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maretinelli · 1 month ago

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I AM HERE

Daniel Ricciardo X Detective!fem!reader

Summary: When Y/n goes through a traumatic moment at work, Daniel is the one who is there to make her feel good again.

Words: 1.7K+

Warnings: Mentions of guns, workplace trauma, police, mentions of blood, angst, but Danny being a caring and sweet husband.

Author: English is not my first language, so apologies for any mistakes I may make in writing. And this idea is very random hahaha, but I like it. ☝🏽🤓

MASTERLIST

They knew, both Daniel's job and Y/n's job had their dangers. In different ways, of course.

Y/n had been going through traumas at the police station, but last week, something bigger happened while she and the team were on a mission. She had been held hostage by one of the gangs that the police station had been chasing for decades.

At first, she insisted that she was fine. But of course, both Daniel and the police station where she worked knew that she was bottling up all the feelings she went through while she had a gun pointed at her head.

Reluctantly, she took a few days off to attend therapy sessions. But do you think she did? No, she was at home, acting as if nothing had happened, while the flashes in her head haunted her more and more each day.

The house was spacious but cozy. The walls painted in light beige tones were decorated with frames of photographs from Daniel and Y/n's wedding - a few years ago, and trophies and pilot's helmets were on a shelf near the stairs that led to the upper floor.

Mike, the couple's Golden, was sprawled out on the living room's plush carpet, sleeping peacefully while his owners had a seemingly serious conversation.

"I'm fine, Dan. I already said that." Y/n tried to convince, crossing her arms as he looked at her with the patience of a saint. He was dressed casually, but the air of authority still surrounded him.

Whether she was a police officer or his wife, Daniel Ricciardo knew how to make someone give in.

Y/n was sitting on the couch, her body tense, her arms crossed as if that were a barrier against what he was trying to say.

"You should stay at my mom's while I work, at least for a few days. She loves your company and-"

"Daniel," she interrupted him, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm already quite big. I think I can stand on my own and take care of myself, thank you."

He didn't mind her harsh tone. Instead, he walked over, sitting next to her on the couch.

"I know you're strong, Y/n. I've always known. But I'm scared... scared of what might happen if you're left alone, after everything you've been through."

She looked away, staring at their dog, Mike, who was now snoring lightly on the carpet.

"I'll be fine, Dan. If anything happens, I'll call your mom, I promise."

Daniel was silent for a moment, watching her as if trying to decipher what was going on behind that tired gaze. Finally, he sighed, caressing her face carefully.

"Okay. But call me if you need anything, okay? I'll be back in a few hours."

Y/n nodded and walked him to the door, where he kissed her forehead before leaving. As soon as the door closed, silence took over the house again, except for the sounds of Mike breathing and the light hiss of the Australian wind against the windows.

She tried to keep her mind occupied for a while. Cooking, playing with Mike in the backyard, organizing the living room. But it wasn't long before flashes of that day came flooding back.

Sitting on the couch, Y/n pressed her hands against her temples, trying to push away the thoughts that came without permission. But it was as if the memory had a will of its own, dragging her back to that dark moment, like an inevitable storm.

She was on her knees, the concrete floor hard against her skin. The air smelled of rust and dirt, mixed with the sweat of everyone in the room. The light from the lamp flickered, casting grotesque shadows across the damp walls of the warehouse.

His voice was deep, full of mockery and cruelty. "You think you're smart, Detective? That a badge protects you?" He held her arm tightly, his fingers digging into her flesh.

She could hear the sound of her own heavy breathing, the muffled screams of her classmates trying to negotiate her freedom.

Y/n closed her eyes, but the gesture only intensified the experience. His laughter cut through the silence, a sound that seemed to mock her vulnerability.

"One wrong move, and you're history."

Sweat beaded on her temples. She heard distant voices— her partner shouting orders into the radio, other officers trying to negotiate. But the words wouldn’t reach her; the panic was like a heavy blanket, muffling everything around her.

In that moment, time seemed to slow down. His finger brushed the trigger, and she caught her breath. Her thoughts fragmented: flashes of her life, Daniel, the quiet afternoons at home with Mike, the memory of their wedding, the late-night conversations about children, how Daniel made her feel unique. How she loved this man with every part of her being.

Mike's bark brought Y/n back to reality, her breathing quickened and her eyes wide and scared. She walked to the living room and sat on the couch, trying to regulate her breathing, but it only got worse.

The dog realized that something was wrong with his owner, and climbed onto the couch next to her, starting to lick her arm and bark.

Every sound she heard was a triggering sound, putting her on alert, making her heart race.

