort leaned against the prince, “Not all the time no, but you certainly do allow me to sometimes. But you also worry me when you’re not talking. It’s not like you.”

Lucifer knew him well. They’d been together for so long now, even when they hadn’t been together together. Diavolo wasn’t sure when his head rested on top of Lucifer’s or when raven black wings wrapped securely around him, but he appreciated it. He’d never felt more secure than when he was with Lucifer, and for a few moments he didn’t feel so incredibly alone. He allowed himself to believe that he could have a future with someone else, a moment with someone else.

And that gave him something to look forward to.

“You’re tired,” Lucifer noted, “You feel heavy.”

“I’ve been getting enough sleep.”

“It’s a different type of heaviness Diavolo.”

Slowly they slipped down to the floor, Lucifer’s feathers carefully cradling him as he was guided down. It was hard to read Lucifer’s expressions. Diavolo knew that deep down that was part of the reason he enjoyed seeing him flustered. When those alabaster cheeks were bright red, Diavolo didn’t feel so lost with what he was doing. But the more he’d learned about Lucifer, the more confident he felt about knowing what was most likely going on in that pretty head of his. The slightest of smiles, the small crinkle of his brow, it was all easy for Diavolo to read now. His hand flowy reached up to caress the cold skin of his cheek, just to make sure the man before him was real. It was an action he repeated more and more when he was in moods like this one. It was the only reassurance he had that Lucifer was still there.

Either he had pulled Lucifer in, or Lucifer had started moving on his own, but their foreheads pressed together and Diavolo’s true form slowly started to slip. Wings and horns tangled together, trying to find somewhere comfortable to rest. Soft feathers found Diavolo’s fingers and a shudder ran through Lucifer, but he wasn’t told to stop. He removed a few of the loose ones, it was a mild and gentle grooming but it helped the prince alleviate any sense of lingering loneliness. Lucifer’s lips met his nose as they lingered there on the floor, and Diavolo lifted his head to meet his eyes.

“You aren’t alone.”

He knew.

Of course he knew. 

Diavolo was like an open book and Lucifer only needed to thumb through his pages to find any little detail about him that he needed. It was comforting and made his heart a little lighter. He could have said that he knew, that he was confident that the people around him were really there and that they’d stay. That he knew they’d stay with him forever and that he could be at peace. Instead his words came out in a whisper, “Thank you.”

The prince’s head moved to Lucifer’s chest as long and delicate fingers ran through deep red locks. Larger hands ran alongside Lucifer’s back, carefully touching along his wings. No words flew between them, they weren’t needed. 

All Diavolo needed was the soft thud of Lucifer’s heartbeat and both of their arms wrapped around each other. 

This was all Diavolo needed in all of the three realms, and he’d give up everything and anything for this and only this. Nothing could compare to the feelings Lucifer awoke within him and the comfort he provided through love. Through being a prince he had everything, but all he really needed was this.

[generalobi]

Hey. Not the original anon, but can we maybe have some more of the Obi Melida/Daan and Jango one? But this time with Jaster and other Mandos reaction to the kids?

Myles dodges the fist to his face a second too late, and the force of it sends him sprawling to the floor. Maybe he should’ve knocked.

“Oh shit.”

Standing in the doorway of the room Myles could’ve sworn was his, is Minister Kenobi in his nightclothes with his fists up. 

“I am so sorry,” he says, reaching out a hand to help Myles up, “Is this a diplomatic incident?”

Myles grunts, “I think this is on me, should’ve knocked. I thought this was our room.”

Minister Kenobi sighs, “We should probably put signs up. I really am sorry, can I at least get you some ice?”

“You don’t have bacta?”

He grimaces, “Only in the hospital, and only for major procedures. Ice will help with the swelling, and it will numb the area. I can even make you tea.”

Myles supposes it would be in bad taste to say he has bacta in his room specifically for bruises. Icing injuries is… almost primitive. It’s effective, but had been brushed over during his first aid course. Still, it would be rude to refuse such gracious hospitality. Even if his host was the one who caused the injuries.

Minister Kenobi’s quarters are small for a politician. And simple. While Kenobi putters about making tea, Myles browses his shelves. For a politician of a poor Mid Rim world, he sure has a lot of books.

“Here,” Kenobi hands him a cup of tea, “I’ll get the ice, just sit there.”

He gestures at the rather nice sofa in the middle of the room, and disappears back into the kitchen. Myles obeys, as much as he wants to snoop some more. From the rather nice, very comfortable sofa, he scans the rest of the room. It’s plain, white wall occasionally interrupted by a plant or another bookshelf.

Kenobi emerges from the kitchen with a cloth in hand, “I didn’t have any ice packs, but this should help. Sorry.”

He grimaces apologetically as he presses the ice to the injury, and Myles winces as he takes over holding it in place, “It’s alright, Minister. You have a strong punch, not many people could knock me out like that. But, maybe don’t mention this to Jango? He will never let me live it down.”

“What? Being taken down by a twenty-year-old stuffy politician?” Kenobi smirks, “Don’t worry, so long as you don’t tell Daria I accidentally punched our newest ally in the face I won’t breathe a word to Prince Fett.”

Myles laughs, “Cheers to that.”

¬

When MelidaDaan reached out for a trade deal, and ally ship, Jaster had agreed for two reasons. One, he felt he should help out a planet in the same situation as his. Two, they have building materials Mandalore needs.

It was supposed to be simple. 

He’d done the basic research, read over the deal extensively and sent his son to negotiate. It should’ve been simple.

But, of course, nothing ever is.

He’s negotiating with a planet run by children. On Mandalore, children come of age at eighteen in wartime and twenty-two in peacetime. On Mandalore, leaders are adults with fully developed brains and fewer hormonal fluctuations.

There’s only one article on the children of MelidaDaan. Jaster hopes it isn’t true.

¬

The centuries-long civil war between the Melida and the Daan has finally come to an end. My mothers parents' grandparents fled that war more than one hundred years ago. She tells me we are Daan by blood. Those words mean nothing to me. I never knew what it was to be Daan. 

I do now. There is blood on my ancestor’s hands. The blood of innocents and children. I have asked people from every side of the war, none can tell me how it started. But everyone knows how it ended.

The Young were a wild card in a war that nearly destroyed their planet. Children from both sides of the war, sick of the fighting. They came together, with one goal. To end it. And they did.

I don’t know the details, the only people who could give me them are busy rebuilding a world. The Young had three leaders, only two of them survived the war. The leaders of the Melida and the Daan are dead. The factions have settled into a peace, orchestrated by children who already have eyes far too old for their young faces.

Yesterday, I met a six-year-old with battlescars. Two weeks ago, I sat with three catatonic seven-year-olds who saw death too young.

The galaxy does not know the story of these children, and they probably never will. But it deserves to be told.

The Young were just kids, and no one protected them. They threw themselves into a war with the sole goal of finding peace. They fought and starved and died for a world that gave them nothing.

I am Daan by blood, but my mother would never have disowned me for wanting peace. My mother is Daan, and she fought for me with all her soul.

I came here to find peace with my heritage, to understand the customs I learned at my mother’s feet. I will leave with the knowledge of my people’s sins and more questions than answers.

¬

“They don’t have bacta, Jaster,” Myles looks unusually serious, “Or not nearly enough.”

Jango watches as his buir runs a hand through his hair and thinks he looks older than when they left. This place just gets more and more confusing.

“How old is Minister Kenobi?” Jaster asks, eyes fixed on something on his desk.

“Twenty.”

“Force,” Jaster breathes, “Fuck, I’d hoped…”

Jango frowns, “He’s an adult by Mandalorian war standards. And they have been at war.”

His buir shakes his head, “The war ended seven years ago. And six years ago, MelidaDaan appointed one Obi-Wan Kenobi as Minister of Education.”

[raysofcrosby]

Give us the preview bestie 👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

hehehehe i also have ethan’s reaction typed up too if we want that 🤪 but without further ado, here it is💛

*wltay bonus chapter spoiler beneath the cut—unedited of course*

She shut the drawer and walked into her and Matt’s bathroom, leaning against the bathroom counter and staring down at the box as she exhaled heavily, opening it and tilting the three tests out of the box and into her right hand. Suddenly, she felt that same fear she had back when she was 17, even though she was older now and her situation was different. Caroline wasn’t a 17, almost 18 year old high school senior whose boyfriend was going off to live and play hockey in another country. She’s a 28 year old woman with two degrees, a successful job and is set to get married in two weeks.

But standing in right now holding the box of pregnancy tests, she was more nervous than scared. Her and Matt had talked about having another baby, but were going to wait until after the wedding to actively try for one. That gave them enough time to settle down and unpack in the house they’d bought in the same neighborhood that Gio and Lauren live in and came highly recommended, just at the end of the season and were set to move into in August.

Which meant that they weren’t going to try for another baby until that August and September time frame, which would put them at a summertime delivery, where Matt wouldn’t have a 50/50 chance of being away for a game or God forbid, a long road series in the States or anywhere else in Canada.

Yet if any of these tests said positive, then that meant they could be sitting at a much earlier time frame— depending on how far in the pregnancy she was…if she was even pregnant. For all she knew, the stress and fatigue she’d felt really were from dealing with school and finalizing the wedding details. And that sudden craving could’ve just been her body saying “hey, calm the fuck down and have some ice cream and fries,” instead of “hey, lol…you’ve got a baby in here!”

“Hey, we paused it for you cause I know how much you love Tim Riggins,” Matt laughed, walking into the bathroom, his right thumb pointing back over his shoulder as he stopped in the doorway “What’s that?”

“I bought it at the gas station before we picked you up.” Caroline handed him the box, still clutching the three tests in her right hand as she draped her left arm across her stomach. Matt turned the box over, his eyebrows furrowed until they raised as his eyes skimmed the pink front.

“Have you taken them yet?” He asked, lowering the box as he looked at her.

She shook her head, sighing heavily. “I’m 28 years old. I’ve been here before…” she looked at him, a frown on her face. “So is it bad that I’m absolutely terrified?”

He placed the box down onto the counter and walked in front of her, stepping close and trapping her in front of the counter as he reached up and cradled her face. “You’ve got me this time,” he whispered, his thumbs brushing against her cheeks. “I’m right here and I’m not leaving. I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“This...it’s earlier than what we wanted,” she whispered, looking down at the tests in her hands. “We’ve got so much stuff to do to get settled...if these come out positive and I’m pregnant, then–”

“Then we’ll just have to shake it up,” he replied, getting her to look at him again. “There’s nothing that can’t be pushed back and we’re not doing this alone, Care. We’ve got our families, we’ve got friends here to help us out. We’ve got this...so stop psyching yourself out and pee on the sticks, okay?”

Caroline laughed and nodded, standing up and resting the tests down onto the counter, before standing in front of the toilet and turning around. “Can you get me a cup?”

“A cup?” Matt asked, furrowing his brows. “Don’t you just pee on the sticks? Why do you need a cup?”

“Because it’s three different tests and each needs to be peed on for a certain amount of seconds, Matthew. And who’s to say I know how long I need to pee for,” she sighed, looking at him. “Please, just get me one of those plastic cups from the pantry or something?”

Matt nodded and walked out of the bathroom, sliding the door partially closed behind him. Caroline unbuttoned her jeans and slid them down along with her underwear before sitting down on the toilet, awkwardly waiting for Matt to come back.

“Okay one, Ethan’s FaceTiming Melody and says to tell you hi,” Matt said, pushing the door open before walking into the bathroom and closing it behind him. “And two, here’s your solo cup.”

Caroline took the cup and looked at him. “You’re staying here?”

“I mean…yeah? You peeing in front of me isn’t something that bothers me. I’ve literally been inside-“

“Okay but please just…wait out in the bedroom or something? Just so I can pee in peace without you staring at me.” She sighed.

“Sure, I’ll let you pee in peace,” he laughed, walking over and kissing the top of her head before walking back towards the door, sliding it open and walking into their bedroom before sliding the door closed.

Caroline tried not to think about how nervous she was or how stressed she was going to be if she was in fact pregnant. Instead, she focused on their upcoming wedding in two weeks. How everything back home in St. Louis was prepared and all of their stuff for the wedding had already been shipped down. Now all they needed to do, was make sure their mail was redirected for the summer, their fridge and freezer were empty and make sure they were at the airport in two days time to catch their flight.

