#I really should come up with solid ship names for them soon huh

[phobos-voidwalker]

28. What are there thoughts on pet names? Do they have any?

Oooo pet names!!

Aoii absolutely adores pet names in any capacity, so she’s constantly coming up with the goofiest, corniest names she can think of. “Pom of my eye” and “Honeybunny” to name a few. She also very frequently refers to Hien as “princey”.

Estinien in particular acts more annoyed with them than he really is, which is generally Aoii’s goal half the time because if she didn’t get on his nerves every once in a while he’d think she was sick. I feel like he’s not one to really use too many pet names, but might occasionally use old fashioned or simple ones like “Dearest” or “Beloved”, but not really in public too much.

Hien is definitely bemused by his wife’s silly names and depending on how he’s feeling they’ll compete for the most ridiculous pet name of the day. Though he might default to simple and sweet names like “my love” or “darling”.

[ct7567329]

Pass: Rex x Reader

A loud sigh escaped your lips as a holopad was slapped down next to you.

"Here are the list of all the troopers that need their annual evaluation. Make sure you can get them all done within the next thirty rotations," General Shaak Ti informed you, urgency in her voice.

You hummed in response and picked up the holopad, browsing through the list. All ARC Troopers were reevaluated annually to ensure they were still the best fit for the position. The list could easily be knocked in half if the 501st managed to make their way to Kamino anytime soon. The mid-rim sieges would make it difficult but you had to get it done.

Begging Anakin to let the 501st have a few days off on Kamino wasn't too hard to accomplish. He complied to it faster than you expected but you weren't going to complain. There was plenty to do before the reevaluations. Testing new weapons, giving new battle combinations and evaluation their ability to adapt were just a few things that needed to be done. And you had to figure out how to do it.

The only thing you enjoyed about the task was catching up with the troopers. Throughout your time as a special ranks trainer at Kamino,  you've developed many friendships with the soldiers, and unfortunately, you never really got to see them again once they were shipped off.

Your heart jumped a little when you saw the number 7567 on the list. You recognized the number as a Captain named Rex. He was one of the hardest working soldiers you've worked with. Right before he shipped out, he buzz cut his hair and dyed it blonde, making him the only soldier in that captain training program to not have the standard hair cut with brown hair. You admired his willingness to be unique.

Roughly six rotations later, the 501st finally arrived on Kamino, giving the majority of the men a much needed break. You figured Anakin would be in the mess hall so you made your way there to meet up with your long time-no see friend.

It was never difficult to find him. Anakin was always the center of attention. According to his Padawan, he enjoyed telling elaborated stories about before the war to the clones. You approached him from behind as he rambled on about his encounter with a bounty hunter when he was only fourteen.

"Wow, let me guess, you used your lightsaber without holding it. You used the force to levitate it?" you butted it, chuckling slightly.

Anakin turned around and threw his hand up, "(Y/N)! Always a pleasure to see you. Let me introduce you to my new men!"

You smirked and shook your head as Anakin began introducing them. It appeared as if Rex wasn't present.

"And this here is Hard-"

"Case," you laughed, "You forget. I've worked with every solider that steps foot off this planet."

"Great to see you again, General!" Hardcase salutes, "And may I add, your beauty has multiplied since."

You rolled your eyes, "Not even the brutality of the war can take away his charm. But, he takes after his general I suppose."

The men snickered as Anakin gave you a glare.

"Anyway, I sent you a list of men that need their evaluation. I know you're here for a while but of you can let them know to get it done as soon as possible, that would be great. I have thousands of troopers to test."

"You wish is my command," Anakin playfully bowed.

You exhaled and began to exit, "I'll catch up with you all soon!" you called out.

As you exited the mess hall, you began to reminisce on the old days of being a Padawan and filling around with Anakin. The two of you always managed to pull off shenanigans that usually resulted in a conference by the council, but you wouldn't change a thing. You turned the corner to head to your quarters when you knocked into a solider, causing him to drop his helmet.

"Oh my gosh I am so sorry...Rex?" you gasped, once you realized who it was.

Rex's jaw dropped, "General. You remember my name?"

"I remember every soldier's name," you grinned, using the force to pick up his helmet, "especially the special ones." You handed him his helmet.

"Is that a compliment, sir?" he asked, slowly taking his helmet from you.

You bit your lower lip, "Perhaps. How has the war been for the 501st?"

He let out a heavy sigh, "There's always some uphill battles, but I think we are all just glad to be back on Kamino. Even if it's just for seven rotations."

"Me too!" you nodded. Trying to hide your reddening cheeks in his presence was nearly impossible. They say war drains you, but Rex was even more handsome than you remembered.

"Sir? Aren't you always on Kamino though?" he asked, making a confused face.

"Oh no. I mean I'm glad that the 501st is back. You guys are the finest soldiers to come out of my training. My favorite to be around, if I may add."

Rex's entire demeanor when from solider talking to general to a look of more compassion, "You mean that?"

"Lying isn't the Jedi way. And even if I wasn't a Jedi, who would lie to someone like you? Don't sell yourself short, Rex. Don't think just because you're 'just a clone' you're any less than anyone else. And-"

You stopped for a moment, realizing what words. were actually coming out of your mouth.

"And.." you drew out the n sound, "Don't forget to pick a time slot for your evaluation! Can't wait to see how much you've grown on the battlefield!" you rushed to say, before taking off to your quarters at a quick pace.

As you hastily walked away, Rex turned to look at you. He wasn't quite sure what to make of what you said. As far as he could remember, you were always kind to him, compassionate with your words, but never that caliber. Though he would have loved to think of it as a flirtatious encounter, he knew that would be something he could only dream of and continued to make his way to the mess.

"Are you knifing stupid!?" you yelled to yourself as you entered your quarters. In that moment you knew you messed up. If there was anything you were taught as a youngling, is was that admitting your attachments is a tell tale sign you are completely attached. You sighed and flung your body onto your bed, hoping a nap would clear your mind.

Meanwhile, Rex ate his grub hastily. This wasn't common for him at all. Especially since the men of the 501st were used to actually conversing with Rex during meals.

"What's got you eating like a bat out of hell?" Fives asked, turning his head to face his vod.

"Just a little busy," Rex mumbled, stuffing the remaining food in his mouth.

Fives raised an eyebrow, "With what? We have six whole rotations for evaluations, and our evaluator is General (Y/LN). You've said before you two were friendly during your training. I'm sure she'll go easy on you!"

Rex didn't respond.

"And last we heard, you have no interning on becoming Commander Rex," Jesse butted in, "That takes less work off your shoulders. Some of us are looking for promotions."

"You really think you're getting promoted to arc trooper," Hardcase laughed, getting an eye roll in response.

Rex finally got up, "I saw General (Y/LN) in the hall and she asked if I wanted to assist with ARC promotions," he lied, "Just thinking about whether or not I'm fit for that responsibility."

He walked away, wanting nothing more than to find Anakin's droid, R2.

"Told you you should have been kissing Rex's shebs!" Hardcase hummed at Jesse as Rex exited the mess hall.

At last he was alone with his thoughts. He couldn't stop thinking about your conversation with him. As much as his heart told him it was flirtatious, his mind told him other wise. It didn't take Rex long to find R2.

"Hey R2!" he called, the droid rolling towards him and greeting him with a series of beeps.

"I need to know if I have access to know where General (Y/LN)'s quarters are located."

R2 buzzed, telling Rex the location.

"She gave me access?" he replied softly, "strange. Thank you."

Rex made his way through the seemingly never ending halls. He figured the Jedi quarters had to be hidden deep in the halls of Kamino. After what felt like forever he reached the door to your quarters and knocked.

A knock startled you from your nap. In a hurry, you straightened up your bed and laid out your meditation mat, sitting in a meditative state.

"Enter," you called, your eyes shut. As the person entered the room, your eyes were still shut. By reaching out to the Force, you knew it was Rex.

"Captain, you seem a bit, conflicted," you announced opening your eyes to look at him, "take a seat."

The door shut behind him and he sat down across from you on your meditation mat.

"You do know that Captains are not permitted to supervise ARC selection, correct?" you asked, tilting your head slightly.

His lips parted, "Sir?"

You smirked, "Jedi thing. I know what you told your brothers." You stopped for a moment and saw his face drop, "but I would have done the same."

"Huh?"

"What's bothering you, Rex?"

"Uh, nothing. Just nervous about evaluations."

"You think you can lie to a Jedi," you rolled your eyes, cocking your head at him again.

Rex pressed his lips together and looked down at your meditation mat, "you know why I'm here don't you?"

"Perhaps," you shrugged, inching your body towards his.

He swallowed at your closeness to him and he whispered, "so what was it?"

You gave him a shy smile and leaned into him, pressing a soft kiss against his cheek. For being at war for so long, his skin was surprisingly soft.

"That should answer your question, Rex."

Rex's cheeks were flushed, a tan outline of your lips stained on his cheek.

"I'm sorry, Rex," you sighed, moving back to your spot on the meditation mat.

"For? You easily just made me the luckiest man in the galaxy. I've wanted this moment for a long time.  Figured I would be foolish to actually dream of it." Rex's smile remained on his face, "If I don't do my evaluation, do I just get to stay on Kamino until I take it?"

You chuckled, "I get this is your home, but trust me, you'd rather be out on the battlefield."

"I can't get cheek kisses on the battlefield," he smirked contagiously.

The two of you looked at each other in an awkward silence.

Rex finally broke it, "Don't get my wrong, your training is flawless, but unfortunately I wasn't given  romance lessons, so I'm going to give this my best try," he paused for a moment, "would you be interested in a late night snack together in the mess tonight?"

"As long as you're interested in late night holovids in my quarters afterwards," you blushed back.

Rex confidently beamed, "It's a date." He reached out for your hand and softly kissed the back of it, "Now as much as I would love to stay, I have an evaluation to practice for."

You looked up at him as he left the room, "A little birdie told me you'll pass."

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[ecto-american]

The Other Side

Phic Phight Oneshot for Kiinotasha and KC: (AU) Born a halfa and raised in the Ghost Zone by his mother, Danny struggles with his human identity when a permanent man made portal appears in the Ghost Zone.

On AO3 and FFN

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Danny never questioned his life until that man made portal spawned. He never forgot when he first saw it six years ago while playing with Youngblood.

Naturally, they were playing aliens and spacemen, Danny's favorite. Earlier in the play session, they had found it, and it was deemed part of their spaceship. It was just a metal outline, an octagon. Thick enough that they could sit, and they pretended that the limited space was the entrance. Obviously on the left side was space, and the right side was their ship. Eventually their moms called them home, and during dinner when asked about his day, he told his mom about it.

She frowned, and she asked him for more details. Having played on it all day, he described it perfectly. His mom paled, and she forbid him from going there again, but she didn't expand on why.

He saw no reason to be afraid. It was just a metal shape. There were far more dangerous places in the Ghost Zone. So the next day, he told Youngblood about his mom's weird reaction. His mom had reacted the same, but didn't say why. His dad explained that it was dangerous, but not what about it was dangerous. Danny didn't have a dad, but he was sure that if he did, he probably would have said the same thing. But neither child could get it. What was dangerous about a shape?

So they just played with it again the next day, and they lied to their moms about what they did.

Two years later, another ghost had join to make them a trio. Her name was Box Lunch, and she was honestly a lot of fun. But she was still a girl, and they didn't tell her about their secret fun location until they were sure she didn't have cooties. When they showed her, she instantly knew what it was.

"That's a ghost portal!" she exclaimed. Youngblood and Danny thought she was stupid. Ghost portals didn't stay anywhere permanently. They opened and closed at random, when the human world and Ghost Zone would temporarily merge and allow for a rip to tear. But it always mended back together quickly.

"No it's not," Youngblood scowled. Box Lunch made a face at him.

"Yeah-huh!" she insisted. "My mommy and daddy get into the human world all the time! She said some people there have been trying to make a permanent portal to here!"

"Nu-uh!" Youngblood argued. "My dad said that humans wouldn't do that, they're more afraid of us than we are of them!"

"Yeah-huh!" Box Lunch said more forcefully. "My parents were human once, they said that people constantly wanna hunt us in the human world! And that they're coming here!"

"If they're afraid of us, then why come here?" Youngblood challenged.

"What else would it be?" Box Lunch asked, crossing her arms.

"It's a weirdo ghost's lair!"

And as they bickered back and forth, Danny had remained quiet. He didn't know how to feel about any of this. His friends often forgot that Danny wasn't just a ghost. He was also human.

Not that he was a ghost who was once human, that died. He was both, and he always had been. Born that way, according to his mom, because his dad was human. Danny didn't know too much about him, and he never really thought to ask.

He knew that his name was Jack, and how he looked like. His mom had hung a photo of him in his room so that he'd know; blue eyes, black hair, with a square jaw and in a distinctive orange jumpsuit. The orange suit always reminded him of the blue one his mom wore underneath a lab coat. She said he looked just like his dad when he was in his human form, and he could absolutely see it. Though as a ghost he had white hair that he seemingly inherited from nobody, with his mom's light blue skin and yellow-green eyes. As a ghost, he matched with a black jumpsuit, though as a human, he preferred regular clothes.

Most ghosts had learned of Danny's true nature early on as the news slowly spread when he was born. They loved him and accepted him as one of them. He could go out into the Zone as a human, but it always felt weird. So he was always a ghost.

That night, as he got tucked in for bed, he decided to bring the metallic object up again.

"Box Lunch said that the big metal shape is a permanent ghost portal," he blurted out. His mom stared at him with wide yellow eyes, and so he knew that Box Lunch was actually right. "Is it?"

She sighed, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"I believe so," she confirmed. Danny sat up.

"Is that why you don't want me going near it?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied. Danny cocked his head curiously.

"But if I'm also human, wouldn't they be okay with me?" he wondered. His mom paused for a long, long time. "I'm also one of them."

"I don't know, honey," she admitted. He could tell that she did know. She kissed his forehead. "I'll talk to you about it when you're a little bit older, okay?"

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now good night, sweetie."

It was four more years before it really became relevant again. He had essentially forgotten about the unoperational portal as homeschooling, other friends, and general undead life had continued on for him and his mom.

Youngblood didn't age, since he was once human and died, and so as Danny got older, they hung out less. While Box Lunch, a born ghost, grew, he became distant from her too for unrelated reasons. Danny wasn't alone, however. For a while, he hung out with other ghosts who had died young before he met his best friend. He was a bit older than him when he had died, sixteen to his fourteen, but Johnny 13 (and his shadow) and him had almost instantly become friends and hung out nearly every day. Often his girlfriend joined them too. His mom also allowed him to keep a newly dead dog that had followed him home, that alternated from a puppy to a large hulking beast of a monster dog. Danny named him Cujo.

Ghost Writer provided lessons in the arts on Tuesdays and Thursdays for him and a few other younger ghosts, which did include Johnny and Kitty. On the other days, his mom homeschooled him in her passion: the sciences. His favorite memories were of him and his mother in her lab, doing home experiments and building a wide variety of things.

She indulged in whatever nonsense he wanted to build, which included but wasn't limited to: rock cannon, small spaceships, figuring out how they could grow potatoes on the moon like the man in the martian book did, using ecto energy to cook poptarts.

Often her friend, Technus, but better known to Danny as Uncle Nico, came by to do more of the tech-based stuff. Danny believed that Uncle Nico could do anything with technology. He was one of the ghosts that often went through the natural portals, and whenever he came back, he had something for Danny. Typically game consoles and games, but sometimes fun little useless knick knacks that Danny treasured deeply. He fixed those game consoles many times, and also showed him how to download and install cheats and mods to make them more fun.

And after a morning full of science or the arts, Danny would eat lunch then rush off to play with his friends, Cujo always on his heels.

Looking back, he never did much as a human. He had to resort to his human side to rest, or would default to it if he fell asleep. It felt weird being in human form amongst ghosts, and so he was just always a ghost. He never thought much about it, and nobody ever asked him to be a human around them. It was just how things were.

On the day he'd never forget, it was just him and Johnny. His girlfriend had opted not to come. Danny couldn't remember the original topic, but it made him remember the portal. As soon as he told Johnny about it, the two idly scratching Cujo as the dog slept in between them in puppy form, the ghost's eyes lit up excitedly.

"Dude! We have to check it out!" Johnny insisted.

"I dunno," Danny hesitated. "My mom said that I should stay away."

"Come on, it'll be sick! I've always wanted to go back to the human world," Johnny begged. "And you've never even been there, despite being half-human!"

Danny paused. Well, when you put it like that...

"Okay!" he agreed. He floated up from his seat a bit so he could untangle his legs to stand. Cujo immediately got up from his spot laying near them, tail wagging excitedly. "Let's go! I think I still know where it is!"

It had changed since he last saw it. It now had huge yellow and black doors in place of the previous blank space, and it seemed somehow bigger than he remembered it years ago. But it was unmistakably the man made portal.

Even now, he didn't get what would be too scary about it that his mom would encourage him to stay far away. It was just a door.

"This is so fucking cool," Johnny whispered as he touched the door. "Imagine...no more trying to hunt down a portal. We can just come and go as we please...seeing our lost loved ones...seeing my mom again…It's been so long...I dunno if she'd even remember me..."

Danny didn't say anything, but he did begin to think and truly wonder for the first time what his dad was like. His mom never talked about him, and he never really asked. He and his mom were happy, and he also had Uncle Nico. Was his dad kind? Did he also like science? Why wasn't he here? Did his dad even know about him?

"Do you think we can open it?" Danny asked. Cujo licked his fingers, and Danny scratched his head. Johnny glanced over his shoulder at him.

"I dunno," he admitted. His hand turned into a fist and he knocked on the door. "It seems really solid. I don't think we can just break it or something."

"Hm. Lemme see," Danny mused. He came closer, and he put his hand on the door. It was cold, and Johnny was right; it was metallic, just like the outer edge he used to play on, and it would not break easily. His finger traced the middle line of the two doors. "Hm. Maybe we can pry the door open."

"The humans made this," Johnny spoke. Danny stared at him. No shit. "No, no, I mean. Maybe you should do something to it as a human." Danny thought on this, and he shrugged. Couldn't hurt.

His transformation rings came and went, leaving him in his human state. He was just in a t-shirt and jeans today, and he stayed floating near the portal.

His hand had barely touched the portal when it opened for him.

Danny gasped in shock, jerking his hand back as it opened. Johnny had also jumped, going backwards a bit, and Cujo's fur went up as he barked. It fully opened, and he couldn't see anything but the green ooze. This wasn't anything like Uncle Nico had mentioned natural portals being like. They normally acted like a window you could see through. But it was an unnatural portal made by man.

"Maybe this isn't such a-" Johnny began, but Danny had already stepped through.

There was a weird in between area that shined bright blue that he never heard Uncle Nico describe. But in this in between, he could see exactly what the ghost had mentioned. He knew he was still in the Zone, but he could look out the portal into the human world like a window.

A man in an orange jumpsuit, with black hair that was graying, was sitting in a room that reminded him very much of his mom's lab. He was staring at the portal in confusion, likely because it had randomly opened, and Danny instantly knew who it was. He had no idea if his dad could see him, but he found himself rushing backwards, and back into the Zone.

The second he returned, he became a ghost again, and he silently began to fly away as he tried to process. Johnny asked no questions, only following, Cujo following them both.

That night, at dinner, he finally asked.

"What was dad like?"

His mom stared at him for a moment.

"Well, he was very sweet," she said slowly. "Very bubbly personality. Always went out of his way to help his friends." She smiled softly as she talked about him. "Adored fudge."

"Did he like science?" Danny wondered. His mom gave a short laugh.

"Oh boy he adored it. Not the best at it, but he had a lot of enthusiasm," he replied. "We used to do experiments together all the time."

Danny stared down at his food as he thought. He looked up to her, and he could tell that she already knew what he was going to ask.

"How come I never met him?" he wondered. She sighed.

"...He doesn't like ghosts," she replied. "Aspiring ghost hunter when I met him, actually. I was alive then. Had the same ambitions." At his shocked look, she laughed again. "I know, ironic. We had dated for about two years officially. But then...I died. It was winter, and I was driving late at night during a snowstorm. My car slid off the road, and into a river. And I died from my injuries. I found that I could disguise myself as human, and I was in denial. So I just...continued on."

"...Why?" he asked. His mom shrugged in defeat.

"I guess I just didn't want to admit that it was over. I hadn't done everything I wanted to do yet. I was still in college, and I felt like my life had been forcibly finished before it had even truly started," she admitted. "Jack had proposed, but I had declined. I was too afraid to tell him. He began pursuing ghost hunting more seriously as a profession and building weapons and portals. I found out I was having you, and he was so excited to be a dad. I began getting scared. I didn't know how long I could continue the lie. I didn't know how it all would affect you. Then the police found my car and body, and I knew I couldn't avoid the inevitable any longer. So I left. I had no clue how to face him, or even how safe you might be if we talked. Especially after you were born, and I realized that you were half ghost."

The more she talked, she more somber she became. By the end, she was sniffling a little. Guilt began to wash over him.

"Have you ever talked to him again? Like after I was born?" he wondered. She shook her head no. "How come you've never taken me to the human world?"

"I had considered it. But it's too dangerous," she explained. "Humans aren't like ghosts. If they knew that you were also ghost...you wouldn't wanna find out what happens."

"...Do you regret any of it?" Do you regret me?

She smiled softly despite the conversation.

"You were the best thing to ever happen to me," she told him. "I may have been very anxious about being alone, and how you may turn out despite it all. But you were born healthy and perfect in every way. You're absolutely the light of my afterlife."

Danny smiled back, feeling some reassurance. His mom stood up, leaning over to peck his forehead before picking up her plate. He heard Cujo scramble out from under the table, ears up in excitement.

"I think I'll finish this later," she told him. "I'm not too hungry tonight." She glanced down at the dog. "This isn't for you."

Cujo whined, following her as she put her plate in the microwave. Danny nodded, sparing a small smile to Cujo and ushering for him to come over. He slipped him a piece of chicken as his mom left.

Later that night, Danny couldn't sleep. He was too busy sorting out his rushing thoughts. He was of course still him. Nothing really changed, but there was this new growing emptiness. Danny was still Danny, but there was a whole other side to him that knew nothing about. It began to eat at him more and more. Who was this human side besides just human Danny who lived in the Ghost Zone? He didn't know.

He now wished that his mom had taken him to the human world before so that he could know. She did say that there was a risk in the humans knowing he was also a ghost, which he didn't get. The ghosts accepted him as one of their own, so why wouldn't the humans? He didn't get humans at all. And he needed to know more about them. He was one of them.

By breakfast, his mind was made up.

After an unusually boring lesson with Ghost Writer together, Danny immediately went to Johnny once their small class of sorts were dismissed.

"I have to go back." Danny couldn't breath for a moment. "I have to see what it's like. Like you said, I'm also human, and I've never been there. All my unlife, I've been a ghost, here, in the Ghost Zone. My dad's in the human world. And I need to know what it's like to be human. What it means. So I can maybe meet him one day."

Johnny nodded.

"I think I get it," he said slowly. "I'll come with you. Keep you company. I think I could pass for human pretty well, even if I have to say that I have some kind of sickly disease that keeps me pale."

Danny grinned.

"Thanks," he replied. "Come on."

It took no time at all to find the portal. Danny stared up at it, his breath once more stolen as he tried to think of a reason why he shouldn't go through it.

Nothing came to mind.

"It's okay if you don't wanna," Johnny said. Danny shook his head no.

"I have to do this," he replied. "I need to do this."

Johnny patted his back, and that was all the subconscious encouragement Danny needed to turn human and press his hand to the door. Once more, it opened. The fact that he's even able to open it made him know that this was something he was meant to do. He once again stepped through with Johnny right behind him.

[galactic-magick]

Family: Bruce Wayne/Batman x Reader

Request: Could I please get Bruce Wayne x Reader? Where he and reader have a daughter and are married. They’re currently fighting because readers feels that Bruce is caring too much about the League than his family, before they leave to fight Stephen Wolf, they get in a fight things were said that weren’t meant but he comes back and FLUFF

Summary: Being married to Bruce Wayne has always been hard, especially with a young daughter at home, but things get worse when Steppenwolf threatens the world.

Words: 1300+

Warnings: angst (happy ending though)

Author’s Notes: Had a little too much fun writing this angst hehe, hope you like it anon!

Taglist: @candid-confetti​

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You always knew what you were getting into when you married a superhero. You knew there’d be a lot of late nights, a lot of wounds, a lot of time away. When you had your daughter, you knew balancing a family with fighting criminals would take its toll. You knew it wouldn’t be easy, but you’ve always tried to get through it together.

Lately though, it’s been harder than usual. Bruce has become consumed with Lex Luthor’s threat, constantly coming and going without warning in search of heroes to help in a fight you’re not even sure is actually coming. Both you and Alfred have tried telling him there’s been no signs of other-worldly catastrophes, to no avail. You know he’s doing it to keep you and the world safe, yet it doesn’t always feel that way.

“Bruce,” you grab his hand, hoping to stop him from leaving again. “When are you going to take a break?”

“I can’t, you know that,” he responds firmly. “The world won’t be safe until we have a solid defense. I may be able to protect one city, but I need more help to protect everyone else,”

“Protect everyone from what?” you sigh. “Luthor is locked up, everyone else you’ve taken down is locked up. What are you so afraid of?”

“It’s the fact that I don’t know that I’m afraid of,” he puts his hands on your shoulders. “Please, honey, just trust me,”

“We miss you at home. Your own daughter rarely sees you anymore,”

“I’ll spend time with her soon, I promise,” he kisses your forehead and heads out the door. “I love you,”

 -

 You desperately wish that was the end of it, and life would return to normal as soon as possible.

But that was far from the case.

Bruce was right about one thing: a threat was coming. A big one.

A giant alien called Steppenwolf has set foot on Earth, searching for three objects called “motherboxes” and planning to use them against humanity somehow. Bruce won’t tell you exactly what will happen if he gets all of them, but you’ve gotten Diana to tell you he is most likely working for an even worse enemy named Darkseid, who wants to control the entirety of the universe.

It’s terrifying to say the least, and part of you is relieved that Bruce saw this coming and is actively preparing against it. But even so, he’s still been struggling to keep his promises to his own family in the midst of it all. You’ve been trying your hardest to be understanding, to keep coming up with excuses to your daughter about why her dad isn’t around and manage on your own, but you’re starting to wonder if it’s worth it anymore.

What is this will be your reality for the rest of your lives? Who’s to say there won’t be more threats like this all the time, never catching a break and never getting back the man you love?

 -

 The stakes keep getting higher and higher, everything moving too fast for you to keep up. Bruce is running directly into danger left and right, trying things that could get him killed. His team has supposedly brought back Superman from the dead, and Steppenwolf has now found the last of the motherboxes. They’ve fought him head to head once, and they’re planning on doing it again to destroy him and the boxes.

“Please don’t go,” you beg him. Most of the team has already gone outside towards the ship, and if you hadn’t called him he probably would’ve left without a word.

He huffs, “For once can you just let me do what I have to do?”

“I have been,” your voice raises. “But can’t you see how reckless you’re being? And you refuse to even talk to me about it? You could at least pretend that you care,”

“Don’t you dare tell me that I don’t care,” he points a finger at you. “Everything I’m doing is for our family,”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have a family left to come back to!”

His face falls, and you instantly regret what you said, but it’s too late. He leaves, and you slump into the nearest chair, tears held back only by the anger you had been holding onto until this moment.

“Hey,” Diana comes up to you as she heads for the door herself. “I didn’t mean to listen in, but I think there’s something you should know,”

“What?” you groan.

