#I was kind of surprised they didn’t have skipper

[asexualasshat]

Y’all remember the tiktok trend where grown ups realized that they’d forgotten how to skip. Headcannon that one, a few years after Derry part 2, Richie is being a silly sappy little fellow. Starts skipping while he and Eddie are a park or whatever. He grabs Eddie’s hand to bring him along for the ride. And Eddie??? Understands the hypothetical concept of skipping. And yet his feet? Doing a sort of botched gallop.

And Richie LOSES IT! Starts roasting him. And Eddie is freaking tf out. He’s yelling but also still trying to figure skipping out. You can’t really tell if he’s yelling more at Richie or at himself. And he’s still galloping away. Richie is on the ground, holding his face in his hands to muffle his laughter.

Eventually, Richie gets up and he starts coaching Eddie. Twenty minutes later, they’re hand in hand, skipping down the path.

Richie didn’t have a choice but to tell the losers everything. And the groupchat?? LOSES IT! At first? Just roasts tf out of Eddie at first. Ben comes to his defence pretty quickly. And then asks “when was the last time you guys skipped? Are you sure you remember?”

And the accusations fly right back at Ben. Asking him if he can skip. And Ben??? In his office wearing his fancy designer work clothes???? Takes a video of himself skipping. And he sure can skip! When he’s done showing off he comes close to the camera and says “we just had a daughter. I’ve prepared.”

And again, they’re going wild. Within minutes, videos start pouring in. Bev is first, obviously immediately ready to support her husband. She’s a dazzling skipper. She’d win first prize in a skipping competition. The technique is impeccable.

Stan is next. He gets Patty into it as well, to know one’s surprise. Neither is perfect. Patty’s footwork isn’t perfect but she has pizazz. Stan is pure technique, to the point that it’s awkwardly stiff. But the pair are smiling and skipping so it doesn’t even matter. Their own daughter just toddles around in the background. Kind of embarrassing for her, but she doesn’t know what embarrassment is yet.

Mike is out in a field, phone probably propped up on his water bottle or a log. He’s mostly just frolicking around, but there’s a few solid skips in there. It’s gloriously cinematic.

Audra is on camera next, and bill can be heard saying “show me! I want to see.” She hangs in the air longer than any mortal should be able to. Her flowy dress flounces out. She giggles in response to bill saying “wow!” and “you’re really good!”

But then hepassed the phone to Audra. Of course they don’t think to stop filming in between, so you hear all the shuffling. Audra says “okay, show me!” And Bill?? The bitch can’t get his feet off the ground. There’s no elevation at all. Audra is losing her mind. She’s scream laughing. Bill looks devastated.

A moment after his own roasting begins, bill texts back “so does this mean I’m a bad dad?” And immediately it turns to dad comfort. Ben’s “kids don’t usually start to try skipping until they’re four. You have two years to practice!” And Stan’s “your son is going to see you learn and grow as a man. You’re setting a great example.” Its really quite wholesome.

Obviously someone filmed it in the park. The world sees the graceful pursuit of Eddie learning to skip. Twitter obviously loves it because it so so silly and sweet. Richie tweets something stupid like (and funnier than) “bet your husband can’t skip, either.”

And Bev, because she has notifications on for Richie, immediately replies with Ben’s video and saying “my husband could beat your husband”

More videos start pouring in. Stan keeps their video as a groupchat exclusive, but tweets from his rarely active account “Richie I literally taught you how to skip when you were 6.” Richie responds calling him a bitch.

Bill posts their video saying “watch me realize I can’t skip.”

And later. Hours later. Many. Hours. Later. Audra posts a video to her insta story. She has taught Bill how to skip. Is it graceful? No. Does it have technique? No. Could you call it good? No. But goddamn he skipped.

Eddie holds it over him for weeks that he’s the better beginner skipper

[thevaudevilledemon]

A Trick and a Treat - An unfinished mediocre Stardew Ship Fic!

I have been becoming a fan of @fkapple 's Stardew Valley comics, and they recently posted one about other pairings they ship for Shane... Ship for Shane, sounds like an indie band. Anyway, that post reminded me that I did write a fanfic regarding one of the pairings, Shane and Jodi.

It's not in a state I can really call "Finished", nor can I really call it "good", my fanfiction writing abilities are... underdeveloped considering I haven't really written much since I all but dropped off of FanFiction.NET. All of this to say, criticize it all you want, I'm gonna try my best not to care.

Anyway, when did I start shipping this? Well, I am total shipping trash, so whenever I see a moment of two characters interacting in some way, I immediately start asking how I think they would work as a couple, as some people may have already guessed. So, I was playing Stardew Valley and I went to Ginger Island and noticed that Shane and Jodi were the only two people at the resort, and I basically thought, well this would be a great opportunity for them to get to know each other, considering their kids are best friends and all.

Of course, I kind of view this ship as "Forbidden Love", considering Kent is probably my favourite of the husbands in the game (Sorry George but you are a bit too much of a slow burn) but I do feel like this is one of the better Shane Ships, as Jodi is one of the people who is concerned about Shane after this Cliffs Scene.

I think with this fic, I wanted to explore Shane more than anything else, what was his background like, what was going on when Jas' parents died, why exactly did he move to Pelican Town?

Well, I think I've yapped enough, you're here for the unfinished mediocre fanfiction, sorry, I like to talk.

I Hope You're Okay

A Stardew Valley ship fic

It was a pretty rainy day back in Pelican Town, so it did surprise Shane and Jodi that they were the only two who decided to visit the Ginger Island Resort today.

“Kent took Sam and Vincent to a movie” Jodi said when Shane asked about her family.

“I think Vincent wanted Jas to tag-along, I bumped into them on my way here.”

Jodi wanted to keep talking, she knew Jas was Vincent’s best friend, but she knew next to nothing about Shane, save for the incident at the cliffs. Shane mostly kept to himself, and made it clear he was not in the mood to talk, Jodi kept staring at the sea instead. She kept on thinking to herself, “I’ve seen him come out of his shell with the Farmer, why won’t he with anyone else?”

Even Willy could sense this tension, so he kept his offerings of fish jerky to himself, and desperately wished that the Farmer didn’t build that big obelisk on their farm, he missed having his Skipper on the boat with the other passengers.

The island was warm and sunny, the breeze was calm and inviting, the sound of the ocean and the parrots was as welcoming as it was the first time they visited the island. They were surprised when Willy stepped off the boat as well.

“The Farmer wanted to show me something, so I may be gone for the whole day.”

“You’re still gonna take us back home, right?”

Willy laughed, “Aye, I have to. Farmer doesn’t have enough beds to keep people here overnight.” He chuckled more as he walked towards the Ginger Island Farm, Jodi and Shane were left wondering about what Willy was going to see, and why he made that comment about the beds.

They walked into the changerooms, stepping out ready to enjoy a quiet relaxing day, but something was nagging at the back of Jodi’s mind. She tried to push it out, tried to enjoy the sun and sea, but every time she glanced over at Shane, the feeling came back.

“Well,’ she thought, ‘it’s just the two of us now, I better try.”

She walked over the Shane, he either didn’t notice her coming, or didn’t care. He barely looked over at her, didn’t acknowledge her when she stood beside him. Didn’t even respond when she started to converse.

“Hey… the weather’s nice here, isn’t it?”

“Mm”

“You don’t really like to talk to people do you?”

“No.”

“I thought we could get to know each other.”

“Why?”

“Well, you know, you’re Jas’ godfather, she’s friends with my youngest son, I thought-“

“That we should be friends for the sake of the kids?”

“Well I mean… you could also do with more friends.”

Shane grimaced and looked away.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“

“No, you did. You meant to say that I don’t have friends.”

“No, I meant to say you have very few friends.” Jodi cursed to herself, she was not making this situation any better. “I mean…”

“Please, stop trying to make this better.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Jodi and Shane went back to silence, ultimately, Jodi was more upset with herself than with Shane. So it shocked her a little when Shane began the conversation next.

“I’m sorry”, he sighed.

“What?”

“I shouldn’t have taken it personally, it’s just…”

“It’s just what?”

“I shouldn’t say.”

“Shane please.”

Shane made a noise of disgust, something about that combination of words was upsetting to him. “I don’t want to, why do you even care what I feel?”

“I care about Jas!”

“Then you were probably thrilled to hear I almost died.”

“That’s not true, I was concerned for you then.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Jas needs you.”

Shane made another face, one of pain, Jodi almost saw tears well up in his eyes. After a couple sniffles and some blinking, Shane managed to return to his more stoic expression, and responded.

“Jas needs a better guardian.”

“Then why wouldn’t you try to be one for her?”

Shane was silent. The one thing he hated the most about himself was returning to him, how when his friends died, when they trusted him with their daughter, when there was someone who needed him the most…

“I gave up. They trusted me, and I gave up. I’m horrible.”

“No, you’re not.”

“I am, they were two of my closest friends, and they trusted me with their daughter, and what did I do? I jut gave up.”

“But you’re still here! You didn’t give up, you did everything you could to provide for Jas.”

“Everything I could, except give her back the family that was stolen from her.”

Jodi’s heart shattered here, if there was anyone who knew what kind of sacrifices anyone would make for children, what kind of mountains one would carve through, the oceans they would swim across, Jodi knew of those all too well, and she knew the pain and worry of what it would mean to leave Sam and Vincent behind when she died.

“How,’ Jodi cleared her throat, ‘How did Jas handle it? Her parents dying?”

“She was really young, I don’t think she fully remembers, but she is definitely traumatized by it, you ever see her Jack-in-the-Box?”

“No, no I haven’t.”

“Well, untraumatized children don’t break their toys that way. At least, I don’t think so.”

“And, how did their death effect you?”

“What?”

“How did you feel when they died? What was your grieving process?”

Shane looked at Jodi for the first time in the entire conversation, his face loosened from his stoic expression and forming a more pained expression.

“I… I don’t think I really had the time to grieve.”

“Oh…”

“Everyone was doting on Jas, because her parents died, but everyone kept telling me I had to be strong, I had to step up, I had to care for her. These were my friends, but all they saw was the godparent.”

“That must have hurt.”

“You know why I moved in with my Aunt Marnie?”

“I thought it was because she’d let you stay for free.”

“Yeah, partially that, but also because I just couldn’t take everyone else. People kept telling me I wasn’t holding Jas right, or I wasn’t playing with her enough, or I couldn’t just leave her at daycare while I ran errands. People saying I wasn’t good enough… you know how much that kind of thing digs at your self-conscious?”

“Did it… remind you of…”

“Someone in my family? My father? My Mother? They were more absent from my life than anything. I never had much of a family growing up.”

“I see…”

Jodi looked over at Shane, he returned to staring at the sea. She looked down at the sand, the tide flowing back and forth across the sand, coming to her and retreating, it felt poetic to her.

“Jodi… Were you… actually concerned about me? That night?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. It was awful to hear that you… almost went there. You don’t know how much I thanked Yoba, and Harvey, for saving you.”

“For Jas’ sake, right?”

Shane felt Jodi grip onto his chin and pull his face towards hers, she had a look of frustration on her face.

“Shane, don’t you get it? You’re a part of this community too. We do care about you. Yes, I was concerned for Jas, but she wasn’t the one who almost drank herself to death. She wasn’t the one who laid out in the rain contemplating tossing themselves over a cliff. She wasn’t the one who had to be taken to Harvey’s in the middle of the night. Shane!...”

She paused, she could see behind his sunglasses that Shane was crying, he wasn’t bothering to hide it.

“Shane… why won’t you let us close to you?”

“Because the last time I let someone get close, they left me, and they can’t ever come back.”

Shane wrapped his arms around Jodi and began crying into her shoulder, he couldn’t help himself.

“Jodi… You’re the first person to ask me about my friends.”

“I shouldn’t have been Shane, and I shouldn’t be the only person you talk to either.”

“I should talk to my therapist about it.”

“Yes, but also,’ Jodi pulled Shane off her shoulder, looked directly into his face, ‘You should tell Marnie, and Jas, and the Farmer, anyone you feel comfortable talking about this too.”

“Yeah.”

“Shane…” she felt the words she wanted to say completely drift away from her mind, she felt horrible for what she wanted to do, she was married, and Shane was emotionally vulnerable, but she couldn’t help it. Shane has been through so much, he needed someone, he needed someone to care. He was used to caring for others, now she thought it was time someone cared for him. She leaned in, her eyes closing, and before she knew it, her lips met with Shane’s.

[wildechild17]

Mag 7 wip

something I'm working on as a side project for NaNo, decided I'd share a little (not really) excerpt here, just because i could

Sam Chisolm wasn’t sure what he’d expected, but as he stood in the sparsely decorated apartment in London, it wasn’t… this.

It was, in fact, sparse. There was a small kitchen, a couch with a pullout that looked slept in, a bathroom, and a tiny closet. It was by no means a luxury place, but it was just one level above being condemned, if you asked Sam.

The man’s heart broke a little as he took it in. There was no sign of the occupant he was looking for, not that he knew who he was looking for—his boss had simply given him this address and said the person who lived here would be a good addition to the team if Sam could convince them.

Given the fact of who the rest of the team was made up of, Sam had two guesses as to whose place he was standing in. Past experiences told him one was more likely than the other.

Something caught his eye, a leatherbound book sitting among the blankets on the pullout. Curious, Sam wandered over, reaching for the book. He flipped through it, noting it was some mix between a journal and a scrapbook. The first entry dated back to just over eleven years ago, and Sam couldn’t help but read.

9-29-12

I’ve always known my family had powers… how could I not, when mom uses hers to heal those in our family, and when both she and gran have told me about other members of our… bloodline? Apparently, the blood is important… and their abilities.

I just assumed, like everyone before me, that it skipped generations… Instead, I woke up this morning with my own abilities. Powers… magic? I like the idea of calling it magic. Who knows, I may have them sooner and didn’t realize it… Skipper had died during the night, and when mom and Aunt Elenore asked who I was greeting this morning because to them it was empty air… I told them Skip, and I was then informed he’d passed in his sleep, so how could I be seeing him?

One quick test later, my mom declared that a) I had magic, and b) it could be classified as necromancy. That’s… a terrifying, truthfully, prospect, but… I can handle it. I hope.

At least it’s the weekend before fall break, so mom can help me figure out how to start managing it. I’m in senior year, so it’s not like I’ll have to hide it from the others as school for long. If I go to college, I can get by with strictly online classes, I think.

Mom suggested I use a journal to track my progress, but I’ve never been the best at keeping records, even school wise. Hopefully with something to keep track of, that’ll change.

I’ll make another entry when something of importance happens, I guess.

10-10-12   10-9-12/10-10-12

What the fuck is my life, truly?

With the influx of my powers, came something else… my memories. I guess necromancy and reincarnation can go hand in hand, because this isn’t the first time I’ve lived. I started having dreams and flashbacks during break, of an older version of myself set back in the Wild West. I thought it was just some weird dream/fantasy thing since… well, since I’m sort of obsessed with that era, anyways, but… no. It all came rushing back to me, today, during fifth period, which is my study block this year.

We got a new student… which, in a small town like Salem, is kind of a cause for chatter, and I wasn’t really paying attention until the guy sat next to me. When I finally looked at him…

Son of a bitch… it’s Vasquez. It all came back to me—Sam Chisolm, Rose Creek, Bart Bogue…

I’m… sort of embarrassed to say that I had a total breakdown right then and there. Mom actually had to come and pick me up early, it was so bad. It’s super late (early?), right now, almost three in the morning, and I’ve been catatonic all afternoon, according to her. So, I guess all these events really happened yesterday?

I’m getting distracted… I told her what had happened, what’s been happening, and she… didn��t seem totally surprised. Fact is, she’s the one who gave me the idea that my reincarnation ties in with my powers. Something about death being involved, which… makes sense, in a weird way.

Mom offered to keep me out of school for the rest of the week, so I can recover, but… I don’t want to do that. Maybe a day or two, but not a week. I want to talk to Vas so I can Vasquez, so I can sort of explain things to him. Hopefully, it’ll go well…

10-13-12 Update: It… I didn’t explain the powers thing to him. I didn’t want to freak him out, but I did tell him why I had my breakdown on Monday. He understood, because when his memories came back to him, he was a wreck for a while too.

He came over for the afternoon, and mom and Aunt Elenore absolutely fell in love with him. Bastard put on the damn charm. We didn’t get any schoolwork done, not like we really planned to, but we did catch up on things. What’s been going on in our modern lives, and he told me a little about what happened after I died in Rose Creek… His family travels a lot in this life, for his dad’s work. He’s got two siblings, an older sister and younger brother. I couldn’t resist and had to make a crack about his ‘three Maria’s’… he asked where mine was.

… I told him Maria died when we were kids. He sobered up pretty quick… guess he could tell it was a sore subject.

Anyways… my magic practice is progressing well. Right now, I can just see spirits, which is weird because they look like just regular people—for the most part. I’ve seen a few grisly sights, but I’m learning how to pick their energies apart from the living, so I don’t make a fool of myself in public.

Oddly enough, Vasquez has a couple ghosts hanging around him…

Sam flipped through the journal, heart twisting in his chest as he noticed a few entries more prominent than others. One, over Christmas break, detailing why Vasquez had ghosts—his father was a hunter of the supernatural, and the revelation apparently caused a rift between the two boys before Vasquez’s father himself had put things to right. He’d put the hunting behind him and was trying to settle down with his family… he could have never expected his son to befriend a witch—which, that had led to Joshua admitting about himself…

Prom. They stopped dancing around their feelings for each other and became official, and that entry made Sam smile, as well as the photos of that night that accompanied the entry. They did make a handsome couple. That was where Vasquez’s writing started slipping in on a few pages, offering extra insight or his own commentary to whatever Joshua was writing.

Graduation. Maybe too quick to those who don’t know about… us, but Vasquez gave me a bloody promise ring tonight. (you’re not actually complaining, are you? Fuck you, I’m keeping it forever thought so) and detailing a rough plan of the future. Plans to stay in Salem long enough to get through college, before moving. Maybe they’d find where Rose Creek was, if it was somewhere they could move to, settle down there. Ideas about where the rest of their motley crew were…

College. Joshua went into Anthropology and the Occult (seriously, guero? Bite me, texican), and Vasquez Art and Architecture (you know there’s a joke about cliches in there somewhere, right? Don’t you dare). Joshua seemed to develop a minor side hobby (?) in helping people with their dead loved ones, the spirits who hadn’t crossed over because of unfinished business (Jennifer Love Hewitt, who?) When they’d both finished their studies… Joshua was the one who proposed.

There were photos of various moments, in those early years. High school included prom, graduation, senior trip, homecoming week. After high school showed moving into their first apartment together, as they worked through college, domestic moments, moments with their families, college graduation, of the proposal, and later, multiple photos from the wedding. Tickets to various date locations, movies, and festivals, were taped in as well. It seemed Joshua (and by some small extension, Vasquez) was eager to keep track of everything.

But just after their return from their honeymoon in August of twenty-fifteen, the entries stopped. The next one wasn’t dated until January of twenty-sixteen. Reading it, Sam felt his heart stop and blood run cold.

1-13-16 I’m sorry, Ale… I’m so sorry I couldn’t help you. I couldn’t… couldn’t save you. If I was faster… maybe you’d still be here. Maybe I could have… God, I’m crazy for thinking it… brought you back. If you’d wanted it… if maybe I’d seen you… your spirit, at least, maybe one more time, to ask…

There are limitations to my abilities… I can bring people back from the dead, but only within a set time… I didn’t make it with you… And I’m so sorry.

You must have crossed over. That’s the only reason I can think of to not see your ghost… it’d be just like you, too… you wouldn’t have wanted me to see you like that. I know you wouldn’t have. I know, but… goddammit it still hurts, you son of a bitch. If I could have just said goodbye…

… you were gone too soon. And those bastards… they’ll pay. Eventually, they’ll pay.

I’m sorry.

I… did find where Rose Creek is. It’s still a small town but thriving in today’s age. I’ll… I’ll go there. For us… for you.

Maybe I’ll find some sort of peace there.

Silence, for a few months, before another entry was made.

5-23-16 God, what have I done? I didn’t… I wasn’t… I didn’t mean for that to happen… I didn’t know I could do that.

I need to get away. From everyone. Anyone that I can hurt…

I’m so sorry Vas…

After that, there were no more entries. Sam flipped through the remaining blank pages and found nothing. Frowning, Sam went back to the last entry, and wondered what the hell might have happened for it to exist.

Actually, he wondered what happened in those last two entries in general—one was obvious. The other… not so much. He’d have to ask Matthew to investigate the dates mentioned, give or take a day or two. Surely, there’d be some sort of record online, somewhere—

“How the fuck did you get in here?”

Sam startled, the book falling from his hands and back on to the bed. He whirled around, coming eye to eye with Joshua Faraday. The first thing the older man noticed was how tired the redhead looked, with bags beneath his eyes, and skin pale. He stood as though the weight of the world was laid on his shoulders, but it didn’t distract from the, frankly, intimidating glare he was fixing Sam with.

“I know I locked the door when I left,” Joshua continued, and then his gaze flicked down to the journal on the bed, and his anger grew. He stood straight, and Sam swore the room grew colder and darker as Joshua set a bag of possible groceries on the floor, “You went looking through my personal things?!”

“Now, hold on just a minute, son—” Sam began.

“I’m not your son,” Joshua hissed, and there was no doubt about it—Joshua was altering the space around them. His eyes were beginning to glow, a toxic green that caused the hairs on the back of Sam’s neck to rise, “What are you doing here, Chisolm?”

“I came to offer you a job,” Sam said, quickly, and Joshua drew up short. A brief look of bafflement crossed his features as he stared at the older man, “That is, if you want it.”

The redhead crossed his arms, eyes narrowing.

“Explain,” he said, shortly, so Sam did.

He explained how he’d been tasked with bringing a crew together (yes, the rest of the Rose Creek bunch, for the most part…) and that while Joshua’s name hadn’t come up directly, Sam’s own bosses had suggested Joshua could be an integral part of the team. This team would be dealing with threats across the world, both natural and supernatural. Clearly, Joshua would be a good addition, if he wanted to join.

“But… I’m not pressing you to,” Sam said, quietly. He glanced down at the journal, then back to Joshua, “You’ve clearly been through a lot already.”

Joshua’s expression darkened, lips thinning, but he said nothing. Just stared at Sam with those eyes of his still glowing. But he was silent, and Sam took it for a good thing.

“… would you have come for me, if I hadn’t been brought up?” Joshua asked.

Sam blinked at the question, but answered nonetheless: “Eventually, yes. It wouldn’t have been fair not to include you and—” he faltered, only because Joshua pinned him with a venomous glare, “We want everyone we can get. We worked so well together, before.”

Silence, again, and Sam could tell Joshua was right on the edge of accepting the offer, he just needed one last push.

“Who killed him?” Sam asked, pitching his own voice low—after all, someone had mess with those he cared about. He was angry thinking about it; Joshua startled, so Sam asked again, “Who did it? We can go after the sons of bitches with you.”

Joshua’s jaw clenched.

“Hunters,” he ground out. “Ones who didn’t approve of his relationship with… with me. I don’t… I don’t have exact names, though.”

“Then come with me,” Sam offered, holding out his hand. “Together, we’ll help you figure out who did it, and we’ll see them get what they deserve.”

Joshua looked down at Sam’s extended hand, before he looked up at the man himself. The temperature returned to normal, and the shadows fell away. The glow in the witch’s eyes faded, but they still burned with anger and determination…

Joshua took Sam’s hand.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Chisolm.”