She collapsed onto the couch, holding her head in her hands as hot tears streamed down her face. Her body was shaking desperately, her mind was a mess, and tears were now falling violently down her face.

Mike stops barking, and then lies down on Y/n's lap. And that calms the detective down a little.

Every second that passed was marked by an internal battle that she still didn't know how to win.

Tears streamed down her face, burning her skin as she fought to control her breathing, which came in short, painful sobs. Her chest ached, tight, as if an invisible weight were crushing her ribs. Her head lolled forward, her hands covering her face in a futile effort to contain the chaos that was building inside her.

The familiar sound of tires on the gravel of the driveway brought a flash of reality. Daniel's car engine turned off, and for a moment Y/n tried to compose herself, but her body wouldn't obey. She heard the car door close and then hurried footsteps in the driveway.

"Love, I'm home!" Daniel's voice echoed through the hallway. He had a few bags in his hands and a smile on his face as he walked through the house. "I have good news about the races and the team!"

He looked cheerful, as always, and the sound of the key turning in his hand should have brought comfort, but it only made Y/n's tears fall even faster.

Daniel walked in and stopped in the living room, freezing when he saw the scene before him. Y/n was curled up on the couch, her hands shaking as they covered part of her face. Her eyes were red and puffy, her breathing was labored and uncontrolled, as if she was about to suffocate.

Mike, who had his head on her lap, gets up and looks at Daniel, barking, as if asking for help.

"Y/n," Daniel said urgently, his voice lower now. He set the bags down and strode across the room. "Hey, babe, look at me. It's okay, I'm here."

"Danny...I...I can't...breathe!" Her hands gripped his arms tightly, as if he were her anchor. Daniel held her hands tightly, his worried eyes examining every detail of her.

"Breathe, my love," he said softly, placing one hand on her face while the other held her shaking hands. "I'm here. You're safe. Just breathe with me, okay?"

He starts doing breathing exercises for Y/n to imitate. Learned from his own wife previously.

"That's it, love, follow my rhythm. Breathe in, hold it... release it slowly. You're doing well, I'm here." Daniel repeated calmly, keeping his eyes on hers as he guided her breathing.

Y/n tried to imitate his rhythm. At first, it was difficult, sobs interrupting her attempts to take in air, but Daniel's warm hand on her face and the calm tone of his voice helped her focus.

Gradually, her shoulders began to relax, and her breathing returned to a slower, though still irregular, pattern.

"That's it, my girl. See? You did it. I'm so proud of you," he murmured, his hand coming down to gently cup her chin, encouraging her to look up at him.

The pilot gently ran his thumb over her tear-stained face, brushing away the strands of hair stuck to her skin.

"Tell me, love," Daniel asked softly, concern evident in his voice. "What happened?"

She took a deep breath, her chest still feeling tight, but found the strength to respond between sobs.

"I... had a... a flash of that night. I couldn't stop. It was like I was there again... with him... the gun..." Her voice trailed off, and her eyes filled with tears again.

"Shh, it's okay now, I'm here to take care of you" he said immediately, pulling her closer.

Y/n rested her head on her husband's shoulder, her sobs getting quieter as tears streamed down her face.

"You're so strong, my love. No one should have to go through this, but you did, and I'm here to help you get through it. You're never alone, you hear? I'm always here, we'll get through this together." Daniel wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly.

Y/n sank deeper into his embrace, feeling the security he gave her. She didn't need to say anything; the way she held his shirt tightly said it all.

Daniel kissed the top of her head, letting his hand stroke her hair comfortingly. As she stood up from the hug.

"I...I want to go to therapy..." She confesses with her head down, tears still falling.

"Sure, let's do it." Ricciardo wipes away the tears that are falling again. "We can schedule it for this week. We'll go to the office tomorrow and talk about everything. Okay? I'll be with you."

Y/n nods in agreement, feeling small, helpless and fragile.

"I love you, Y/n. And I'll do whatever it takes to make you feel safe again."

#fanfiction #y/n #romance #lovers #marriage #imagines #one shot #daniel ricciardo #formula 1 #formula one #fem reader #daniel ricciardo x reader

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soapyghostie · 2 years ago

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I love Pyramid Head a whole lot, and i think he deserves all the kisses, he literally has to suffer because of other people sins, so i was thinking, there's this big teory that Pyramid Head uses this Pyramid in his head as a punishment, so he has to walk around with it all the time, but Masahiro Ito said he had a face, his words were:

"I didn't design & make Pyramid Head face, but have a image of inside of helmet in those days. It's a binded someone's head with many frames.", soo i was thinking about a very fluffy comfort fic, where after muchhh time convincing Pyramid its ok to talk his helmet off for some time, him and reader can finally cuddle in a completely comfortable way. Please feel free to deny, i love your work and i know this request may be a bit bad, lol! Thank you

Hey! Thank you Anon! I’m so glad you love my work! Plus, this was a great request! There is no such thing as a bad request on my blog. 😊 Hope you enjoy!