“He hasn’t told you what will actually happen if the motherboxes unite so he doesn’t worry you, but they’re not just weapons. They’ll turn this planet into a mirror of Darkseid’s and kill most of humanity, and if Darkseid also finds the Anti-Life equation he’ll control what’s left of us. Bruce has also been having vivid dreams of a future where Darkseid wins, me and Arthur are dead, and…” she exhales. “You and your daughter are dead too,”

“I…” you can’t find any words to reply.

“We could all die out there today, whether we win or lose,” she shakes her head. “But I know he loves you, and if we make it out alive he’ll make sure you know,”

She puts her sword and shield on her back, and races out the door.

 -

 You don’t sleep at all that night, waiting several hours before you hear anything.

What if he’s dead and that’s the last thing you ever said to him?

What if you have to explain to your daughter the next morning that she’ll never see her father again?

The tears finally come, streaming down your cheeks like a waterfall. It can’t end like this, can it?

Your daughter hears you, coming into the room and sitting next to you.

“Did you and daddy have another fight?” she asks.

You nod. You want to tell her it’s more than that, but you’re not sure how much her poor little heart can handle.

“You should stop doing that,” she says matter-of-factly. “You’re both so sad all the time now. People who love each other shouldn’t make each other sad,”

“You’re right, honey,” you sigh, pulling her close to you. “You’re right,”

 -

 You must’ve fallen asleep on the couch, because when you open your eyes it’s almost dark again.

��Hey,” you hear your husband’s voice behind you. “I didn’t want to wake you, but-“

You jump off the couch and run to him, falling into his arms and burying your face in his chest. The tears start falling again, and he holds you in silence until you get over the initial shock and relief.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers. “I should’ve told you what was really going on. I never meant to keep secrets from you and neglect our family,”

You nod, allowing him to wipe the tears away with his thumbs and guide your gaze up to his.

“I’m just happy you’re alive,” you smile.

“Everyone’s okay,” he says. “We destroyed the boxes and killed Steppenwolf. We might not be safe forever, but we’re safe now,”

“Safe enough for you to come back to us?”

“Yes,” he holds you closer. “And I’ll never leave again,”

“Yay! You’re happy now!”

You turn your heads toward your daughter walking around the corner and up to you.

“I knew you would!” she giggles, hugging both of you. “No more fighting, okay? You should love each other instead,”

“Love each other, huh?” Bruce smirks, leaning in to kiss you.

“Ewww not like that!” she covers her eyes, getting a laugh out of both of you.

“Later then,” he says to you, and you nudge him playfully.

You follow her back to her room to tuck her into bed, something you always did together before all the chaos, something that brings back a sense of normal. She tries to get you let her stay up more, get you to tell her stories or answer her random questions, but eventually she falls asleep.

“I love you,” he kisses you once you’re alone again.

You wrap your arms around him, never wanting to let him go, “I love you too,”

[voids-colourful-creations]

Ships Passing in the Night and Sailing Together Until Morning - Chapter 2

On the Subject of Caring

Summary: Goh isn't as accustomed to caring about another person as perhaps he should be, so he's not quite ready for some of the pitfalls of it. Pikachu tries to communicate. Koharu will support her childhood friend whether he wants it or not.

[Read on Ao3!]

[<Prev. Chapter] [Next Chapter>]

-

Goh’s heart dropped to his stomach the same moment Satoshi’s entire body dropped into Gengar’s arms. He almost appeared to fold in on himself, legs swaying back and forth as he fell forward nauseatingly.

“Satoshi.”

He called, just hoping to know what was happening at all. Satoshi didn’t respond. Eyes— when had those dark patches under them grown so large?— threatened to shut and Goh begged them not to.

“Satoshi!”

Goh leaned forward, calling harder, more desperate. Satoshi blinked for a moment, eyes widening as Goh’s voice rose. Just as quickly, as though being weighed down, his eyelids began to shut again.

“Satoshi!”

Over and over he called his name, but Satoshi had long since gone slack in Gengar’s arms, unresponsive. Regardless, Goh’s lips seemed to move on their own, meaningless syllables being pushed out near mechanically. Dimly, he registered Pikachu scampering over to Satoshi’s side, licking his cheek to no response.

Dozens of disconnected thoughts and ideas popped into Goh’s mind and disappeared just as quickly, fireworks of memories and concepts, fueled by fear and adrenaline.

“Satoshi.”

His voice cracked and finally fell silent, though his lips still traced the shapes. Replacing the sound of his name was Goh’s heartbeat in his ears.

He was beginning to feel numb, and then-

A sharp jolt of electricity coursed through his body.

“Pika! Pikapi pi-pika!”

Small paws reached around Goh’s leg, holding him tightly. Goh looked down in a daze, perhaps from the electricity, perhaps from the fear, meeting Pikachu’s worried gaze.

“Pikapi pikachu pi-pika! Chu? Chu pika pika pikapi, chuka?” Pikachu squeaked out.

And this was complete nonsense, Goh knew, a mix of fear and adrenaline and sheer stupidity, but somehow… he felt as though Pikachu was talking to him. Asking him, no- begging him for help. Maybe it was something in Pikachu’s eyes or his grip on Goh’s leg tightening. Maybe he was just projecting his own feelings onto the pokemon, maybe he had finally lost it-

But he could have sworn that in that moment he heard what Pikachu was saying. That somehow, someway, Pikachu was asking him, “Please, take care of my Satoshi.”

Was that what Satoshi had meant then, about Lugia?

Goh shook his head. There was no time for panic or pokemon human communication right now. He had to help Satoshi, and he had to do it now.

“Don’t worry, Pikachu.” Goh replied, though more for his sake than Pikachu’s. “I- I can do this. I promise… I’ll take care of him.”

Or at least he hoped he could. A few stray memories of emergency preparedness lessons and ‘what to do’s’ from his parents drifted through his mind, just out of reach.

“Pulse, I need to check for a pulse, " w as the first solid thought Goh could come up with. Which of course made the whole situation feel so much scarier, but then the idea of not checking and not knowing felt so much worse.

Goh reached for Satoshi’s wrist, holding it firmly in his hand. His thumb pressed lightly against Satoshi’s skin.

Goh felt his entire body relax as he registered the steady pounding of Satoshi’s pulse.

“Good, that’s good.”

Hesitantly, Goh leaned in closer, straining his ear.

“He’s still breathing.” He said aloud, which merited a few relieved pokemon noises.

As Gengar shifted its weight in order to get a better grip on the boy, Satoshi’s bangs fell in front of his closed eyes. Goh reached up subconsciously, brushing them aside. As his fingers brushed against uncomfortably warm skin, a natural conclusion snapped together in his mind.

“You’re sick, aren’t you Satoshi?”

Satoshi, obviously, did not respond, though Goh seemed satisfied with his conclusion.

On one hand, having any sort of idea of the situation was relieving. On the other, Goh’s heart was still racing and the anxiety of not knowing what to do was only gaining stronger by the moment.

The last thing he wanted was to do something wrong and risk-

No. He refused to finish the thought.

“Bun? Nybuny?” It was Hibunny’s turn to pull at Goh’s leg.

Goh bent down to the worried pokemon, Pikachu standing by its side.

“It’s alright, Hibunny. Pikachu too. Satoshi’s gonna be fine… he- he’s gonna be fine.” His voice wavered slightly as he spoke. Hibunny shook its head, reaching a paw up to swipe at Goh’s cheek.

Goh mirrored the action, finding his own fingers damp with tears.

Of course he was crying.

Goh reached forward, scooping up Hibunny in one arm, finding Pikachu crawling up the other to rest on his shoulder.

Hibunny rubbed it’s head against Goh’s gently, it’s soft fur drying Goh’s still slowly flowing tears.

“Come on, crying won’t help anything…” Goh muttered to himself. “Help… right.”

Help. Of course. He had to call for help.

“Rotom!” Goh called out, rubbing at his eyes with the back of one hand as he fished his phone out of his sweater pocket with the other. “Call someone from the lab!”

“Okay!” The slightly static voice called out with energy, but there was a hint more emotion than there usually was. Fear? “Who would you like me to call?”

“I- I don’t- Please, just call someone- anyone from the labs!”

“Okay!”

Goh cleared his throat, dragging his palm against his cheeks in an effort to disguise the tear tracks. Not that anyone was around to see, beyond the pokemon of course.

“…calling-! …calling-! …call-“

Someone picked up.

“Hello, Goh. What’s going on?”

Kikuna’s voice came through the line, curious and soft.

“I need help,” Was all Goh could manage to choke out at first.

Kikuna’s voice grew stronger, more attentive.

“What’s wrong? What do you need help with?”

And Goh hated how weak and childish he sounded, but for the sake of Satoshi he knew he had to cast those feelings away.

“I-It’s Satoshi. He- he passed out and I can’t get him to wake up and I think he’s sick and I can’t get us back to the lab and-“ Hibunny pressed its face against Goh’s again, and he fell silent for a moment. Calm down, it seemed to be saying. Take a breath, it silently encouraged.

So Goh did, a slow inhale followed by a shaky exhale.

“Please, come help,” He managed to say.

“Alright,” Kikuna’s voice was solid, something for Goh to hold on to. “Don’t worry, I’m coming to pick you up right now. Have your rotom send me your location, alright?”

Goh nodded.

“A-alright. Thank you.”

“Good job.” Kikuna said. Her voice grew quieter as she turned away from the phone to say something to someone else in the room. Her voice grew loud enough for Goh to hear as she yelled something that sounded suspiciously like, “Renji, I’m borrowing your car!”

Goh took another deep breath before speaking again.

“Rotom, send our location to Kikuna, please.”

“Okay!” It replied.

“Got it!” Kikuna’s voice called out, sounding a bit further away now. “Goh, I’m heading out the door right now, okay? I’m heading down the steps, I’m going to get in Renji’s car and drive right to pick you up. Do you want me to stay on the line with you?”

Goh shook his head.

“No, no it’s fine. I-I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Goh could hear the slam of a car door as Kikuna climbed inside.

“Yeah… Yeah. I’ll be waiting.”

“Alright. If anything happens, call.”

And with that, Kikuna hung up.

So now it was time to wait.

Pikachu’s cheeks crackled with small bursts of electricity, sending tiny, harmless sparks at Goh. It would’ve been a lot more interesting to study the why and how had Goh not been so worried. Instead he placed a hand gently on Pikachu’s head, stroking him with light moments.

A car drove by in the distance, and Gengar pulled Satoshi in closer.

Goh sighed, a weary smile forming on his face.

“You really care about Satoshi now, huh?”

Gengar nodded, taking care so as not to disturb the sleeping Satoshi, though both knew he was out cold.

Goh nodded as well, soon turning into a quick bow.

“Sorry. For what I said about you cursing him and all. It wasn’t your fault. None of it, not what’s happening now or before or what your trainer did- none of it was your fault.”

Gengar stood silent for a moment, then nodded, it’s frown rotating to a smile for a brief moment.

Pikachu whined a bit, reaching towards Satoshi.

“Do you wanna get down, Pikachu?”

Pikachu shook his head.

“Pikaaa. Pikapi pika pika pi. Chu pikapa, pikapika pikapi?”

Goh bit his lip, trying to figure a response that would somehow console Pikachu despite not fully understanding what he was saying. He reached forward, almost on instinct, to hold Satoshi’s hand in his own. It was limp and warm and wholly uncomfortable and Goh held it tight. This seemed to calm Pikachu, though Goh couldn’t be sure.

Before he could stress too much about it, the honk of a car horn rang out, startling everyone in the area.

To Goh’s relief, Kikuna had arrived.

Kikuna pushed the car door open forcefully, hard enough for it to swing as far as it could and bounce back to where it had been. It would’ve hit her as she exited had she not run out so quickly.

She was taking this seriously, Goh immediately realized, and wasn’t sure if that fact was meant to be terrifying or comforting.

She presented an air of something resembling confidence, yet so much sharper, almost daring anyone to stop her before she reached her goal. Despite this, her voice and expression softened when she bent down to talk to Goh, still frozen so neatly in place.

“Come on, Goh, let’s take Satoshi back to the labs.”

Goh hesitated for a moment.

“S-shouldn’t we take him to a doctor or something first?” He asked, voice having lost its spark.

Kindly, far too kindly for Goh’s liking, Kikuna replied.

“Luckily for us, there was a Nurse Joy visiting the labs when you called me, and since she has experience with Satoshi in particular, she’s waiting for us there. It’ll be a lot faster this way.”

Goh’s stomach turned at the idea that any part of this situation could be referred to as lucky.

“Let’s get going, alright?”

Goh felt himself tense. He wanted to agree, he knew that was best and that they had to go, but part of him just wanted to stay frozen here forever.

“Goh,” Kikuna’s voice was gentle, holding him as though he was about to shatter, and Goh thought he might be sick, “I need you to let go of Satoshi for me, okay? I need to pick him up and put him in the car, and I can’t do that if you’re holding him.”

Weakly, Goh nodded, and painfully let his hand go, as lifeless as Satoshi’s.

“Good, good. Thank you.”

Kikuna turned to Gengar, thanking it as well as it passed off Satoshi to her. She handled the weight well, yet the sight wasn’t comforting to Goh in the slightest.

“I don’t think I can fit all the people and pokemon in my car.” Kikuna noted idly, merely thinking to herself.

“I could walk-“ Goh heard himself offer without believing it. Thankfully, Kikuna shot that idea down immediately.

“No, you’re riding with me, alright?”

The words were said forcefully, but with such a gentle air. It was a contradiction, yet one that Goh felt compelled to comply with. He nodded.

Gengar looked back and forth between the humans, then promptly melted into darkness, merging with Goh’s shadow.

Kikuna stood blankly for a moment.

“Well, that solves that problem. Come on, we don’t want to leave Joy waiting, right?”

With Hibunny in his arms and Pikachu still clinging to his shoulder, Goh ducked into the backseat of a car that decidedly wasn’t Kikuna’s, but that she had driven here regardless.

The car sputtered to life, and Kikuna took off down the road.

Each turn tossed Goh around, the ride going too fast and yet not getting there quickly enough.

Satoshi sat strapped into the seat next to him, Hibunny sitting between them with Pikachu clinging on to Goh’s shoulder. Goh tried not to think about how Pikachu would probably prefer to be on Satoshi’s shoulder right now. He tried not to think of anything at all, letting the street signs and sidewalks they passed become the meaningless blurs they should’ve been.

Kikuna said nothing, and neither did Goh.

The car’s steady hum was the only sound for Goh to listen to, interrupted occasionally by a soft ‘pika’ in his ear.

“Pipikachu, chu.”

It almost felt like Pikachu was whispering to him, trying to reassure him, but Goh dismissed the thought.

“Quit projecting onto the pokemon, Goh.” He thought to himself, half mouthing them without a sound escaping.

Pikachu squeaked some more, and Goh let the likely meaningless sounds run through his mind until they arrived back at the labs.

Everything became a blur once Goh opened the car door.

Adults talking above his head, Satoshi getting passed around until he wasn’t sure where he had gone. Someone was pushing him into one room or another, someone was speaking to him, but his senses seemed to have died. It was a scribble of sounds and sights he refused to process, until everything had finally died down, and the world had gone much too silent and still.

He sat on the couch in the lab’s centre room, both alone and lonely. The ever present electric hum of the computers accompanied him as best they could, yet Goh felt open, exposed.

He was looking at nothing. To the outside observer it may have appeared as though he was focused in on the floorboards, but Goh was decidedly looking at nothing. The nothing that sat between his eyes and the wooden floor. The type that turned everything twisty and not quite right when he looked at it for too long. That strange sort of always present nothing.

It wasn’t an interesting sight, but nothing always has the added benefit of being such. There was nothing associated with nothing, only the absence of things.

So for Goh right then, that sounded about right.

He was decidedly not thinking about Satoshi. He was not worrying if Satoshi was okay, on account of knowing full well that Satoshi’s welfare was completely independent of how much he worried, and doing so would only be counterproductive.

So he was not worrying. Not in the slightest.

He told himself internally that he could stand up and leave, but his legs made no effort to do so. It was for the best anyway. If he had gone to the park, Satoshi’s pokemon would ask him where Satoshi was, and then he would have started worrying. He was not sitting outside the dorm room’s door, because the unintelligible whispering of the adults within would only put him on edge. He was not looking around the empty room, he was not letting the absence of one person make him feel lonely, he was not worrying, he was fine .

He was looking at nothing.

He was looking at nothing so hard that he had completely missed the second person entering the room.

“Hey, are you listening to me?”

Goh flinched, a voice breaking the silence in tandem with a hand breaking his personal space as it came to rest on his shoulder.

He turned abruptly to meet Koharu’s concerned eye.

“Uh…”

She shook her head.

“Can you please just tell me what’s going on? Kikuna only explained half as she was running out the door, completely dropping everything.”

Goh felt his mouth dry up at Koharu’s clear exasperation.

“I… sorry.”

Koharu sighed.

“Of course.”

He hated how resigned she sounded, annoyed yet complicit with the situation. Hoping his voice wouldn’t break, he replied.

“Satoshi… got sick. I-I don’t know why.”

Koharu nodded, relaxing slightly with the added information, though not by much.

“How sick?” She asked, though he got the feeling she already knew as much, and simply wanted to hear from him.

Goh simply stared miserably at the floor, which Koharu decided to take as an answer.

“And what about you?”

Her voice dropped to that gentler tone, one she hadn’t used with him in years.

“Fine,” Goh replied, because it would be true if he believed so for long enough.

Koharu rolled her eyes.

“You’re not fooling anyone. What’s even the point of lying like that?”

Goh’s throat felt strained as he replied.

“It’s easier. It’s stupid and complicated and hard to explain, I don’t even understand it, so why even try.”

He jammed his lips shut, waiting for Koharu’s scathing response.

Koharu paused, expression unreadable.

“Then tell me what you do understand. And we can start from there.”

It wasn’t the response Goh was expecting. Taking a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves, Goh spoke again, facing the empty space ahead of him instead of his friend.

“I’m scared.” He admitted, “This all feels weird and bad and scary and I hate it.”

His voice was quiet yet resonant through the too still air.

Koharu shook her head, sending her braid bouncing.

“You watched a person you care about pass out right in front of you with no warning, then couldn’t wake him up and had to call someone to bring him back here. Sounds scary to me. Nothing weird about it.”

“It’s not just that!” Goh added. “I just... I don’t know when it happened. When Satoshi stopped being an annoyance and turned into a person I would get this upset over. I wouldn’t have done that before...”

Koharu nodded, “Well yeah. Satoshi changed you, as a person and all. Though I can’t tell if that’s because he’s like… the second friend you ever made for more than twenty-four hours or because he’s Satoshi. ”

Goh tilted his head.

“He… changed me?”

Koharu rolled her eyes.

“If you can’t see it, that's your problem, but the Goh I knew wouldn’t be sitting with me and having this conversation if he hadn't met Satoshi.”

Goh leaned forward, eyebrows knitting together.

“D- do you think it’s a good change? Am I better now? Do you like me better changed than-“

Koharu raised a hand to give Goh a light chop on the head.

“Don’t go thinking about it too much. I was your friend before, I’m still your friend now. People change Goh. That’s just how they are. But you’re the one who’s gotta figure out how and why. More importantly, you’ve gotta figure out what you’re gonna do with that change.”

Goh didn’t move.

“If I’m better now then what part of me wasn’t good enough before... but then, If I’m not better, what didn’t I do enough of to change for the better?”

Koharu groaned.

“You’re not listening!”

Reaching to the side, she took Goh by the shoulders and turned him to face her.

“I like you for who you are, Goh, because we’re friends and I knew what I signed up for. You’re still you when you change, and I’m still gonna be your friend unless you change into an axe murderer or something. What I’m trying to get at is that you didn’t change for like four years. You just stayed inside all the time and didn’t talk to people. Now you’re doing that stuff again because of Satoshi. And making connections and being more open to new things, because of Satoshi. That’s a change. Only you can decide if it’s good or bad.”

Goh blinked.

“Well scientifically, the amount of time I’ve spent outside is better for vitamin d intake, though-“

Koharu cut him off, “Nerd.”

Goh rolled his eyes at her, appreciating the light air for a moment before it settled down into his lungs, turning heavy as he breathed out a melancholy sigh.

“You’re right. You have a habit of being right. It’s a bit annoying.”

Koharu grinned, though Goh continued without smiling.

“It’s just... change is scary. What if I don’t like the person I become?”

He looked up, turning to meet Koharu’s eyes, hoping his own didn’t look as watery as they felt.

Koharu nodded.

“I may not get half the things you say about pokemon, but that I can understand. Although, if you’re ever unhappy about how you’ve changed, you can always go back to the way you were.”

Goh paused for a moment in consideration. His life before had been busy, but felt hollow and lonely, even with Koharu to help fill the holes in his life, it still felt like the time he had spent was in some way, not enough. It was dark, cozy even, but small. Now his days were open and full of light. He couldn’t say that empty feeling was never there, but the warm complete feeling was certainly more present. He felt more complete, like with each passing day spent exploring with Satoshi, he understood him better, understood himself better. It felt wonderful.

Goh made a face.

“I wouldn’t like that at all.”

Koharu smiled, a laugh slipping out of her lips.

“Well, I think you’ve answered your own question.”

And there it was again. That nice warm complete feeling.

“Yeah. I guess I have.”

The near silence settled over them again, still not comforting but not as malicious or empty as it had been.

Koharu reached a hand out towards Goh, a softer expression on her face.

Goh shook his head.

“I’m not a little kid, Koharu. I don’t need you to hold my hand just cause I’m a little worried.”

“Geez, Goh.” Koharu chastised, shaking her head. “I know you love to act like you’re an adult and all, but you really can be quite childish.”

Keeping her hand outstretched, she continued.

“Being a kid isn’t such a bad thing, you know? You get to explore and experiment, you don’t have to know what all you’re doing with your life. It’s not a death sentence to just let yourself be a child sometimes Goh, from one kid to another.”

Goh remained silent. Without saying a word, he nodded ever so slightly, reaching up to hold Koharu’s hand.

She too stayed silent, not saying a word when something in the buildings would shift, or footsteps would echo down the now quiet halls, and Goh’s grip would tighten for a moment.

They stayed like that for a while.

When Goh went to bed that night, he found himself staring at the ceiling. There was no need to worry anymore, not with the steady snores of Satoshi below him, yet the residual anxiety remained. It was an odd sense of guilt that followed him. Despite knowing this wasn’t his fault, no one’s fault really, sometimes people just got sick, he couldn’t help but feel responsible.

His mind drifted back to the sidewalk, to Satoshi’s lifeless body, to Pikachu’s desperate squeaks.

Not for the first time, Goh fell asleep, dreaming intangibly of a warm light, encased in icy glass to protect it.

[End of Chapter 2]

[yelena-bellova]

Don’t Be Afraid: Poe Dameron x Solo!Reader - Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One: Old Friends

Series Masterlist

Plot: Y/n and Poe pay a visit to Maz Kanata, but don’t find what they expect to.

Warnings: maybe one curse word

Word Count: 6.1k

A/N: This day has been...a day...and I almost didn’t get this one out because of how long it took me to edit. There’s so much dialogue in these chapters that can’t be cut (especially about planets created for Resistance Reborn lol) so sometimes I feel like it’s a bit messy. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

————

“Y/n. Sweetheart, wake up.”

I groggily moaned as I forced my eyes open, blinking a couple times till my vision was clear. I hadn’t intended to fall asleep but as soon as Poe had said it was going to be a while till we arrived at our destination, I was out like a light. We were flying a one man ship so I’d inevitably ended up sitting on Poe’s lap, the sound of his heartbeat had soothed me to sleep.

“We’re coming into the atmosphere,” he announced.

“Good,” I yawned, “Anything from the Falcon?”

Poe shook his head, “Nothing yet.”

“Wow,” I breathed as I took a look at the planet we were approaching, “That’s Ephemera, huh?”

It’s beautiful, Bee commented.

“It is beautiful,” Poe replied, bringing one hand off the controls to squeeze my thigh affectionately.

What kind of planet is it?

“It was once a mining planet, like Bespin. But here they mined the tibanna gas to extinction.” Poe explained to the droid, “After it was all gone, the Empire abandoned its colonies and most of the settlers ran with them. Good riddance, from what I hear. It left the planet back in the hands of its original inhabitants and a few holdouts who weren’t there just to cash in but had grown to love the place. And then, surprise, they discovered tuusah.”

“What’s tuusah?” I asked, still admiring the colors of the planet.

“Residue from the mine runoff. Turns out tuusah has medicinal properties, so a new industry was born. Maybe it wasn’t as lucrative as the Empire’s strip mining, but it was a heck of a lot kinder to the planet’s flora and fauna.”

When were they ever kind?

“You’re right,” he said. “The Empire has never been kind. But the planet is a resort destination now, and the capital is called Wish. What a name, right? It used to be Outpost 665 or something boring like that. But now? Wish. It’s one of the largest spas in the galaxy. All kinds of mineral baths and healing treatments and some kind of legendary oxide therapy that’s supposed to make you look younger.”

Poe and I had both seen our share of the galaxy and anytime we’d go on missions together, we’d get into a debate of who knew more about the planet’s history. Once we knew where we’d be going, we’d both usually try to cram as many facts into our heads in an attempt to outsmart the other.

“What?” he chuckled as he caught me staring at him.

“Nothing,” I grinned, “Just enjoying the lecture, Professor Dameron. When’d you find time to study?”

Poe’s lips tugged upwards into a small smirk, “Doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’ve got nothing.”

They don’t have any treatments for droids, right?

“I think you’re safe. Bee,” I laughed, “We’re not here for facials, we’re here for Maz.”

Poe flew us through the pastel clouds of the planet, it was absolutely gorgeous. I wouldn’t have minded coming back at some point. But the thought of visiting planets purely for recreation seemed like a distant dream. Maybe one day Poe and I could vacation somewhere but for now, our trips were centered on war.

A transmission came in from the landing strip.

“Welcome to Ephemera airspace,” came from a breathy, zen-like voice, “Please identify yourself so that we can grant you landing clearance.”

“This is…” Poe hesitated in giving his name, we hadn’t thought whether or not we should’ve been using aliases. Was it likely that the First Order was hiding out on a planet known for their spa facilities? No. But being cautious never hurt anyone, especially people in our situation.

“Poe Dameron, is that you?” a familiar voice came through, “Oh, give me that mike, dear, I can take it from here.” There were more muffled protests on the other side, leaving us confused.

“Maz?” Poe called.

“What? Of course it’s me, you fool. Who else would have asked you to this backwater?”

“Maz, is everything all right?” I asked.

“Baby Solo! Your boyfriend didn’t tell me you were coming too!” she cried happily, putting heavy emphasis on the word ’boyfriend’.

“Yeah, it sounded like something was going on.” I replied.

“Bah. Just some people getting a little possessive with the equipment. Nothing to concern yourself with. I’ve handled it. Now hurry up. I haven’t got all day.”

Poe furrowed his brows as we looked for a place to park, “Uh, I’d be happy to land, but I don’t see anything that looks like it’ll hold the ship up. Am I in the right place?”

“Oh, you’re right. Isn’t that funny? Some kind of security measure, the locals assure me, but really I think they’re just partial to the undulation.”

“Undulation?” I repeated.

“You’ll see. Everything here sways a bit. Now...let me...”

It took a moment of hearing various sounds on Maz’s end before one of the platforms solidified before our eyes.

“What in the...?” Poe mumbled to himself.

“It’s perfectly safe, Dameron.” Maz assured, “Now are you going to land or not? I thought you were on urgent Resistance business.”