[alicornmoonstar]

I can’t wait to see if the Barbie movie being successful ends in us getting a whole bunch of retro Barbies re-released 😃 I’d love to get a rollerblading set 

[magnumdays]

Magnum PI 4.09 - Better Watch Out review

So where to begin with this! I mean while a good chunk of this episode was Magnum and Lia running about, BUT we got so many small Miggy moments and stuff I don’t even mind! 

(In fact Magnum/Lia relationship in this felt more like it was there to give us Miggy moments more than anything. Which is kind of what it is about so yeah... makes sense.)

We also got so much soft Higgy. From her being all ”this was the best way I could think of '' about the Santa/Elf gig (can we talk about character growth? I mean season 1 Higgy would rather get shot before putting an elf costume on!)

(Though Higgy does looks like she be ready to murder someone wishing her a merry Christmas here!) 

having the lads as a background on her computer

being there to tease, support Magnum in his relationship and for saying  ‘she don’t know what she’s missing’ there at the end. And staying when the crisis is over just because she’d rather be there to support him. All the good stuff.

It was nice that we didn’t get an actual hostage crisis at the precinct like the summary said, but a digital one. This made it make sense for Higgy to be left at HPD trying to hack and stuff while Magnum and Lia did the physical detective part. Good reason to put her on the side-line rather than having something stupid like they’ve done before, so Magnum and Lia working together could happen. 

I would have, despite not really caring about Lia/Magnum, to have seen some more of the feels going on there. Because when Magnum confines about being upset Lia lied to Higgins, it’s almost surprising. (Loved their talk here and someone remembering - if vaguely - to reference Hannah.)

I mean sure, he is clearly upset but at the same time… not really feeling it. But because she’s more of a “in the background obstacle” to Miggy than anything else, we don’t want or get to see much of their ‘normal dynamic’. So IDK. Maybe having her be like “yeah, I’d love to come to O’hana X-mas” at the start and then at the end realizing he’s hurt and going “Actually I have paperwork.” 

Small question about Lia’s dad and Magnum and Higgins’ previous dealings with them - didn’t Higgy push a company assassin out of a window 20 floors up in s. 1 or 2 and he got smashed like a pancake? Or maybe that was some other organization? It’s not gonna happen but it would be excellent fun if Lia’s dad had Magnum followed, one of the followers recolonized Higgy as the person who killed said hit man (who was actually a close friend of Lia’s dad) years ago and we got a big dramatic mess when they tried to get revenge on Juliet... (fic idea ding-ding-ding.)

As for Caleb and the car plot as well as the bail skipper small time crock with a heart of gold was nice. 

(I’m really happy that even crocks get to be nice and love their families sometimes. It’s very X-mas appropriate.)

At first I wasn’t sure what was going on with Caleb and wanted him to be more embracing and happy about being part of the O’hana, but when he talked to Rick I kind of felt like it worked. He had a life and family and traditions and while he’s happy it’s different and he’s still not quite feeling like he’s part of the O’hana fully. But him being thankful and doing the little speech at the end was nice. At the same time, I kind of like him better when he’s angry or upset for some reason.

Favorite moments

This expression on Magnum’s face when he realizes he just invited Lia and her mom to Christmas dinner...

Magnum and Higgins talk / heading out together at the end.

I so enjoy the fact that we’re getting Higgy being just as supportive of Magnum’s relationship as he was with her and Ethan. I do hope we get more progress during the remaining half of the season on the Miggy feels though, because we have already done this story-line in a way with it taking forever for Magnum to even be a ‘currently nothing more than friends’ so yeah. Need something else to happen. (But by the sound of 4.10 it does already sound like the writing team knows as much.)

Also wonder if this is what is going to be the begging of the end for the Magnum/Lia thing, or just a bump in the road? Could we get a “Higgy has sexy dream but Magnum and Lia are now closer than ever so…angst?” sort of thing next time. 

I honestly would either like some actual feels between Lia/Magnum or for them to amicably break up and she just be Gordon’s partner. I really like her and Gordon’s dynamic and it’s good to have another female character around!

Loved Thomas giving Kumu a little hugg-y cheek kiss. They so adorable!

Higgy making (in)famous Christmas pudding! I mean, licorice and basil? (Actually it doesn't sound too bad, but I am a Swede and thus a licorice fiend… though still not sure about it in pudding form.)

The ‘doesn’t she know what she’s missing’ moment of course even if it was meant to also imply the whole O’hana hang, it felt more like Higgy pointing out how awesome Thomas is. Which we love. Them heading out together… just feels right.

Same with the bringing her a change of clothes.

Them just being adorable and him teasing her about it but having done it. And I just want to point out… this is the top he picked for her…

(Or maybe she had some clothes picked out for him to stick in a bag but still I like my Magnum gives himself a christmas gift - Higgy-cleavage - idea better.)

Magnum (always) having Higgins back being all “She did it for you Gordy, aren’t you tried of us asking for you favors?”

And the end. Let’s not forget about the end( I already posted these pics but can’t have too many pics of our two idiots looking at each other, now can we?)

I really don’t need anything more for Christmas!

(I am working on a X-mas fic though, that’ll be up today or tomorrow! Just in case anyone wants more Christmas fluff feels...)

Overall, I enjoyed the episode a lot. I loved the fact that this is their yearly tradition, imply they’ve been doing this every year even though we haven’t gotten to see it. Extra points for the fact that Higgy makes weird English Christmas pudding they all eat even though they don’t like it. It’s very nice and makes my Christmas-heart feel happy and full.

So yeah, this ep was a winner! 

And Merry Christmas everyone!

[despiteherself]

King Julien?

THIS IS SO LONG RIP

King Julien my beloved…….

Also sorry this took me so long omgggg

* favorite thing about them

everything <3

okay, so this comes as no surprise to literally anyone who’s heard me talk about kj but his big heart. i absolutely adore that so much of his story is about how his big heart fumbling around saves the day, even when the story is about his own hubris. Whether it was intentional or not ahkj ended up being a powerful story about a kind-hearted party animal with an inherited legacy of violence and mistreatment heal from his own trauma with the love for his people. yes! it was messy and it is a kids show so it had a lot of continuity issues and like…. toilet humour, but underneath it was so tender. kj’s story of wanting to be king for perks, to feeling like he didn’t deserve to be the one true king but managing to unite the entirety of the kingdoms Madagascar under his love as a symbol was so…….. kj’s big heart saves the day <3

even in the movies, where he is classist and bigheaded he still manages to do it? melman is brave because of kj’s empathy for a talking head, and the circus goes back to the Central Park zoo to help the zoosters bc of kj’s love. his line about “it doesn’t matter what you smell like, or what i smell like, it matters what we smell like together.” is what prompts everyone to forgive the lies.

* least favorite thing about them

nothing he’s perfect <3

I don’t know how to feel about season 5 after exiled. I know it must have been hard trying to tie everything up, going back to the joke based continuity and toilet humour after the emotional sucker punch of exiled. it just. feels like it rehashes old plots but makes them more complex and I think if it hadn’t been after exiled I wouldn’t feel so…. Unsure. kj in this, starts off desperately trying to prove himself as king (again) for good reason, but then seems to lose himself in petty ways he out grow and serious things reveled through jokes get left behind to make more jokes and it just feels…… kj grew into being a good leader and i wish it wasn’t forgotten again. This isn’t rlly about him, more the writing, and the plot problem - episodic vs long form story telling is a hard one, but it’s what I dislike. Let kj have growth bc he was given some and it’s hard to see it’s gone when we know it’s possible.

* favorite line

Oh this is hard :/

I like whenever he does his little pep talks. Or when he says he loves his kingdom. Those are fun & nonsensical and yet, an encapsulation of why he’s such a good ruler. he does understand his people, in a way the juliens before him didn’t, because he was never supposed to be one of them, and left to his own devices with his big sensitive heart made a connection that would outlast even the cruelest of julien kings. julien wants to be loved so badly, and he makes a mess of it, but he holds together the cracks of the lemurs before him, hurt by others the way he was and together they build something worthwhile.

“think of it as me sandwich, stuffed with me.

Pretty good right?” Bc that’s one of the funniest scenes

* brOTP

royal quartet <3

kj and literally everyone. i love him being friends and loving towards just about everyone

* OTP

hmmmmmmmmm

kj x his kingdom as a wholistic statement <3 i think married to his kingdom is what’s most satisfying for me. Kj who makes the specific choice to focus on his kingdom instead of personal goals - and despite loving children so much, making the specific choice to end the julien line (it’s reign of terror) with him. Ahhhhhhhh that would be so satisfying narratively.

also, not to bring this up again but i do think it would be beneficial to both their characters of like kj and ted had a idk passionate summer fling and are now each other’s wingmen post divorce. i say again but i barely think I’ve hinted at it so you know, whatever. i just think their dynamic is SO interesting, and the one scene in exiled where Ted saves everyone is just……. ah, perfect. I wish we got a deeper exploration of Ted & Dorothy, and Ted & his rejection by julien at lemur school & losing prom king & his obsessed with being needed/wanted.

I have no issues with any of the pairings that happened lmao, but obv most of them are exes and i think they’re fun that way. Karen, rob, crimson, karl probably, idk, i guess skipper? i don’t think they date bc skipper is homophobic <3

* nOTP

There’s just way too much family symbolism & literally having clover and Maurice ACTUALLY taking his parents place for me to be anything but squicked by kj/either of them/both of them. no shade to anyone who does, but it just makes me feel :////// I also just love their dynamic as friends, and whilst exploring toxicity in relationships can be interesting, i rlly think that if the three of them became more dependent on each other it would just stunt them all. they do better as a unit in relation to everyone in the kingdom.

I didn’t include mort in the family part even tho he pretends to be kj’s son once but he’s included in that. people who say royal trio over royal quartet break my heart, mort is equally important in this dynamic and also. notp thanks

aslo don’t care for pancho :/ sorry pancho lovers <3 it’s just i don’t think he’s half as important as anyone makes him out to be and i don’t think he and kj rlly have that much chemistry, especially not compared to like his interactions with pretty much every single adult lemur. it’s whatever! ppl have fun with it, i just personally don’t see why you’d pick it over literally any of the other side but main-ish characters. i actually think, if anything, kj is more dismissive towards pancho than a lot of characters, especially considering he’s so flirty. and no amount of the Manchurian candidate can make up for that, especially when it was about family again.

ok now that I’ve alienated like 98% of the ahkj fandom it’s okay it’s not like super notp it’s just i don’t care for it <3

* random headcanon

kj starts watching todd’s unboxing videos one day when he’s relaxing, after he’s calmed down about the captain booty butt toy being stolen, like 3am channel surfing and like gets rlly into the concept bc like surprise toys out of box is peak adhd excitement. he wants to start his own channel and in his excitement gets everyone to watch his stuff which doesn’t have the care or knowledge (bc the excitement for kj is the surprise - can relate) that Todd’s has and Todd’s show gets canceled. he’s obv pretty sad bc that was Todd’s only hobby outside of doing what his mum makes him do & he gets rlly upset. eventually, somehow, kj stumbles upon Todd being sad and they have a convo and kj realises that he stole Todd’s hobby & that actually, the hovering, full attention of Tammy is suffocating and not something kj should long for. I rlly want Todd & kj to have an end to their “rivalry”. They make up, kj retires his unboxing channel and promos Todd’s, Todd gets to hang out in the plane as a friend to get away from his family for a while, kj learns the value of space.

* unpopular opinion

again… are there unpopular kj opinions???

i just think he should have had the proper number of rings on his tail. when i look at it I’m like, sir please give him the correct number it hurts me to see like 7 of each colour and i think it ends in a white tip which >:/ which is a silly thing to find annoying

[descendantofthesparrow]

Queen - Uma x Harry Hook x reader - songfic oneshot

=

Cross my heart and hope to die

I don't need another guy

To fight my battles, to overshadow me

Don't ya know I'm dangerous?

Fire burnin' in my blood

I got this handled, I don't need rescuin'

Being the daughter of Aurora and King Phillip was tough, or at least tougher than others thought it would be.

Always sit up straight, never slouch, never sit with your legs apart, never curse, never lash out, always be kind, always smile, never spit, Never show blemishes, never be over a certain weight.

Always be perfect

….then again….those were the expectations of the granddaughter of Leah, mother of Aurora.

Your parents had different expectations.

Now how to protect yourself, know how to wield a sword, know how to shoot an arrow, know how to fight on horseback, know when to strike and when to stand back, know when to act like a lady and when to act like a knight.

Be sad, be angry, be happy, be snarky, be you.

Luckily you had never stuck on your grandmother's teachings as your sister did. you had grown in your father's teachings of the sword.

As the younger daughter of Phillip and Aurora, your grandmother paid less attention to you, since she was paying attention to Audrey, who had prince Ben at her side, the awaiting heir to Auradon.

You relished in the time you had away from the aging spiteful EX-queen.

You can call me a princess all you like

'Cause you love to keep me helpless by your side

But that ain't what I want, I'ma show you

I'ma show you

You tried to help your sister grow her confidence within the family to step away from your grandmother, but Audrey was deep in her claws, unable to break away from the poison.

It hurt watching your sister, once the brightest girl to be around, slowly become a snake, sneering behind backs and teasing those who didn’t “match” up to her.

You hoped one day that she could break free of your grandmother's influence.

Though during the point the first four vks came along, you saw the sliver of the sister you once knew, when Ben “broke up” with her.

She had come to your room after the game, crying her eyes out, jumping into your arms, and sobbing her heart out to you.

“i-I thought we were-I thought” she had cried, burying her face into your shoulder.

While you held no grudge against Mal for her mother's actions against your own (unlike your grandmother), you weren’t on the best terms with Mal for a while after that.

During cotillion, your sister had gone off with your fairy godmothers, while you stayed behind to help Jane plan for the grand event. Uma, the daughter of Ursula, had caught your attention as she appeared.

She had spelled Ben to free the children still on the isle, you mentally commended her on her act, through the way she went about it was a bit interesting and too similar to Mals way of doing things that it left a bad taste in your mouth.

Though it got the job done, with the documents for another 4 vks to come to Auradon being worked on soon after cotillion.

How to treat me like a queen (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Boy, you better bow down on your knees

Can I get a "Yes, your majesty"?

Uma's face had been…interesting as you found her on the western shores of Ursula’s strait, holding food and a bundle of warmer clothes for her.

“why?” Uma had asked, shrugging on the dark blue hoodie and crossing her arms, staring down the box of warm food in your hands.

“because it will be cold the next few nights, and I'm not going to let you starve if I can help it” you responded, face blank as you held out the food to her.

She started at you for a moment, before nodding, taking the food and slowly eating it, before her eyes brightened and she soon devoured the entire meal.

You smiled and handed her a map of the surrounding area “be safe, there is a cave that keeps away the ocean draft and hardly ever gets cold or wet.

Uma watched you with curious eyes as you walked away that night, surprised after each day when you continued to return to her spot, holding new clothes and food for her.

Within the next year and a half, you and Uma had grown close, telling you of her boys, Harry Hook, and Gil, her best friends and those whom she trusted with her deepest secrets and life.

You decided you would try to convince Ben to get Uma's boys off.

Vk day came around the corner, Uma listening as you told her the new vks that would be coming to Auradon.

She brightened a bit as the Smee twins came up.

“Skipper and Sterling, good, Harriet probably made them sign up, otherwise they would have never tried.”

“do you think Harry and Gil will sign up?”

“dunno, probably, to find me at least, but I know Mal and her goons would never choose them, as long as they are loyal to me, Mal sees them as her enemy”

You hummed, remembering Mal's insistence on the search for Uma. The irony that one of their own was helping hide a villain.

“then let's hope one of the other ones can look past Mal's rivalry with you and let others look on to a new path”

Uma snorted, shaking her head “Evie would be the only one to do that, Mals boys, especially Jay, are too wrapped up in her delusions”

You sighed and nodded, crossing your arms as you stared across the moonlit sea at the smog-covered isle. “well figure something else out then” Uma grinned at you.

“optimistic aren’t you?”

You grinned back “someone has to be”

Only three days later, as you were running late to Janes birthday and after hearing about your sister's sleeping spell, you grabbed your sword that had been enchanted by your godmothers, the same enchantments as your father's sword, and ran out to look for any sign of your sister or the vks. you came across sleeping bodies just outside the dorms, looking around with wide eyes you hovered above a sleeping student, waving your hand in their face and snapping.

“Audrey what did you do” you whispered, leaning back and crossing your arms, looking around the courtyard.

“they’re asleep” you perked up and spun around, seeing the vks entering through the opposite pathway of the garden. “all of them” Evie looked around with worried eyes, her mouth dropping open in a gasp as she saw you “(y/n)!” she yelled, running towards you at surprising speed considering her heels “you're awake!”

“y-yeah?” you yelped, wrapping your arms around her as she slammed into you “why wouldn’t I be?”

“well” Evie stuttered “Audrey-the scepter-she-nevermind, im glad you’re okay!” you nodded slowly, peeking around Evie and spotting a snickering Uma.

You rose your brow at her and she shook her head, nodding towards the two taller boys looking around the courtyard.

One was taller, with dark-colored hair and a long dark red vest-jacket, black faded and worn pants with black boots and a silver hook in his left hand. Harry Hook, son of Captain James Hook, Uma's first mate.

The other was a slightly shorter teen male with longer blonde hair hidden by a dark orange cap, a short-sleeved leather shirt, and dark orange-yellow pants with dark brown boots. Gil, son of Gaston, her quartermaster.

Her boys.

The darker haired one, Harry, turned to you, locking his bright Blue eyes with yours, you felt a shock run through your body, your breath stopping as you stared into his eyes.

Harry felt his breath stop, watching as the girl with alluring (e/c) eyes stared back at him. He couldn’t look away, something holding him in place.

“guys!” Harry felt the hold release as the girl looked away and to Evie, who was gesturing to a statue of a girl in a band uniform "Hanna got turned to stone!”

So treat me like a queen (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Boy, you better bow down on your knees

Can I get a "Yes, your majesty"?

Mal had taken over the group, ordering to head to Bens castle to look for him. You walked silently beside Uma as you traveled on foot to the castle, too occupied in your thoughts to notice Harry continue to stare at you.

He couldn’t figure out why and how you somehow stopped him in his tracks, unable to breathe or move.

The only other person that had done that to him…was Uma.

“Ben!” Mal called out, worried eyes flying about the hallways “Ben!!”

“he might not be here Mal” you offered, raising your brow as Celia sighed and tossed in other (depressing) option.

“or turned to stone” Evie covered the young girl's mouth and shook her head.

Eyes on me like I'm a prize

But you better recognize

I'm not your angel 'cause I belong to me

Uma frowned at the slashes across the wall, following the slash with her hand and calling out to the group “hey!” Uma turned, pointing a the slashes that had destroyed the map hanging on the wall “What's this?”

“um” Carlos muttered, his eyes widening in fear, as walked over to the slashes and turned to mal “any chance this was here before?”

Mal bit her lip and shook her head a bit, continuing forward after dude, calling out for ben.

“Ben!” she opened a set of double doors, leading to a room of knights lining the walls “Ben?!”

Harry let out a whistle and stepped around you, walking towards a suit and trailing his fingers across the blade. Jay leaned towards him, whispering in his ear, sneering at the pirate.

Harry just smirked and walked off after Uma.

You followed close behind Uma, feeling something off about the room, like someone was watching you.

As Mal and Uma argued,  you and Harry glanced at each other as the knight in front of you started to move, you squinted at the pink smoke pouring from its helmet.

“guys?”

“I believe we’re being challenged” Harry tried, Uma holding up her hand to silence him.

“Let's split up and look for Audrey” Uma suggested, raising her brows as mal denied it and held out her hand. “that makes absolutely no sense, unless you give me the ember she's going to spell you!”

You and Harry pressed your lips together and looked at each other with wide eyes as the knight moved again “GUYS!” you yelled, gesturing to the knight as the girls jumped and looked at you.

“we ‘ave a bit of a situation ‘ere” Harry growled, glaring up at the empty suit of armor that began to move as if it was being worn.

“you like a prince mal? Well, how bout a knight in shining armor….or knights”

You can call me a princess all you like

'Cause you love to keep me helpless by your side

But that ain't what I want, I'ma show you

I'ma show you

You quickly backed away, Uma holding onto your arm as you ran towards the doors when two knights blocked the way, Celia standing behind them eyes wide with fear.

You groaned and turned, spotting a set of swords on the wall. You maneuvered around Jay and Mal and grabbed them, handing them to Evie and Carlos as you backed into the group, eyeing down the knights.

“Let's do this” you muttered, gasping as Harry stepped in front of you and pushed you back. “stay back princess, wouldn’t want yeh getting hurt” you felt your brow twitch in agitation, but ignored him, watching the knights as they surrounded you. Uma hopped down beside you and Harry, smirking at the knights, waving her fingers tauntingly.

You sighed and drew your sword, feeling the enchantments run through the hilt. You took a step forward, making Harry twitch, and in blinding speed, you knocked several helmets off the knight's heads, the suits crumbling to the floor with a loud crash.

“Did anybody else forget that (y/n)s a genius with a sword?” Carlos chuckled, watching as you took down three more knights with only a sidestep and a flourish of your sword.

“huh?” Harry asked, yelping as a hammer swiped at his head, Jay appearing behind it and striking its shoulder, sending it to the side.

“she takes more after her dad doesn’t she?” Jay supplied, grabbing Harry's arm and forcing him to his feet, blocking another swipe as Harry nodded behind him.

How to treat me like a queen (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Boy, you better bow down on your knees

Can I get a "Yes, your majesty"?

You glanced at Uma, who was being held down by four knights, and bolted over to her, half leaping in the air and drawing your sword down, slashing through the metal of their arms like butter and colliding into Uma and half dragging her across the room, looking back at the knights as Audrey's scream of frustration rang through the room.

“holy shit” Uma muttered in your ear, grabbing your shoulder to stabilize herself “how come you never told me you could do this shit?” “you never asked” you laughed, flipping your sword and turning, smirking at the knights who were trying, and failing, to sneak up behind you.

“still would have been nice to know” Uma snorted, running around you and slashing at one of the knights, backing away and behind you as you ran forward and swung your sword around, slicing off their helmets, side flipping as the crashed to the ground.

“Uma?” Harry panted, sliding next to her and smiling at you, who was blocking another knight from slashing at Evie. “can we keep her?”

Uma laughed and nodded “yes, yes we can keep her”

“awesome” Harry breathed, biting his lip, watching you spin on your heel and unarm a knight before spinning into a squat, slashing off their knees and smirking as they crashed to the ground.

So treat me like a queen (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Boy, you better bow down on your knees

Can I get a "Yes, your majesty"?

You pouted and kicked the boot of a fallen knight, all that fight only for them to be defeated by a simple spell and some dance moves.

The boring way to end a battle if anyone asked you.

You sighed and cracked your neck, sheathing your sword and walking over to the squabbling VKs. “what's next?” you asked aloud, rolling your eyes as Mal assumed you were talking to her.

“we’re going to the museum to look for any clues”

“there's no point to that though! We know it's Audrey who took the crown and scepter, logically we should go to her room or something and look for any clues there!” Uma pushed, gritting her teeth as Mal shook her head.

“Mal” you sighed, dropping your shoulders “you don’t want to hear this but Uma's right, going to the museum is pointless unless we're going for the wand or something, I say us girls go to Audrey's and the boys look for ben”

Uma nodded, staring Mal down, who glared back. Evie clapped her hands together, making the two jump “that sounds perfect, lets meet at my place in, two hours okay?”