She folded up some toilet paper, placing it onto the counter before resting the cup on top of it, then moving to finish up before going on to washing her hands. Her hands weren’t even shaking as he unwrapped each pregnancy test and unfolded the instructions, making sure using this cup was an okay method to do.

One by one, she dipped each test into the solo cup, holding it for the allotted time before resting it back on top of the instructions until all three tests were done. She rid of the cup, pouring it into the toilet before flushing and tossing it into the bathroom trash can, reminding herself to empty it before they went to bed.

She washed her hands one more time before she walked over to the door and opened it to see Matt leaning against the wall just outside of it. “Permission to come into the bathroom now?” He smiled, standing up straight.

“Permission granted smartass,” she laughed softly, rolling her eyes.

“How long does it take for a result?” He asked, leaning against the bathroom counter and looking down at the three tests.

“They’re three different tests,” she said, reaching behind him and grabbing the box, turning it around. “The digital is three minutes, the rapid test is 45 seconds and the early result is a minute.”

“Oh shit,” he huffed, looking at her. “Do you just want to wait the whole three minutes before looking at them all? That way if there’s a mixed result we’ll know?”

“Yeah, that’ll probably be best,” she nodded, crossing her arms as Matt pull out his phone.

“Three minutes starting now,” he said, starting the timer and putting his phone down on the counter before grabbing her hands and leading her out of the bathroom and over to the bed. “And we’re waiting out here so you don’t stress yourself out staring at the timer.”

Matt sat down first, reaching out and holding her hands again as he pulled her closer and she stood between his legs. “What are you thinking about?” He asked, his hands coming up the backs of her thighs.

“Just how I can’t believe I might be pregnant. I’ve never missed a shot, and we’re always careful about having sex near the time period where I’m set to get a new shot.” She sighed, resting her hands on his shoulders before moving them down his back. “And if we do, we use a condom just to be sure.”

“Maybe you’re not pregnant and you’re just stressing yourself out,” he shrugged, tilting his head up at her. “Why do you think you’re pregnant anyway?”

“I was craving a milkshake and fries.”

Matt snorted. “That’s it? All this panic because you wanted a milkshake and fries?”

“It was one of my top cravings when I was pregnant with Ethan,” she pouted, linking her fingers together at the nape of his neck. “But I’ve always been stressed, exhausted, a little achy-“

“You also just wrapped up your first school year here while planning a wedding in St. Louis and I literally had to carry you to bed last week because you fell asleep grading extra credit assignments on the couch.” He laughed, fingers brushing against her thighs. “Maybe your body is just telling you to relax a little and indulge in some sweet and salty treats.”

She slid her left hand down beneath the collar of his shirt, fanning them out across his back as her right hand fiddled with the chain of his necklace. Matt’s gaze still on her own as she sighed. “What are you thinking about?”

“What we’re going to do if you’re pregnant or not,” he said, shrugging.

“And? What’s that?”

“Well, if you are pregnant, then once E goes to sleep we’ll celebrate in our bed,” he smirked, wrapping his hands around her thighs before tugging her onto his lap, her knees on either side of him as he rested his hand on the curves on her ass and placed soft kisses up the side of her neck. “And if you’re not, once E goes to bed we’ll come right back in here and spend all night trying until you are.”

Caroline rolled her eyes, trying to shove him back. “You’re so annoying,” she laughed, trying to wiggle out of his arms as he blew a raspberry against her neck. “Matthew!”

“Might not want to do that,” he laughed, holding her tight in his lap. “I really don’t want to have to walk back out into the living room with a raging boner, where our 10 year old son is currently waiting to finish the show.”

“Speaking of raging boners,” she sighed, leaning back against his arms hugged around her waist. “That book my Dad told me to order? The one that’s by the same Doctor who wrote that care and keeping of you book I had when I was 10, but this one is for boys puberty? It came in the mail and is currently sitting by the front door, waiting for you to open it and present it to your son.”

“Oh, now he’s my son?” Matt laughed, groaning soon after. “Do we really have to? I mean he’s only 10-“

“10 and already needing to wear deodorant, Matthew. Boys start puberty at 11, but can start as early as 9. He hasn’t asked any questions yet, but I think it’s best if you just sit him down one day and go over the book.”

“Why don’t we go over the book, hm?” He smiled, pressing a kiss to her lips. “I’m sure he’ll want the mom support there.”

“I’ve already dealt with 4 year old Ethan asking how to get his penis to go back to being floppy, Matthew. At the breakfast table, with my parents and Andrew sitting there.” She smiled, patting his shoulder. “I’ve done my duties of awkward boner talk, now it’s your duty as his loving and supportive father. Besides, I doubt he’ll be comfortable asking me any questions. He still can’t be around me in his underwear unless he has shorts on.”

Matt pouted, sighing. “Fine. Tomorrow we’ll go out and have a fun guys day before I ruin it with your puberty book. Or I could pull an ultimate embarrassing dad move and do it on the plane,” he smiled.

“That’s guaranteed silent treatment,” she laughed, kissing him. “But Ethan’s pretty good with body talk since my Dad’s a pediatrician and I’ve always answered questions as appropriately as I could whenever he did ask. He just won’t want to talk about it with me.”

“Yeah, well I-“ Matt’s generic iPhone sound erupted from the bathroom, signaling that the timer was done. They both looked over towards the bathroom before back at each other, Matt’s hands moving up towards her lower back. “Are you ready?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, kissing him one more time before sliding off of his lap and standing up on the floor with his assistance. Matt grabbed onto her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers before bringing it up and kissing the back of her hand.

They walked into the bathroom, Caroline stopping just before they reached the tests and turned around, looking at him. “I take one and you take one? Should we pick up all three?”

Matt laughed. “Relax. We’ll each grab one, then, if needed, we’ll pick up the third.”

Caroline nodded, staring at the tests before picking the one up on the left, Matt reaching for the one in the middle as they both looked down for a result. Caroline had picked up the digital test, because her answer was staring right back at her.

YES

“Did you get a defective test?” Matt asked, furrowing his brows. “I thought the lines were supposed to be super faint or something.”

Caroline looked over at his test, seeing the bolded second line before grabbing the last test on the counter and seeing the same result. “No, they’re not defective. That just means I’ve got some serious hCG levels going on.”

“So you’re pregnant?” He asked, looking up from his test.

Caroline nodded, turning the other two towards him and laughing quietly. “I’m pregnant.”

Matt exhaled softly, blinking as he stared at the three positive results before the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile. “You’re pregnant. We’re having a baby.”

[yandere-daydreams]

requests are open!! a yandere little merman please? like the one who gave up his voice to become human to be with his pirate princess darling :3 thank u !!

I never thought I would end up writing about, what is essentially, a gender-bend disney one-shot, but I love desperate mermaids struggling to show their love for their hesitant human Darlings too much to pass this up. Consider this a version of the ‘mermaid drags a drowning royal to land only to discover they’ve fallen in love with the person they think saved them’ trope. I’m a sucker for the classics.

Title: The Little Mermaid.

TW: Violence, Blood, Emotional Manipulation, Mentions of Drowning, Implied Lasting Trauma, and Jealousy. 

~

Rielle liked to visit you, at night.

It’d been a habit since the first day he spent in your palace, when bruises were still spattered across his pale skin and he carried the smell of sea-salt and sand as if it was a second-nature, the latter of which took much longer to fade than the former. You couldn’t say you blamed him. He’d been rattled, and he was still in a state of shock, unable to utter a word about his home, his tragedy, anything beyond a few disjointed syllables you’d been forced to assume were his name. He hadn’t asked to sleep in your bed, nor had the curled up on your rug like a puppy still getting used to its new owner, but he’d tentatively rested his hand on your shoulder and listen to your stuttering attempts to fill the silence until he saw fit to return to his own chambers, thanking you for your time with a smile and a boyish blush. When he’d come back the next night, you hadn’t refused him. You were fond of him, and of his nightly visits, too. And even if you weren’t, he wouldn’t be turned away.

You’d never had the heart for that kind of thing, not when it came to Rielle.

He didn’t even knock, tonight, he didn’t really have to. Even if you were the heir to the throne, your kingdom was small and peaceful, and any guards you employed were more to soothe the minds of your weary parents than out of any genuine paranoia of your own. Rielle slipped in without a sound, only bothering to announce himself with an arm wrapped around your chest and a face buried in the dip of your shoulder, as much of a hug as your chair and desk would allow. He didn’t seem to mind, though, only letting a mess of violent, auburn hair linger in your vision as he slumped against you, the energy he’d had during the day just beginning to fade. It hadn’t been anything out of the ordinary, only a few meetings with your advisors and a trip into town to break up the monotony, but when Rielle clung to your side and approached everything with the same determined, prying amazement, it was hard not to let him take you by the wrist and lead the way, even if that ended in missed appointments and sore feet more often than not. It’d taken as much of a toll on you as it did on him, but while he’d be free to collapse onto the comforter of your bed as soon as he pulled away, you had paperwork to toil over, letters to write and bills to sign and corrections to make to plans you could swear you’d corrected the night before. The work of an heir, not a boy who’d washed up on their kingdom’s shores little more than a week beforehand.

“You couldn’t sleep?” You asked, if only out of formality, because it was what you asked every time he came to visit you. He didn’t try to sleep, not when you weren’t around, not when he couldn’t yawn at the lecture of a councilman or rest his head on your shoulder in the back of a slow-moving carriage. Out of routine, he shook his head, and in a merely performative response, you sighed and reached up, running your fingers through the hair that cascaded over your collarbone, as a result. “I suppose that’s my problem, isn’t it?”

A nod, this time. Non-committal, but in the eager, restrained way that lent credibility towards the contrary interpretation.

“And I suppose I’ll just have to let you distract me until you’re tired?’

This time, he didn’t play at coyness, only squeezing you toward his chest and pulling away, a grin painting itself over his lips as he made himself comfortable propped against your desk, seated on the spot you left unoccupied just for him. He took a moment to survey your arrangement before plucking an unused quill from its inkwell, twirling the tip against the center of his palm and smearing back across his skin. That, in particular, earned a half-hearted frown and a lax effort to wipe the excess on the dark material of his pants, but the inconvenience was forgotten as his eyes found what you were working on - a nearly blank piece of parchment, only a name and scrawled out greeting marring its barren surface. You’d have to start over, but you’d have to figure out how to start, first. Rielle tapped a finger against the corner, leaving an unignorable blot of ink in his wake, but you didn’t scold him for it. You could never get mad at Rielle, not without feeling too guilty to stay mad at him.

“It’s supposed to be a letter,” You explained, leaning back in your seat as you stretched, working the kinks out of your spine. You were empathetic to Reille’s situation, anyone would be, but part of the reason you were willing to offer a supportive hand has to do with a more personal type of sympathy, one that wouldn’t belong to just any shipwrecked man you happened to discover. “While sailing here, about a month ago, my ship was caught in a storm. It was a bad one, too, and… I was thrown overboard. The rest of my crew was alright, but for all they knew, I’d drowned.” You paused, biting down on the side of your cheek, as you always did during this part of the story. You were uninjured, so the incident shouldn’t have bothered you nearly as much as it did, and yet, Rielle’s presence alone was enough to prove that you weren’t fully past it. “I hadn’t, obviously, but by the time I washed ashore, there was more water in my lungs than air. It’s like... those fairy tales about mermaids swimming sailors to land. Have you heard them?”

Rielle winked, gesturing to his chest, and you chuckled. Of course he had, who hadn’t? Every child born along the coast was raised on that kind of story, and you couldn’t say you hadn’t considered it, when you first awoke, delious with fever and desperate for a plausible solution.

“I’m just lucky there was a temple nearby. One of their acolytes had to nurse me back to health. I just…” You trailed off, this time, closing your mouth completely. Rielle rested a hand on your arm, urging you gently to continue. It was all you could do to nod, sending a small smile in his general direction. “He’ll never know how thankful I am,” You admitted. It was more than that, but you couldn’t seem to force yourself to voice what exactly more meant. “I want to make it up to him. I want to show him that I haven’t just forgotten. I… I think I’d like to see him again, if I’m being honest.”