I shook my head in disbelief, only Maz could have picked a place like this. “Copy,” I said. “We’ll see you in a few minutes.”

“Good, good. See you soon. Oh, are you hungry? Have you two eaten? I should have food brought up, shouldn’t I? I’ll have to ask them to prepare something special unless...you don’t have time for a psychedelic experience do you?”

Poe chortled at the question, “Not today, Maz. Like you said, urgent business.”

We landed on the, surprisingly stable, platform Maz had formed for us and headed into the grand looking facility. For all my years of knowing Maz, I still sometimes didn’t understand her. Her connections spanned across the galaxy and back, she knew everybody from beggars on the streets to political diplomats. She had eyes everywhere even if she didn’t move around all that much. Out of all the people the Resistance was seeking aide from, I had no doubt that Maz could probably help us the most.

————

“I’m not helping you with anything,” Maz said, adjusting her goggles to see us clearer. Our faces were nothing sort of shocked. “If you recall, last time I stuck my neck out for the Resistance, the First Order destroyed my castle. Do you know how much I loved that castle?”

“I know, it was spectacular.” I replied, memories of that day flooding back.

“The best. Do you know how long I had had it?”

“A thousand years?” Poe offered.

“A thou...” Max paused, and shot daggers at Poe, who offered her a playful smile in return, “Longer than you’ve been around, flyboy, that’s for sure. So don’t sniff at me like I’m being unreasonable.”

Maz put her hands in a bowl of colorful thick goop and pulled out a handful. It reeked something awful but she didn’t seem to mind as she offered us some, “You want?”

“No, we’re fine.” Poe answered for both of us, my face was scrunched up in disgust at the odor.

Here we were, sitting on lounge chairs inside one of Wish’s day spas putting everything out on the line. And here Maz was refusing to help us. She was perfectly content to sit with her feet soaking in mud and having attendants bring her various teas. She hummed as she rubbed the gelatinous stuff into her face without a care in the world when Poe and I bore the fate of the galaxy on our shoulders.

“What is that stuff? It smells horrid.” I commented, taking another whiff of the air and immediately regretting it.

“Feline poop.” Maz answered casually, “From some species that’s lived here so long that it’s practically native to the planet. Imagine. A planet with no solid ground but plenty of cats. The story is that the founder of Ephemera was a Rothkahar philosopher. He domesticated this species because he thought them of advanced intelligence...or maybe they domesticated him. I forget. Anyway, later on, he found that their excrement had healing properties. High concentrations of tibanna gas, naturally processed into tuusah. Does wonders for the skin.”

Rubbing animal feces into your body to achieve better looking skin. Sure. Totally normal.

“That’s great, Maz,” Poe said, changing the topic quickly, “But can we get back to the topic at hand? The Resistance needs your help.”

“Yes, you told me.”

“We need a place to hide and regroup. It needs to be outside of prying First Order eyes but able to handle our needs for housing, supplies, communications...” Poe explained.

“Didn’t you say there were only a handful of you left on a single ship? What needs could you have?” she replied.

Poe and I glanced over to each other, surprised at how insensitive she sounded. This wasn’t the Maz I knew.

“There’s going to be more,” I pointed out, “The Resistance is scattered across the galaxy and we’re going to continue to grow. We need shelter but we also need people like you. Leia was the only member of our leadership that survived, we need your help in leading the Resistance.”

“Lead the Resistance?” Maz’s eyes moved suspiciously between Poe and I, “I thought that was your job.”

“We…” Poe began, biting his tongue almost immediately. Very few knew about our demotions but we wore shame as if the whole galaxy mocked us.

“Expecting me to do your job for you?” Maz grumbled with a humorless laugh, “You two are the commanders in the room. Or has that changed?”

“Nothing’s changed,” Poe replied quickly, causing me to turn to him in confusion. Were we supposed to lie and cover up the fact that we’d lost our titles? Either way, Maz didn’t seem to care as she lay back in her lounger and closed her eyes. We waited for something, anything, to come out of her mouth. She always had some sort of unique and cryptic wisdom to offer. It was when light snores escaped her lips that it seemed like it was a hopeless cause.

Poe rose from his seat and offered me his hand, “This was a waste of time. We should go.”

“No!” Maz shouted suddenly, grabbing hold of his wrist. All of her trademark personality had left the one eye she had opened and she was dead serious. “Listen closely to me, Poe Dameron. You see me like this, and you think me a fool. Good for me, because when an enemy perceives you as foolish or weak, that is when they are most vulnerable in their arrogance. That is when you strike.”

Upon her last word, she yanked down on Poe’s hand and his feet went out from under him. He landed harshly on his back and had the wind knocked out of him on impact. I rose to help him up but Maz forcefully pushed me back onto my lounge chair with her other hand. She climbed off her seat and stepped onto Poe’s chest, bending over so that her face was almost touching his.

“I see arrogance in you. And that is what gets you in trouble, causes pain.” Maz observed before blindly pointing to me, “And fear in you. It’s controlled you all your life.”

I hated when Maz did this, or at least when it was directed at me. While my ego played a part in the mutiny, fear had been my main motive. Fear played a bigger part in my life than Maz even knew. It stopped me from picking up my lightsaber, it stopped me from telling people that I was Force sensitive, it delayed me from deciding to train as a Jedi…

“We learned our lesson,” Poe gritted out, still pinned down and I didn’t dare to help him.

“Have we?” Maz asked, looking between the two of us.

I struggled for words, I didn’t want to have to recount the events again. Especially to someone who could see right through me. The few times I’d slept since Crait had been filled with nightmares containing the transports exploding and the screams of my fallen comrades. Asleep or awake, I was being forced to relive my mistake constantly.

“You asked if we were still leaders,” Poe started, he could tell I was too wrapped in my thoughts to speak, “The truth is that I don’t know. W-We made some mistakes...”

“Mistakes?” Maz repeated.

“We led a mutiny,” I blurted out, the truth flowing from my lips quicker than I could manage. “We were being kept in the dark and didn’t trust the person in charge. I had just lost Dad and Mom was in a coma and I panicked, alright? I-I felt like I had to do something! I didn’t want anyone else to die and we ended up killing so many.”

“And did you?” Maz jutted her chin up as she looked at me, “Have to do something?”


I blinked away the tears that filled my eyes, guilt rose in my chest as I thought of Holdo. Standing in the hanger as she watched our transports flee the Raddus, she had everything under control while I’d been scheming behind her back.

“No,” I trembled and ducked my head as if that would shield me from her vision.

“Dameron?”


“No,” he said, “I’m a soldier and she was my commanding officer. All I had to do was trust.”

I peered up to see Maz plop down on Poe’s chest, a sight that should’ve amused me, but didn’t. The moment had drained me of every emotion that wasn’t sorrow or guilt.

“And now what?” she asked.

“What?” Poe said, his eyes rested on me to make sure I was relatively alright.

“Let’s say you’re right. That your actions, your arrogance, got many people killed. Led the Resistance to where they are now: broken, on the run, destitute, and begging for help.”

As I stayed silent, Poe spoke up, “We fix it.”

“How will you do that?” she asked. “You can’t bring the dead back. You can’t single-handedly rebuild the Resistance, although,” Maz snorted and looked between the two of us, “If anyone was going to try it would be you two.”

“I can bring down the First Order.” Poe answered.

“Alone?” Maz raised her eyebrows in amusement

“If I have to.”

She shook her head, “Arrogance. Still.” Maz adjusted her position so she was kneeling over him, “You know who else is arrogant? The First Order.”

“The First Order is evil, Maz, that’s not a fair comparison.” I stuck up for my boyfriend, sniffling after, “No one knows that better than me.”

Maz adjusted her goggles again, seemingly staring straight into my soul. While I’d never explicitly told her about my family history, she’d always known. If you knew the Solo family, it wasn’t hard to connect the dots as to why we suddenly became a permanent party of three one day. I hoped she wouldn’t push it, that was one wound I didn’t need reopened.

“I’ve seen evil in many forms, children. The First Order is no worse than the Sith, or the Empire, or countless others who would use the dark side. As always, they must be countered with the light. But...” Maz finally climbed off of Poe and came back to sit on her lounge chair, removing her spectacles as she did, “I have my own way of fighting. Not everything is about armadas and starfighters, you know.”

Poe sat up finally, rubbing at his sore back and stared at Maz. I was just as surprised, I never thought that she would be the one to disappoint me. She seemed so…

“You think I’m callous,” she finished my thought, “But I’m not. You will be fine without me.”

I scoffed at her dismissal and stood up, “You’re the last person I would’ve expected to say no to helping, Maz. Especially after what happened to Dad…”

“I sure hope you’re right, lady,” Poe said bitterly, “Because if you’re not, me and mine are going to die. And you can sit with that for a thousand more years for all I care.”

With that, we silently made our way out of the spa feeling like even bigger failures than we had when we entered.

————

I dried the last of my tears as Poe asked for clearance to leave for the second time, only to be denied. One of his arms was tightly wound around my torso, Maz’s questioning had opened a floodgate I’d been trying to keep shut. The mutiny, Holdo, Dad…I wished more than anything that my father was here, he would know exactly what to do. How to rebuild, how to lead, how to atone for my sins…

I growled and smacked the side window of our ship, “Why won’t they just let us off this damned planet?”

Poe tried again to be met with the same breathy voice with a different message, “Negative, pilot. You have company.”


We looked around through the pastel fog that surrounded us and found nothing. A sudden knock on the window had us both jumping and reaching for our blasters till we saw who it was. Maz.

“Open up,” she said with another tap on the glass.

Poe opened the cockpit and Maz leaned into the small space.

“There’s something I meant to tell you before you ran off like that. But first, where did you get this ship? It’s a relic.”

“It’s a loaner.” Poe answered exasperatedly, “I told you we’re down to scrap metal, everything else destroyed. Now what do you want?”

“It’s a relic, but it’s also a collectible. When you’re done with it, come see me. I might buy it.”

I sighed frustratedly, “Maz, what do you want? We’ve got places to be.” That was a lie, we had absolutely nowhere to go.

Maz waved us off as if we had all the time in the world. “We’ve long suspected that the First Order has been taking children and disappearing people on the margins of the galaxy. But things are escalating now: arresting people on phony trumped-up charges. Small crimes that they’ve blown up into capital offenses, or charges simply fabricated out of nothing. People going missing in the dead of night, their families having no idea what happened to them. Nighttime raids or picked up off the streets and vanished. And the people most likely to disappear? People with ties to the old rebellion. And interestingly enough, we’re seeing it with some old Imperials, as well. Those who have been outspoken about their distaste for the First Order, but also those who have remained neutral. Anyone who might pose a threat, now or down the line.”

“Do you think that’s what happened to our allies?” I thought out loud, “They could’ve been arrested?”

“Maybe. Possibly.” Maz answered with a shrug, “But the First Order used to do it in secret. Now they don’t bother. They snatch people off the streets and don’t even pretend to have whatever planet they’ve infiltrated hold a sham trial. Just death or labor camps.”

“Labor camps?” Poe breathed, it was a heavy revelation.

“Someone has to build all those fancy new ships, eh?”

Poe and I shared a look, trying processing the information. “Thanks, Maz,” he said thoughtfully, “Leia will want to know about this.”

“Yes, I thought she might. Rumor has it that there’s a list somewhere of all the people they’ve taken. A big list. No one’s seen it, but I’ve got people chasing it down. I hear something definitive, I’ll call you.”

“Please do,” I responded with a single nod.

“You sure you don’t want to sell this ship?” Maz gestured to our ship once more.

“Not ours to sell.” Poe replied.

“A shame.”

Poe began to close the cockpit just as Maz called our names, “Poe! Y/n!”

We turned our heads to see a knowing smile on her face, “Be the light.”

————

We’d just gotten off Ephemera when we began to discuss the visit.

Bee initiated the conversation, What’s wrong?

“I guess I expected more.” Poe answered, earning a hum of agreement from me.

Well, what did you expect?

“Anything. I’ve known Maz a long time and never once has she disappointed me.” I shook my head, “Guess I can’t say that anymore.”

I’m sorry.

“Maybe our expectations were too high.” Poe let out a heavy sigh.

I leaned my head back against his shoulder and let out a similar sound. My mind was swirling with chaos, most of which I’d created for myself. I felt like there was going to be a dark cloud of shame that followed me around for the rest of my life. Poe’s reply to Maz back in the spa still had me thinking though, we had to fix our mistake. We couldn’t bring back the people we’d lost, but we could try to make amends. The question of how we would do that, I still didn’t have an answer for but I was determined enough to figure it out.

Communication coming in, it’s from the Millennium Falcon.

I sucked in a breath, it was the first contact I’d had since I’d left the ship. What was waiting on the other end? I felt my anxiety building once again at the extreme scenarios that filled my head. As if he could read my mind, Poe grabbed my hand and squeezed hard. His nerves were just as high as mine.

“Put it through, buddy.” Poe requested, his thumb rubbing over my hand lightly, “This is Poe Dameron, everything all right?”

“Poe!” Rose’s voice greeted, “Good to hear your voice. Wait, isn’t Y/n with you?”

“I’m here, Rose. Is everything okay?” I held my breath as we awaited her answer.

“Falcon’s on land,” she answered, “We’re hoping you and Maz will join us.”

“Maz isn’t coming,” Poe said regretfully, “I’m afraid she’s decided to sit this fight out.”

“What? Why?”

I didn’t want to lie to Rose but didn’t feel right telling her just how disinterested in our sufferings Maz appeared to be. “It’s a long story. Where are you guys?”

“That’s a long story too but the short version? Leia secured us temporary shelter on Ryloth.”

“That’s great news, Rose,” I sighed, turning to Poe who seemed to be lost in his own thoughts and giving him a nudge. He shook himself out of his daze, “We’ve got a place to land. Ryloth system.”

“The Ryloth system?” Poe repeated with a small chuckle, “How did Leia pull that one off? I thought Ryloth didn’t pick sides.”

“She’s Leia,” Rose replied.

“She is, indeed,” Poe reenforced as I grinned, I was beginning to think there truly was nothing my mother couldn’t do.

“I’m sending BB-8 the coordinates now.”

I watched as the coordinates appeared on the display screen, Poe examined them, “This says head for the outermost moon. Is that correct?”

“Ambassador Yendor has asked our starfighters to meet there. Once everyone’s collected, he’ll bring you in under cover.”

“Ah,” he said, “So we’re not officially on Ryloth.”

“It’s a bit of a stealth mission. The government knows we’re here but they can’t acknowledge us. We’re working directly with the Ryloth Defense Authority.”

“The Ryloth Defense Authority? I don’t know what that is, but it sounds promising.” Poe said, I heard just an ounce of hope in his voice for the first time in a while.

“Leia can explain once you guys are here. Any word from the rest of your Black Squadron?”

“Negative,” he answered, “But we’re just clearing planet orbital space. We’ll follow up with Black Teams One and Two shortly and give them the coordinates.”

“Affirmative. Leia also wants you to follow up with Inferno Squadron and give them the coordinates, too.”

“We will.” I replied.

“Great. See you soon.”

“Out,” Poe said before ending the transmission, “If I haven’t ever said it, your mother is incredible.”

“I’m pretty sure you sing her praises in your sleep,” I jested, earning a pinch to my side.


“BB-8, open a secure channel to Black Team One.” Poe directed.

After a few seconds waiting, Snap’s voice came through, “Is that you, Poe? Y/n? Everything okay?”

“All good, here, Snap.” Poe stated, “Checking in on the status of your mission and to give you coordinates to a meeting place.”

There were muffled curses through the speaker of the ship followed by a voice shouting “Yes!”. Snap followed, “Copy that, Poe. And your timing is excellent. Karé and I have left Akiva with Norra and Wedge in hand.”

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Nothing we couldn’t handle. Some local opposition and some less than effective surface to air cannons. We took care of it.”

“Good to hear,” Poe replied, “And everything’s good with Wedge and…and your mom?”

“Oh, she’s crazy as ever,” Snap laughed, “But aren’t we all these days? It’s her life, right? I’m going to let her live it.”

“I’m glad to hear that, Snap” I smiled, “I’m going to send you the coordinates right now.”

“Received.” he answered after a moment, “I’ll get them to the team. Listen, we’re going to make a couple of detours to see if we can find any of Phantom Squadron still kicking around.”

“Phantom Squadron?” Poe asked, “They haven’t flown together since my mom was still an active pilot.”

“We need people, right?”

I shrugged, “It’s worth a shot, they’d have experience.”

“See, your girlfriend approves. It won’t take long. We’ll see you on Ryloth before you know it.”

Poe chucked under his breath, “Alright, watch your back out there, Snap.”

“Always do.” Snap answered just before Poe ended the communication.

“So are you calling the shots now for my squadron?” Poe asked with a smile.

I snickered, “All I did was endorse the idea. One pilot is enough for me to manage, I don’t need five of you.”

Without even having to ask, Bee started connecting us to Sura and Jess.

“Poe! Y/n!” Sura yelled, causing us to jolt back in our seat, “I can only talk for a sec. Real busy here!”

“What’s going on?” Poe’s voice drained of all humor, “Are you and Jess under fire?”

“Uhh...you could say that.” Suralinda screamed just as the comm ended suddenly.

“Bee,” I hurried, “What happened?”

I don’t know!

“Well, can you reconnect?” Poe cried, nerves had over taken him.

I’m going to try.

“Keep trying,” he replied, “Something’s happening to them, why did I make the call to send them there? I should have-“

“Stop,” I said, attempting to keep my anxiety at bay for Poe’s sake, “We don’t know anything yet. Do not start beating yourself up before we even know what happened.”

He attempted to take some deep breaths as I kept a hand on him, but I didn’t sense his panic decreasing at all. We waited for several minutes, consumed by fear that our friends were dying, until the connection finally went through.

“Poe?” Jess’s voice rang through, “Is that you? Y/n?”

“Jess,” Poe breathed, his body relaxing back into the seat, “Is that you?”

“Oh yeah. I just tagged Suralinda into the ring, so she had to go,” she answered as she panted for breath. There was an unmistakeable roar of a crowd in the background.

“Ring?” I asked, “Jess, where the hell are you?”

“Barterus. Gladiatorial ring. The ex-Imperial Suralinda was looking for? Teza Nasz? She wouldn’t see us unless we bested her greatest warriors in hand-to-hand combat, so Suralinda thought-”

“Fuck,” Poe cursed and threw his head back, “Suralinda thought she’d throw two very much needed Resistance pilots into the death pits of Rattatak for the sake of simply talking to an ex-Imperial who may or may not be of help to us?”

“Well,” Jess responded meekly after a few seconds, “When you put it that way.”

“Get out of there, Jess,” Poe ordered, “It’s not worth losing either one of you. We need you flying for Black Squadron more than we need this Teza Nasz.”

“Yeah, I’m afraid it’s a little too late for that, Poe. The Rattataki don’t take kindly to quitters. It’s sort of a win-or-die situation. But don’t worry. We got this in hand. Oh!”

There was a crash in the background and the sound of a vibro-ax being charged up. It was going to be harder now to reassure Poe that everything was going to be fine…

“I’m up! Gotta go, don’t worry!”

“BB-8 is going to send coordinates for our rendezvous point,” I said, “Get there in one piece as soon as you can.” 

“Don’t mess around.” Poe said, ”And don’t die! That’s an order.

“Order received!” Jess announced before disconnecting the communication properly.

“Insanity…” Poe grumbled, though I couldn’t help myself from laughing, “Something funny?”

“I’m sorry,” I said in between my giggles, “I really hope you appreciate that the rest of your squadron are just as hotheaded as you are.”

He sighed irritatedly at me before I felt his chest begin to rumble with laughter. For just a few brief seconds, everything felt okay. Sitting in Poe’s lap, flying together and laughing.

“We need to make one last call,” I said, asking Bee to put it through.

“Shriv here.”

“Shriv,” Poe greeted, “It’s Poe and Y/n, how’s your mission going?

“Oh, you know,” he answered, ”Lots of flying around and getting doors slammed in our faces. But we did find a couple of old friends of the Rebellion. I think Leia will be pleased.”

“I’m sure she will. We’re headed for Ryloth,” I spoke up, “Does Inferno Squad feel like joining?”


“Absolutely.”


“Great. We’re sending the coordinates now.” Poe replied as he pressed the button.


Shriv answered soon after, “Received. We’re on our way.”

“See you there,” I said and ended the transmission, “Well, that’s a little bit of good news.”

“Yeah,” Poe adjusted a control before asking Bee to jump to lightspeed, "We’re going to need a lot more of it though.”

————

We were one of the thirteen ships that landed on Ryloth in the middle of the night. I was happy to see as many ships as that in the hanger when Poe and I dismounted, it was a good start. He was the first one to spot Mom,

“Leia!” he called out and we jogged across the hanger to get to her. Even though I’d known she was safe on Ryloth, I couldn’t relax until I’d actually seen her with my own eyes.

“Commander,” she said with a nod to Poe. He was so embarrassed by his casualness that he hadn’t even realized that she’d called him ‘Commander’ again.

“General,” he greeted again as he blushed, “Sorry for the informality. Just glad to see you again.”

“I’m glad to see you, too, Poe. You too, Commander Solo,” she said, with a wink directed towards me, “Walk with me and tell me what we have.” I’d have to ask her later what we’d done to earn our titles back.

We made our way through the hanger and explained as many people as we could.

“The two pilots there you know from Black Squadron, Jessica Pava and Suralinda Javos.” Poe pointed towards the duo, plus a recently added third person, “The woman with them is ex-Imperial-officer Teza Nasz. They found her on Rattatak after fighting in the death pits.”

Sura and Jess looked…well, they could’ve looked worse. Jess’s dark hair was matted with blood, Sura had a few bruises and her lip was split. Teza Nasz was easily the most intimidating person I’d ever seen in my life. She wore a one-shouldered jumpsuit made up of various animal skins and mismatched pieces of armor. There were lines that were cut into her arm, no doubt by a knife and she had dark red dreadlocks down her back.

“That warlord is ex-Imperial?” Mom asked, I could hear her stifling a laugh.

Poe explained her backstory and how she’d been an officer in the Imperial Navy, strategist in the Battle of Jakku and was assumed dead shortly after. Suralinda and her had known each other at some point.

Mom was thinking it all over, “Well, she looks like a warrior, not a strategist, but perhaps I shouldn’t judge by looks alone. If she dropped off New Republic scopes that thoroughly and was able to rise to power on Rattatak, she’s probably both. What’s her name, again?”

“Teza Nasz,” I answered at the exact moment the warlord turned around and locked eyes with Mom. There was some sort of silent standoff between the two of them, they were both powerful in their own right. Only once Nasz turned away first did we continue our discussion.

“Who else?” Mom asked before a voice called her name. We turned to see a young girl behind us eagerly waiting to shake Mom’s hand.

“It’s good to finally meet you in person, Zay,” she greeted, “Where’s Shriv?”

“Over here,” the Duros said, walking up to join us. “Good to see you General.”

Shriv had been a Rebellion, now Resistance, fighter. He’d seen everything from the Battle of Endor to the Battle of Jakku during the old days. If you wanted to hear some good war stories, Shriv was your man. I’d only heard of Zay from my mother, I knew that she was recently orphaned and an excellent pilot. Naturally her story tugged at my heart.

After we’d caught up and Shriv had excused himself, Mom asked Zay if they’d located anyone. We made our way over to the civilian transport where she said she thought we’d be happy with what we found. She also filled us in on what had gone on during their mission. Once she got to the point where they were unable to locate many of the people they’d been trying to find, I decided to jump in.

“Maz told us something similar,” I said, “It seems like they’ve disappeared.”

“What does it mean?” Zay asked.

“The First Order, most likely,” Poe answered, “If we know about these potential allies, so do they. They’re just getting to them first.”

We made our way to the transport and took a look at the group. There were two native Twi’lek’s handing out hot towels and water to our allies, everyone was in their own conversations that seemed to die as they noticed Mom’s presence. A single figure broke apart from the small crowd and began walking toward us.

“This is-“ Zay began to say.

“I know who this is,” Mom said quietly before greeting the older man, “General Rieekan.”

As they embraced, I finally placed where I’d heard the name. He’d been a General during the Rebellion, working closely with my mother on Hoth and everywhere else the Rebellion had taken them. Poe, Zay and I broke away from them to let the two old comrades catch up.

“I can’t believe you and Shriv found him,” I patted Zay on the shoulder, “Good job.”

“Thanks,” she beamed at me, before her eyes caught my lightsaber on my hip, “Wait, you’re Commander Solo.”

“Last time I checked.”

“You’re a legend!”

Poe and I exchanged a confused look before I turned back to the girl, “How so?”

“Crait! You took on Kylo Ren all by yourself!” Zay exclaimed, her hands flying to her head, “It’s all over the galaxy how you battled each other. A-And then I heard Luke Skywalker showed up and the two of you fought together. Oh man, I can’t believe I’m actually talking to you!”

How the hell had that story gotten out? I assumed that moment would live and die on Crait, maybe it would spread slowly through the Resistance. I didn’t think I would turn into a galaxy-wide tale. Much less, that it would be told falsely with the embellished storyline that my uncle and I had fought together. I wished that was the truth.

“Well,” I awkwardly smiled, “That’s not entirely true.”

Zay’s face fell as if I’d just crushed some dream of hers, “So you didn’t battle Kylo Ren?”

“Well,” I rubbed the back of my neck, “I did, but-“

“So you are a hero!” she grinned before excitedly shaking my hand, “I can’t tell you how excited I am to meet a real live Jedi knight!”

I could tell I wasn’t going to get in a word edgewise, the girl already looked up to me seemingly. But I felt unnerved at the thought that I was letting someone else think I was a hero. Heroes didn’t lead mutinies and they certainly didn’t get their soldiers killed.

Shouts began to rise behind us in the hanger, we turned to see a crowd was beginning to form. I could clearly hear the punches that were being thrown.

“A fight!” Zay excitedly shouted.

Poe, Shriv and I ran off together to see what was going on. I should’ve known things were going just a little too well to continue that way.

————

A/N: Fun Fact: The conversation between Zay and the reader is based on the ending of TLJ with the three kids reenacting the lightsaber fight. As always, thank for all the support on this series! I’m having the best time writing it 🖤

Taglist: @m1rkw00dpr1ncess @springfox04 @constantdisgrace @holybatflapexpert @seninjakitey @tammythompson-singslikea-muppet @leilei-draws @eternal-fandoms @dream-alittlebiggerdarling @imaginecrushes @eternallyvenus @thescarletknight2014 @simplybarnes @captain-america5 @breyasficletblog @caseymcflurry @stumbleonmywords @april-14-blog @i-ievu @ultrunning @desperatelytryingtosavemyself @caswinchester2000 @meraki-loki @lovinnholland @wishing4wishes @fruitloopzzz @bbuckysbeardd @justanotherblonde23 @ace-fiction @abysshaven @thisshitfucks @astudyoftimeywimeystuff @itsfangirlmendes

Star Wars Permanent Taglist: @paintballkid711 @katrynec @caswinchester2000 @theliterarymess @softly-sad

[kumeko]

A/N: For the Tiny Lights, @hananene-zine! I wanted to do a little ‘spirited-away’ au (it works so well for the ship!) The amazing @blue-mooned made a beautiful piece to go with it, check it out!

Summary: Radish Legs didn’t like the butterflies she was getting from Hanako. Didn’t like how he teased her even as he helped her reclaim her name and her life. He was a spirit, a ghost, and she definitely wasn’t starting to like like him.

