#Scanning the skies (dashboard) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

justheretobreakthings · 4 years ago

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Okay, we’re starting off Bad Things Happen Bingo with a bit of a throwback to the Voltron Bingo event from back in 2018. Way back then, I got a request from @familyofpaladins for my ‘Taking the Fall for Someone’ square, for Keith taking the fall for Hunk, and then the bingo ended and the prompt has just been sitting there for an eternity. But now, my BTHB card has just the square for me to finally get this prompt filled. Hope it was worth the very, very long wait!

Got Your Back

Written for @badthingshappenbingo Prompt: Taking the Blame Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Word Count: 13,198 Characters: Hunk & Keith Read on AO3

Summary:

While defending the planet of Crelxatain from attacking drones, Hunk causes what he believes to be some minor collateral damage, but what turns out to be much, much worse. And when the Crelxats needed something to blame, Keith steps in to take the fall.

I don’t even drink coffee.

It was fortunate that Hunk had gotten better with flying during the battles and flight practices he’d been through with Yellow. It might have been the Lions’ magic helping to keep their pilots stable, or the more mundane gyroscopic design of the cockpit helping with his equilibrium. Or, of course, it might just be a matter of him getting used to it. Whatever the case, he had come a long way since his Garrison days, when even a fifteen-minute run in a simulator would be more enough to empty the contents of his stomach.

It was fortunate, because if he hadn’t gotten better about keeping the nausea at bay, his cockpit would be a revolting mess right about now.

He and Keith had only been tasked with coming here to Crelxatain to negotiate for supplies, its geography home to mineral ore that Coran assured them could be top-grade fuel when Altean alchemy was in use, but just as they had approached the planet’s atmosphere, Yellow and Red both picked up a distress signal from the same city they were nearing. It seemed they had coincidentally arrived just in time for an air strike on the city from a nearby Empire ally, and the Crelxat had little in terms of defensive weaponry. So of course, that duty landed on the paladins.

If Yellow’s failed attempts to detect life in any of the little attacking cruisers was correct, they were only dealing with drones, not manned vehicles, but the maneuverability of the drones was downright amazing. They were constantly dodging strikes and blasts from Yellow, skimming near the tops of buildings and sometimes slipping between them, making sharp turns and speedy dives that left Hunk reeling.

The drones’ weapon of choice appeared to be some sort of energy pulse, and well-aimed blasts had elements of the infrastructure and sections of buildings toppling inward. These pulses were also being aimed at the Lions, and although they were made of strong enough material to resist being damaged by the force, the pulses would still send them jerking off course and blown aside.

Hunk groaned into his comm as Yellow tumbled in the air from one such blast, rolling rapidly enough that the gyroscopic cockpit couldn’t stop the blood from rushing to his head and then down again. “I swear,” he grunted, “When we’re finished with these things and back on the ground, I’m just going to spend like three days just lying on the floor, perfectly still, not moving. I’ve had enough movement.”

“You know we’re going to have to head back to the Castle eventually,” Keith replied through the comm. “That counts as movement.”

“So? Allura and Coran said we could take a few quintants.”

“Because it could take time for them to gather and refine the stuff we need, not because they expect us to conk out for days at a time.”

“I don’t care, I’m going for it. Day one, we place our order. Day whatever, we head back. Everything in between, we go comatose.” He squinted into the viewscreen and tried to get his vision to stop swirling before directing a blast toward an oncoming drone. The shot went wide, and the drone responded with a pulse that shoved Yellow backward and threatened to give Hunk whiplash.

“You hanging in there?” Keith asked.

“Yeah,” Hunk replied. At the corner of his viewscreen he spotted a beam of flame, the Red Lion’s fireblast, reducing a drone to ash. “Not as well as you are, though. Aren’t you getting dizzy too?”

“I was on the pilot track at the Garrison, I’ve been flying longer.”

“Still.” He righted Yellow as best he could and caught a drone in his sights. He sent off a cannon fire, and although he didn’t hit it head on, he managed to wing it just enough to send it spiraling. “Seems you’re taking down three of these things for every one I get.”

“We’re not keeping score, Hunk.”

“Just wish I was being a little more useful right now, is all.”

“You’ll be plenty more useful than me when we actually get around to talking to the Crelxats and making deals. You know that’s not exactly my strong suit.”

“Hmm, fair point,” Hunk said. “Your people skills are pretty abysmal, aren’t they.”

“Don’t hold back, Hunk, tell me how you really feel.”

“I’m just agreeing with you.” Yellow lurched upward, and Hunk narrowed his eyes at a drone zipping by from the bottom of his viewscreen while his stomach tried to right itself. He took aim with Yellow’s laser cannon, but just before he fired, another pulse threw the Lion to the side. The laser shot off, and he winced as it blasted through what appeared to be an enormous sculpture in a plaza below. “Crap,” he grunted.

“What is it?” asked Keith.

“I think I just took out some public art,” Hunk replied. “You don’t think that’ll come across as some weird anti-art statement, do you?”

“Let’s hope not. If the pulse things are giving you trouble, why don’t you focus on the drones that are flying higher up for now? I’ll work on the ones nearer to the buildings. Red’s got quicker reflexes, it’s easier to avoid collateral damage with her.”

“Yeah, sure,” Hunk sighed, managing to hold back a self-deprecating remark about how it was probably more to do with the pilot than the lion. For now, he set his sights on a drone careening toward the city's outskirts, and directed Yellow to go barrelling after it.

The pulses continued to give him no end of frustration, but he eventually managed to take down another three drones, and a scan informed him that the sky seemed to be clear around this elevation. He sighed with relief at the scan’s results, and reminded himself that he was this close to finally getting to touch down on flat ground and relax. His stomach was still churning, and his face was soaked in salty sweat, but it was over.

Well, almost over. The skies were clear at this elevation, but there had been more drones closer to the ground, and he wasn’t sure whether Keith had finished them all off yet. Odds were, of course, that he had, and might even be waiting impatiently on the ground wondering why it was taking Hunk such a long time to finish off his own batch. And now he was wasting more time catching his breath instead of actually finding out.

Heaving a deep breath, he grabbed the controls again and started downward, eyes peeled for signs of Keith. It didn’t take long to find him, as Red and her fire were making quite a scene above the city square, currently whipping around in a complicated air ballet while facing off against five drones at once, all focused on sending their pulses into Red from every direction.

Red was able to wing one of the drones before pulses from two of the others sent her flying back, and the Lion let out a growl that was echoed in Hunk’s comm as Keith let out one of his own. She dove back into the fray, expertly wheeling around between the drones and the building tops to send an arc of fire their way.

Hunk hovered on the outer edge of the ongoing fight, feeling the urge to help but not wanting to risk hitting Red by accident. “Uh, Keith?” he said. “There anything I can do right now?”

“Um, keep an eye out if any of these try to make a break for it,” Keith answered. “Other than that, think I got this under control.” As if to emphasize the point, a blast of Red’s fire hit one of the drone’s dead on, blasting it to ash.

“Okay…” Hunk said. He chewed at his bottom lip as he watched the drones, eyes straining as they flitted amongst their flight paths, trying to catch any sign that one of them was liable to break from the pack so he could go after it, but they all seemed to have their sights completely honed in on Red. It felt a little wrong to simply be waiting around while Keith managed the whole firefight on his own, even if Keith had sounded pretty certain of what he could handle and what he needed. He tentatively spoke up as Keith shot down another drone, “You know, um, maybe I could get a shield up and you can sort of feint toward it, see if we can draw them into - ”

He was cut off by a loud blast and a flash engulfing his viewscreen, and Yellow reeled back, sending him slamming his head into his dashboard. It seemed Red had sent out a powerful arcing blast from all to send the remaining drones careening out of the air, at the same time that the remaining drones surrounding her had all pulsed at once. Resulting in a shockwave that pushed Yellow back and, as was apparent when Hunk managed to blink his vision back into focus, leave many of the surrounding buildings with caved-in roofs. Hopefully any Crelxats inside them had had the sense to hunker down in the lower floors.

As he made sure Yellow was steady again, he glanced around for Red, and grimaced when he spotted her. She was still airborne, but the lights on her face and the tip of her tail were stuttering, while bolts of light crackled beneath her flank. “Um, Keith?” Hunk said. “Red’s not looking too hot.”

“I know, I’ve got it under - shit, hang on,” Keith grunted. Red turned around in the air, her movements jerkier than Hunk ever would have expected from Red, and starting soaring away from surrounding buildings. He followed in Yellow, and together the Lions made it to an open stretch of land. Red glided toward the ground, and as she was lowering, her lights went completely dark. She hit the ground with audible force, collapsing in a heap where she landed.

Hunk winced at the sight of the downed Lion before scanning his eyes over ground, making sure the terrain was clear for his own landing. He managed to maneuver Yellow close to the other Lion before lowering her to the ground and disembarking from her mouth. Keith was already outside of Red, standing with his arms folded and staring up at her face.

“You okay?” Hunk asked as he approached. “Looked like kind of a rough landing.”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Keith said. “Managed to get nearly to the ground before she went offline. So, little abrupt, but nothing I couldn’t handle. We’re gonna have to see about getting her powered up again before we can head back to the Castle. Think it was one of those pulses throwing off the propellant tank that downed her.”

“Hmm. If that’s the case, I can probably do the repairs myself in a day or two, but we’ll need to replenish the fuel.”

“Hopefully the Crelxats will be willing to help us out for that.” Keith looked around. “Speaking of whom, see any of them coming this way yet? Battle’s over.”

Hunk frowned and joined Keith in peering about at the surrounding buildings. He had only seen a few sparse Crelxats on the ground while they had been in battle, the pale shocks of hair against skin shades of red and orange making them easy to spot, but most of them had likely fled indoors when the drones had arrived.

He felt a tap against his shoulder, and when he turned, Keith pointed; it seemed he’d been first to spot movement, and without a word between them they started off to follow the pair of Crelxats heading away from the Lions’ landing site and deeper into the city.

It didn’t take long for them to see where the many Crelxats had ended up, since after only a couple of turns they could see a crowd gathering in a wide plaza ahead, a murmur from the assembled onlooker reaching the paladins even at this distance. Hunk glanced to Keith, eyebrows raised, and Keith only shrugged, just as unsure as to what had the crowd so enthralled.

As they moved closer, heads began to turn in their direction, some of the onlookers nudging others beside them and pointing, the chatter gradually dying down as they stepped aside to let the paladins through. No face wore the joy or relief that Hunk was used to seeing from aliens after Voltron fought off invading forces for them. Instead, they were eyeing him and Keith with apprehension and suspicion.

This, Hunk decided, was not a good sign.

The Crelxats were quick to step aside for them, so they were able to reach the front of the crowd fairly easily. And Hunk’s stomach knotted itself tightly as he realized what they were all staring at.

The sculpture. The sculpture that he had blasted with Yellow’s cannon. Or, at least, what remained of it.

From above, it had been hard to see what the sculpture had actually depicted, and here from the ground, seeing only the bottom half, it wasn’t any easier to discern. The shape seemed to be fairly complex, a tangle of angles and loops, but nothing that resembled anything Hunk had ever seen before. His best guess was that it was an abstract piece; a lot of the public sculptures that could be found in plazas like this back on Earth were abstract. There was rubble, he noticed, bits of the same material as the sculpture scattered along the ground behind it, some of it smoldered black like the top of what remained of the standing sculpture, burnt up by the cannon’s heat.

The Crelxats standing nearest to the statue turned as Keith and Hunk approached, and one stepped toward them. She was half a head shorter than most of the others gathered nearby, although she made up for it with a piece of headwear that to Hunk just looked to be a tangled pile of wires. She appeared to be unarmed, although the other Crelxats just behind her all wielded either halberds in their hands or daggers at their hips; the weapons combined with the helmets on their head and matching sashes indicated that they were security of some sort, although Hunk wasn’t sure if they were guards for the city as a whole or just the Crelxat with the wires on her head.

Allura had briefed him and Keith a bit on who they would be interacting with on Crelxatain, and she had mentioned one of the Crelxats was both the governmental and religious leader for the city. Malvet, he was pretty sure her name was.

And right now, despite her being smaller than the other Crelxats and unarmed, he was feeling much more frightened of her than of the surrounding guards. Because he had never seen that much icy fury on a person’s face before. Her narrow silver eyes fixed him and Keith with a wrathful glare that he could almost physically feel, her hands clasped together in front of her were shaking from how tightly the fingers were intertwined, and dark veins pulsed visibly beneath the skin on her forehead.

“What,” she bit out, her voice low and dark and heavy, “happened?”

Hunk gulped, though it did little to alleviate the feeling of daggers in his throat or the clawing in his stomach. He had anticipated that people may be upset about the damaged sculpture - people always had a fondness for public art, especially pieces that had been around for quite a while and been accepted as an inherent part of the landscape - but the irate looks on the faces of Malvet and her guards and the horrified silence of the surrounding crowds was far worse than he expected.

Beside him, Keith cleared his throat, making Hunk jump. “Look,” Keith said, “I understand if you’re upset. But collateral damage is basically unavoidable against a weaponized enemy like the one that was attacking just now. We’re both here representing Voltron, and we were expected today, and we’d be willing to assist with repairs to your art while we’re here if you - ”

“Our art?!” Malvet spat, her face going an even deeper shade of maroon. “You believe this monument to be simply art?!”

“Um… isn’t it?” said Keith.

Her hand shook as she pointed a clawed finger toward the sculpture’s remains. “This monument is the vessel for the Twenty Gods of Crelxatain, the channel through which they grant life and fortune. It was built as a cenotaph to the spiritual leaders who have dedicated their lives to guiding Crelxatain to the will of the Gods, and as such is the one site wherein their connection to the citizenry is most powerful. It has stood for centuries, and now… it has been destroyed.”

“...Oh,” said Keith, as a murmur began rumbling through the crowd. He had paled somewhat, and seemed to be at something of a loss for words.

Hunk was faring no better; he didn’t think he’d be able to string two coherent words together right now with his nerves the way they were. This was much worse than he could have predicted. Why the hell would something this important to them be out here in the middle of the town with no additional protection? Why wasn’t it in some sort of ultra-enforced temple and under constant watch? He could only hazard wild guesses - maybe they wanted it to be more exposed to the people, maybe they had assumed that faith in those twenty gods of theirs would keep it safe or something. Now didn’t really seem like the correct time to ask about it.

Keith was the first to speak again, keeping his voice surprisingly level. “I - I appreciate the seriousness of the damage, then. Know that we did what we could to prevent it. The drones were - ”

“No,” Malvet cut him off. “We witnessed these drones. They used force, yes, their weapons have done damage enough. But they burned nothing. The monument - it has been burned.” She swept her arm out to gesture again toward the remains, the singeing and ashes seeming somehow darker now. “We witnessed your ships too. You had cannons and flame. So tell me, representative of Voltron. What. Did. You. Do?”

“I - ”

“Which of you did it?!” Her voice rose abruptly in volume, crackling with despair. “It had to have been one of you! This callous destruction - which of you is to blame?!” She rounded on Hunk, who stepped back, swallowing down a whimper. “You’ve not spoken, have you, yellow one? And why is that? Have you nothing to say?! No words in your defense?!”

Hunk could feel an icy sweat breaking out on the back of his neck. “I - I - I, uh - ”

“Is it guilt that stays your tongue?!” Malvet continued, jabbing a gnarled finger toward him. “Is the sight of the damage you’ve done before you too much to - ”

“I’m sorry,” Keith suddenly spoke up beside him. Hunk and Malvet both turned to him, incredulous, as Keith stepped forward, arms crossed over his chest and eyes on the ground.

“You’re sorry,” Malvet repeated tonelessly.

“Yeah,” Keith said. “It was my doing. Red - you know, you saw her out there, she’s awfully fast, and, um, gets real heated in battle and stuff, so it can be easy to kinda - to lose control, see, and I wasn’t really paying attention to the, um - ” He waved his hand in the direction of the destroyed sculpture. “The scenery, and stuff, so, yeah. It’s my fault, and I’m sorry.”

Hunk bit his lip as he turned his attention back to the Malvet, who was examining Keith with narrowed, probing eyes. If she knew Keith at all, it would be obvious that he was lying. He had rambled and stumbled and refused to look even remotely in her direction and his voice had kept getting lower as he spoke. All tells of his. Not to mention that Keith was the least likely of any of the paladins to ever focus during a battle or be unable to handle his Lion’s agility and fire.

But the Crelxats didn’t know Keith, so after several ticks of silent examination, Malvet hissed out, “I see.”

She stepped back, and Keith’s eyes darted upward, looking apprehensive. Malvet let silence ring throughout the square for a couple seconds more, but just as Keith opened his mouth to speak again, she nodded.

Instantly there was an eruption of activity, and Hunk was nearly knocked to the ground by the guards rushing past him toward Keith. Half a dozen fully armored guards descended on Keith, and though Hunk saw Keith’s hand fly instinctively to his hip where his bayard was holstered, he either was too caught off guard to grab it in time or thought better of whipping it out right now, since it was still holstered when his arms were wrenched behind his back and he was brought forcefully to his knees.

“Hey!” Hunk yelped. “What are you - ?” His attempt to rush forward to help Keith was stymied by halberds crossed in front of him, and a guard took his arm to hold him back, although he was handling Hunk more gently than his fellow guards were handling Keith, whose ankles were being pinned to the ground by heavy boots on top of them and whose hair was in the tight grip of gauntlet-covered hands. “Stop it!” Hunk cried. “You’re gonna hurt him!”

“After what he has done to us, hurt only seems fair as recompense,” Malvet said, stalking over to glower down at Keith. Around him, Hunk could hear others in the crowd murmuring their agreement. “He must be made to pay penance.”

“He didn’t do anything to you!” Hunk shouted.

“He just confessed to being responsible for the destruction of our monument.”

“But it wasn’t his fault! He only - ”

“Not his fault?” Malvet finally turned to Hunk. “Are you saying that his confession was inaccurate?”

Keith shook his head, or at least gave a little twitch in the guards’ grasp that may have been meant as a head shake, but Hunk nodded at the Crelxat, relieved. “Yes, yes, that’s what I’m saying! It was my - ”

But Malvet was already turning away before Hunk could finish, making a gesture to one of the guards. “You heard him; remove it.”

“Oh thank God,” Hunk sighed. “I’m sure we can all - um - ” He faltered as he watched the guards. When Malvet had told them to ‘remove it’, he had assumed she meant removing their feet from on top of Keith’s legs or removing the weapons from where they were pointed at him, sharp tips far too close to Keith for Hunk’s liking. But they weren’t. Instead, they still held him in place despite his struggling, and one of them had moved in front of Keith and was grabbing his jaw. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“If his tongue is to be used to spew false witness before the eyes of the twenty gods,” Malvet said, “Then it is of no good to us nor to him. It shall be removed.”

Hunk’s eyes blew wide, every drop of blood in his veins turning to ice as the guard managed to force Keith’s mouth open and a dagger’s blade approached. “No! No, no, no, you can’t do that! He - he wasn’t lying, you misunderstood!”

“And pray tell, what did I misunderstand?” Malvet said.

“Just - I meant - he - it was an accident,” Hunk fumbled weakly. “He did but - but he didn’t mean to, you know? It was, like, unavoidable. So - so - so it’s not his fault.” He glanced toward Keith, trying to figure out whether that had been the right thing to say, but with the way the guards were still holding his jaw and gripping his hair, Keith couldn’t exactly make an expression to indicate one way or the other.

Malvet let out a derisive sniff. “Unavoidable? The people of Crelxatain have avoided damaging it for centuries. This one could easily have done the same.” She turned away from Hunk again, back to the guard. “How soon can we have him perform his penance.”

The guard let out a pensive hum before replying, “We’d need until overmorrow’s nightfall to prepare and deliver an oblation to the twenty gods. The penance can take place the morning after.”

“Begin preparations, then,” Malvet said with a nod.

Keith was hauled to his feet, meeting Hunk’s gaze as one of the guards behind him drew a set of shackles from somewhere within their armor to cuff his hands behind him. “Hunk,” he said, a slight rasp to his voice, no doubt from the way his mouth had been manhandled a moment ago, “It’s gonna be fine, okay?”

Hunk almost let out a laugh of sheer disbelief. Keith should be the one being reassured right now, not Hunk. “Are you insane?” Hunk said.

“Look, just get the supply stuff taken care of, I’ll figure this out, and we can - ”

“Get moving,” one of the guards said, shoving him away from Hunk as two others began wheeling him around by the arms.