The rest of the group nodded, you walked up to Celia and gently pushed her to start moving as the vks started waling out of the room to set on their missions.

Harry glanced back at you as he walked alongside Gil, watching as Uma turned to you and whispered something, smirking as your shoulders bounced.

He turned back sighing as he listened to the dog talk.

Yeah

You can call me a princess all you like

‘Cause you love to keep me helpless by your side

But that ain’t what I want, I’ma show you

You walked alongside Uma and Harry as they separated from the other vks to look for Celia and Gil. “you coming with us or something lass?” Harry asked aloud, raising his brows as you shook your head.

“no, I’ll help you find Gil and Celia and then help you get where you need to go, then I’ll come back to help my sister get her head back, that scepter is warping her mind and I won't lose her” you stated, voice strong with conviction.

Uma and Harry glanced at each other before Uma turned to you, going to speak when Mal suddenly ran up, yelling out Uma's name.

“uma-uma! Wait! Please wait!” Uma glared at the purple-haired girl as she skidded to a stop “I need your help, we have a chance if we work together!”

Uma sneered at her “your friends kick you to the curb?” Mal's face said it all “good”

“Ben saw something in you, and-today Uma I saw it too! You care! Uma, you care about everybody!” Uma rolled her eyes, crossing her arms and staring at Mal blankly “and Auradon is worth saving!”

“and my sister isn’t?” you sneered, Mal suddenly turned to you “you know what the scepter is like, it poisons the mind Mal, it's taken over my sister, and because of you, I might not get her back, because of you, she turned to something dark to get revenge…You know” you cocked your hip, glaring at the wide-eyed Mal

“she never got an apology from you or Ben, you love spelled Ben for the wand, had him “break up” with Audrey by declaring his “love” for you, do you know how many nights I spent with Audrey, holding her in my arms because she couldn’t sleep she was crying so hard, crying so hard she threw up?

You are not the only one with feelings Mal, Audrey did love ben, my grandmother screwed up what love meant to Audrey but she did love him, and you took that away and never apologized. So you know what Mal” you got in her face, glaring into her shiny green eyes “you deserve whatever Audrey does to you, and when I get back, I will save Audrey myself, because it seems I'm the only one who actually fucking cares about her”

You shoulder checked Mal and walked off, Mal desperately calling your name. “you talk pretty….but they’ve already made up their minds” Harry sighed, following Uma as she pushed past Mal and followed after you.

How to treat me like a queen (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Boy, you better bow down on your knees

Can I get a "Yes, your majesty"?

You grinned at Uma as she walked across the bridge from the isle to Auradon, Harry, and Gil at her side.

“Welcome to Auradon Uma” you laughed as Uma leapt into your arms, spinning her around for a moment to keep your balance “officially at least” Uma rolled her eyes as she pulled back, taking your hand and pulling you off to dance, Harry, following close behind.

“yeah yeah, thanks for everything by the way”

You hummed, raising your brow “for giving me food, clothes, all that stuff for the past year”

“so yer the one who took care of the cap’n all this time huh?” Harry asked, looking to Uma for confirmation.

“I guess?” you shrugged, smirking as Mal turned to you with wide eyes “uh I think Mal heard that one?”

“who cares” Uma chuckled, grabbing your hand and pulling you toward her, Harry following her lead and grabbing your other hand “care to dance with us pirates princess?”

“it would be my pleasure” you bowed, giggling as Harry spun you and held you to his side, Uma laughing along and letting him spin her with his other hand.

So treat me like a queen (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

(Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

Boy, you better bow down on your knees

Can I get a "Yes, your majesty"?

-end-

permtaglist

@queer-cosette​ @sephiralorange​

@lunanight2012​ @lunanight2012​

@daughter-of-the-stars11​ @musicarose​

@imtryingthisout​ @remembered-license​

@random-thoughts-003​ @verboetoperee​

[little-diable]

His daughter - Jasper Hale (angst)

Request by anon: Hello. I just found your account and I love your writing. Can I request a jasper imagine where you are pregnant with his child and there’s a vampire that wants to hurt you and you’re in danger and once you have the child they go after the child. I’m sorry if that’s too specific or weird I just love the idea of dad jasper.

Hi lovely anon, thank you for the request. Not quite sure how I feel about it but I hope that you like it! Enjoy. xxx

Warnings: mentions death.

The small bundle of joy that had been growing inside of (y/n) was a true miracle, the whole situation was like a big déjà-vu for the Cullens, it took them back to Bellas past experiences, so they kind of knew how to handle (y/n) pregnancy. She was currently two months along, her belly was rapidly growing, Jasper was very protective of (y/n), not ready to let go of her any time soon. 

(Y/n) didn’t have to deal with any major struggles while giving birth, little Amelie-Rose was born on a December morning, the snow was rapidly falling as (y/n) eyes found the golden ones of her crying daughter for the first time. Tears of relief and exhaustion streamed down the sides of her face, Jasper squeezed her hand tightly, he couldn’t take his eyes off his daughter, a big smile on his lips.

Of course the family didn’t menage to keep (y/n)s pregnancy and the birth of Amelie-Rose a secret, so it came as no surprise that most friends of the Cullens came by to visit the new mother and her baby. And just like they had experienced a few years prior, not everybody was too happy about the the new vampire and her human mother, they received threats, ordinances to get rid of the child. 

The Cullens tried their best to keep (y/n) and the baby safe, Jasper was scared, scared to loose his wonderful fiancé and his new born daughter, not ready to give up on his family anytime soon. 

(Y/n) head was placed against the headrest, she was seated in the backseat, Amelies fingers were wrapped around (y/n) pointer finger, she was fast asleep. Jaspers eyes were fixated on the street ahead, a content smile on his lips, they were on their way back home, (y/n) was ready for a few hours of good sleep, she felt extremely exhausted. The rest of the Cullen clan was out hunting near by, not wanting to leave the three on their own for too long. 

As Jasper took a hold of his daughters small frame, he pressed her against his chest, inhaling her smell, (y/n) went to bed a few hours ago, so he tried to keep Amelie as calm as he could. He was warming up some milk-formula for his daughter, silently singing the words to “skippers’s dream”, a song his mother had always sung to him, while running his pale fingers through her thin, brown hair.

Suddenly it seemed as if the whole room was on pause, Jasper felt like he was in a trance, the sound of gun going off hallowed through the house, Jasper heard (y/n) heartbeat slowing down, without thinking twice he placed his daughter in her highchair and speeded towards his bedroom. (Y/n) shaking frame was laying in his bed, his bedsheets turning deep red as her blood stained his covers, she could barely form a sentence. 

At the same time as (y/n) opened her mouth to whisper a silent “Amelie”, a cry could be heard and (y/n) nodded her head “yes”. Before running off to save his daughter, Jasper pressed a chaste kiss onto her blue-turning lips.

“I’ll give you five seconds to put her down.”, Jaspers voice was angry, eyes pitch black as he took in the figure of an unknown vampire holding his crying daughter in his hands. “You know I can’t do that, this isn’t right, a vampire shouldn’t be allowed mate with a dirty human being.”, the man had a strange accent, probably Italian, but that wasn’t something Jasper was focusing on in that moment.

Jasper clenched his jaw and speeded towards the man, pushing him back while desperately trying to get a grip on his crying daughter, the scaring thought, about not being able to protect her, ate him alive. The stranger fell straight through the big window frame, Jasper managed to take a hold of Amelies body in the last second, he momentarily closed his eyes as he felt her warm body pressed against his cold chest. 

As Jasper opened his eyes he could see Emmett ripping the stranger to shreds, an animalistic growl escaped from his chest, he was seething. “Jasper”, Alice small voice ripped him out of his thoughts, she took the baby out of his hands and pushed him towards his bedroom. Carlisle was hovering above (y/n), she was barely breathing, the blood wouldn’t stop leaving her cold body, her (y/e/c) eyes were focused on Jasper, a small smile on her lips, “do it Jas.”.

(Y/n) was never a big fan of the possibility of leaving her human life behind and becoming a vampire, the thought about giving up on her family and friends would haunt her at night. But she surely wasn’t ready to leave her daughter and her fiancé on their own, she was ready to give up anything for the two, so it was obvious to the human girl that Jasper needed to turn her, in order to save her. 

It didn’t take her long to come back, a proud smile on Jaspers lips as he took in her flawless face, he pressed a kiss onto her lips and pulled her towards their daughter. 

[aricazorel]

Day 24 "Horizon"

Kaidan Alenko, Ashley Williams, Kori Reese

ME2, post- Horizon mission

“I…I can’t believe it,” Ashley Williams stated for the third time since meeting up with Kaidan Alenko and Kori Reese two weeks after her assignment ended on Horizon.

“He just came in…saved the day like he always does…” she trailed off, her expression distant. “Then you know what he had the gall to say to me? ‘Hi, Ash. How’s it been?’”

Kaidan opened his mouth to say something as he shifted in his seat at the open-air café near one of the Alliance’s outposts close to the Traverse. His joint assignment with Kori had ended roughly the same time Williams’ had. Reese placed a hand lightly on his arm to stop him. He glanced over at the L3, and her expression let him know she believed Ash needed to continue uninterrupted.

Williams gestured wildly as she progressively grew louder, “What the hell kind of question is that? He’s been dead for two years and then shows up working for Cerberus as if nothing’s happened…Fucking Cerberus.”

Ashley turned to her drink and downed it in one gulp. “He says they’re the only ones doing anything about the colonies going dark. What the hell does he think we’ve been doing? Taking extended R & R in places that hate the Alliance because we think it’s fun?”

“What if he doesn’t know what we’ve been doing? What if Cerberus is keeping the truth from him for their own ends?” Alenko asked hoping to offer some logical explanation for their former Co’s sudden reappearance and actions. Knowing Ash had a temper and the nature of her relationship with Shepard aboard the SR-1, he hoped to temper her anger.

“You’re defending him?” Williams asked in disbelief, pointing a finger at him. “He’s with Cerberus! Garrus was with him too. He took up for the skipper saying we don’t have all the facts.”

Before anyone could say more, Reese spoke up, “We don’t have all the facts. Yet…”

“Facts! He acts as if nothing happened!” Ashley exclaimed as she nearly rose from her seat. “How can—”

“This conversation needs to be a little more discreet, Ash,” Reese urged quietly as she eyed the other woman. She waited until Williams sat down before she continued softly, “Shepard went to see Anderson. Tried to convince the Alliance and the Council to take the missing colonies seriously. All he got was his Specter status reinstated and Anderson’s promise that the Alliance was doing something.”

Williams and Alenko looked over at the L3 as Ash asked, “And how do you know that?”

“Because I have my sources, and they say he was at the Citadel before going to Horizon.”

“Reese, you can’t play the ‘I have a source card’ and not explain anything more,” Williams protested as she flagged their waiter down for another beer.

The L3 shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Kaidan noticed and asked, “What’s wrong, Kori?”

Grey eyes met whiskey brown ones as she whispered, “I can’t tell you who it is…It would put me and them in danger…I’m not sure why he’s passing along intel anyway…”

“Him? You mean Mike,” Alenko said trying to keep the anger from his voice. He still hadn’t forgiven his friend for choosing a mission with Cerberus over Kori. It didn’t matter how noble the mission was…

“You’re boyfriend?” Ashley asked in surprise. “Why would he know anything?”

“Ex-boyfriend,” Reese corrected harshly before slumping her shoulders as she fell back in her seat. “Promise you won’t repeat this.”

“What—”

“Promise, Ash.”

“Okay. Okay. I promise.”

Reese avoided Kaidan’s eyes as she whispered, “He left the Alliance to make a difference the way Shepard did. He hoped to honor him somehow…I think he’s on his crew now.”

Williams wore a dumbfounded expression as Kaidan realized that was the first time Reese had called Mike her ex-boyfriend. He sat quietly as Ash muttered before taking another swig of her beer, “Well, hell…It looks like all the guys from the SR-1 have gone nuts.”

She quickly glanced at Kaidan as she added, “Except you, LT.”

“Adams is still Alliance,” Alenko pointed out. “Don’t really see him ever leaving.”

“There is the Doc…Chakwas took an extended leave of absence…” Reese offered as she reached for her own beer. “Hasn’t been heard from in a while.”

Williams shook her head as she sighed. “What’s it all mean?”

“It means we keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Alenko said firmly, looking from one woman to the other. “We prepare the right way. No short cuts, and we stay true to who we are.”

“That simple?” Ashley asked uncertainly.

Kaidan nodded. “That simple.”

“Cerberus is going to selectively tell Shepard what he needs to know based on the parameters of the mission they need him for. They won’t allow anything that might influence him to stray from their predetermined path interfere with that,” Reese pointed out, wanting to make sure they all understood that it wasn’t going to be easy.

Alenko frowned, understanding her caution but unclear about how that changed anything. “So, what do we do?”

“What you said, LT. Keep doing what we’ve always done,” Ash said with hope in her voice as she turned her gaze to the sky. “And one day we’ll find a way to bring the Skipper home.”

[writtenjewels]

Aura part 2

Part One

Ashley was getting used to Commander Shepard going around and talking with the crew between missions. He asked for their thoughts and opinions, and even better seemed to listen and take them seriously. But today he seemed distracted.

“Hey, what's eating you, skipper?”

“I just...” Shepard let out a sigh. “I just can't get over what the lieutenant said about auras.”

“Weird, right?” Ashley agreed. She had peppered the biotic on her squad with all kinds of questions. Yes, it was easier to get used to than it seemed. No, it wasn't distracting. Most of the population had no auras because it all boiled down to how the biotic saw that person, and the qualifiers needed a prolonged acquaintance.

“It just doesn't make any sense,” Shepard went on. “Is the rest of the galaxy blind?”

“Huh?” Ashley felt like she already lost the thread of this conversation.

“He said he's never seen a red aura,” Shepard reminded her. “I mean... how is that even possible? Just... look at him.” Ashley was still completely lost. But then it dawned on her: Shepard thought the aura was the other person being sexually attracted to Kaidan. Ashley's mouth dropped and she quickly clasped her hand over it. Oh, my god. Shepard probably didn't even realize the implications of what he just said.

She quickly covered with a cough. “Ah, yeah. Real mystery.”

“Why doesn't he see it on you?” Shepard wondered. “I'm not asking because of fraternization rules, I'm just... curious.”

“Come on, skipper, seriously? He's like the brother I never had. So not interested.” Okay, maybe she thought Kaidan was hot when they first met but the more she got to know him, the more her affection turned friendly and familial. Him being an only child, she was happy to inflict on him the “joys” of having a sister. She was a little tempted to inflict those same “joys” on Shepard and ask why Kaidan didn't see a red aura from him, but if he didn't realize what he had accidentally implied, she sure wasn't going to clue him in.

“Probably a good thing you never went through biotic training,” she remarked to change the subject. “You'd probably be seeing red everywhere.”

“Even on you, Chief?” Shepard challenged playfully.

“Don't act like you're surprised.” She winked at him. “But not so much these days. I've seen you do too much stupid shit.” Besides, even if she did still see him that way, she wouldn't do anything about it in light of this new evidence.

“Good. I mean,” Shepard corrected, “you're a good friend, I just...”

“I hear ya.”

“Probably for the best,” Shepard spoke up, “not seeing red auras. I imagine it gets a little awkward.”

“Useful, though,” Ashley noted. “Saves you the trouble of figuring out if the person is into you. I speak from experience when I say that part can be a real pain in the ass. Besides, there's no rule on being attracted to someone. Just acting on it. Right?” These were her two favorite guys; of course she was going to encourage this.

“That's true,” Shepard agreed, looking thoughtful. “It's harmless.”

“Biotic shields are probably pretty easy to learn,” Ashley hinted. Shepard nodded distractedly. Ashley was inwardly dying. Oh, god, she really hoped Shepard would take the hint. She wanted to see what would happen when he started seeing auras.

(a/n: Let me know through likes or comments if you want to see this fleshed out and moved to AO3. I swear it was just a random idea but I’m liking it)

[maxrev]

A Little Hazy

I blame this absurdity entirely on @mallaidhsomo because of a meme. My boys, John Shepard and Kaidan from my Chance Meetings series who I’ve sadly neglected for way too long. 

John Shepard likes classic rock but sometimes, he doesn’t quite understand the words xD (hence, he’s now known as the Commander of Misheard Lyrics)

Kaidan stood in front of his locker removing each plate of his hard suit simply by muscle memory, too mentally and physically exhausted to put much effort into it. The thought of not cleaning it was inconceivable but he wasn’t sure he had the energy for more than wiping it down at best. 

To his right, he could hear Shepard toss the plates of his own armor inside his personal locker. Kaidan wrinkled his nose at the thought but was also surprised. Shepard was meticulous in everything he did, especially when it came to his armor and weapons. He must be tired as well. 

A shudder ran through him remembering the mission. In a mine, no less. Underground, with only one way out. 

Husks. The damn things had been everywhere. Knowing they had to have found what once were scientists who’d made an emergency transmission, then couldn’t be found, made it even worse. No, he reminded himself; they were no longer the scientists but instead mindless puppets controlled by some otherworldly force through some process he couldn't begin to wrap his head around. 

It had come down to the most basic of laws - kill or be killed. 

He shuddered again. 

“LT, your armor can wait. Grab a shower.” Shepard spoke up, having completed his task. 

Kaidan looked over...and wished he hadn’t. By this time, the commander had stripped down to the very form fitting under armor. Leaving nothing to the imagination, every muscle was on display, flexing and moving as he peeled it down his body. Swallowing thickly, he turned away before being caught ogling his superior.

Shepard chuckled, and Kaidan wondered briefly if he could read minds. “I know, I know. Breaking protocol by not cleaning it thoroughly right away but fuck it all, if I don’t wash this mission off my skin I won’t be responsible for my actions.” 

Wondering what those actions would be, Kaidan stowed his armor to clean later, knowing he'd be back after his shower, unable to let it go, and began to peel off his own under armour suit, which was no easy task as it felt glued to his skin. 

“Let me help, LT.” 

Kaidan glanced over to assure Shepard he could do it but all the saliva in his mouth dried up at the sight of his commander wearing nothing but briefs, a towel slung over his shoulder. He quickly looked away, unable to form a coherent thought, let alone say anything. Pretty sure he'd end up sounding like a babbling idiot. 

Shepard came up behind him, the heat from his body penetrating the skin tight armor. With deft skill, he grasped the armor and began to peel it down while Kaidan maneuvered himself to assist as much as possible. In no time at all, he was bending over pushing the rest down his legs. 

“Time for a nice, hot shower.” Shepard reached for the towel, which had fallen to the floor, giving Kaidan an unobstructed view. He stood up and turned to head to the elevator, slapping one of Kaidan's butt cheeks as he walked by. 

“See you in the showers!” He called back over his shoulder. 

Over in the corner, Ashley snickered. Kaidan was mortified. 

"I never knew telling the skipper about those football traditions between players on earth could provide so much entertainment!” A gleam of mischief in her eyes, she gave him a knowing smirk. 

While he struggled for a suitable comeback - and failed - she added with a wink, “Better hurry, LT, before he uses all the hot water.” 

Shaking his head, Kaidan grabbed his own towel and headed for the showers, wanting nothing more than for Shepard to be done and gone by the time he made it up there. 

Fate wasn't so kind. She must be on great terms with Ashley, intent on always getting one over on him. Shepard was currently soaping up, the outlines of his very fit body able to be seen even through the clouds of steam as they rose from the streams of water cascading down-- 

He turned away, stopping the thought immediately. As was typical for the commander, music blared from his Omni-tool. Some old school classic rock from earth, hundreds of years ago. 'They're classics' he'd told Kaidan and Ashley, the three of them somehow always finding each other in the mess. Since then, Kaidan had heard many of them over and over, finding himself humming or tapping his foot to the rhythm. 

The guitar wailed out into the room, a man’s voice singing something about a purple haze. 

Well, haze certainly fit from the steam of the shower, though Kaidan couldn’t say it was purple. Moving past Shepard quietly, he went to the last stall and turned the water on, a sigh slipping from his lips as the hot water hit his muscles and the sweat coating his body washed down the drain. 

Shepard sang along with the song softly but still loud enough to be heard over the dull roar of the streaming water. He had a pleasant singing voice and Kaidan loved to listen on the rare times he was privileged to catch it. 

Purple haze all in my brain

Lately, things just don't seem the same

Well, those lyrics certainly fit their lives as of late. Nothing had been the same since Eden Prime. He sometimes wondered if this all wasn’t just some crazy nightmare. 

He reached for the soap, fingers wrapping around the bar as Shepard sang the next couple lines of lyrics. 

Acting funny, but I don't know why

Excuse me while I kiss this guy

His fingers twitched as the words sank into his brain, the soap sliding through his grasp. Eyes widening in horror that it would fall and bounce loudly across the floor, Kaidan lunged for it with his other hand. It slipped through again, which then began the start of a weird dance as he struggled to grasp it over and over, only to have it dance out of his fingers every time. Finally, with a great amount of effort, he managed to grab hold of it without alerting Shepard. 

Had the commander said what he thought he’d said? It was only a song, right? Sure, he seemed a bit flirty and there was the time in the bookstore when they'd met. But that was before they knew who each other was. And before they were on the Normandy. Together. 

Well, not together together but...together. 

“I can see the smoke from here and it’s not from the steam, either. Overthinking again?”

Kaidan found himself doing the soap dance again, struggling for some kind of composure which was damn hard bare-ass naked, everything hanging out for his CO to see. Seriously, the floor could open up anytime now and drop him into space. Anything would be better than this!

Finally grabbing hold of the soap again, Kaidan took a breath, swallowed for good measure and said, “Just...a little shook up, I guess. I’m fine, Commander.”

A mumble of words came from behind him sounding suspiciously like ‘you sure as hell are’ but then there was a cough and Shepard spoke out loud, “Understandable. The mission was rough. Anyway, I’ll leave you to your shower. Make sure you get some calories when you're done.” 

“Aye, aye, sir.” 

He didn’t hear anything more and began to soap up in earnest, the water now lukewarm. 

“By the way, nice dance with the bar of soap. Should make it an act and take it on the road.” 

The soap slipped from his hand in surprise and this time, Kaidan didn’t bother trying to hang on to it, head falling forward against the wall in defeat.

[thejudgingtrash]

A cookout fic! For you cause it’s my birthday :D A little cursed fic 😌💖

@percyheartsannabeth​ Torie, you did wonders as a beta, I love you.

Let’s go!

Her New Neighbor (WC: 875)

Boxes. Moving boxes blocked the entrance of her apartment. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise to Annabeth since her old neighbor Argus died over a month ago. Now the apartment above her had been emptied out by his family and her landlord just gave the key to the next person.

“Hey Grover, watch out!” Two men carried a couch together and Annabeth just jumped out of their way.

“Oh shit!” The man that was not Grover put his part of the couch on the floor.

“I’m so sorry, are you okay?” He approached Annabeth. He was a good-looking man. A little bit rough on the edges with the 5 o’clock shadow on his face but his sea green eyes seemed to be friendly.

“Uh, Percy Jackson. Apartment 3B.” He gave her his hand which she shook.

“Annabeth Chase, apartment 2B.” Percy’s eyes widened.

“Oh, I’m so sorry.” The chaos in the hallway was entirely his fault.

His new neighbor also didn’t seem to be fairly amused. With the strict blonde bun and tight pencil skirt she looked like a librarian that didn’t tolerate any bullshit.

“As long as the boxes are gone by the time I return from work, it’s all good.” Annabeth said. She didn’t have time for pleasantries, she had a meeting to attend to at the law firm.