Rielle went tense, and somehow, quieter than he usually was. Curiously, you glanced in his direction, only to wish you hadn’t. He wasn’t grinning, anymore, and his eyes were wide, but they weren’t full of amazement, they weren’t full of anything.

Suddenly, they were empty.

Suddenly, he was empty.

You flinched back, moving to voice your concerns, but for all his naivety and reckless abandon, he’d always been faster than you, always been stronger. In less than a second, his hands were in your hair, his nails digging into your scalp as he rooted you in place. With his free hand, he gestured furiously, but his motions were senseless, frustrated, mad, all sharp angles and pounds at his chest without any meaning to be found. His features contorted, scrunching into something irritated and unpleasant, the kind of ugly seriousness you’d begun to think Rielle wasn’t capable of. Again, you tried to interrupt him, tried to reach out and soothe him, but as soon as your attention shifted away from his abrupt outburst, his grip tightened, clamped down, ripped and clenched and tore until something hot and vibrant was running over his fingers, dripping down his forearm until you could see it pooling on your lap, staining your clothes with a mixture of red and black, blood and wet ink.

Your blood, Rielle’s ink.

That was when you screamed.

You decided that, in the morning, you’d request to have a guard posted outside your door, maybe two, maybe three, if they had that many to spare. Maybe you would, but maybe you wouldn’t. Having guards outside your door probably wouldn’t have made much of a difference, not when the sound was cut off so quickly, your breath hitching in your throat as you were wretched out of your seat, thrown to the floor without a spare moment to catch yourself. It was all you could do to catch your breath, to remember how to inhale as something heavy slotted itself against your chest, lean arms wrapping around your torso as another body settled over yours, holding you, clinging to you, pulling you so close, you could feel Reille’s cold breath against your neck, his warm tears against your skin, a shapeless mess of auburn hovering in the corner of your vision, unwilling to move. Not wanting to move.

You could’ve pushed him away. You wanted to. You were stunned, but you knew you should yell, you should fight, you shouldn’t let him cry into your chest like you’re the one to blame. He’d hurt you, he’d lashed out and he’d hurt you, but...

You could never be mad at Rielle. Above all things, you could never bring yourself to be mad at him, not when you could’ve so easily been in his place.

You’d just have to remember to lock your door, tomorrow.

[illogicalpunkwrites]

The Cave

Long time no see! Sorry it’s been a while. I’ve been in grad school and it’s pretty much sucked the life out of me. But I really missed writing so I figured I could write for my favorite character. Thank you so much for reading! Pairings: Leonard McCoy x Kirk!Reader

*Part two is here

Words: 4.8K

Warnings: injury, fluff, angst (?), swearing, badly written fight scene, Leonard and Reader being stubborn shits, Spock being a cocky shit

Tags: @bloodangelballerina @theweepingvulcan91​ If anyone else would like to be added let me know!

“Captain.” Spock greeted as he caught up to his friend. Jim clapped him on the shoulder. “I must commend you and Commander Kirk on your success in Nuvaruta. Not many would have been able to complete that mission.” 

“Eh, nothing we couldn’t handle. I’m just surprised she didn’t drop the artifact when she got hit!” Jim laughed. 

“Well, it was only a flesh wound. A woman of her position is surely used to it by now. No need to worry about her.” An ensign brushed by Jim, yelping out an apology. 

“She’s still my sister, Spock. Head of security or not, I always worry about her.”

“And captain or not, she will always worry about you.” 

“Well-” They both got quiet when they reached medbay, hearing yelling and seeing Nurse Chapel waiting outside the door, acting like nothing was happening and playing with her nails.

“Nurse Chapel, is everything alright?” Spock asked and she looked up at the science officer. 

“Oh, just the same thing every time Commander Kirk comes back from a mission.” Jim sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“How many times are you gonna be in my damn medbay! I swear you get hurt more in a day than an ensign does in a whole year!” Leonard bit and you rolled your eyes. 

“How many times are you gonna complain every time you see me? I said thank you!” You replied. “You act like I’m ungrateful!”

“No you’re just stubborn as a bull!”

“Pot calling kettle black!” You laughed incredulously. “It’s in my job description to get hurt, it’s in yours to patch me up! But you can’t do that without henpecking at me every damn time!” 

Jim, Spock, and Christine all waited outside. By this point in the mission, they all knew that it was better to just wait it out than to break it up. 

“Henpecking?”

“Yes! I swear you like it when I come in because it gives you something to gripe about!”

“No because you coming in pushes me that much closer to an ulcer! Just get outta my medbay, I got work to do!”

“Gladly!” You walked out of medbay, looking to see the three waiting outside. “Hey.”

“Alright, c’mon. I need your report.” You and Jim walked away, leaving Christine and Spock near medbay. They walked in to see Leonard sitting at his desk with his forehead in his hand. 

“Doctor, are you alright?’ Christine asked and he sighed. 

“Yes, Nurse Chapel. I’m fine.” He replied. “Whaddya need, Spock?”

“I came here with no intention to talk to you, but now it seems I have. I would like to talk to you about Commander Kirk. Why is it that you two argue so much?” The vein in Leonard’s forehead seemed like it was about to pop as he turned to face the Vulcan. 

“Because she’s stubborn and reckless, that’s why!”

“As are you.” Christine looked at Spock with her eyebrows raised and stepped back a bit when Leonard stood up.

“I am not!”

“You are, which is why I am confused. Of course, you are not as reckless as Commander Kirk but you are as much if not more stubborn. You both share a drier sense of humor, both care a great deal about those you work with-”

“What’s your point, Spock?”

“I believe you become irritated when she’s hurt because you care for her. The more she gets hurt, the more irritable you become. There’s a remarkable amount of tension between you two.” Spock clasped his hands behind his back as Leonard walked up to him. “You are simply worried about her and are too stubborn to admit your feelings for her. Meaning it comes out in irritation and rage, making her angry and irritable.” 

“I don’t like her.”

“I think Commander Spock has a point...Doctor.” Christine interjected. “I think you’re also frustrated because you feel like you can’t like her. She is the Captain’s sister after all.”

“Good point, Nurse Chapel.” Spock commended. “It seems that she might be forbidden to our doctor.”

“A forbidden fruit, if you will.” Christine offered and Spock raised an eyebrow at her. Leonard rubbed his temples and she tried to hide her smile from him. 

“Spock, aren’t you needed on the bridge?”

“Oh no, not for some time.”

XXXXXX

Crew-

We are headed down to the planet of Thurilia. It is a barren planet that has not been inhabited in over 100 years but it carries another artifact integral to the Nimbus mission. Don’t mistake it’s barrenness for peace, there are hostile Romulans also looking for the artifact. We must also be wary of dust storms and flying debris from crash landed ships. For this mission I will require Commander Kirk, Commander Spock, and Doctor McCoy.  

“Got everything you need, lass?” You finished attaching your phaser, communicator, and collapsible kali. You missed your regular uniform, all of you required to wear a more suitable and impenetrable to the suffocating dust. It was too bulky for your liking but you knew it was more practical. 

“Ready, Scotty. Just make sure to remember to beam us up.” You clapped his shoulder and jogged over to the teleporter. Of course, the only spot was next to Leonard. “Dr. McCoy.”

“Commander.” You noticed Spock looking over at the two of you and you furrowed your brows at him. 

“Ready, Scotty.” Jim stated. You would never get used to the tingling of the teleporter. It would always be a strange sensation no matter how many times you used it. You all landed on the planet and you wondered if it made Spock feel the least bit homesick. It was a desert, but the sand was purple and the sky always dark. 

“Alright, everyone make sure your masks work. We’ll only have a little bit of warning before a storm kicks in. Lieutenant Uhura will be watching that for us. It gives off a a chemical signature but that’ll be hard to pinpoint with the dust and the crash sites. If you spot any romulans, call for backup and don’t fight them alone.”

“Should we go off in pairs, Captain?”

“I think we should. Might attract less attention and we might find it faster.”

“I shall go with you then, Captain.” You and Leonard’s heads snapped up from your tricorders. 

“Of course, Mr. Spock.” 

“Jim are you sure splitting up is the best idea?” You replied and Jim patted you on the shoulder. 

“Of course. I want you two to go northeast towards the strongest signature. Spock and I will go southwest towards the strongest signature.” The two walked away, leaving you and Leonard standing dumbfounded. 

“That green blooded hobgoblin.” Leonard muttered under his breath as you started following the signature. 

“You comin’ or not?” You called over your shoulder. He jogged up to catch up with you and pulled out his own tricorder. You were both silent, the only sounds coming from the wind and the robes you were wearing flapping. 

“How’s your shoulder?” He asked and you looked over at him quickly.

“It’s much better now, thank you.” He nodded. However, he wasn’t looking where he was stepping and felt his foot sinking down quickly. “Leonard!” The sand felt like it was grappling him, staining his robes a deep purple against the brown. You grabbed his arms and started to pull him out, your feet lacking traction and eventually you resorted to digging your knees in and pulling him along as he kicked. The grip loosened and he fell on top of you, pushing you into the sand. He quickly rolled off of you and panted like a wild dog. 

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, this is why I hate space.” He replied and you chuckled. 

“Welp, gives you one more thing to complain about.” You stood up, dusting off your robes and offered your hand to him. “Watch where you’re stepping.” 

“Yeah, yeah, got it.” He took it and you helped him up. “This place is a death trap.”

“I dunno, I kinda like it.” You responded. “If you look closely, the sand sparkles a bit.”

“I just got a close look, or have you already forgotten?” You rolled your eyes and kept following the signature. 

“You could’ve gotten a closer look had I not been here.” The two of you were silent save for the wind and the beeping of your tricorders. It was so peaceful yet destructive at the same time. No one could possibly live there, it had claimed the lives of so many and had become a resting ground for pieces of space travel. But the silence, the stars, it was beautiful in a way. 

“Commander, Doctor, I’m picking up a storm. Might want to head for cover.” Uhura informed over your communicators. 

“See any structures?” Leonard asked. You squinted down at your tricorder, the sandy wind already picking up. 

“There’s a cave near us, if we hurry we can get there before it gets too bad!” You called back. As you traveled, it became increasingly difficult to move or see. You had to trust your tricorder and stick close to Leonard.

Suddenly, something whizzed by in front of the both of you. 

Then another.

“Hurry!” You called back and grabbed his hand. From what you can guess, pieces of a nearby ship had begun to fly off. Each piece nearly missed you by mere feet. At least for a little bit.

“Ah!” Leonard cried and faltered a bit.

“We’re almost to the cave! I can see it!” You pushed him into the cave and looked to your left. A large piece of metal was bounding right towards you. You yelped and jumped in, right before the metal buried itself in the sand. You stared blankly as you realized it had blocked the entrance save for a small corner at the top. You turned around when you heard Leonard hiss in pain and saw blood soaking his robes. A piece of shrapnel had impaled itself into his side. “Leonard! Are you okay?”

“I’ll be fine!” He snapped and you sighed, pulling back the robes and mask from your face. 

“You lay down, I’m going to get some light in here.” You pulled out your phaser and luckily found a pile of rocks. You shot at them, making them burn a bright red and give off some light. “Where’s your med kit?”

“What?”

“We gotta fix that up. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it. Where’s your medkit?” you unwrapped part of your robes and made a makeshift pillow for him as he pulled out his kit. 

“You sure about this?”

“You got a better idea?” He laid down and rested his head. You cut away at the fabric on the robes and he jumped when it pulled at the piece of shrapnel.

“Be careful!” 

“I’m trying to be, you mule!” You snapped back and he stared at you.

“Did you just call me a mule?”

“A mule that’s gonna tell me how to stitch it up.” He sighed and prepared himself.

“Alright, hit me with the hypospray on the furthest right. That’ll numb it.” You did it quickly. “Now turn whatever’s in there.”

“What?” You yelped. “Turn it.” You did as he asked, wincing as it spun through the flesh slightly. He could still feel a little bit it wasn’t that painful. “Okay it turned, it’s just in my flesh, not a rib. Now pull it out.” “But that’ll make you bleed more.”