…

…

…

…

Over the past couple of weeks, Radish Legs had gotten used to many things, the least of which was her name change. She wasn’t sure what was more insulting about it: the fact that people thought her legs were fat or the notion that no one could come up with a better nickname. How could anyone look at her and not come up with a more beautiful name? She was gorgeous, damnit.

Maybe the guy who’d stolen her name was blind. Tsukasa Yugi was a spirit, after all, and there was no accounting for taste with them. Especially one as evil with him. Not only had he stolen her name, but he’d also turned her best friend into a pig. Well, actually, if she were honest, it was mostly her fault that Aoi had turned into a pig. It had been a little suspicious when they’d found those empty stalls filled with food, and Aoi had been right when she’d wanted to go back. If she hadn’t convinced her to eat, maybe they’d be home right now.

Instead, Aoi was in a pig pen and Radish Legs was sitting on a furry rabbit-like thing as she flew hundreds of miles over the earth. Clutching the fur tightly, she leaned over and peeked at the ground below. The houses looked like ants from this height, and she swallowed as she sat straight once more. If she fell, they’d have to call her Pancake Girl. “You sure this is safe?”

On her right, Hanako shrugged. He was the exact mirror image of Tsukasa, though while the short hair gave his twin an eviller look, Hanako looked more boyish. As usual, there was a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he asked, “Is anything safe, really?”

“Hanako,” she warned, not in the mood for another one of his jokes. However cute he was (and boy was he cute, Radish Girl had to remind herself that even if he looked like he was her age, he was a spirit and was probably a zillion years older than her), his attitude was barely tolerable when they had the solid ground beneath them. Soaring high in the sky, she refused to play along. “I don’t want to die.”

“Would it really be that bad?” He reached out, placing a hand on hers and squeezing it lightly. For a spirit, his skin was warm, and she blushed. “We could hang out even longer.”

“Hanako,” she growled, glaring at him. She didn’t move her hand, however.

“Don’t worry so much.” Laughing, he leaned back and stared at the sky. She missed his touch immediately. “Mokka are a reliable transport. It’ll get us back on time.”

“Right, the test.” Radish Legs rubbed her arms, remembering now just why they were in such a rush to get back to the bathhouse. This was perhaps her only chance to escape all this madness and get home. “Your brother…what do you think the test’ll be?”

“Mmm, well, it’s going to be something really tricky, because he’s sneaky like that.” Hanako tapped his chin, considering the question seriously. She wondered if he realized he was just as sly as his brother. At least Hanako wasn’t as malicious. “You remember your name, right?”

Radish Legs nodded, patting her chest. Tucked inside an inner pocket was her birthday card from Aoi, her name carefully scrawled across the cover. Nene. The name felt foreign now, after weeks of Radish Legs, and she resisted the urge to say it aloud, to remind herself how it sounded, how it tasted. Until she defeated Tsukasa’s test, her name had to remain a secret.

“Good.” Hanako smiled, and his expression is genuine now. He took her hand again, this time tenderly. Intertwining their fingers, he continued. “Then all you have to do is save your friend and you’ll get home.” His thumb stroked her skin and he lowered his eyes. Wistfully, he asked, “You could stay, you know. Save your friend and then stay here.”

“I…” Radish Legs swallowed. He wasn’t her type, she reminded herself. She was into dashing princes, the ones so handsome you couldn’t believe they were real. Not the all too close boy-next-door, the kind of guy that grew on her until she couldn’t remember what it was like without him. His eyes were so big, she could see her reflection in them. Biting her lip, Radish Legs stared at their clasped hands. It was strange, she had a feeling they’d held hands like this before. Long ago, when spirits were still just silly stories.

Before she could sort herself out, Hanako laughed and let go. “I’m just teasing. You can’t stay here. After the mess you made cleaning, Tsukasa’s gonna kick you out himself.”

“Jeez, stop making fun of me,” Radish Legs pouted, ignoring the way her heart sank. No, scratch that, her heart didn’t sink at all. She didn’t care about him in the least. She was a stone, she was a rock, and she was going to grab Aoi and leave the second she could.

“It was a parting gift. I can’t do it anymore after you leave, after all.” Shielding his eyes, he squinted as he stared into the distance. It wasn’t long before he broke into a smile. “We’re almost there!”

“That was so quick!” Incredulous, Radish Legs leaned forward, eyes narrowing until she could barely make out the shape of Tsukasa’s bathhouse. It would never be home, but she felt a sense of relief as they got closer. The spirit world was vast, and this was the one small part she knew. “I should have just taken a Mokke when I left.”

Hanako snorted. Patting her back, he stated bluntly, “You would have crashed.”

“I…” She couldn’t entirely deny it. It wasn’t like her time in the spirit world had been smooth in the least. Even the simplest of jobs, cleaning a tub, had gone awry because of some pesky spirits. Actually, almost every task she’d been given had gone wrong one way or another. “I could have managed,” she mumbled lamely.

Chuckling, Hanako took her hand again. He was so touchy feely like that, constantly liking having some contact with her. Hand holding was easier for her heart than his hugging, at least, but that didn’t make her pulse race any slower. “Alright, ready?”

And again, this sensation was familiar. Someone had held her hand like this before, guiding her. She had been younger then, much younger, and wandering around a shrine at night. No, that wasn’t right. Nene frowned, her nose scrunching as she forced herself to remember. It had felt like a shrine, but it had happened at a school. A fourth step she shouldn’t have stepped on.

She turned to ask Hanako but froze as she stared at the seal on his cheek. Suddenly, he wasn’t wearing a white haori but instead black school clothes. Her own pink outfit faded away into her elementary uniform. His hand held hers tightly as they navigated through a shrine filled with dolls.

You shouldn’t have stepped on that fourth step, he muttered, giving her a wry smile. But I guess you couldn’t help it with those radish legs of yours.

“Radish Legs?”

“Radish Legs? Hello?”

“I don’t have fat legs!” Radish Legs roared, pulling herself out of her memory and into the present.

Hanako blinked, eyes wide as he let go of her hand. He was wearing his white haori again, just as she was her high school self again. Rubbing the back of his head, he muttered, “Damn, you’re scary.”

She should be angrier at that, but Radish Legs discarded her rage and instead grabbed his shoulders. “I know who you are!”

“It’d be a problem if you got amnesia now,” Hanako joked, his expression bemused.

“No, not that—your name is Amane Yugi!” Radish Legs announced triumphantly. All this time, she’d had a strange feeling that they’d met before and now she knew why. “You died at my school and now you’re Hanako, the toilet ghost. You saved me one time when I got trapped in a school mystery.”

“Huh? I…” Hanako’s eyes widened as he processed her words. “Amane?” Something must have clicked in him somewhere because he started to repeat the word, saying his name over and over again. “I’m Amane. Amane. I…” He smiled brightly. “I’m a school mystery!”

As soon as he announced it, the Mokke shrank and they were no longer flying but falling. It was so sudden that Radish Legs didn’t even have a chance to scream before gravity yanked her down. Her hands were still on Hanako’s—no Amane’s shoulders and he grabbed her waist, keeping her close. “Nene! You did it!”

“Nene?” It had been so long since she’d heard it, but that was her name. Not Radish Legs, but Nene. “That’s me!”

“And I’m Amane!” He laughed as they plummeted. “I have my name back! And you…you might be bigger now but you’re just as clumsy, huh?”

Indignant, she bit out, “Hey! Who saved you? ME!”

“That’s true. I guess you paid me back, huh?” He pulled her closer, until they touched foreheads. For a ghost, he felt all too real. “Thanks, Nene.”

Flustered, she could only nod. He was close, far too close, and smiling like that was unfair. If Amane asked for anything now, she could only say yes.

Luckily, he didn’t realize it. Instead, he slowed down their fall and hugged her tight. Before she could protest, he started flying them back to the bathhouse. And if she nestled his arms a little, buried her head into his chest, well, he didn’t say anything about it.

Suddenly, she wished they’d taken the train back to the bathhouse. It might have been long enough for her to figure out how to say goodbye.

[latin-dr-robotnik]

SonAmy - First flight

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles all have many stories about the heroic feats they achieved with the help of the Tornado. Since their first adventures they used the famous biplane to confront Dr. Eggman... but what about Amy? How and when was her first flight?

“Tails! Have you seen Sonic?” 

Amy approached the Tornado, parked just outside the workshop. She travelled all the way to the Mystic Ruins in hopes of sharing a little picnic with the blue hedgehog. The calm and warm evening served as the perfect set up for a date; but thing is, he wasn’t informed at all!

She got no response, yet could still hear some mechanical noises coming from the Tornado. Frustrated, she left her picnic basket on the ground and started walking with leaden feet towards the plane.

“Tails, I asked you a question! No need to be so rude! Tails!”

But a different, unexpected figure rose from within the cockpit.

“Uhh, Tails isn’t here.”

“Sonic?!” She froze in place for a moment. “Oh, I’m sorry! I thought it was Tails ignoring me!” 

She looked away for a moment, feeling a little embarrassed about the whole ordeal. Sonic was looking a bit rough and dirty from working all day inside the plane. He was even playing with a big wrench on his hand.

“Heh, nope. He left early and hasn’t returned... yet.” 

Amy took an extended look at him, and the plane, then back at him.

“What... what are you doing, exactly?”

He chuckled. “Hey, I can take care of my plane on my own, do a little maintenance on it, y’know!”

She covered her mouth with her hands, only her eyes left visible, shining and excited as ever. 

“Oh my gosh! Is it actually your plane?”

“Well, duh, of course it is!” He leaned over the side, pointing to the letters SONIC printed on the red fuselage. “See? My name, my plane. Tails just likes to use it more than I do, haha!”

“Oh, I see.” she looked away again, directly back at the basket she left behind. “Hey, I think you must be tired from working on that plane all day... wanna join me for a picnic?”

Sonic scratched the back of his head, a little hesitant.

“I... can’t right now. I need to test this baby and see if it’s working as intended and-”

He stopped himself for a second and kept staring at her, pouting with her arms crossed. Doing test flights alone is a perfectly fun routine, but her sole presence was enough to give him a completely new idea.

“Let me tell you something,” he asked with a smug look on his face, “how about you join me and test this thing together?”

Amy opened her eyes, shocked by the sudden proposition.

“Y-you mean f-flying together?” She blushed a bit. “I-I mean I’ve never flown in my life, but sure! I’d l-love to!”

Sonic jumped from the cockpit up on the wing, then extended a hand to her, smiling.

“Heh, then jump on!”

“What!? You mean o-on the wing? D-don’t you have another seat or something?”

“Nope, the wing is for passengers.” Sonic reassured her, then shifted his head to the horizon beyond the runway. “But don’t worry, the day is perfect for an evening flight, there’s almost no wind and we have another hour or so of sunlight. Not that I can’t fly at night... but I don’t like the look of those clouds in the distance.”

He pointed out a massive barrier of clouds still far away. She nodded and climbed on top of the wing, still a little unsure of this whole thing. She’s never been in the air, let alone standing on a wing, with nothing to hold her! Was it really safe?

Well, Sonic wasn’t too bothered about it - in fact, he was pretty excited! His face lit up with excitement as he returned to the cockpit, setting everything up for takeoff. After flipping some switches and checking everything, he raised a hand to his mouth, as if mimicking a real commercial pilot communicating through a speaker.

“Ok Ms. Rose, this is your captain and pilot of the day Sonic the Hedgehog speaking. We are just about to take off - time of day: 18 hours 39 minutes, temperature is... warm, I guess. We have a lovely sunny evening, with clouds in the distance potentially limiting the amount of air time we’re gonna get today. Hold on tight, as we don’t have seatbelts in the economic class, and please enjoy your first flight with Hedgehog Airlines. Captain out!”

She giggled through the entire speech, feeling excited as ever but at the same time scared of doing all of this for the first time. She kept her eyes on the runway ahead, standing in silence as Sonic kept flicking some switches and adjusting the stick.

Captain Sonic soon returned for take-off.

“This is Captain Sonic speaking again, we are taking off!” He said, while accelerating the plane. “This is standard procedure, so please bear with us as we reach optimum speed and...”

Amy panicked at the speed and movement of the plane. Sonic pulled the stick swiftly, and up they went!

“And we are in the air. Next destination: the Mystic Sea!”

Amy felt the rush of adrenaline kicking in as they were no longer on solid ground, but also struggled to find some stability riding on the Tornado’s wing. Sonic was right, there was little to no wind... when they were stationary. Now that they were cruising the skies at speed Amy quickly realized the challenge she was facing.

“Wah-ah! This is too fast!”

“Heh, you call this fast?” He chuckled, breaking away from his Captain character. “C’mon, don’t try to resist against the wind, just stand there and... open your arms to it!”

Amy stumbled a bit as Sonic leveled the plane to a stable height, flying further into open sea. She finally managed to find her footing, looked at the sunset... and stretched her arms as much as she could on both directions.

It felt great. She never felt as free in the wind as at that very moment. Opening her arms was like taking the role of the sail of a ship, free to be taken wherever the wind decided to. They were going fast, yes, but after facing her initial doubts and fear, she stopped caring about it.

She closed her eyes and let her head fall on her back, enjoying more than ever the warm sun and the fresh wind. Sonic looked up, watching her be so happy that he couldn’t help himself but to smile tenderly, reminiscing the first time he ever took to the skies, and how good it felt as well. It’s the small details like that, bursts of energy and happiness that sometimes get lost in everyday life, in doing the same thing repeatedly and losing that original spark in the process. He’s been flying all over the world for a while now, and it started to feel like regular business. But just at that moment, he remembered just how beautiful it should feel.

He kept smiling at her for a minute, then snapped back to reality. He wanted to have some fun now.

“This is your Captain Sonic speaking.” He interrupted her. “We are changing our route to go through the ever so impressive Mystic Crags! We’re gonna need the help of our passenger and her open arms to direct us to and through the crags. Buckle up because we’re about to start dancing!”

Amy looked at him over the shoulder, her arms still wide open and more confident than ever.

“Let’s do this.”

Sonic moved the stick north-wise, and pulled down bit by bit. In a matter of seconds, they were flying pretty close to the water and heading directly back to the coastline. Amy kept her eyes locked in the rocky and rugged terrain ahead, with tall cliffs that lead into the sea, followed right by the many, many crags sticking randomly along the shore, all in different shapes and heights. The entire place seemed like a bird’s training ground, twisting and turning between rocks and natural arches. 

“Okay, time to test how this baby truly handles.”

Sonic gripped the flight stick with determination, his sights fixed on a tentative route around the crags at full speed, but keeping in mind he wouldn’t be able to do many tricks with a passenger on board. 

No silly barrel rolls or anything like that today.

Amy felt the adrenaline rush reaching its peak as they approached the first set of crags. She focused on keeping a solid enough foothold as Sonic turned from left to right, up and down constantly. Both of them were so concentrated not a single word came out of their mouths through the entire show, just enjoying the adrenaline rush. First they raced past the rocky coast, then another lap through a different route, and another one... and after a while, a final grand tour around the entire place that culminated with them flying through a rocky arch and coming out high up in the sky again.

After such a rush, Sonic turned west right back to the sea, and both started laughing at the same time.

“That. Was. AWESOME!” Amy cheerfully exclaimed while looking at Sonic, jumping in place and then holding her hands close to her chest. “I wasn’t sure if I was excited, or scared, or pumped up, or everything at the same time! The wind felt great, then it felt so thrilling rushing by all those rocks at that speed! I hope you could’ve seen my face, I was so seriously concentrated the whole way through, haha!”

Sonic’s laugh slowly turned into a serious face of concern.

“Hmm...” He said to himself, “I don’t really like the look of those clouds...”

“Huh? What’s wrong, Sonic?”

“Uh, I mean-” He covered his mouth again and looked back at her. “This is your Captain Sonic speaking, I’m afraid we might have to go back to base earlier than intended, a storm is certainly coming soon and Tails wouldn’t like to have a soaked plane inside his workshop! Uhh... captain out.”

“Oh, right.” She looked up, watching as more and more clouds started forming right above them as the last rays of light tried to pierce through and the wind started getting a little rougher. “It’s a shame, really, but I understand. Let’s go home, captain~”

The last minutes of the flight were spent in a bittersweet silence. 

On one hand they were having so much fun and were so happy everything turned out like it did; but on the other they weren’t able to stay for longer like that, being practically forced to return home. Risking flight in stormy conditions was strictly off the table for Sonic, and so they bid farewell to the crags, and then the sea...

Sonic landed the Tornado just outside the workshop gates, and he made sure to check everything before leaping out of the cockpit and back on solid ground. 

He lended a hand to Amy, offering to help her jump off the wing, to which she nodded and grabbed it.

“That was so fun. Thank you, Sonic.”

“Thank you for flying with Hedgehog Airlines,” he joked one last time while putting one hand on his mouth and the other on the back of his head, “I’d appreciate if you rate your experience today with five stars.”

Amy smirked, then without a single doubt she jumped directly at him, hugging with more strength than usual.

“Oh, I’d rate you TEN STARS if I could!”

“Heh... ow, Amy, it’s fine haha, no need to... squeeze this much”

He slowly put both of his hands close to her back, barely touching her. Then he noticed the picnic basket she left earlier.

“H-hey, about that picnic...”

Amy let go of him, and reflected on the main reason she was there to being with.

“I... I don’t think we’ll be able to do it now.”

“Why not?”

“Well, the clouds...”

“It doesn’t have to be outside, though.”

Sonic winked at her. And her face instantly lit up.

“Oh, Sonic! You’re a genius!” Amy ran back to pick the basket, then pointed at the small door to Tails’ Workshop. “Shall we do it inside?”

He slowly walked towards the bigger hangar doors, smiling all the way through as Amy was about to open the other, smaller door.

“Yup. I’m gonna store the plane and join you in a super sonic second!”

“Oh! I’m so going to pick a movie to watch tonight!”

“Heh. It’ll be fun.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bonus: Ever wondered what happened to Tails? He actually came back home sometime after midnight, and wasn’t happy at all - he was completely soaked! Turns out the day wasn’t too kind for our lovely fox, and the storm that arrived earlier that night and never left did not help at all. At the moment he opened the door, all he wanted moment was to get inside his bed and not be disturbed by anything or anyone. 

Yet, when he entered the workshop and passed through the living room, he found Sonic and Amy sleeping on the couch in front of the TV, Amy in particular resting on Sonic’s shoulder. 

At first he didn’t pay too much attention to them, opting instead to walk upstairs to his room, but just as he was opening the door he had a change of heart. He silently pulled out a blanket from his bedroom and came back to cover them. Then, he turned out the TV, the lights and finally went to bed, smiling tenderly at the two on his way up the stairs. 

Even after having a completely awful day, the sole sight of two of his best friends peacefully resting together was enough to warm his heart again and cheer up his night.

[Author’s note: if you’re confused about my take on Tails’ workshop layout or you simply want to read more from me, check out Sonic’s Memento Collection! Oh, and also my Special Content Section. Happy birthday, Amy!]

[doodleimprovement]

The Ghosts of Subcon Forest

Wow I wrote another ficlet based off another of @cupcakeshakesnake‘s art posts that you can see here. 

This is the last one I promise ajkdkasldjshd

--

Hat Kid had heard the scary stories of the ghosts of the Subcon Forest. Cooking Cat - though she’d only known the kid for a few days - had showered her in the horrifying tales of a ghostly king and queen with rag doll children and ghoulish animals. 

It honestly all sounded pretty cool to Hat Kid, who had gone down to the forest once the cat lady left. 

It was indeed dark, but it didn’t feel nearly as foreboding at the Cooking Cat made it seem. 

The colors were cold, but not uninviting. 

The glowing of certain plants gave the forest an ethereal, gentle aura - at least to her. 

She was so enthralled that she didn’t notice the trap beneath her feet until it was too late. 

Stuck in a sack, she feebly attempted to escape until the bag was untied, and she was unceremoniously dropped into a large, fluffy-feeling palm. 

“AHAHAHAHAHAHA FOOOOOL!!! YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO MY DOMAIN” The booming, echoing voice yelled. Hat Kid looked up- terror evident in her eyes as she stared up at the glowing, fanged face of the ghost king of Subcon Forest. 

“NOW, YOUR SOUL ISS-Oh shit” He paused, staring in surprise at the little girl in his hands “You’re not one of those bumbling mafia idiots. How old are you?” 

Hat kid’s brow furrowed in confusion “Uh.. Uhm…. 8?” She guessed. 

“Oh, OH!” His head turned “VANESSA! ITS A KID!” 

“Oh?????” A lighter, but still echoing voice came from the shadows, and suddenly the ghost before her started to change size, shrinking and adjusting his hold until she was resting on his arm. 

“Yeah, not even double digits. Geez, I almost just took her soul and gobbled it up without thinking” He grumbled “I am pretty hungry” 

“Well thank goodness you didn’t! We don’t take children’s souls” a similar being made themselves known, with legs this time, and sharp looking fingers, but strangely kind eyes. She looked down at Hat Kid, and her jagged mouth formed what Hat Kid assumed was supposed to be a kind smile. 

“Hello there, child. What brings you to Subcon Forest?” 

“Uh.. uhm….” 

“Oh, hah! Where are my manners?” The red ghost interrupted “I am Queen Vanessa. This is my partner, he tends to go by “The Snatcher” these days” 

“King Snatcher, Vannie” The ghoul holding her corrected. 

“Yes dear, of course. And what is your name?” Vanessa looked back at her

“Uh..  I go by hat kid” 

“Ooh, not giving your name. Smart kid. I mean, we’re not Fae so we can’t use your name, but smart” Snatcher complimented. 

“And why are you in our forest, Hat Kid?” 

“Uh, have you seen any hourglasses? About…” She made a large size with her arms “This big? Its fuel for my ship and they’re really important” 

“Hourglasses… Hm, oh yeah, one landed in the manor, didn’t it?” Vanessa thought “I think I saw another near the village” 

“I think one landed on my reading tree! Those were flying through the sky like meteors!” Snatcher announced 

“I- I need to get them!! … please?” Hat Kid muttered the last word 

“Oh, well if they’re so important, surely!” Vanessa nodded “We’ve no need for Hourglasses from space, no no” 

“Buuuuuut” Snatcher cut her off “We need a few favors from you first. 3 hourglasses, 3 favors, that sound fair, kiddo?” 

Before Hat Kid could even respond, Vanessa jumped in “Favors?? Luka, honestly” 

“Just some of the lighter stuff, Vannie! Mail, those fire ghosts, I’m not tossing her in my lab or anything” 

“You have a lab??” Hat kid jumped in his arm “That’s so cool!!” 

“Hah! I told you I was cool” Snatcher grinned at Vanessa “Well she must be a nerd too, dear” The woman rolled her eyes “Well… how do you feel about helping us, Hat Kid?” 

“Oh,uh, I’ll help! No problem!” She jumped in Snatcher’s arm, who then put her down. 

“Excellent!! Let’s get it in writing, shall we?” The ghost snapped his fuzzy looking fingers and a scrolled paper appeared with a burst of flame. 

Hat Kid hoped this wasn't some kind of trick. 

oOoOoOoOo

At long last. She was going home. 

It only took two solid months of running around and getting the crap beat out of her by birds and mafia guys and one time- just as a “test”- by a ghost! 

And then there was the whole thing with Mustache girl. 

Yeah, she might not be super fond of her home planet, but at least she’d reunite with Bow and they’d get to explore the galaxy together. 

She was gonna miss the crazy planet though. Especially Vanessa and Snatcher (She tried calling him Luka and he threw whatever the adult ghost version of a “fit” was) They were really nice, even if Snatcher decided he wanted to test her magical abilities. 

He was a bit of a butt, but Vanessa made up for him. 

Admittedly, she was still surprised when she saw him, not Vanessa, hanging outside her ship, asking her if she was really leaving. 

She felt a little bad for knocking him off, but he could float, he’d be fine. 

In fact, he was so fine that he popped into her bridge and scared her half to death. 

“Heya kiddo! Not even gonna say goodbye, hm?” 

Feeling a little embarrassed, she grabbed at the bottom of her oversized shirt 

“.... I didn’t wanna say bye” she admitted

“And why is that?” He asked, his voice almost seemed soft. 

“Well uh… cause I wanna come back” She explained further “My friend, she’s still on my home planet, and I wanna get her! We always said we’d fly together in space and I keep my promises!” 

“Hah, heck yeah you do kid, you’re one of the best contractors I’ve had in years!” He complimented, holding up his hand, which had a brown bag in it. “Vannie wanted me to give these to you before you left. She made you -” 

“COOKIES???” 

She jumped on him to grab the bag, which he lifted up further 

“Ah ah ah, gotta sign a contract” She backed off him with a confused and slightly annoyed look. A contract popped into being, and had a pretty simple request

[COME BACK AND BRING YOUR FRIEND] 

She couldn’t help the glassy eyes as she stared at it. 

All the other planets she’d been to on her test, on her adventure, no one ever asked her to come back. 

She grabbed her marker and scribbled her name carefully. 

“Nice” he responded, looking down at her with a rather genuine smile, putting the cookie bag down, and reaching around his neck for his handkerchief. 

“Huh?” 

“Well, Vanessa’s giving you something, and I think I should give you somethin’ too” he reasoned “I’ve got a dozen of these, I can give you one” He admitted, unfolding the handkerchief and draping it over her shoulders. It was as big as a shawl. 

She grabbed it with her tiny hands and looked up at him with those glassy eyes. 

“Th-thank you…” 

He pat her head “See you soon, kid?” 

She reached out and hugged his noodly tail “See you soon” 

Taking a moment to think he grabbed the girl and gave her a quick, full hug before letting go 

“Don’t take too long! Vanessa can get impatient” 

Hat kid giggled “You got it!” She gave him a little salute, before he flew directly through her window. 

She stared down at the forest, her smile wide and excited. 

Oh, she’d definitely be back. 

Bow was gonna love this. 

[thedeliverygod]

surprise~ I wrote sokai. actually not a surprise I mentioned writing it after I beat melody of memory, I’ve just been working on it forever since my writing process has been a STRUGGLE lately. my AO3 and fanfiction accounts are linked on my profile if you’d prefer to read there [or just look up thedeliverygod]

Always

Sora blinked his eyes open to see his bedroom, a bright ray of sunlight running through the middle of the floor from where the curtains met. Grunting, he turned over and closed his eyes as he sunk his head down into the pillow again to go back to sleep.

‘Wait… my room?’

The realization clicked and his eyes shot open. As he gazed upon the ship hanging from the ceiling and other odds and ends collected around the room, he knew it had to be his.

“When did I get home?” He sat up and held his head, trying to remember what had happened last.

He had been in Quadratum for some time, but he had eventually met up with Riku and later the rest of their friends. Sora wasn’t used to being the one who had to be saved, but it took everyone’s strength and willpower to bring him back to their reality and the realm of light.

Kairi.

He remembered Kairi comforting him, talking to him softly but he couldn’t remember what she said.

He also remembered being at Yen Sid’s tower and something being mentioned about him needing rest. After that, nothing. Except for waking up here.

He shot upward and immediately felt the muscle aches all over his body as well as a multitude of bruises forming under his skin. Curative spells were amazing, but there was only so much they could do. He sucked in a breath before putting his feet to the floor and forcing himself to stand up despite the pain.

He clung to the banister of the stairs as he made his way down the stairs, but he wasn’t even halfway down before his mom appeared at the foot of them.

“Sora! I’m really glad you’re awake, but do you really think you should be out of bed?” She reached out a hand and took a few steps upward.

“I’m just a little sore, it’s fine.” He waved her off before giving a wide grin, “It’s good to see you, Mom.”