“Just a sec,” said Keith. “See if you can get Red up and - ”

He grunted, his words cut off by the hilt of one of the guards’ daggers being slammed into his face. When he scowled back up at the offending guard, his nose was bleeding. “I said get moving,” the guard growled.

“Hey!” Hunk cried. He tried moving toward the retreating guards, but the ones who had held him back before intercepted him again. “Hey, you can’t treat him like that!”

It was useless. The guards ignored him, and as the crowd began surging and milling around him, they disappeared, along with Keith.

This was so, so, so bad.

For a long moment he simply stood there on shaking knees, uncertain what to do, until he felt a tap on his shoulder. He whipped around, coming face to face with a tall, narrow-faced Crelxat. “What?” he snapped.

“Your companion said you were here as a representative of Voltron,” the Crelxat said. His expression was stoic, unfazed by Hunk’s tone and by the scene that had just gone down before him.

“Yeah,” Hunk said. “And?”

“I am Kalgex? Of the Crelxatain Geological Survey Bureau and Mine Repository. I was contacted about overseeing a trade deal between your organization and our department?”

Hunk stared. “Um,” he said, “Look, I’ve kind of got other things on my mind at the moment. Keith - I - I don’t know where they’re - I have to figure this out, I have to see - ”

“I am certain a member of the security force will be in contact with you once your friend has been duly processed,” Kalgex said. “They are quite efficient in matters of communication.” He pulled something out of his pocket, a small cylinder with a screen across it that lit up like a cell phone. “Those attackers put us behind schedule. We really oughtn’t postpone negotiations any longer than necessary.”

A part of Hunk, a small but strong part, wanted to punch Kalgex in the face right then and there. He was talking about Keith being arrested and hurt and forced to pay ‘penance’ - Hunk wasn’t sure what that entailed exactly, but it didn’t sound like fun - as if it were a minor inconvenience in a normal workday. As if Hunk were being somehow unreasonable for wanting to go after him rather than worry about the stupid ore.

“No,” he said. “No, I have to go.” He turned away, scanning the crowd and spotting the array of wires that had decorated Malvet’s head. Immediately he began shoving his way through the crowd, ignoring Kalgex calling after him, and didn’t stop until he had reached her, right on the edge of the plaza with a guard at each side. “Hey!” he shouted. “Where did you people take Keith?!”

She turned, eyeing him up and down with pursed lips, like he was a stain on her floor that she was deciding how to get rid of. “To the holding cells to await penance, of course,” she answered.

“And where’s that, huh?”

Malvet’s eyes narrowed. “He will not be allowed visitors until his case has been fully processed according to our laws. Respect our criminal proceedings should be the least we could ask of Voltron, considering the disrespect your friend has shown toward our - ”

“Yeah, I know,” Hunk said, frustration turning his voice to a growl. “Fine. When will that be done so I can visit him?”

“I will see to it you are contacted when proceedings are completed,” Malvet said. It wasn’t exactly an answer, but at least it was an assurance that he would get to visit Keith before the penance took place. “And of course,” Malvet continued, “Your companion will be duly returned to you once penance has been completed.”

“Right,” Hunk sighed. “So, what is this ‘penance’ anyw- ”

But Malvet had already turned away, leaving Hunk standing uselessly, grinding his teeth and dreading what the answer would have been.

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

He tried and failed to come up with a plan.

His first thought once he finally accepted that the whole situation with Keith was out of his hands was, naturally, to contact the other paladins for help. But the reason it had only been himself and Keith coming to Crelxatain in the first place was that the others were on missions of their own. They had docked the Castle, shields in place, on a moon in a neutral zone the next star system over, and Shiro and Allura were off on Heliuruta to negotiate allowance through their blockade into the quadrant, while Coran had recruited Lance and Pidge to help him on a medical supply-gathering expedition. So Hunk couldn’t reach any of them at the Castle, didn’t know where on the planets the groups had gone and wouldn’t have time to track them down, and couldn’t contact them through just the Lions’ communications system at such a range.

Which meant that whatever happened to Keith, he was going to be the only one around to deal with it.

It also meant that he was stuck doing the negotiations for the Crelxat ores alone. Between himself and Keith, Hunk was better with numbers, but Keith was more stubborn and better at steamrolling attempts to mislead. By the time he wrapped up his meeting with Kalgex and his board, they had wound up settling on a price nearly twice as high as what Coran had told them to aim for.

Hunk couldn’t bring himself to be that put out about it, though. The main reason he’d done such a lackluster job of negotiating, after all, was that his mind was more occupied with the much more pressing matter of what the hell was happening with Keith.

He managed a grand total of less than a varga of sleep the first night on Crelxatain, despite the comfortable accommodations that had been prepared for him at a lodging house not far from the plaza where the monument had stood. He had made sure every single member of the staff there knew that they were to come get him immediately the instant anyone contacted him about getting to visit Keith, but no message came.

The Crelxats had predicted it would take them about two days to refine the ore he’d requested and prepare it for transport, so he tried to occupy his time by working on repairs for Red. He dried up nearly all the GAC they’d been given for this trip gathering tools and supplies for it - apparently the ability to fix vehicles must have been considered something of a luxury in Crelxatain, and was priced as such - and as he set to work on her dark and still form, wondered what she would be doing right now if she were up and running. If she was calm, then he’d know Keith was okay. If she was angry and trying to reach Keith by force… well, then he’d be even more worried than he was now, but at least Red would be helping to take care of the problem.

He worked on her throughout the day, still with no word about Keith, and the longer he went without answers the more nauseous he felt. He managed to eat some lunch between getting supplies and starting on Red’s repairs, and it sat like rocks in his stomach for the rest of the day. He didn’t bother with dinner.

He managed to fall asleep at some point that night, and woke tangled in his bedding after tossing and turning in his sleep, not feeling refreshed at all.

It wasn’t until later that day, when he returned from Red’s landing site back to the lodging house, promising himself that he would at least try to eat something because starving himself wasn’t going to help Keith, that he discovered a member of the security force was there waiting for him, had told the staff that he was there to escort Hunk to visit ‘the prisoner’ as requested.

Finally.

The walk to where Keith was being held wasn’t far from the plaza that had housed the monument, and the building he was led into looked from the outside a bit like a country church, long and narrow and with a vaulted roof. Hunk was led into a dim anteroom as the guard who escorted him had a muttered conversation with another who was standing watch inside, then, another door was opened, and he was ushered through and into a hall lined on each side with cells. The guard didn’t accompany him any further past the door, just told him, “You have fifteen doboshes,” before taking his leave, slamming the door shut behind him.

The hall was just as dim as the anteroom, the walls and floors a shale-like shade and narrow windows in the walls of the cells lining only one side of the hall casting sharp shadows, so it took a moment for Hunk to spot the cells’ only occupant, seated on the floor against the wall at the end of the hall. When he did, he let out an enormous breath of relief and rushed toward him, yelling out, “Keith!”

Keith looked up at the sound of his name, and Hunk grimaced at the sight of him as he got to his feet. He’d been stripped of his armor and left only in his dark undersuit, and was shackled hand and foot, maybe a foot and a half of chain between each metal cuff on his wrist, and the same around his ankles. A red and purple bruise spread from his cheek to his nose, swelling enough to make one eye squint; this was likely the result of that guard who had struck him with the dagger hilt the other day. Besides that, Keith appeared to be uninjured, just tired, a fact that the dark rings beneath his eyes could attest.

“Hunk,” he said. “So, um. So, how are you do- ?”

“Are you out of your mind?!” Hunk cried. Honestly, he had been intending to ease into that a bit more, give Keith a friendly greeting and see how he’d been being treated before moving onto the topic of what the actual quiznak Keith had been thinking, but it seemed his brain had forgotten to relay that plan to his mouth.

“Hunk,” Keith repeated, lifting his shackled hands placatingly. “You have to be calm, all right?”

“How can I - you can’t expect - what were you thinking?!” Hunk demanded. “You know as well as I do that Red didn’t - ”

“Hunk, I’m serious. They’ll hear you.”

Hunk shut his mouth, teeth coming together with a click, and looked back toward the door. Right. Apparently the Crelxats really didn’t like being lied to. As much as he hated it, their story was that Keith had been the one to ruin the monument, and that’s the story they were going to have to stick with if they wanted to get out with their tongues still intact. “Sorry,” Hunk said. His eyes roved over the rest of the hall, stopping at the sight of a lens near the ceiling in the center. “Crap, will they be able to hear - ?”

“That one’s just video, no audio,” Keith said. “They can’t hear us.”

“How do you know for sure?”

“The guards told me.”

Hunk raised a brow. “And you’re just taking their word for it?”

“Course not,” Keith replied, shaking his head. “I tested it. They didn’t care one lick about me slinging insults at them through that camera for about an hour straight. Moment I said the same while they were actually here, they got pretty thin-skinned.” He tapped lightly at the dark bruise on his face. “This, uh, this was smaller yesterday.”

Hunk winced. “Dang it, Keith,” he said. “Why did you have to go and do that, huh?”

“... You mean, why’d I have to insult them?”

“You know that’s not what I’m talking about.”

There was a long moment’s pause between them, and then Keith sighed. “I was trying to help, Hunk,” he said. “That’s all. That Malvet, she was so mad, and the guards were at the ready, and you - well, you were - ” He took a deep breath. “I dunno. Maybe if you were able to see how you looked in that plaza, you’d get why I needed to step in.”

Well, Hunk could certainly recall feeling terrified to his core, but he didn’t know how much of it had actually shown on his face. If it was enough to get Keith to take the fall for him like that, though, it was too much. “I mean, you did a heck of a lot more than ‘step in’,” he said. “Look, Keith, don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful, but I - God, man, I really wish you hadn’t done that.”

The shadow of a sad smile played on Keith’s lips before vanishing again. “Yeah,” he sighed. “Wasn’t really expecting you to be overjoyed about it. But it’s not like they were giving us a whole lot of time to come up with a better plan to get you out of that mess than just… getting in myself.”

“Why did you decide you needed to get me out of it in the first place?”

Keith frowned at him, appearing genuinely surprised. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because - because I’m the one who caused the mess? Yeah, it was an accident, but it still was mine to own.”

Keith shrugged. “We’re teammates, right? Your mess is my mess.”

“I - ” Hunk took a long breath and blew it out slowly. “You really picked a horrible time to embrace team spirit.”

“I guess. Can’t exactly go back now, though.”

“Right, suppose not.” He let the silence linger a little longer, half-hoping that Keith would suddenly pipe up with an, ‘Unless…’ and a brilliant idea to make everything right, but of course he didn’t. “So we’re just supposed to see this out to the end, huh? Endure whatever they throw at you?”

“Don’t exactly have much choice,” Keith answered. “But, I mean - it’s just a waiting game until tomorrow morning. They’ll dole out their punishment and then it’s over. Just have to get it over with. Did you get the ore stuff taken care of?”

“Yeah,” Hunk said. “And don’t say ‘just get it over with’ like it’s just a hard test at school or something, man. They’re gonna - I don’t even know what, but they were awful mad. What are they planning to do tomorrow anyhow?” Keith didn’t answer, and Hunk’s gaze grew more intense, newly ignited worry crackling in his gut. “Keith? Do you know what’s gonna happen?”

Keith hesitated, dropping his gaze. “Okay, um, they, uh, they haven’t really given me much to go on, so I don’t know for sure.”

“But you have some idea?” Hunk prodded.

“Well, so, you know they said that I’ve got to face ‘penance’ for the monument.”

“Yeah.” Hunk fought down the anxiety that bubbled up at the mere mention of the word. “Still don’t quite know what that means, though.”

“Right.” Keith took a deep breath. “Well, uh, no one’s said anything to me directly, but I’ve overheard some chatter. From the guards here, see. They don’t seem to have any specifics either, but they’ve got a better idea of what ‘penance’ usually refers to, so they were talking, and, um…” He trailed off and began to chew at his lip.

“And what?”

Keith lifted his eyes back up to Hunk, and they were wide, brow pinched, almost appearing apologetic. “You have to promise not to freak out.”

Immediately Hunk was fully prepared to freak out. “What do you mean? What’s there to freak out about?! Keith, what’s gonna happen?!”

“Okay, look, it’s probably not as bad as - ”

“Keith, if you have to warn me not to freak out, it’s probably pretty bad!”

“That’s not what - it’s not the penance part, I just didn’t want you to feel guilty about what happens, all right? I promise, Hunk, I’m gonna be able to handle it. Okay? Whatever happens, you’ve got to keep a cool head. The last thing we need is for them to decide to detain you too. And, well - ” He let out a little cough and rubbed at the back of his neck. “I’m probably, um, gonna need you to help me out afterward…”

Hunk gulped. As much as he dreaded the answer, he had to know. “Keith,” he said, “What’s the penance?”

There was another second’s hesitation before Keith quietly answered, “If what those guards were saying was true, Crelxatain seems to be fond of, um… corporal punishment. A public display of it. Apparently it’s, um, they seem to think it’s an effective way to, uh, deter repeat crimes, and, like - ”

Hunk’s voice, which had frozen in his throat at some point while Keith had been talking, managed to find just enough strength for him to repeat in a squeak, “Corporal punishment?!”

Keith winced. “Yeah. Um, best as I could tell from what they were saying, flogging’s pretty common, so that’s probably the most likely, but, um, yeah… Hunk? Please don’t freak out.”

“How can I not freak out?! Keith, they’re going to - !”

“I know,” Keith snapped. “I - yeah, I know.” He huffed out a sigh and crossed his arms over his chest. “Look, it’s not like I’m looking forward to it, but it’s not exactly like we can opt out. The place is under heavy guard, Red is still down… Only thing for us is to ride this out, let them take their anger out on me if they have to, then get back to the Castle as soon as we’re able so we can, um, you know.” He tightened his arms where they were crossed. “Fix anything that needs fixing.”

With a frustrated sigh, Hunk leaned against the wall, letting his shoulder rest up where the hard wall met the narrow bars of Keith’s cell. His legs were feeling leaden, like they would give out on him if he spent much longer standing on his own two feet, so he let himself slide down toward the floor. Once he was seated, Keith joined him, sitting down cross-legged on the other side of the bars, although it took some maneuvering to get settled with those chains on his ankles. “You okay?” Keith asked.

“Don’t ask me that,” said Hunk. “I’m the one who’s supposed to be in that cell right now, not you.”

“Hunk,” said Keith, “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was an accident.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t do anything wrong either! You know as well as I do that Yellow was the one who took down that monument. You’re too good a pilot, you’d never let something like that happen with Red.”

“It has nothing to do with who’s a better pilot. Yellow’s bigger than Red, it’s harder to avoid collateral damage with her.”

“Doesn’t matter. The damage was still mine. And you - ” His lip began to tremble, and Keith seemed to tense at the catch in Hunk’s voice. “You shouldn’t have lied to the Crelxats like that. You should’ve just let me take responsibility. What good does it do for you to have to do this stupid ‘penance’ thing instead of me?”

“Hunk, I - ”

“Either way, we’re ending up with one paladin who’s gonna wind up really, really hurt, so why did you get to decide it should be you instead of me, huh? Why would you go and complicate things like that? What the hell were you thinking?!”

Keith sighed, bringing his hands up and combing his fingers into his hair as he grabbed his head. “I was thinking, you were scared. And I just… I dunno. I wanted to fix that.”

Hunk set his jaw, hoping that that would help keep the tremor out of his voice. “And you just decided the best way to do it would be to take on all the consequences for yourself? That’s not fair to you, Keith.”

Slowly lowered his hands from his hair to cross his arms over his chest instead, and he muttered something under his breath that Hunk couldn’t quite make out. “What was that?” Hunk asked.

“I said, nothing’s ever ‘fair’,” Keith replied. “This isn’t about fairness. If things were gonna be ‘fair’, the Crelxats wouldn’t be upset with us over that monument in the first place, they’d be too busy being grateful to us for saving their asses and they’d realize that that should be much higher priority than a stupid statue. But as is, we can’t leave, we can’t get help from the others, and the Crelxats want blood. It’s not fair, but it’s happening, so all we can do now is get it over with.”

“I know, but - but - ” Hunk sighed and rested his chin on his hand. “I still say you shouldn’t have done it.”

“I know.”

“And I wasn’t that scared.”

“Okay.”

“Are you scared?”

There was a pause before Keith answered, “No.”

Hunk sighed. “You’re a really awful liar, Keith.”

“I know.”

They sat in silence for a long while before Hunk slowly reached through the bars of the cell and took hold of Keith’s hands, twining his fingers into Keith’s and trying not to think about how cold they were. “I’m sorry, man,” he said softly.

“You don’t have to be sorry,” Keith mumbled.

“Sure. I’m just gonna go ahead and be sorry anyway, kay?” He gave his hand a squeeze. “Besides the face, have they hurt you?”

“Nah. Bit of shoving around, but that’s all.”

“They been giving you water? Food?”

“Enough, yeah.”

Hunk frowned, making a mental note to set aside some food from the lodging house to fill Keith up the moment he was released. He was just opening his mouth to ask if Keith had any requests - none of the Crelxat food was an exact match to any from Earth or any they’d encountered in space so far, but he could at least do some taste testing and see if he could find something similar to whatever Keith wanted - but he was interrupted by the door at the end of the hall slamming open.

“Time is up,” the guard grunted. “Make your leave.”

Hunk scowled at the guard, but after giving Keith’s hand one final squeeze, he rose to his feet. “I’ll be right there waiting once the penance is done,” he said. “The ore delivery should be finished early tomorrow morning, so once Red’s back up and running we can go straight back to the Castle. Get off this planet for good.”

“That’ll be nice,” Keith said, and he grimaced when the guard knocked his halberd into the doorframe, ordering Hunk to get moving. “I’ll - I’ll see you then. Better get going.”

Reluctantly Hunk complied, shuffling back down the hall of empty cells and giving Keith one last wave goodbye before the door was slammed shut again with a sickening finality.

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

Time moved at a crawl as Hunk waited. He kept himself occupied as best he could, working on Red’s repairs throughout the day, and he managed to convince a guard to let him take Keith’s confiscated armor and bayard off their hands (with the understanding that if he tried any funny business with the weaponry he would be tossed into his own cell before he could so much as blink) to have them ready for Keith when the penance was finished, and he polished the helmet three times over just for something mindless to do.

He stared at the ceiling in his room that night, trying to convince his exhausted body to sleep, but it wasn’t easy. Every time he closed his eyes all he could see was Keith, standing before that same crowd that had been in the plaza, and he was facing his penance, Malvet raising a whip with sadistic glee in her smile.

He always opened his eyes again before it actually made contact.

It took vargas of pacing around the room that night - ignoring the irritated knocking from whoever was staying in the room below his - to finally wear him out enough to get any amount of sleep, and then he was up again, getting the ore loaded onto Yellow in the earliest hours of morning and anxiously watching the planet’s sun creep upward into the sky, the whorling dread in his stomach growing stronger with every inch it rose.

No one came to fetch him or let him know when the penance was starting, but they didn’t have to. He could see for himself when Crelxats started to eagerly emerge from their homes and head off all in the same direction, and he overheard bits and pieces of discussion about whether they thought the twenty gods would be appeased and what they thought of the offering that had been made by the city the night before; Hunk didn’t know what that offering had been, and honestly he could not have cared less, but apparently it had been act one of this show, and Keith’s penance was the finale.

For visibility’s sake Hunk donned his full paladin armor before leaving the lodging house, hopefully for good, and he followed the flow of Crelxats past the building that housed Keith’s cell and even past the plaza featuring the statue, which, judging by the scaffolding that had been set up around the plaza, was currently under repairs. The Crelxats moved down a road veering off to the side and sloping down toward a long, solid wall, where they congregated toward a large arched entryway flanked by two guards.

He started toward the entry, but was stopped by a hand on his arm. He jumped and whipped around to find a stony-faced Crelxat guard, dressed in the same garb as the guards had been in the jail where Keith had been kept. Two other guards were hovering nearby, watching with the same stoic expression.

“If you are intending to view the penance,” the guard said, “You must remain under our watch.”

“What?” said Hunk. “Why?”

“You have made known that you hold close personal connection to the transgressor.” Ire scratched at Hunk’s throat at Keith being referred to as ‘the transgressor’, but he held his tongue and let the guard continue: “It is standard, then, to ensure that you are kept under supervision to prevent attempts at interfering with the penance.”

“Oh. Um, right,” Hunk relented. It made sense, he supposed. Any decent person witnessing their friend being publicly tortured would want to try to put a stop to it. It seemed that even if he hadn’t already promised Keith that he would let the Crelxats go through with their punishment, there wasn’t much he would be able to do under the eye of their guards.