“Just do it.” You prepared yourself and quickly yanked it out. He jumped again and winced. “Third hypospray from the right!” You quickly injected it and the bleeding immediately slowed. “Take the device on the top left and do a criss-cross on it.” You did it, watching as the material tightened up and closed the wound. “Now clean it and let’s hope we’re found before it’s infected.” 

“You don’t have a hypospray for that?” He just looked at you, making you roll your eyes. “Are you alright?”

“I will be.” You pulled out your communicator.

“Kirk to Kirk.”

“Kirk here.”

“Doctor McCoy and I are trapped in a cave by a piece of a ship. I’ll send you our location so that you two can come get us when the storm’s over.” “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Doctor McCoy got hit by a piece of shrapnel.”

“I’ll be fine, Jim.” Leonard called out. 

“You two hang tight, we’ll be there as soon as we can.” You took off the rest of your robes, leaving you in a black top and pants. 

“Are you cold?”

“No, I’m fine.” Leonard replied. 

“How many of those numbing hyposprays do you have?”

“One more. I’ll let you know if it gets too bad.” He replied and you nodded. You were both silent as you took inventory of what you had in the cave. You had some emergency stuff but if the storm lasted a while there might be trouble. 

“Thanks.”

“Huh?” You spun your head around and saw Leonard looking at you.

“Thank you, for fixing me up. You did a pretty good job.”

“You’re welcome. I think that’s the first genuine compliment you’ve ever given me.” You smirked and he chuckled. 

“I guess I’ve been a little rough on you.” You sniffed in laughed and sat down next to him, getting close to him and the rock for warmth. 

“A little?” 

“Alright, alright, I get it.” He replied. “I guess I can be a little to hard on you.” You hummed in response. “Y’know you’re not that much of a peach yourself.”

“A georgia peach?” You replied and he rolled his eyes. “Look, I know I’m not the easiest person to work with but you’re not either. And we’re stuck in this cave together until they come and get us. So all we have to do is not kill each other until Jim and Spock come or something comes to kill us.”

“Comforting.” He replied.

“I try.”

XXXXXX

You were busy going through your logs on your PADD, sneaking your eyes over to Leonard every now and then to make sure he was alright. To make the time pass by a little faster, you played music lowly. Of course you two had to argue about what kind of music for a little bit before you just put on some Tchaikovsky. You had some spattered communication with Jim and Spock but the dust storms had picked up too much to the point they had to hole up somewhere too. Last you checked, they were still okay and the doctor had taken his last hypospray.

“So, why did you join up?” You were broken out of your thoughts to see Leonard messing around with a small rock in his hands. 

“Someone’s gotta keep an eye on Jim, might as well be me.”

“That’s it?”

“I don’t really have a more noble or complicated reason. I didn’t really have any other place I wanted to go. Plus I didn’t want to stay in one place too long, I get too antsy. My parents did it, George joined up, Jim joined up, then I did. I get to strategize, protect, travel, and be with Jim at the same time.”

“So it was just the right thing to do?”

“In a sense. I mean, it’s always been me and Jim. I couldn’t imagine not being able to see him for five years. Jim always kept me out of trouble, I kept him from flying too close to the sun.”

“So you’ve always been a pain in the ass?” You genuinely laughed at that. 

“Yeah, I’ve always been a little shit. But I’ve put that energy towards keeping people safe and annoying you. Now I’ve told my story, spill.” He sighed and adjusted himself a little against the ground. 

“Eh, not much to tell. Wife left, I was a doctor that needed to get away, and found myself at star fleet.”

“I’ll never Jim calling me that day and telling me about you. He said you were some hypochondriac that nearly threw up on him in the plane.”

“And Jim told me you were his hot headed sister who couldn’t keep your trap shut.”

“And look where we are now: trapped in the same cave.” You mused. “Wanna play 20 questions?”

“What?” “I don’t know how long we’re gonna be here, might as well pass the time. I’ll go first if you want.” He sighed and nodded his head in agreement. “Alright, what do you miss most about Georgia?” You leaned against the cave wall on the other side of him, crossing your arms across your chest. 

“I know I’ll sound like an old southern gentleman but sitting on a front porch in a rocking chair.” You sniffed in laughter and he looked over at you with an annoyed look.

“Hey, I’m not judging. It does make you sound like an old man. Ask me a question.” He thought for a moment or two.

“What are you afraid of? There has to be something.” You groaned and covered your face. “C’mon!”

“No, you’ll laugh!”

“I won’t laugh, I promise. With what you’ve seen and done, it has to be truly scary.” He reasoned and you shook your head. “Then what is it?”

“It’s...birds. I’m afraid of birds.” There was silence between the two of you. 

“Are we talking geese or-” “Doesn’t matter. I’m deathly afraid of all birds.” When he didn’t say anything else, you looked up from your palm to see his body shaking with laughter. “Hey! You said you wouldn’t laugh!”

“With everything we’ve seen!” “Alright Hercules, other than space what are you most afraid of?”

“Flying.”

“Man you chose the wrong job.”

“Come over here, I can barely hear you.” You rolled your eyes but made your way over to the wall next to him, resuming you previous position.  “What do you miss doing that you can’t do on the Enterprise?”

“I miss cooking. I love to cook and it sucks that we only have replicators. I’m a pretty good chef if I do say so. I make a mean skillet pot pie.”

“That sounds dangerous. I do miss home cooking.”

For the next fourteen questions, you found out a lot about each other. You both enjoy reading in your spare time, both think Jim and Carol should suck it up and go out already, you had the same favorite old tv show, and generally had a lot in common with each other. You told stories about your youth like when you fell of the roof of your grandfather’s barn, when you rescued a stray dog you found in some cornfield in Iowa, and how your father had raised you to become an old movie buff. He told you about med school and the time that he accidentally ate a hallucinogenic plant and was tripping for three days. It seemed like he could be just as reckless as you sometimes. He told stories of before you joined up and the adventures he and Jim were on, how many times he had pretty much saved Jim but didn’t think he did anything special. You would’ve hated to admit it before but you were enjoying getting to know him.

“After Starfleet, what do you want to do?” He asked. At this point, you were laying down next to him, sharing your robes as a pillow. 

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t cop out now.” He chuffed and you shook your head.

“I really don’t know, McCoy. This i pretty much all I’ve ever known. You can go to a hospital or clinic, I don’t know where else to go. I don’t want to be a civilian officer, don’t want to be a body guard to some stuffy politician.”

“You can settle down?” You snorted. 

“Yeah, me, settle down.”

“You don’t want to?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to. Yeah, I want to be married and have kids one day but I just don’t think it’ll happen. I have a difficult job where I get hurt on a daily basis. Not a lot of people can handle that.”

“You’ll find somebody, Kirk. You’re a catch.” You looked over at him with a smirk. “Don’t tell anyone I told you that.” You laughed and propped yourself up on your elbows and looked at the open area at the corner of the cave.

“Last one, what’s one thing you wish you had known more about before today?”

“You.” He answered and you looked down at him. “I used to think you were the most annoying person on the ship. I was always too hard on you and didn’t even try to talk to you without Jim there to keep us calm.”

“Why did we both decide to hate each other?” You laid back down next to him. “Seems like if we weren’t on that ship we would get along well.” You were silent for a little while. “Perhaps we’re both stubborn. I didn’t like you because you didn’t like me. From the first time I got hurt-”

“You’re Jim’s sister. Jim’s my best friend. The first time you got hurt, I felt an even more overwhelming sense of duty. I had to take care of you even more so than my other patients. Not only are you his sister, you protect us with little regard to yourself. You’re only afraid of birds, not death. I know this is all jumbled but...I think I was scared to get to know you because-” You noticed how his speech was becoming slightly slurred.

“That sense of duty would be even stronger.” You were both silent again. “I’m sorry, Leonard.”

“I’m sorry too.”

“How about when we get out of here we share a drink. I’ve got some damn good whiskey I think you’d enjoy.”

“Sounds like a deal.” You shot up when you heard banging at the front of the cave and grabbed your phaser. You slowly made your way to the large piece of metal and heard some talking on the other side. 

“Romulans.” You muttered and hurried back over to Leonard. You cursed when you saw that he had begun sweating again, his skin pale and clammy. “Leonard, listen to me. I have to move you behind the rocks alright?” He nodded as his head lulled to the side. You grasped underneath his arms and began to drag him, noting that the piece of metal was moving slowly in the sand. “Don’t make a sound, alright? I’ll take care of them and we’ll get back to the Enterprise.” You turned to go away and find some cover but her grabbed your hand.

“Wait, Kirk.” You looked back down at him and he squeezed your hand. “Don’t make me patch you up again.” You smiled softly.

“I’ll do my best.” You hurried to a rock on the other side of the cave and waited for the Romulans to breach. It took them a little time but they finally moved the shrapnel enough to get through. You weren’t well versed in linguistics so you couldn’t make out what they were saying. They came over to the rock serving as heat and light and muttered amongst themselves. They knew someone was there. You could hear them growing closer and heard their phasers click off, presumably not to stun. You looked over at Leonard and saw his shaky breathing, you couldn’t let them find him. As they got closer to you, you finally popped over the rock and shot one of them in the knee and the other in the shoulder, stunning them. You sighed and almost went over to Leonard before a shot rang out and grazed past you.

There was one more waiting outside the cave. 

You hurried back behind your rock and thought about what to do. You could try to get some shots out but he had you cornered, he’d easily hit you first. If he got you, then he would get Leonard. He could also easily ambush Jim and Spock. You decided your best option was to wait and try to get the upper hand if he decided to move closer. 

You listened for his footsteps, grating the sand underneath him. If you could disarm him then you would get your chance. He wouldn’t wait for you to surrender, you didn’t wait for them. He was calling out something to you and even with the language barrier you knew he was cursing you out. As soon as you heard him close enough, you leapt over the rock and tackled him. You rolled to the other side of the cave and you tried to smash his hand against the wall so he would drop his phaser. You felt him kick your shin, then kneeing your hip and you cried out. With one last hit, he dropped his phaser but before you could get your shot, he punched your jaw and flipped the two of you over. You tried to shoot again but the shot just went to the rocks above. He now held your wrists in a crushing grip, willing you to let go. You did the only thing you could do and kick for some sort of advantage. You went for his knees, his stomach, any place you could think.  He was starting to get irritated, he was starting to get desperate. He let go of your unarmed hand to grab the knife in his belt and your eyes went wide. You had to act fast. You grabbed the only thing you could, a rock, and hit him in the side of the head. He finally let you go and you scurried away from him, training you phaser on him. You didn’t realize how hard you had hit him and realized he wasn’t going to move any time soon as blood came from his temple.  You hurried back over to Leonard to see that his eyes were drooping. 

“Leonard! Stay with me!”

“Are you hurt?”

“Just bruised, I’m fine. Hang in there, alright? We’ll figure this out!”

“Commander!” You heard a familiar voice call. 

“Spock!” You cried out. “Hurry, we need to get Dr. McCoy out of here.”

“On our way!” Jim yelled back. You looked back over at Leonard and held his hand. 

“C’mon Leonard, we’re almost there.”

XXXXXX

The events on Thurilia changed a lot of things. It was noticed immediately that you and Leonard weren’t bickering as much. Nurse Chapel noticed that the vein in his head wasn’t ready to pop at a moments notice anymore. It didn’t seem as explosive. Of course, there was still an argument after he quickly recovered about her almost getting stabbed but it wasn’t nearly as tense as the others. 

However, that wasn’t the only thing that got the crew talking. 

Leonard was no longer in his uniform. Instead, he was in his civilian clothes that he usually wore once the day was done: a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt from his college days. He walked down the halls of the enterprise late in the night to get to your door, two glasses in his hands. He knocked and the door soon slid open to reveal you in your civilian clothes with a smile: a fleet sweatshirt and a pair of shorts. It was a little shocking for you to see each other out of uniform but it was oddly comforting. It had shown that the time in the cave had done a lot of good. You two visiting each other for a nightcap had become a regular occurrence.

“What movie did you pick?” He asked as he walked in. 

“Princess Bride. It’s a movie from the 1980s.” His eyes widened, still shocked about your movie collection. “It’s got fencing, fighting, torture, revenge, giants, monsters, escapes, true love, miracles!”