“Sure, of course!” One final glance and Annabeth was gone.

“Well good luck with her,” Grover commented.

“What do you mean by that?” Percy turned around to his best friend.

“She seems like she’s into quietness and peace.” Percy had a haunch that Grover might have been right.

Annabeth returned from talks with clients and scheduling with her assistant to find moving boxes still in front of her apartment door. Anger bubbled up inside of her, but she was too tired to storm up and demand that precious Mr. Jackson had better remove them. Moving was stressful and things would be forgotten as chaos ruled over mind and space.

But it all turned to the worse. The squeaky sounds which definitively came from a woman enjoying some bed exercise woke her up at four in the morning. Oh my god thought Annabeth. Please don’t. Annabeth listened closer and realized that no, it wasn’t a real woman upstairs. That wasn’t it. It had to be porn. Annabeth was sure of that. Thump. Thump. His booming steps kept her awake as well.

It took her new neighbor nearly a week to remove the boxes outside of her apartment. No apology, no letter, no nothing. The worst thing was, that her new neighbor kept on being a loud shit disturber. His steps made her nearly go crazy, the cheap rock music he blasted on Sundays didn’t help with her mood and the worst part was his porn consumption. The squeaks and whatever were going on aggravated her. Why did he need to hear that so loud? Why did he laugh at it? What levels of psychopath did Percy Jackson actually reach?

Another week passed. Percy got out of his bath and put his robe on. He had the tissue box ready and was mentally preparing himself for a good night. He would browse the good old webpage that ended with Tube for further studies.

Annabeth was actually preparing her dinner as the squeaks and loud steps nearly made her drop the knife. “Okay, that’s it!”

Annabeth grabbed her coat and her keys and then rushed upstairs.

Percy was startled at the loud bangs at the door. “I’m coming!” he said. He was surprised to see his blonde neighbor from downstairs.

Annabeth was appalled at his outfit choice. He opened the door in a bathrobe, white socks and had a tissue box in his hand! But then he grabbed a tissue and sneezed into it. Annabeth didn’t see that one coming.

“Annabeth, right? What can I do for you? Sorry for my attire, I just took a bath to battle this annoying cold.”

“You are super loud!” Annabeth complained. “From your steps that could be heard down in the basement to whatever weird porn you’re jacking off to-”

“Porn?!”

The buffering video in the background finally loaded. The squeaky sounds started to blast through the entire apartment. Even Percy was surprised at the volume and blushed. Annabeth nearly triumphantly smiled. There was clear evidence of his overconsumption.

“Oh, that’s just Skipper,” Percy deflected. Annabeth eyed him weirdly. What kind of porn star name is Skipper? She left that thought at that. Percy moved to the side so that she could see her beloved porn star on the flat screen.

A dolphin. Skipper was a fucking dolphin.

“I’m a psychologist,” Percy explained.

“What?!”

“I’m studying the cognitive behavior of animals with a maritime focus. Dolphins are my specialty,” her new neighbor shrugged. “My colleagues in Greece have set up a livestream on YouTube for me to see and study. Also means that I have to get up fairly early to take a closer look. A bunch of funny guys, these dolphins.”

Annabeth’s jaw dropped. A door opened behind them. Mr. and Mrs. Stoll looked out of apartment 3C to see where the noise came from.

“Okay, I’m going to turn this off,” Percy promised.

The End

There you go! Not as cursed as expected, huh :D At least I hope ^^

All Cookout Fics

Cute/Cursed Cookout Writing Prompts

[let-it-raines]

your wonder under summer skies (7/?)

Summer in Storybrooke, Maine means one thing for its residents: tourist season. This year, for Emma Swan and Killian Jones, it means relationships ending and friendships changing all the while they attempt to figure out just what their relationship is. It’s somewhere straddling the line between friends and lovers, and there’s no guarantee of a soft landing if they fall into new territory.

rating: mature

a/n: I have been taking a little social media break and will continue to do so, but when I’ve got 90% of this story written (I really have to get to finishing it, haha), it felt wrong to keep it from you guys. So I’m slipping in and posting a new chapter! All my love ❤️

ao3: beginning | current

tumblr: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |

-/-

“Do you want some of my chips?”

“Hmm?”

“My fries,” Killian corrects. “Do you want some of them?”

“Is that rhetorical question?”

Killian sighs and rolls his eyes before pushing his basket of fries toward her. “Half the time that I offer you my fries, you say no because you’d rather have onion rings. Though, a part of me is surprised you haven’t simply taken over and started eating them without asking.”

Emma reaches over and picks up a fry, dipping it in the ketchup before popping it in her mouth. “Look, just because onion rings are obviously the superior side for junk food doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate a well done French fry. And this? This is a well done fry. “Skipper barks at Emma’s feet. “See, Skipper agrees with me.”

“Skipper agrees because he wants you to feed him.”

“He can have my leftovers.”

“Bloody hell no he cannot.” Killian snatches the basket away from her. “I’m sharing my food. You hear that, Swan? It’s mine. You can’t be giving it away to the dog.”

“You should have gotten me some lunch, too.”

“I didn’t know you were coming over.”

“Did I not text you?”

“No, love, I don’t believe I got your booty call.”

Emma picks up another fry and points it in Killian’s face. “This is not a booty call. You’re working, and I’ve got work in thirty minutes. We’re taking the kids to do a relay race on the beach this afternoon, and I don’t think my body can take jumping out the window again.”

Killian chuckles and slides the basket of fries back to him. “I’m going to build you a ladder out of my bedroom.”

“I think that would be a little obvious.”

Killian shrugs. “So, a relay race with dozens of kids. Good to know that I need to avoid the beach.”

“You just wait until we do the weekend festival for Labor Day. Then you’ll really want to avoid the beach.”

“I already have it noted in my calendar.” Killian’s eyes glance up and down her face before landing down at the top of her shirt. The man can be as subtle as a whisper, but sometimes he doesn’t even try. “You know, I can do a lot in thirty minutes.”

Emma scoffs and keeps eating her fries. Okay, Killian’s fries, but he’s sharing so now they’re definitely hers. “I know you can, but I actually look presentable today, and I tend to look not presentable after, you know…”

“After I ravish you?”

Her stomach swirls, and the way Killian’s licking his lips certainly doesn’t help. They could go to the back office or go up to his bedroom right now. It wouldn’t be a big deal. She could let him do all the effort. And as much as she wants to, she really didn’t come here to have sex. 

Then again, she doesn’t know why she came here. There was no way she could know that he was going to have food.

Wait no. She came here because it’s been a week since she’s seen him, and she needed someone to complain to about this family that’s in town that takes up all of the booths at Granny’s at least twice a day. She doesn’t treasure much in her life, but she treasures her booth at Granny’s. 

But she’s gotten her complaining out, filled him in on everything she hasn’t texted him this week, and really, what else do they have to do?

“Where’s Liam?”

“He’s meeting with the harbormaster.”

Perfect. 

“Do not touch my hair,” she tells him. “You do all of the work.”

“Don’t I always do all of the work?”

She tosses a fry at him. He misses it, and Skipper gets up from his spot to get the food. “Considering the fact that I know you like me on top, I’d think not.”

“I also like you on your knees when – ”

The bell to the shop rings behind her, and Emma sees Killian’s face before she turns around. The smirk disappears, his lips falling into a flat line, and all of the mirth in his eyes vanishes along with the crinkles around his eyes. 

What the hell?

Is Liam back? She really hopes Liam isn’t back because she does not want to deal with his icy stares and snide comments today.

And then she turns around on the stool she’s sitting on, fry still in her mouth, and sees Isabella Greene. 

Oh wait, she went by Tink, didn’t she? Yeah, she definitely went by Tink, which is such an awful nickname, but that’s probably not what she should be focusing on. 

Emma’s stomach does that weird flipping thing again and she quickly chews the fry before pushing her hair off her shoulders and straightening her shoulders. What the hell is Tink doing here?

“Tink,” Killian whispers before clearing his throat. “Uh, hello, love. I didn’t – I didn’t know – ”

“You didn’t know I was coming back?”

“I thought you were in New York.”

“I am. I’m not here for the summer or anything. My dad didn’t rent out the house this week, so I’m here with a few friends for the week. You’re not renting out the boat are you?”

Killian can’t stop blinking, and Emma swears that if he didn’t have any semblance of self-control, his mouth would be wide open. 

“Let me check. I don’t think it is.” He turns to the computer, hits a few buttons, and Emma takes her eyes away from him to see Skipper walking toward Tink. Tink immediately bends down and scratches his head, murmuring toward him. “You should be good to take it out. It is rented for next weekend, so you’d have to return it by Thursday morning for maintenance.”

“We can do that. Do I need to fill out any paperwork?”

“It’s your dad’s boat, lass.”

“So that’s a no?” she laughs, and Emma swears the woman bats her eyelashes at Killian. 

Is batting eyelashes a real thing that works on men? She doesn’t think she’s ever attracted anyone by batting her eyelashes.

“That’s a no. You’ve still got the spare key, aye?”

“I do.”

“Then you’re all set.” 

Killian flashes his most charming smile, and Emma doesn’t know if she’s ever felt so invisible. Skipper isn’t even acknowledging her anymore, and Emma is about to demolish all of Killian’s fries in the span of two minutes. Maybe that’s why no one is acknowledging her. She’s some kind of fry hog.

“Thank you, Killian.” Tink leans over the counter in a move Emma’s seen a million times. Hell, she’s done it herself. That works a hell of a lot better than eyelashes. “If you want to grab dinner sometime, you have my number.”

Killian’s eyes finally glance at Emma, but it’s brief. If she hadn’t been paying attention to him, she wouldn’t have noticed. 

“Last time I checked, you had a boyfriend.”

“Last time I checked, that didn’t seem to bother you.”

Holy shit, the balls on this woman. 

Killian’s jaw clenches, and he’s definitely grinding his teeth now. This is not how she thought this conversation was going to go. She thought she was about to end up as a major third wheel when three minutes ago she was going to be the one with her shorts pulled down and Killian thrusting into her. 

But it would be fine if he wanted to sleep with his ex instead. Emma has purposely never learned about his flings, knowing they’re never going to last, but she knew Tink enough to recognize her and to know that if one of them was going to, it was going to be her. She had no idea why it ended, though, and now that she kind of does, she definitely feels like she shouldn’t be here.

Would it be more awkward to get up and leave right now or to stay?

Did Killian know Tink had a boyfriend when he was sleeping with her? Because if he did…oh fuck, if he did she might just have to punch him. She used to think things like that weren’t any of her business, but then Neal and Tamara happened and…no, she’s not going to go there. She hasn’t let her mind fully go there in the month that she’s been broken up with Neal, and she’s certainly not going to do it now. 

“Last time I checked,” Killian grits out, “I was unaware of your attachment.”

Oh. 

“He and I were on a break then.”

“Are you now?”

Tink clicks her tongue. “We’re having some issues.”

Oh God, this really is the most awkward Emma has felt in years, and an entire town knows her boyfriend cheated on her and stares at her every time she walks down Main Street. It may have been a month, but the news just broke last week. It has been like reliving it all over again. 

At least she hasn’t seen Neal. She’s avoided him at all costs. 

Maybe not having her regular seat at Granny’s is a good thing.

“Return the boat by nine on Thursday, Ms. Greene. Have a good week with your friends.”

Tink scoffs, her lips parting, and she leans back and crosses her arms over her chest.

Oh shit, Jones. That was bold. 

And then Tink is turning around and walking out the door, the bell ringing behind her. 

Emma doesn’t know what to say. Does she say anything at all? What can she say? She just witnessed something she definitely wasn’t supposed to see, and she is not good enough with emotions to be able to deal with this. 

Where’s Mary Margaret and her emotional intelligence when Emma needs her?

Even if Emma wants to strangle Mary Margaret half the time when she’s giving some unrealistic perspective on love and relationships. 

She could use some of that right now. 

“How much time do we have until you have to be at work?” Killian asks as he stands from behind the desk. 

“Um, twenty minutes now.”

He tilts his head back toward the office before walking past her and flipping the sign on the door over. “That’s enough time, don’t you think?”

There’s fury in his eyes, and he’s never looked taller to her than he does right now as he looks down at her with his jaw so tight she can see it clenching. He’s angry, she realizes. He’s angry that Tink came in here and tried to start something back up. She has never taken him for the type to get angry about something like that. He’s Killian. He’s got a hell of a temper, gets pissed off when he sees some kind of injustice happening, but he’s always been easygoing when it comes to relationships. 

Maybe she really doesn’t know him as well as she thought. 

Or, at least, maybe she doesn’t know this facet of his life. 

“That’s enough time.”

Killian grabs her hand and pulls her up from her chair. She nearly stumbles, but his grip is strong enough to keep her steady. They walk quickly out of the front office and to the back, where Killian quickly closes the door and turns the lock before he’s on her, caging her in and hovering his lips right over hers while his hands push against the wooden frame. His breathing is so heavy, his chest heaving, and she’s so distracting by it that she barely notices the way her own chest is moving up and down with anticipation. 

“You’re gorgeous, you know,” Killian whispers into her ear. His breath is hot as it tickles down her skin. “I’ve thought that since the day we met, but I’ve never been able to tell you the way that I wanted to.”

“You definitely could have.”

“Aye, but you wouldn’t have taken it well.”

“Who says I’m taking it well now?”

Killian laughs into her neck while he rolls his hips into hers. Emma gasps as heat curls between her thighs, licking across her skin. Her heart is pounding, and her head is still reeling. She wasn’t expecting this, then she was, and it’s been back and forth so quickly that maybe she should stop thinking all together. 

Hell, she definitely should. 

Not thinking means she doesn’t have to focus on the big demons in her head or the smaller ones that are telling her that sleeping with Killian might not be her best idea. 

Not thinking means that she can let Killian run his lips across her neck before his teeth tug down on her earlobe. The moment he figured out that she liked that, she was a goner. 

The moment they first did this, she was a goner for the way that it feels and the way that she can only focus on the feel of his lips and his hands and of every inch of him covering her. Killian keeps rolling his hips into her, and the friction of the zipper on his jeans his hitting just the right spot. 

“Shit,” Emma mumbles as her head tilts back to hit against the door. “Take off your pants.”

“A little busy at the moment, love.”

Suddenly, she notices that his hands are at her waist and fumbling with the zipper on her shorts. She hears it slide down, feels Killian push her shorts and her underwear down, and then his hands are on her exactly where she wants him. 

Well, almost. They’re on a bit of a time crunch, so they don’t exactly have time to take it slow. 

Her hands reach between them as Killian’s lips fiercely press into hers. He’s determined with each slide of his lips and swipe of his tongue. There’s no laziness or slow exploration, and as much as she likes that, this feels too damn good to stop. 

His hand stops hers, and she pulls back from the kiss. “What are you doing?”

“Let me take care of you.”

“What about – ”

“We’ll make up for it at some other time, yeah?”

Emma pulls her bottom lip between her teeth and swallows the lump in her throat. She’s so damn frustrated right now that she can’t imagine saying no. 

Not that Killian lets her. His determination continues as he bends down until he’s on his knees and his hand and his lips are working her higher and higher until air is escaping her so that it’s difficult to breathe. Fuck, he’s good at this, and she doesn’t want it to stop. 

Pretty much ever.

“Just like that,” Emma groans as her head tilts back to the door. Her knees are getting a little weak, her legs shaking, and she reaches forward to curl her fingers into his hair. “Oh, fuck.”

Her releases crashes over her in small waves, and her legs shake a little more until Killian’s free arm wraps around her and holds her up, pressing her further back into the door. There’s sweat prickling at her temples, and her heart is definitely going to do something unnatural that’s going to put her in the hospital.

She would rather die than tell Whale that she’s in the hospital because of an orgasm. 

Damn. Just damn. 

“Swan, if you don’t release my hair soon, I’m going to have a bald spot.”

Emma blinks and releases her hand from Killian’s hair, smoothing it down as he helps tug her shorts up. Slowly, he stands from the ground until they’re almost eye-to-eye, and the idiot has the biggest smirk on his face. 

At least he’s no longer furious. 

“Hey,” Emma hesitates, “so about earlier with Tink – ”

“That’s a story for another time,” he quickly interrupts as he scratches behind his ear. “Why don’t you go to the restroom and straighten yourself up? Wouldn’t want any of the kids asking why you look a wee bit off.”

“Oh, yeah, okay. I’ll go do that.”

Killian’s not in the main part of the office when she finishes up in the bathroom. Skipper is still sitting behind the desk, but she barely looks up when Emma walks by.

Huh. 

She’d go upstairs and look for him, but she really had to go and get to work. Mary Margaret will kill her if she’s late, and she’d really rather not be murdered, especially since David will definitely cover things for Mary Margaret.

It’s not a long walk to the club, so Emma’s still the slightest bit shaky when she gets there. Mary Margaret, Ashley, and Aurora are all there and wrangling kids, each of them in matching t-shirts to coordinate teams. Emma’s the green team, and her kids look like they’ve gone crazy with the way they’re running around. 

No wonder their parents pay an exuberant amount of money to leave their kids with someone else while they lounge on the beach or work from home while indulging in as many margaritas as possible. 

Emma always wonders if these kids care that they don’t spend time with their parents or if they’re too young to truly realize it at the moment. 

“Why do we do this?” Emma asks as she walks up to the deck. 

“Because we like paychecks.”

“And the children,” Mary Margaret adds in with a bright smile on her face.

“You should have been a teacher, Marg.”

“If I had gone to school, maybe I would have. This pays better, though, and like Ashley, I’m about the paycheck.” Her eyes narrow at Emma. “Did you walk here from your apartment? Your cheeks are flushed.”

“It’s a hot day and I haven’t gotten my tan yet. That’ll happen. You guys ready to go?”

The kids end up loving the relay race. 

It’s exhausting, overwhelming, and Emma ends up was an ass full of sand. But it’s so damn fun that Emma doesn’t really care about the craziness of the kids or the way that they didn’t filled up on sugar beforehand. 

Okay, she cares a little bit. 

But by the time they’re finished, the kids are all exhausted, and Emma and Mary Margaret send them back to the kid’s clubhouse with Ashley and Aurora while the two of them go back to their offices and catch up on emails and phone calls before opening up wedding files for all of their couples this summer. They’ve got a weddings and rehearsal dinners almost every weekend until the middle of September, and right there on the middle weekend is Liam and Elsa’s wedding. They’d wanted to do Labor Day, but that was impossible with the party the club does and all of the town’s labor day weekend festivities. Everything was booked, and there was no way Emma or Mary Margaret could have been there as guests even if they squeezed them into a ballroom. 

Elsa said there was no way she wasn’t having the two of them there. Liam would probably not want Emma there, and she swears there was disappointment on his face when they found another weekend.

Ass. 

Emma has to take a deep breath and close her eyes as she looks at her calendar. It’s too much looking this far ahead. It’s too much, and she desperately needs to zoom back in and be a little more narrow-sighted. 

She can do this. 

She’s handled a hell of a lot of stuff that’s been more difficult than this job. 

And this is a job. It’s good pay and stable. She loves her coworkers, and she doesn’t actually mind dealing with wealthy people all day or her awful boss or couples who are way too into each other planning their weddings. 

She hasn’t been bitter about people getting married and her having to plan it for the entire time she’s worked here, and she’s certainly not going to be bitter about it now because she broke up with Neal. In the back of her mind, she used to hope and wish and maybe…but no. She’s never needed that kind of commitment. If you love someone and want to be with them, you make the commitment and you stay. It doesn’t matter if there’s a piece of paper legalizing that commitment. 

Not that Neal was committed. 

Obviously not. 

“Hey, this says you have tomorrow off,” Mary Margaret says as she looks at Emma from over the top of her computer.”

Emma blinks and shakes her head before pushing her hair back in its ponytail. “I worked Monday this week, so I took tomorrow off to make up for it. I’ll be back to our normal schedule next week.”

“Oh, good, because David was thinking of us hosting a barbecue next Saturday.”

“Next Saturday is Killian’s birthday.”

“Oh shit. Is it?”

“Mhm.” Emma rolls her chair across the office to the mini fridge to grab her bottle of water. “So, unless you want to have the barbecue be his party, I think it’s going to have to be another day.”

“I’ll text Liam and ask if they have any other plans.”

“Why not ask Killian? It’s his birthday?”

“Oh, good point. I guess it’s not a surprise. It’ll have to be late since we all work on Saturdays.”

“Supply us all with coffee and alcohol, and I think we’ll all be able to stay awake.”

“Perfect.”

-/-

When Emma finally gets to leave at nine that night, she’s starving. She didn’t get the chance to sneak into the kitchen and steal some food for dinner, and she’d do awful things for a grilled cheese from Granny’s. Emma makes them at home all the time, but it’s never quite the same. After getting her car out of the parking lot for the public beach, she back downtown to, passing by the packed Rabbit Hole and pulling into Granny’s parking lot only to realize whose car she’s parked next to. 

What the hell?

No. Just no. 

She is not going in there are dealing with him tonight. Ruby said he’d been hanging around a lot to spend time with Tamara, but Emma thought that was Ruby overexaggerating. Emma hasn’t run into him once, but here he is. 

Fuck. 

Emma leans down to rest her head against her steering wheel before slowly peaking back up. Neal is right in front of her. He’s sitting in a booth with his dad, Tamara next to him, and Emma nearly vomits at the smiles on all of their faces. 

That’s not supposed to be happening.

Tamara is just supposed to be the girl he’s fucking. She’s not supposed to be someone who he’s smiling with and who his dad has dinner with. 

Emma barely ever did that. 

She didn’t want to. She didn’t trust his dad. She still doesn’t. He’s not a good guy, he creeps Emma out, and she didn’t want to get anywhere near him if his pawn shop does end up being as shady as everyone thinks. 

She worked too damn hard to have good things in her life to get pulled down by association. 

What the hell is Neal doing? 

Was it…did he have feelings for Tamara while he was still with her? Was it more than just someone to sleep with? Because Emma could deal with it when it was just physical. She could push past that. Hell, she did while she still stayed with him. If it was more, though, she’s not sure that she’s up for that.

From the way that her heart is pounding, she knows that she isn’t, that it was more between the two of them.

Fuck. 

Emma slaps her hand down, and the horn on her bug goes off. 

No.

No, no, no, no, no. 

She quickly ducks down and hides herself. They’ve got to be looking out at the parking lot, and maybe if they don’t see her in the car, they won’t think it was her. Her car isn’t exactly inconspicuous, but someone else could drive the same way. The place is full of tourists and outsiders right now. The odds of someone else driving a bright yellow bug have to be pretty good. 

Or maybe he’ll think that she’s at the Rabbit Hole but that parking was full so she put her car over here. 

Or maybe he’ll know that it’s her and that she’s currently hiding in her own car as if she was the one who ruined her relationship. 

What the hell is she doing hiding from him? He should be the one hiding from her, not sitting in her favorite restaurant eating with his dad. 

Of course, Tamara does work there, and it’s not like Emma can get the woman fired. 

Or could she?

No, that’s wrong. Tamara knew Neal was with Emma, but it’s all on Neal. She’s not going to be the girl who blames the other woman and not the scumbag man. 

She’s also not going to be the girl who goes inside the restaurant when she’s had a long day and doesn’t want to fake pleasantries or be the talk of the town’s gossip mill tomorrow. As quietly as she can, Emma turns the key in the ignition and pulls out of the parking lot without looking back at Granny’s. That way she’ll never know if Neal saw her or not, and that’s the only thing that will keep her sane. 