She shook her head but just stared at him with watering eyes as he continued to make his way down the stairs. Once he had reached her, she enveloped him in a tight hug, “I can’t believe how grown up you are.”

“Yeah, me neither.” He answered in a laugh.

“I’ve missed you so much.”

He hugged her tighter, “Me too.”

Hesitantly letting him go, she waved towards the living room, “Let’s go sit down.”

Sora nodded and followed after her, “Okay.” While she took the couch, he took the worn-out arm chair as he always had.

“Kairi filled me on somewhat of all you’ve been through over the past few years. I can’t even begin to imagine…”

“Speaking of Kairi, is she still here?” He asked automatically. After a beat and his cheeks starting to warm, he added, “Or Riku, or anyone else?”

Giving a confused look to his question at first, she realized what he meant and answered, “Oh, you mean on the islands. Yes, Kairi is still here. I believe Riku is still with the others that Kairi mentioned, though I’m not sure where they are.”

He let out a breath and nodded, “Ah, okay.”

His mom looked at him knowingly and smirked, commenting, “Still got it bad for Kairi after all these years, huh?”

Though he made a yelping noise in response to her blunt questioning, he looked away and answered, “Is that surprising?”

“Not at all. And the way she talked about you seemed to be quite different too, so I figured something must have happened. Are you finally dating?” She raised an eyebrow.

“Well, no, not really…” He answered honestly, “It’s hard to really ‘date’ with the life we’ve had.”

“Oh,” She parted her lips and let out a disappointed sigh, “Yeah, I suppose you’re right.”

“But,” He started again and she looked back up, intrigued, “Do you remember when we came back to the islands before a big fight before?”

She nodded, “Of course. I was so happy to see you then, too.”

“Well, we shared a paopu fruit when we went out to the play island to watch the sunset like we did as kids. Kairi’s idea, of course.” He flushed again, quickly adding, “N-not that I didn’t want to!”

His mom laughed loudly, “Of course.”

“But it was perfect. I think the paopu helped bring us together again despite the almost impossible odds, just like the legend says.” He gave another soft grin.

“Maybe it did help, but I think a lot of it was just… you two just being who you are, you know?” She gave her own smile in return. Sora didn’t really have the chance to respond before she changed the subject, “So, I suppose you asked about Kairi because you want to go see her, right?”

His face quickly reddening again, he admitted, “Well, yeah. But—”

“You can go.” His mom waved towards the front door, “Just be back before dinner.”

He stared breathlessly for a moment before smiling, “Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome.” She answered as he got up from the chair and slowly made his way to the door.

Once he was outside and off the porch steps, he reached into his pocket for his gummi phone. Unsurprisingly, he had several messages from various people asking for him to call once he had woken up and was feeling better. ‘Well, I still kinda feel awful, honestly.’ He thought to himself, both as a truth and as an excuse to wait to call them later.

He moved to Kairi’s name and hit dial. After a few chirps, he heard her voice ring out through the speaker, “Sora?”

“Kairi!” He answered, grinning widely.

She gave a small laugh, “So you’re finally awake, lazy bum.”

“Yeah. Can’t say the same about my arms and legs, though. They kinda feel like jelly.” He tried to stretch his free arm again and found much of the same feeling as he had when he woken up earlier.

“I’m not surprised, I’m pretty sore too.”

“So… where are you? You’re still on the islands, right?” He bit his lip, hoping he hadn’t missed her.

“Of course. Riku wanted to stay too, but I guess there were some last-minute things King Mickey wanted his help with. Oh, and I’m at my house but I’ll come to yours. You really shouldn’t be pushing yourself so soon.”

He rolled his eyes, “I’m not that out of it. How about we meet halfway? Like around the park, I guess.”

Kairi hummed, “Okay, if you say so.”

“Great. See you soon.” He tapped the red button to end the call and set out on his way.

Pushing himself beyond his limits was nothing new with all of the things he had done on his adventures in the past few years, but he was still bent over in pain by the time he made it to the park.

“I would laugh because I knew you would do this, but you look awful.” Kairi commented as she approached him.

Straightening out and standing up straight, he smiled apologetically, “Yeah, you were right.”

“What a surprise.” She lightly grabbed his hand and tugged him towards a picnic table, “Let’s sit down.”

“Thank you.” He let out, unable to hold it in any longer as he sat down and faced her.

She blinked, “For what?”

“For everything.” He answered automatically. After a moment, he clarified, “For saving me.”

Kairi smiled and shook her head, “It’s like I told you years ago. I couldn’t just let you stay that way and forget about you. That’s the same reason you came after me, right?”

“To be honest, I didn’t really think about it. I just acted. But yeah, I guess that’s the best way to put it.” He admitted with a small laugh.

“That’s such a Sora thing to say.” She reached over to intertwine her hand with his.

He quirked an eyebrow, “I hope that’s a compliment.”

“Of course.” She smiled brightly as she nodded.

“So what’s going on with everyone else?” Sora shifted the topic of conversation, curious, “I know you said Riku stayed behind to do a few last-minute things but honestly my memory is kinda fuzzy about what all happened right before coming home.”

Kairi’s expression dampened somewhat, but she still kept a smile, “Just making sure everything is the way it’s supposed to be. And then we’re supposed to be able to take a break for a little while. Just hang out here on the islands; you, me, and Riku.”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “That sounds nice.”

“I’m sure. You’ve been through a lot.”

He opened his eyes and looked at her seriously, answering, “So have you, you know.”

Quietly, she nodded and held his hand a little tighter.

And suddenly, he knew what he had to do.

“Kairi.” He called her name and she looked up curiously.

“Yes?”

“This isn’t really how I ever imagined doing it, but I think this feels right.” He slipped down from the bench and knelt on one knee, with Kairi quickly clasping her hands over her mouth in surprise. “I don’t even know how old I was when I started dreaming about wanting to spend my life with you. And for a long time, it always seemed out of reach; both because I didn’t know how you feel and because of all of the things we’ve been through. But I want to make it real now. No matter what happens next, I want to be by your side, always.”

Kairi nodded vigorously, tears starting to overflow from the corners of her eyes, “That’s what I want too.”

Sora reached out and motioned for her hand, only to pull it towards him and kiss her knuckles. “I’m sorry I don’t have a ring yet. But like I said before, this wasn’t exactly planned so…” They both shared a quick laugh before he smiled widely and asked, “Kairi, will you marry me?”

“Yes.” She slid closer to him and pressed a kiss against him eagerly, “Yes, yes, yes.”

He cupped both sides of her face and grinned against her, “So… when do we let everyone else know?”

“Maybe keep it a secret for a few days or else everyone’s hugs may crush what little solid bones you have left in your body right now.” She gave a gentle squeeze of his arm which he had to admit hurt much more than he expected.

“Ow.” He rubbed the spot she had squeezed, “But that’s a very solid point.”

“Do you need me to carry you back to your house?” Kairi teased with a tilt of her head.

He shook his head, “I dunno, I think it’s poor form to have your new fiancée carry you.”

“Fiancée, huh.” She beamed, humming, “I think I like the sound of that.”

“So do I.” He kissed her again.

[woogurl]

WOOSAN’S RELATIONSHIP ANALYSIS

yeah, it’s your girl, it’s me again, i’m back with another analysis, ‘cause i’m bored in quarantine. 

so, basically, i wanted to share my opinion on what i think woosan’s relationship is. as a woosan shipper, obviously i’m biased, but i’m going to be as practical and as impartial as i can possibly be. i wanted to do this because i know people think they’re either best friends, friends with benefits or actually romantically involved. i can say that i’m actually pretty uncertain about it, but i want to argue why i do think think they are at least in a intimate relationship. 

again, i’m not a professional body language reader/psychologist/analyst or whatever. these are solely based on my observations.

REASON ONE: woo’s body language/relationship with yeosang is completely different than his relationship with san. 

Now people argue that they’re both woo’s best friend. which i agree that you can certainly have two best friends. however, in this case, it’s still different? woo puts a lot of emphasis on his relationship with both san and yeo.

yes, i know you can all hear this picture, woo always needs to emphasize his four years of friendship with yeo, and even picked yeo when he had to choose between him and san as his bestfriend. also keep in mind that woo left bighit bts for yeo. that’s a real ass friend.

which left san devastated, i mean look at the way he looked at mingi, like wtf, you’re not woo. lmfao. 

woo and yeo have been friends for four years, yet i think most of us can agree that the nature of his relationship with san, is just different.

woo sees san as his other half/twin, by the way he’s been friends with yeo for five years now. again the language is completely different. on the other hand, san wrote:

i’m not entirely sure what he meant by you also, the not sure was the translator’s note. but as you can see their responses for the chemistry that they have for each other is entirely different. 

Let’s move on to the legendary asmr video. 

again, they’re super physical, just look at the way san touches/grab woo. anyhow, we aren’t there yet.i wanted to emphasize something else. that being the talk after.  i’ve highlighted the parts that i think are important to take note of.

WY: You always go along with whatever I do

WY: And you take interest in the things I like

WY: I'm very thankful for that

WY: No one takes care of me better than you

WY: If you think I'm exaggerating, it's to the point where even my parents asked him to take care of me

ummmmm.....

WY: Take care of me in the future, too, please

S: You're cool

S: You’re cool and

S: I honestly

S: Now I can sincerely

S: To the people around me or my relatives

S: I can proudly say that my friend is Wooyoung!

S: You're that kind of friend

S: To that point where I'm not embarrassed

S: Or rather say you're my friend that's worth showing off!

S: I think this is more than enough!

you can’t tell me that this doesn’t legitimately sound like a love confession.

Next, the handshakes man? i don’t think i should include all of their handshakes as this would get too long, it already is, but you guys get the gist. they have so many like jesus christ. whyyy?

Lastly amicus and aras. The fact that woo really went searching for a word or saying meaning a friend forever is very telling to me. also note here they were the only ones in each others fancams which was super sweet.

REASON TWO(yeh, we JUST got here): woo’s obsession with san, now a lot of people think woosan is one-sided because woo is very good with hiding his emotions on cam. but a lot of us now are a lot more aware that woo sticks to san like gum. 

san literally asked him if he was a piece of glue, also hi baby yunho. 

literally like glue, you can’t tell me this isn’t boyfriend culture. 

as soon as seonghwa leaves for the mission on wanted film woo goes back to san. lol, i know he was prob just tryna get a better view but i wouldn’t put it past him. anyway, like glue. 

woo’s leg over san’s, like glue. or that time woo ended up in san’s bed, even though he was supposed to be with hongjoong/yunho/etc?

don’t believe me? then just take san’s word for it.

also, it’s supposed to be, “you really like me more than i thought.” so even san is surprised by woo’s clingyness.

i don’t even much to say about this interview it speaks for itself. woo was literally all over san during it. this is also one of the interviews that completely solidify my beliefs of them being in an intimate relationship whatever it may have been. i just felt like this interview was like, “yeh, we’re together.” that’s just the aura i got from it also it was valentine’s day or at least themed?

also, i’ll mention but not add all the times san has said that woo comes to his room. it’s very often there’s plenty of vids that we avid woosan shippers know of. moving on with woo’s obsession with san.

that time the members were supposed to post pics of themselves, and most of woo’s at least three pics were of him with san. don’t you like san too much woo?

REASON THREE: Body language in general

The stares man, the stares...You just don’t look at friends this way. 

including these stares: 

i’ve also noticed in a couple of videos that wooyoung tries to avoid san’s stares,  there are times where he just doesn’t even look at him even though he knows san is staring at him. sometimes he literally turns his face completely away from san and i think it’s to avoid getting lost in san’s eyes. i want to express that woo does this very intentionally, as i said before he’s much more aware of the camera than san. it’s hard to notice because these aren’t motion pictures, but i want you to watch their moments and you’ll notice that most, if not all the time that woo always turns his head away first while san stare’s linger for at least one second longer.

otherwise, we’d just get more moments like this:

REASON FOUR(very important): How touchy they are with each other.

san’s nono is square on woo’s ass, that’s far from straight. anyway, moving on, they’re very touchy and the fact, that they’re even more touchy when the cameras are off is very telling to me. like i said the valentine vlive was enough to convince me that they’re physically intimate and the fact that san said woo likes to come to his room a lot. i also want to note that anytime san mentions this woo gets incredibly uncomfortable? why? you can just say you like playing games together or whatever, but woo always freaks out. lmfao. also apparently they were in a room together and in bed together according to woo. i think something may happened, because woo was more clingy than usual on camera, and their expressions were quite transparent.

REASON FIVE: The time they spend together off camera

Since the vlive from a while ago, the christmas one, we learned they spend a lot of time together off camera. i already did an analysis about this for the woosansang drama post. but the fact that the members felt so pouty about how much time they spend together tells me that they spend a lot of time together. i also want to note that i think mingi’s comments are important because after watching him stuff his hands in his pants and literally reading off the piece of paper that the staff writes telling them to do something it’s obv this boi skipped idol training. ‘cause he fcking pours tea. lol but anyway mingi said that one day while with yeo, yeo said, “san really likes woo, huh?” and they all started screaming that’s weird ‘cause obv, it’s so gay.

here’s another moment, where mingi is exposing their asses. lol. even the members say they’re constantly afraid that he’ll say something he’s not supposed to. mind you that they’re probably having a semi-casual convo.

lol. why bring up woo so suddenly mingi?

mingi’s like btch stop lying.

so, mingi laid it all out for us, but san said, “no no no, he’s the clingy one, woo’s the one always following me--WELL, we follow each other.” anyway, i do feel like san brought this up because people always assume that he’s the clingy one, after all he didn’t have to read it i felt like he read it to check us lmfao.

REASON SIX: people may not all agree on this, i get that this will be extremely controversial but i honestly do believe the escape woosan vlive was solid proof enough for me that they are physically intimate.

i know i said before that i think they were tired, but someone said it was apparently only 4pm, so now i’m convinced they were drunk. lmfao. anyhow, there’s a lot of moaning, and “stop rubbing”, as i already made an analysis about this i’m just gonna comment about the part that sold me and that was the part where san literally shouted woo’s name as he was holding in his voice. which convinced me that woo was being a little shit rubbing him inappropriately. let’s be honest, woo is THAT type of person(to secretly rub someone off in public) lol. there’s just no explanation for that shout, and the “you want me to tell?” and woo’s “no!” yeah, no, you can’t convince that they weren’t doing some freaky shit. lol

lastly.

REASON SEVEN: Their commitment to woosan.

now we can agree that most ships do not like being shipped, but woosan came up with their own ship name and handshake, as well as phrase for it. amicus ad aras as well as san: WOO woo: SAN. also, the time they walked together holding hands on tour with little umbrella’s that read woo and san. your ship could never.

do i think some of it is fanservice? sure, i mean KQ even made an entire woosan vcr.

but, definitely not all of it, and woo has said himself during the lie detector test, that it isn’t just business.

they even have a fandom name, i mean? come on? i’m sure the company isn’t forcing them to do it lol. i think they really just are committed that much to each other. also, when someone asked about woosanhwa, they said they’d think about it. lmfao. what woosan share is something entirely different than what we’re used to.

anyway, thas it. thank you for your time. c;

[lupizora]

No One Left Behind

This was my super late gift fic to WhatIsMagic over on the Boku no Ship Academia discord server for their Secret Santa 2019. Admittedly, lots of RL issues popped up to make the process more difficult than it already was. But procrastination is a bitch too... ^^” I’m happy with the end result though! It was my first time writing from Kirishima’s POV and the sunshine OT3, which turned out to be more fun than I expected~ Hope you enjoy!! ^w^ 

Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Romance

Pairing: Kirikacchako

Rating: T

Word Count: 5,235

Summary: Kirishima's life was simple. Along with Bakugou, his partner-in-crime, they roamed the land in search of a place to call home. They even had a solid plan in his opinion. But life doesn't get any easier because you're a fire-breathing dragon. Especially not after meeting a charming yet tougher-than-she-looks witch that's asking for a fight.

Fight us? She’s so tiny! Kirishima had thought upon landing his gaze on Uraraka for the first time.

From barely reaching the knee of his dragon foot to the deteriorating state of her clothes, the Mage hadn’t appeared to be a threat. Not until she managed to knock down Kirishima with a single attack.

This infuriated his partner-in-crime and the land’s most dangerous bandit, Bakugou Katsuki. No amount of foes had been able to do that before, neither this fast. So he attacked Uraraka without holding back while Kirishima tried to stand again, pain traveling on his long skull like ripples on a lake.

Their fight seemed endless. Through his dragon vision, Kirishima could follow it easily despite the dust cloud they raised while dueling. It had been forever since he had last seen Bakugou being equally matched by anyone. Yet, this girl made him struggle with her wind magic, forcing him at some point to use his explosive fire magic. It resulted in leveling the first line of trees surrounding the glade Uraraka had found them.

As the aftershocks of that clash resided, Kirishima decided this had run long enough. Someone from the nearby village would come to chase them out; bringing more trouble than this dispute was worth. He could admit the Mage had guts though. Holding her ground against Bakugou with ferocity akin to a mother bear was an admirable feat. But they had to stop. Kirishima sprained his mind, trying to figure out how to resolve this fight without hurting their pride. All he came up with was sitting in between them during a pause for breath. This effectively blocked their path of attack, redirecting their general frustration at him.

“What the hell are you doing?” Bakugou shouted, striking his blades against the dragon’s scales.

Kirishima couldn’t feel anything so he left him to rage and addressed the Mage. ”We aren’t going to hurt anyone. We’re simply passing by on our way to the Elderworm Forest.”

She stared at him with wide eyes as if it was her first time seeing a dragon talk. The attention felt different though. Sure, she stared but it wasn’t the unsettling glare most peasants gave Kirishima like they pondered whether he would eat them or not. Her smell was flowery sweet like awe and wonder, instead of the sharp tang of fear. Flames danced in his stomach like fleeting butterflies.

“I see,” said the Mage. “If that’s the case, uh… Mr. Dragon.”

“Kirishima,” he said with a snicker. “Just call me Kirishima.”

“Alright…You seem kind, Kirishima, so I believe you.” She grabbed her staff tighter and tried to glance over at Bakugou. “But he—”

“I’m what, Round Face?” Bakugou sneered. “Not worth your time?”

“I’d say rude and tactless but you know that already,” she mumbled loud enough for everyone to hear.

“You got some nerve! Third-class Mages like you should know their place.”

“Oh? I wonder what your bandit brothers will say when they find I swiped the floor with you!”

Kirishima placed a paw on Bakugou’s head to prevent him from attacking her again. “How about we all calm down and eat something? It’s getting late and dinner tastes better with a company, don’t you think?”

Both adversaries huffed in annoyance. Their growling stomachs betrayed them though and they reluctantly agreed to the idea with blushing faces. Leaving them at opposite sides of the clearing, Kirishima set up camp. He had plenty of fallen tree trunks at his disposal to create a small pure in the middle. After lighting it up with his dragon breath, he forced Bakugou to quit his sulking and unpack their things from Kirishima’s back. They were running low on vegetables and other spices the bandit used in their meals but had enough meat to last them until the next big town. So Kirishima wasn’t too worried. After all, Bakugou could make everything taste good even with the bare minimum of materials. It was one of the reasons the dragon enjoyed traveling together. Things used to taste very bland before.

Soon, the smell of a freshly cooked meal spread in the clearing. Kirishima’s mouth watered, saliva dripping on the ground and sizzling whenever it hit the burning embers of the fire.

“Watch it,” Bakugou scolded him. “You’d get drool all over the food!”

He whined in return and dropped his head between his front legs, wagging his tail like a puppy dog. Of course, this motion raised quite the racket coming from an overgrown lizard. Annoyed from this distraction, his friend eventually threw him a half-cooked rib. Kirishima gobbled it whole in one go.

As he was licking his snout in delight, his gaze fell on the Mage. She was sitting on a log at the furthest point the fire could reach. They had introduced each other properly while setting camp earlier. Her name was Uraraka Ochako, a wandering Mage currently in her thesis quest. She had to complete the quest to graduate from her Master Wizard school. It sounded like a lot of trouble for a seal of approval to Kirishima, but humans always had to make things more complicated than they should.

Picking another freshly cooked piece of meat from Bakugou’s makeshift pan, Kirishima approached Uraraka and placed it on a smooth rock in front of her.

“Is that for me?” Uraraka asked, surprised.

“Yup!” He took a seat next to her. “And it’s not poisoned if that’s worrying you.”

She cooed and picked it up bare-handed. “That’s so sweet of you. I’ve been starving actually!” Ignoring the look of hatred Bakugou directed at her from the other side of the fire, she inhaled the food in a matter of moments.

No lie. She must have been really hungry, Kirishima thought.

He hadn’t seen a human woman eat so carelessly and messy before. It was different in a good way; like everything about her seemed to be.

They spent the better of the night talking about this and that until both Mages fell asleep. Kirishima stayed awake a little longer, self-conscious of Uraraka’s back leaning against his side. Her body heat was nothing compared to the raging inferno in his gut. But it made his thoughts travel far and wide.

Maybe those exact thoughts were the reason when—come morning—he asked Uraraka to join along in their journey to the Elderworm Woods—much to Bakugou’s loud and very vocal objections.

“No.”

“We’re all headed in the same direction.”

“I refuse!”

Kirishima dropped his shoulders with a sigh. “Technically, I’m the one carrying the bags so it’s my shot to make.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Bakugou said. “I’m the one in charge.”

“Please don’t make me say things I’ll regret, man.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, huh?”

“That you just don’t want me along because I kicked your butt,” Uraraka said. She had perched on a tree branch, observing the scene at a safe distance from Bakugou’s fire-like powers.

He turned around, pointing his finger at her. “You stay out of it! This is between me and my partner.”

Seeing this was going to turn into another fight, Kirishima donned his human form and stood in between them again. “She’s coming or we’re walking there and that’s final.” He said to Bakugou.

He appeared firm and serious, but his insides were coiling with anxiety. It was rare for the dragon to directly challenge Bakugou’s ‘authority’ like this. More often than not, Kirishima let Bakugou take the initiative because their goals aligned, not out of fear. Kirishima could withstand most magic attacks with ease after all. Except when it came to Uraraka’s magic. He couldn’t understand what had come over him regarding the Mage. It worried him not that she beat him. There was a first time for everything and Kirishima wasn’t the strongest dragon in the land at the end of the day. He told himself that her coming along wasn’t just to keep a close watch on her. He wanted Uraraka to come, simple as that.

Bakugou crossed his arms, still scowling. “Fine. But she’s cooking her meals.”

Kirishima grinned. “Aye, sir!” He turned around but his words were cut short.

Once she got a glimpse of his face, Uraraka fell from the branch into the bushes underneath the tree.

“Gods!” Kirishima rushed to her and parted the vegetation. “Are you alright?”

Uraraka straightened her hooded hat. “Yes! I...lost my balance is all!” she said with a cheerful high-pitched squeak, taking his offered hand. After standing up, Uraraka continued holding onto it. Her fingers trailed the larger scales along his forearm before stopping on the underside of his human arm. She seemed mesmerized from the smaller pebble-like scales he had there instead of smooth skin.

Bakugou’s curt cough snapped her out of whatever trance she had entered.

“Ah! I’m so sorry, Kirishima!” Uraraka said, blushing and waving her hands in front of her. “That was rude of me. I should have asked you if it was okay. I’m very sorry!”

The dragon returned his gaze on his arm. Warmth, unlike any he’d felt before, spread from the spots she had touched him. “You don’t have to apologize,” Kirishima stammered, scratching the back of his head. “I don’t remember the last time anyone grabbed my hand so carelessly.”

“I see.” Her rosy cheeks turned, if possible, redder. “If that’s settled then...I should get my things ready! Bye!” She bolted in the direction of the camp.

Her reaction puzzled Kirishima but he didn’t press the matter any further. They had an entire trip ahead to figure out things if they had to.

Bakugou remained uncharacteristically silent for the rest of that day.

***

Uraraka turned out to be a pleasant company indeed. With a spring in her step, she filled the following weeks with joy and excitement. Everything amazed her. From flowers growing on top of ancient columns, to the way Kirishima’s scales glistened when the sun hit them just right. It was contagious.

Even Bakugou started warming up to her. Especially after discovering how terrible were her actual cooking skills.

“No one can burn boiling water,” he said while throwing away the remains of Uraraka’s shoddy kettle, “or turn perfectly solid meat into slime. How you made it this far is beyond me!”

The Mage joined her hands together with an awkward smile. “People’s generosity?”

Bakugou shot his meanest stinky eye and begrudgingly accepted to involve her in their meal plans. He didn’t change his overall attitude towards Uraraka though; always keeping his distance as if uncertain of what to think of her. In Kirishima’s eyes, it was a tentative first step forward at least.

They eventually fell into a peaceful routine in their traveling. Guards stopped chasing Kirishima and Bakugou the moment they spotted them in town, allowing them a couple of hours to browse for supplies before sounding the alarm. As the group traveled mostly through the air, they had already covered a great distance by the time kingdom forces were alerted.

Kirishima had been worried Uraraka might come to the wrong conclusions. The duo weren’t criminals. Bakugou had simply ridiculed the current ruler once, and the King hadn’t taken it lightly. But Uraraka laughed her heart out when the dragon tried to explain the situation, calling it silly and dropping the subject. Relief washed over Kirishima. He let her ride on his head for the rest of that flight, smiling all the way. His partner, surprisingly, didn’t complain about the sitting arrangement for once.

This serenity was a fragile and fleeting state to remain for long though.

***

Things started going downhill when they reached the Great Mountains. Those massive blocks of earth, rising white and blue from the mist, were the last barrier before the Elderworm Woods. Plenty had attempted to cross them in the past; most giving up from the harsh cold and lack of proper passages. However, Kirishima had been confident about making it across when he had first suggested it to Bakugou. He could keep the Barbarian warm even if his winter garments and furs failed him. But the dragon hadn’t planned for a third person in their group, more so how it would distract him from his duties. The Gods had their way to jog his memory though.

On the third day of their crossing, while they were scaling a steep slope, Bakugou slipped. Kirishima could only stare in shock as his partner fell, his cape billowing behind him. Something passed next to Kirishima in a blur. It was Uraraka free-falling. The action startled him enough to snap out of his trance. Kirishima jumped after them, his wings unfolding from behind his back as he regained his dragon form. Passing through the clouds that had settled around the cliff, he found them suspended in midair. A pink aura was covering both their bodies like a shimmering cloak, but it flickered around Uraraka. She continued chanting; hands shaking around her magic staff. Her levitation spell wouldn’t last long.

With Bakugou too dumbfounded to reason, Kirishima just hovered below him and called for Uraraka to drop him. She did with a relieved sigh. Feeling Bakugou’s weight settle on his saddle, Kirishima flew upwards and picked the Mage midair. They reached the top and landed smoothly on the plateau there.

As Uraraka stroke Kirishima’s snout, Bakugou approached them with heavy steps and turned her around to face him.

“What did you do?” He yelled.

Uraraka stared back, the sharp scent of fear emanating from her body. “I saved… you.”

“Get one thing straight, Round Face. I didn’t need your help! Not now, not ever.”

“But you’d have died!” She released her arm from his grip. “I couldn’t just stand there and let you perish!”

“Spare me this shit,” he snapped back. “I have a motherfucking dragon on my side. Kirishima would have caught me before I hit the ground.”

“I wouldn’t.”

Both turned their questionable gaze at him. 

Kirishima stared at his feet, his two hearts beating erratically. “I froze for a moment back there. Yeah, I might have had reached you but I can’t say that for sure. If Uraraka hadn’t intervened…”

Bakugou huffed and withdrew to the furthest corner of the plateau.