The one who had stopped him nudged him forward as one of the others began leading the way toward the entrance, while the other approached and held out his hand. “No weapons are allowed at the viewing. Hand it over.”

Reluctantly Hunk removed his bayard from where it was holstered at his hip and dropped it into the guard’s hand. The guard nodded curtly and turned to follow the other, turning the bayard in his hand to inspect it as he went, and Hunk was nudged again, a cue to follow.

He trailed behind them, and as they passed through the entryway, he got his first view of where this penance was being held. The space seemed to be some sort of amphitheater, with rows of seats curving in a semicircle, getting lower and lower as they reached the center, where there stood a completely bare platform, high enough that the spectators sitting in the front row would probably have to crane their necks to see what happened on top of it.

Hunk wanted to go toward the front, to be as visible as possible when Keith was brought out, so he would be able to see him in the crowd, know he was there to support him and rush to his side the moment this whole mess was finally over, but the guards instead led him into a row toward the back. As they filed in, Hunk scowled at the Crelxats who were milling around the amphitheater, filling up the rows of seats in front of them. All these people, taking the time out of their lives to come and watch Keith suffer. As though this was some sort of entertainment to them. They wanted blood, they wanted it from Keith, and there was nothing about this whole situation that wasn’t disgusting.

He had to take care to clench his jaw so he wouldn’t wind up just shouting at everyone in the crowd, since that would probably only end with him being forcibly escorted out by the guards, and took his seat obediently. The other Crelxats in the crowd were gradually sitting down as well, taking their time far too casually, and every dobash of waiting felt agonizingly long.

After that wait, though, the crowd finally hushed at the sight of the guards coming through the entrance at the front of the amphitheater behind the stage, and as they did, Hunk wished they could go back to the waiting. Harrowing though it was, it was still better than watching Keith being escorted onto the stage.

His wrists and ankles were still shackled, so his gait was only a shuffle, and the guards at either side of him pushing him forward didn’t seem to be making walking any easier; he tripped on the steps leading onto the stage and, rather than pause to let him regain his balance, the guards grabbed him under the arms and began dragging him before Keith managed to find his footing again. He still wore the leg portion of his underarmor, but he’d been stripped of the top, and his bare torso looked deathly pale in the too-bright sunlight.

He also, as Hunk realized with a surge of fury as Keith shook his hair out of his face, been gagged, a strap of what looked like leather cinched tightly over his mouth and digging into the skin at the corners. Hunk wondered vaguely what he had said to the guards to warrant that addition. Or who he had bitten.

The Crelxats in the amphitheater around him had begun to jeer as Keith was escorted onto the stage, and only stopped when another figure stepped out: Malvet, the wiring of her head blindingly reflecting glints of the sunlight as she raised her hands for quiet.

“We are gathered here,” she began, her voice booming despite Hunk not seeing any sort of microphone or other audio equipment anywhere, “To offer the Twenty Gods of Crelxatain a display of our respect, our reverence, and our compunction. The offender who stands before you now has, in an act of brash disregard for our planet and its citizens - ”

She continued, but Hunk tuned her out, and not just out of anger toward the way she was talking about Keith. His focus had instead been drawn to the guards who had come forward along the stage. Where he had thought there had just been flat floorboards, they opened a hatch, and from beneath the stage they unfolded a bundle of beams that clicked into place as a solitary and stationary pole, with a hooped hook sticking out of it a good six feet up. Keith was pulled forward, and the chain between his wrists was lifted and latched onto the hook, leaving Keith standing with his arms stretched above him, back stretched out and exposed.

So Keith had been right about the flogging, and Hunk pressed his lips together, feeling nausea bubble up in his throat and wondering if he were going to start blowing chunks onto the row of Crelxats in front of him.

He kept his eyes on Keith, trying to meet his gaze, and Keith was looking out to the crowd too. It was hard to be absolutely sure from this distance, but Hunk was pretty sure that Keith spotted him, because his gaze was definitely aimed Hunk’s way, his pale face and wide eyes directed right toward him.

And no matter what Keith said, he was definitely scared.

Unlike in Hunk’s nightmarish visions from the night before, Malvet wasn’t the one to bring out a whip. Instead it was one of the guards, unfurling a length of cord from behind him as Malvet stepped toward the pole, fixing Keith with a withering glower before turning back to address the crowd once more. “To each of the twenty gods he has chosen to desecrate, he shall pay blood in penitence. Firstly, to Taelxot.”

That was all the fanfare given before the crack of the whip rang through the amphitheater, making Hunk jump at its suddenness. It seemed too soon to be starting, he needed more time, more time to emotionally ready himself and for Keith to say his own piece, but here they were. It was happening. Now.

The first lash seemed to have taken Keith off guard too, since he let out a yelp at the contact that was muffled by his gag. The crowd of Crelxats let out applause as the whip struck, and the sound seemed distant to Hunk as he watched Keith, trying to see if he was okay.

“Secondly,” Malvet continued, “To Vokrin.”

Another crack of the whip, another cheer. These names Malvet was saying, Hunk surmised, must have been the names of some of those twenty gods she kept talking about, and they must have been giving Keith one lash for each god that had been disrespected.

Which meant there were going to be twenty lashes in total. Hunk’s eyes widened as the whip dragged on the floor as the guard reeled it back, leaving a red streak on the wooden planks that Hunk could just barely see from where he was sitting.

There was no way he was going to be able to stomach eighteen more of these.

At the third lash, Keith squeezed his eyes shut against the pain, and at the fourth, the whip struck deep enough that Hunk could see blood droplets flying directly from Keith’s back. The crowd was eating it up, getting to their feet as they applauded, and at the fifth lash, Hunk stood too, because that was the only way he could still see over the heads of the cheering Crelxats in front of him.

The lashes kept coming.

Hunk’s hands hovered over the lower half of his face, threatening to move up and cover his eyes, but he resisted the admittedly powerful temptation. He owed Keith this much, at the very, very least. He owed it to Keith to be there and watch, to meet his eyes whenever Keith opened them so that the red paladin would have a face to look toward for support, for a silent message to hang on, just hang on, it will all be over soon.

Besides, closing his eyes now wouldn’t get rid of the image of those blood droplets Hunk had already seen spraying from Keith’s back, so there really was no point. That image would probably stay burned in his mind forever.

Another lash - Malvet was still counting them, but Hunk couldn’t hear her. All the sounds in the amphitheater were starting to blur together in his ears, muddling into loud and angry static as he focused only on Keith. The pain of the flogging must have been getting to be too much even for him, because an agonized shout escaped into his gag this time, much to the delight of the assembled Crelxats. At the next lash, he screamed again, and his eyes flew open, meeting Hunk’s almost immediately.

Hunk’s heart stopped at the sight of the tears gathering there, the sun sparkling off of them, and it started up again, pounding like a drum, when the whip came down again and the tears broke free and began to fall.

The specks of blood staining the platform were growing thicker with every lash. They couldn’t possibly keep this up. They were going to kill him.

On the next lash, the whip’s aim was off, and it landed over Keith’s shoulder. The barb on the tip must have caught on his skin, because it ripped a line of flesh off with it as the guard pulled it back, sending a splash of blood across his chest.

Hunk finally threw up, then, and the cries of delight coming from the Crelxat in front of him turned to ones of disgust as the sick splattered onto his back. Which did nothing to relieve Keith’s pain, but it did give Hunk just the tiniest glimmer of satisfaction before he straightened up again to watch the last of the lashes.

“And to the twentieth God of Crelxat, Skovok!”

The whipped cracked for the final time, the crowd cheered, and Keith was motionless on the stage, all his weight dangling from his wrists, his head bowed and hair covering his eyes so Hunk couldn’t tell whether they were open or closed. The floor at his feet far, far too red.

Hunk could only spot the tiniest bit of movement, just catch the way Keith’s chest shook as he breathed, and he tried to focus only on that as he waited for Malvet to give her stupid closing speech and Hunk could finally take Keith back to the Lions and try to find some way to patch up his back, which had to be a grotesque mess at this points.

“To each of the gods, a due has been paid,” Malvet was saying grandly. “So all that remains is our assurance that the transgressor can never again bring harm to the gods, or to Crelxatain itself. To that end, we offer the last of his life, that they may find solace in its removal and a better purpose for it in the world beyond our own.”

… What?

With great difficulty Hunk pulled his eyes away from Keith to see what was happening on the rest of the stage. All but one guard had moved to the other side, and another hatch, like the one from which they’d pulled the pole, had been opened, something else being unfolded from this one. They locked the pole into place, but this one kept unfolding, into a bracket that projected over the hole the open hatch left in the floor. The hatch was pulled back into place, and one of the guards hooked a loop of wire over the projection.

It took a long moment for Hunk’s brain to catch up to his eyes, for him to realize what he was looking at.

Gallows.

His heart racing, blood pounding he whipped around to face the guard next to him. “What - what is that?!” He jabbed a shaking finger toward the stage, and oh god, the guard who had stayed by Keith was taking him down and starting to drag him across the stage.

“It is a device that will allow penance to be completed,” the guard said, explaining it like he was a teacher giving a classroom lecture. “The wire is placed around the neck of the criminal, and the hatch - ”

“I know what it is!” Hunk yelled. “Why is it here?! Keith paid his penance! He got his punishment already!”

“He paid a blood penance, yes,” the guard said. “Now, they are ensuring that he can never again cause harm to the sacred - ”

“We were never gonna even come to this stupid planet again!” Hunk shouted. He ignored the surrounding Crelxats who were turning to glare at him, a couple snapping at him to be quiet. “They don’t need to ensure it! They - they - they said he’d be returned to me once the penance was done! What happened to that?!”

“He will. To be preserved or memorialized as you and your culture see fit.”

Disbelief had Hunk lost for words for a few seconds, while on the stage, he could see Keith, even in the state he was in, starting to struggle in the guards’ hold. “I don’t want his corpse!” he finally squeaked out. “I - I - oh god, I’ve got to - ” His eyes roved toward the guard holding his bayard.

A hand thumped onto his arm, holding him in place. “Consider this your only warning,” the guard said. “Any attempt to derail the proceedings will result in you joining him.”

Hunk swallowed, his legs feeling close to giving out under him as the loop of wire was wrestled over Keith’s head and around his neck. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be happening. “Please,” he begged, tears pricking at his eyes. “There - there has to be something I can…”

Keith was shouting into his gag, and Malvet was saying something again, raising her voice to drown Keith out. The guard’s grip on Hunk tightened, and he felt dizzy. Keith was going to be hanged right in front of him. Keith shouldn’t even be the one going through this, it should have been Hunk.

Keith was going to die, and it was going to be Hunk’s fault.

There had to be something he could do. He owed it to Keith. Keith had saved him from the Crelxats’ wrath, hadn’t even thought twice about him, and Hunk needed to repay him. He couldn’t let things end this way.

If he were up on the stage right now, in that noose, and Keith were the one having to watch, what would Keith do?

Lance would probably say Keith would ‘punch his problems until they go away’.

It wasn’t much of a plan -

A thunk sounded as the hatch below Keith’s feet was dropped and the wire went taut.

- but it was all he had.

All the fury that had built in him since the moment he had been ushered into the amphitheater flooded into his fist as he whirled on the guard holding him, and it connected with the chin of his helmet. His knuckles immediately throbbed with pain, but there was a satisfying crunch of bone as the guard’s head reeled back, his grip going slack.

Hunk dove for the guard holding his bayard. The guard let out a shout and tried to jump back, but Hunk was not to be deterred, and he bodily tackled him into the next row, the Crelxats there shrieking and scampering out of the way. He clawed his way up the guard’s arm, fighting to pry his fingers off of the bayard, and when he wouldn’t give, he decided he didn’t have the time to fight clean. He hauled himself forward and bit down as hard as he could on the guard’s hand.

The bayard was dropped immediately, and Hunk snatched it up and clambered to his feet. It expanded into its miniturret launcher form as he hefted it up and aimed it toward the stage. Several Crelxats screamed, and his vision swam as he saw Keith through the optic. He was still moving, still jerking in his bonds even as the wire tightened around his neck and his face began turning blue. That meant his neck hadn’t broken when he dropped. He was still alive. There was still a chance.

Although, that chance was getting exponentially smaller with every tick that passed, and Hunk didn’t have time to reach the stage. With his vision hazy and his body shaking and his stomach doing somersaults, it would be insane to try to shoot from here. There was too much chance of hitting Keith. He was going to survive being hanged only to be killed by cannon fire instead.

But it was the only thing he could do.

He fired, praying to anything that was out there and that might be listening that the shot would hit its mark.

It didn’t. It went too high. Hunk’s heart sank, despair flooding him -

Until another shot came from behind him, the projectile this time much larger. This one took out the projection of the gallows that Hunk had been aiming for, dropping Keith’s struggling form to the ground, and burned through half the stage along with it.

He turned around.

Never in his life had he ever been so happy to see the Yellow Lion, hovering just over the amphitheater’s entrance. The buildings behind her were darkened by her enormous shadow, and her eyes blazed down on the crowd that was practically trampling itself to get out of her way.

Yellow had come. She had sensed Keith in danger and -

No, that wasn’t quite it, Hunk realized as he finally noticed Yellow’s presence in his mind, the weight trying to ground Hunk like a heavy blanket, the low rumble of her growl asking if he was okay.

She had sensed Hunk’s distress. That’s why she had come. That’s why she had flown here on her own.

Huh. It seemed Keith wasn’t the only one with an overprotective Lion.

And speaking of…

Hunk’s bayard shrank back down into its dormant form as he raced down the amphitheater steps, shoving panicking Crelxats out of the way and sliding onto his knees as he reached Keith’s crumpled form. The smell of iron from his bloodied back was so strong Hunk could taste it, and he gagged as he rolled him over. Keith’s eyes were closed, his lips gray from lack of air, and Hunk immediately set to fumbling at the wire noose, mumbling reassurances to Keith’s unconscious form as he loosened it.

Right as he pulled it up over Keith’s head, grimacing at the dark bruises it had left on the skin of his neck, the body was yanked aside by the arm, and Hunk looked up to see Malvet, both her hands locked around Keith’s forearm as she tugged at him.

“Get away!” Hunk snarled. “Haven’t you hurt him enough?!”

“He has not completed his penance!” Malvet cried. She swiveled her gaze onto Hunk, and the angry gleam in her eyes was almost manic. “The destruction he caused must be paid in kind! The twenty gods require his life, and we must - ”

Hunk let out a frustrated growl, just about at his wit’s end with Malvet’s gods. In a show of rashness that would make Keith proud, he brought his bayard back up, and it morphed into its energy minigun form as he pointed it right between Malvet’s eyes. “If you even think about hurting Keith one more time, then my gods are gonna need your life in exchange.”

Malvet narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”

“Sure I would. I already took out your monument. I’m on a rampage. I can’t be stopped.”

Her jaw dropped, and her hands shook as her grip on Keith’s arm loosened. “You - it was you who - ”

Hunk was already hauling Keith onto his back and taking off before she could finish the thought, and he raced up the amphitheater steps in leaps to meet Yellow at the top, where she scooped the paladins into her mouth and took flight.

The sound of screams below them was cut off as her jaw shut and Hunk collapsed onto the cockpit floor, rolling Keith off of him as gently as he could before rushing to the controls, taking Yellow around in a wide arc and scanning the city below before he spotted where Red lay, still not quite fixed up to working condition. He dove toward her, and Yellow grabbed the smaller Lion up from the ground around the middle like a mother carrying her cub before rocketing upward, gaining speed until she broke the atmosphere. Then he set her autopilot to the coordinates of the Castle’s landing site and…

It was over. After all that, it was finally over. They were off Crelxatain. They were safe.

They were alive.

Well, Hunk reminded himself as he left the pilot’s seat and made his way back toward Keith’s prone form on the cockpit floor, the worst part was over, at least, but they weren’t in the clear yet. He reached to the overhead storage unit to pull out the emergency medical kit and got onto his knees next to Keith to get a closer look.

It wasn’t a pretty sight. Keith’s back had been slashed to ribbons, the gashes in varying depths with a couple cutting so deep Hunk could swear he could see vertebrae. Some of them had stopped bleeding, most had not, and the sounds of the slowly seeping blood dripping onto the floor of the cockpit rang in Hunk’s head. He’d be able to clean the wounds and get some gauze onto them for now, but the cryopods in the Castle would have to do the bulk of the work.

And his back wasn’t the only spot injured. His ankle was bent in the middle in a way it shouldn’t have been able to bend and was starting to swell; he’d probably landed on it at a bad angle when Yellow had shot down the scaffolding. A trickle of blood dripped from the edge of his mouth where the tight gag was cutting into the skin, and Hunk reached up to start working it free, relieved to hear Keith breathing when he pulled it away, even if the breaths were raspy and strained. Small wonder, considering the purpling bruises covering his neck where the noose had strangled him.

He opened the medical kit, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the extent of Keith’s injuries, and decided to pull out the bottle of disinfectant first. His back was definitely going to need it. He unscrewed the lid and held his breath against the sharp smell before lowering it toward the gashes and pouring the disinfectant in.

It let out a sizzling sound as it spread over the wounds, and Keith’s back arched as he let out a strangled yell, his swollen neck leaving his voice as nothing but a dry rasp. Hunk immediately set the disinfectant down and hurried up toward Keith’s head. “I’m sorry, man,” he said. “I know, I know, it’s gotta hurt like hell, but I have to clean it up, I’m sorry. Hang in there, bud.”

Keith let out another rasping groan, and slowly his eyelids began to peel apart. “Keith?” Hunk whispered. “You awake?”

His back rose and fell in a couple of slow, deep breaths before he finally grunted out, “Sh’ro?”

Wow. Keith may as well have just rammed his fist through Hunk’s chest, grabbed his heart, and wrung it dry. “Uh, no. No, it’s not Shiro. It’s me, it’s Hunk.”

Keith blinked slowly, his eyes working to focus on Hunk’s face, and then: “Hunk? We’re alive?”

Hunk let out a breath. “Yeah, man,” he said, giving Keith a wobbly grin. “We’re alive. We made it out of there. You did great, buddy. Just need to hang in there a little longer before we get back to the Castle.”

“I thought they - ” Keith took a rattling breath, but his voice didn’t sound any less gravelly when he continued, “They decided t’ kill me, di’n’t they.”

Hunk grimaced. “Yeah. They did. But that was a pretty stupid decision, wasn’t it?”

“You stopped th’m,” Keith said. “I saw you. In th’ crowd. You had - y’ had your bay’rd. Before I couldn’t see ‘nymore…”

“Well, I - I tried,” Hunk said. “But it was really Yellow who saved the day, you know. She’s the one who started blasting. All I did was get a little chaos going in the stands and grab you. It was nothing.”

“Nah,” Keith sighed. “It wasn’t noth’ng.”

He let his eyes drift closed, and Hunk pushed his bangs out of his face before scooting back toward the medical kit. “Once we’re in close enough range of the Castle, I’ll radio in and see if anyone’s there to get a pod ready for you. If we’re the first there, well, I’ll do it myself. Coran showed me the basics of how those things work, I can at least get you stabilized before he or Allura comes back and can get it started for the deep healing stuff. But, um, for now I’ve got to get this stuff disinfected and wrapped up. It’s definitely gonna sting.”

“‘S’okay,” Keith grunted. “Go ahead.”

“And Keith?”

“Mm.”

Hunk leaned in close. “Don’t you ever, ever scare me like that again, you got it? You’re no longer allowed to come that close to dying, I forbid it. And if you ever try to jump in and take the blame for my screw-up again, I swear to the Twenty Gods of Crelxatain I’ll bring all the wrath of the Yellow Lion raining down upon you. You hear me? Never again.”

Eyes still closed, Keith gave him a weak attempt at a smile. “We’ll see,” he rasped out.

Hunk sighed. Shiro really should have warned them right from the start how stressful it was to have Keith around. “Good enough,” he said, moving back to focus on the gashes. Keith tensed and let out a couple of whimpers as Hunk dabbed disinfectant into the wounds, but they got through it.

It wasn’t until Hunk was halfway through wrapping Keith’s torso in bandages that he opened his eyes and spoke again. “Hunk?” he said.

“Yeah?”

“Remember, when I said t’ just let them get th’ penance over with? ‘nd not to interfere?”

“Yeah…”

“Thanks for not list’ning to me.”

Hunk let out a loud laugh, more out of the hysteria still left in his system than any humor in Keith’s weak joke, but he still broke out a wide smile as he said, “Any time, buddy.”