She ends up driving in circles around Storybrooke and goes through a drive-thru to get herself a cheeseburger. It’s not the same as going to Granny’s, but it’s good for now. Really, she should go home, clean up a little bit, and go to bed, but she can’t seem to bring herself to. Instead she uses up half a tank of gas aimlessly driving while trying to control her breathing. It’s pretty much a lost cause when each breath is shallower than the next and soon she finds herself in a service station parking lot with her phone in hand typing out a text she definitely shouldn’t be typing out. 

He answers back within a few minutes, and his car is pulling up next to hers a quarter of an hour later. He’s silent as he slides into the passenger seat, but she appreciates that. She’s not really sure what she wants to say. 

Instead she stares at the tattoo inked across his forearm. 

Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better. 

She’s always liked that tattoo of his. It’s mixed within all the angry red scars that map out his skin, and there’s something beautiful about the words coexisting with proof of an accident. Maybe one day she’ll hear the story, but for now, all she knows is those words. 

Emma’s not sure if she’s getting to fail better or if it’s just the same thing over and over again. 

Killian’s slushie is half empty by the time she finally speaks. 

“I’m sorry about Tink showing up at your office earlier.”

“It was nothing.”

“Superpower,” Emma murmurs. “And I don’t even need it to tell that’s a lie.”

“I apologize for how I acted afterward. I shouldn’t have…hell, Emma, I shouldn’t use you like that.”

She twists in her seat and turns toward him, resting her cheek against the headrest. “We’re using each other physically. We both know that.”

Killian nods and mimics her movement. “Aye, I know, but on occasion, when I have the chance to think, I realize that sometimes I can be too gruff and too impulsive. Our friendship is first, and I sometimes forget that when I need to release some of the tension.”

“I don’t mind. I promise. I’m the same way. It’s why this is working.”

“What happened tonight that you called me here? It’s nearly midnight.”

“We’ve been here at three in the morning before. Midnight is nothing.”

A smile tugs at the corner of his lips, but it just as quickly faltered. “Swan.”

It’s so simple, the way he says he last name so frequently, but he could get her to tell him just about anything just like that. 

“What did I do wrong to make Neal cheat on me? I know we had drifted apart at the end, that we weren’t sleeping together as much, but I still didn’t…the thought never crossed my mind to cheat on him. And when I found out about it the first time, I let it go. I figured it was physical. But he’s in a relationship with her, and for some reason that makes it all worse.”

So, she went there. Finally. And she doesn’t know whether or not it feels better to get it all off her chest. 

“The first problem, love, is thinking there’s any fault of your own.” Killian reaches forward and tucks her hair behind her ear before swiping his thumb across her cheek. “As much as Neal had his moments, I thought he was an asshole. You have always deserved better than someone who puts your down and who betrays your trust like he did. It hurts like hell to be betrayed like that, but you’re going to be better for it.”

“When?”

“I don’t know.”

Emma blinks and closes her eyes as she makes another attempt to calm her breathing. “Is that how you felt with Tink?”

His tongue clicks. “I had feelings for her, but it wasn’t like it was for you and Neal. Most of the betrayal there was because of something in my past.”

“Oh?”

“Aye, but that’s a story for another time.” His hand runs along her neck until she can feel him gently tugging on some of the strands on her ponytail. “I’m actually a bit glad to see that you’re upset over Neal.”

She opens her eyes then. “You’re glad to see I got my heart broken?”

“If it can be broken, that means it still works.”

Emma swallows the lump in her throat and tries to keep her eyes focused on Killian’s, but his stare is so intense that she squirms and looks down back at his arm and at all of the ink that scatters his skin. It’s safer there. He can’t read her as easily. He’s always been able to do that and has called her out on her shit when he needs to, and she usually appreciates it. 

She doesn’t know what she thinks right now. 

“Sometimes I don’t want it to work,” she quietly admits as cars keep driving by the two of them, headlights brightening before fading away. 

“But it does, love, and I swear to you, one day you’ll want it to again.”

-/-

-/-

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[star-wars-scribbles-ff]

Where I Belong | Chapter 1 | Prologue

Story Summary: The only family she’d ever known gave her a name; back when she belonged to something. But when that family is lost, she leaves it all behind. When destiny drops her in the last place she ever wanted to be, she has to earn back the trust and respect of the Republic that left her to die. Caught between the Jedi and the Grand Army of the Republic, she'll discover where she belongs.

Fandom: Star Wars | Galaxy Far Far Away

Rating: T+

Story Genre/Warnings: action/adventure/found family | war violence, death, torture, discrimination, angst, fluff, [more]

Words: 13,623

Disclaimer: Majority of properties within this fanfic are owned by Lucasfilm/Disney. My OCs, as well as a few other things within this fanfic are of my own creation. Republic Cog header made by me :) 

CHAPTER NOTE: Haha I know you’re having a hard time getting past that terrifying word count above if you haven’t already said ‘to hell with this’ and kept scrolling, but I like writing long chapters because I don’t update as frequently as other writers so I wanna provide some good stuff to keep readers busy while they wait... Hope that’s alright? (All chapters aren’t that long; usually around 5k. Don’t worry there’s just a lot to unpack in this first chapter) If you’re still here I hope you enjoy :)

Masterlist | Next Chapter | Chapter Art & Map | Echo & Trauma Squad

“We’ve entered the atmosphere, Sergeant. You boys are clear to get ready.”

Pressing the button connected to the cockpit via a control panel on the wall, CC-4811, Sergeant Mash, went to respond. 

“Roger that. Drop us 3 klicks south of RV point Axe.”

“Will do, sir.” 

Lowering his hand, Mash turned, gaze finding his team doing a last minute equipment check before their coming drop into hostile territory. It was helmets on at 100 klicks, they still had another minute or so. 

“Alright, listen up.” Mash held up a datapad, tapping briskly on the screen, a holo of the location of interest shown up into the semi-lit shuttle bay. “Intelligence spotted a Separatist fleet five rotations ago within the Duluur sector. They lingered for one standard Coruscant rotation above Devaron before departing from this sector. It is unknown whether hostiles have taken RV point Bullseye.”

“Why couldn’t we get the debrief on Kamino?” CC-4999, or as they called him, Nines muttered. The squad member was finishing the assemblement of his Deece with a sniper attachment.

“This is a priority mission,” Mash continued. “Retaking Bullseye needs to be done quickly, quietly, and efficiently. Minimal destruction which means no rockets, detonators, or explosives of any kind, hence our silent entry - sorry Hawk.” The smidgen of sympathy in Mash’s voice for their demolition man causes CC-4998, Hawk, to give a small jut of his chin and a twitch of a smile. “The Republic seeks to turn this Temple into a staging ground for Surveillance Operations. Keeping Bullseye standing is top priority; sweep the grounds and wipe out any Separatist forces that may have taken it; preferably all in under a 12 hour window.”

“100 klicks out,” The pilot’s voice came over the shuttle’s com systems.

Shutting off the datapad, Mash tossed it to one of the shuttle seats lining the bay wall before grabbing his helmet. The rest of his squad did the same as they all put their helmets on.

“Didn’t really answer the question, Sarg.” Nines uttered while rolling his shoulders, the action causing the armored plates to clunk against one another.

“Skipper said the Jedi were touchy about it, Nines.” 

The kid was a bit of a hot shot but his skill with a rifle more than made up for the snarky attitude.

“They give us confidential assignments for a reason. They want this done quickly and quietly without word getting out.”

The sniper tipped his trigger and middle finger around in a salute that would have most likely made their training sergeant fume at the lack of maturity before turning towards Hawk.

“Bit strange they revived us so quickly.” CC-4803, Corporal Razor stepped up next to Mash. “From what Skipper told me- most get a couple months before they’re pulled for assignment again.” 

Like the rest of their kind, they were kept in stasis when not on assignment. Infantry weren’t because they dealt with the bulk of the war. 

“Personally I don’t mind - I guess it’s gotta mean we’re doing something right if they keep pulling us for jobs,” Razor added. 

Their advisor on Kamino, Skipper, acted as their go-to man during missions. He’d feed them intel on the ground and organize quick and dirty drops and extractions if the need arose. 

“Trying not to think about it, ner vod (my brother/comprade).” Mash said, the mando’a slipping through his mouth with ease. It wasn’t something other clones knew… More of a perk from their branch of the GAR. If you were lucky, your training sergeant may have taught you the Mandalorian language. The clone flash training made it stick too, so they were fairly fluent. 

Like the rest of their kind, they were kept in stasis when not on assignment. Infantry weren’t because they dealt with the bulk of the war. 

Not long after the Battle of Geonosis, their squad, Echo squad, was formed. It was created in the wake of each of their losses. Mash had lost all his men, his brothers, and so had Razor who had been Sergeant of his own men. Nines and Hawk together lost their Corporal and Sergeant. Higher ups had pushed them all together for a follow up assignment shortly after Geonosis and they had to get to know each other on the ground the hard way. 

Since then they’d done a few jobs here and there. They all had the same training sergeant so while there was a small grimmer of familiarity, they were still strangers to each other. It took some getting used to, but things had since smoothed out. 

“Sounds like this assignment really is priority. For the Jedi at least. Whatever Jedi was occupying the Temple previously was recalled to Coruscant. It didn’t take long for the Separatists to get word of the outpost’s vacancy it seems.”

“I’ll say,” Razor chuckled beneath his helmet before finishing the tie on his rappelling gear. They’d be dropping into the dense jungle soon. “From what I hear, intelligence still has holes in it. Intel is leaked more often than it isn’t, gotta wonder you know?”

Checking the knot of his rappelling gear a final time, Mash hesitated to respond to Razor’s comment. Razor had always been one for the gossip regarding the Republic’s works. Sometimes that curiosity was useful, but more often than not Mash wished his brother were more discreet.

Word had gotten around, but since the Republic were officially handed control of the army, they’d begun making changes. Their branch of the GAR was getting quite the makeover, however whether the changes were doing more harm than good was still up for debate. Clone Advisors was just one change that had been temporary, but had since stuck around. Certain Clone Officers without fieldwork would act as advisors or middlemen to non-Clone Republic Officers, like the Jedi, still getting a handle on how to efficiently induct the different clones into the conflicts. 

It was a surprise to the Clones when the Jedi, the legendary warriors they’d been told of all their lives, didn’t exactly meet textbook expectations.

It wasn’t their place to ponder the Jedi abilities as Military Leaders, but their corner of the GAR was quickly developing opinions, a ship Mash was hesitant to board. 

“You implying its a higher ups problem?” Mash asked.

“Not necessarily,” Razor responded. “Just something to think about is all. Although, I know you prefer not to.” 

He’d known Razor long before they’d been thrown together in a squad. He’d met him several times on the simulation battlefields during training, and he knew him well enough to detect the humor laced through his voice to understand when he was pulling his leg. 

“Stay focused, vod.” Mash muttered, thankful he could hide his own grin as a chuckle from Razor radiated through helmet comms.

“Coming in, we’ll be over the drop zone in 30 seconds.”

The turbulence picked up in the shuttle as they approached their destination and all members of the squad made their way towards the back of the shuttle bay.

Hawk hit the button for the shuttle’s ramp on the wall control panel and soon enough the roar of the ship's engines took over, causing the sound dampeners in their helmets to kick in.

The shuttle trembled as the pilots pulled up on the controls and the ship stalled above an area of jungle which was where their assignment was to begin.

“Go go go,” Mash ushered each of his men out before going himself. One hand on the rappelling line and the other holding his Deece at the ready, Mash kept his eyes on his comrades heading down the 60 or so meter distance passed a layer of fog into the darkness of the Devaronian jungle. 

Large vines as thick as the bay of the shuttle covered the planet as far as Mash could see, even through his helmet display. Data on the planet mentioned the unique flora which they would encounter; the vines breached the landscape like borrowing Rishi eels, knotted and intertwined together creating a blanket covering the terrain. 

Watching as each of his squad hit the ground, Mash followed as they did in stripping themselves of their rappelling gear as it zipped back up into the shuttle.

Switching comm frequencies, Mash looked up to the hovering shuttle around 100 meters about them. 

“We’re clear, pilot.” 

“Roger that sir, have fun down there,” The ramp of the shuttle began to close before it headed off. 

The jungle had fallen quiet once the ship was out of range, and soon enough, the chirping and rustling of native fauna began to grow in the shuttle’s absence. Looking around the terrain, Mash was quick to notice how the ground under the vine canopy was rather barren aside from sparse foliage in the form of smaller vine systems and shrub-like plants. They were going in under the impression that there would be greater amounts of foliage; it would complicate matters for reconnaissance and stealth-based action going forward. 

It was the first bump in the road, but it certainly wouldn’t be the last. Improvisation; its what they trained for in situations like this.

In a series of blinks, Mash pulled up specs on the surrounding landscape, including humidity levels. They were high enough. Readings indicated it had rained recently.

“Start dirtying up the armor. Foliage won’t provide enough cover so we’ll need to-”

An aggravated grunt caused Mash to turn, finding Nines with his hands braced on his lower back as he craned into a stretch, his Deece in the hands of Hawk.

“They changed this di'kutla (useless/stupid) armor again, didn’t they.” He grunted. 

“The Manual outlined the upgrades,” Hawk reminded his brother with a slight tilt of his helmet, only to receive a mild clock on the shoulder plate from Nines as he got his footing back.

“Who the hell has time for that, do I look like I got time for that?”

“Cut the chatter,” The statement came out firm, although the mild distraction of the hostile territory around them softened his words. “This is hostile territory, so let’s shift it,” Mash gestured forward with his Deece. 

“Dirty up.” Razor shrugged, emphasizing on the Sergeant’s first order before popping off in one direction to start camouflaging his armor. 

Mash watched as Nines lingered on their Corporal walking away before he audibly grumbled, going off in a somewhat similar direction with Hawk.

“I long for the day when I can put this armor to actual use.”

“And how would you go about doing that, Nines?” Hawk asked.

“By using it how it was meant to be used- urban warfare, close quarters… actual fire fights. Not writhing around on a dust ball like Geonosis or making mud angels on this heap.”

The comment caused Hawk to openly laugh, something that if Mash was being honest, wasn’t customary of his younger comprade; however he had to admit it pleased him. He’d always been less of a talker than Nines; more hesitant to accept the new squad; whether it was because of the fate of their old one, or maybe who he had ended up with, Mash wasn’t certain. 

“Keep your trash talk on internal comms, Nines.” Razor reiterated the words as if he had done so multiple times already, which he most likely had.

“Trash talk… Kebbur haar haat (try the truth).” Nines grumbled, before throwing a glob of mud onto his thigh plating, coating one leg in the darkly colored mud.

The kid was all talk. As soon as a superior was around he would 180 and they’d be none the wiser.

Another minute passed before the squad’s signature white armor with red and orange accents were covered helmet to boots in Devaronian mud. The humidity would prove troublesome as they’d need to reapply the camouflage again within the hour.

Exchanging a couple of nods with the men, Mash made a final glance exchange with Razor.

“We’re ready,” The Corporal gave him a nod.

“Then let’s move out.”

A couple hours had passed, and the position of Devaron’s two moons had since shifted across the night sky; they could be seen in the distance adjacent to RV point Bullseye’s structure. The thick layer of fog had been ever present since their arrival, and while it didn’t completely inhibit their line of sight, it was keeping them on their toes.

Spotting subtle obstruction on the ground ahead, Mash held up a fist before gesturing for the men to move forward to a position of cover cautiously.

The Sergeant came to a stop at a large vine almost a meter thick. He kept his back to it as Hawk stopped behind him. 

“I’ve got eyes on the South road.” Nines came to a stop a few meters to their 3 o’clock, kneeling down on one leg before resting his rifle over a low vine breaching the ground, leaning in to look through the scope. 

The Temple had four roads that branched out in each direction, the primary Northern and Southern Roads drew an imaginary line through RV point Bullseye while the secondary Western and Eastern roads connected the courtyards and other smaller facilities to the overall structure. 

“It’s called a promenade, not a road.” Razor muttered as he came to a stop beside the sniper, blaster raised and alert as he observed the surrounding area.

“Yeah I know, the HUD said that, but what the hell is the difference- its a road.” Nines grunted. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to hear they’ve updated the HUD’s terminology index on architecture. I can’t think of more vital information to the mission.” The cock of Nines’ helmet only enhanced the sarcasm leaking from his filtered voice as he glanced up at their Corporal. “Looks clear up ahead.”

“No droids?” Mash questioned.

“Doesn’t look like it, Sarg. Zero movement.” Nines responded, gaze back through the scope.

From his crouched position on the ground, Hawk looked up at the Sergeant for a brief moment before glancing towards Razor. 

Going in they’d be simultaneously at an advantage and disadvantage. The enemy had the high ground and not to mention the location in question that needed to be retaken, but the squad had the element of surprise. 

“Alright. Let’s start moving in. Stay sharp and switch to internal comms,” Mash instructed and with a couple of hand gestures, fleshed out their movements going forward.

Like the vigorously tested training exercises on Kamino, the squad began to move in on the target location quickly and quietly. Using the native flora to their cover advantage, the small group made their way up to the Temple road before branching off to the structure’s right side. They’d stay between the Eastern and Southern roads in order to get as close to RV point Bullseye as possible without leaving the cover that the Devaronian vines provided. Once close enough, they could make their way across the courtyard and to the Temple. From there execution of the mission would change. How, was something Mash didn’t know yet.

Loosely following the road’s edge closer and closer to the Temple which was growing up into the sky the further they traveled, Echo Squad finally came to the wall of the courtyard, an area that surrounded the Temple. The wall was just under two meters; a quick scale. 

Stepping up to the wall, Nines lowered his rifle, resting its barrel on the wall before perusing the open and exposed ground ahead. 

“No visuals. All quiet.”

“I’m not liking this,” Razor muttered, tilting his body only slightly towards the Sergeant. “Its sloppy. Even for the droids.”

“Maybe we just came at a bad time,” Nines offered, continuing to scope out the area. “Caf break or… battery recharge- quiet time. What’d droids have these days?” 

“Let’s give it another minute.” Mash decided, craning to look up towards the main Temple structure which was significantly larger than its sibling tower. “We’ll move in if we don’t get-”

“Wait, I’ve got a visual.” 

Mash jerked his head to the right to see where Nines’ scope was aligned, towards the smaller of the two towers. The shutter and chung of metal clanking together in a uniform manner was a sound that had since become familiar to them. 

On Kamino they trained against other clone squads, training staff, and simulation targets. The droids which were now being used by the Separatists weren’t entirely unfamiliar, but it was a somewhat impersonal enemy nonetheless. The droids were designed to overwhelm, something that proved effective against the Republic at Geonosis, especially their branch of the Grand Army of the Republic. 

Part of the reason missions concerning their branch of the GAR were no longer to overlap with Infantry (unless under special circumstances) was because the Jedi thankfully came to their senses on that account. Their branch lost half of their entire force at Geonosis. Their first battle and their kind were cut in half… It unsettled Mash to the point where he preferred to not think about it, but his head constantly reminded him that those nerves wouldn’t help whether he ignored them or not. The Jedi, while they may not have been what they’d expected, were warriors and leaders nonetheless and they’d been taught all their lives that they’d been created to help the Jedi. Things were seemingly off to a rocky start but they’d level out. It seemed they already were, which Mash was thankfully for. He hadn’t worked directly with a Jedi yet, but when the day came he hoped they’d be up to the task of using him and his men to the best of their ability.

The enemy force finally emerged from around the farthest tower, revealing a squad of eight B1 battle droids. The standard, not a problem. However whatever forces may wait within the Temple or around the perimeter was the standing issue. If they had more time, Mash would have ordered a sweep of the perimeter to be safe. But they didn’t have that luxury. Looks like they’d be doing a hard contact entry, sweeping room to room and floor to floor until the entire structure was clear. 

“Well you wanted close quarter combat, ner vod.” Mash finally stated, watching alongside his squad as the droid squad went about their patrol of the Temple grounds. “We’ll eliminate this squad first.”

“Soft entry?” Hawk questioned.

“We’ll have to improvise on that front. Debrief mentioned a security system in the Temple. Nothing the droids can figure out, apparently its more of a force user problem, but with the cams they’ll most likely see us coming. We’ll have to hit quick enough to have the advantage inside.”

“What’d you call that, a medium entry, sir?” Nines chuckled, still zoning in on the droids.

“Call it what you want, Nines.” Mash nodded with minor amusement before giving his rifle one last check just to be safe. 

“I’ve got a second droid squad coming in, 2 o’clock off the Eastern road… Looks like it might be a rotation change.” 

“Watch em, Nines.”

“Roger that Sarg,”

“Razor?” Mash turned his attention to the Corporal. 

They always threw ideas off of each other. While Mash was officially in charge, he preferred to keep the title as loose as possible. Razor used to be Sergeant of his old squad, and was demoted to Corporal when transferred to Echo Squad. While they had differing ways of handling situations, Mash understood the wisdom in getting a second opinion. 

An audible sigh came through the Corporal's helmet as Razor looked up at the structure. 

“No easy way we’re getting in there without almost immediate detection. Without the use of explosives or detonators-” The nod he gave was decisive, his voice level and collected. “Looks like we gotta do this t-”

The fading of clanking metal from the droids was quickly and suddenly overpowered by the rumble of a familiar sound.

Looking up through the vine canopy, the members of Echo Squad are met with the image of a Republic Nu-class Shuttle swooping in over RV point Bullseye.

“No,” Mash muttered. “No no no- what the hell are they doing!?” 

“You get anything over comms? Change of plans?”

“No,” Mash growled through grit teeth before quickly swinging a leg up, getting over the wall before gesturing for the squad to follow.

The uninvited guest had already caught the attention of the two squads of B1s as they all began to open fire on the vessel. The fire would do little against the shuttle’s shields. 

As Echo Squad members quickly finish entering the courtyard, the Attack Shuttle’s ramp lowers and four similarly dressed troopers begin rappelling down to the adjacent courtyard.

“I don’t believe this-” Mash snapped before gesturing for the squad to move out and join the fire fight on the other side of the Temple grounds around fifty meters away. 

“There go our medium entry plans!” Nines laughed over the growing sound of blaster fire as they ran to join the conflict.

“Not the time, kid!” Mash barked. 

As they entered the Eastern courtyard that wrapped around the structure, a couple more droid squads came into view. The other Squad of clones that had arrived were keeping a relatively loose formation as they took out the enemy force, for their kind it looked pretty sloppy; or at least not Echo Squad’s style.

Mash knew his squad was on him, and he didn’t have to remind them to keep it tight. They’d cover the enemy force closer to Bullseye and leave the straggling droids to the newcomers. 

B1 Battle Droids had a rather standard targeting system; as they clunked along on a relatively straight path, they’d fire their blasters off in even intervals. They were a fairly easy nuisance to deal with on assignment. When high grades of Separatist droids joined in, and their numbers increased tenfold, that’s when their years of training met their match.

As they made their way across the courtyard and towards danger, Mash got that liquid feeling in his lower body, like his legs would give out and he felt ten times heavier running towards the firefight, he knew that feeling would always disappear as quickly as it appeared. As his training Sergeant would say: It’s your forebrain shutting down; a fear reflex. He wondered if his brothers ever felt the same; that trickle of fear. He didn’t doubt it. You’d have to be a fool not to to some extent.

As soon as their presence was made known, and the droids turned their attention to the second squad of troopers approaching, the weight was lifted from Mash’s body and the noise in his head quieted. Time to get to work.

The sound of blaster bolts firing off rang loudly into the silence of the surrounding jungle. Picking off the droids one by one, Echo Squad drew further out into the courtyard, near where the newly arrived squad was. 