“Sounds surprisingly sappy for you.” He chuckled as he poured the drinks. You sat down on your bed with the remote in hand and rolled your eyes. 

“Did you not hear the first part of that?  What with all the violence?” He offered you a glass and you gladly took it. 

“Yeah, yeah I heard you. It sounds great.” He sat down next to you against the headboard and you started the movie. It was a little off-putting how grainy it was but you insisted it added to the charm of the film. The movie continued and Leonard looked down to see the stars in your eyes as you watched. You were absolutely mesmerized by the story and kept telling him facts about the film. He noticed the tightness in his chest and coughed a little, hoping it was just the burn of the whiskey. 

But it didn’t go away. 

XXXXXX

Spock and Uhura watched with wide eyes as they rounded the corner to see Leonard smiling with two glasses in his hand as he walked into your room. 

“Spock, tell me I’m not hallucinating.”

“I believe, ashayam, we are witnessing what you humans call a miracle.” 

[themandhoelorian]

Dincember - December 4: Hot Chocolate

summary: Mando has unique ways of showing his affection for his son, like getting him hyper on too many cups of hot chocolate, but it’s only after a long day of bringing the kid down from his sugar high that you realize Mando has similar ways of showing how much he cares for you.

pairing: din djarin (the mandalorian) x gn!reader

warnings: a caffeine addiction, sleep deprivation, the smallest sexual innuendo, Din being sweeter than hot chocolate, not super well edited ahaha

word count: 3.2k 

a/n: asdfghkldf this is so so late but this week has been long and exhausting (no this fic was definitely NOT me projecting), and I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to write :/. I’m not even really sure this makes sense, but that’s kind of how my brain works when it’s exhausted, so hopefully on some level that’s accurate ahaha 

***

You never understood the appeal of caf until you joined Mando’s crew. 

The first time someone offered you a cup, that one day you showed up to the tiny mechanic shop of your first job with bags under your eyes, complaining about how little sleep you’d gotten the night before, you thought you’d been handed a steaming cup of motor oil by accident instead. 

The dark liquid felt like lava on the roof of your mouth, leaving the taste of bitter ash on your tongue as you willed sip after sip down your throat. It did pull you out of the sleep-deprived fog, but it was more of a jolt in the opposite direction than a gentle tug, your body shooting into overdrive and hands shaking so intensely you burned your fingers on your soldering iron more times than you could count that day. 

After that, you tried to stay away from caf as much as possible. No matter how little you’d slept the night before, how often you were caught staring blankly at the wall instead of untangling a mess of wires, you always refused when you saw a mug of hellfire coming your way. The acrid taste, the jitters, none of it was worth enduring when you just had to make it to closing before you could go home and sleep away the fatigue. 

But now, your full time job is taking care of a child, and every night is a night with too little sleep. You spend your days trying to wrangle a warm, mischievous demon into compliance instead of just manipulating cold scraps of metal, and the kid doesn’t have “closing hours”- not with how violently he reacts to the notion of bedtime- so there’s never a sweet finish line to look forward to at the end of the day. 

You thought you’d known exhaustion before, felt it heavy on your shoulders those months you worked overtime to make ends meet, but that was light years away from what you feel now. The black hole of sleep consumes you as soon as you get the chance to lie down, and when you inevitably wake to the sound of cries a few hours later, it feels like the weight of the galaxy is crushing your lungs, making it nearly impossible to crawl back out of bed.

So after just a few weeks on the Crest, after that one day when you accidentally dozed off watching the kid play and woke to find him sticking a finger into the barrel of a blaster (thankfully Mando had the sense not to keep his weapons loaded on the ship or Maker, that could’ve ended badly), you bought a caf maker on the next planet and forced yourself to chug a cup every morning since.

The taste still sucks, no matter how much cream you’ve tried mixing in, but it doesn’t make you jittery like it used to, the caffeine just enough to keep you awake, and now you don’t know how you ever took care of the little womp rat without it, especially on the days when Mando returns from his hunts and the child bursts with energy to welcome his father home.

Even if it’s only been a couple days since Mando left, you’d think he’d been gone for months with the way they act at seeing each other again. The kid’s just downright ecstatic, dropping whatever part he’s playing with as soon as he hears the hiss of the hull opening and babbling excitedly as he runs into his father’s arms. He’ll follow Mando’s every move for at least an hour after he’s returned, and sometimes, you have to literally pry him from the beskar so Mando can retreat to the cockpit and set the course to the next planet.

And then there’s Mando. He’ll look stoic as ever as he takes the child into his arms, but you can feel how eager he is to reunite with his son, his affection all but spilling out the sides of his armored chest. He’ll never admit it, of course, you’re not sure he’d even be able to find the words to say it if he wanted to, but he finds other ways to show the kid how much he missed him, how deeply he cares about his little foundling.

More often than not, those methods include spoiling the child to no end, giving into the kid’s every desire and providing him with a few moments of pure, unrestrained joy. And more often than not, you’re left with the not-so-simple task of dealing with the consequences of giving the child his every wish, easing him down from the euphoric high and re-establishing that he absolutely cannot expect that kind of indulgence with anyone but his father.

Like one time, Mando stayed awake with him all night long, conceding five more minutes every time the kid whined when he was told it was time for bed. Five minutes quickly turned into hours as they watched the bright mosaic of hyperspace go by, the kid so happy to just sit in Mando’s lap while he spoke in the soothing tones of his people’s tongue. You were only able to pull the child from his father’s arms in the early hours of the morning, all three of you only half conscious at that point, and you spent several cycles trying to get the kid (and yourself) back on a normal sleep schedule.

Or like today, when Mando returned this morning while it was still dark outside, and you woke to the smell of cocoa and peppermint what felt like mere minutes after you’d fallen asleep. When you finally pulled yourself from the bunk, you found Mando sitting next to the child as they sipped on steaming liquid, his helmet tilted back just enough for him to bring the mug to his lips. 

He made the kid hot chocolate, you realized from the way the child threw back his bowl so quickly he left milky brown splotches on his face. Of course. Mando had made a habit of bringing sweets back for his son after he’d once gotten his hands on a chocolate bar you’d splurged on in the market, nearly bouncing off the walls with glee as he devoured the entire thing in seconds. That was a memorable day for all of you: the kid found his new favorite snack, Mando found another way to indulge the child, and you found out that when the kid has sugar in his system, you need caf more than water to survive the day.

So it’s no surprise that several hours and a couple more servings of hot chocolate later, long after Mando’s gone to the cockpit to fly to the next planet, you’re chasing the tiny ball of energy around the hull, running on nothing but an unhealthy amount of caf mixed with a little bit of spite, worried you might collapse before the sugar-fueled monster falls asleep.

You have half a mind to be mad at Mando for getting the kid so hyped up on the decadent drink and inevitably making your job that much harder, but you can’t get the image of them together this morning out of your head, Mando dabbing the mess from the child’s face as giggles bubbled from his tiny mouth. The memory’s shaded with the golden haze of dawn, like those dreams that feel warm and familiar, and you can feel your heart swell re-imagining that moment of perfect bliss, father and son so content just to be with each other and the sweetness in their cups.

And oh, you know you could never be upset at Mando for indulging the kid, creating those little pockets of warmth in a life filled mostly by cold, dead space, no matter how much more work it makes for you. Not when you know that he savors those moments as much as the child, that the days he’s back with his son are the only times he doesn’t have to be tough and menacing and deadly, the Crest the only place he doesn’t have to armor up his feelings just as much as his body.

You’re willing to reign in the kid, be the tough one on the ship, if it means Mando can show his son the softness that lies beneath the beskar, tuck away the sharp edges when he holds the little green menace in his lap. You’re willing to lose weeks of sleep course-correcting after each indulgence if it means he can let the honey of his love ooze thick and messy before he’s off to the next quarry and has to lock his affection behind iron walls again. You’re even willing to drink all the caf in the galaxy, let cup after cup burn bitter down your throat, if it means he can have a moment of peace sipping hot chocolate with his son at the break of dawn. 

You’re more than willing, happy even, to do all that and more for him, especially if it means you can catch glimpses of the man behind the guise of “Mando” in the process, a man whose heart you’ve found yourself wondering more and more about lately, wondering if it might one day beat strong and steady for you the same way it does for the kid.

So no, you’re not mad at Mando, not in the slightest. It’s more that right now you’re worried you might not be physically able to do those things for him, the shorter than usual night of sleep catching up with you faster than you can fight it off with caf. You’re pretty sure it stopped working after your third cup anyway, the additional caffeine just making you dizzy and no more energized, and you don’t know how much longer you can keep up with the child’s pace. You’ve played peekaboo and thrown around his favorite silver ball and even tried to show him how to rewire an old generator (not that you had any luck with that), and he still hasn’t crashed from his sugar high. 

You have no idea what else to do to keep the child busy, and Maker, you’re just so kriffing tired right now, so you’ve resorted to leaning against the door of the weapons closet, floating in that hazy space on the brink of consciousness, using what little of your energy remains to make sure he at least won’t get his hands on a blaster again. 

You’re not even completely sure what the kid’s doing right now, just know he’s somewhere on the other side of the hull, and you can only hope that Mando doesn’t come down here and find you and the kid like this. The last thing you want to do is make him worry, doubt how much you care about his son’s well being, but it’s like he can feel your exhaustion radiating through the ship because the next thing you know, the heavy echoes of his boots fill the hull as he descends the ladder from the cockpit. 

You will yourself to sit up straighter as you hear his footsteps getting louder, locate the child before Mando can, but your body is working on a little bit of a lag, and by the time you actually open your eyes, Mando’s walking past you, the child snoring softly in his arms.

Of course he fell asleep as soon as you took eyes off of him, the little monster.

Mando doesn’t say anything as he tucks the child into his makeshift bed before striding back to the other side of the hull, and some faraway part of your brain tells you to explain yourself or apologize or say kriffing anything at this point, but the inky gravity of sleep is pulling you in deeper with each passing moment, and you can’t be bothered to speak when your eyes are threatening to droop shut again. 

They must have at some point because you don’t remember seeing Mando approach you, but somehow he’s in front of you now, holding a mug out in front of your face. Maker, you must’ve drifted off, long enough for him to decide you needed some help staying awake and make you a cup of caf, and as you reach for it instinctively, bringing the cup to your lips in the trained motion, you can’t decide if it’s just as a thoughtful gesture or a thinly veiled warning for you to actually do your job.

You hum as the warm liquid coats your tongue, deliciously silky and slightly sweet, and it’s only when you swallow, the milky substance gliding down your throat, that you realize-

“This isn’t caf,” you mumble, looking up from the mug to meet Mando’s gaze.

“I never said it was.”

You just stare at him wordlessly, trying to figure out why he made you hot chocolate when it’s not going to make you any more functional. You have no idea how long you sit there thinking, too far gone to even understand the concept of time right now, but it must be a while because he breaks the silence first with a sigh.

“Cyar’ika, you have to stop drinking that crap. It’s not good for you.”

“Need it,” you respond, almost too quickly considering how long it took you to answer him before. Apparently the only thing you can understand in this groggy fog is your caf addiction. “Gonna fall asleep if not.”

“You’re about to anyway. Come on, you need to sleep.”

For some reason you giggle at that, unable to stop the laughter rising through your chest. He’s right, of course, but it just seems so damn funny right now that Mando, who has told you he rarely sleeps when he’s away, who you’ve never seen rest for more than an hour at a time, is telling you that you’re the one that needs sleep.

“You sleep even less than me, Mando. You can’t talk,” you accuse.

He jerks his helmet back in something like disbelief, and you can’t stop yourself from giggling again.

“Well I’m not the one falling asleep on the floor right now,” he counters.

“That’s fair,” you admit. You take a few more sips of the hot chocolate, closing your eyes in pleasure as the warmth floods your veins. Maybe it’s just because you’re so used to the sharp bite of caf, but the sugary drink feels so good, like something comforting and familiar though you can’t quite place your finger on where you recognize it from. It’s almost like you’re wrapped up in the thickest blanket or, even better, by strong arms as you’re lulled to sleep, and you’re not sure that’s what you were thinking of, but you realize that’s exactly what you want right now. 