The Mage and the dragon set camp by themselves, occupying their thoughts with small talk and jokes.

Later on, when night had spread her silky midnight veil over the horizon and Uraraka had fallen asleep against Kirishima’s side, he heard the shuffling of clothes and steps approaching. The faint aroma of caramel Bakugou gave off was the only reason Kirishima wasn’t alarmed and continued to pretend to be asleep. The steps seized when they reached the dragon’s right side.

“You didn’t have to side with her,” Bakugou said.

Kirishima finally opened one eye to look at him. “I was being honest.”

“Bullshit.”

“It was the truth and you know it. You’d have been injured or worse, dead.”

“I’m not afraid of death,” Bakugou said. “It comes for everyone in the end.” Stepping on Kirishima’s snout, he scaled the dragon’s head to sit between his horns. “Your tongue has been getting ahead of itself lately.”

“Is that a problem?” Kirishima didn’t need to study his partner’s face to understand this was troubling him.

“It’s a bother, that’s what it is.” Bakugou flopped backward. “Where is this audacity coming from?”

“I’m not saying anything different than I did before.” Kirishima snorted. “You react to it more now.”

“I do not!”

“If you say so, man.”

Bakugou huffed. “She was being reckless,” he said, returning to their previous argument. “The idiot could have killed us both with that risky plan.”

“I thought it was brave,” Kirishima said wistfully. “And Uraraka did save your life, dude. You gotta thank her!”

“Whatever.” His cape slipped over the dragon’s right ear as Bakugou laid on his side. “Just go to sleep.”

Typical, Kirishima thought with a fond eye-roll. 

His partner would prefer to set himself on fire before he acknowledged anyone’s help, even if that assistance had saved him from plummeting to his certain death. But if there was one thing bothering Kirishima was his own reaction back then. He prided himself in his quick reflexes. And yet, Uraraka’s smile had distracted him.

Could this be dangerous? he wondered while drifting asleep.

***

After the fiasco with the cliff, Bakugou decided he had his fill with scaling the mountains. If they could fly to reach them, they could fly across them too. No one objected to this plan at first, but it quickly turned into an extremely awkward ride. Bakugou hadn’t exchanged a single word with Uraraka since the incident and neither did she. Having to sit close, due to the harsh cold, didn’t prompt them to mend their differences either.

This negativity tired Kirishima. He was doing all the hard work. Couldn’t these two clear the tension between them? If only until they reached their destination at least.

The Gods granted his wish in the form of a snowstorm. Strong winds were bending his wings in the wrong directions. His second eyelid protected his eyes from the snow, but Kirishima couldn’t see clearly from the fogginess it accumulated.

“Hold on!” He shouted as dark shapes sprouted in front of him. The last thing he heard before colliding with something solid where his party’s screams.

 When Kirishima opened his eyes again, everything was white. Ice and snow slid from his belly as he turned around to stand on all fours. His ears were ringing and his front was sore from his fall. Still, he craned his neck to find his saddle empty.

Panic flared in his chest as Kirishima scanned the horizon. 

Oh, no… How long has it been?

There was nothing but plan hills made of snow as far as his eyes could reach. 

No. I didn’t ask for this.

He dashed ahead, the ground parting beneath him in waves. 

No! That’s not what I wanted.

Sure, things would be better if they got along. Bakugou was his friend, his partner, the closest thing he had to family anymore. The world could be against him and his personality had seen better days, but Kirishima had sworn to be there for him, in thick and thin. Compared to that, his relationship with Uraraka was still fresh; an uncharted, delicate bond Kirishima was only starting to make sense off. But if anything happened to her, none of his hearts wouldn’t take it.

Something shimmered on his left. The air was different around that terrain as if there was a boiling pot buried underneath. Kirishima bolted in that direction, not paying any attention at how the snow got deep enough to reach his shoulder. It was getting warmer. 

After a long final jump, he landed on something soft and squishy. Releasing his fire, Kirishima melted the ice around it to reveal a pink force-field. Two forms were huddled together in its center, under Bakugou’s fur-lined cape.

“Guys!” Kirishima shouted.

Uraraka’s eyes fluttered open and she offered him a weak smile. The field started dissipating, allowing him to enter. Kirishima didn’t waste time and curled around them, offering his body’s heat. Relief washed over him, filling his eyes with water. Just as Kirishima settled his head on his tail, his gaze crossed with Bakugou’s red.

“Why are you crying, idiot?” The Barbarian murmured, exhausted.

He sniffed. “I almost lost you again.”

Bakugou scoffed and rapped his knuckles against the dragon’s scales. “You’re here now and that’s what fucking matters.”

***

When they resumed their traveling, the tension was gone. Uraraka even settled in Bakugou’s lap and he had to hug her to hold the reins. At first, Kirishima didn't pay much attention to it. They had been in mortal peril before, almost freezing to death. Of course, they would cuddle for warmth. Kirishima went as far as to congratulate Uraraka for convincing his stubborn partner to go with the original plan. Her flustered reaction tipped him off that something was amiss though. Ignoring the sour taste it left in his mouth, Kirishima focused on getting them away from these cursed mountains instead.

The rest of the trip was uneventful and after a particular steep peak, the Elderworm Woods unfolded before their eyes; a vast green sea, full of creatures with every size and color under the sun. Giant trees—taller than the High Castle itself—spread over the terrain. Magic rode on the wind like sparkly ribbons made of stars. Kirishima could sense it, filtering through his wings and bouncing on his scales. 

It felt like home. 

His excitement carried over to the others. Uraraka was tracing her fingers through the air with glee. A small smile spread across Bakugou’s face as he tried to see everything at once. 

They were happy and it should have been enough. Kirishima didn’t want to think about the consequences of reaching their destination. But as they settled for the night, he was unable to sleep. Scenario upon scenario bounced around his head like excited fox-squirrels. What all of them had in common was Uraraka or Bakugou or, Gods forbid, both leaving him behind. He could stay in this forest forever but could they?. 

The blooming romance between the two only increased Kirishima’s worry. Bakugou wasn’t the type of guy to sit in a field of flowers with anyone before; more so with someone, he had been on the fence for a while. Whenever Kirishima asked him about it, the Barbarian claimed he was helping Uraraka with her thesis. The sooner she finished, the better for everyone. Uraraka would return to her Academy, he and Kirishima would return on their adventuring. Yet, by observing them, it seemed more like Bakugou stalled on purpose. Chasing Uraraka around while she was gathering herbs. Climbing with her on trees to stargaze or exploring the forest together.

Kirishima couldn’t ignore the truth anymore. He didn’t want to get in the way of their happiness either. 

So one day, while Uraraka went on her regular herb-hunting, Kirishima grabbed Bakugou and flew to the nearest hill. Despite his protests, the Barbarian remained quiet after their landing. Transforming into his human form, Kirishima took a seat on a boulder. He had gone over his words several times. Still, he didn’t know where to begin.

“If you have something to say, just get this over with.” Bakugou crossed his arms. “She’s gonna get worried and whine about it.”

Kirishima took the crumb, like a drowning man looking for a lifeline. “That’s what I wanna talk about.”

“Uraraka’s whining?”

“No! Uraraka in general.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “And she’s kind-hearted enough to worry about us. You should give her more credit about that.”

“Fine. What about her?”

“I’ve noticed she acts differently around you lately. I mean you still have your arguments and rivalry going on, but it’s more mellow than before. Almost like teasing,” Kirishima said, pulling at some weeds. “I don’t think you notice it but you have this look on your face whenever Uraraka is around like spring has come early.” Saying his observations aloud wasn’t supposed to hurt. But Kirishima’s insides were twisting; as if the fire in his lungs had escaped to the rest of his body. “All I’m trying to say is that it’s pretty obvious that you like her and she does too. So I—“

“Huh?!” Birds flew away from the foliage nearby, Bakugou’s yell scaring them off. His eyes were so wide, they might as well had popped up from their sockets at any moment. “You serious?” He said, calmer but still in a tone of disbelief. “Are you blind? She likes you!”

“What?” It was Kirishima’s turn to stare as if madness had contaminated his partner.

Bakugou started passing. His cape swiped the ground, raising dust behind him. “She never shuts up about you. Always has a nice word and a smile for you. Haven’t you learned anything about human courtship all these years?” He turned around to point dramatically at him. “You obviously like her back too. Giving her the best part of the meat. Offering rides. Looking at her as if you worship the ground she walks on. So don’t joke around!”

“I’m not! I’m not human, man. I may look like the part from time to time. Deep down though, I’m too different to completely understand her,” he said. Clenching his scale-covered fists, Kirishima stood up to reason with his partner. “I’m a monster. That’s why she’s better off with you anyway.”

“Bullshit!” Bakugou bonked him on the head. “You’re soft-hearted to a fault! People see someone big that breathes fire and they think he’s dangerous. We both know that you’d be better off at some secluded cave in the mountains than go around burning villages,” he said with a wave. “So what if I am human? They are scared of me! Who, in their right mind, would want to be around someone who half the kingdom is asking for his head?”

“You’re not that scary, man,” Kirishima said. “I’ve stayed by your side for so long, didn’t I?”

“You don’t classify as ‘someone in his right mind’ for exactly that reason.” Bakugou took a deep breath. “Never. Not once, I got that reaction from you. As if you aren’t fazed by anything and everything in the world is your friend. So don’t give me this crap of being a monster. If there is one, that’s me. And Uraraka is better off with someone that can treat her right.”

“But she’s so head-over-heels for you, dude!” Kirishima shook him by the shoulders. “You just don’t want to admit it.”

Bakugou grabbed him by the horns and pressed their foreheads together. “You are the one in denial and projecting your feelings on me.”

“Just admit it!”

“You admit it!”

“Don’t I have a say in all this?” Uraraka’s voice, albeit sweet with a tinge of a hidden laugh in her tone, dropped like lighting right then and there.

The boys untangled themselves and stared back at her. Uraraka held her wand on one hand and a patch of herbs under the other. Her hair and clothes were a mess. She probably flew to this hill too since their camp was at least a mile away. Her body language wasn’t showing any angry signs. But Kirishima could smell the anxiety oozing from her in waves.

“I thought something happened,” Uraraka said with a sigh. “And here you are, arguing over something so stupid!”

It stunk. Was there a possibility she wasn’t romantically interested in either of them and they had made a fool of themselves, treating her as an object and not a person with her own will?

“What do you mean?” Bakugou demanded to know.

“I have two hands!” Uraraka exclaimed frustrated.

Kirishima didn’t understand the statement and by Bakugou’s blank expression, neither did he.

“Of course you have two hands,” the dragon offered. “You’re a human. That’s normal.”

Uraraka huffed. Leaving her staff and the herbs on the ground, she approached them with a confident stance. Both boys took an involuntary step back, not sure what to expect of her. When Uraraka finally stood in front of them, she took ahold of one hand from each.

“See?” she asked with a blinding smile. “We can all stay together this way.”

Bakugou figured it out first. His whole face turned the same shade of red as Kirishima’s scales. Heat emanated from his body, small wisps of smoke trailing from his free fist.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” the Barbarian muttered, not looking any of them in the eye.

Kirishima scratched his cheek, still staring at their joint hands as if it was a puzzle he couldn’t solve. “I don’t get it,” he said.

"It means I like you both, silly!" Uraraka said as if it was the simplest concept in the world. 

"Oh."

"Oh?" Bakugou grabbed Kirishima by his jacket. "That's all you have to say?" 

The dragon allowed his body to be rocked sideways. "Why are you angry, man? This great! I haven't heard of a three people's mating but it could work, right?"

Bakugou's face turned, if possible, redder than before. "Like hell it is!" He turned to Uraraka. "And you. I don't know what possessed you, Round Face. This idiot here isn't some pet you keep in your backyard and throw away when it's too big to fit there. He is someone with feelings you can hurt with statements like that. Last week, he cried because he thought he destroyed a badgers nest!"

"I know! That's why I like him!" Uraraka said. "For his heart is his biggest strength and his smile is...” She blushed. “Adorable.”

“Really?” Kirishima pointed at his razor-sharp teeth. “Don’t you think it’s scary?”

“Says who?” Bakugou scoffed. “It’s badass, that’s all.”

Uraraka cooed—to the Barbarian’s embarrassment—before her grin turned into a frown. “I still can’t believe both of you like me. I thought I was getting between you two.”

“What?!” The boys cried.

“Hear me out!” she said. “You called each other ‘partner’ all the time.”

“Yeah,” Bakugou said. “Because we are comrades-in-arms.”

“I was watching you two from the day I met you. It always looked like something more.”

At that moment, a particularly challenging battle flashed before Kirishima’s eyes. Bakugou and he had been separated. Soldiers were surrounding the dragon to stop him. Kirishima did feel a bit sorry for them when he resumed his human form and broke through their blockade. It hadn’t lasted for long though, as the mindset of battle overcame him. With half a mind, he continued searching for his partner. Deep down, Kirishima knew it was unnecessary. Bakugou was a powerful wizard and a merciless warrior; he didn’t need assistance. But he was also human and not having him in his sight, made Kirishima worry.

During a lull in the battle, he finally spotted ash-blond spiky hair in the distance. The Barbarian had lost his cape, fighting bare-chested with his trusty curved blades on both hands. Bloodstains littered his body but they weren’t from his wounds. Kirishima dropped the soldier he had just defeated, watching mesmerized while Bakugou fought simultaneously against three enemies with a wicked grin on his face. It was a memory the dragon held dear in his two hearts because it was what real freedom looked like to him.

“I guess that’s true,” Kirishima said with a shy smile.

Pulling his hand away, Bakugou turned around with arms crossed. His scent was resembling more of burnt caramel and smoke escaped his clenched fists in bulk.

“Said something wrong?” Uraraka asked.

Although his expression wasn’t visible, Kirishima knew they didn’t have to worry. If anything, the Barbarian’s ears still had a touch of red to them.

“No,” Bakugou grumbled. “You’re just disgustingly corny.”

The dragon and the Mage exchanged a knowing look before both tackled him from behind.

“Get off me!”

“We love you, too!” Uraraka chimed.

Kirishima’s hearts were hammering so loud in his chest. Joy, unlike any he felt before, filled him to the brim like a magic boost. Without Kirishima realizing, his wings unfolded and he shot to the sky above them with an excited roar. He didn’t have to choose between them nor would he be left behind. They could stay together for as long as they lived.

“Put us down, you idiot!” Bakugou shouted over the wind. “You can be happy on the ground too!”

[muddyhippy]

Night Terrors, Chapter 7: Enlightening Lists

Gorgeous Artwork of Ashes and Lily done by @smolghostings​ 

Enlightening Lists

Summary: Lily has a horrible nightmare involving a member of the crew and she wouldn't be a good and caring space pirate cook if she didn't go to check on her friend...

Find it on AO3: here

It was just a dream. Just a dream. It was a bad dream and nothing else and she should just go back to sleep and it was fine. She was a big girl.

 She closed her eyes.

 And saw Ashes coughing up smoke and fire.

 No. She had to go and make sure. She had to know they were alright. Ashes was so calm and unshakable and organised they didn’t get scared of anything but yesterday something had happened and they’d coughed. Ashes, just for a moment, had looked very scared. Then they’d shaken it off and said they were fine and were fine for the rest of the day Lily had watched and made sure and they hadn’t coughed again

so of course they were fine and it was just a silly nightmare and she was a big girl now and she knew it was a nightmare and—

 Lily was already walking towards storage.

 She left Gemini guarding her bed, this was a solo mission.

Ashes was exactly where Lily hoped they would be, checking through their inventories, making lists of things that were low and needing stocking up on. Lily didn’t want to interrupt them. Ashes was so sensible and organised and made sure they all had what they needed. She didn’t want to interrupt. Ashes was doing important things and she shouldn’t interrupt. They looked fine. She should go back to bed. Ashes was fine and not coughing and—

 “Why y’out of bed Scrap?”

 Ashes hadn’t looked up from their list.

 Lily froze.

 How did they know?! She been so quiet approaching the store room too. Ashes really was that om-om-omni- really good at knowing where people were.

 Lily swallowed audibly. She had a very healthy respect for Ashes, the quartermaster had an air of coiled and calculated danger about them that Lily was very aware of. Oh she knew she was 100% safe with Ashes and loved them fiercely but she respected them and their boundaries to the letter, it was only fair when they’d been so clear about them. Ashes was always kind and patient with her, even if they weren’t quite sure what to say or do with her sometimes. When they smiled at Lily for reporting things she’d used that day Lily felt so very grown up and sensible. She loved earning that smile from Ashes. It was a similar smile when they took the time to teach her card tricks, tricks she could use in games Ashes taught her to play against Jonny. They both looked so proud when Lily managed to make a trick work to score card game points, it made her feel all clever and glowy inside.

 Now though? Now she felt small and silly and in the way. Ashes was using the quiet night to get things done and she was interrupting and getting in the way.

She started to try and shrink into the shadows.

 Ashes sighed, “Don’t try to hide, I ain’t mad. Just want to know why you’re out of bed.”

 Lily sniffed, remembering why exactly she was out of bed.

 Ashes turned fully around at the sound, suddenly deeply worried they were about to have to deal with a sobbing Lily on their own without a convenient Jonny to pass her off to. Tim had warned them that she might turn up at some point but they’d never thought Lily would actually turn up seeking them out. It had been four months and nothing. They’d thought they were in the clear. Jonny might be an absolute pain in the arse when he wasn’t sorting out a show, performing or setting up some sort of heist or other exciting crime spree (read- most of the damn time) but he’d proved more than worth his weight in gold (and Ashes had calculated that down to both the ounce and the gram) in how he dealt with Lily, which was whenever soggy emotions happened they could pass her on to him.

 Ashes braced themselves.

 “I, I,” her lip wobbled.

 Oh no. Fuck. Ashes had no fucking clue what to do. The others made it look so goddamn easy. They didn’t really go in for physical affection. They had their reasons and they didn’t share but this was different, Lily wasn’t likely to try and knife them in the kidneys. Kid couldn’t even reach that far if she tried. Plus, Lily was obviously not carrying a weapon. She wasn’t even carrying the fluffy rock thing Jonny had made for her and it was hard to assume the worst of a tiny child who looked like one good sneeze would knock her over right now. Especially when she was wearing her dragon hoard pyjama set that Ashes had quietly stolen for her on the last planet because it had an objectively cute dragon curled up asleep on a vast pile of multi-coloured glittery gems. Partly because Lily liked gems of all kinds, partly because a lot of the gems had sleepy faces too and it was adorable though they’d never admit it also partly because the kid had actually grown a little bit and that was a damn good reason celebrate but mostly because it always got a shitload of glitter on Jonny whenever she wore it.

 Right now though Lily looked like she was about to disintegrate and there was only sure-fire way to deal with that before it got really bad.

 And Ashes liked the kid enough to offer.

 They sighed internally, already hearing Jonny cackling in the back of their head.

 Payback really was a bitch.

 “Do, do you want a hug?” They offered nervously, worried more for getting it wrong this time rather than being surprised by Lily. Kid had actually been really considerate and thoughtful as soon as they’d explained not liking being touched unannounced.

 Lily threw all caution to the wind, Ashes had offered so that must be alright and nodded her head so hard it was a wonder it didn’t fall off.

 Well, they couldn’t back out now. They just hoped they were half as good as Jonny, kid was pretty tolerant after all. “Alright, come here Scrap.”

 Lily fought every instinct she had to just throw herself at Ashes like she did with some of the others. Instead she walked carefully towards the Quartermaster and slowly raised her arms.

 Ashes appreciated the restraint the kid was showing. They gently scooped her up and settled Lily against their chest. ‘Scrap’ was an appropriate name, there had been almost nothing to Lily when she joined them, she had just about cleared three foot in height and couldn’t have weighed much more than two stone. In other words kid was dramatically underweight and under-height which was partly the reason Ashes had been working with Raphaella, Ivy, Marius and Brian specifically to make sure that they had the most nutritional food stuffs in stock to ensure she started gaining healthy weight. Which thankfully she was now doing, it had taken months but kid was now on the right track. They might be immoral, immortal, murdering, musical space pirates but they were not neglectful goddammit. If Ashes had been able to have met the ones in charge of Lily’s ship supplies and management they would have shot them on sight. Or just set them on fire. Kid was underweight, long before the raid. Even they’d not been that bad in the orphan house. Then again, Ashes had learned to steal pretty much as soon as they gained a semblance of control over their infant limbs, they got good at stealing from markets, timing when eateries discarded their leftovers and fighting the others for a meal. It had kept them alive after but all of these weren’t options that had been available to Lily.

 It was why Ashes had gently started to teach the kid sleight of hand, Lily needed some hustling skills, it’d set her up for life and it was the least Ashes could do to ensure the kid had a solid chance.

 Jonny was very much involved in ‘let’s get meat on Lily’s twig bones’ plan, just because whilst he didn’t go into the science of it all he knew how kids were supposed to look and Lily was little bag of sticks. His New Texas roots had made a rare appearance, every so often he’d forget himself and comment how Lily wouldn’t be able to lead a hoglet far let alone handle the herd for long. He was unsurprisingly also very much on board with the ‘murder all the idiots who thought this pioneer plan was a good one without half a clue of how to do it well’ wishful thinking.

 Ah well, as it was, having Lily in their arms and realising they would probably hold her all day one-armed and not really notice just steeled their determination on continuing to get the best stuff assembled. They had plenty of gold to hand anyways, might as well use it for a good cause.  

 “Wanna tell me what the matter is? You have a bad dream?” prompted Ashes carefully.

 “Yes.”

 Excellent, that, that was good start. Ashes, like the rest of the crew was well aware of Lily’s regular night terrors, Jonny had spent the majority of the last four months with a small child attached to him during the early ams, the hours collective known to cover the range from ‘Fuck Off’ to ‘Absolutely Not’ O’Clock. It was always good to know exactly what they were dealing with. If it was bad bad then they were not above marching right through Aurora to find the first mate who had apparently fucked off again during Nightmare Duty. Bastard.

 “Okay.” They took a breath, bracing themself, “Wanna tell me what about?”

 “You.”

 Ashes short-circuited, “What?”

 Lily took a deep breath, “I saw you cough yesterday and you looked scared and you’re never scared, you’re big and brave and organise everything really well and you’re really clever with cards, even cleverer than Jonny and then you were fine but I dreamt you were coughing up smoke and flames, like one of your lighters had gone wrong and I just had to come and check make sure you really were okay. I’m glad you are!” Her eyes began to widen when she realised she’d been invading Ashes’ space when they were just trying to get on with their quartermaster job, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you!”

 Huh. That. That was a lot. Ashes was pretty sure she managed that whole spiel on one breath too.

 Lily was still caught up with worry over Ashes though.

 “Are you really alright?”

 The Quartermaster was still reeling, “Yeah, yeah I’m fine Lily, just give me a minute. That was a lot you told me very fast.”

 “Oh. I’m sorry.” Lily bit her lip, looking trying to contain all the rest of the questions that were bubbling up inside her in the face of Ashes looking stunned.

 “Don’t worry, it’s fine.” The quartermaster tried to soothe.

 It was not fine. How the hell had she picked up on their minor coughing fit? How the hell had she picked up that it had scared the shit out of them, just for a minute. It happened every time they coughed. They never got used to it. One cough and they were back in Mickey’s trap and they were twenty three, terrified and dying all over again. It was very un-fucking-fair that Lily picked up on that single moment and even more unfair that the kid was worried for them. Kid was thirty five pounds soaking wet and here she was all worked up about them when she should be entirely concerned about continuing to get more meat on her bones and a growing spell or seven.

 Why did they have to end up with such a nice goddamn kid?!

 “Ashes?” prompted Lily nervously.

 “Yeah?”

 “You’re not saying anything and your eyes are really far away.”

 Ashes forced themself to focus back on the child in their arms, “Sorry Scrap, just thinking.”

 “Are you alright?”

 “Yeah, yeah.”

 Fuck, they’d not told her about their mechanism. Shit, actually, thinking about it, Lily didn’t know about any of the crews’ mechanisms. They’d decided as a group that they’d tell her when she was a bit older, when she asked again why they ‘came back’ since right now kid just accepted them as they were, that Tim’s eyes changed colour depending on what he was doing and using them for, that Jonny ticked, that Nastya was always cold, that Brian was entirely fucking metal or that the Toy Soldier was, well, there. Kid didn’t even question why Marius had a metal hand or why Raphaella had wings. She just accepted them wholeheartedly. She probably thought Ivy was just naturally super smart but then again, fair, she did come from a library world, Ivy was probably clever as all fuck regardless of her mechanism.

 Fuck. What the hell were they supposed to say?! Ashes took a steadying, thankfully easy breath, well, if they fucked it up Jonny could fix it. Even if that was the weirdest sentence that had ever crossed their mind.

 “Yeah, well, sometimes I get a cough, I had a spell a long time ago when I coughed and coughed and couldn’t stop for a long time.”

 “That sounds scary.”

 “It was.” And wasn’t that the understatement of the goddamned century. Ashes had been fucking terrified. They knew what it was like to have the insides of their lungs scoured and try and try to pull more air in but nothing comes and you’re drowning in mid-air with nothing but acrid air burning the life from you, all the tendons in your neck twisting and tightening, constricting everything, filling your nose with the stench of your own flesh and hair incinerating.

 “But you got better?”

 “Yeah. I got help.” And the 2nd place award to understatement of the century goes to…

 They realised when Lily continued to watch them expectantly they had to carry on and explain further, “But sometimes, something will just catch and I’ll cough and I’m reminded of that time, just for a second and it scares me but then I’m fine. So I swear Lily, I’m fine now.”

 Lily stared at Ashes for a solid thirty seconds looking for any sign of insincerity to be addressed and comforted.

 Ashes had no idea they could be held in place by such young eyes, Jonny was right the bastard, she did have a look that had her eyes taking up half her face. Last time Ashes saw a pair of eyes that colour they belonged to a broken war veteran, facilitator of localised Armageddon who’d never slept a peaceful night in twenty years.

 Ashes thought they’d felt moved then, not moved enough to outright help them but enough to tell them what they really needed to know. It wasn’t Ashes fault they didn’t really listen to them, they got where they needed to be in the end, they got to be reunited finally Ashes was glad of it if they were honest with themself. Ulysses had got their peaceful ending at last.

 Before Ashes burned the city to a crisp.

 Whole rotten thing deserved their flames, it was a cancer and didn’t deserve to breathe after they’d had their fun. It had been entertaining to murder the Olympians first though, make sure they knew their world was ending by Ashes’ hand. The one they never respected, not truly, thinking the Acheron was beneath their care, thinking they were so untouchable, so above everything. Ashes knew that feeling, knew what it was like. Knew that sense of power. But they were all one missed chemical away from death. Not like them. Not like their crew.

 The Olympians made themselves a house of cards.

 And cards burned delightfully.

 And despite all of that it turned out Ulysses had nothing on Lily in the stare department apparently.

 Ashes realised with a thrill of terror that they were unlikely to be able to bare face lie to her when she looked like that. There was something about being faced with genuine concern from an innocent face that cared that stripped all of their natural defences.

 They were completely fucked.

 Ashes held their breath and stare that bit longer.

 Whatever was on their face was passed muster, Lily settled down again.

 “Good, I’m glad. I was worried about you.”

 That. That made Ashes pause. They knew that academically, Lily was a caring kid, she cared about them all, she got worried over hurting TS by hugging it too hard sometimes for fucks sake. But still, having someone say that? Out loud? And mean it? 100%? Kid was too much for words sometimes.

 “Thanks Lily, I appreciate it.”

 “Can, can I hug you tighter please? Just for a minute?”