The last couple shots came from Hawk as he took down a few straggling droids before the men exchanged a couple of quick glances. The spike of adrenaline that one got during the fight was almost euphoric; relaxing when a brief moment of silence came during the action. 

That feeling was cut short when Mash and Razor turned in time to see the Sergeant of the other clone squad about to throw a detonator at another squad of droids approaching from the Eastern road, most likely coming back from another patrol.

“Hey!” Mash barked before running over. 

By the time the Echo Squad leader was within fifty yards of the other squad, the small explosive had detonated; dirt, droid parts, and some rubble from the road shot up into the air. 

“Haar'chak (Damn it).” Hawk muttered, exchanging a brief look with Nines before going after their Sergeant. 

“Are you insane?!” 

The shouting caused the members of the other squad to draw their attention back, and eventually the Sergeant turned as well. 

“Who the hell are these guys-” The Sergeant muttered, patting the shoulder plate of one of his men before continuing towards Mash. “Can I help point you back in the direction of whatever mud pit you all crawled out of?” The sarcasm was strong in his voice as he looked over Echo Squad. To be fair they were all completely caked in the Devaronian mud.

“Sarg-” Razor tried to subtly stop his brother from getting physical but Mash was already close enough to shove the other Sergeant backwards a couple of steps. “Udesii, vod! (take it easy/calm down, brother!)” 

“Under what authority do you think you can just waltz in here an-”

“Authority? Listen here vod,” The armored clone points towards Mash. “I’ve got orders to secure that building back there, so unless you’re here to sit back and run recon while covered in that osik (feces/dung) I suggest you back off and let us take it from here.” The other Sergeant seemed all too eager to start smack talking and it took what was left of Mash’s self control to not get any more physical. Ten years of systematic, precise, orderly training, and as soon as the Republic is given control of the military, everyone seemingly falls off the rails. 

“I don’t know what kind of information you’re running on, but our orders came directly from the Jedi Temple that we were to scout this location for enemy activity and retake the building with minimal sustained damage.” Mash made clear. “It is obvious that you did not receive the debrief.” 

Taking a step forward, the other Sergeant came within inches of the Echo leader’s helmet with his own.

“What are you implying?”

 “Read between the lines.”

“I’m warning you now, vod. Ne shab'rud'niÖ (Don’t mess with me).”

“Bax, come on, vod.”

Razor inched his way between the two Sergeants as the other squad member that had spoken up tried to coax his Sergeant into taking a step backwards. 

“Regardless of who should or shouldn't be here- the objective appears to be the same.” Razor made clear, his hand residing on the breastplate of his Sergeant, his other held out towards the other Sergeant who was being held back by who now appeared to be their squad’s Corporal. The tension could've been cut with a vibroblade in that moment.

Razor knew Mash preferred to work alone; at least he preferred their squad working alone. If it was one thing the man hated, it was the liability of variables he couldn’t control - other people potentially ruining his way of doing things. Whether it be Infantry clones, Jedi, or other squads like them, Mash preferred the assignments where it was just their squad, and their squad alone. 

“Taking Bullseye is priority.”

“Taking what?” The other Sergeant muttered. His posture had since relaxed but it was clear he was ticked off and eager to get a move on. 

“RV point Bullseye.” Mash said. It sounded like he spit the statement out through his teeth. 

“...You mean the Tower?” The other Sergeant deadpanned. 

Silence followed and Razor exchanged a small glance with the other presumed Corporal. 

“I’m Corporal fifty-one-thirty-four… 34.” The Corporal stated, lowering his hand from his Sergeant’s breastplate. It was common to just use the last two numbers. Your name was almost always kept within your squad group, and maybe with your training sergeant unless you were comfortable sharing it. It wasn’t the time to exchange such personal details even if the atmosphere wasn’t so tense. “This is fifty-seven-eighty-seven and five-two-sixty.” The Corporal, 34, pointed to the other two men part of their squad. 

The one identified as 87 appeared to be their tech man, while 60 appeared to be carrying the demolitions ordnance. 

34 gave his Sergeant the smallest nudge with his shoulder and the man seemed to begrudgingly think over his options before his shoulders lowered a fraction.

“Sergeant five-one-eighteen.” He muttered.

“I’m Corporal four-eight-oh-three,” Razor gestured to himself. “This is forty-nine-ninety-eight and forty-nine-ninety-nine.” Pointing the two out, Razor watched as Nines gave the other squad a jut of his helmet, a sort of nod, and Hawk dipped his helmet down in acknowledgement.

Razor only had to turn a fraction towards Mash for his brother to know he would have to speak up.

“Sergeant four-eight-eleven.” His voice was tight, the remnants of his frustration still hung heavy.

“Now that that’s out of the way, would you all mind moving so we can get to work?” Sergeant 18 gestures somewhat dramatically with his blaster in one hand and a cock of his helmet, swinging the barrel of the blaster with smooth precision to the side.

The silence of the courtyard was growing increasingly harder to ignore, no doubt more droids were on their way from within the Temple walls.

“Sarg-” Corporal 34 started to speak

“We got here first, I suggest you step aside and let us take it from here.” 

“I’ve been dragging my men through the mud of that jungle for five hours- We were on the ground working this mission before you dropped in on the front karking door-”

“I don't give a mott's backside if you’ve been stuck here for weeks I-!”

“Sir, I’ve got movement, south entrance,” The statement came from Nines, currently training his rifle on two squads of droids, including some SBDs (super battle droids), exiting the main doors of the Temple. 

Both Sergeants having turned to see the incoming hostiles seemed to quickly come to the realization that neither of them were getting what they wanted.

Sergeant 18 shot his Corporal a look before cursing under his breath and 34 nodded before he turned more so to face Echo Squad.

“Your call. You were here first.”

Mash clenched his jaw from under his helmet. He didn’t need this but… He couldn’t have it completely his way. 

“Can you manage taking the East Tower without blowing it up?” Mash questioned.

The reluctance was evident in Sergeant 18’s movement as he turned towards Mash and finally nodded.

“...We’ll clear it.”

Exchanging a glance with Razor, Mash returned the nod to the other Sergeant.

“We’ll take the main structure; meet up in the communications center after the Temple has been cleared. If you need to, use comm frequency 0374.”

“Roger that,” Sergeant 18 quickly signals to his men and they take off hastily towards the oncoming droids.

With a shake of his head, Mash turned and watched for a brief moment as the squad of newcomers ran off and began blasting away at the droid force.

Nines watched their Sergeant for a moment before exchanging a glance with Hawk before clearing his throat.

“We uh- clear to move in, sir? I’d rather not let them have all the fun.”

Breathing out through his nose, the Echo Squad Sergeant gave his brother a nod before gesturing for them to get moving. 

“Keep it tight.”

“You say that like we’re gonna run off, Sarg.” Hawk chuckled, falling into a loose formation at Nines’ side with Mash and Razor behind them. 

“Just don’t follow in that crack squad’s shoes, please.”

“Looks like their Sergeant is just a little…” Razor trails off, swallowing the breathy laugh he almost let loose.

“Dini'la? (insane?)” Nines tried.

He managed to earn a few chuckles with the comment. 

“Let’s just focus on the task at hand, vod.” Mash responded, voice a little more at ease. Razor had a tendency to keep the atmosphere as light as he was able, especially in instances like this when tension was high. Nines had his own way of trying to do the same, which usually consisted of poking fun at someone or something. “Same rules apply; no explosives. This building needs to be standing by the time we clear it.”

“Copy that, Sarg.” The humor was laced through Hawk’s voice. 

He was the most mellow one of the squad. Mash didn’t really consider himself to have a great sense of humor, but somewhere along the line, Mash subconsciously decided to always play with Hawk and pretend like he was the trigger “explosive” happy one of the bunch. Hawk played along with it. 

“I call entry,” Nines called out, causing Razor to chuckle before moving up closer to the younger clone to cover his six. 

Despite their mismatched squad, formulated as a result of the losses they’d each received, they were quickly becoming a working unit. If it was one thing Mash knew they all took away from their training, it was the constant snippets of advice and encouragement they’d received from their training sergeant. Traat'aliit gar besbe'trayc (The squad is your weapon). Remember that; you are nothing on your own, and everything together. 

“I’ve got movement in the dining hall,” Nines muttered over comms. They were using their internal comm frequency so the droids wouldn’t overhear anything. The other squad hadn’t initiated contact with them on the channel yet, but perhaps that was a blessing in disguise. 

“Tion'solet? (how many?)” Hawk spoke up.

“I said I’ve got movement not a five course meal worth of information ready for you,” Nines shot back.

Hawk just shook his head at his brother’s humor. 

Leaning around the corner, Nines’ HUD marked the number of droids in the room within a beat and he quickly retreated around the corner where the squad was.

“Twelve including a B1 Sergeant and five SBDs. We can use the EMPs right?” Nines questioned quietly to Mash, despite knowing they were on internal comms. 

Electromagnetic Pulse Grenades… Debrief didn’t specifically outline that they couldn’t use them. 

Mash audibly sighed before lowering his rifle a fraction. 

“This is the dining hall. If we end up stuck here a couple days I’d rather raid the pantry than eat ration bars.”

“That’s your argument for not going in with blasters?” Razor questioned, cocking his helmet to the side. 

“.... Yes.” 

“Just this one room.” Mash grunted while shaking his head. “We need to hold onto that ordnance.”

Giving a jut of his helmet, Nines lifted a hand towards Hawk who had the EMP grenades on hand. 

Tossing one to his brother, Nines made his way around the corner and activated the grenade before rolling it into the large room.

A few beats passed before the shuffling and clunking of the metal droids moving about became prominent. 

“What’s that?” The high pitched, animatronic voice was becoming reluctantly familiar before the grenade went off, cutting off any chatter from the hostiles. 

Echo Squad swarmed into the space with deadly precision, shooting down the few remaining droids that were outside the EMPs blast radius before covering the bases of the room.

“Clear!”

“Clear,”

The room was relatively small for a dining facility. Then again, the debrief did reveal this Temple was rarely occupied by more than a few Jedi at a time. 

“What’s left?” Hawk looked towards the Corporal.

“Just Communications; top floor.” Razor turned towards Mash who nodded in agreement.

“While I’m not complaining, the fact that the crack squad hasn’t made contact is a little unsettling,” Nines spoke up once more, taking a seat on one of the tables, slinging his rifle over his lap. 

“Nines-” Mash muttered, waving a hand towards the younger clone. “You're covered in filth, try not to get it all over everything.”

“This building is still under Separatist control last time I checked. I think they’ve got bigger problems then my dirty shebs (backside/rear/“ass”) sitting on their dining tables. Just saying.” Nines shrugged, catching the way Razor quickly looked down and breathed out sharply.

“Don’t encourage him.” Mash didn’t skip a beat in lightly scolding Razor’s reaction to Nines’ humor. 

Wearing full armor and helmets did inhibit one’s ability to read some body language, but they all grew up learning how to read it. He wasn’t completely there yet, but Mash was beginning to pick up on the little details that clued him into each new brother of his. He could almost identify each of them by their breathing in combat. Nines was the easiest to pick out because he always breathed in such an even and controlled manner; a sign of a sniper; the slightest inhale or exhale could mean the hit or miss of a shot. Hawk and Razor were a little harder to tell apart but Mash was getting there. 

“Let’s head up to the top floor.” Mash gestured out of the room with his Deece. “Keep it tight.”

B1 Battle Droids littered the hallway farther down where they had come from. Every floor and room below them had been cleared. All that remained of the main structure was the top floor, the communications center. Whether the other squad had cleared the East Tower was a question Mash hated leaving up in the air. More droids could pour into the lower levels that they had already cleared if the squad didn’t hold up their end. 

Making their way to the end of the hall, they came to an open spiral staircase heading up. Sure there was also a lift, but they didn’t know what they were walking into. The stairs would allow them to survey the situation better. 

It didn’t take long for the squad to make their way up to the top level and to a small hall that led to the opening of the communications center. No doors. They’d just have to move in relatively quickly to get the jump.

Mash followed behind Nines on the left side of the hallway as Hawk and Razor did the same on the right side of the hall. 

“Tactical Droid 12 o’clock.” Hawk said.

“I got it,” Nines had already raised his Deece.

“Pare (wait),” Mash held a hand out, Deece still trained forward, held by another hand despite the pressure it put on his wrist. “Keep it intact, if we get the jump we might be able to salvage information out of it.”

“...Fine.” Nines uttered but kept his rifle in position.

Evaluating the room for a moment, Mash’s HUD marked the hostiles in a moment. Fourteen, a mix of B1s and SBDs not including the Tactical Droid. 

“Razor?” Mash questioned.

“Hawk and I got the right side, you guys take left?”

“Copy.” Gesturing forward with his pointed middle and forefinger Mash quickly grasped his Deece as they moved in. 

Nines headed into the room quicker than the others, shooting down several of the droids before making a run for the Tactical droid before it could register the situation playing out.

Mash shot down what droids remained around Nines, dodging a couple of blaster bolts that came close to his body. 

Razor and Hawk went about taking down droids on the other side of the room, conscious of the blaster charge they were using as they took the droids down as quickly and efficiently as possible; a head shot or correctly positioned body shot; nothing else would do. 

Mash had barely caught Nines finishing off the Tactical droid as he finished ripping the droid’s head from its body before standing up with a laugh, tossing it in his hands twice before looking the intact head over. 

“Vod, gaanaylir (brother, catch).” Nines tossed the droid head towards Hawk who fumbled for a moment, only one hand free as the other grasped his Deece. The droid part clattered against his armor before he secured it properly in his grasp. Hawk then handed the droid head to Razor without much thought and Echo Squad’s slicer made his way towards the command console a couple meters away. 

“Nines, door.” Mash said. 

“Copy that.”

Heading to the front of the room where computer stations lined the walls, Mash lightly ran his fingers over the controls of one of the stations before stepping once to the side to where the security cam screens were. Cycling through them briefly, it took Mash a while to finally find a cam that showed the other squad. By the looks they were making their way towards the communications center and they looked calm enough so they must’ve held up their end. 

“Anything, Sarg?” Hawk asked.

“No droid activity. That squad’s on there way it looks like. Hawk-” Mash got the attention of his comrade and gestured to the console in front of him with a nod.

Hawk nodded and approached him.

“Refresh security systems and realign motion sensors in the building.”

“Sir,” Hawk gave a nod before getting to work. 

“So what’s the plan now?” Nines looked over his shoulder back into the room towards his brothers.

Mash exchanged a glance with Razor who was standing over the command console; the hub for long range communication. 

“I’ll start securing a line to Kamino,” Razor decided. “Enlighten Skipper on our progress.” He turned away and got to work on the console. 

Mash’s eyes dotted over the console where Razor began working before his eyeline fell to the floor and followed the path of destruction towards the door where Nines was. From there his eyes found several moving figures coming down the hall, the other squad. Great.

“Well well,” Sergeant 18 began, the eyeline of his helmet shifting around the room for a moment before settling on Mash. “Su cuy’gar (you’re still alive).” 

“Don’t act so surprised.” Mash muttered before gesturing them over. 

“The East Tower is clear.” The Sergeant continued to look around the room for a brief time before his gaze landed on Mash once more, giving the littlest dip of his head. Mash was quick to reciprocate the gesture in gratitude. 

“Looks like the droids were tampering with the transmitter,” Razor called over. “It’s gonna take some time to get to working.”

“Alright.” Mash’s eyes had quickly found the squad of men who had since entered the room once more. They were so familiar to him and his brothers yet so incredibly different it almost made his blood boil with just how different they were - how different they approached the mission. “In the meantime we need to secure the greater perimeter.”

“You know how long that’ll take?” The Sergeant reprimanded. 

“It needs to be done,” Mash countered before turning towards Nines. Hesitating in his words for a moment, Mash evaluated the men he had present in the room. 

“Let’s send three men, including a Corporal.” Mash wasted little time in subtly waving Nines over.

“If you’ve all got a slicer who can take over this, I’ll take a few men out.” Razor called over, now lying on his back with his head inside a compartment under the command console, helmet on the ground next to his legs. One of the other squad’s men, 87, had since traveled over to where Razor was. After a moment he looked up from where he was knelt down near Razor. 

“I can handle this, sir, if you wanna send someone out with them.” His voice was just a hair higher in pitch and the detail, as small as it was, already told Mash that the clone was younger to some degree; maybe closer in age to Hawk and Nines. 

Sergeant 18 turned towards Mash for a brief time before turning towards the two of his men still at his side. He nodded to one of them and he stepped forward.

“Alright 11… We’ll play it your way. 60 will go with’em on the scouting,” He nods to the comprade that had since stepped up.

Clenching his jaw for a brief time, Mash reluctantly thought over his next move before carefully removing his helmet. Positioning it under his arm, he relaxed his jaw before holding out a hand to the Sergeant.

The soldier was still but the slight movement of his helmet indicated he saw the outstretched hand.

“Echo Squad. They call me Mash.” It was a longshot. But it might make things easier going forward if they stepped past the formalities of numbers for names. 

The Sergeant was unusually still for his seemingly gung ho attitude prior; but the man finally looked down at the hand after an uncomfortable beat of silence before raising his hands to his helmet. Removing the piece of armor, he went to tuck the helmet under his arm before returning the gesture. 

Mash met the same set of eyes. “Trauma Squad... Baxter.” His hair was relatively unkempt, but part of that might have been due to helmet hair. It was not the standard military cut all clones were required to maintain on Kamino; it appeared as if he’d let it grow out a bit, his bangs were just teasing his brow. 

Mash shook his hand once before they each pulled away from the gesture.

Looking to his left, Mash met Razor’s eyes as his brother walked over.

“This is our Corporal’n slicer.” Mash nodded towards him.

“Razor.” He responds.

“That’s ours.” Baxter nods to his right to the clone next to him.

“Ram, Corporal and sniper” The Corporal previously known as 34 chimed in with a dip of his helmet. 

Mash gave a small nod in response to the clone.

“Nines, sniper.” Nines took the opportunity of silence to speak up.

“Hawk, demo.” Hawk waved a loose hand while continuing to fool around with the security system console on the other side of the room. 

The man behind Baxter adjusted his stance before clearing his throat. “Char, demo.”

Mash gave the man a small nod of acknowledgement before he met the eyes of the Trauma Squad sergeant.

Baxter turned and gestured towards the last man who hadn’t been named, currently with his head inside the command console where Razor had previously been.

“The kid over there’s Jack; our slicer.”

“Razor, you alright taking Nines and Char on a perimeter sweep?” 

“Just the courtyard or do we wanna start covering this in sectors?” Razor inquired, looking between the two Sergeants. 

Mash glanced at Baxter momentarily and the Trauma Squad Sergeant did the same. 

“I don’t think we need to start heading off into the jungle just yet,” Baxter’s voice was controlled and somewhat reluctant. 

“Maybe just walk the perimeter outside of the courtyard for now. Take an hour and sweep it; check each road for damage or foot traffic and call in if you see any signs of more droid patrols.” Mash continued to eye Baxter as he spoke. 

“Alright,” Razor nodded before briefly meeting the eyes of Nines and then the one identified as Char, giving them a small nod to move out. 

Mash firmly gripped Razor’s shoulder plating as his brother went to walk by before leaving with the two soldiers in tow. 

“How’s it coming, Jack?”

“Corporal Razor mentioned the power cell might’ve been tampered with.” Jack strained to look out from the small space he had his head in, hands up under the console inside the cylinder structure. 

“Well if that’s the case then we can’t get any messages out at the moment. Not even to a nearby fleet.” Baxter muttered, kneeling down next to his comrade. “May not be the time,” Baxter raised his voice enough to catch Mash’s attention. “But what exactly did your mission debrief necessitate… In detail?”

Mash watched the Sergeant for a moment and remained silent until he got to his feet to face him fully. 

“I’m not sure if we’re there yet.” Mash was calm in his statement but still firm. This could get ugly again and Razor wasn’t there to mediate. Not that he needed it… But when it came to this Sergeant, he found his fuse seemingly much shorter than normal.

“Not sure if we’re there yet.” Baxter repeats with a nod, a hand coming to the back of his head before he ran his fingers through his hair quickly. “Y’know if I didn’t know better I’d say-”

“Go on,” Mash cut him off slightly.

Baxter almost smiled before glancing around the room for a brief time. While his expression said amusement, his eyes held a certain reluctance similar to Mash’s. 

“... Let’s just contact Kamino and get this mess sorted.” 

“Good answer.” Mash gave a nod and crossed his arms; as well as he could in the armor at least while watching the Sergeant walk over to his man at the command console. 

Shaking his head, Mash headed over to Hawk.

“Any luck?” Mash braced a hand on the station Hawk was sitting at and let his eyes graze over some of the cam screens. 

“Systems should be finished with the reboot soon.” Hawk nods. “I’ve got no trips on the sensors aside from us so… I think we’re clear for now.”

Mash lifted his gaze and looked out one of the transparisteel viewports of the Tower, eyes picking up on the large vines that coated the planet surface.

“For now.”

The jungle just surrounding the Temple held an eerie silence. One that hadn’t been present when Echo Squad was on their approach from RV point Axe. The firefight had since quieted any fauna in the vicinity of the Towers. 

Making their way across the courtyard and towards the East road, Nines kicked a few crippled B1s out of his path as they walked. While the sniper was content to keep his eyes forward and on the task at hand, his eyes eventually traveled over to the Trauma Squad member with them; Char. 

Nines let himself look the clone up and down for a beat. He walked different; fought different; no doubt probably did everything a little different too. While your average civvy probably couldn’t comprehend that fact, for a clone, it was just part of the job - part of the job that the Kaminoans never taught them. It was something they just learned early in their lives, despite being manufactured to be the same, there was always that little bit of human that the longnecks could never fully scrub out. Nines figured every training sergeant probably instilled some sort of mindset that reinforced their tendency to individualize themselves; he’d heard rumors about other trainers. 

The Trauma Squad member, like the rest of his squad, had green-like color accents on his white armor. While there was no way in hell that the other squad could tell due to the mud they were still covered in, Echo Squad’s color was red; their armor was accented in the red to orange colors. 

Nines’ eyes caught the couple of stairs ahead that went down a foot before smoothing out into the road heading into the Jungle; the place where one of Trauma Squad had thrown a grenade was prominent in the blasted off pieces of stair that littered the vicinity.

“You’re demo right?” Nines gestured down to the rubble with the barrel of his Deece. “This you?” He laughed. 

The Trauma Squad member came to a stop and slowly looked towards Nines, taking a beat to process the question.

“Was the Sarg,” Char finally responded. He had a somewhat deeper voice, more so than Mash or Baxter too. 

“Guy’s not one for the rulebook is he?” Nines raised an eyebrow from under his helmet before maneuvering down what intact stairs were left. 

“Least he didn’t have us rolling in osik,” The man chuckled and Nines felt annoyance prickle his skin.

“First off its mud. We were running recon and needed to take precautions. Second, we were following a strict outline from the Jedi… They wanted the location taken quickly and quietly to avoid making a scene; I imagine they didn’t want their meditation-force-Temple lookin like a battleground when we were done.” He gestures back to the blown up set of stairs that were getting further away as they continued down the road, checking for any droid activity. 

“...Smells like osik.” Char stated. 

Nines clenched his jaw and caught the way Razor gave him the littlest shake of his helmet. 

Don’t. 

Nines let silence fall, although it took every ounce of self control he had left not to start picking this guy apart. It was in his nature to just… Wind people up. This guy was winding him up and was looking like he wasn’t even giving it his full attention. 