“And for… ev’rything else.”

“Hey. You had my back from the start, right? Of course I’m gonna have yours too. That’s what teammates are for, you said it yourself.”

“So now… we’re even?”

“Not even close,” Hunk said, shaking his head. “Not until you get out of that cryopod and eat every bite of the feast I’m going to make for you the moment we get back to the Castle. I’m talking twenty dessert courses and live entertainment by the mice. Then we’ll be even.”

Keith let out a breath of laughter and let his eyes slide closed again. “Deal.”

#badthingshappenbingo #keith #hunk #vldgen #keith whump #my writing #fic: got your back

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capsironunderoos · 5 years ago

Text

Little One - Part Three: “This is the way.”

Din Djarin (The Mandalorian) X Reader

Summary: Din Djarin is sent to collect a bounty that he has limited information on. What he finds on the journey is unexpected, complicated, and even a little green.

Warnings: Flashbacks to the first chapter. This is based off of The Sin, so it gets real tense. Real sad boy hours out here.

Word Count: 4.6k

Author’s Note: This was actually a lot of fun to write, and I’m in a Mando mood now. I hope to have the next chapter out soon because the fourth episode of the show was my absolute favorite. Anyways, we’re learning a bit more about our characters, but we’re still following the plot of the show for the most part. If you want to be added to the tag list let me know! Thank you to everyone who reads, you guys mean the world! (Also, a little bit more hints at a possible romance with Luke Skywalker, if you know how to look closely...)

Oh and I haven’t said this before, but if he’s referenced as Mando, then it’s the readers POV, and if he’s referenced as Din, then it’s his POV.

This is a link for the last chapter:

Little One - Part Two: “I have spoken.”

And this is a link for my master list, where all the chapters are located:

capsironunderoos masterlist

When the Razor Crest leaves hyperspace, your heart plunges to your stomach.

Actually, you think that if you looked down, you’d see it laying in your lap.

Nevarro has come into view, and as beautiful as the planet looks from the cockpit of Mando’s ship, you know the scum living on its surface is as thick as the smog that clouds its skies.

Little One coos from his spot in the Mandalorian’s lap, mouth wrapped around the small metal ball from one of Mando’s many dashboard controls.

You wonder if this was the planet Kuill had referenced. Maybe this was where your story was to take place.

When Mando lands his ship just beyond the entrance into the city, you know he doesn’t plan to be on world long. He’s close enough for a quick departure.

He stands from the pilot seat and turns, stopping when you look to Little One held carefully in his arms.

Both you and the small green being look up to him, and you can almost sense his conflict.

Time seems to freeze as the three of you simply observe the other.

Mando breaks first, moving Little One into the crook of his left arm so he can wrangle the pod from off of the floor and into the seat beside you. Little One lets out a screech of protest, because he knows going in the pod could mean the doors being closed again.

“Let me carry him so he isn’t scared.”

You command, and the Mandalorian responds by placing Little One in the pod and turning to you. Even though you can’t see it, you hold his gaze, and neither of you flinches when he presses the button on his wrist that slams the pod doors shut.

“I don’t know who else has a fob for him. He’ll stay hidden until we arrive in the presence of the buyer.”

He then reaches into a cubby above your head and drops a piece of cloth in your lap.

“That goes for you too. Cover up those tattoos and wrap this around your face.”

You don’t argue, knowing that any number of groups could have placed a bounty on your head as well.

The Empire, the Resistance, the Guild.

You were not stranger to bounty hunters, or bounties for that matter.

When the Mandalorian is satisfied with your cover, he activates the pod and you exit the ship.

The short walk into the dingy town leaves you anxious, and you wonder what the plan is. Surely Mando doesn’t intend to actually trade you off for a lousy stack of credits. But, if those weren’t his intentions, then Nevarro would have never been your next stop.

He comes to a halt in front of a random door and you notice something move out of the corner of you eye.

Are you being watched?

Your eyes flicker to the pod that holds Little One.

A camera droid sticks itself out of the wall and Mando doesn’t say anything, just stands in view of it, holding up a card. It slams into the wall at the same time the door slides open, revealing two stormtroopers.

Your mind instantly takes you back to Alderaan and you are ten years old again, panic rising in your chest and choking any breath you held out of your lungs.

Mando must sense something is off, because he turns to you and grabs your wrist. You shake your head and his grip tightens as he pulls you into the dark hallway with him.

It takes everything in you not to reach for the blaster resting against your hip.

Not like you could anyway, with two sets of stormtrooper eyes watching and the death grip Mando has on your right wrist.

A thought suddenly pops into your mind and you glance over at him.

He’s scared, or nervous maybe, you can feel it, somehow, rolling off of him in waves.

His fingers wrapped around your wrist isn’t just to keep you in line, it’s for his sake as well. It’s working to ground both of you to your current situation, to keep you present, alert.

When you reach the end of the hallway, a trooper moves to activate the sliding door and you step into a room that resembles a bar, but now holds a desk where a man in Imperial robes sits behind it.

The trooper beside you moves and grabs the pod, pushing it forward and closer to the man behind the desk, who is holding a tracking fob similar to the Mandalorian’s that is beeping wildly. He stands and glances between you two before looking at the pod.

“Yes,” he starts, moving around the desk and holding the fob closer to the still closed pod, “yes yes yes.”

Mando inches forward, finally releasing your wrist and pressing the button on his that activates the doors of the pod to slide open.

Little One remains quiet, simply looking at the man standing in front of him.

Another man joins him, dark lensed glasses now trained on Little One as well. They seem excited and on edge, as if they can’t believe they are staring at this small green creature.

You don’t share their emotions.

The man wearing the glasses moves a tool that emits a red light over Little One’s face, and you step closer to Mando to see what they’re doing.

Little One flinches away from the lights that seem to scan his facial features, but they don’t stop, a smile working its way onto the man’s face. The man in imperial dress looks up at him as if he’s demanding answers.

“Very healthy,” he states, and cuts the light off.

You hadn’t realized it, but you had latched onto Mando’s arm, standing on your toes to see. Tears had begun to prick your eyes as you witnessed Little One’s discomfort.

They both rise to look at you and Mando and you slowly release him, once again standing flat on your feet.

“Your reputation was not unwarranted,” the man in imperial robes states, still refusing to acknowledge your presence.

“How many fobs did you give out?” Mando asks and it seems to irritate the man.

“This asset was of extreme importance to me. I needed to insure it’s delivery. But, to the winner, go the spoils.”

He moves back behind his desk, reaching for a container and placing it on top of the table. It’s heavy, you can tell by the way it’s impact echos. He presses a button and the container opens, revealing a large stack of Beskar.

Tears prick your eyes once more as you glance between the reward and Mando.

How could you have ever thought he wouldn’t turn you in?

He would be a fool to turn down such a profit.

He leaves you and Little One then, stepping to the desk and picking up a piece of Beskar. He seems to weigh it, and you wonder if he’s deciding if it’s real, or if he’s deciding whether to accept it for two innocent lives.

“Such a large bounty, for such a small package.”

The man remarks, and you can feel your blood beginning to boil. The blaster on your hip comes to mind again.

Movement beside you pulls you from your thoughts of an escape attempt and you realize that Little One is being escorted from the room by the man wearing glasses. He cries as he looks over the edge of the pod as you and Mando disappear from sight.

The sound breaks your heart and you jump forward, arms extended in his direction. A trooper behind you grabs you around your waist and you yelp in alarm.

“Wait!” You yell and the room freezes.

Mando looks over his shoulder at you as the scarf wrapped around your head has fallen down to rest on your shoulders.

“You can’t have him! He’s mine!” You cry, tears flowing freely now as Little One begins to wail too.

The man standing near Mando looks to him, anger etched into every wrinkle of his face.

“What does she speak of?” He asks through gritted teeth and Mando moves to look back to him instead of you.

“She is his caretaker.” He responds, and the man glances from you to Little One.

“Please!” You yell again and the stormtroopers grip tightens on your waist.

“We can take her off your hands, Mandalorian.” The man states, and your heart drops.

A beat of silence, and you swear you could hear a pin drop, when Mando nods.

The man glances over to the stormtrooper and he lifts you off the ground, beginning to pull you into the room behind Little One.

You thrash against him, spitting curses at the Mandalorian who doesn’t seem phased in the least.

A last minute effort cues you to take the blaster from it’s holster on your hip and you expertly aim it at the trooper holding you, who drops to the ground as soon as your finger finds the trigger. You aim again at the trooper across the room and he drops too, the blaster shot echoing against the walls of the room.

The Mandalorian still hasn’t moved, and you train your blaster on him this time, hands slightly shaking.

You could kill him, right here.

Grab the Beskar and Little One and escape and start a new life.

It wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it, and it wasn’t as if you hadn’t done worse things in your life.

Before your fingers squeeze the trigger, you feel a pinch in your neck and the room grows blurry.

When your knees hit the floor, the last thing you hear are Little One’s wails.

—

Din watches as you fall to the floor, knees coming into impact with the dirt below you before you’re caught by a stormtrooper.

The trooper sweeps you into his arms, handing the blaster to the man across from him.

Din doesn’t say anything, just watches as you disappear into the hallway with the child.

“What are your plans for it?” He asks.

“How uncharacteristic of one of your reputation. You have taken both commission and payment. Is it not the code of the guild that these events are now forgotten?”

Din watches the man as he speaks, and notices the stormtroopers that enter the room.

“That Beskar is enough to make a handsome replacement for your armor.”

Din nods, closing the container and leaving the room.

As he makes his way back down the hallway and into the alley he entered through, he pauses for a moment.

Had he really just condemned you and that child to certain death?

He had witnessed the creature lift an entire mudhorn as if it weighed nothing, surely that could be a threat to someone of Imperial status.

He had no hand in the fall of the Empire, but he had not fallen deaf to the stories of the Jedi and the Sith. He had simply chose not to believe in them, until now.

His foot mindlessly taps into the dirt beneath it, stirring up dust around him. He shakes his head and begins moving again.

He had completed his job, and what happened past him collecting the bounty for it wasn’t any of his concern.

As he steps into the tunnels below the city, he swears he can still hear your screams and the Childs cries echoing against the temple of his helmet.

—

You watch beside a stormtrooper as the man with glasses, who you assume to be some sort of medical official, straps Little One to a table.

Your emotions are all over the place.

You’re seething with anger at the Mandalorian for thrusting you and Little One into what may be your final prison, if the blaster pointed in your side is any indication. But you’re also fighting tears as Little One screams uncontrollably. You’ve never heard him in such distress and it’s tearing you apart.

The doctor seems irritated as the screams drag on.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he barks through gritted teeth.

You watch as he sticks a needle into Little One’s neck and you wonder if it’s the same as whatever they injected you with, your hand subconsciously moving to rub at the still tender spot on your neck.

A moment later and he has grown silent, his big brown eyes lost behind his eyelids.

The silence bothers you more than his screams. At least when he was screaming you knew he was alive.

You’re surprised when you feel a slight breeze move across the room.

The hair on the back of your neck bristles and your eyebrows scrunch together. It’s stronger this time, but as you look around the room you can tell no one else feels it.

But you’ve felt it before, on the planet where you and Little One were held captive for so long, when you contemplated abandoning him.

It seems as if it wraps around you once more, and you sway slightly, which cues the trooper beside you to grab your arm as his blaster burrows further into your side.

You snarl in his direction, and turn to face him.

When you do, the wind shifts, and he is thrown against the wall on the opposite side of the room.

Your eyes widen but the wind seems to grow stronger around you.

The doctor has stopped, his back against the table where Little One still sleeps.

You slowly raise your hand, channeling whatever this strange wind is in his direction. He begins to rise off the ground, struggling but never falling.

“Please! Don’t do this!” He yelps, and your grip only tightens.

“If something happens to me you’ll both be killed!” He bargains and your eyebrows furrow once more.

“What do you mean?” You spit, and he breathes heavily.

“While you were sleeping, I was instructed to dispose of the both of you, but I talked them into letting me run tests. You’d be dead if it weren’t for me.”

“Then let us go,” you ask. He nods furiously.

“If you let me down, I’ll release both of you.”

You somehow release the feeling of the rampant energy wrapping around you and this doctor, and it seems as if all of the air is sucked out of the room with it.

As the doctor falls to his knees, you bend and grab onto yours, trying to catch your breath.

In the moment you have your back turned, the butt of a blaster is rammed into your temple and you fall into darkness once more.

—-

Din makes his way through the dark room, blaster ready for fire and eyes trained to search for any more troopers.

He’s already taken out too many to count, and when he rounds the corner he stumbles into a room with Imperial medical supplies and machines.

A trooper shoots him but the blaster fire bounces off of the new Beskar resting against his shoulder.

He fires expertly and the trooper falls.

He sees a medical droid hovering over the child pinned onto the table under some sort of binder and he is infuriated, both at himself and at the ones who’ve done this.

He shoots the droid and turns.

The doctor is standing near the table, and Din aims his blaster at him.

“Please! Don’t hurt him! He’s just a child!”

Din is taken aback by his words, but doesn’t falter. He marches over to him and grabs him, throwing him out of his way and onto the floor.

“What did you do to it?” Din demands and the doctor squirms on the floor when he sees the blaster once again aimed in his direction.

“What did you do to it!” Din demands once more, voice more aggressive this time.

“I- I protected him! I protected him! If it wasn’t for me he would be dead! Please!”

The doctor has turned away from Din now, burying his face into the metal bucket he has grabbed onto.

While his head is turned, Din takes the chance to grab the child and leave the room, entering the hallway once more.

The creature rests in the crook of his left arm, still sleeping.

He has to find you now, because he knows if he leaves you, he won’t have any clue of how to care for the baby. He also thinks, deep down, that maybe he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night either.

He quickly hides from two troopers who are discussing plans for transport of a prisoner, and he automatically assumes it’s you. He fights his way through a cargo room, surprised that the creature still sleeps.

When he enters yet another hallway, he blasts a trooper behind him and turns to one in front of him, who shoots in his direction but misses. He ignites the flame thrower on his wrist and burns the trooper until he lays lifeless on the floor.

He hears a coo and looks down to see big brown eyes staring up at him.

At least he knows the child is still alive.

He sighs and is on the move again, blaster raised as he enters the room where the earlier negotiations took place. His eyes sweep the area but he realizes it’s empty now.

Din moves across the room quickly and quietly, jolting to a halt when the door opposite the room opens to reveal two stormtroopers, with two more entering from the doorway he just left.

The two behind him have you in tow, possibly to be used as either a bargaining chip or a shield, whatever the situation warrants first.

“Drop the blaster!” One instructs and Din moves his empty hand to signal surrender.

“Wait,” he starts, “what I’m holding is very valuable. Here.”

He crouches then, placing both his blaster and the young one on the floor below him.

He hears a scuffle behind him and glances over his shoulder to see you restrained by a trooper, shoulders still shaking from the escape attempt.

“Stand up,” another commands and he triggers the whistling birds on his wrist, their blue lights flicking on.

“Duck,” he states and you drop to the floor as he shoots them off, each one perfectly hitting their mark.

The troopers drop to the floor and you stand, watching as he grabs his blaster and Little One. You grab a blaster discarded by the trooper beside you.

You follow Mando into the alleyway, relief and anger flooding through you.

“You couldn’t have done that sooner?” You whisper harshly, but he doesn’t respond, just continues in the direction of the Razor Crest.

Something keeps you on edge, and you sense that you’re being followed, but Mando doesn’t slow down.

You notice his hand resting just above his blaster at the same time you notice the group of people beginning to gather behind you.

You hesitantly pull the scarf back over your head.

When you leave the alley and enter the open area just before leaving the town, you hear it.

The faint beeping of a bounty puck.

The Mandalorian still doesn’t slow his pace, although you can tell he sees the bounty hunters gathering around the three of you.

When he notices their raised blasters he finally stops and you pause just behind him, your finger resting on the trigger and your other hand grasping the barrel of the blaster. Your gaze shifts past the Mandalorian as a man steps out from behind a group of bounty hunters.

“Welcome back Mando. Now put the package down.”

Mando’s hand still hovers over his blaster, which is holstered against his thigh.

“Step aside,” he says, “I’m going to my ship.”

The man smirks, chuckling lowly at the demand.

“You put the bounty down and perhaps I’ll let you pass.”

“The kids coming with us.” He states, his voice still unfaltering.

You try to ignore the way your heart picks up when he says “us.”

“If you truly care about the kid then you’ll put it on the speeder and we’ll discuss terms.” The man demands again.

You both glance over to see the speeder and it’s droid. Mando looks back to the man.

“How do I know I can trust you?”

“Because I’m your only hope.”

The man responds, and his choice of words almost knocks you off of your feet.

The last time you had heard talk of hope had been in that Imperial droid repair shop all those rotations ago.

This day had been full of too many reminders of the past and you were ready for it to be over. The anxiety of the moment rests itself in your fingers, as they tap against the barrel of the blaster you hold.

Mando slowly begins to move towards the speeder and you follow his lead, staying close and in step with him.

When he reaches the speeder, you watch him and follow his gaze as he looks to Little One, who has fallen into sleep again.

In one swift movement, he aims his blaster and fires on a bounty hunter before jumping into the back of the speeder. You follow suit, jumping in after him and landing roughly beside him.

You both continue to try and shoot as the crowd around you begins firing on the speeder. The Mandalorian places Little One down in-between the two of you and rolls over onto his forearms, aiming his blaster at the droid.

“Drive!” He barks and the droid whirs out a noise of defiance.

“Drive!” Mando yells this time and the droid beeps loudly as he turns and begins driving the speeder out of the open courtyard.

As he picks up speed you and Mando take turns jumping up and shooting anything in sight.

Mando takes out a man on the roof above you and you can see the Crest growing closer and closer.

You’ve almost made it to the entrance of the city when a blaster bolt shoots out from the left and hits the droid piloting the speeder. The speeder crashes onto the ground and you and Mando glance at each other before he grabs his rifle and slowly muscles it into position. The whir of it powering up is almost equal to music at this point, and you watch him now as you did in the desert.

One by one the crowd around you disintegrates into nothing at the hands of the Mandalorian.

When the remaining hunters have hidden out of reach, the man from earlier begins to speak again.

“That’s one impressive weapon.” He calls and Mando turns in the direction of his voice.

“Here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to walk to my ship with the kid, and you’re gonna let it happen.”

You watch him as he makes his command, and you can feel it again, the fear from earlier. Not as strong now, though, as it’s mixed with a pang of hope that this plan somehow works, and that you three make it off of this lousy planet alive.

“How about this,” the man starts again, and you cue Mando to the creature moving behind the speeder, “we take the kid, and if you, either of you, tries to stop us, we kill you. And then we strip your body for parts.”

Before he can finish his sentence, Mando kicks one of the supply containers into the creature who is now completely visible to the both of you. He falters and Mando shifts quickly onto his knees to shock him with his rifle. Another creature takes his place but you shoot him, as Mando falls back onto the speeder beside you.

The shooting starts up again and your thoughts of any escape are completely eradicated.

Mando shifts beside you and you don’t want to give up, but you’re beginning to run out of viable options.

Before you register it, he is on his knees again and igniting the flamethrower you weren’t aware was strapped to his wrist. You watch in silent awe as he lights up the hunters closest to the speeder. Some of them fall, but most of them simply move out of range.

When the flame sputters Mando shakes the machine to try and jolt any more flame into action. But it doesn’t work, and he hangs his head as a sigh of defeat escapes through his helmet.

The blaster fire begins again, and you watch as he pulls Little One just under him, making connection with those big brown eyes.

As you watch them, you know he is accepting defeat.

You can tell by the way he rubs the cloth of the brown blanket Little One is wrapped up in between his fingers that he is silently begging for forgiveness.

The war raging on around the three of you seems to fade away as Little One coos up at Mando.

You drop onto the speeder now, back coming into hard contact with the wood and eyes cast up at the sky as you begin to accept defeat as well.

When a streak of light blasts across the sky above, you sit up, propping yourself up on your elbows. Mando lifts his head. You both watch as the streak of light hits a hunter on top of the roof and he falls.

Suddenly, Mandalorians begin appearing from behind the buildings, wearing jetpacks and wielding blasters. They begin firing and the hunters aims are moved from the speeder onto them.

You watch as they effortlessly blast away anyone with ill intent, and Mando has begun firing again too.

A large Mandalorian lands beside the speeder, rapidly firing as he looks over to you three.

“Get out of here.” He states, and his voice is altered in the same way Mando’s is, but it’s gruff and hard.