Pyramid Head

Unlike all the other monsters in Silent Hill, Pyramid Head was manifested from the guilt and sorrow of the ones who needed to be punished; to remind them of their sins. Moreover, Pyramid Head was never one of the humans that got turned into a monster from Silent Hill’s curse, but was created from a person’s imagination. He pretty much was born with his helmet.

Pyramid Head has never taken his helmet off before, let alone has seen his actual face. He doesn’t need to. Him being the executioner, his job is to inflict pain on his victims for their wrongdoing. In wearing the helmet, it reminds others of the pain they’ve caused others and the pain that is about to be brought upon them. He loves his job and he’s proud to represent it by wearing his helmet.

It’ll take a lot of convincing for him to take his helmet off. To him, it feels like his actual face; it helps him feel like he belongs; it makes him feel strong, powerful, and masculine. Yes, he knows he has a human body and face; however, it makes him feel insecure to think about it. All the other monsters look nothing like humans, but he is the only monster who does. The helmet makes him less of a human and more of a monster, the scariest one at that. All fear him: monsters and humans alike. He has all the power and control in Silent Hill so why take his helmet off, you know? 🤷‍♀️

You have to reassure him. Trust me, it does the trick. You have to remind him that he is no less of a strong, powerful being with his helmet off than with it on. Then again, he’ll still hesitate to take it off. This his is first time taking it off since he’s existed so he is quite nervous. Nevertheless, he’ll do it for you. 🙂

The day he finally takes his helmet off, praise him. Tell him how handsome he looks. Kiss him all over his face. Pyramid Head will get so flustered: it’s cute. He appreciates that you see him for no less than who he is without his helmet then with it on. He might take it off more often now. Seriously, he didn’t realize how the weight of his helmet was killing his shoulders.

He’ll show a softer side of himself. You thought he already did have a soft spot for you, but just you wait! This is a side of him no one has ever seen before, not even you.

Pyramid Head becomes a literal giant man child, always wanting to be held and kissed. He’ll follow you around like a lost puppy everywhere; he wants you to hold his hand and be near you all the time.

He apologizes a lot for never trusting you with seeing his face. He was just so scared you’d turn him away and think of him as weak. He wants to be big and strong for you, to protect you. Not be weak.

You have shown him what true love actually is. He never knew feelings until you came along, yet, he still struggled with showing them towards you. However, when you saw his face for the first time, you showed him kindness and love. He doesn’t know how it happened, but it just clicked. He actually felt something. He felt love and he understood it. He understood it was okay to be vulnerable around the ones that truly love you because they’d near judge you and loved you for you.

You are the light in his dark world. You’ve taught him so much. Before you, all he knew was pain and suffering. Now, he knows kindness and love. He can’t thank you enough and he’ll never take it for granted. Bonus, he loves to take off his helmet now. He feels like he can be more himself than with it on. He sees there is much more to him than being the feared executioner of Silent Hill.

#slashers #slasher x reader #slashers x reader #dead by daylight x reader #dead by deadlight #horror #dbd killer #slasher #pyramid head #pyramid head x reader #silent hill #sophi ghostie writes

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joelslegalwhre · 2 years ago

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My Riduur

word count // 1.6k

pairing // Din Djarin x fem!reader

word count // 1.6k

summary // Mando didn't like it at all that some boy thought he could get close to his wife. He couldn't show with actions that you were his, the helmet prevented that, but he had his own way to show it.

warnings // jealous Din (let‘s still call him Din okay, thanks), pda, established relationship, lovesick puppy energy, protective!din, allusions to smut, Din and reader speaking Mando’a, me having absolutely no clue about Mando‘a grammar, taking the helmet off if you’re married is okay here, okay? Thanks (did I miss something?)

a/n // I put translation for the Mando‘a words at the end, so you don‘t get confused but I also have the link to the dictionary right here

Took me long enough to write this 😮‍💨 Thank god my exam is over (and I stressed for nothing, it was actually really easy), so here you go with my first ever din fic, I hope you like it x

Masterlist// Mando‘a dictionary I used // my kofi 🩷

It felt strange to be sitting here, in a bar on Mos Eisley, surrounded by all kinds of people, droids, and even a few bounty hunters.