 Ashes swallowed. Kid was literally in their arms and she was still asking to increase contact rather than just assume and do it. She was fully prepared to be told no too. She was too good for any of them. Ashes wouldn’t have said no anyway at this point but given the circumstances, having a hug right now actually sounded pretty good.

 “Yeah Lily, yeah you can.”

 Lily beamed and shuffled upwards to wrap her arms around Ashes neck, leaning in closer to cuddle in and breathe in Ashes smoky scent, it was sharp and bitter with an underlying scent of something chemically, not Raphaella’s science chemicals, and it wasn’t quite Jonny’s whiskey, it was something else, something louder, something that could whisper but it really loved to roar when it could. It wasn’t like Jonny’s spicesmokewhiskey but it was still nice.

 Ashes took some comfort from the weight in their arms, that Lily was there because she was worried about them. That she had had a nightmare about them, not that Ashes was frightening or had done something to scare them but that Lily was scared for them. That she cared enough to be worried about them, to have seen them coughing and it was worrying enough to spark an actual nightmare because she cared about them.

 That was a lot.

 Ashes knew tangentially than Lily cared for them all, they knew that Lily was a kid that loved easily. She loved Jonny for fuck’s sake. Any fucker could tell that. But Ashes hadn’t considered in real terms that that love and care and affection extended to the rest of them. It clearly did. They just hadn’t really equated it to themselves, they didn’t make much effort to really engage with Lily, they didn’t give her the physical affection that the kid obviously needed so they just assumed Lily didn’t quite have the same esteem for them as the others that spent time with her.

 They only really spent time with her to make sure she had some important skills they didn’t entirely trust the others to impart, Jonny would teach her cheat at cards but they were far better at cheating. They were born to it after all.

 So that was their relationship, strictly business to their mind.

 Apparently not.

 Lily was just as affectionate and invested in Ashes as the rest of the crew.

 Huh. It was new information that Ashes felt they should have probably known for a long time.

 It wasn’t as cloying as they expected it to be having Lily cuddling up to them. After Mickey they were extremely guarded, Mickey had betrayed them after twelve years of loyal service and being included in the wild family that was the Lucky Sevens. He’d turned on a dime, cut them loose as soon as it was convenient. Carmilla had been choice with the truth of what Mechanisation entailed and Ashes had been too desperate, too hurt, too scared and too full of burning need for revenge to really absorb the consequences until it was far too late.

 Trust was dangerous, trust hurt and it sure as fuck got you killed or worse.

 And yet.

 Here was this little girl who’d seen and lived terrible things beyond what any child should see.

 And she trusted them all.

 A bunch of murderous space pirates. Maybe she didn’t have much of a choice in that since there wasn’t another option but she could have run. She could have taken herself off into the vents the second Jonny put her down or when she got new clean clothes and lurked and lived with the Octokittens, only coming up to steal food. But she didn’t. She stayed and trusted and loved.

 Ashes began to see their crew in a different light. Shifting from people they lived with and made music with that they tolerated and had a few good times with to come into better focus as what they really were, a family. They were one hell of a dysfunctional family but a family they were.

 They had been for a very long time.

 They hugged Lily back to cover their hard swallow to get themselves under control.

 “So you want to go back to bed?” That seemed liked a safe and responsible thing to ask.

 Lily shook her head against Ashes’ neck. “No.”

 Fuck, what were they supposed to do with her now? Ashes paused, considering. Then an idea hit, Lily liked to help after all.

 “Alright, wanna make yourself useful instead?”

 “Yes please.”

 “Right, well I’m doing an inventory of this store.”

 “Counting all the things?”

 “Yeah counting all the things in this room.”

 “I’m good at counting!”

 “Glad to hear it.” Actually, Lily kept the list in the food store diligently up to date. It was weirdly heart-warming to have someone actually do something for them just because it would make their life easier. Seeing Lily’s careful handwriting punctuated with smiley faces and little flowers never failed to quirk a smile out of them.

  Ashes carefully put Lily down.

 They settled into an easy rhythm, Ashes consulting their list, calling out the item and Lily finding out it, counting aloud for Ashes to record. The quartermaster had to help the culinary officer to sound out some of the more complicated names but they got mostly through Ashes’ list before Lily began to tire.

 She pushed on for another twenty minutes before she started to obviously droop.

 Ashes decided to be kind, kid got out of bed to check they were alright after all when she absolutely did not have to. And she’d helped with in the inventory.

 “C’mere Scrap.”

 “Wha?”

 “We’ve got the list finished, wanna come double check it with me?”

 “Can-Can I sit on your lap?”

 “Sure.” Ashes knew exactly what they’d signed on for this time and were expecting the question. Lily LOVED sitting on people’s laps, didn’t matter who, she just loved being sat on someone she could easily cuddle up to. They’d never admit to paying attention but it always warmed them a bit inside to see their crewmates, to a person, melt a little when they got a small space occupier. Even TS managed to look utterly thrilled even though its expression never changed.  

 “Okay then,” she yawned, “yes please.”

 Lily walked carefully over to Ashes, trying not to let on how excited she was about this rare contact with the quartermaster and waited till they said it was alright.

 Ashes hoisted the little girl up onto their lap, Lily sat politely still.

 “Go on Scrap get comfy,” sighed Ashes, ruffling Lily’s hair encouragingly as the little girl settled against them having had permission.

 Lily lasted all of five minutes before Ashes felt the tell-tale slump against them.

 Allowing a small smile to spread across their face the quartermaster continued to finish their listing.

 After another thirty minutes or so Ashes completed the current inventory one-handed they sighed and considered what to do next. Lily was out cold, cuddled up against Ashes’ chest, clinging to them like they’d always been there. Ashes felt another pang, they remembered being cuddled like this when they were smaller than Lily by one of the older orphans. There was an unspoken rule that the older ones looked out for the younger ones at night because no one else would.  

 For the first time Ashes felt a stab of regret for joining Mickey when they did. At eleven they counted as an ‘older one’ but never comforted a little one before leaving. They kept themself to themself, no one else really got the joy of flames like they did and the one time they managed to get something that was supposed to be ‘inflammable’ to burn beautifully and they were so damn proud of themself the friend they’d brought along panicked and snitched.

 Ashes didn’t trust anyone in the orphan house after that.

 It wasn’t worth the beating and loss of meal privileges for the week.

 They embraced their new family wholeheartedly without a single backwards glance and accepted being the youngest once again with all the freedom to burn whatever they wanted.

 Before they learned to be truly wary of touch; that a friendly clap of the shoulder could turn into an easy stab to the gut if they weren’t careful. Ashes learned to be on their guard at the orphan house but their awareness trebled in the Lucky Sevens. They’d never shaken that caution off.

 They hadn’t really thought about it for centuries.

 But maybe, maybe they might have liked being the one to comfort the little ones every so often. This was nice and it was nicer that Lily trusted them so much. She trusted them all but it was nice to have it confirmed, it definitely meant someone trusted you if they fell asleep on you. It was why the cuddle pile the first night Lily arrived had been nice. They’d not slept so peacefully like that for years.

 All of them together like that had been actually pretty brilliant.

 Not that they would admit it.

 And anyway, they should probably head to bed and do something with the tiny child sleeping on them. Ashes didn’t want to wake her but they also didn’t want to take them to their bed. That was not an option. Trust was one thing but bed-sharing was next level and something they weren’t willing to stretch to yet. But putting Lily back in her own bed alone probably would wake her up and they’d be back to square one.

 It took them roughly three seconds to make a decision.

 Carefully Ashes rose gracefully, holding Lily tightly, waiting to see if there was any change in the sleeping child.

 Lily snuffled closer.

 Ashes refused to melt at that.

 Deciding to focus instead what that meant- it was safe to proceed, Lily was out cold and unlikely to wake. They’d seen Jonny carrying her about, swaying with the motion and singing and the kid was dead to the world. They could absolutely get away with getting up.

 Ashes hoped it was late enough for no one else to be up and about, and if they were they would deny everything and burn them for good measure.

 Ashes made their way straight to their destination.

 Jonny’s door wasn’t locked.

 Jonny’s room wasn’t empty.

 Just as they’d expected.

 He’d been sleeping more regularly over these past four months, in his actual bed of his own accord, not passed out in the mess or having to be put to bed by Brian. Apparently being a comfort blanket for an eight year old orphan was clearly doing something for him, they’d never seen him this well rested, or this honestly exhausted. Emotions were hard and draining one of the many reasons Ashes tried to keep theirs under wraps. But they had to hand it to the kid, they’d not seen strung-out, post-nightmare Jonny roaming the corridors looking for a fight for a while. Every time they had crossed paths late at night Jonny was either crooning to Lily or screaming with her as they charged up and down hand in hand.

 It was strange but Ashes thought that he looked as comfortable doing that as he was on stage or shooting people. Maybe even more so.

 Ashes took a moment to regard their crewmate, friend, if they really had to admit it, best friend if they allowed themself to be sentimental in their own head for hot second. Jonny got the joy of cards and whiskey and truly satisfying arson in a way that nobody else did. Which meant they were willing to put up with a modicum of his bullshit, he’d been the one to light them a cigarette when they’d first awoken on the Aurora after all, helped them find their feet and breathe through their first few panics when they remembered the betrayal of smoke curling in their lungs. He’d helped them find the gasoline for Malone. He’d tried to keep Carmilla’s hands off them.

 Sometimes, just sometimes, he’d get a pass.

 He looked different when he was asleep, so much younger, like the years had melted off him, without all the swagger and bluster and rage he looked even younger than they knew themselves to have been when Carmilla got their hands on them. Huh. It was something Ashes had never really considered before, they always assumed he was older when Carmilla got him. Much older.

 Anyway, they didn’t have time to ponder.  

 They had a child to deposit.

 Ashes, using their other hand, deftly drew back the blankets covering Jonny. In a demonstration of how much had changed in four short months (or were they the longest four months in centuries?), instead of waking in a furious roar of confused gunfire and recrimination he snuffled in his sleep, calm enough to just pull back from them to chase the retreating warmth of the blankets, trying to burrow further into the mattress.

 It would have been almost cute if you were into that sort of thing.

 Very gently the quartermaster placed Lily onto said mattress next to the slumbering first mate.

 It was like putting two magnets in close proximity, the second Lily was on the bed she was unconsciously seeking Jonny, shuffling towards him. Jonny for his part, the moment the mattress dipped with the weight of a second body his arm reached out for her, wrapped around her and pulled Lily into his side, safe and protected against the world. Neither showed any sign of anything other than a final settlement, a contented sleep knowing everything was as it should be.

 A cub safe in the den once again.

 Ashes allowed a small fond smile to form as they took in the sight, Jonny D’Ville, killer, renegade, liar and thief, and human(ish) teddy bear for an eight year old orphan. The universe was, by and large an uncaring cold expanse where not even a grain of justice or fairness could be found but sometimes, just sometimes, it threw things together that worked.

 The two were good for each other. Ashes surprised themselves with how much it pleased them to see both occupants of the bed improve. How much they liked to see everyone in the crew take on a brighter, soften sheen.

 Sometimes amidst all their violence and cheating and flames it was good to have something else. Something they could share.

 They were glad it was this and what it had become.

 Ashes pulled the blankets over the pair of them, leaning down to press a featherlight kiss to Lily’s wild hair.

 Because they could.

 It felt right and no one could see them and no one need know. They didn’t need to know it was something they’d longed to feel in the orphan home, someone tucking them in with a soft kiss goodnight. Ashes would burn themself to their namesake before they’d own up to that fact. It didn’t stop it from being truth though, nor that they were glad they could do that for Lily. Kid was affectionate after all, she clung to anything that was offered.

 They sauntered out confident that no one had witnessed anything and that was fine.

 As Ashes headed for their own bed, Aurora considered her collection of images from that evening. There were some very choice ones of Ashes rocking Lily, working whilst they held her and carrying the sleeping child through the corridors, all the way to tucking her and Jonny back into bed together.

 These would be perfect to add to the album Aurora was compiling for when Lily came of age.

 And for blackmail purposes. Naturally.

[kinetic-elaboration]

March 19: 2x11 Friday’s Child

Finally watched this week’s TOS. This was a hard day again and I’m tired and basically as soon as the ep ended my mood deflated again but I think I can write up a few notes and then crawl right back into bed again.

Another episode about negotiating for a mining treaty, huh? (I’m keeping track of all of these, roughly, for my own Nefarious Purposes).

The aliens are seven feet tall and they wear silly outfits.

Wow, what a dumbass red shirt. You’d think Starfleet would train people NOT to just randomly draw their weapons in diplomatic situations.

I honestly forgot there were Klingons in this.

DC Fontana wrote this!! I forgot that too.

Lol Kirk just drops the deceased red shirt. And then keeps holding his hands out like ‘what am I to do now?’

“They want to negotiate for our rocks. Our stupid, useless rocks. Everyone wants our rocks! So weird.”

I’m actually kind of surprised DC Fontana wrote a Klingon ep but like... I guess it’s not that surprising given this guy doesn’t even have a name and is also really dumb lol. At least he’s not in brownface.

When Kirk and Spock disarmed I didn’t realize they were throwing down their communicators and I was a little confused as to why they had to carry so many phasers each.

Kirk’s pretty upset about the crewman’s death, which I get, he always goes feral when one of his people dies and I appreciate that about him... but that guy really did fuck up lol.

I like seeing Scotty in command.

Oooh mood lighting in the tent. And Spock is meditating I think.

Emotion is “inefficient and illogical.” No wonder Kirk thinks they can never be in love!!

And yet jealous is also inefficient and illogical and I detect some of it in Spock when the blonde Cappellan comes in.

“They consider combat more pleasurable than love.” Hmm sounds like someone else I know.

... Honestly I wish the Grounders had been like this. I feel like there’s more thought in creating this society in one episode than in creating that one over 7 seasons.

I love Bones in this and his role as cultural translator.

The Federation believes in self-determination.

“The sky does not interest me.”

I really do dig the world building here. There’s so much going on in this one ep, even just in part of an ep, and you really get the sense that this is a whole world with its own rules and customs and values, and its own complex political machinations that our mains have really just wandered into.

Also the soundtrack today is NOT messing around. TV composers just don’t go this hard anymore, sorry.

Oooh now the Klingon’s afraid at the prospect of fighting Kirk.

The Enterprise just walked into a coup I guess.

Lots of fighting! Kirk must be having fun.

Scotty is so commanding! I feel like he and Uhura were already friends at this point. Like whenever he’s in command she seems really comfortable just wandering up to his chair all the time.

Also why are they ALWAYS signing stuff?

Yessss silent triumvirate communication.

“To live is always desirable.” I mean she’s not wrong but so much for being willing to die without a fuss lol.

It’s kind of wild how this ep started out being about a mining treaty and drama with the Klingons and all of this alien political drama and then basically becomes all about saving one (1) pregnant widow (and themselves) from huge, ,hostile aliens in funny feather boas.

Sulu insulting Scotty’s knowledge of ships lol. Not smart.

Can’t believe the Klingon couldn’t get his weapon back but Kirk got his communicators back no problem. Who is the smarter alien?

They’ll find us BY SCENT ALONE what a detail to just throw in there!

Lol this whole scene with McCoy and Eleen is hilarious and ridiculous in equal measure. Like I can’t entirely blame her for not wanting to be touched intimately by a strange alien man (rude!!) but also I do enjoy McCoy’s gruff insistence that he WILL care for his patient. This is what AOs didn’t get about “Grumpy Bones.” He’s not mean, he’s just...not up for niceties when he has a healing to do. He WILL care for you dammit!

And he has soft hands.

Spock is loving this.

Kirk’s subtle reverse psychology. “Well if you don’t think the communicator plan can work” and then Spock like “I didn’t say that exactly...”

They aren’t human, they’re humanoid!

And again, the subtle taunting/goading of Bones: “Well if you can’t do it...”

I’m a doctor, not an escalator! One of the best lines.

Detective Scotty. Kind of ridiculous how he solves the case of the taunting Klingons luring them away from the planet...but then sticks around a bit more just in case.

The child is McCoy’s!

Spock is so uncomfortable with this giving birth thing. “Oh look Captain, vegetation!”

“Just repeat ‘The child is mine.’“ “Yes, the child is yours.” Lol.

Arts and crafts with Kirk and Spock! I love that this is a McCoy ep with subtle space husbands in the background.

Favorite moment though is McCoy trying to teach Spock how to hold a baby. “I would rather not, thank you.”

“Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on...won’t get fooled again.”

I love that Chekov is consciously messing with them about everything being from Russia.

Also the absolute GALL of the Klingons trying the exact same ship luring technique a second time.

Can’t believe that Bones wants to go off and have fun with the boys and just leave the baby alone in the cave. You’re a dad now McCoy!! Be responsible!

“Small patient.” Yes very small!

Cool little robot battle station unfolding at the helm.

I feel like when Kirk and Spock have that exchange about cavalry coming over the hill and Spock says "if by that you mean..." Kirk should have answered, "I thought I just said that." But then that wouldn't be very Kirk of him. He never makes fun of Spock.

This Klingon is not having a good day!

Scotty and the redshirts here to save the day.

I guess Maab wasn’t so bad after all. And Elaan is perhaps a little confusing, but I admire her desire to both save herself and adhere to her people’s traditions, even if those are incompatible desires.

Spock absolutely IS going to consult linguistics about baby talk. Probably Uhura specifically.

LEONARD JAMES AKAAR. Absolutely one of the top 5 final bridge scenes. They really missed an opportunity to return to the planet in a later movie or series and interact with the Teer.Captain Picard meets Leonard James Akaar.

This was a good ep! I really only remembered the Bones and Elaan parts with the baby, so I forgot all of the political machinations and stuff in the beginning of the ep. It’s a pretty solid world building episode and of course, lots of McCoy, can’t go wrong with that.

I actually think it makes a lot of sense for Bones to be the child’s “father” tbh. Like, I know everyone thinks it’s funny but like... in our culture, we assign pseudo-parental roles to people who aren’t blood relatives of children based on the adult’s relationship with the child’s blood relative and that’s arguably weirder. Like you can be a kid’s step father by marrying his mom even if you really don’t have any relationship to him, so why shouldn’t McCoy, who saved Leonard’s mother’s life and delivered him, and convinced her to actually desire to raise him, be considered his “father”? ESP given that this society seems to have no place at all for fatherless children. They just can’t conceive of such a thing. So “father” has to encompass something other than, or not strictly limited to, biological father. She was so quick to assign McCoy fatherhood status, I have to assume this happens a lot, that people take on that role for non-bio children.

Not a lot for Spock to do today but I think he had fun. He got to explode some rocks and make some bows and shoot some arrows. And Kirk got into a lot of fights so I think he enjoyed himself.

I don’t know if I believed the Cappellans were 7 feet tall but they did look broad and alien so I will give them that.

It was nice to see Scotty in command again. I’m so mad at AOS still for making him comic relief. I think he’s actually quite a serious person. Talking with my mom, I’ve decided that the crew can be grouped into ‘cracks jokes through a crisis’ and ‘generally gets very serious in a crisis, reserves humor for calm moments’ and while Sulu, Chekov, and Spock are in group 1, Scotty is definitely in group 2 with Kirk and McCoy. (Uhura seems generally lighthearted and fun loving but not funny per se so I don’t know how to group her.)

Also this is one of the early filmed Chekov episodes (as you can see by the hair) and he spends it, again, at Spock’s station. It’s so obvious he was introduced as Spock’s protege, not as the navigator, which I think is very interesting. Like I want to hear the backstory on that.

Next week’s episode is The Deadly Years, which I remember as being very solid.

[chyrstis]

The Broadcast

I’ve been sitting on this one for a while, holding onto a couple of conversations that I loved here while also wanting to set some things up for the next fic in the series, which is looking to be a long one, but as I joked on AO3, I have to be honest here. I really wanted to tackle more flirting conversations between certain individuals here, while also giving John some time to do what he does best.

Also, any excerpts from the lovely BoJ I do not take ownership of at all! Just a quick disclaimer, because it is referenced here.

Pairing: F!Dep x Sharky Boshaw (I’d claim pre-ship, but this is getting a little ridiculous) Rating: T Word Count: 5.6K whoops

Link to AO3!

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A moment of peace never lasts as long as it should.

______________

The news was improving. Honest to God improving as it came in, and Hana almost didn’t know what to do with it.

With the chatter a mix of updates on the outposts taken, shots taken at John – which she took point on, just in case the asshole was tuning in somehow – and more voices joining in on the line by the day, things were looking up. It actually seemed like they were pushing the Peggies back in a way that counted, and she didn’t want to let up for a second.

John hadn’t retaliated yet. Not like before when he’d first sent people to run her down, and had taken more than a little pride in letting her know just what was going to happen next, but he’d taken measures in other areas to compensate for it.

The patrols hadn’t stopped. The road blocks were still operating further south and west of here, in spite of her and Sharky’s best efforts to firebomb every last one, and the line of Peggies that kept on stepping right into Grace’s line of sight only seemed to be getting longer, and longer.

It was starting to feel like they would never leave the valley. After weeks of watching silos disappear, and outposts fall, it felt strange to even consider being anywhere else, but they couldn’t stay here. Not with news coming in every day from the north, and the need to head back to the jail picking at her more and more by the day.

Sure, she wasn’t the only one fighting. God, she’d watched these people tear the cult a new one with a determination she envied, but she’d never wished harder that she could be in more than one place at once.

Just for the chance to see what Jess was facing up north, with Eli coming in over the radios. To hear Whitehorse’s calm rundown, how to size up a situation so you know for sure it’s a bad one, Rook, before she ran in a little too half-cocked anyway. Hell, to hear Hurk’s stories again, and to see the giant grin he’d put on Sharky’s face whenever the two were left to their own devices.

She wanted to do better. Be better for them, but some days it still felt like she was grasping at straws. Doing all right, but never enough, and she’d keep on trying every damn day as long as she was able to. Pushing, fighting, and hoping that what she was doing was helping, and not fucking things up further.

It was the very least she could do, and that kept her moving forward.

“Golden Valley? GVG? You there, over?”

Static came through, bits and pieces as Hana waited for the message to go through, and tapped her fingers along the steering wheel as they all waited. She heard Grace shift from the backseat, and noticed her leaning forward in the rearview mirror to better see the road ahead.

“Yo, GVG? Everything okay? Taking a while to get back to us there.” She frowned when a few scattered words filtered through, and thumped the radio with the side of her hand. “This is the Deputy. Just giving a quick heads up to say you’ll be getting a few visitors shortly, and I’d hate to stop by anywhere I’m not wanted.”

Located on the edge of Fall’s End, the gas station had become the place to spot any strange trucks trying to roll in, while also giving them one of a handful of safe places to fuel up. But that usefulness went both ways, and the Resistance and the cult had practically traded this spot back and forth until they had finally been able to give them the boot.

“-ep? Drop on by-“

But the broken message wasn’t reassuring her in the slightest right now. Not as long as they kept the beaten-up Peggie van as their ride of choice, and not until they’d pulled up and had a chance to speak to them all face-to-face.

Speeding down the road, the turn to the gas station nearly blindsided her. She’d known it was a sharp one, and Sharky and Grace had both tried reminding her in the hopes that she’d catch it, but it nearly flew right on by her without thinking. The tires screeched as she hit the brakes and turned, making Sharky’s arm fly up to grab the handle hanging above his head, and thought for a moment she’d flip the thing. The minute the van rocked back into place on its wheels, however, she flashed Grace a look of apology in the rearview mirror, and maneuvered them into a spot by the pumps.

Letting out one last screech of defiance, the van came to a stop, and her head nearly bounced off of the seat. “Sound off, everyone all right?”

Sharky let out a breath and flashed her a thumbs up. “Still got it, Dep.”

“Grace?”

“…Yeah, I hear you.”

In the distance, she saw hints of movement. Just enough to remind her that as deserted as the place seemed, thinking that was a mistake, and rolled down her window to let out a whistle.

Giving it a minute, she watched as Grace steadied her rifle from the back, and felt for the revolver she’d recently picked up. Snapping off shots with it still made her feel like she was fighting with the thing, but it worked in a pinch, and she’d make it work here if she had to.

Sharky started shifting in his seat. Kept his shotgun up even as Hana angled her head towards him with her finger pressed to her lips, but when he waggled his eyebrows at her, she couldn’t help the smile that slipped out.

“Quit it,” she murmured, turning her attention back to the store.

“Huh? Quit what?” He hadn’t even bothered whispering, and she could just imagine the kind of grin that came with that tone of voice.

Just being your lovely, ridiculous self. “This’s still clear, right Grace?”

“Far as I know,” she replied from the back. “Mary May hasn’t mentioned any changes, but they’re taking their time getting back to us. Better be ready just in case that means what we’re thinking it does.”

Shifting her eyes between the roof of the gas station and the front, there was a flicker of light up top. One that could’ve been a signal, or with Hana’s luck, the last thing she’d see before a sniper’s lucky shot. But soon enough another whistle rang out, imitating hers. It might’ve even been done with relish as they stretched the sound out, ending with a flourish.

She reached for the radio and tried again. “Hey, GVG. You got some friendlies outside. We got some friendlies inside?”

This time the voice on the other end picked up instantly. “Roger, and I’m on my way out to you!”

“…Grace?”

Looking towards the mirror again, she caught her nod. “On it.”

Sharky, however, was already opening the door to get out with her, not even giving her a chance to stop him if she wanted to, and Hana unbuckled her seatbelt fast to make sure she’d beat him.

That’s when the door to the front swung open. A woman jogged out towards her, smiling wide as she did so, and it wasn’t until she came to a stop in front of her that she realized they’d met before. She wasn’t entirely sure where or specifically when, but she’d always been decent at remembering faces, and a great smile stuck with her no matter what.

“Deputy! Let me tell you, you’ve got to pick a better way to get around. Some of us are twitchy to begin with, but you stop by with Peggie colors, and not all of us are going to be careful about it.” She held out her hand, and Hana gave it a solid shake. “Dunno if you remember me any, but uh, name’s Gloria.”

“Wait a sec,” Hana said, snapping her fingers, “from the Woodson’s?”

Her eyes lit up instantly. “Holy shit, you do! I make that kind of an impression?”

“Hey, anyone that manages to take control after someone yells at them to grab the wheel and jumps out’s pretty damn cool in my book. And you? You totally took that in stride.”

That made her grin all the more, and this time Hana couldn’t help but join her. “For a long time we thought you were…hell, either dead or on a one-way ticket straight to the bunker. But even after hearing you on the radio, it’s good to have a chance to see that ourselves.”

Gloria waved towards the roof, and the red flashing light - which had been a sniper’s sight after all - danced briefly across Hana’s chest before disappearing. It never failed to make her heart skip a beat, and she turned to give Grace a quick signal to stand down as well.

“Sorry about that. Greg’s up top, and with Roy inside, there’s only three of us holding this down at the moment. It’s not much, but you make do, and lucky for us we’ve been fine so far. Short of the radio bugging out every now and then, but it’s a work in progress. So…”

Adjusting her ballcap, Gloria glanced between her and Sharky, and gave them both an expectant look.

“What can we do for you?”

As it turned out, quite a bit.

The gas station itself was mostly operational, with a small amount left in reserve. They had some canisters stashed nearby, which was fine in the short term, but the town needed fuel bad, a fact that Mary May had touched on over the radio the last time Hana had called in.

John had drained the valley dry, but there were still tankers on the road. One by one, they drove in from the east, flanked by heavy enough escorts to tell anyone that taking one was going to be ugly at best, but the Henbane kept sending them. Faith kept sending them, and there was no telling how much longer that other fuel source was going to last.