“We’ll hold them off.”

“You’re going to have to relocate the covert.” Mando says, and the large Mandalorian looks at you again.

“This is the way.” He offers in response, and Mando nods.

“This is the way.”

Mando doesn’t even look in your direction as he scoops Little One into his arms and jumps off of the speeder. You follow his actions, stepping in his footsteps as you make your way to the Crest.

You’re both running now, and the carnage behind you is slowly fading away.

When Mando reaches the bottom of the ramp, he holsters his blaster and you lower yours.

You quickly run up the ramp and a sense of relief floods you so quickly that your knees almost buckle.

A shuffle behind you alerts you, but a voice cues you both to stop.

“Hold it, Mando.”

You turn to see the man from earlier stepping off of a ladder, blaster raised in your direction.

“I didn’t want it to come to this,” he says, and you think of all the ways that he caused it to come to this.

“But then you broke the code,” he says, and Mando glances to the left of where you stand.

A quick flick of his wrist and a small hook attached to a wire shoots out, pressing one of the buttons on the control panel in the wall next to you, and smoke instantly fills the cabin.

The man becomes scattered, shooting wildly in your direction. You cover your face with your hands, and glance to see Little One looking up at the Mandalorian.

Mando slowly raises his blaster and shoots the man, perfectly hitting his mark and sending him flying out of the Crest and onto the dirt below it.

You both make your way to the cockpit, Mando moving to sit behind the control panel while you return to your earlier seat. He sets Little One on the floor, cueing him to sigh at the loss of contact with Mando.

You never thought you’d be so happy as to see the inside of this filthy ship again.

As you leave the planet behind you, you both glance to your right to see a Mandalorian flying along side the ship. He salutes Mando and falls away.

“I gotta get one of those,” Mando mumbles and you find yourself smiling.

Neither of you has realized it, but Little One has found his way onto Mando’s lap as he reaches for the same silver ball from earlier, reattached to Mando’s control panel.

Mando unscrews it and drops it into his hand, eliciting a squeal of happiness from Little One as he begins the jump into hyperspace.

#the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #mando #mando x reader #mandalorian x reader #Mandalorian #Little One #emwrites #underooswrites #star wars #star wars x reader

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lovemychoices · 5 years ago

Text

Playing with Fire - RoD AU [Colt x MC] - Ch.2 2/2

Book: Ride or Die

Once upon a time, an angel fell for a devil and they called it true love. -J.P.D

Kaela Matsuo didn’t think she would fall in love with someone during her senior year of highschool it was the last thing on her mind but then she met Colt while hanging out with Logan and everything changed. After taking down Jason and saying their heartbreaking goodbyes will Kaela and Colt ever find a way back to each other again? And if they do are they ready to face new obstacles together?

Characters except my OCs belong to Pixelberry, I am just borrowing them.

Word count : 5000+++

Chapter Summary: Kaela tries to forget Colt the only way she knows how.

A/N : Sorry it’s been months since this series has been updated and to be honest IDK when the next chapter will be up. Sorry for any grammatical error I didn’t have the time to do edits.

Warning/Triggers : Alcohol and Drug abuse. [Make sure you’re 18 years old and above if you read this]

catch up with the series here

Song Inspiration: Signals in Smoke - Coming up for air

How long can you wait

To breathe deep

How long can you stay

Underneath

It's hard to believe

But I know your heart still beats

Rise on up baby

Don't need eyes to see

Later that night, Kaela followed the direction of the address that Riya texted her which lead to a gated mansion somewhere in the hills but she couldn’t hear or see any signs of a party.

Confused she double checks the address on her GPS System. “This should be the right place?” She murmured to herself. “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

A loud knock on her window causes her to jolt in her seat. She looks the drivers window and sees a man with strong build body wearing a crisp black suit. She cautiously rolls down her window a little.

“You lost or something miss?” The man asked eyeing her curiously.

“Um.. I’m here for a party at Mike’s place?” She answered showing the digital invite on her phone. The man takes a look at the screen taking his own phone from his pocket and started scanning the barcode on Kaela’s invite.

INVITE VALID

He gives her an approving nod and the gates in front of her open. She lets out a sigh of relief then nods back at him and quickly puts her gear into drive.

As she drives through the estate she sees a few dimly lit lamp posts and perfectly trimmed hedges. A little while after she could hear the faint sound of music playing in the background. In the driveway a bunch of expensive sports cars parked next to a two storey modern mansion.

Wow! This is where Mike lives? She checks herself in the rear-view mirror then heaves a sigh. You can do this it’s just one night out. Kaela felt like she needed something to calm her nerves so she reaches out to open her dashboard taking out an orange prescription bottle labeled Xanax on it which she had bought from one of her classmates a month ago. “Fuck! I’m all out.” She muttered throwing her head back on the headrest then glance towards mansion.

Maybe they’ll have something in there. Rich people always have the best prescription pills.

As she approaches the top step, a housekeeper opens the front door. Loud party noise and music blasted out as she enters, she felt like she was in some sort of fraternity party. People were dancing around consumed by the music around them, to the right a group of people cheering on a few guys doing a keg stand challenged.

I need to find the master bath, it must be somewhere upstairs.

“Kaela! Kaela over here!” Riya calls out with her hands waved in the air, quickly walking over to where Kaela was standing. “Omg, I’m so glad you decide to come!” She beamed excitedly giving Kaela a hug. “Come on, let's head outside by the pool, I have a few friends I want to introduce you to.”

Before Kaela can protest Riya takes her hand and guides her along the crowd to the middle of the living area and through the back door where a large swimming pool was located next to the house.

“Everyone, Kaela. Kaela, everyone.” Riya introduces her to a few people sitting by the pool.

“Hey Kaela!” Everyone greets in unison. “Hi…” Kaela smiles giving a sheepish wave. One of the girls stood up and hugged her excitedly taking Kaela by surprise. She pulls back a few moments later. “So nice to finally meet you, we always wondered when we were going to meet this mysterious Kaela, Riya’s always talking about. I’m Jane by the way.”

“Really Riya talks about me a lot?” She asked cocking and eyebrow at Riya.

Riya chuckles. “Only the good stuff I promise!” Kaela shakes her head and grabs a beer from the chiller next to her and twisting the cap open and has a sip before taking a seat next to Riya

“So does Mike have these parties all the time? Where is he anyway? I didn’t see him on the way in.”

Will snorts. “Probably inside entertaining the ladies, lucky bastard.”

The DJ starts to play a song Riya excitedly jump from her seat. “Oh I love this song!” She exclaims taking Kaela’s hand. “Common Kaela time to let loose and dance all your troubles away.”

Riya and the others danced moving their body as the music plays not missing a beat. Kaela watches stiff at first, she can’t remember the last time she danced like that. “Kaela don’t just stand there!” Riya said as she swayed from side to side.

“I’m gonna need more alcohol if I’m going to get through this.” She mutterd under her breath.

She quickly grabs a few glasses of neon shots from people nearby downing them in one go. Soon enough the alcohol starts to kick in, her body loosens, she starts swaying her hips to the sound of the music. For that brief moment she felt all her pain and sorrow being suppressed. She continues to dance letting the hours pass by, not stopping until suddenly the DJ plays a familiar song.

***

Flash back here…

Kaela takes in the electric colours, blacklight illuminated the ravers neon clothing. Drinks glow blue, pink and purple against the darkness. It was her first time going to a rave and it wasn’t like she had expected. She glanced down to see the colours on her clothes she borrowed from Mona how they brilliantly under the luminous lighting. Her eyes go wide opened and beamed. “Wow it’s like I’m radioactive!”

“You’re welcome.” Mona gave her a playful wink.

The group stood at the back as they watched other people dance around. “So what do we do?” Kaela asked.

“What do we do? We dance!” Mona answered with a smirk.

“Yeah. But like… how?”

Ximena chuckles. “However you want Hun. do what feels good, don’t overthink it.”

Mona sways sensually to the music, Toby jumps up and down. Salazar moves to an open spot at the dance floor and breaks into an energetically sequence of sliding and foot pumping. “And that’s called the Melbourne shuffle.” He beamed. The crew applauds and laugh. Even Logan shakes his head for smiles. He can feel his phone vibrate and excuses himself for a bit leaving Kaela and Colt alone while the others were off busy dancing.

Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while

Heaven can wait we're only watching the skies

Hoping for the best, but expecting the worst

Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?

Let us die young or let us live forever

We don't have the power, but we never say never

Sitting in a sandpit, life is a short trip

The music's for the sad man

“Oh! I love this song!” She beamed excitedly. “Come on, Colt!”

Colt hesitated looking at the rest of the crew doing their thing. “I.. don’t really dance.”

Kaela chuckles. “Me neither. Now come on!” She quickly took Colt’s hand before he could protest. Lacing their fingers together she leads him away out of sight from the rest of the crew.

Colt pulled her body close to his and tilted her chin face up to look at him, his lips curled up into a grin. “I would be lying if I said I haven’t been waiting to get you to myself today. Just follow my lead.” He turned her around so her back is facing his then lightly touches her waist, they both swayed effortlessly to the beat. In time with the pulsating beat he pushes her away then pulled her back closer this time with her face inches away from his. “Is Logan watching?”

“Why do you care if he does?” She quirked an eyebrow at him.

“Is it bad that a part of me wants him to?” He grinned.

“I’m not some possession for you two to fight over, Colt. I’m an actual person.”

“You’re not.. you’re more than that Kaela. At least to me you are.”

“What am I to you Colt?” Colt paused for a moment, they both stopped for a moment in the middle of the crowd of people dancing. He tucks a strand of Kaela’s loose hair to the back of her ear, she can see passion in his eyes as he looks at her. Colt leans in until his lips are just a breath away from hers, “You’re my driver forever, Kaela.”

She pushed her hands through Colt’s hair, bringing his mouth to hers.In that moment they both forget about everything and everyone in the room, even the loud music starts to fade into the background as they drown in each others kiss.

***

Present day..

Can you imagine when this race is won?

Turn our golden the faces into the sun

Praising our leaders, we're getting in tune

The music's played by the, the madman.

Forever young

I want to be forever young

Do you really want to live forever?

Forever, and ever.

That song, it was the song that she and Colt danced to at Hyrieus a year ago. Kaela could feel her heart beating fast and loudly as all the memories of that night with Colt replayed in her head. Suddenly the pain and sorrow comes crashing back at her, she felt like she was suffocating. “I need to get out of here.” Kaela pants and quickly pushed her way through the crowd walking up a flight of stairs leading to the first floor corridor.

She tries to open every door she comes across but each one she found was always locked until eventually one opens. She enters to what seems like the master bedroom and without a second thought saunters directly towards the bathroom.

Kaela stands in front of the mirror, hands pressed on the sink leaning with her head down. She closes her eyes and began reciting the same words repeatedly in her head. Breathe in one two three, breathe out three two one. ”Fuck this isn’t working.” She muttered under her breath, her eyes moves towards the Medicine cabinet in front of her.

Maybe there’s something in here that will.

She opens it and starts rummaging through. Lets see few dental flosses, vitamins, health supplements. Urgh where’s the good stuff?

She finally got her hands an orange prescription bottle, she took a look at the description labeled OXYCODONE one time daily or when needed. BINGO! Without even hesitating she popped the bottle open taking one pill and quickly putting it in her mouth swallowing it, later filling up a glass of water and drinking it all in one go. Kaela that the perception bottle from the sink counter top and shoves it in her purse, adjusting her messy hair before heading out.

She slowly closes the door behind her, failing to notice someone standing right outside she bumps right into them.

“Woah, careful!” Someone said catching her by the arm as she stammers back surprised, she looks up and sees a familiar face. “Mike, when did you get here?”

“Um.. I live here, it’s my party remember? What are you doing all the way up here?” He answers cocking an eyebrow.

“I um… needed to find the bathroom but got lost. Big house you got here.” She replied nervously. “But you know I succeeded in finding one so all good.”

“Good to know.” He chuckles then folds his arms scanning Kaela head to toe. “Listen, I’m heading up to the rooftop garden to get some air. You could join me if you want?”

“You have a rooftop garden?” Kaela thought for a moment before giving a half shrug.“Sure why not? I need to get some air anyway.”

Mike took her up another flight of stairs, he opened the door which lead to a beautiful rooftop garden.It had a miniature garden with pebble stones lining the pathway on one side and on the other side an outside bar with a hot tub overlooking the view of the neighborhood. Kaela’s eyes go wide open. “Wow! This is your rooftop? It’s amazing!”q

“You can thank my interior designer for that it was her vision. So have a seat anywhere you want.”

Kaela climbs on top edge of the roof and takes a seat at the edge, her legs dangling from above. She could see the pool right below her and the view of the landscape in front of her.

“This view is amazing. No offense but how’d you end up with a place like this? I thought you only owned a gym.”

Mike runs his hands through his hair. “Well not just a gym, I have few others all over California. Most of my clients big shot politics and A list celebrities. Plus my family is rich.”

Kaela snorts. “No kidding.”

“I’m serious..My last name is actually West.”

Kaela chokes a little when she hears the name. “As in West industries? They’re like multimillionaires?” Mike silently nods then looks away. “So... Why run a gym instead of being some big hot shot CEO?”

Mike shrugged at her question. “I didn’t really want to go into the family business. I’ve spent my whole life having my father tell me what I’m supposed to be and I’ve always felt so suffocated, you know? It wasn’t until I lost everything I ever cared about that I decided enough is enough.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice. I definitely know what it’s like to have a parent expect you to be someone you’re not.”

“Strike one of something we have in common.” He smirked. “I’m keeping score to see how compatible we are. You know for future reference.” He explains and gives a playful wink.

Kaela chuckles. “That’s a really interesting way of keeping score. Does it always work?”

“Most of the time.”

There was an awkward silence between them for a few seconds. Shit is he thinking of kissing me? Please don’t You’re going to ruin the moment. Mike starts to lean in, trying to close the gap between them, he was obviously going to kiss her. Kaela tilts her head down a look of regret written on her face. “I’m sorry, I can’t do this. You’re a really nice guy Mike, but I just got out of a serious relationship and I’m just not ready.”

Mike leans back, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry, I didn’t know. How long have the two of you been broken up?”

“We didn’t Break up. He—. He—.” She fumbled trying to form the words. Take deep breaths and exhale slowly Kaela. ”He was involved in an accident about 3 months, he didn’t make it.”

“I’m sorry to hear about that, believe me I know what it’s like losing someone you love. To have them suddenly ripped from you.” He seethes, Kaela noticed his jaw clenched and his hands ball into a fist.

“Who was she?” She asked, Mike turns to look at her, his expression a mixture between sad and confused. “When you said you lost everything you cared about earlier. I’m assuming it has to do with someone you cared about.”

“She was.. Someone I met in college sophomore year. She was the most kind and beautiful person I have ever met. We started dating a few months after knowing each other then it went from that to being in a relationship for the next 5 years.” Mike paused for a moment he fidget with a silver ring on his finger. Kaela could barely make out the words engraved on the ring but it has the initials M&K.

“You know the night of the accident we were supposed to spend the weekend at one of my family's estates in the mountains. I had this whole plan to propose to her.” He paused again with regret written on his face. “But I got held back at work, so I told her I’d have someone pick her up she could head up there first and I would catch up later. A few hours later I got a call from the police…..”

As Mike told Kaela about the night his girlfriend got into a car accident, voices of that night she got the call from Ximena regarding Colt’s accident starts replaying in her head.

“Kaela honey, I wish I was calling you under different circumstances and I’m sorry to be the one telling you this but—.”

“But what X? You need to tell me.”

“It’s about Colt. He’s.. He’s been in an accident and he didn’t make it.”

“Kaela. Hey Kaela you alright?”

She is slowly pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of Mike’s voice.

“Are you alright?”

“I uh… yeah. I’m fine.” She mentions, tucking strand of loose hair to the back of her ear.

“Anyway the trick is to focus on something that will make you forget. For me it was martial arts, I got to channel all my anger into someplace else. Who knows, it might be for you too. Whenever you ready just give me a call.”

He handed her his business card and she takes it, giving him a weak smile.

“We should probably head back to the party. Riya might be worried and looking for you.”

Mike slowly got up and steps away from the edge, he stretched out his hand to Kaela.

“You coming?”

“Uh… Yeah. Hey you go ahead I’ll be right behind you.”

When Mike wasn’t looking she quickly popped another piece of pill into her mouth, closing her eyes and taking deeps breaths she could feel the pill start to kick in.

Maybe this is just what I need.

*****

In the weeks to come Kaela’s night were filled with parties endless drinking and getting high, anything to make her forget. She was sick of feeling miserable, she was sick of crying herself to sleep at night. This felt like the easiest way out to her. She did a pretty good job at hiding it from her friends and family though. Since she only hung out with Riya a few times a month and visit her dad once a month, nobody took notice in her sudden change of lifestyle choices. Everyone just assumed she had finally accepted what happened to Colt and moved on.

“No.. We are not watching that Ri.”

“Please K?” Riya pouts her lips.

“Omg… We are not going to watch TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE for the 5th time.”

“But.. But.. Peter Kavinsky.” She pouted again throwing her puppy dog eyes at Kaela.

Kaela rolled her eyes at Riya. “Okay find, but I’m picking the next one.”

“Deal!” Riya grinned and hit the play button on the remote.

“I need to use the bathroom for a bit, the pizza delivery guy will be here soon. Take care of it will you?”

A few seconds later there is a buzz on the door, Riya opens and is greeted by the delivery guy. “That will be twenty four fifty.” He says hold the pizza box out.

Riya takes it and shuffles through her purse for cash but is a little short. “Um.. I’m a little short on cash. Could you hand on a sec?” She hurries to the island and grabs Kaela’s purse to get some cash but she ends up finding more. Oxycodone? She quickly stuffs the bottle in her jeans and pays the pizza guy. “Here you go, keep the change.”

A few minutes later Kaela came out of the bathroom and saunters over to the living area, Riya was seated on the couch glaring at her. “Is something wrong?”

“Mind telling me what’s this?” Riya asked holding up an orange pill bottle. “What do you even need Oxycodone for?”

“Omg.. Did you just go through my stuff without my permission?!” She retorted, her hands balling into a fist. “You have no right to do that Riya.”

“I was short on cash and looked through you purse to borrow some. Maybe it’s a good thing I did or who knows how long your drug addiction was going to continue.” She gives Kaela a pointed look. “Is that why you’ve been so chill the past few months? Because you’ve been using? What else have you been using? Heroin? Cocaine?”

“I’m not a drug addict if that’s what you’re implying, I only use them when I go to parties or when I’m feeling stressed out.” She folds her arms her with her eyes downcast. “And for the record I don’t do heroin or cocaine. I’m mostly on prescription pill and occasionally Molly.”

“Kaela how could you be so stupid?! Grieving is one thing but this?!”

“Don’t talk to me like you know what it’s like to feel grief. I tried to grieve him, Riya. Trust me I've got grieving down to a science at this point. But every time I let it sink in that I'm never gonna see you again, I feel like I'm gonna die.” She whimpered. “I— I want to die!

“You can’t say things like that Kaela.”

“And why not? It’s the truth! I can’t do this anymore.. I’m sorry.. I need to go somewhere.” She said taking her purse from the counter and storms out of the apartment, Riya chasing her shortly after into the parking lot “Kaela where are you going, you can’t do this you need help. Just talk to me please!” She pleaded reaching to take her hand but Kaela

“Omg! Riya can you like not!” She belts swatting Riya’s hand away as she tries to take her. “Just leave me alone!” She quickly gets into her car and drives away while Riya watches her from behind.

*****

Kaela drives aimlessly through the streets of LA, she didn’t know where she was going, she just needed to get away from Riya. She needed to get away from everything, to clear her head and a long drive usually does the trick.

Soon she found herself off the highway and on to the freeway which soon lead to a winding road. She could feel her heart pounding as she picks up speed, tears starting to fog her eyes. I can’t do this anymore.. I just can’t. Her phone starts ringing and she looks down at the passenger seat where it was lying, it was Riya calling. She hits the reject button and turns back to the road when she did suddenly out of no where a stray dog was standing in the middle of the winding road and only a few meters from her car, she turned the steering wheel to avoid hitting the pup but at the speed she was going in it made her quickly loose control. Her car swivels on the winding road and rammed onto a divider before flipping over.

Kaela remained strapped to her seat hanging upside down.. The smell of something burning nearby, blood was dripping from her forehead to the ground and her vision was starting to get blurry, she could barely make out what looks like a figure, maybe a passerby who saw the accident dashing over to where she was. “Help me...” She murmurs in a weak voice but before the person manages to get her out she passes out and everything turns to black.