And then your stupid, half-conscious brain decides to ask for it in the worst way possible.

“How about this, I’ll sleep if you sleep with me.”

You only catch how kriffing suggestive it sounds as the words come tumbling out of your mouth, but then all at once, you’re utterly aware of how much you’ve been embarrassing yourself. First getting caught falling asleep on the job and then accidentally making a very blunt pass at your boss, and Maker, you’re just a whole ass mess today aren’t you? Suddenly you feel very awake, your eyes going wide as you stumble over your words trying to backtrack as quickly as possible.

“Oh stars, I didn’t mean sleep with me, that’s definitely not what I, well, not that I wouldn’t…no, I just- I do need sleep but so do you, even if you’re not actually falling asleep right now, so I was just gonna say that we should both-”

But then your rambling is cut off by a chuckle coming from the modulator, his voice light and playful in a way you’ve never heard before.

If you weren’t so kriffing worried about what he was thinking about you right now, you might’ve thought it was the sweetest thing you’ve ever heard.

“I know what you meant, cyar’ika,” he says. 

Oh, thank Maker, you think, waves of something like relief washing warm over your body. You’re not quite sure how he can understand what it is you want when you can’t even articulate it yourself, but your brain is still too foggy to care, deciding it doesn’t really matter how he knows you so well, just that he does.

Mando eases the mug from your hands, the worn leather of his gloves brushing lightly over your knuckles. You whine in protest as he steals the liquid comfort from your fingers, but it’s quickly replaced by his hands wrapping around yours to help you off the ground.

“I’ll make you more tomorrow,” he assures you, his voice as velvety as the drink he just took from your grasp. “But now, we need to sleep.”

We, not you. 

You barely catch the distinction as he leads you to the bunk while his thumb rubs soothing circles on your lower back, but it just leaves you even more confused in your sleepy daze. You didn’t think he was actually going to entertain your suggestion, even if he did take it in the more innocent way, and when you crawl into the bunk and he doesn’t follow, you think maybe you just misheard him.

But as you close your eyes, your exhaustion starting to pull you away from reality again, you hear the clang of metal on metal behind you, and a gentle tap on your calf halts your descent into the stillness of sleep as Mando climbs into the bunk next to you.

It’s only after he shuts the door, when your body is pressed to his so you both fit in the tiny space, that you realize he’s taken his armor off, the first time he’s ever done so in front of you. You can’t see him at all in the darkness of the bunk, you’re not sure you could even open your eyes again at this point anyway, but even in your delirium you can grasp the weight of how vulnerable he’s making himself right now, letting you run your fingers lazily across the tight muscles of his bicep and rest your head against his broad chest.

And once again, you’re overcome by the feeling of something pleasant and vaguely familiar, your heart swelling the same way it did when you first saw Mando and the child this morning, the same warmth in your veins as the first sip of hot chocolate. You couldn’t quite place it before, but for some reason, as you listen to the way his heart beats strong and steady against you, you think you finally recognize it, the way Mando’s been making you feel all day, the reason he knew exactly what you needed before you could even realize it yourself.

It’s just a hazy flash in the moment before the black hole of sleep finally consumes you, an inkling of a breakthrough you may or not remember tomorrow, but you think this feeling, the acrid taste of caf replaced by smooth chocolate on your tongue, a strong body turned soft as it’s molded to yours, has a four letter name you thought you and Mando only saved for the child.

Maybe that’s why you’re learning to use it for each other too.

[mugichaaaa]

Crash Landing on You [Part 1] Hunter x reader

Chapter 1

Author’s note: So decided to try out x reader and idk how well I’m doing it… this was also 6 pages long

Word count: 2439

A quiet night rained over your home planet, the soft winds gently pushed the grass of the plains to one side to the other.  In the middle of the plains a small cottage lays there. Surrounded by the woods the empty plains bring peace to you. The soft winds shaking the windows echoed through your small cottage. Soft warm light hugged your face as you stirred your warm milk enjoying the night. Once finished you walk away from the kitchen and enter to your small living room. Settling down on your plush couch putting on an old romcom holovids to finish the peaceful night. 

As the romcom holovids plays in the background, you slowly dozed off hoping to end your day in peace. 

Silence. Silence as the romcom ended. 

Suddenly, you're woken up by a loud sound. The ground shook as “something” hit the surface of your planet. You fell to the floor. The ground shook so hard that items were falling off their shelves or tables. As soon as you recovered from the shock you slowly looked out the window. Suddenly the pitch black night turned into a bright orange hue. Something has crashed. Seeing the flames around your farm, immediately your gut screams at you to check it out. What if it was ship that crashed? Maybe someone is injured? Why is this happening? I know this is a stereotypical horror holovid trope but what if? Not knowing if their sepertist or not, you grabbed your blaster for safety and a small flashlight for light. With a deep breath you headed out to your now flaming farm…

Bad Batch POV

Dogfights are always thrilling for the Bad Batch. The absolute rush of excitement when destroying Vulture Droids that got in their way was the best feeling. Tech was weaving in and out of blaster fire, Hunter manning the guns aiming for the Vulture Droids alongside Crosshair, while Wrecker was helping Tech in co-piloting. 

“HAHA!” Wrecker yelled out seeing all the Vulture Droids destroyed around them. 

A smile plastered on Hunter’s face hearing the excitement in his brother’s voice. Shooting down the squad of Vulture Droids was easy enough for them, but there was this one lone Vulture Droid. Hunter saw it, and the Vulture Droid came a little too close for comfort. Hunter called it out trying to get Tech to get out of the way. The Vulture Droids took out the back gun, which in turn caused the control panel to short circuit. A loud thud echoed causing Crosshair to look back. 

“Hunter?!” Crosshair yelled seeing his Sergeant slumped over the panel. Tech looked back seeing the condition of Hunter. 

“Kriff, We lost the engines we’re going down!” Wrecker yelled out. 

Tech didn’t pay attention to what Wrecker said all went through his head was Hunter’s safety. Tech appeared at Crosshairs side who was cradling Hunter trying to stop the bleeding. As soon as Crosshair sees Tech appear at his side, Crosshair runs over to the pilot seat with Wrecker trying to get the Havoc Marauder stabilized. Time seems to spot at the moment. 

“We’ve breached the planet system” Wrecker called back to Tech who was still busy taking care of Hunter. Tech looked around the ship, seeing the incoming planet come closer and closer. As they entered the atmosphere of the planet. The pitch black void swallowing the Havoc Marauder.  With a last ditch effort Wrecker and Crosshair tried to pull the nose up to lessen the impact. Allowing the Havoc Marauder to skid across the black void of the planet. 

Wrecker kicked down the door helping Hunter off the ship, with Tech and Crosshair close behind. Wrecker carefully set down Hunter on what is now seen as plush grass. Once everyone was accounted for the Bad Batchers all took a sigh or relief and collapsed on the plush grass. 

The small peace of quiet was easily enjoyed, Crosshair stared at the sky seeing the many stars littering the sky. Tech was too busy tending to Hunter’s wound to worry about his own. While Wrecker was enjoying the soft grass, rolling around letting the grass tickle his face.  The sound of the fire surrounding the Havoc Marauder filling up the quiet sound of the planet. The peace was calming. 

Hunter shot up heavy breathing looking around. Scanning the orange hue field. “Hunter, relax, you're severely injured. You have to rest.” Tech placed a stern hand on his shoulder trying to make him lay down. 

“No… someone is coming… I can hear it” Hunter grunts looking around trying to see where the sound is coming from. This comment alerts the rest of the Batchers who grab their respective weapon. Aiming at the flamed field. That was until Crosshair pointed out a small light coming their way. Aiming their blasters towards said light, waiting for them to come closer. 

As soon as the light came close for Crosshairs sniper range. Tech called out, “Stop right there, don’t move!” The light stopped moving. 

You made your way through the fields making sure to avoid the small patches of fire littered around. Shining your lights around you were able to make out a tip of a ship. A ship that’s where I’ll start!, you thought, moving your way there. As you got closer and closer to the ship, you could make out more of the ship. You could see the cockpit. But there was no pilot. Before you got any closer a voice pierce through the quiet night. 

“Stop right there, don’t move!” The voice called out. The voice was so sudden and the tone of the voice made you completely froze in place. While frozen in place so many thoughts ran through your head, are they pirates? Did you happen to stumble onto something you weren’t supposed to see? Is this where you die? All these thoughts screaming at you to run back to your house and call someone for help, but your gut had others plan. 

“Are you okay?!” you called out. Oh great this is where you die, you thought. You raised your blaster aiming it in front of you. When you finally were able to see the source of the voice, you were met with about 4 blasters pointed in your way. You saw the men slowly glance at each other before lowering their blasters. In an act of kindness you lowered your blaster as well. 

There was a small awkward silence, you took in the group in front of you. A sniper, great I really could’ve died you thought. One thing you did notice is that they had armor. Mandolorians? No, we're too far from Madolore. Or maybe it’s the republic? No no they don’t have the classic white armor like the clone troopers. Plus they don’t even look like clones,you thought. The silence was interrupted with a loud groan. All attention snapped to the one member on the floor. 

“Hunter” One of them with strange looking glasses warned. Without thinking, you quickly ran to the other side of the injured men shining your light on his body checking for how bad the injuries are. 

“His injuries look serious, he'll need to be properly treated…” you look up meeting eye contact with the one with strange looking glasses noticing the cuts around their face, “and it seems like you and the rest of your crew needs to be treated as well” You got up patting yourself down. 

“I have a med kit at my house, you can treat your wounded member there” You offered. 

“I don’t know...it would be-” 

“We would love to!” The other member bigger than the rest chimed in. The one with strange glasses tried to protest but ultimately failed. 

The bigger member picked up the injured member, while the one with glasses grabbed what little was left of their items. While walking back to your cottage you were able to get the names of two of them. The one with the strange glasses was named Tech while the other bigger looking man was called Wrecker. The last member didn’t say anything. 

When they entered the house, they were astonished by the interior of your cottage. You guided them to your small living room. Entering your living room Wrecker gently laid the wounded member on the couch, Wrecker started removing his armor to access his wounds. Once you know that Wrecker will be okay you led Tech to the back of  your cottage to grab the med kit.

It was a silence search, Tech just kept to himself while looking for the med kit. You really wanted to ask him questions about him and his men. But the shyness in you really didn’t want to ask someone about their personal life. So you just kept it to yourself and keep looking for the med kit 

Tech was the first to break the silence, “Thank you for helping us, really,” Tech said, reaching the top shelf looking for the Med Kit.

“It's nothing, my parents always taught me to be kind to those in need” You smiled looking around the lower shelf. 

“It must be nice to have caring parents” Tech mumbled, you could barely hear it. 

“Aha, found it!” Tech exclaimed grabbing deep in the shelf, revealing a wooden box with a med kit symbol on it. You got up meeting up with Tech, looking inside to make sure it truly was the med kit. Once it was confirmed it was the med kit, you both nod and headed back to the rest of Tech’s crew. 

While walking back to the living room, although a short journey, Tech started to chat with you. 

“I never happened to catch your name, may I have the honor of knowing your name?” Tech asked. 

“(y/n), my name (y/n)” You responded as you opened the door to the living room. 

“Well it’s very nice to meet you (y/n)” 

When you two return, the one silent member nudged Wrecker, making him look up. As soon as he saw you with the med kit he gave a big smile. Wrecker took the medkit out of your hands and looked inside for the bacta. When he found it, Wrecker lifted the injured member’s black clothing revealing the wound and started to apply the bacta. The wound looked horrible. It must hurt a lot. 

When you saw Wrecker and Tech work on the injured member, and that they would be okay on their own, you walked to your kitchen thinking who these men could be. Why did they crash in your backyard? As you were thinking about these questions you grabbed three small bowls. You looked through your pantry finding something to give them. You found a bag of crackers your mom made, setting them on the bowl and pouring out fresh cream cheese. While you were setting up the bowls,  you were greeted by an unfamiliar presence. Scared you quickly turn around, only to be greeted by a Tall man, the only member who never talked. 

“Oh! Is there anything you might need?” You asked, stepping closer to him. He shook his head while looking around at your kitchen. 

“Here,  I thought you guys might be hungry so I made you guys some snacks” You handed him the plate. Before he could say anything you head over to the living room. 