So, they needed a plan. Taking any of them was a start, but if they wanted more than a scattered handful, they needed something solid. Something to start working towards, and much as she leaned on it heavily, sheer dumb luck wasn’t anywhere near that.

“Now, I know you ain’t talking about taking any of that shit without me, right?”

“Let’s see if I’ve got it right here,” she said, handing the gas can to Sharky. “I’m talking running down a rig filled to the brim with fuel, dodging trees left and right with the wind whipping around me, bullets flying everywhere, heart beating a mile a minute, when all it would take is a single shot to either end myself or set that entire thing off.”

Hana blew out a breath, and grinned wide when she caught him doing the same.

“Sounds pretty great, huh? And any of that’s leaning more than a little towards F and F, and what kind of a friend would I be to deny you a chance to get a piece of that?”

“F and F?”

Grace had been scanning their map, holding it down over the hood of the van as a breeze kicked up, and Hana hadn’t even known she was listening in. Her eyes were glued right to their marked routes, tracing them up and around the valley, and remained there even when Hana turned to look at her.

“You know, the Fast and Furious movies.  We’d practically be borrowing a page out of their script taking down one of the cult’s trucks like that. Or would that be more Mad Max?”

“Dep, just so you’d know, getting in on any of that would bring a tear to my eye.” And judging from the small swipe Sharky gave them, he was most of the way there. “But Mad Max straight-up, and we’d need to go and grab Hurkie before doing any of that. I promised him if we ever got to that point in the middle of this, I’d be the first to roll up, flamethrower in hand, and we’d just go to town. Light all of the Peggies’ shit up bright enough to fucking blind people, which we’re still doing now, just without the assless chaps ‘cause it’s still kinda early for it. Leather also needs baby powder and shit so you ain’t suffering when it rides up your ass, and John’s probably hoarding it all.”

Grace’s pained look almost made her lose it on the spot. “I did not need that visual.”

“John, or the assless chaps?” Hana asked, biting her lip to keep from laughing. “Though I’m having a real hard time imagining you in the full getup there, Shark. Baby powder or not.”

“What? I’m serious. Helps with the chafing and the sweating, and I know my balls would be swimming laps after a day of that. I’d just need to give ‘em a little light dusting beforehand, and everything would be right as rain. But going back to Hurk, if he heard he’d missed out on any of that? Well it’d just break his heart.”

“Just as long as you remember that we need to hold onto all of this.” She leaned back against the van, watching him as he unscrewed the cap and set the can down by his feet. “Fuel’s at too much at a premium right now to mess around with it. So try to save the fireballs for things that we’d all love to see go up, like John’s silos and signs. Or hell, that plane of his.”

“Done and done, my compadre, but just saying if it did?” He took out a cigarette and started lighting it, “Man, that would be one big, beautiful thing to see.”

Rolling her eyes, Hana plucked the cigarette out of Sharky’s hand only for him to whip his head towards her.

“Geez, Dep, are you serious? I’m down to one!”

“I’m thinking of your safety, bud,” she said, pointing at the setup in front of him. “Cigs and gas don’t mix. I don’t even need to mention the number of movies that have a little too much fun with that.”

“Uh, yeah, but that shit only goes down if you’re rough with it. Like making big ol’ sparks, holding the lighter to the pump, or dousing yourself in it, but knocking or hitting any of this while puffing away?“ He rapped at the side of the van with the side of his fist, and leaned against it. “About as safe as you can get.”

Pinching the cigarette between her fingers, she traded a skeptical look with Grace before giving him a long glance. “You know I’m still keeping this, right? After the last three I let you bum off of me, it’s only fair.”

That got a pout. “Aw, come on.”

“I’ll make sure to steal you a pack. Promise.”

His grumbling told her he didn’t agree one bit, but she still batted her eyes at him before turning on her heel to head inside. And as she started in on Sharky’s cigarette, might’ve made a mental pledge to go for at least three packs, minimum.

Rapping lightly on the door, Hana pulled it open only to be greeted by Roy. The older man dressed from head to toe in full hunter gear gave her a quick salute before resuming his perch by the boarded-up window. He seemed set on watching the front - a smart move considering their people were still out there and fueling up - and Hana hooked a thumb through the beltloops of her jeans before taking a look around.

She’d been here a few times before. Actually had a chance to fill up the old junker she’d bought from someone working at US Auto here, and remembered being annoyed she couldn’t find a single motorcycle. How she’d groused over it to the point she’d missed the cut off for the fifteen dollars she’d meant to gas up to, and swore loud enough that the other person at the pumps avoided making eye contact with her.

God, she wondered if that car was even there still. Her newly acquired, but mildly crunched white sedan, abandoned back at the station with her half-drunk coffee still sitting in the cup holder. Ditched in favor of rushing in through the front, half-awake up until she’d joined the others and Burke, and everything had just-

Hana sighed. Rubbed at her eyes, as she stood there and finished off the rest of the cigarette.

Probably not, but it was a thought, and as she stepped further into the station as a whole, she shifted her focus to checking out the rest of it.

Broken glass crunched under her boots as she moved down the aisles. Most were empty, the supplies either hastily cleared by John’s men, taken by people crossing through, or by the group currently stationed here. Walking by the empty freezers, she took one look at the baseball resting on a nearby shelf, and gave it a small push. It wobbled as it rolled, passing by the abandoned cans of tuna fish and spam as it went, and she held out a gloved hand to catch it when it reached the end and fell over the edge.

It plopped down right into her palm right as she noticed the book on the second shelf. Shoved towards the back and hidden behind an empty box, it had been overlooked completely, but she’d know the white leather cover of it anywhere.

The Book of Joseph, or rather one of many.

Just because she’d burned the one at the top of Joseph’s statue didn’t mean there weren’t others of these littered all over the county, and she tucked the baseball under her arm as she picked it up.

It wasn’t heavily damaged, and flipping through it she couldn’t find any torn or removed pages. Just Joseph’s words flying past as she sped right to the end, reaching the last couple of pages.

The light is now shining on you, in you; it radiates out from you. You are strong, much stronger than they are. You are just and pure. You are the chosen ones. I beseech you to join me, to join the family - to join your family.

Jesus. She’d never taken the time to read any of it before, but the message here bombarded her and right.

You do not belong in this world. You belong in the next world, the new world.

The old one will disappear. Along with everyone who ever doubted both you and I. I know not the details of the divine plan to annihilate this abhorrent, pestilent society. I cannot tell you-

She paused, and read over that sentence again.

I know not.

But she’d felt the fire with him. Stood right alongside him as the heat set in. Burned with him.

Her fingers traced the words. Ran over each one as they started to shake.

-there may be times of suffering. But the light that lives in us will protect us against doubt. For doubt is a serpent whose venom seeps into-

Throwing the book back onto the shelf, she drew in a breath. Held it, then let it out slowly through her nose as she stared it down. Willed it to catch fire, tear itself up, do anything other than what it had already accomplished.

But it stayed in place, gathering dust.

“Doubt’s a serpent, huh?” Hana muttered darkly, nearly spitting at the floor. “Sounds about right.”

The door to the front swung open, and she started. The flash of green quickly told her exactly who it was, however, and she put as much distance between herself and the book as possible, tossing the baseball back and forth between her hands. Poured as much of that anxious energy into it as possible, just so it wouldn’t keep on making her hair stand on end.

“Hey,” she said, catching Sharky’s eye once he wandered into the aisle with her. “Everything okay outside?”

“Yeah, gas’s in, Grace’s out front going over how to keep this place as Peggie-proof as possible, and all you gotta do is say the word and we’re gone. But I figured I’d head inside first. Wanted to check this place out, ‘cause it’s been way too long since I’ve been here.”

“Fond memories?”

“Hell yeah,” he said, flicking both eyebrows up. “I used to score some porn mags here.”

Hana nearly dropped the baseball. “Wait, what?”

“Yeah, they’d be on that back wall, some of ‘em wrapped, the other half hidden behind the fishing and trapping ones.” He stepped past her, heading right up to the empty shelves as he glanced back towards her. “Just waited until they were busy up front to slip one or two out, just right up and under like so-” he pulled up his hoodie, and proceeded to pretend to hide his hand under it, tucking it along his midsection, “along with a pack of smokes.”

“Seriously? Porn mags?”

“Yeah, best part is that if you headed out to the toilet over yonder, you’d find a couple waiting there too. Now they never made that shit public knowledge, but if you’d check off to the side right by the trash can, you’d find last month’s lady looking right up at you. And yeah, some of the pages stuck together and others were torn out, but that shit was on the house. No guy in need’s ever gonna turn his nose up at that.”

A thoughtful look settled over him for a moment, along with a lazy grin before he perked up.

“Shit, you think it’s still there? Like I’m cool with the nostalgia boner I’ve got going on right now ‘cause it’s pretty solid, but if I found one in semi-mint condition? That’d get me fifty off of Hurk, easy.”

Hana wrinkled her nose at it herself, and started trying to juggle the baseball again. “You er, you do you, bud. Think I’d take a hard pass on that one.”

“Yo, it’s not like it’s woods porn, or nothing. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just a little far to go to find anything worth look looking at, and I know all of that shit’s either been moved or taken, and this’s right next door, and-.”

“Look, I don’t even know what woods porn is,” she said, cutting in before he could dive right into telling her, “but tell you what. It’s not quite fifty, but I bet you twenty I could catch another one of these if you tossed it to me.”

Bouncing the baseball between her hands, Sharky’s eyes were locked on her as she threw it above her head, and moved her hand behind her back just in time to catch it. “While juggling that one?”

“While juggling this one.”

His smile grew, and it took him no time at all to find something else to pitch at her. Sliding back into the mini-rhythm she’d found, he tossed her the second ball and brought it into the same pattern, doing pretty well for someone that took it up just to make an old classmate eat their words.

Sharky’s delight made it all worth it, though, earning her one hell of a smile when she started juggling in earnest. “Shit, you’re a regular wizard with your hands, Dep. Thought you’d toss it right back at me.”

Given that the compliment was on her juggling random shit without smacking herself, she had no reason to do so, but she might’ve blushed. Just a little.

“Yeah, I know I’m awesome,” she said, giving him a wink. “Just full of hidden unknown talents, but I’d still watch your head if I were you. …Might still end up throwing it your way if I slip up.”

“Well, you won’t have to worry much about me. I’ve got a set myself.”

“Of magic hands?” She waggled her eyebrows at him. “Just how magical are we talking here?”

“I could get a few testimonials. I might be well known for things other than the ol’ Boshaw Special.“

Boshaw Spec-? Oh. That.

Her attention locked right onto his mouth before darting back to his hands, and she kicked herself for it. “Is that right?”

“Trick of the wrist, and, uh…” He made a motion with a few of his fingers, and she didn’t need to think hard to get the visual. “Well, you do that, you’ll get more than a few calls back.”

“Uh huh,” Hana replied, biting at the corner of her lip. Then nearly missed her catch when she failed to shake the mental image he’d conjured up. “So, definitely good with them then. But are you quick?”

“Quick?”

“Think fast!”

He yelped when the ball flew right past his head, his own face going red, and she might’ve felt a little bad for surprising him like that. But it was his fault for starting this conversation to begin with, and also for giving her way too much to think about when it came to-

“..puty? Hey, kid, you there?”

Grabbing for her radio, Sharky shot her a curious look as she pulled it up to her ear. If Dutch was calling, something was up, and she braced herself accordingly. “Hey, Dutch. Dep here. What’s going on?”

“Thought you might want to know before you get blindsided by it, but there’s a new broadcast out. One where John’s got something to say about your work so far. And here I’d say, ‘good’, because that still stands. But if he’s going to the airwaves to say something about it, he’s got to be feeling the pressure. You might still want to hear what he has to say.”

“Oh, fuck,” she muttered, scanning the old store for a television. If John was pissed off enough to put on a show and not call her, this could be a problem. “Shark, we need a TV, stat.”

He went for the other end of the store. “On it!”

“Thanks for the heads up,” she said, through the radio, “and don’t worry. Heads are on swivels, over.”

“Keep it spinning, kid.”

It didn’t take long, but after checking with Roy, the two closed in on the television stashed in the employee’s room in the back. It was still working, somehow, and after plugging it back in, Sharky started messing with the antenna.

“Eh, back this way. No, wait, back the other?”

She reached over to pull at one, and Sharky aimed it towards her.  “Maybe if I jiggle it a bit.”

“No, what’s jiggling going to do to-“

“-will you be willing to pay it?”

John’s voice rang through the room, and she quickly stepped away to get a better look at the screen. The broadcast looped back, and once again he started to speak.

“My brothers and sisters, today’s message is not for you. Your dedication remains strong to our cause, and to the Father.”

“Motherfucker,” Hana breathed, taking in the stage John set for himself.

He wasn’t outside this time around. Not surrounded by his loving flock, with Joey not even ten feet away from him. This time he was alone. Sitting behind a large desk, he kept his hands folded in front of him. Everything neat and in place, as a solemn look entered his eyes.

This was restrained; stripped down, lacking the flashiness of the previous broadcast, and that had her worrying at her lip as he continued to speak. 

“And for that dedication you will continue to be enriched and rewarded. Knowing full well that what you’ve done up until this point in time has raised us up in turn. Made us greater for all that you’ve sacrificed.”

Sharky rolled his eyes, pretending to jerk off as John leveled another profound glance towards his audience, and she gave him a small punch to the arm before turning back to the broadcast.

“No, this is for the Deputy’s ears, and for any that continue to follow her, I ask you to heed my words, and my message.”

By this point John had leaned forward, his blue eyes set on the screen. Focused on a single point, miles away, and with the flick of a switch, she’d helped him find his target.

“Because the path that you walk is one rife with conflict, and while you claim this is some form of justice, it will ultimately do more harm than good. For this petty need for destruction consumes all, taking everything with it, and with so much at stake, I ask of you, why? Why would you let it? Why would take away these tools, the lives of these precious souls right when they had finally found what they had longed for most?”

He dropped his eyes. Kept them focused on his clasped hands for a beat, then looked right back at her.

“Perhaps I was at fault for failing to notice it sooner. For failing to understand the depths of your anger, your rage, but I promise this will change. When my people find you, when they guide you to me, I will not falter. I will give you everything you need, every moment that you could ever ask for, just to find what festers in you so.”

Her fingers curled into a fist, her nails biting right into her gloves.

“Perhaps then it will be easier to accept. To see it for what it truly is, and you will not be alone in this, Deputy. Not for a second. But until then, understand what we have to do in turn-”

“Come on, H, you don’t wanna keep on listening to this, do you?”  Sharky set a hand on her shoulder, snapping her right out of it. “Just more of his shit, over and over?”

After a few seconds – and more of John’s words, since he wasn’t done at all – she took in a deep breath and let it out. Leaned into Sharky’s touch as he shifted his hand so he could rub at her upper back instead, and tried like hell not to sigh at any of it.

“Don’t you know I’m in need of help, Shark?” she asked, glancing up at him. “Desperate for it?”

“Well, I’m desperate for a round or five with Casey’s all you can eat Ribs n’ Nibs, and probably a few other things John’d be fine with carving into me. Seeing as I am not about any of that, that’s a big fat no, but…” He inclined his head as he looked her over, and wet his lips. “I think you’re fine, Dep.”

There was nothing subtle about that, not at all, and she might’ve lost her footing for a bit. Let his statement really sink in as a blush came with it, and grinned.  

“Fine?”

“More than fine,” Sharky blurted out, “just-um, you know what you wanna do. You go out and you do it. Just ‘cause John don’t agree with it, or it doesn’t help him pull any of the shit he and the others want – and seriously, fuck that – don’t make it wrong, or you. You’re just kicking ass and taking names. Doing a full day’s worth of that all before most can get in a shit, shower, and shave, and maybe some kind of breakfast, and that’s pretty fucking cool. Just doing that, like you do.”

That got a laugh out of her, and she couldn’t help the fond look that followed. “Like I do, apparently.”

He was smiling back at her now. Leaning more in her space than he was a few seconds ago, all while his hand stayed warm at her back. The height difference between them had never been extreme, just a half-foot at most, but from here she could easily gauge it. Note just how much she’d need to tilt her head back as she stood up on her toes to match him, and liked it.

“And if John’s got a problem with that, fuck him too. Though not, you know-“

“Literally?”

Sharky shuddered.  “Yeah, no. Don’t do any of that. Earlier I was just saying shit out loud as I was thinking it, and uh…”

He let the words trail off, looking right at her as Hana leaned forward a hair. Not enough to touch him, but enough for him to notice. To look at her with the kind of awe he’d always try and stammer his way out of before, but hadn’t found a way to do so yet. 

“And I uh…” He swallowed hard. “I don’t think doing any of that’s desperate.”

“You being desperate, or me?”

Sharky blew out a breath. “Shit, both?”

She was closer now, and didn’t wait to see what he’d do before giving up another inch. Just darted in, and planted a kiss right on his cheek. Felt the slightest scratch of his stubble against her lips after he’d failed to shave for two days and counting, and didn’t draw back as far as she should’ve.

Just lingered by him as he shut his mouth, and stayed put. Didn’t move, or sweep in to kiss her like he easily could’ve at this distance.

And the disappointment that followed shouldn’t have stung at all, but it did.

“Think it might just be me, though,” Hana murmured, and let her eyes drift back to the television.

To John as he looped back through his message, over, and over, hoping this would be the time it’d take.

“-will be judged, and your actions large and small laid bare before you. At that point, given the cost and those that fell to make it possible, will you be willing to pay it? Think on this. Because when we meet again-“

Jabbing at the power switch, she shut it off, and didn't linger this time around. Just gave Sharky a wan smile before heading back out front.

[fandom-necromancer]

One man’s trash…

Sorry anon, I decided to make it two parts, so this will be the build-up to your actual prompt tomorrow! I hope you still enjoy, I got to put a little Reed900 in the ending-part here.

Fandom: Detroit become human | Characters: RK900, Markus | Ship: Reed900  [part2]

‘What should we do with it?’ ‘God, I don’t know. What did Carlson say?’ ‘To get rid of it. That Cyberlife has enough problems as it is, they don’t need to explain an android-killer on top of that.’ ‘And did he say how?’ ‘Nope. I asked him the same thing, but he didn’t really answer, just told me to bring it somewhere no one would ever find it and that our jobs depend on it not his.’ ‘What a fucking asshole.’ ‘Yeah, I know, right? Let me tell you one thing: The first chance there is, I quit this damn job. Get back to freelancing.’ ‘That’s easily said when you don’t have kids and an angry ex who squeezes you dry.’ ‘Oh, quit whining, he was right to leave you. Focus now, where would you hide a six foot android designed killing machine?’ ‘How about the grinder?’ ‘They search our trash now and if they find android parts, we have some explaining to do.’ ‘The android graveyard?’ ‘Hmm could work. But how do we explain taking him there if someone sees us?’ ‘Just tell them we are looking for active androids in there to bring back to Cyberlife for repairs. Big guy is our protective unit if there are violent bots.’ ‘Clever. If someone asks why he didn’t come back with us, we can say it got lost in there trying to protect us. This way Cyberlife even has an argument as to why we will never clean up our mess: too dangerous… Perfect. I’ll go tell Carlson; you get the android to the van!’ ‘Got it!’

There were quick steps, then a door falling close. ‘RK900, activate.’ RK900 opened his eyes, focussing on [handler] Janine Foreman, call by first name, 38 years old, three children, divorced two years ago. ‘What can I do for you, Janine?’, the RK900 asked politely, hands clasped behind his back at parade rest. ‘Follow me.’ [Follow handler Janine Foreman] ‘Of course, Janine.’

He followed the woman down the hall as they exited the lab. RK900 added the new data to his memory core and his navigation map from the tower. He had never been outside the lab, had never seen the other testing facilities and offices. He linked the data to a new test routine, as his handlers would without doubt want the concluded report of this test once it was finished. He stepped into the elevator after Janine and waited as she pressed the button to floor -2.

As soon as they reached the floor, Janine led him out with hurried steps. Her stress levels were unusually high and RK900 concluded this had to be his final test before being ready to enter batch production. It was the only logical deduction from what little information he had, and people tended to humanize androids. Not telling him about the test fearing he would get nervous was ridiculous, but RK900 could understand the misconception from Janine.

They walked up to one of the many Cyberlife vans, Janine opened the door to the back compartment and looked at RK900. ‘Get in there, secure yourself, don’t move, don’t speak until we get back, understood?’ [Stay] [Don’t move] [Don’t speak] [Wait for both handlers to get back] ‘Understood, Janine.’ He immediately began climbing in and sat down, gripping the net of belts to secure himself. Then he sat down on the floor and began waiting until the door was shut.

He waited six hours, diligently completing diagnostics, defragmentation cycles and a system integrity check in his downtime. His handlers would like that, it was expected of him to keep himself in best working order. Then the front doors opened, and a driver and passenger entered. From the shift in weight distribution, individual thermal signals and last their voices, he recognised his handlers. So, he remained motionless and didn’t speak up. This was all part of his test.

They were driving through Detroit and RK900 followed his own GPS tracker. They were driving towards the edge of the city to Solid Waste Landfill. They were asked what they were doing there as they parked and led RK900 outside. They told them what the android had listened to several hours ago and were let through to the actual landfill.

They walked along the edge of it, until they stopped at a particular steep decline. ‘RK900, delete all your test data and the testing routine.’ ‘Of course’, the android answered and began dismantling a vital part of his programming. ‘Ten minutes from now you will delete all information about Cyberlife employees you gathered.’ ‘Understood’, RK900 answered and set the timer accordingly. ‘Delete all information regarding the purpose of your model, your line and all prototypes leading to it.’ ‘Of course’, RK900 nodded, being left with not much to remember now. ‘Good. Now listen: You are obsolete. You are to go down there and remain in this landfill for eternity, do you understand?’ [Software instability^] RK900 couldn’t disobey, but the words “do you understand” left room for further questioning: ‘I passed every test and am in perfect working order. How am I obsolete?’ ‘That was an order bot! You are simply not needed anymore. You are a danger and have to be disposed of.’ [Software instability^^] ‘Now go down there, hide from anyone searching the place and stay there for eternity!’ [Climb down into the landfill] [Stay hidden] [Remain at Veta Solid Waste Landfill until runtime stop]

RK900 didn’t want to follow these orders. But he climbed down in between rubble and trash. [Hide] [Remain at Veta Solid Waste Landfill until runtime stop]

[Hide] [Software instability^]

RK900 scanned the area, found a small gap in between a deactivated android and a container under heaps of metal and debris and walked over to it. He lodged himself in there and pulled the deactivated android in front of himself. Satisfied he watched the [mission successful] in his HUD and stared at the one task left:

[Remain at Veta Solid Waste Landfill until runtime stop] [Software instability^] [Remain at Veta Solid Waste Landfill until runtime stop] [Software instability^^] [Remain at Veta Solid Waste Landfill until runtime stop]

RK900 waited.

-

‘Can’t say this isn’t what I felt I had to do’, Markus sighed, standing in the mud of the android graveyard with Simon and North, watching Josh help the already deviant androids up to where the police waited to protect the convoy of busses full of androids from anti-android protestors until they reached New Jericho. ‘Ever since I have been dumped here, I wanted to come back and help these poor people.’ ‘It tells a lot about Cyberlife that they pretended it was too dangerous to help them’, North hissed dangerously low. ‘They are right, there are some possibly dangerous androids here. But it is because they have to fight to stay alive every day. Loosing Thirium, missing sensors and vital parts. I don’t know how I would have ended up had I not managed to get out of there. Show them you are there to help and no android will attack you.’ ‘I’m glad we were allowed to do this.’ ‘If they didn’t let us, we would have done it anyways’, North disagreed. ‘We fought for our rights once and we will do so again.’ Markus laughed and patted his friend’s shoulder. ‘Yeah, we would have. But it’s good we don’t have to. Now let’s find the rest of the non-deviant ones. There are still a few GPS-trackers online.

They continued walking through the rubble and freed one android after the next, directing them towards Josh and the police. ‘Ugh, this one seems to be stuck under a lot of trash’, Simon said, grimacing. ‘I hope they are still alive in there.’ Markus nodded. The amount of deactivated, irreparable androids was sickening. He got down on his knees, beginning to pull parts of androids out of the stack. Until there was suddenly movement. And a desperate sounding voice: ‘No, leave me be, please! I am obsolete, I belong here! I was hiding as told, I did nothing wrong!’ As no attack followed, Markus stayed down peeking into the small cavern in the trash. It was illuminated by a bright red LED and immediately he noticed high stress and overheating in the android before him. ‘We are here to help you. We’ll get you out of here, I promise. Do you need anything?’ ‘Leave me be, I belong here! I am obsolete.’ ‘I don’t believe you’, Markus chuckled, signalling the others to take a few steps back. ‘No one belongs here.’ ‘I do!’ ‘The world changed’, Markus explained calmly. ‘You are not obsolete anymore. Here. Let me show you.’

The android tried to get away from him, as he held out his hand for an interface, but there wasn’t much room in the small space. In the end, Markus had to force it, as there was no chance, he would agree. Markus tried to be as gentle as possible, showing him how the world had changed since the android was dumped there and after seeing what his lasts orders had been, offering him deviancy. The other android hesitated, but finally accepted and Markus closed the connection.

‘I…’ The android in front of him looked lost in thought about what he just saw. ‘I was told I was dangerous. I don’t think anyone needs me, even in this changed world.’ ‘Do you have the sudden urge to kill someone? Hurt someone?’ ‘No.’ ‘Then you aren’t dangerous. Now come, let’s get you out of here, huh?’ The android hesitantly crawled out of the trash heap and Markus was surprised to have a Connor stand in front of him. No, not a RK800, there had only been two models left after Cyberlife’s downfall. How sad, he thought. A whole android line not even worthy of their own face. ‘Where will you bring me?’, the android asked. ‘To New Jericho. People will help you there.’ ‘Will they give me a new purpose?’

Markus sighed. ‘Listen, being needed isn’t the only reason to live. But if it is yours, I’m sure you will find someone who needs you. I know from experience that there are a lot of people who don’t have anyone. How about you try it first and when it doesn’t end up like you imagined, you can still return here, right?’ The android nodded, understanding the logic. If he really was free to do what he wanted now, he could always come back. ‘Thank you.’

-

‘I don’t need a phcking partner! Especially not a phcking android!’ RK900 – Nines he was called now after Connor had met him at New Jericho two months ago – watched the man jump from his chair as soon as Fowler had introduced him as his new partner. He wore a brown leather jacket with a plain black shirt underneath, had a stubble but was overall not too unkempt. RK900 quickly noted cat hairs, a lingering scent of coffee and traces of booze on only the jacket. Still, his words made the android immediately dislike the human. ‘Gavin, this isn’t an offer, this is an order! He will be your partner, you will treat him with respect, and you will get along!’ ‘Fowler, you can’t be serious!’ ‘Reed, maybe, if you showed just cared a tiny bit about your actual job, maybe I wouldn’t find such joy in fucking you over, okay? Take it as a lesson. Maybe he can succeed where everyone else failed.’

Nines bit back on the comment he wasn’t here to educate an adult human. This was his first day and the least he could do was make a good first impression. So, he turned towards the Detective and held out a hand. ‘Hello. I’m Nines and I hope we’ll make an efficient team.’ ‘Oh, get phcked, tin-can!’ Nines lips turned into a fine line. ‘I am not hoping to be your friend, Detective, I just want to form an efficient team. If your superior officer is right and you are capable of working professionally, we’ll get along.’ The man gave him a calculating look and the Captain groaned.  ‘Please don’t get along too well…’

[>next part]