*************************************************

@liamzigmichael4ever @client-327 @brightpinkpeppercorn @lovehugsandcandy @lilyofchoices @justdani14 @zaffrenotes @queenkaneko @mskaneko @pintsizedelle @flowerpowell @desiree-0816 @emceesynonymroll @kinkykingliam @jlpplays1 @annekebbphotography @thecordoniandiaries @cora-nova @rainbowsinthestorm @princess-geek @leelee10898 @emichelle @pixelberrytrash

#playchoices ride or die #choices ride or die au #colt kaneko #colt x mc #rod colt

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afarcryfromreality · 5 years ago

Text

A Burning Sensation

A/N: This is my first fan-fiction ever! I probably won’t write another. Just scratching an itch.

Warning: Violence & graphic descriptions

Rook was cruising down one of the main roads that snaked through Holland Valley when she spotted a telltale white van parked on the verge with two peggies attempting to hog-tie a rather distressed civilian.

“These bastards just don’t give up” She sighed.

It had been a week or two since Rook and John had battled it out in the skies, stray fighter bullets soaring through the atmosphere like lost shooting stars. The fight had ended when John’s plane crashed into the river. Rook parachuted to his rescue, ditching her own plane in the process. She’d managed to pull him from the wreckage before he drowned. She hoped sparing his life would play in her favour against the Seeds. Perhaps make them realise how close they had come to losing their little brother and maybe, just maybe, scare them into toning down their antics for a little while. Her message was clear when she hopped on the radio.

“Joseph, I’ve spared your brother on this occasion, but I’m more than happy to come back and finish the job if you or your siblings continue to commit crimes against the people of Hope County. He’s wallowing in his own self-pity on the river bank. I’ve set off a flare so you can find him. I’d hurry, not long left before he bleeds out.”

John could be heard coughing in the background, muttering about the world being on the brink, questioning Rook’s actions. She left soon after knowing every peggie in the area would be on route. Peggie activity had declined quite significantly since that day but it seemed not everyone had got the message.…

She slammed the breaks on and grabbed her handgun from the dashboard, launching herself out of the driver’s door and slamming it intensely. Rook charged up the road, approaching the two poorly-groomed men who were man-handling a young woman. She was crying out intensely, begging to be spared.

“What the FUCK do you think you’re doing?” Rook yelled, a scowl spreading across her face.

The men looked up at her. Initially confused. “Sinner!” one shouted, raising his assault rifle as he registered who she was.

Rook lifted her handgun and put a swift bullet between his eyes. His lifeless body dropped to the ground as the second man dove behind the van. She fired a couple shots at the van, just for fun really, and to scare that ugly-ass peggie shitless. As she continued to approach, the man broke his cover and attempted to fire a few shots of his own. One of Rook’s bullets quickly found itself embedded in his shoulder and soon enough he was the one crying out.

“Didn’t you get my message?” She asked, finally catching up to the whimpering man and towering over him.

“W-what message?” He asked, in between painful cries.

“This message.” She lifted her gun to his head and pulled the trigger.

By this point, the young woman had stopped crying and all that left her mouth were repeated words of thanks and praise. Rook removed the ropes from the young women’s wrists and ankles, helped her up and offered to drive her back to Fall’s End. However, the woman insisted the Deputy had done enough and instead chose to hop into the white van and take off.

“Thank you once again Deputy, you saved my life.” She said with great gratitude as she pulled away. Rook held up her hand as a sign of acknowledgement, smiling humbly as she made her way back to her truck.

All of a sudden, the loud and unmistakable sound of a gunshot from a high-calibre rifle rang in her ears. Rook’s leg trembled underneath her weight and she fell to the floor. A burning sensation took over, immense pain rushing up her leg. She screamed out an almighty “Fuck!” She managed to break her fall with her hands and knees, but rolled onto her shoulder to shift her weight off her injured leg. Rook looked down at her thigh and saw blood pouring out of a small, circular wound. She had been shot.

She pulled her gun from her holster and held it out to scan the surrounding area, looking for the assailant. Whoever it was she couldn’t see them. She was about 10 meters away from her truck which happened to be the nearest cover. Out in the open she was easy game. Thoughts raced through her mind.

Do I play dead? No... they know I’m not dead. Either they’re a shit sniper or they want me alive… Mother fucker.

She tried to stand but the agonising pain made her fall to the floor once again. She began crawling, wincing and grunting in pain. Once she got to the truck, she propped her back up against the side panel and struggled to pull open the driver’s door. It was only when she had succeeded that another shot was fired, this time narrowly missing her head. Again, the sound rang in her ears and she flinched harshly, ducking for cover under the truck. She looked around, looking for anything that could help her. It was then when she saw the trail of blood she had left behind. It had soaked a bold strip into the tarmac. She felt herself getting weaker by the minute but it was in her panic that she had a moment of clarity. She realised the bullets had come from one direction. One side of the truck was under fire but the other? That was out of the line of sight. She pulled herself out from underneath the truck on the passenger’s side, propping herself up against the door. She dared to look over the edge of door, desperately trying to spot who was shooting at her. Another bullet landed a few inches from her head. Again, she ducked down. She seemed confident that whoever it was they weren’t trying to kill her, but it wasn’t something she was about to bet her life on. She opened up the passenger door and grabbed her med kit, keenly getting to work on her leg. She focused her efforts on trying to stop the bleeding and wrapped every bandage she could find tightly around the wound.

A few minutes had passed and the bleeding hadn’t stopped. The bandages were becoming saturated with blood quicker than she expected. It was then she heard an unnerving sound that made her heart drop. Footsteps. Getting louder and louder, closer and closer. She dove back under the truck in a desperate attempt to hide. There she lay on her back, under the bed of the truck with her feet facing the assailant, ready to kick out if need be.

Suddenly two large hands wrapped around her ankles and pulled her from underneath the truck in one quick but smooth motion. The sudden tug caused her top to ride up and her skin skidded against the tarmac. The burning sensation made her cry out as the tarmac removed her skin like a cheese grater. That, combined with the shooting pain coming from her leg from the sudden tug, made her almost forget she was about to come face to face with her pursuer.

Once her head emerged from underneath the truck the large hands grabbed at her top, scrunching some of the material to reinforce their grip and then slamming her against the tailgate of the truck. Her back arched over it slightly as she instinctively leaned back to get away from her attacker. Her leg felt like it was on fire as searing pain rushed up her leg – a consequence of being forced to stand on her wounded limb. An intimidating figure towered over her; a bright red sniper rifle strapped to the figure’s back.

“Deputy.” Smirked Jacob. “Got you good, didn’t I?”

Rook looked at him horrified, unsure what to say in her weakened state.

“You look surprised. Y’think I was just going to let what you did to John slide?” Jacob chuckled.

“Y’see Dep, I’d suggest you start praying ‘cause you’re going to be far worse off than John when I’m done with you.” He said with gritted teeth, a menaced, evil look washing over his face.

“Fuck you, asshole.” Spat Rook, her hand reached down for her gun, her fingers wrapped around the handle ready to lift it up.

“Bad move” Snarled Jacob as he released her and rammed his knee into her injured thigh with great force. Rook screamed out in agony, falling onto her hands and knees.

“Y-you sick F-“ She growled, looking over her shoulder as she looked up at him. She didn’t manage to finish her sentence before Jacob slammed the butt of his rifle into her head, knocking her out.

“Oh Deputy.” He chuckled “This is going to be fun.”

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someonestole15 · 5 years ago

Text

Cold wind

Who are you?

Shoulder against the door, some force and it opened up. A clang on the other side as a piece of metal fell to the floor. Slowly, the door opened to its limit and we stepped into a room filled with lockers. Déjà vu, I have seen many a room like this by now. A quick change of clothing, it felt easier to breathe without the heavy filtering. No spares for the mk17, I’d keep the pistol ready.

No plan to speak off and no information on what awaits ahead, only way is forward. Another panel broken from its mounts, system accessed and another lock releases its grip. Firewalls blocking further access, only thing I got was a temporary access key that would be deleted after the first use. Pushing the door open, Valkyrie kept watch as I pushed my way past her to the hallway beyond. A large window caught my attention as I lowered my pistol and attempted to comprehend what I was seeing.

A clouded sky, a chasm going down who knows how far as a wall of steel grasps at the clouds above. Several parts of it extending outwards, ships flying in and out in an almost constant flow. A rack just above the window, carrying with it the truck we had arrived on, water dripping from its tires.

Great view, no time to admire it as an alarm lit up the hallway in orange with an electric voice over the intercom.

“HAZARDOUS MATERIAL DETECTED IN: SECTOR 3. PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND REPORT TO THE DESIGNATED CLEAN ROOMS.”

A wall of steel lowering, blocking out access further like an iron curtain, a shutter started closing over the window. Our transport was outside, but getting to it would be problematic.

“Do you trust me?” I asked Valkyrie and drew my pistol, scanning the glass as I held it steady.

“I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t.”

“Good, follow my lead.”

Weak points on the window, 4 in total. Four shots from the pistol, the glass cracked in several spots as I offered my hand to Valkyrie. Clouded skies, about to be filled with flying shards of glass. Valkyrie and I ran through the glass, sending thousands of fragments from it raining down below. Tether connected above, Valkyrie hooked herself to my vest as I pulled us up to the rail. Climbing up, I felt the wind hit me, the moisture with it made it feel extremely cold. Helping her up as well, we walked along the rail until we caught up with the truck and dropped down on its roof. A hatch near the center designated for a gunner if the gun was attached, it served as an entry point for us. Safely in the backseat of the truck, I caught my breath and checked that my arms and legs were still there.

Minor frost built up from the cold wind but other than that, we were both all right, Valkyrie climbed into the driver seat and looked around the dashboard. Taking my chances to go through the happenings of the past few days, I pulled myself up to the passenger seat and took a moment to run the data I had gathered over the past days.

Where were we? No answer for that yet. How long would I need to keep running? I hope that not for long, but the feeling that this will never end runs deep in my mind like a river of poison; I can’t let it take over me. Who is this Goddess they keep referencing, the past shinobi talked about her with his revolver, shame he fell for such a cliché stunt of thinking to kill me with my own gun… Knowing him, he won’t fall for it again, if he ever comes back.

A tap on my shoulder as Valkyrie woke me back to reality.

A ramp ahead as the hooks keeping hold of the truck started releasing their grip. Several armored cars parked around to block anything from passing, their weapons aimed towards us as the wheels slid across the steel and concrete ramp. Valkyrie hit the brakes as the soldiers took out the front tires of the truck. Something felt off, the corporation would have just lit the whole truck up with bullets, but these guys stopped it. A shout over a megaphone from the back of the roadblock.

“Step out of the vehicle with your hands up and you will not be harmed!”

Pistol on my thigh, Valkyrie pointed out the large signature near the back of the block. The frontal cars were armed with machineguns, but that thing had a full on cannon.

“We don’t have the firepower for this.”

“How do you want to handle it?”

A voice at the back of my head tells me to fight back, but the sensible part says to follow what they are saying.

“Keep your weapon holstered and follow what they say.”

“You have 5 seconds before we open fire!” Another yell from the block, I opened my door and held my hands above my head, Valkyrie doing the same on the other side of the truck.

“Turn around and keep your hands where we can see them!” Sounds of footsteps closing in, a voice mumbling something to the others, a shock running through my body as my vision went dark.

Back in the shadows of my own mind, where will I wake up?

As I stated in my previous posting, this is the reworked version of “the dust remains”. I feel I have left the doors open for myself now rather than locking some of them away. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. This does mean the next part will come out on the 1st of February.

Cheers. Fifteenth_

#stories #writing #logs of an android #cyberpunk #cyber #sci fi & fantasy #scifi #science fiction #fantasy #fiction

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jungxk · 6 years ago

Text

just one (iii)

notes: the only guy on campus who’s track record trumped that of your best friend’s - park jimin - was jeon jungkook. not that that was a problem…until he set his sights on you.

warnings: eventual smut, swearing, bad habits (mentions of drinking, smoking etc)

genre: humour, drama, romance, college!au

wordcount: 7.3k

part i // part ii // part iii // part iv // part v // part vi // part vii // part viii // part ix // part x

contrary to popular belief, jungkook does set some rules for himself. he doesn't have many, but the ones he does have he's strict about.

the first was no drunks in his jeep. he already broke that rule by allowing you and your friend seulgi in, so maybe that was out the window. impressive too, because he hasn't let anyone in his truck that hammered since jimin after taehyung's 21st. he threw up all over the dashboard and jungkook could swear he smelt vomit in there for months. even though he's sensitive to smell and hates repeating the same mistakes, jungkook decided you were worth the risk.

which brings him to his second rule: messing around with girls was just that. messing around. every time he needs reminding of that jungkook remembers the cactus plant taehyung gave him back during his very first semester. he killed that thing in record timing to the point where even taehyung wondered if there was a malevolent spirit in the place, because how else could you kill a cactus? it perfectly depicted jungkook's most telling trait: he can't look after things. look out for things, sure. he can step into a fight if his friend needed help or walk an old lady to her car with groceries. because those were a one off, in-the moment things that jungkook is good at navigating. but long term things? investing himself? he could barely stomach his own emotions for a weekend let alone someone else's, so it really was a recipe for disaster for everyone involved. get in, get out, get going onto the next. that way everybody wins.

and that neatly bleeds into his final rule: no bringing girls back to his place (if he can help it). jungkook preferred to keep his personal and personal personal life separate, so the less girls knew about him outside the bedroom the better. besides, it's not like he's totally unreasonable - if his place was closest and the situation called for it, then fair enough. but that was hardly ever the case.

which is why he's here: stumbling around the park in the middle of the day, totally and utterly lost. he was sure he had taken this shortcut once or twice before but apparently he was wrong, because he didn't even know this half of the park existed.

"the fuck is this place," jungkook mutters to himself, shifting as best as he can through a patch of long grass. he's pretty sure he's got a twig in his shirt somewhere and he doesn't even want to think about that squishy thing he just stepped in. his dick may have had a blast last night (and this morning) but the timbs on his feet had definitely seen better days.

jungkook had been wandering around for so long now he considers calling the girl who's place he'd just left in hopes of getting some directions...but then realised he didn't have her number. and even if he did, what would he say? i made you cum faster than you could spell out my name but now i need you to fish me out of the park like a lost dog? and then the next hurdle: what was her name again? jane? joy? jill? it quickly becomes irrelevant when jungkook gets through the end of weeds and broken branches to an open plain of grass again. it's a cloudy day so it wasn't particularly beautiful to look at, but he's just happy to be out of the mess of trees. looking out to the large pond of water just where the steepness of a hill stops, he double-takes when he sees that the person sitting atop it is...you.

you. bundled up in a hoodie, no makeup, tongue sticking out while you work to get the shading of that wilted tree just right. it's a public place, there are people out on the streets, cars whizzing past, but jungkook still feels like he's stumbled upon something private, intimate even - so beautiful do you look, so simple and candid. just you in your own little world. his fingers practically itch for a camera.

raising a hand before calling out your name, jungkook is unable to stop a smile blooming across his face when you snap your head up. he comes over to you, out from all the bushes like it was a totally normal place for someone to be. you can't help but stare at him like he's go an extra head when he finally reaches you, hair all mussed and eyes wonderfully bright. he smells vaguely of women's perfume and cigarette smoke but fuck if you don't gulp a little at how delectable he looks, leaf in his hair and all. "fancy seeing you here, noona."

"i could say the same," you lean to peer over his big shoulder, quirking a brow. "jungkook, why were you in the woods?"

he looks back with you to inspect the path he came from. "i was in the woods?"

"yeah," you laugh, his dopey expression making warmth flourish in your chest. he looks so loveable when he has no idea what's going on, eyes all big and mouth hanging open like an endearing dumbass. the urge to kiss him hits you out of nowhere. "i'm um, guessing you don't come to this park often?"

"i do! i've been here like," he counts his fingers. "twice? once sober." he looks down at his feet bashfully. "i'm actually a little lost."

"i hadn't guessed," you grin up at him, gesturing, "the entrance is way on the other side, over there. if you keep walking this way and then turn left at the-"

"i'll just wait until you're done," jungkook insists, plopping down on the grass next to you. his shirt wrinkles up around the belt to extenuate the flat of his stomach, settling into the ridges of what quite obviously are his covered abs. he looks so innocent from the neck up, round eyes blinking at you through his hair innocently like he isn't all hard edges and stiff lines from the shoulders down. a wolf in sheep's clothing and all that. "if you don't mind, that is? i don't know if you realised but i'm not exactly good with directions."

"you're right. if i let you wander off alone i'll probably see your face on the news tomorrow. just gimme a minute to pack all this-"

the gentle hand enveloping yours stills you. "please. take your time," jungkook hums, letting you enjoy the warmth of his touch before settling back with his palms in the grass again. "i don't mind relaxing here a little while anyway."

you open your book again upon his insisting. "i won't be too long, promise. this fucking pond is just being difficult."

"looks pretty perfect to me," he muses, pretending to inspect your work when really he's inspecting you.

it goes straight over your head though, too enthralled in getting the lines right, getting every stain of colour placed where you want it. you made the dreariest looking pond look like a glittering lake, alive with colour and life that didn't exist in the real world. he scans the other page; more trees, dogs playing with owners, cloudy skies and orchids, so many orchids even though this park had none. you clearly had a liking for them.

"it's definitely not perfect," you laugh, wetting your brush and softening more edges. "but that's what i love about painting. perfect doesn't exist. or even desired." he hums in agreement, no longer able to look at your art, only you. the way your lashes gently flutter, a dimple forming at the side of your mouth when you purse your lips. you were so easy on the eyes jungkook doesn't realise he's staring until you break the silence. "so are you gonna tell me why you're lost in the park or are you gonna make me guess, slick?"

he grins. "you have three strikes, noona. use them wisely."

"booty call?"

"damn," he huffs, head tilting back while listening to your victorious laugh. "listen, it wasn't exactly a booty call. that would imply i met jane before," he pauses. "i mean joy. wait, jennie?" he scratches his head. "what's your friend's name again, jisoo? definitely not her..."

"ask your dick, he'll probably remember. do you want me to give you two some privacy?"

"what's it to you?" jungkook laughs, nudging your shoulder with his while he gnaws his bottom lip, because it's not like he was about to admit that jane/joy/jennie was the third girl he slept with this week to get you out of his head. it was slutty even by jungkook's standards, and even then it still didn't stop him from secretly hoping you'd at least get a tiny bit jealous - and at best, curious to take their place.

"nothing, nothing," you throw him playful look. "i'm just another art hoe sat in the park, who am i to judge?"

he laughs again, nose scrunching up cutely. "how did you find this place anyway?" jungkook peers around the fence of trees, making the area feel so much more secluded, as if the rest of the world was off somewhere else. "i never knew there was such a big pond here."

"neither did i, until jimin."

"jimin?"

a nod. "he brought me here a few years ago, back when i was," you don't know how to finish, wetting your lips. "back when i was going through a tough time. family issues and all that. he said everyone needs a place to scream and cry and this was his, so he gave it to me too. it also just happens to be very pretty."

you can feel jungkook's inquisitive eyes on you, regarding how wistful you look remembering the days you and jimin would come here every week for some respite from life. it all seemed so long ago but like yesterday at the same time, as if walking around in a dream. it's jungkook that lulls you back to earth with his velvet soft voice. "you know it's weird, i know jimin hyung inside out, have done since we were kids. when he's mad, upset, whatever it was," he pauses thoughtfully. "but i don't think he's ever opened up to me about his feelings. anyone, really. he comes out here to scream but he can't like, talk to people?"

"jimin's like that," you agree. "everyone thinks because he has a million friends he's an open book, but it's the opposite. i've known him all this time and he's never even cried in front of me!"

"same," jungkook sighs. "weird. especially since he was, like, the biggest crybaby from ages four to sixteen."

"sixteen?" you laugh. "seriously?!"

"you have no idea! one time as a joke i asked if he was crying even though he wasn't, and he got so annoyed he started crying," jungkook snickers, eyes crinkling happily while he falls about in giggles with you. "but then he grew up, went to college. gets himself some pussy every time he's upset now, i guess."

"it sounds awful when you put it like that!" you pause. "maybe it is a little awful."

jungkook shrugs. "it's the easy way out, is what it is. doesn't make him a bad guy."

you prod him. "are we still talking about jimin?" you're met with another nudge before continuing. "what i mean is he's always thinking of others, that jiminie," you shake your head fondly at the thought of him, and jungkook sees your affection for him etched all across your face. "i keep telling him that processing other people's emotions for them isn't healthy, but he won't listen to me. have at it when you get the time."