Glancing down at himself for the briefest second he caught the sight of the thick layer of mud still caked to his armor… It did smell terrible.... But it was mud…. Hopefully.

The soldiers continued down the quiet path that led deeper into the jungle until they reached the end of the architectural road that ended at some stairs and a small dirt path, not even a road, that continued into the wilderness.

“Well that was eventful.” Nines muttered before turning to head back in the other direction.

They still had the north and south roads to walk. They’d already swept the west road now opposite their position. “Remind me again why they needed us for this job. This is infantry level work.”

“Says the talking osik pile.” Char surmised, following the sniper with his gaze as he went to leave. 

“Wayii- copaani mirshmure'cye, vod? (Good grief- are you looking for a smack in the face, mate?)” Nines had whipped around, coming relatively face to face or- helmet to helmet with the Trauma Squad member.

“Alright, easy you two!” Razor interrupted the two, putting a hand on each of their shoulders before pushing them apart. “Same team.”

Char glanced towards Razor for a brief time before bowing his head in a small nod. Turning towards Nines he eyed the sniper for a brief time before stepping past him to continue their patrol back to the Temple. 

Nines muttered once more under his breath before meeting the gaze of the Corporal.

“You may know how to wind people up, but you make it relatively easy for others to do the same to you, vod.” Razor chuckled before patting his brother’s shoulder plating. 

Nines rolled his eyes before walking alongside his older brother back down the road to continue their sweep.

“How about- now?” Jack grunted, half of his armored body cramped into the small compartment under the command console. 

“Nothing,” Baxter responded, staring at the dark holotable. 

Mash watched the two quietly while his arms crossed, trying to keep his expression as blank as possible before he exchanged the smallest glance with Hawk and Ram who was standing a meter or two from them. 

A string of curses in Mando’a left the clone before the clattering of metal parts followed. The holotable flickered to life moments later.

“Wait that did it,” Baxter held a hand down to the opening where Jack was.

“You serious? The power cell isn’t even in place I’m holding it-”

“Just don’t move.” Baxter cut him off before going about the controls.

Mash took a couple of steps forward and began putting in a secure channel code. 

“I’ll contact our advisor,” Mash explained, fingers working quickly along the bottoms of the console.

Baxter seemed to stall in his movements as the Echo Squad Sergeant stepped up and he retracted his hands from the console. “You do that,” The Trauma Squad Sergeant moved back slowly before crossing his own arms. 

Mash slowed his actions as he processed the dramatic response from the soldier before resisting the urge to roll his eyes. Finishing the code, Mash activated the transmitter and stood up straight, watching as the holotable, now illuminated, hummed to life. 

It seemed much longer, but a few seconds later a hologramic figure emerged from the table and Mash was quick to recognize him.

“Sergeant, how is your assignment going?” Skipper questioned, hands loosely on his armor belt.

It was a relief to see their Clone Advisor, but Mash found the words leaving his mouth to be far from that thought that grazed his mind.

“Temple’s been retaken, but sir, would you mind explaining to me what the hell high command is playing at?” Mash leaned forward on the console, hands on either side of the controls.

“...Excuse me, Sergeant?” Mash rarely ever talked to a superior with such an aggressive tone. 

“Let me,” Baxter less than gently shoved Mash out of the way before taking his spot in front of the hologram. “What he means to ask is what high command’s been doing with their thumbs up their shebs while we trip over our own feet down here trying to recapture a Jedi timeshare.”

“Wayii.” Mash roughly rubbed a hand over his shaved head before cursing. “Show a little decorum,” Mash seethed.

“Me show decorum?” Baxter turned towards the Echo Squad leader, a hand to his armored chest. 

“Alright, settle down!” Skipper almost had to yell to get the attention of the two Sergeants before they both finally directed their attention to him. “Mash, what’s the state of the Temple? Enemy activity?”

“We’ve secured the position, sir.” Mash said. “We eliminated a small Separatist force holding the location; wasn’t nearly enough to hold it indefinitely; most likely just a temporary force to hold the grounds.”

“They may send reinforcements then. Be on guard.” Skipper warned.

Mash gave a nod before glancing around at the others temporarily. “When will the Jedi be arriving?” 

His question was followed by silence, and Baxter was the first to react as he adjusted his stance and took a step forward.

“Well?”

“...The Jedi don’t have a replacement lined up yet.” Not only did his reluctance to respond clue them in, but the hesitation in his voice as well. 

“Excuse me?” Baxter slowly blinked in response, posture twitching.

“Meaning?” Mash questioned.

“Meaning,” Skippered sighed lightly. “You all aren’t going anywhere until they send a Jedi.”

Baxter, being the first to react again, kicked the command console, causing the hologram to flicker.

“Hey!” Jack called from under the console. 

“You gotta be-” A string of curses in mando’a followed Baxter’s proclamation as he took a couple steps away from the console. 

“Take it easy,” Mash put a hand up.

Returning to the console, Baxter rests both hands on the rim.

“I need to talk to our advisor. He’ll get us out of here.” Baxter made clear.

“Sergeant, your advisor has been pulled for an assignment, so Trauma is officially under my jurisdiction until he returns.”

The man was fuming, but he remained quiet, much to Mash’s surprise. 

“You both are to hold the location and report back any Separatist activity or attempts to retake the Temple. It shouldn’t be more than a couple of days.” Skipper eased, holding out a hand as he spoke. “The Temple has a storage facility with foodstuffs and rations to keep you comfortable if you all are stuck longer than your dry ration packs will allow.”

“We better not be,” Baxter grumbled under his breath, glancing towards Ram.

“You don’t have to worry about a thing, sir.” Mash reassured the Advisor. “We’ll keep the Temple secure.”

“I’ll contact you when I have word on the Jedi.” Skipper gives them a final nod before the hologram disappears and it falls quiet.

“...Can I get up now?” Jack grunted, a foot kicking slightly as the man was still on his back halfway under the console. 

“Alright,” Mash mumbles quietly, meeting Hawk’s eyes before glancing towards Baxter as the man had since began pacing around slowly. “Well-”

“Jetiise (Jedi; plural),” Baxter uttered under his breath before shaking his head. 

“Hey,” Mash’s tone lowered in a warning manner. The man seemed quick to want to bash on any of the higher ups.

“It’ll only be for a few days.” Ram spoke up, meeting Mash’s gaze for a brief moment before looking towards his Sergeant. 

Walking over to the computer stations lining the far wall, Mash stepped past Baxter to grab his helmet and put it on.

A couple careful blinks later, he activated their secure comm channel.

“Razor? How’s the patrol going?” Mash spoke up, eyeline shifting to the left as Jack crawled out from under the commander console and put a hand through his hair with a mumble. 

The comms crackled briefly before he got a response.

“All qui… out here, Mash. No sign u-... oid traffic around the T… ple yet. We’re almost done ch... south road th… be heading back.”

“Transmission was fuzzy but I understand. Let me know if anything changes,” Mash responded.

“Yes sir. Any news?”

Mash clenched his jaw and thought it over for a moment before shaking his head.

“Long story short- we’re stuck here together until the Jedi can send someone. Could be a few days.”

“Did he j… ays!?”

That was Nines alright.

“I see,” Razor responded. “Brief us when w…. back.”

“Will do,” Mash finished the transmission before taking his helmet off with a sigh.

“Just great.” Nines growled under his breath, his grasp on his Deece tightening and loosening as he fidgeted. “Stuck with crack squad for-”

“Who’re you calling a crack squad, mate?” Char cut him off. “We’re not the squad looking like they just crawled out of a swamp.”

“Keep talking and I’ll make sure they find your body at the bottom a swamp, mate.” Nines barked back, having turned on his heel to stop Char in his tracks.

“Gev! Take it down!” Razor ordered, shouldering Nines to get his younger comrade to back off. “Both of you,” Razor turned a look on Char before gesturing them both forward. “Squabbling like Infantry cadets for galaxy’s sake-” He cursed before walking ahead of both of them. 

Nines begrudgingly followed, but not before exchanging a small glance with Char before they began heading back to the Temple. 

The walk back was quiet and by the time they’d gotten up to the communications center, the atmosphere had leveled out. 

“The perimeter is clear.” Razor announced, removing his helmet as he entered the communications room. 

Mash turned and met the eyes of his Corporal with a nod.

“Seppies won’t stay quiet for long,” Baxter chimed in, leaning against the command console with his armed crossed, expression almost belligerent as he looked back down at the ground with a scowl. “They’ll send reinforcements and soon.”

“We’ll be ready,” Mash agreed, hands resting on his armor belt. “First things first, we need to start organizing patrols; keep an eye on local air traffic an-”

“Who- put you in charge exactly?” Baxter questioned, his expression revealing genuine confusion but also fatigue. 

Mash clenched his jaw and breathed out quietly through his nose before shooting Razor the smallest look. 

“It’ll only be a couple days, I’m sure we can balance leadership.” Ram proposed, sitting at one of the chairs at the computer stations at the opposite side of the room.

Baxter’s body jolted as if he was trying to prevent a scoff before he nodded.

“Better only be a couple days.”

ONE WEEK LATER… 

Nines clenched his jaw, staring down towards his hands before his gaze lifted and he met Char’s eyes. The Trauma Squad member stared back at him, expression hardly set but relatively at ease despite the fact. 

Tapping his finger lightly, Nines swallowed before he finally nodded.

“I’ll raise you three Nuna jerky strips.” Nines finally stated before tossing the packaged meat into the center of the table.

“I’ll match that, vod.” Char nodded before grabbing some packaged jerky strips from the backpack next to his feet, tossing them into their pot where other small foods and rations resided. 

From the other side of the communications center, Ram watched the two playing cards with a tightly knit brow.

“I don’t get it,” Ram finally muttered, giving a shake of his head. 

“What?” Razor questioned while chewing on a ration stick, eyes on the SOP manual up on the datapad balanced on his propped up leg. 

“They’ll be at each other's throats night and day- but as soon as the Sabacc cards come out they turn more civil than jetiise.”

Razor let a hard breath out through his nose in amusement before shrugging lightly, using a knuckle to scroll down on the datapad. 

Those two were always going at each other, but over the past several days they’d each discovered their love of the card game, Sabacc. They’d started developing an awkward love/hate relationship with the game at the center. 

“As long as they’re quiet,”

The week had passed by slowly. Razor and Ram were getting along alright during the time, however Mash and Baxter were still at opposite ends of a spectrum. They butted heads but a brotherly atmosphere was starting to settle in. 

Turning in his chair, Ram faces the computer station and quickly goes about cycling through the comm channels, listening for any chatter that might clue them into a hostile force. Alongside that chore was looking for any Separatist activity on the air traffic scanners. So far they’d had nothing all week.

The beeping of one of the air traffic scanners causes both Ram and Razor to look up from their distractions. Ram is the first to swing around in his chair and lean over to the neighboring computer station. 

Razor got up from his chair and walked over.

“Got something?” He questioned.

Ram evaluated the reading before narrowing the scanner range.

“I’ve got a ship entering the atmosphere, around 50 klicks out.” Ram responded, brow knit as he watched the screen on the station plot a hypothetical course for the ship that was approaching. “Computer's plotting its course; it looks like they’re heading for us.” Ram muttered before getting to his feet. Cycling through the channels for a moment, Ram found the only other active one and pressed one of the buttons on the panel to unmute the transmission.

“Incoming ship, you are entering restricted Republic Military airspace,”

Razor eyed the image on the screen that estimated the ship’s trajectory as Ram continued to recite one of the standard messages from the SOPs manual.

“Do you copy?” Ram waited but only static came through on the comms. 

“I repeat, incoming ship, you have entered restricted Republic Military airspace-”

“They’re coming in way too fast.” Razor muttered, eyeing the readings on the computer screen built into the station. “Reads are coming through… Ships heavily damaged.”

“Specs?” Ram inquired. 

“Hull integrity is at critical levels, heat spikes all over the ship, scanner’s reading engine failure. That ship’s not being piloted, it’s going down.”

“What’s the estimated crash path?” Ram asked, finger hovering over the comm button, allowing the static to come through. 

Going about the controls on the station, Razor expanded the aerial map of the surrounding area and the computer AI marked an estimated crash zone. 

At seeing the area, Razor leaned in further, brow knitting tightly. 

“Something wrong?” Ram questions.

“That’s just near RV point Axe… Aren’t they patrolling that area?” Razor questioned, turning to the fellow Corporal.

At processing his comrade’s words, Ram quickly abandoned the comm frequency he was using to contact the unknown ship and set the frequency to their squad comm channel.

“Sergeants we’ve got a ship coming in with a projected crash zone in your area… Baxter? Sergeant Mash?” 

Razor watched the fellow soldier quietly before glancing to the side seeing Nines and Char had since approached, similarly reflected expressions of concern. 

“Haar'chak, I can’t get anything through,” Ram swore before shaking his head; meeting Razor’s eyes. “Wanna head out?”

In the past few days, they’d discovered how communications were difficult on the planet. If a party was out in the jungle, comms were always very sensitive. They knew it would complicate matters if the Separatists organized an attempt to retake the Temple. 

“... Yeah, let’s go.” Razor agreed before quickly going to grab his helmet. “You two hold down here,” Razor looked to both Nines and Char. 

“Let us know if you need any help.” Nines nodded before shrugging. “... Well I guess you won’t be able to so-... If it looks bad from here we’ll- consider coming to help.”

“Good to know,” Ram smirked before throwing his helmet on. 

Nodding to the other Corporal, they both began running for the hall. 

There had been a short rain shower earlier in the morning. The ground was soft and their armored boots sunk into the soil as they treaded through the jungle. 

Baxter was walking a few yards ahead with Jack at his side, and Mash followed closely behind with Hawk. 

The Trauma squad members were chatting lightly amongst themselves and Mash and Hawk chatted on and off.

They had fallen into a relatively simple routine over the past few days. They’d hit bumps now and again, but everyone usually did their best to stay out of each other’s way. 

The ease of the atmosphere around them came to a screeching halt however, when the crackling of sticks sounds off to their 9 o’clock. 

Baxter is the first to ready his rifle before anyone else had time to process the sound disruption. They may not have been a squad, but they knew how to make it work, and everyone worked off of each other in accordance with the developments around them.

All of them trained on an assortment of foliage several meters away, more rustling follows before small chirp-like noises emit from the bushes.

It was a familiar sound. One of the native fauna from the planet, a small reptilian species. However the familiarity didn’t stop Baxter from watching the position from which the sound radiated with a raised weapon. 

Jack had his weapon raised hesitantly as well, although Sergeant Mash’s lack of reaction caused him to second guess his own. They hadn’t seen any action in weeks. It was obvious Sergeant Baxter was getting an itchy trigger finger to shoot something. 

“S’nothing, brother.” Mash mumbled, rifle loosely held in front of him.

Baxter rolled his eyes from under his helmet and muttered under his breath before continuing on their patrol.

“Jedi are wasting Special Forces; as if Geonosis wasn’t enough of a wake up call for em,” Baxter said, his pace picking up. 

Mash tries not to roll his shoulders in an effort to ease the prickle of uneasiness he got from Baxter’s comment. How had this clone survived this long without getting himself terminated. 

“C’mon, vod,” Mash mumbled, knowing Baxter would understand his comment. 

In training, they were taught that Jedi leadership was invaluable. However at the Battle of Geonosis, the clone army was in for a somewhat rude awakening at just how unprepared the Jedi seemed to be in leading the army. Special Forces lost half of their numbers, and strategically, the Battle was a mess. Many clones came out of their first battle confused, even angered, but still unwaveringly loyal to the Jedi… well most of them did. Baxter made Mash rethink that part.  

“Maybe the next assignment will have us mopping floors in the Jedi Temple, who knows you gotta remain optimistic.” Baxter called over his shoulder. 

Mash just shook his head and exchanged a small glance with Hawk. 

Crackling over the comms caused Mash to slow his pace, a hand raising subconsciously towards his helmet. 

“Razor? That you?” Mash spoke up.

“We-.... ip comi… cra… yo-...”

“Damn it,” Mash muttered before using his knuckles to knock the side of his helmet a couple of times. “Are you getting anything clear Baxter?” 

“No,” The Trauma Sergeant grumbled, eyeline on the ground as he tried to listen to the gargled transmission. “Come on boys, spit it out.”

“Repe… shi… proj… crash…” 

Mash shook his head lightly as he tried to listen only to start hearing a roar of a ship in the background of the transmission.

“...You hear that?” Mash turned towards Hawk who nodded.

“Hey Max,” Baxter suddenly spoke up.

The Sergeant’s expression fell from under his helmet. “It’s Mash,” He grumbled before turning around to look at the Sergeant.

He was looking up through the vine canopy. 

Mash’s brow knit in response to seeing the Sergeant before he followed the man’s eyeline to the sky, eyes widening at the sight.

“Uh… That doesn’t look good.” Jack stated, also finding the ship that was hurtling down towards them in a ball of fire. 

“GO GO GO!” Mash yelled, waving the men off. They began running towards the ship and managed to avoid most of the debris coming off of the craft as it crashed through the vine canopy and barreled into the mud around forty yards away. 

Half of the men had dived for cover from broken pieces of the ship that had rained down.

“Everyone alright?” Mash called out, the question leaving his mouth before he could register his own state.

“Fine here sir,”

“All good.”

Mash quickly got to his feet, seeing Baxter had already done the same.

“Not what I was expecting when I hoped for some action but I won’t complain,” The Trauma Sergeant didn’t waste any time, and Mash wasn’t going to slow him down as they quickly began making their way towards the wreckage. “Wanna bet they were trying to warn us?” Baxter laughed, referring to the rest of their group at the Temple.

Mash nodded to the side in agreement, feeling Hawk come up on his right as they followed the canyoned trail the ship had left in its wake.

It was a fairly large craft, a freighter by the look of what was left. 

A small explosion off of one of the dislodged engines causes the team to jump back a step. 

Baxter suddenly patted Mash had on the back before going closer to the wreck.

“We’ll cover the cockpit area,” He practically threw the comment over his shoulder before jogging off with Jack close behind him.

“But- I- Erm,” Mash shook his head and quieted his objection before it could pass through his lips. 

“Let’s cover the back of the ship,” Mash responded, looking towards his comrade. “Looks like the ship’s main structure is still relatively intact. We might be able to enter through the cargo bay.”

Hawk acknowledged his Sergeant with a nod before going to follow the clone. Both keep a close eye on the wreckage as they approach. Parts of the hull were missing, revealing little hints of darkness within the craft. There could still be lifeforms on board. 

Hawk let his eyes run along the side of the crashed ship as they made their way closer. Most of the ship wasn’t ablaze, the engines had been, but they’d broken off the main craft when it struck the ground. 

Giving the side of the ship another once over, Hawk cleared his throat. “My HUD isn’t recognizing this freighter, sir.”

“It isn’t Republic, keep your eyes open.” Mash responded, rifle raised. 

They get to the back of the ship and the ramp is dislodged from the freighter. Giving the dark opening a quick once over, Mash nodded to Hawk and they began making their way inside. 

Cargo boxes and cages of supplies littered the space. Despite the wreckage everywhere, Mash was quick to spot an outlying object.

“10 o’clock,” Mash nodded to the corpse off to the left as they headed further into the ship. 

Hawk noted the body, as well as another farther away against the wall and followed the Sergeant. Their HUDs could pick up life signs and so far, there weren’t any.

“Hey Mack!” Baxter called out suddenly. “We’ve got some dead lizards up here!” Baxter appears from an elevated platform up the wall at the back of the cargo bay that they had been heading towards. There was most likely a door to the cockpit and a ladder somewhere. 

Mash shook his head and looked up, noting the ship was relatively small now, from what was remaining intact; the ship was now clear. 

“It’s Mash.” The Echo squad Sergeant responded under his breath, lowering his rifle in front of him 

“Trandoshans?” Hawk inquired, craning his neck to look up to where Baxter and Jack were.

“Lizards. Did I stutter, kid?” Baxter responded.

“Yeah Hawk, Trandoshans,” The remnants of a chuckle sounded through Jack’s helmet as he softened Baxter’s sarcastic response. 

Both jumped down into the cargo area and Baxter playfully knocked Hawk’s shoulder plating with his knuckles. 

A sudden shudder of cargo crates in the back right corner of the ship’s cargo bay causes the soldiers to jump into action. Mash and Hawk have their weapons trained on the origin of where the sound originated and Baxter and Jack did the same. The first sign of a potential hostile in a week. It was safe to say they were anticipating a threat.

Taking a couple steps closer, Baxter kept his rifle trained at the corner of the damaged ship’s bay before hand signaling to the others.

Mash, Hawk and Jack all gave nods in response before Baxter spoke up.

“Come out!” Voice alone, Baxter’s ranged on the lower end of what was common for clones; coupled with the helmet filtering his voice, he sounded even more menacing.

When nothing followed the demand, Baxter knocked the crates with a calculated kick of his armored leg, jostling them a good bit but not moving them enough to reveal the hostile.

“NOW!”

Changing the settings on his HUD, Mash changed his helmet display to thermal and after a couple seconds, his brow knit together at the readings coming from behind the crates.

“Bax-”

“Am I speaking Huttese? Get out here you di-”

“Take it easy, Baxter!” Mash finally snapped, jabbing the other Sergeant with his armored elbow before lowering his weapon.

“Er you crazy?” Baxter growled, helmeted gaze whipping around to the other Sergeant. 

“Alright you,” Mash took a couple of steps closer, “C’mon out,” Voice still significantly firm, but lower in volume to Baxter’s, Mash waited for some kind of response to the changed approach. 

The silence that followed doesn’t ease Baxter’s caution as he kept his rifle trained on the crates before eyes peek over one of the boxes.

“Yeah you- out.” Mash muttered pointing to the ground in front of his feet with his forefinger, rifle still held up in one hand trained ahead.

A small being made their way out from behind the crates and Hawk slowly lowered his rifle; Jack followed the action not far behind. 

Taking a moment to process the lifeform, Baxter felt his shoulders fall. “Too bad,” Baxter finally muttered. “Was looking for an excuse to unload on somethin,” Baxter’s eyes trail over the young girl now standing in front of him with slight disappointment. 

“Sir,” Jack breathed out a laugh.

“Told you Jay,” Baxter glanced back towards his slicer, “I got more of that sociopathic blood in my system than the others.” 

Mash looked over the being quietly. She was young, probably an early adolescent; dirty and emaciated. His HUD was picking up on an accelerated heart rate.

“Sir,”

Mash turned and looked over his shoulder to see his Corporal, Razor, along with Trauma Squad Corporal, Ram. 

“We went ahead and did an extra sweep of the crash site perimeter. Any life in he- Oh,” Razor caught sight of the small being that barely met the soldiers chest plates in height.

“Affirmative,” Hawk shrugged lightly, rifle at ease in front of him before he looked back down to the girl who had taken a few steps back towards the crates she’d been hiding behind.

“So we’ve got no other survivors,” Baxter stated, processing the fact before nodding. 

“The ship didn’t come up on my HU-”

“Didn’t on ours either,” Baxter cut Razor off as he looked over the torn up ship around them. 

“I’ll begin scanning the haul,” Ram offered before leaving the damaged cargo bay.

Mash looked around further before turning his eyes to Baxter as he moved out of his peripheral.

“A miracle she survived this,” The Sergeant of Trauma Squad grunted while evaluating the ship’s seemingly nonexistent roof before turning his eyes to the child. “You’re lucky, kid.”