“Thank you?” 

You made your way to the living room, avoiding all the medical supplies littered around your floor. You set the two bowls down on the coffee table. Once Wrecker finished bandaging the wounds, he immediately started to eat the snacks, complimenting you on how good these were.

“Guessing from the somewhat burning ship outside of my backyard, you guys need a place to stay?” You asked facing towards Tech. 

“Yes, but we overspent our welcome. We'll leave once our sergeant's wounds are somewhat healed” Tech responded while eating the crackers you gave him. 

“WHAT?! No that won’t do,” you looked out the window seeing your barn through the orange hues, “I’ve decided you all shall stay here till you are all fit and ready!” You smiled triumphant hoping for a round of applause. That didn’t come. 

“We don’t want to intrude” Tech spoke first. 

“Yeah you were already kind to us, we didn’t want to bother you more” Wrecker spoke next. 

“It’ll be rude,” the final one said. 

“No no no, don’t worry about it! If you're really worried about it, I have a barn in the back you can sleep in”  You proposed. This turned gears in all of their heads. They all whispered to each trying to come to an agreement. Once one is made, they all turn to you.

“Are you SURE sure?” Wrecker whispered

“Yes I'm SURE sure” you whispered back. 

“If it’s really okay with you,” Tech took a minute and then sighed,  we’ll take up your offer” 

“That’s lovely to hear, the barns out back and you can make yourself at home” You pointed out to the small barn close to your house. 

“Thank you (y/n)” 

Tech, Wrecker and the silent man all got up, grabbed their stuff that was neatly placed on the floor, thanked you for your generosity, and headed out to the barn. Now you were left with you and the injured member. 

You slowly turned around to see the injured man sleeping peacefully. You were able to fully take in what the injured member looked like. His hair scattered around his face. You leaned closer to see the tattoo that seems to take up half of his face. As you lean in a little close, you were greeted by dark brown eyes. The injured man jerked up bonking your forehead in the process.

“Ow ow ow…” You muttered, rubbing your forehead. 

“Who are you and where are my brothers-” The man spoke, but was cut off when he took in his surroundings. After looking around a bit finally landing on you, his stare lingered on a little bit. 

“Well I’m (y/n), and your brothers are fine and not injured” You smiled. The injured man tried to get up but failed due to the intense pain. You walked over and gently laid your hands on top of his settling him back down on the couch. 

“But you on the other hand… need some rest” you said. The injured man looked down at your hand that was gently placed on top of his. 

“I guess you're right cyar’ika” He smirked. 

[deafeninggardenerpanda]

Kirby and his friends vigorously climbed into the small boat. King Dedede, crammed into a small seat, immediately after departure, was incessantly complaining.

“Hey fuzzball, give me some space,” the king shouted to Rick, who was sitting right next to him, “it’s too hot in here!!”

In spite of the complaining, Rick, full of determination, didn’t flinch in the slightest.

“What? Who’re you calling fuzzy? My fur is known for being the shiniest in the Rainbow Islands!”

“I don’t care. Anywho, it’s way too hot in these small, cramped seats. Meta Knight, couldn’t you have prepared a ship that was just a little bit bigger?”

“The size of a small boat has its perks,” Meta Knight coolly answered, sitting in the spacious cockpit, “it’s more difficult for your enemies to spot you because you are able to move more quickly, which is very important. Actually, this small boat was made as a three-seater.”

Meta Knight looked back at the seats behind him. Behind the captain’s seat, there were only two seats. Since King Dedede, Kirby, Rick, Kine, Coo, and Pirka were seated there, they were, of course, cramped together.

“You’ve got seven people sitting in a small three-seater boat!” King Dedede said, seemingly-fed up. “Rick, Kine, Coo! You guys keep squishing the rest of us. I’m enough to take out the bad guy-”

Rick shook his head.

“Not a chance! This is a problem dealing with the Rainbow Islands. Thanks for coming to help us, but we’re not just gonna stand around while you do all the work!”

“....................”

Kine shook his dorsal fin to express agreement. He couldn’t talk because he was holding Kirby in his mouth. For the sake of having more space, Kirby fit inside his large mouth.

“Humph, you two are acting all self-important,” King Dedede said with a sour look, “but you just wanna show off to your wife and girlfriend anyway. I can see right through you.”

“Wh-What did you just say!?”

Having apparently been right on the mark, Rick waved his limbs around in confusion.

“Th-That’s not what we’re trying to do!! At this point, even if we were, Pick already knows how good I look!”

“...................!!!”

Kine shook his dorsal fin, sitting. As Kine was unable to say anything, Kirby spoke instead:

“It doesn’t matter what they’re doing this for! The more the merrier. Eating and playing are way more fun when you do it with others!”

“For goodness sake, we’re not going there to play,” Coo said, exasperated. He was resting on top of Kine’s head. “We’re going there to catch the evildoer above the clouds. We mustn’t be so careless.”

“Um, I agree,” Pirka said, calling out to Kirby and the others, “there’s only one enemy to face, but it is very strong, to a barbarous extent. Everyone, please be careful not to get hurt.”

“We’ll be fine, it’ll all be fine!” Kirby said in a happy-go-lucky voice.

“We are going to arrive soon,” Meta Knight said, still sitting in the cockpit, “There’s a chance that the enemy that attacked Pirka will suddenly attack us as well.”

“Everyone, be careful.”

“Got it!” the group said together. Before long, the small boat steadily flew above the clouds. At last, the group had arrived at the world above the clouds, with Meta Knight standing at the lead as they got down. Though it only looked like a small cloud from the ground, as they tried to get down, it was so spacious they could not see the edge.

“Where’s the bad guy?” Rick asked as he looked around the place. “Things seem peaceful here, but-”

“Mm- mGYAAAAA!!” Kine screamed in an odd voice, spitting Kirby out of his mouth. Kirby was sent rolling. When he stopped, he looked back at Kine and complained:

“Jeez, Kine!! You could’ve warned me before you spat me out!!”

Rick laughed.

“There’s no way he would’ve been able to say anything to warn you, y’know? You were in his mouth, after all.”

“Oh, really?”

“It’s true~!”, Kine said, happy that his mouth was finally free, “hey, where’s that nice smell coming from?”

“A smell?”

Kirby stood up on the tips of his feet and tried to smell the air.

“What kind of smell? Cake? Or meat? Spaghetti? Ramen?”

“Nothing like that. Way, way better... It’s the smell of water!” Kine said, wiggling his tail fin.

“Water?”

Rick’s small nose twitched. He shook his head.

“But I don’t smell anything.”

“I understand. Follow me~!”

Kine proceeded glidingly, as if he were swimming in the air.

“Kine, you’re right,” Pirka said, “the lake is in that direction.”

She spread her wings and lightly flew. As the group chased after Kine, Meta Knight asked:

“Pirka, tell me about the dangerous creature that attacked you. What was it like?”

“Very creepy-looking.”

Pirka’s voice trembled.

“It was round, about the same size as Kirby. Its body was dark blue. It didn’t have any arms or legs, and it attacked by using its long tongue to lick me. I didn’t understand where it was looking, but it had a strange look in its eyes… It was truly terrifying.”

“That sounds really scary~!”

Kine trembled.

“It was round, dark blue, with no limbs, long tongue… strange creature,” Rick muttered with a serious look on his face, “who was it?”

“Round, dark blue,” Kirby pondered, “licking… licking… huh? What? Wait a sec!”

Kirby, having come to a sudden realization, was dumbfounded. At the same time, Coo realized.

“That creature, perhaps-”

“There it is!” Pirka shouted. “Look, it’s the lake!”

A large lake was laid out ahead. On the shore, there was a large tree growing, bearing dull purple fruits. It was an unlikely scene above the clouds. Kine cheered:

“Hurray, clean water! It looks so good~!” Immediately, Kine jumped into the lake, but, suddenly, something moved to stop him. Kine stared in awe.

“Huh? Over there, could it be…”

Before Kine’s eyes, a strange creature stood. Its body was round and dark blue. It had no limbs, and swung its long tongue left and right. It bounced up and down, as if it were playing.

“Eek!” Pirka shrieked. “That’s it! The creature! Everyone, be careful!”

“I knew it,” Kirby said, taken aback, “that’s Gooey! The weird creature Pirka told us about was Gooey!”

“He’s right!” Rick said, also astonished, “What's someone like Gooey doing in a place like this?”

Pirka, turning pale, stared at Kirby and the others.

“Kirby, everyone, do you, by any chance, know it...?”

“Yeah. He’s a friend!”

“No way!”

Pirka backed away from them, seeming horrified.

“Pirka,” Rick said, “there’s no need to be scared. Gooey’s not evil. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but he’s a fun guy.”

“But he attacked me!”

“Nuh-uh,” Kirby said, “I bet Gooey just wanted to play with you!”

“That’s not the case. He attacked me with that long tongue of his. Moreover… look!”

Pirka pointed at the lake.

“See those piled-up stones over there? He put them there!”

Exactly as Pirka said, there were stones piled up in one part of the lake.

“The water of this lake has a mechanism of falling from there to the ground below. However, by piling up those stones, he dammed up the water, causing it to stop raining!”

Rick shook his head.

“This has to be a misunderstanding! There’s no way Gooey would do something like that!”

“But-”

“Anyways,” Kirby interjected, “let’s hear what Gooey has to say about this! HEY, GOOEY!!!”

Kirby shouted in a loud voice, waving his arms. Noticing Kirby’s voice, Gooey started to approach the group. Pirka hid behind Kirby as she trembled.

“He’s coming this way!! Be careful, Kirby!! He’s going to attack you with his tongue!!”

“It’ll be fiiiiine!”

However, it was at that moment that Gooey stopped, then turned to face Kirby. Then, suddenly, Gooey stretched out his tongue and attacked!

“WHA-?!”

Kirby was confused.

However, Pirka, who had been quivering behind Kirby, couldn’t dodge it in time. Whipped by Gooey’s tongue, Pirka was knocked down.

“EEEEEEEEEEEK!!!”

Pirka had been sent flying in the air, then fell down on her back.

“What are you doing?!”

Now with a shocked expression, King Dedede, grasping his hammer, charged toward Gooey.

“You must’ve gone mad, you googly-eyed blob!! Why would you do such a thing!?”

The king jumped at Gooey and swung his hammer. Gooey dodged the attack with ease, then, once again, stretched out his tongue, not at king Dedede, but instead at Pirka, who had collapsed.

“Danger!”

In the nick of time, Meta Knight picked up Pirka and jumped out of the way.

“Gooey, stop!!” Rick screamed. “Why are you doing this?!”

However, Gooey wouldn’t respond.

“He’s after Pirka~!” Kine said, shaking his dorsal fin. “But why?”

“Maybe it’s because I tried to destroy the stones,” Pirka said, breathing heavily, “that must be why he hates me so much!”

“No way, Gooey would never-”

However, not seeming to care for what anyone had to say, Gooey kept attacking. Once again, he stretched out his tongue and tried to attack Pirka.

“He doesn’t seem to be listening,” Meta Knight yelled, covering Pirka with his cape, “if this continues, I’ll just fight. Kirby, Dedede, are you two ready?”

“Of course!”

King Dedede clutched his hammer, full of rage. However, Kirby could not be ready. Gooey was one of his best friends.

“I don’t wanna fight!!” Kirby said earnestly. “This isn’t normal!! Gooey just wants to play, no doubt!!”

However, as if to ridicule Kirby, Gooey’s attacks grew more intense.

“That is what you consider ‘play?’ Get a grip, Kirby!” Meta Knight yelled. Kirby could no longer say anything. There was no way Gooey’s behavior was meant to be playful.

“Gooey!! What’s going on?! Tell me!! Why are you doing this?!”

Gooey wouldn’t answer Kirby’s questions. For some reason, he didn't seem to care. Without a word, he simply turned to hostility. At that point, Kirby had no choice but to give up.

“Let’s get out of here!” Kirby screamed, turning away from Gooey.

“Get out of here?” Rick asked with a surprised voice. “This isn’t a joke, Kirby. We need to work together to stop Gooey!”