"what was it?" jungkook asks. "the emotions he processed for you, i mean?" he raises a brow when you make a face at him. "or do i have to reach level fifty before unlocking your tragic backstory?"

"try level one hundred," you scoff, hauling yourself up to collect your things. "now, do you wanna go get some coffee or sit here and talk about our abandonment issues? choose carefully, you only get one."

"coffee," jungkook scrambles to pack your art supplies for you, making you laugh. "coffee, coffee, coffee!"

"jiminieee!" you call out across the house, kicking the door shut behind you after letting yourself in. you're glad you never threw out your old key because it came in handy during times like this, when jimin couldn't answer a text to save his life. he usually wasn't so m.i.a. but that didn't mean he didn't have his moments from time to time. you just assumed maybe he had a girl over, in which case you had no problem eating all the snacks in the kitchen and playing video games with taehyung until he was done. "why didn't you pick up, i called you like, twice today! anyway i was thinking, do you-"

you stop dead in kitchen, surprised to see hoseok there with jimin. it's dead quiet, heads snapped to you like they've only just stopped talking upon your arrival. you can't help but blink back at them, a little dazed, unsure what you just walked in on. but before you can think too much about it, hoseok is shooting you one of his sweet smiles. "hey, ____!"

"hey hobi, uh," your eyes skirt over to your best friend nervously. "didn't think i'd see you here..!"

"hyung just came over for a catch up," jimin says, which is about as much of an explanation as you're gonna get. "sorry i missed your calls, i left my phone upstairs. everything good?"

"yeah i just," you shuffle closer to jimin, a habit you had when you felt uneasy. even though there was nothing to be uneasy about, so to speak; you and hobi had been texting regularly for a couple weeks now, so it's not like you had a reason to be so skittish. so why do you get the nagging feeling there's something you're missing? you ignore it in favour of jimin's pleasant expression. "i was wondering if you wanted to go see a movie? that new horror film just came out and i'm free tonight, so..?"

he strokes your back apologetically, venturing dangerously low. boyfriend territory, so to speak. "sorry ____, but i have so much work to catch up on before this weekend! remember irene noona?"

you lean into him involuntarily. "yeah?"

"she's having another thing on saturday. i really wanna go but i gotta submit my project first," jimin explains, his gentle caress along your spine enough to lull you into submission alone. "but hobi can go with you! you're free tonight, aren't you hyung?"

"um," hoseok wets his lips, eyes darting between the pair of you. "yeah. yeah, i'd love to take you for a movie, ____. if you don't mind, that is."

"oh, yeah of course not! that sounds great," you pat jimin's chest briefly. "too bad you can't make it though. next time?"

"next time," he nods, and you do your best not to shiver when he squeezes your hip.

you're still in denial all the way to the movie theatre, right up until hoseok pays for the tickets and the popcorn and the good coke. there was no denying it after that: you were officially on a date with jung hoseok.

and it was the first of many. because hobi was funny and understanding and sweet, planning around your schedule and picking things you liked to do. even if you cancelled last minute or opted for a night in, he was so chill about it all. if there was a definition of prince charming in the dictionary, hobi's face would be plastered next to it, his name in glitter cursive. this is further supported by the way he brings you flowers before taking you to a fancy dinner he saved up for, all the way uptown.

evidently, it was only natural that your first kiss with him be perfect as well.

"oh, hoseok!" you coo, plucking the fresh lillies from his hands happily. his cheeks burn with excitement, because you only ever call him hoseok when you're sincerely touched. he follows you into the kitchen while you put the flowers in some water, like a puppy on a leash. jimin was right, he muses. this way, everybody wins. "they're so beautiful! you really shouldn't have, i can imagine these costing a fuck tonne..."

"don't worry about that," hoseok says, stepping closer to you when you finally face him. he looks awfully dashing in his dress shirt and pants, hair swept back to reveal even more of his bright, handsome face. he reaches for your hand gently. "i'm just glad you like them."

"i love them," you smile, his heart fluttering with how pretty you look in that moment, all sweet features and a sweeter dress. "no one's ever given me flowers before, you know. maybe i'll sketch them tonight, so i remember forever."

"no need," he chuckles, taking another step. you're close now, awfully close. the richness of his brown eyes throws you, studying your face with the most gentle smile in the world. before he looks down at your lips. "i'll buy you flowers for as long as you'll let me."

hoseok reaches up to cup the side of your face, feather light and soft. he waits for you to pull away, and when you don't he leans in to meet you half way in a short, honey-sweet kiss. his lips are just as soft as they look, just as plump as you'd imagined. you sigh into his mouth when he kisses you again, a bit longer this time, falling into his chest for more before hoseok pulls back with a glittering grin.

"come on," he says brightly, tugging your hands. "i busted my ass for that reservation, so no tardiness!"

you hum with a nod, clutching his hand and letting him lead you out.

but of course, you got there on time. dinner was perfect, the food was delicious, the weather was lovely, absolutely everything was just right. and yet when hoseok kisses you goodnight at the door, you wonder why your chest feels like it's got a chunk missing. like scraping the bottom of a tub of ice cream for a piece of cookie dough and not finding any. you pad into your room, waiting expectantly for hoseok's got home safe text that he never forgets to send. you're so caught up in your head trying to figure out if the chicken you had at dinner is what's making you feel off, before your phone pings! right on time. but then you do a double take at the id.

[unknown number 9:28pm] hey it's slick :) just wanted to ask why you let me walk around with a leaf in my hair the other day. awfully mean of you noona

[unknown number 9:28pm] this is jungkook btw in case u havent guessed

[unknown number 9:29pm] unless im not the only guy u call slick...?

the laughter that bubbles up in your chest is so potent and refreshing you find yourself falling back into your bed in a fit of giggles, eagerly unlocking your phone to save jungkook's number. you had totally forgotten to anticipate his text in the weeks hobi kept you busy.

[you 9:32pm] thanks for clarifying, ur actually slick #4. jimins #5 if that helps

[you 9:33pm] you didn't pay for my coffee so it was revenge

[you 9:33pm] plus you Might have looked a bit cute

[jungkook 9:35pm] are u kidding

[jungkook 9:35pm] i got u those overpriced chocolate things which was like 4 coffees

[jungkook 9:36pm] ahhhhh there it is :) i knew u had a thing for me

[you 9:38pm] they're called croissants jungkook

[jungkook 9:38pm] idc lets go back to how u think im cute

[you 9:40pm] i thought you didnt like me calling u cute

[jungkook 9:41pm] ill take what i can get in this fuckin drought

[jungkook 9:42pm] my plan is to run with the cute thing until i evolve. charmander was cute in the beginning too but then he becomes charizard n everyones like woahhh

[you 9:43pm] are you literally 7 yrs old. am i talkin to ash ketchum rn

[jungkook 9:43pm] pls dont be silly noona ash was 10

[you 9:45pm] so older than u then

[jungkook 9:49pm] can we stop talking abt pokemon now im trying to flirt

[you 9:50pm] dont say that or ur ash hyung will be sad

[jungkook 9:51] i actlly hate u

you're so busy laughing you almost miss hobi's incoming message. you should have replied then and there, but the influx of jungkook’s messages keep you occupied.

[hoseok 9:43pm] got home safe xx

[hoseok 9:43pm] had a lovely night with you hun xx wanna meet before class tomorrow?xx

"you're having boy trouble, aren't you?" is the first thing taehyung says when you drag him out of his room. and he's not wrong. jimin's out so it's safe enough to take the conversation to the kitchen, tae's smirk over his coffee mug only making you flinch harder. "well?"

"i mean," you tap the table nervously. "sort of? it's just not something i wanna talk to the girls about. or jimin either for that matter. unfortunately you're the only neutral party i have to indulge in."

"charmed. so what did hobi do?" he asks simply. "eat the nuggets off your plate? propose a threesome before the third date? wear denim on denim?"

"...one of those is not like the other, tae."

"you're right. if he took your nuggets the fucker wouldn't be even be alive right now."

"but to answer your question, no he didn't do anything. in fact, i'd go as far as saying he's been so perfect it's starting to make me think he's a hologram or something. some kind of sexy robot designed to charm women but he broke out of the lab and now we're dating."

he gives a snort of derision. "come on, he's a guy. there's gotta be something gross about him."

"nope! he dresses well, smells good, never late, texts me back," you hold your head in your hands dramatically. "he even finishes his political arts essays extra fast just so i have an outline for when it comes to writing mine. the guy is a saint."

"so why did you drag me out of my room during wank hours?"

"jesus, taehyung! it's one in the afternoon!"

"well?"

"i just!" you throw your hands up comically. "i think there's something wrong me! he buys me flowers, texts me good morning...so why don't i have butterflies? why aren't i rushing to reply to him? just the other night i left him on read for ju-for some other guy. i mean, half of me is like if i don't feel something then that's valid but the other half of me is wondering why? why do i feel like i ordered the wrong drink at a coffee shop and i only realised after the first taste? like, it's not a bad drink at all, it's actually quite nice. but it's not what i wanted. you know?"

he raises a dismissive hand to your rambling. "answer me this. do you wanna fuck him?"

you pause, mulling it over. "yeah, i guess."

"you guess?"

"well i wouldn't say no," you admit, huffing as you shift your mug between your hands. "because he's crazy hot and a great kisser, if that's any indication. i'm sure he wouldn't let me down. but i have cause to say the same about you and probably half of jimin's other friends too, so."

taehyung rolls his eyes. "well, ignoring the fact that that was possibly the most tepid compliment you could have given me," he leans across the counter so you can't miss the way his eyes bore into you. "if you're not desperate to fuck him, and i mean getting so excited you shiver a little every time he comes within a meter of you, then that's that. game over, case closed. you should never have to guess whether you wanna fuck a guy or not."

"but he's doing everything right," you wail childishly. "and it's not like i don't like him taehyung, i do."

he shrugs to that. "right. you just don't like him enough to continue dating him on your merry way without coming to me for advice? come on, listen to yourself! the guy's half way to asking you to be his girlfriend, if there's no spark now then what are you waiting for?"

"but maybe there will be! eventually! i definitely like him more and more the longer we've been dating," you counter. "isn’t that worth waiting for?" you groan when tae does nothing but shoot a pointed look in reply. "fine, i'm making excuses. but in my defence if you had to break something like this to jimin you'd be stressed too."

"jimin?" taehyung repeats, brows furrowing. "what does he have to do with this?"

"i mean he pretty much set us up. he's super invested too, he remembers when i need to text hobi back more often than i do." taehyung chews on the information. it doesn't sit well in his stomach and it shows, his lips pursing and his legs jiggling restlessly. "at least it put an end to jisoo and seulgi's crazy idea that jimin liked me. weird though, i didn't think guys would give so much of a shit about their friends relationships."

"yeah, weird," taehyung grumbles, effectively switching the conversation to what he knows will distract you before you can clock onto his pinched expression. "speaking of friends, jungkook says you two have been talking a lot recently. that true?"

"oh, yeah. yeah, i guess," you suddenly find your empty mug very interesting. "we text a bit. went out for coffee a while ago."

taehyung double takes. "coffee?" a pause. "like a-"

you silence him. "don't say date. don't you dare say date. i swear to god if you say date i'll make you a new coffee and pour it in your lap taehyung, i'll do it."

he smirks. "did he pay?"

"no, i got the drinks. but he got the pastries."

"but did he order any pastries?"

silence.

"it was a date."

"no it wasn't!"

"how are you feeling about friday?" jimin asks quietly, lips pressed into your hair so the words come out muffled.

you're half asleep against him, it's one of the few times you're snuggled up into him and not the other way around. you're not sure what trashy romcom is playing anymore, all you know is that jimin's chest is so comfortable under your head, his body so warm with yours cradled into it. you yawn before answering, burying your nose into his soft hoodie. "lunch with hobi? we have lunch together all the time, why would-?"

"no," he says softly, pulling back slightly to look at you. "the other thing."

you meet his eyes, and then it hits you. "oh." a heavy beat. "i-i totally forgot. i can't believe i forgot..."

"i'm sorry, i shouldn't have said anything," he apologises, tucking you further into his arm. you hope your heating cheeks don't give you away with how close you are against him, breathing him in like you would a lover. you're so entranced by his flushed lips and tender expression that you barely listen to what he's saying. "it's good that you're with hobi that day, though. keep you distracted a little, you know?"

"yeah," you hum, but it doesn't keep the sinking feeling out of your chest.

"i only brought it up because i wanted to cook for you that night," he smiles. "i'll make that pasta you like, we'll play some video games. it'll be fun."

you gaze up at jimin in that moment and you hear the words he won't say loud and clear: i don't want you to be alone. your affection for him surges and you think he can see it in your face, because he smiles back at you with a tenderness you don't see often. you shiver a little when he brushes some hair from your face, his touch lingering ever so slightly to the point where you think he just might kiss you. he doesn't, of course. he never has, and never will.

"that sounds perfect," you say finally, dropping your head back into his shoulder to hide your flushed face if anything. you wrap a tight arm around his middle, a silent thank you, and he resumes his cheek tucked against your head.

the next day it rained.

the kind of rain that comes out of nowhere. one minute jungkook was flying down the road with all the windows down and namjoon hyung's playlist blasting and then the next it's pouring, the sound of raindrops hitting his truck so loud he thinks maybe it will leave a dent on the bonnet. jungkook's just glad he got his sunset pictures done and dusted before the downpour, because fuck if his photography degree didn't rest in the hands of the weather forecast at this point. he has enough time on his hands to consider squeezing in a smoke with namjoon before maybe heading out for the night or even seeing what yoongi hyung is up to, but all that goes flying out the window when jungkook sees you. again.

you. standing in the street in the pouring rain outside the post office like a fucking crazy person. you, with no coat, no umbrella, not even a jumper. it's like you've seen a ghost and you're too scared to walk through the door, or maybe you are the ghost. swerving into the curb in a haphazard park, jungkook doesn't know. all he knows is that if the rain doesn't sweep you away any minute now then the fucking pneumonia would.

"hey! noona, what are you doing?!" he screeches through the open window. you just stand there, dumbstruck. even when you finally hear jungkook's yelling, it’s like his voice slips through one ear and out the other. "hey! are you fucking insane? it's pouring!" jungkook shouts above the downfall. you still can't move. "____, get in the car!"

you probably wouldn't have if you hadn't looked up to see jungkook's face, twisted in disbelief and what also appears to be worry. cars honk at him from how badly he's parked, butt of the truck sticking out in the road. he stopped for you...

he stopped for you. so you get in the car.

"are you crazy?!" he asks again as he frantically rejoins the traffic while you fiddle with your seat belt, so sopping wet and freezing that you slip and slide with the buckle. jungkook helps you just like last time, reaching over to click you in before glancing back at your face. you're absolutely drenched, hands wrinkled and hair dripping, clothes soaked through to the bone. and even though you're shivering in the passenger seat with barely any semblance of sanity, your grip on the little blue envelope in your fist doesn't falter. "why the fuck were you just standing there?"

"i," you start, but the words freeze up. "i, um..."

jungkook eyes you like the mad person you most definitely are, and you don't blame him. you look mad. you feel mad. out of sorts, like your spirit is floating around your empty body and the only reason you can't hear her yelling is because the sound of the rain is drowning it out. your chest heaves, air not coming into your lungs fast enough, pulse pounding in your ears. "put on my hoodie," he snaps, gesturing to the seat behind yours. "do you see it, the red one?"

you twist in your seat after a shaky nod, clambering around before grabbing it and tugging it over your head as you're told. it's so big and soft, so warm and so...jungkook. your eyes flutter shut when you bury your nose into the fabric, breathing in the smell of him. fresh laundry, soap, the faintest cologne. and something unmissably sweet. you don't know why but your eyes suddenly brim with tears.

"hey," jungkook says nervously, not knowing how to handle this. "you okay?" another beat. "you gonna tell me why you were out in this goddamn monsoon, or?"

you finally turn your head to look at him, really look at him. silver bracelets glimmer from jungkook's wrists while he drives, his hair matted and sticking up at the back a little. his muscles are hard, you can see the bulge of his biceps. his jaw is sharp, his mouth pursed into a line unhappily, but his eyes are soft. his voice is soft. his hoodie is soft. "i was," you look down at the envelope. it's crumpled and sodden but you haven't let go of it. "i was going to post this. i mean, i wasn't. well, i might have, but..."

jungkook steals another glance because he still has no idea what the fuck is going on. "you couldn't have taken your indecisive ass inside the post office to do all that?" you go quiet again and jungkook's chest feels tighten for some reason. "what kind of letter is so important you'd get drenched for it?"

"it's not a letter," you mumble. then, louder, "it's not a letter, it's. it's a card."

"a card?" he frowns. "like a birthday card?"

you nod. it's hits you then, like a punch in the gut: the shame, the utter embarrassment of it all. of jungkook fishing you out of the rain like this so you don't catch a death wish of a cold, bundling you up in his car like a little kid who got lost. but that's what you feel like, a kid wandering around. a basket case with a birthday card. so it was no wonder your thoughts start to spew from your mouth like projectile vomit but in word form. "remember, um," you gulp, trying to reign in your racing mind. "remember i told you i had, uh, family issues?"

jungkook peers at you, eyeing the road nervously between pauses. "yeah..."

"well, um," you scratch your head, hair flat to your scalp from all the rain. you ruffle it, irritated. "long story short, it's that. like i know i showed you my sketchbook and let you watch me paint in the park and rush to draw flowers before they die but all that stuff is...it's the reason why i'm here. i love it, i love art and it's who i am but if i didn't i probably wouldn't have been caught out in the rain and you probably wouldn't have come found me and-"

he shakes his head. "woah, woah. you're not back tracking far enough, what are you talki-"

"my family," you gasp. "they're not like me. they're not like me at all, jungkook, but i tried to be like them. my mum's a brain surgeon and my dad's a chemical engineer and my sister's a physics professor in some fancy university and i was gonna be just like them. i was gonna throw out all my paint and charcoal and be medical biologist, but i couldn't do it. i tried so hard for so long, but. but i couldn't do it," you're faintly aware of the tears sliding down your cheeks. "why do you think i'm friends with jimin? or rather, that he's friends with me of all people? we met through mutuals and by the time i dropped out of my science degree he was the only one who would still talk to me. i would have been living out of my car for eight months if it wasn't for him."

"what?" he eyes you frantically. "what do you...?"

"my family renounced me. cut me out of their name, threw away all my stuff, kicked me out the house, removed me from their will. everything you can think of, they did it. they're smart after all." you start to laugh at how ridiculous it all was, even though you're crying, even though you're angry, even though you're conflicted. "we haven't spoken in years."

"wait, just wait a second," jungkook tries to keep up. "they disowned you because you decided to be who you are and not what they wanted? what kind of pathetic idiots would throw away their own kid over something like that?"

"because their reputation is everything," you sigh. "you don't get it, jungkook. the kind of name they made for themselves is some top dog shit. they publish papers and take part in groundbreaking research like it’s a hobby. for them to say that one their esteemed daughters dropped out of university because she wanted to be a painter or some shit is a disgrace to their reputation."

his mouth visibly upturns, like he's tasted something bad. "they're the ones who are the disgrace. god, what fucking assholes!"

"but maybe it's better to be an asshole than a dumb fuck," you wave the drenched envelope mockingly. "look at me! i stood outside in the rain because i couldn't decide if i wanted to post my dad a birthday card or not! they haven't spoken to me in years and i still send them a fucking card every birthday," you cover your forehead, embarrassed just from saying it out loud. "they probably set it on fire the second it gets passed the mailbox! they probably throw it straight in the trash and here i am, still sending it."

"but you didn't," he points out. "you still have it there in your hand, don't you? and it didn't exactly look like you were rushing to get inside when i saw you either."

"well yeah, because i think it finally hit me how stupid i am," you look down at your knees. "i just wanted them to know that i don't forget the important stuff. i'll never forget. if i don't post it today then my dad won't receive it on time for friday, and. god, why am i still calling him my dad when technically he's legally not even my relative anymo-" you wet your lips, shaking your head. "it's been years. it's been years. and they've never replied. the only one that's still holding onto this whole thing and getting hurt by it is me, so maybe...maybe it's time i end it. i've already moved on in every other way and this is the last thing that's left, the last tie i have with them, so...yeah."

you wait for it; the spiel of expletives that usually follows when you divulge your past. how your former family don't deserve you, how you should turn your back on them just as they did to you, how wrong they were and how much better off you are in the long run. all things that you whole-heartedly agreed with, if you didn't you wouldn't be here. but moving on isn't a straight line. forgetting isn't like waiting for a pin to drop.