Masterlist | Next Chapter | Chapter Art & Map | Echo & Trauma Squad

CHAPTER NOTE: If you’re reading this, well first off congratulations. I’m frankly quite surprised you haven’t fallen asleep yet or given up. Second of all, I hope you enjoyed!!! One note: Mando’a is littered throughout, I apologize if I made mistakes, I’m still learning! 

Support is appreciated if you had fun reading :) I hope to post the next chapter soon!

[imanativeofswlondondahling]

Becoming A Stark? (9)- Peter Parker x Stark!femReader

Word Count: 3037

Warnings: Swearing probably knowing me

Author Note: Lots of Peter, not as much Tony. Enjoy.

Chapter One || Previous Chapter || Master List

Something had gone wrong. You’re not sure what because no one will give you an answer, but your dad got back three days ago from Germany and has been at the Compound for all of it, at least that’s what you’ve been told. Someone got hurt, badly, but besides that you don’t know who got hurt or what happened. You were stuck with Happy’s substitute for the past two days and it was awful because he didn’t talk to you like Happy does, but even with Happy back this morning, you haven’t gotten any answers. Pepper has been with you for the nights, but she doesn’t seem to have answers about what’s going on, or if she does, she’s not giving them to you. 

Natasha’s phone goes straight to voicemail whenever you try to get a hold of her. You even tried calling Clint, Wanda, and Steve, but none of them will take your calls either. You haven’t heard a word from your dad in the past three days, which almost makes his apology the other day feel like nothing. In the passing period between your last class and your final one for the day, you see if FRIDAY can work on your phone since she does at the tower. “FRIDAY?”

“Yes Y/N?” This is the one time you won’t be mad at your dad for forcing the AI into your tech. 

“Where’s my dad right now?”

“He just left the Compound on a chopper. Want me to call him for you?” You should say no, but it’s been three days with no contact and you're sick of it.

“Yes.” It rings once before the call connects.

“It’s not a good time Y/N.”

“You know how often you answer the phone like that? Too often.” Your voice is short, but you don’t have much time before the bell rings anyway. “It’d be nice for you to answer the phone like you like talking to me sometimes.”

“Aren’t you in class right now?” His voice comes out short and he doesn’t even address what you said.

“Passing period.”

“Meaning you should be heading to class.”

“I can talk and walk at the same time. I’m trying to figure out where my father is since he was supposed to be home three days ago.”

“Things came up.”

“They always seem to.”

“Y/N, I know I’m being shitty again, but if this was a big time movie we would be at a big reveal right now.”

“Yeah, but we’re not. Instead, I just am getting let down again.” You hit the end call before he can say anything else and turn the corner. Maybe missing a day of German wouldn’t be the worst. However, you don’t expect to run into Peter Parker at the end of the hallway again. 

“Fancy running into you again.” He says with a smirk.

“Yeah it’s crazy. Like we go to school together or something.” You mumble, not in the mood to deal with anyone right now. 

“You ok, Y/N?” You finally look at his face and notice a bruise across his face.

“Shouldn’t I be asking you that? You look like you got sucker punched.”

He shrugs, “It was no big deal. You should have seen the other guy.”

“My dad’s not a huge fan of his interns getting into fights, so I’d be careful about it if I were you.” You mention.

“Yeah, I will.” He looks you over as the bell rings giving you the warning that classes are about to start. “Where you heading to?”

“I’m thinking classes aren’t going to hold my attention today. Really long story. I’ll see you around Parker.”

“Can I come with?”

“Excuse me?”

“Can I come with you? I don’t think classes will hold my attention either.” He says with a shrug.

“Sure. I don’t have a plan though.”

“That’s the best kind of day.” Peter looks around the corner for teachers before opening the side door for you to walk out. You almost expect him to stay behind, but he follows, closing the door softly as to not alert anyone who might walk by. 

“So I never would have thought Peter Parker to be a skipper.”

“Never thought Y/N Stark to be a skipper.” 

“Only when the time is right.” He goes to walk out onto the street and you grab his shoulder pulling him back towards the school. “Hold on.” You glance around the corner, looking to see if the paparazzi are waiting. The last thing you need is for your dad to find out you skipped school, with Peter nonetheless, through the gossip blogs. But seeing as it’s over an hour before school lets out, none of the usual suspects are there. “Ok, we’re in the clear.” You motion him forward.

“In the clear from what?”

“Paparazzi.” You say with a shrug.

“They stalk you at school?”

“You haven’t seen them? They’re there before and after school like every day hoping to see Pepper or Dad dropping me off or picking me up. But especially since Dad accidentally leaked my name online, it’s been a bit worse.”

“I guess I haven’t paid that much attention. Is that rough?”

“It was at first. Now I just kind of ignore it as much as possible.” You turn the corner towards the coffee shop where you used to grab coffee before all of the Tony stuff happened. “Coffee?”

“Uh, I don’t usually drink it, but I’ll come with you.” You both walk into the mom and pop shop and you wave to Marcie who seems so happy to see you.

“Oh I should text Happy.”

“He’s an interesting person.”

“You’ve met him?” You’re surprised since most of the time Happy shuttling you to and from school.

“He came with your dad when I got offered the uh internship.”

“Oh I guess that makes sense.” You say even though it doesn’t. Happy was with you the day that your dad said he spoke with Peter.

“Does Happy drive you to school often?” 

“Every day basically. And picks me up. But if I don’t text him now, he’ll be waiting for me the moment school is done and I don’t feel like being cooped up in the tower so soon.” You pull out your phone and send a text about a study group meeting at school. “That will give me at least a couple hours before I have to meet him.” You mention as you shove your phone in your pocket. “Are you interning today?”

“Uh sort of?” 

“I figure not with Dad since he’s off on Avengers duty.”

“Yeah uh, I’m waiting to hear with who.” Peter says as he crosses his arms across his chest. He knows he needs to change the subject or he might blow his cover story and then he won’t even get to pretend he’s an Avenger. “Can I ask, why cooped up in the tower? I feel like the Avengers Tower would be amazing.”

“Maybe it would be if I had a choice in all of it. But I also have like zero freedom. It’s literally, get driven to school, get driven home, and school in between. I can’t leave the tower unless I have Happy and another adult with me because of ‘safety’ reasons. And I just want some of my freedom back.”

“That does sound rough. If you weren’t living the life of Y/N Stark, what would you be doing on a day like today?”

“I’d…” You pause to think about it. What would you be doing? “I’d probably have a sleepover with Betty and Astrid. Watch movies and stay up way too late. Talk about things that have little meaning like trying to get a date to homecoming or the hot guy in our English class. I don’t know. Just be normal. Not have to worry about the Avengers getting in trouble or whether or not my dad is going to find out about me skipping school thanks to the paparazzi taking pictures of me.” 

“The normal?” Marcie asks as you get to the counter and you nod, feeling a little bit of normalcy fall into your life. You give her a ten dollar bill and drop the change in the tip jar. It wasn’t like Tony wasn’t giving you an allowance now, as much as it was weird every time he gave it to you. 

“What about you? When you’re not interning, what’s the normal life of Peter Parker like?”

“Uh, Ned and I build a lot of legos.” He admits as a pink flush rises to his cheeks. 

“Those like plastic building blocks?”

“Yeah, they have some really cool builds and stuff. We’re working on a Lego Death Star right now.”

“Lego Death Star? What’s that?” Peter’s jaw hits the floor.

“You don’t know what the Death Star is?” Peter pulls out his phone and pulls up a picture. Not a Stark Phone you note. “This is the Death Star.”

“Cool?” You shrug as Marcie puts your sugar free hazelnut latte with almond milk on the end of the counter. 

“Have you never watched Star Wars?” Peter asks, confusion lacing his words. You shake your head. “How have you lived without seeing Star Wars? It’s literally the greatest thing ever.”

“I bet I could find at least five space themed books that are better.” You tease, knowing how uptight Star Wars fans are about their genre usually.

“Ah a reader.” You walk over to but a couple equals into your coffee. “I should have known.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You tease back.

“You’re missing out on some of the best films ever made because you think the books are better. Well I’ll just have to find you some Star Wars books.”

“Fine but no Star Wars fanfiction. I’m not stooping to that level.”

“Like you would understand it.” Peter teases back. Your phone goes off in your back pocket.

H: What study group is happening on a Friday afternoon?

“Quick what study group would be happening on a Friday afternoon?”

“SAT prep group.” Peter throws out.

“You’re a genius!” You quickly type back to Happy as Peter can’t help but smile at the compliment that you gave him. He likes being out with Y/N. You’re different from the brief times he spent with Mr. Stark or Happy. You’re more relaxed. More down to earth, and he would be lying if he didn’t want to get to know you better. In the back of his head, Mr Stark’s don’t even think about dating my daughter reverberates, but he can shove it aside as he lets you ramble for a few minutes about some great space books and even about the time your Pops took you to see a space documentary at the planetarium when you were a kid. But then your phone goes off again and you can’t help but groan.

P: Since when did you join an SAT prep group?

“I can’t lie to Pepper too.”

“Pepper Potts? Like CEO of Star-” Your hand flies over his mouth.

“More like my dad’s girlfriend.” Even though you’re sitting outside the coffee shop, you don’t know who could be listening in. “And she’s asking me when I joined an SAT prep group, which means Happy texted her, and she texted me, which could mean she might text my dad.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“Not touch it with a ten foot pole? If I lie to her and she catches me in it, it’ll just…” You mock an explosion with your hands.

“You could tell her you’re trying it out. Wouldn’t necessarily be a lie. You didn’t join it.”

“But she’ll want me to stay in it and the lie will just get bigger and bigger.” You leave Pepper’s message unread, knowing there’s nothing you can do with it right now. “When do you have to get to internship?”

“Not for a bit.” Swinging across Queens could wait especially since Peter didn’t know when he would get another chance to be with Y/N again. “What time is Happy coming to get you?”

“I’ll probably tell him to come in like an hour. I don’t want him to think I’m pushing this too much. Plus the longer I push it, the more of a chance that Pepper gets suspicious.” You take a sip of your coffee and then an idea comes to you. “Do you need a ride to the labs? Happy could drive you.”

“What, uh no, it’s fine. I’ll take the subway.”

“Right, yeah. I just figured we were heading into Manhattan so I’d offer.”

“No, yeah. I appreciate it, I just really like catching the train.” Peter admits, which is true, but also he’s not heading into Manhattan.

“I get that. The feeling of the train moving under you. One of the best feelings in the world.”

“Exactly.” Peter wishes he had bought a drink so he has something to sip on, but at the same time, he hates the taste of coffee. “Do you and your dad ever take the train and go places together?”

“Dad? Taking the subway? That sounds like the craziest thing that has ever come out of your mouth Parker. Dad doesn’t like taking things that people try to hand him. You think he would take the subway with me?” You can’t help but laugh. “He won’t even let me take the subway to school. I can count on one finger the number of times I’ve taken the train since I moved in with him. So to answer your question, no he does not take the train and he doesn’t let me take it either because it’s apparently a safety issue.” You roll your eyes.

“But you disagree.”

“I’ve been taking the subway since I was a baby and it only became a safety issue when I moved in with him. So no I don’t agree.”

“Have you talked with him about it?”

“Have you tried to ask him to consider anything? It’s like talking with a concrete wall. Unmovable and unchangeable. Hell, I can’t even get him to come home half the time.”

“That sounds lonely.”

“That’s the life of being a Stark.” You say with a shrug.

“That sounds unfair to you.”

“Yeah well he hasn’t really been home much for me to talk to him about it. Even if he had been, I doubt he’d listen to me.” Your eyes focus on the coffee cup in front of you, not sure why you’re admitting this to a boy you’ve only had a handful of conversations with. “I shouldn’t be dumping all of this on you. I’m sorry. I’m being a real buzzkill today.”

“I don’t mind it.” Peter reaches across the table to gently rub your hand. “That’s what friends are for. Listening to the hard stuff.”

“So we’re friends now Parker?”

“I’d like to think so. Friends skip class together.” He says with a shrug.

“Friends it is then.” You take a sip of the coffee in front of you and try to ignore the sparks that are sitting where Peter’s hand touched yours. 

You expect the tower to be empty like it has been the past few days when you get home, but instead Pepper’s waiting for you. “Oh, hi Pepper.”

“How was SAT Prep?” She asks.

“Fine. I was trying it out, but I don’t really like the group, so I don’t think I’ll be sticking with it.” You’re proud none of that lie got stuck in your throat.

“It wasn’t the fact that it interfered with your German class?” Pepper’s right eyebrow raises at you.

“Ah so you know about that.” You say, knowing that lying when she already knows about it isn’t going to fix anything.

“Yeah, funny the school calls when you miss a class. So want to try that again?”

“So I might not have been at a SAT prep course.”

“I had a feeling. Wanna sit down and talk?” She asks, patting the couch next to her and setting her files on the table in front of her. You set your book bag on the floor and sit down on the couch next to her. “Come here?” She opens her arms to you and you fall into them. “So, what made German not worth it today?”

“Do you ever feel like the Avengers are more important than you?”

“Ah so Tony Stark.” Pepper says as she rubs a hand up and down your shoulder lovingly. “The Avengers have a hard job, but I think you and I have a harder job.”

“Really?” 

“We are the ones that are stuck at home waiting for them to finish the battle and hopefully come home safe.” You lean into Pepper’s shoulder and nod- hammer meet nail.

“How do you deal with all of this? You’ve put up with him for so long? I’ve been dealing with him for a little over a month and I’m sick of feeling so angry at him every time he goes back on a promise.”

“I love him. Which is an awful reason to put up with it all, but at the same time I was there when he was originally kidnapped and I can’t put up with the idea of going through that again and not be waiting for him at the end of everything. We’ve been through so much and I know at the end of the day, he’s the person I want to be with at the end of it all. He’s impulsive and at times crazy, but he also is loving and wonderful.” Pepper places a kiss in your hair. “I’ll tell you a secret.” You peer up at her waiting to hear what she has to say. “I think you love him too.”

“That’s not much of a secret.”

“But that’s why you feel so angry every time he goes back on his word. Because you love him and you want him to be here when he’s not. He’s trying. It may not feel like it, but he is. He’ll figure out the way he’s supposed to do things eventually. He just might need a shove in the right direction first.”

Becoming A Stark Tag list: @persephonehemingway  @iamaunicorn4704  @furiouspockettoad  @daughter-of-stark  @eternalharry  @huntective-kyeo @riiis-stuff @sunnyoongles @cosmicqueenieb @sovereignparker @bbarnestan

Permanent tag list: @wormonastringonastick

[contrabbandiera-di-elia]

I really can’t believe I was able to finish it on time! But I did! No beta, of course. And actually, it’s most of a blurp than an actual fic, I’d say. I just had this idea that I wanted to finalize it, but I didn’t have much time to do so. I think it’d work better as a 10k fic with everything described in detail, but... well. You have an idea, and I had fun writing it, so please enjoy!

PS: Forgive me the rushed ending, I literally finished writing it a few minutes ago. Also, forgive me for all the mistakes. It was beted in a rush too.

Elippo Week 2020 Day 2 Past or Future

—

Filippo never really thought about being a teacher. He wasn’t a model student in his school days and definitely didn’t choose his studies to become a teacher. But somehow, he became one. A few years passed since he started teaching art in one of the middle schools in Roma, but he still wasn’t fully used to it. And not only him. His friends and family never got tired of making fun of him, a light-minded scatterbrain, taking on such a responsible position. Eleonora still couldn’t believe that they really let him take care of a group of children even though he was still a child himself. Filippo tried his best not to comment on that.

But what was an even bigger surprise for everyone around was Elia Santini becoming a teacher. When he decided upon this career after high school, most people laughed at him. Especially his best friends who knew him all too well to know that he plus teaching sound like a bad idea. But surprisingly for everyone, he actually made it and became a middle school PE teacher. Although his friends still joked that Boccia wouldn’t be happy knowing that his top PE skipper ended up teaching PE, Elia proved to be an excellent teacher. The kids loved him, and he seemed to be really into what he was doing.

And by some strange coincidence, Filippo and Elia ended up teaching in the same school. Which should be great, after all, they used to be roommates for quite a time, they should be goods friends, and it should be lovely to work together.

Only that it wasn’t.

For some reason that remained unknown for Filippo, Elia didn’t really like him. To the point of avoiding and ignoring him every day at work. This was a few years long dislike that Filippo couldn’t understand. Especially since their roommates' days were wonderful. Just one day Elia suddenly became cold and distant and then moved out without giving Filippo any particular reason. Which bothered him every day because usually he didn’t mind people disliking him, but there was something in Elia that—

“Mr. Sava?”

Filippo snapped out of his thoughts, quickly looking away from the soccer team practice. Unfortunately, the art classroom had its windows facing the school’s soccer field. This meant that each week he had a chance to observe Elia Santini half screaming half laughing at the bunch of middle schoolers. And sometimes playing with them. These times Filippo liked the most. There was something alluring in Elia playing soccer with a group of students, taller than everyone else around him but surprisingly fitting between them. Filippo supposed that although he was almost thirty, he still had something of a teenager in him.

“Yes, what is it?” He sighed, moving away from the window. He wasn’t even interested in soccer in the first place. What was the point of staring at the school’s team practice every week then?

—

“On Tuesday I nicely asked him whether he’d like a coffee as I was making one for myself anyway and he said ‘no need’...”

“Uh-huh.”

“...but then I saw him making himself a coffee just a minute later!”

“Uh-huh.”

“Why he declined my offer then? Does he hate me so much that he couldn’t even accept my kind coffee offer?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Martino, are you even listening to me?”

“Uh-huh.”

Filippo sighed with irritation, taking a generous sip of his drink. He and Martino were meeting up almost weekly, mostly to let Filippo rant about how much Elia’s coldness bothered him. The thing was, Martino seemed to be less and less invested in his stories. Which made Filippo annoyed because not only he wouldn’t help him with getting the information from Elia, but he didn’t even want to listen to his hardships.

“It’d be easier if you just told me why he’s like that.”

“I already told you that I have no idea,” sighed Martino, not even trying to hold back an eye roll.

“And I’m supposed to believe it? You’re friends for years, of course he’d told you!”

“Well, surprise surprise, he didn’t. I tried to ask him, but he’s always saying that he doesn’t know what I’m talking about. He’s acting like nothing ever happened. So I don’t know… Maybe you really imagine things, Filo?”

This time it was Filippo who rolled his eyes. He knew he didn’t imagine things. Especially since he vividly remembered how different Elia was when they were living together. They used to spend a lot of time together back then. And it wasn’t only because they lived together. They’d hang out in each other’s rooms all the time, watching movies and stupid reality shows together, damn, even doing some chores together just to spend some time together. And then suddenly, Elia became cold and distant, and that’s how it was since then. It wasn’t just Filippo’s imagination. It was something more, and Filippo made a matter of honor to know why.

—

“Hey, what did I say about playing fair?!”

“Oh, come on!”

“Don’t ‘come on’ me! Go, do your penalty pushups.”

“Don’t be like that, Santini…”

“Add 10 for not respecting your teacher.”

“No way!”

“And the other 10 for pointless discussions. You want to keep bidding, Mancini?”

Filippo smiled against himself, looking at this scene. Elia might have tried to be all sharp and demanding, but at the end of the day, most of his students liked him. Probably because behind this hard-guy façade there was a laid-back guy willing to talk and hang out with his students after school, taking them to see a match or something (not that Filippo was interested in it). Not that Filippo had a bad reputation among the students. Well, maybe among the homophobic ones. But the kids generally liked him, at least those from the art club. Unless they were excellent actors and only pretended.

“Ugh, I wouldn’t want to be your student. You make me remember why I was skipping PE in my school days,” Filippo started, approaching Elia with a smile. The younger man stiffed, looking at him with a mixture of shock and annoyance on his face.

“What are you doing here? I’m in the middle of the lesson!” He hissed. Filippo only shrugged. It’s not that he didn’t know it. It was hard not to notice a group of screaming, running kids.

“Yeah, well, you’re avoiding me at the hallways, you’re avoiding me in the staff room, the same with school events and the schoolyard… I figured it’s time for the desperate measures.”

Elia said nothing, only clenched his jaw and looked back at his students, trying to pretend he doesn’t see nor hear Filippo. Typical ignorance strategy Filippo knew all too well. Not that he was planning on giving up. He already thought it through. During the lesson, Elia couldn’t escape from him. And if somebody asked, Filippo could say he came to ask Elia if he could use the hall for the upcoming art club exhibition. Doesn’t matter that Elia wasn’t a decisive person.

“Don’t you think it’s getting a little bit ridiculous? You’re doing it for years now, and you wouldn’t even tell me why.”

“I can’t see you doing your pushups, Mancini!”

“Come on. It’s not that hard. Just talk to me.”

“I’m in the middle of the lesson, Filippo.”

“Tell me and I’m gone then.”

Elia glanced at him as if he was considering it as an option. Filippo wondered whether he was genuinely annoyed beyond the point or maybe impressed his stubbornness. Or perhaps neither of this. It was really hard to figure out Elia sometimes. Or at least for Filippo.

“You should know it yourself. After all, you used to laugh at it all the time with your friends, thinking I don’t hear you. But well, I did.” Elia wrinkled his nose, his eyes focused on the kids playing… whatever, it’s not that Filippo paid any attention.

“I don’t understand,” he confessed because he genuinely didn’t. He had no idea which jokes Elia meant. There were so many, he was joking around with his friends all the time. He had no idea which ones could possibly affect Elia so much. They were generally some kinky stuff. Did Elia had a problem with kinky? He could just say so instead of moving out and becoming cold and distant.

“Don’t tell me you don’t remember. All those jokes about seducing me for fun...”

Filippo tired to remember those times when he was living with Elia and jokes he was making with his friends. They, in fact, did joke like that. Nothing special, just light jokes. About how Filippo should seduce his straight roommate just like in pornos just for sex. How fun it’d be and stuff. Filippo usually tired to silence them so they wouldn’t make Elia uncomfortable. Looked like he failed.

“These were only jokes and—"

“Yeah, only jokes, but you knew that I—"

“And I had no idea they’d disgust you! I mean, I know you’re straight, so did my friends, which is why we joked like that. About seducing my straight roommate and stuff. I mean, I don’t know, maybe they were more serious than I was, but for me, these were only jokes. I thought you’re chill enough to understand that. If you told me these kinds of gay jokes annoy you, I’d stop making them.”

Elia looked at him, confinement clear in his eyes. As if it wasn’t the answer he was expecting. For a second, it crossed Filippo’s mind that maybe didn’t understand it. Maybe Elia was aiming at something else. The question was… at what?

“Wait, so you didn’t know that I…?”

“Did know that you what?”

Elia looked away, suddenly looking shy.

“Nothing. Nothing, really. It’s... it’s all in the past anyway,” he decided with an awkward shrug. It didn’t really seem convincing, but Filippo decided not to press further. He felt that the conversation was going in a good direction, and he didn’t want to ruin it. All he wanted was to clear the misunderstanding and close the case. He could interrogate Elia some other time.

“Okay, so… I’m sorry for the jokes. I didn’t know they make you feel bad,” he tried. Elia started shaking his head before Filippo even finished talking.

“No, I’m sorry too. I should talk to you instead of… you know.”

Filippo nodded. For a while, they were standing in silence, neither of them knowing what to say and do. Finally, Filippo decided that he took enough time from Elia’s lesson. He was probably close to eventually getting into trouble.

“Okay, so… see you around?” He asked. Elia smiled, which made Filippo smile too. It wasn’t perfect, still very very awkward, but Filippo believed that was the start of a completely new era of his history with Elia Santini.