It was exactly as Rick said: Gooey was all by himself. If Kirby and his friends got serious, they would be able to defeat him. That’s why Kirby didn’t want to fight. Kirby didn’t want to gang up on Gooey with the others and attack him, or anything of the sort.

“I’m running away!”

Kirby grabbed Pirka by the hand and started to run.

“Everyone, follow Kirby,” Coo shouted, flapping his wings on a grand scale, “now is not the time to fight!”

“Why!?”

Rick glared at Coo, appearing irritated.

“If we fight, we can win!”

“Our goal isn’t to win. Gooey has simply lost his mind. Nothing will come of attacking him!”

“If that’s the case, then I’ll knock his senses back into him with my hammer!” King Dedede yelled, filled with fighting spirit. Meta Knight, with his treasured sword Galaxia, was about to slash Gooey at any moment. Coo raised his voice:

“Stop it! If we fight, we’re going to get hurt. Not only that, but this has left us utterly distant from Gooey! Our friendship with him has been torn!”

Kine, hearing this, panicked.

“Distant?! Does that mean we might not be friends with Gooey anymore?! I don’t want that at all~!”

“Therefore, we should get going!”

Rick and Kine nodded their heads. Meta Knight lowered his sword. King Dedede, reluctantly, lowered his hammer. They all turned their backs on Gooey and started running.

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[villainess-apologist]

island

fandom: will & grace

ship: karen/grace

summary: karen walker is an island, or so she seems, but there are many things hidden beneath the mask she always wears. one day, an argument with grace brings all secrets to the surface, even ones that could ruin their friendship.

read it on ao3!

~~~

“sometimes I’m not even sure you like us,” grace says at work one day, shattering the peace with a few out of the blue words. 

to tell the truth, karen wasn’t really paying much attention to her boss as she rambled on about her boyfriend, or wilma, or somebody, but those words caught her attention, pulling her away from the magazine she was flipping through. karen looks up at grace, tilting her head to the side. “what?”

“well, I mean, I was just thinking about the other day, when you insulted will’s shoes and laughed for a solid three minutes and twenty-six seconds. I counted. you can just be, well,” grace says, “really mean. it feels like you just hang around us to have people to make fun of.”  

a weird emotion rises in karen’s chest that she can’t really place, and she sets down her magazine. “honey, do you mean that? is that really what you think of me?” hearing those words from grace hurts more than anything stan ever said to her, but she’s not going to cry. not about this, not over some girl who doesn’t have the critical thinking skills to dress herself properly, let alone understand why someone would build up walls and pretend to be mean when beneath the surface is just. just. just karen. just a vulnerable girl. 

“well,” grace says, and she thinks she’s completely in the right, you can tell. karen can tell. there’s this lift in grace’s voice that means she feels superior, but she doesn’t think karen pays enough attention to know these kinds of things. she’s wrong. “it’s just that you don’t seem to need us.” grace shrugs, still focused on the paper on the table. “I mean, isn’t karen walker an island?”

she laughs, because what else is there to do? “oh, lord, honey, is that how I seem?”

“karen. those are your words. I’ve heard you say them multiple times.”

“and you believed me?” karen asks too fast, her voice too soft, too vulnerable. she turns away, reaching for the cool glass of her drink as grace turns to stare at her. and she continues to stare at karen even as she gulps down the drink.

“isn’t it the truth?”

she smiles, a trace of sadness lighting across the red curve of her lipstick. “oh, honey…” karen sighs, and her gaze cuts over to the beautiful redhead, to the curious look on her face, to the horrible puffy blouse she’s wearing, to grace. her grace. but the sadness written on her face disappears in an instant when karen grins. “speaking of islands, land ho, matey!” she tosses her head back and laughs to try to feel more like herself again, to feel like the version of herself that she likes, to force herself back into some place of normalcy.

but grace doesn’t flinch. she doesn’t glance down at her blouse, uncertainty doesn’t fill her eyes. instead, there is a curious look within them. “karen?” she asks, taking a step toward her assistant. “what’s the matter?” 

“the matter with what, gracie?” she asks innocently, as if she doesn’t feel grace’s piercing stare on her skin. a feeling is bubbling up inside of karen, a desire to let grace in. to break down a wall, or at least part of one, and allow grace to see her like no one had seen her in years, not even her husband when they were still pretending their marriage worked. especially not her husband. it was grace, after all. the girl who made karen feel alive, who had caused her heart to beat again, who had lit a feeling in karen’s soul that hadn’t been felt since she married stan. 

but. but, then again, didn’t grace already have too much of her? didn’t she hold too much of karen’s aching heart in her hands, without even knowing?

it would be better if karen kept her distance, if she became the island that grace thought she was. but grace continues to walk toward her, a determined scowl on her face, and karen could never escape from her when she’s looking at her like that. 

“karen,” grace says again, and her tone is deadly serious.

she sighs. “oh, honey, come on! I’m hardly ever serious. everybody needs someone, and-” and you’re that person for me, she wants to say, but she doesn’t. “and god knows that person isn’t stan! not anymore! not that he ever really was,” karen says.

grace is standing right in front of her desk now, and karen can’t breathe. “listen, kare, I’m- I know that we’re important to you, but sometimes it’s hard to believe it, and-”

“I told you I was lonely,” karen snaps, her tone sharp and broken. “when stan was in prison, I told you, but you didn’t really listen, hmm?”

her eyes grow wide. “after- after nathan dumped me?” grace pauses, furrowing her eyebrows. “I could barely think after that. god, I was still so in love with him.” 

karen almost screams, almost pours her heart out right there. she almost tells grace everything, but she holds her tongue. “still, how can you say I don’t need you? and jackie, and, lord, even will sometimes. especially now, after the divorce.”

“you’re just so-” grace stops and looks at karen helplessly. “you know how you can be. like you said, you’re hardly ever serious, and I never know when you’re joking or actually hurting. and I wish-” she cuts off, breaking eye contact. “I wish you’d be more serious with me sometimes.”

karen lets out a dry laugh, running her finger along the edge of her glass. “believe me, I would love that.”

“then why don’t you, karen? come on, we’re friends, you can tell me anything-”

“but I can’t really be honest about everything, now can I?” she says, sharply setting her glass on the desk and standing up abruptly. she closes the distance between her and grace, and karen is so tired of pretending. “we’re friends, but if I say anything that ruins what we have, then I’m screwed.” karen laughs, looking up at grace’s face.

“what do you-”

“grace,” karen says, drawing out the name with a long sigh. “you have will. you’ll always have will. it seems like our entire friend group is based off your marriage, and you know as well as I that if something happens between us, and we fall apart, then I’ll be-” karen breaks off, a flash of hurt crossing her face, and she avoids grace’s stare. “I’ll be the one cut out, and I honestly don’t know if I can deal with that right now.”

grace takes another step forward. “what are you talking about?” 

her breath is warm, her eyes are soft, but karen juts out her chin. “you have no idea,” she breathes, “how much I rely on this. on you, grace adler. what would I do if I ruined it?”

“we’re friends,” grace repeats. “I really mean it, kare, you can tell me anything. it won’t change us.”

but karen just shakes her head. “lord, honey, don’t you understand? what if the things I wanted to say to you would send you running for the hills? back to will, back to safety- away from me. because I know how I feel. and sometimes I can almost imagine that you feel the same, but- I-”

“you what?”

karen pauses, wishing her drink was back in her hands but unwilling to turn away from grace. maybe if would be better if this conversation never happened, if they could just forget about the entire thing. finally, she asks, “can we just drop it?”

“no, we can’t,” grace says, furrowing her brow. she tilts her head, a question in her eyes. “if this is about… about not really liking leo, or something like that-”

karen purses her lips. “I don’t like leo.”

“oh.” grace blinks. “well, I don’t think you’ve really had a chance to get to know him yet- but anyway- that doesn’t matter,” she says, her voice soft. “you never like my boyfriends. if that doesn’t mess up our- our weird friendship, then what can?”

and grace is very close now. only a few inches separate their faces because, of course, personal space has never been a concept in this office. because why would it bother grace? why would it bother karen? and she briefly considers just covering everything up with a joke or a lie, anything to avoid the way she feels about grace. but a part of karen feels sick at the idea of walking away from grace when the truth lay just beneath the surface, and, god, she was tired. of hiding. of keeping her feelings secret.

and so, with gentle hands, karen reaches up to touch grace’s cheek, her fingers brushing against warm skin. she leans closer, almost completely closing the distance between them, and grace doesn’t pull away out of her reach. karen meets her gaze in a silent question, and grace gives the barest of nods, her eyes questioning. and then karen was kissing the beautiful redhead, just like she had wanted to do for what must have been years.

grace’s lip gloss tastes like heaven, and her lips are so soft beneath karen’s, who dizzily thinks, god. thank god. her eyes flutter shut as she savors the moment, trying to memorize each second of the kiss. the feeling in karen’s chest is close to bursting, and so she just sinks into the way grace gently kisses her back. it’s not the first time they’ve kissed, but this feels more real. more solid. but then karen pulls away, and she opens her eyes to see only confusion written on grace’s face.

a forced smile comes to karen’s lips. “that,” she says in a voice tinged with regret, “can ruin a friendship.” and she turns away to walk out of the building, to run away from everything, especially the girl who had her heart.

grace, whose kisses will linger in karen’s thoughts for the foreseeable future. grace, whose smiles make karen ache with longing. grace, whose footsteps clatter against the tile floor as she catches up. “wait,” she says, “wait, wait! karen!”

her eyes sting as tears rise, so karen tries in vain to blink them away as she turns to face her. “grace, honey, I’m so sorry-”

but grace pulls her into another kiss, one a bit less gentle, and karen melts into her embrace, and god, is this the happiest she’s felt in weeks? months? her entire lifetime? 

“jesus, karen, you could’ve given me three seconds to process what was going on before sprinting out of here,” grace says when they pull apart again.

karen blushes, biting her lip. “noted,” she says. “oh, honey…”  

and grace just looks at her gently, in a way that she hasn’t been looked at in a long time. “I- oh, god, I need to break up with leo,” grace realizes.  

“you really do,” karen says, reaching up to tuck a stray lock behind grace’s ear, “but not just because of me, honey.” she’s never liked leo. karen leans her head on grace’s shoulder, thankful that their confession happened it was too late, before grace and leo became serious, or married, or something.

grace sighs. “he has a good heart, I think, but he can be a bit of a jerk.” she smirks at karen, nudging her jokingly. “I guess I have a type.”

“oh!” she gasps in mock offense, pulling away from the embrace. “how dare you, grace adler? I ought to leave and never see you again.”

“but you won’t,” grace says in a sing-songy voice, reaching out to grab karen’s hand.

“but I won’t,” karen agrees, squeezing her hand softly.

grace smiles in return. then, after a second of comfortable silence, she asks, “so… what exactly are we doing?”

a beat passes, and karen pulls her thoughts together. “gracie, I just want to be with you. that’s all I’ve wanted for a while,” she admits softly, meeting grace’s steady gaze.

“how long have you known?”

she hesitates for a second, and then says, “well, after you broke up with nathan, we kissed. I’m not sure if you remember it, but- god, it was the best kiss I had in a long time. and then, when you met leo, you kissed me to show me way that leo floored you, and I knew I was screwed.”

grace leans closer, slipping her hand into karen’s. “kissing you that day… I think I knew I was screwed in more than one way. I just couldn’t figure out why.”

“because you’re oblivious,” karen says. “I had to actually kiss you for real to show you that I had feelings for you, even though I’m really not a subtle person. anyway, it took me a while to figure out what I felt too. the first time that I felt something between us,” she says, dropping her voice as if telling a secret, “was when you walked in wearing the most godawful outfit I’ve ever seen, and you still looked so beautiful.” 

“you poet,” grace teases, closing the distance between them to kiss her on the cheek, and karen’s heart felt so full. the moment was perfect, better than anything she could have ever pictured, before a gasp split the moment. “oh my god, what’s will going to think?”

and karen laughs as she rolls her eyes. “wilma loves us, don’t worry.” but grace still looks worried, even if she doesn’t have reason to be, and karen loves her for it. she loves her, she really does, so karen smiles as she leans in for another quick kiss, watching the worry in grace’s eyes change into a tender look of happiness once again.