"i can't believe you're related to such disgusting pieces of shit," jungkook starts, knuckles whitening against the steering wheel. it's the first time you regard him now that you've finished rambling, and you can finally see how livid he looks, his face pinched together angrily. "have they even seen your art, though? just because you aren't talented in the same thing they are you get thrown out? all those fucking degrees and scientific bullshit but they can't even see their children as people, what useless fucks," and then, out of nowhere, "do you want me to turn around?"

your head snaps up. "what?"

"the u turn is coming up," jungkook clarifies, looking over his shoulder to check his blind spot. you stare at him, wait for any indication that he's joking or just fucking with you. he takes your wary expression as hesitation. "i can go in and post it and you can just wait in the car, if you want."

"wh-what..?" you try again, unable to do anything but gawk at him.

jungkook regards your disbelief, sighing curtly. "look, my opinion about those pricks is just that - my opinion. at the end of the day it's your life not mine so i can't tell you to do shit. no one can. so if you want me to turn the car around to go and post that card for you, i will. i can't help you with the other stuff, but i can help you with that."

your eyes well up again, hands shaking like leaves. you hadn't even told jimin about the cards in order to avoid the scorn, and yet here was jungkook. a boy you had only met a handful of times ready to support a decision that even he didn't agree with. the feeling was as relieving as it was...foreign.

he wets his bottom lip while you blink away your tears hastily. "so?"

"no," you say finally. "no, it's okay."

he looks at you seriously. "are you sure?"

you nod. "yeah, i'm sure. could you just, um, take me to jimin's? i think seeing him will help me feel better."

jungkook nods, changing lanes for the new route. "does he know? about the cards, i mean?"

you shake your head with a tiny laugh. "no way, he'd flip a shit if i told him! you know how protective he is, he hates my family more than i do."

"well i'm not exactly far off at this point either," jungkook mutters, and you can't help but smile. it makes him smile too, the gripping feeling in his chest washing away at the sight of your shining teeth and dimpled cheeks. he likes the way you look in his big jumper, hair messy and eyes bright. out of all the sunset pictures he took today, he realises that none of them compare to you in his passenger seat right now. "do you think you'll say anything?"

"nah, there's no need," you pause thoughtfully. "he's making me dinner on friday. to get my mind off it all, you know? sometimes i really don't understand why he does all this for me, but..."

"he loves you," jungkook shrugs, and you can't help but wince like you've been pinched. "he said it himself, you're like family to him."

"really?" you chuckle. "what a sap."

"i told you. the nation's crybaby," jungkook smirks, pulling up outside jimin's place. he reaches out to touch your wrist when you go to remove his hoodie. "don't, you can keep it. don't look at me like that, i have like a hundred-"

"i'll wash it and bring it back to you," you take his hand before he can remove it. "thank you, jungkook."

"don't mention it," he starts, but you shake your head.

"not just for your hoodie," you say, the thrum of your heart suddenly in your ears again. you grip his wrist, tugging him over the console. it's like your body acts without your brain's permission because it's all over in a flash; jungkook's doe eyed face close to yours, your soft lips against his cheek in a short kiss.

his mouth is still hanging open slightly when you jump out his car and wave back cutely. he thinks maybe he imagined it, maybe he's about to wake up any second now. he's not sure why his palms are suddenly clammy and his heart is racing a mile a minute because lord knows getting his cheek kissed is the most innocent thing to take place in this truck, but he can't help it. the smell of you mixed with rain linger in the air and jungkook has to take a second to steady his hands on the wheel, fix his breathing like he's a fifteen year old who's never been within an inch of a girl before. for the first time in years, he panics.

don't bite off more than you can chew, jimin had said. and suddenly jungkook hears it differently.

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procrastinationau · 5 years ago

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Procrastination AU Extras: In Pursuit

Since I’m gearing up to post the next and final chapter of the current installment (hopefully tonight or tomorrow), I figured I might as well add in this bit I cut from the last one. It’s a bridge between the two chapters, with Jack and Wuya on their way to retrieve the Eye of Dashi. I ended up cutting it because the setting change felt a bit unnecessary, and it didn’t really add much to the story narratively. I did move my favorite line from this into the next chapter, though.

Enjoy!

An hour later, crammed inside some sort of mechanical contraption that seemed to fly without wings, Wuya was feeling less cocky. Moreso, she was feeling annoyed.

“Are we getting close yet?” the mortal asked for the thirty-second time. Yes, she had been counting.

“I will tell you when we are close!” she snapped. The mortal took a hand off of the wheel he was using to steer the contraption and waved it at her. “Sheesh, calm your incorporeal tits. Just, when you said ‘that way’ I didn’t think you meant ‘somewhere in friggin’ Wyoming.’” “It is not my fault this contraption is so sluggish,” Wuya sneered. “We would have been there by now if we were going any faster.” “Hey, hey, come on, this thing is still in beta.” The mortal reached out and patted the dashboard affectionately. “Flying cars aren’t built in a day, y’know. I’m still working on the propulsion system.” Wuya, who barely knew what a car was let alone a “propulsion system,” huffed and returned her gaze to the world outside. They were gliding over a dramatic mountain range, with sharp spires and sheer cliffs. At least the mortal had changed out of his ridiculous clothes and into a more respectable outfit of a trim gray jacket over darker gray jeans. It wasn’t quite the evil grandeur she’d prefer from a henchman, but it would suffice. “I tell you what,” the mortal said, “this baby’ll probably go a lot faster once I get my hands on that energy generator. Assuming it’s real and you’re not just dragging me out into the middle of nowhere for funsies.”

“I assure you, mortal,” Wuya said testily, “it is quite real.”

“I have a name, you know.” Wuya rolled her eyes at the window. “It’s Jack. Probably wouldn’t kill you to use it every once in a while. Instead of just ‘boy’ or ‘child’ or ‘hey you–’” “There!” Wuya thrust an arm forward, at a cluster of mountains not far off. “Aw, seriously? In the middle of the mountains? Do you have any idea how hard it’s going to be to find a good landing spot around here?” “It is in the valley, fool, not the mountains. And I suggest you find one quickly.” Wuya was no longer scanning the trees below, but the skies around them. “We’ll have company soon enough.”

#procrastination au #deleted scene #xiaolin showdown #writing

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bat-losers-inc · 6 years ago

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Collisions in the Dark (Ch 11): Dead Draw

Summary: Jason’s holding him in his arms as they talk of fate and everlasting promises, but there are predator birds circling in the skies above them and Tim can’t hold himself to any promises he makes in that moment.

Pairings: Tim Drake/Jason Todd

Chapter Notes: Dead Draw: A dead draw may refer to a position in which it is impossible for either player to win.

“What if I lost all those things. Humor, wit, beauty. What if I lost it all and there was nothing left of me. And what if I were just a corpse. And what if I were less than that. Would you still love me? Would you tunnel into the ground until the sun came out so that you could have my body to hold?” —“ Thunderbird ” , Dorothea Lasky.

When Tim awoke from his short nap, he was alone in the cabin of the car. He blinked groggily at the space across from him, staring at the field of dried brown grass that rolled out in front of his eyes like waves on the ocean. The sunlight, where it cut through the blades, made them glow golden. The scene was almost beautiful and it lured Tim’s mind into complacency. It was a stupidly long minute before Tim realized he should only be able to see the leather interior of the passenger door from his slumped position in the driver’s seat. There was also the added problem of Jason disappearing from Tim’s side.

“Fuck. ” Tim’s knee slammed into the underside of the dashboard in his hurry to shift his body up and over towards the empty seat beside him. Tim placed his palm on top of the cushion as his eyes continued to scan the area outside the car. He felt heat but it was impossible to say if it was from leftover body heat or from the sunlight that slanted across the right side of the car.

“Fuck, I should have never stopped the car. I should have never let Jason convince me to do something so fucking stupid.”

Just a few hours to rest your eyes, Jason had said. You’re no good to anyone if you’re brain dead from fatigue. I’ll keep watch. Tim blamed his exhaustion for his weak comeback that had lost him that argument.

Tim lifted his palm from the cushion and twisted around in his seat to scan the area that surrounded the car. He’d pulled them off the highway and parked them behind one of the long, squat buildings that dotted the landscape every ten minutes or so. It had been the only cover offered to them as the sun rose over the mountain tops and glided down over the barren, flat area they were in the process of crossing.

Tim stepped out of the car. He stood still for a long moment, shivering as his body adjusted from the cozy warmth of the car to the frigid, billowy, weather outside. Tim glanced around nervously. Despite the fact that his blood was pumping through his veins like a high speed train down the tracks, he knew that he needed to be careful about drawing attention to himself. Sleep hadn’t eased the feeling of eyes on him.

Jason was worth the risk and it wasn’t like Tim would be standing around like some defenseless prey, waiting to be picked off by a lurking predator.

He pulled the shotgun out of the backseat. The barrel had been sawed off to allow it to fit into the small space of the car. Tim held it out in front of him as he moved forward through the grass. Tim was aware of the weight of the shotgun, clumsy in his hands, and the way the tall grass brushed against his knees through the fabric of his pants.

“Jason!” called Tim.

He swiveled the shotgun from side to side as he walked, each step crunching. Too loud . If Tim didn’t find Jason soon, they would surely be found by anyone hiding nearby. Just thinking about it made Tim’s stomach tie itself into knots. What if Jason hadn’t just wandered off but was taken and being used to lure Tim away from safety?

In the distance Tim spotted a grey mass, its body parting the grass around it. Tim broke into a run towards it, stumbling and jumping over divots hidden underneath the tall grass.

Tim stopped a foot away. There was perspiration dripping down the back of his neck by then. Jason was still and pale in front of his eyes. Tim watched the shallow rise and fall of his chest, reassuring himself with every breath he counted that Jason lived still.

It was strange how Jason’s name used to breathe freely from his lips and now it lodged in Tim’s throat, hiding inside of him like it was afraid it was the last time the name would be spoken.

“Jason.” It was more a croak than his name.

Jason groaned and shifted. Pale green eyes blinked up at him and quickly flickered from Tim’s worried face to the gun gripped in his hands.

“What’s wrong?” asked Jason.

“I woke up and you were missing. Did you fall asleep out here?”

Jason pushed himself upright into a sitting position and pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead with a groan. “No I— ugh— came out here to take a piss and I got a little lightheaded. I sat down to wait for it to pass but I don’t remember falling asleep.”

That didn’t exactly uncoil the knot in Tim’s stomach.

“Give me that,” Jason took the shotgun from Tim’s hand and placed it across his knees, then he reached for the hand that had held it only a minute ago. Jason’s hand was rough and warm in Tim’s own and Jason’s body was even warmer as Tim was pulled down to sit curled up against Jason’s side.

Jason tucked Tim’s head into the crook of his neck and planted his chin on top of Tim’s head. For a while they sat quietly, the only sounds were the wind in their ears and the cries of the vultures and saker falcons that circled the air.

Finally, Jason spoke.

“Tim… we need to have talk.”

Tim grunted a laugh at that. He was pretty sure he knew what Jason was ready to talk about now. “Why now? I’ve been trying to have this discussion with you since we started this journey and you’ve blocked my every attempt.”

Jason shrugged. “I needed a little normalcy… some time to collect my thoughts. And this needs to be discussed before thing get… messy.”

Jason sighed and wrapped Tim in his arm. He kissed the top of his head like a balm to soothe the pain he was about to inflict.

“If I don’t survive this, I don’t want you to try to bring me back again.”

Tim jerked so hard that he elbowed Jason in the ribs. The other boy coughed as the air was punched out of him, but refused to release him. Refused to look Tim in the eyes and see the hurt he was causing him. Jason was playing dirty to get his own way, but Tim couldn’t really blame him for trying.

“You can’t just—”

“I said no, Tim! No cheating death. I’ve already gone through that once against my will and it was worse than death. I never want to go through that again… it’s something that I believe you can only ever go through alone. And it’s so, so, lonely. Better to die if it’s meant to be that way.”

“But Jason, if there’s a chance to bring you back, so that we can live out the rest of our lives together, how can you not take it?” asked Tim.

“Because,” said Jason. “I’d rather live a few days with you in safety then send you down a road that leads you back to the devil. We both know that only Ra’s al Ghul knows the locations of the lazarus pits. The man who sent me to my death isn’t going to bring me back to life without a price and I have a feeling that if I were to be resurrected, we wouldn’t be living out the rest of our lives together. If I send you to him, you wouldn’t be coming back.”

“What if we didn’t make a deal? We could infiltrate—”

“You’re telling me that you’re going to sneak into one of Ra’s compounds carrying my dead body?”

Jason’s disbelief was audible. Tim had angry tears in his eyes by then. He couldn’t tell who he was angry at, however. Perhaps the universe for pitting everyone and everything against them. It wasn’t fair. And it wasn’t right the way the world had conditioned Jason to be so accepting of death.

“I just don’t understand how you can just sit here and let it happen. How can you not fight it?”

“I have been fighting it. Since the day I was brought back.” Jason’s voice didn’t rise with anger, but there was a tinge to it that made Tim believe that he’d struck a nerve. “But it’s tiring fighting something that might have been destined a long time ago.”

He doesn’t believe he should be here, Tim realized with a pang in his chest. It hurt him to say the words, to let his thoughts wander down that dark road. “So what do you want me to do w— with your body? Afterwards.”

“Bring me home, I guess. Put me in the family plot.” Jason laughed, all dark humor. “Whatever you do, don’t leave me with the monks around here. That whole ‘sky burial’ is not my style. I don’t fancy being picked apart by vultures. I’m too pretty.”

He knew that Jason was trying to put a smile on his face, but Tim was too busy thinking it’s not going to happen. It doesn’t matter that we’re talking about this because he’s not going to die.

“Glad we talked about this. We should get going. There’s still a lot of ground to cover.”

Tim broke free of Jason’s grip and tried to rise and walk towards the car. Jason’s hand latched onto Tim’s forearm before he could move away.

“I need to hear you say, it, Tim. Promise me that you won’t resurrect me.”

Tim stared down at him. “I promise.” An empty promise for an outcome that would never come to be.

Tim got back into the driver’s seat and waited for Jason to join him. When he did, after the the other door closed with a click, Tim started the engine.

They were stopped for gas at a rinky-dink petrol station when Tim started to hear talk that had his thoughts taking a sudden worrying turn. Who was it exactly that they were meeting? The thought hadn’t been in the forefront of his mind, he would willingly admit, but now they were there front and center.

There are certain things that are hard to describe in any spoken language, which usually means they are expressed in the same words every time. Like, for example, ‘bubbling green pit that brings the dead back to life’. That one was hard for Tim to miss even with his rusty understanding of Tibetan.

Tim’s eyes were drawn away from the numbers ticking the price of gas up, up, up, towards the two local men leaning close together as one of them made work on filling up a gas can. He didn’t dare hold his gaze there, instead shifting until he could glimpse them in the window’s reflection. All the while his ears were perked to the sound of their voices, piecing apart the foreign words and turning them into english as fast as he could.

The men’s voices took on a note of fear as they traded tails about a mysterious and deadly figure. Tim was ready to jump in the car and tear ass out of there, his thoughts swarming with Ra’s al Ghul and his servants, but the next bit of conversation had his hand stilling over the gas pump. For it wasn’t an eloquent and deadly man that they spoke of, but a woman, young, dark, and deadly. Tim would have sworn they were talking about Talia al Ghul but he knew that was impossible.

Who was she? Tim wondered. And that same nagging worry… was Tim driving Jason further into danger or into salvation? He would only figure that out if he kept going and a large part of Tim understood that it was worth it to take the risk. He’d sworn to Jason that he wasn’t going to go searching for a lazarus pit, but Tim had started this adventure in search of a person. If a lazarus pit fell into his lap then so be it.

Tim could play dirty as well.

When they pulled off the road thirty miles outside of their destination dusk had already begun to set over the area. It was still outside of the car except for the breeze that stirred the grass. Tim was ready to curl up for the night, his body yearning to move into its usual position up against the driver side door, no matter how uncomfortable it was. Before he could, however, Jason pushed open his door and walked around towards the back of the car. He popped the trunk, the interior lighting blinking on overhead.

Tim squinted his eyes against the light and turned around in his seat to watch as Jason rummaged through the contents in the trunk.

“What are you doing?” he asked and Jason started back around the side of the car. Tim caught sight of the item held in his hands. A blanket.

“Come on,” Jason urged.

Tim stepped out of the car and made his way around the front of the car, taking his time as he watched Jason fling the blanket out before him letting it spread out to lay over the tall stems of grass.

Jason sat down and Tim perched on the blanket beside him. At this position their bodies were completely hidden by the grass.

“What are we doing out here, Jason? It’s too cold for this.” said Tim, after a long moment of silence, “Can’t we go back into the car?”

“Not for this,” replied Jason.

Tim turned, confused, and found his lips captured by Jason’s. Tim hummed, the soft noise escaping without his consent. He’d forgotten how soft Jason’s lips were and how thoroughly Jason was able to take Tim apart with just the hot press of his tongue and the scrape of his teeth. It was different from their first time, Tim realized. There was no fear of being caught at any second and the burning heat that they’d showed each other that night so long ago had cooled to a caressing warmth. Enough to fight off the chill in the air.

It calmed Tim in a way that he couldn’t explain.

Jason laid him down on the blanket and stretched out his body over him. Their clothing was removed slowly, piece by piece, the warmth returning to their skin through searching hands and ghosting breaths.

It wasn’t long before Jason was pushing into him. Tim couldn’t help but notice how Jason’s body had changed since the last time he’d seen it. The moonlight cast both of their bodies in its pale light, but Jason’s skin seemed paler still and speckled oddly across his chest. Tim realized it was not freckles he was seeing and the added sight of Jason’s lank form, where it had once been toned and firm to the touch, struck him hard in the gut. When it hurt too much to look Tim let his eyes float up above Jason’s form as it rocked and gasped above him to stare at the star-filled sky. He would count the stars until he felt ready to return to where his body was spread out on the ground, but from then on Tim’s eyes stayed fixed on Jason’s face and nothing else. His eyes are beautiful enough sight, Tim told himself, the rest doesn’t matter.

When they’d finished, they laid together staring up at the sky.

Jason coughed, hunching into a tight ball on his side as the spasms racked through him. Tim felt a wetness splatter onto his naked chest before Jason laid back down breathing heavily. Tim touched his fingers to the streak of wet on his chest, but in the darkness it was impossible to say. If he wasn’t so smart he might have passed it off as nothing. If he wasn’t so smart he might not have looked towards Jason’s hand, where the side of his palm was streaked with the same darkness that was anything but saliva.

Jason was staring at his hand as well, but not with the same choked shock that had seized Tim. Tim’s limbs felt like they were full of ice, like he’d stayed in this frozen landscape to long and it had changed his DNA. The feeling didn’t last long within Tim. After all, how could it with the life that Tim led? Night after night with nothing but pain and shock and death, but that need to keep moving. Just keep moving and maybe things would turn out better. It never really did though, as least it never felt like it did. Not to Tim. No matter what he did… how far he went… everyone just kept leaving.

Tim stretched his hand out, sliding it through the grass in search of his discarded clothes. Why had he let Jason take his clothes off? Why had he distracted himself? Why was he always so stu—

Jason pulled him towards his chest. “Tim—”

“No!” Tim shoved at his chest, “Just let me get my clothes on and—”

“Tim,” Jason’s strength wasn’t gone for good and what he did have he used to lock Tim’s arms in place. “Stop it, please. I just want to stay here. I just want to stop fighting it, Tim. I’m just so tired.”

Jason tucked Tim’s head against his chest. Tim was still trying to break his hold. “We’re so close, Jason—”

Jason shook his head. “Too much damage has already been done. Even if we did make it to this person, what would they do for me now? I’m terminal.”

He was right, Tim knew it like he knew his own name, but it hurt too much to admit it to himself. He couldn’t help the tears when they came, the flood breaking open and pouring out onto Jason’s warm skin. Not again, thought Tim. Not another one. Please God what would he have to do to stop the cycle?

As always there was no answer from the sky. Only Jason’s unsteady humming in his ear as his shoulders shook with sobs.

#collisions in the dark #bat-losers-inc #LittleDarlingXOX #batman fic #JayTim #Jason Todd/Tim Drake #angst #batman #jason todd #Tim Drake

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