It wasn't the feeling of sitting in a cantina that was weird. No, it was more the feeling of not having to accept a job. You were not here to look for one. In the last months you had almost had no break, and now you could finally lean back a little. The thought, of picking out a nice place with Mando for the three of you for the next few days, pleased you.

But before you did that, you just had to have the ship repaired a bit, after it had taken quite some damage.

Mando was still at Peli Motto's place, busy showing her the ship and checking the price for the repair. You had been looking around the bar ever since he left, hoping he'd be back soon. The jobs of the last weeks had been unique, the wages you had collected for them were easily enough to sit back and relax for a few days, even after getting the razor crest repaired.

You were sitting at a free spot at the bar of the cantina and watched the people and other beings talking to each other. Some argued, some laughed with each other.

You wondered how long it would take for Mando to-

"Hey there, gorgeous." someone sat down next to you, interrupting your thoughts.

You looked at the stranger for a moment, eyeing him. He had to be your age, a few strands of his dark hair fell into his face, and his eyes were not only gleaming with a deep blue, but with an extreme amount of confidence. "I didn't expect to see an angel today." he smirked in a way that almost made you laugh. He didn't lack any confidence, that was for sure.

You drew your brows together, and tilted your head slightly as you looked at him.

"Say, does that work on any woman?"

At his next sentence, you were sure he definitely had a drink too much or just a little too much self-confidence to flirt so shamelessly.

"You're not any woman." he winked.

You raised your eyebrows and nodded with an amused smile. "Oh, is that so?" you chuckled lightly.

"You're here with someone?" he asked, leaning closer. You immediately brought some more space between the two of you again, "I am, actually."

"Well, then where are they?" he asked with a grin that told you he didn't believe you. "Right here." you could hear Mando's deep, modulated voice. Your heart made a little jump when you turned your head and saw him walking straight towards you.

If looks could kill, this wannabe bounty hunter would be six feet underground by now. Mando's jaw had clenched when he saw the stranger talk to you. His jealousy stewing at the mere thought of another man looking at you this way. He’d been ready to stomp up to him and place a good, hard punch right at this fool's flirtatious face.

"Me'bana?" Mando asked, looking at you. His hand naturally found its place on your waist.

"Nothing," you leaned a little closer to him, "Kaysh mirsh solus."

Mando's light, breathy laugh made you almost turn into a puddle. 'He's an idiot.' you'd told him in Mando's native tongue, so the stranger in front of you wouldn't understand.

You had learned it when you started to accompany Mando. He was confused at first, to say at least, as to why you'd wanted to actually learn the language. But you wanted to get to know Mando, that included his native tongue. And besides, it was fun, sitting in the razor crest next to him, Grogu on your lap, learning to speak and read the extraordinary language of your Mandalorian.

"Hey, just so you know," said one started again, "Unalike that tin can there, I can show my face whenever, my lips too." he smirked. His obvious confusion about the two of you speaking in a language he'd never heard but knew must've been Mando'a.

You politely declined his request, slowly getting annoyed. "Thank you very much, but I actually really like the tin can right here."

Mando wanted to kiss you so bad, show you off as his, but he couldn't. That's just how it was, he couldn't take off his helmet. He was proud of his religion, it was part of him. You'd probably wouldn't even let him take it off, even if he tried. That was one of the many reasons he loved you so deeply. You respected his religion, tried to understand and learn about it.

And he could always take it off when the two of you were back in the privacy of the razor crest. He loved the curious look on your face every time he did, as if it was the first time you've seen his face.

But the truth was, that you were enamored with his features, the patchy beard paired with the mustache, his brown eyes and the brown curls… You could just never get enough of him.

Even before you two were married, you always loved to play with the ends of his fluffy hair, whenever it was getting longer once again. It was never much, but enough.

He had other ways to make sure everyone, especially the fool in front of you, knew you belonged to him.

"We need to look for our child." he was well aware that people believed he meant a human child when he referred to Grogu as "child" or "kid".

The look on the boy's face made a smug smile appear on Din's face, carefully hidden by the beskar helmet. He was so satisfied with himself, you could practically feel it spill over, and you didn't even need to see his face for it. You just chuckled quietly.

"Next time," Mando said, "watch who you talk to. My wife is off limits, understand?" his voice cold, almost threatening.

The eyes of the stranger widened, hearing the title.

You took Mando's gloved hand from where it was still firmly placed on your waist, and intertwined your fingers with his.

"C'mon, let's go," you smiled up at your riduur. You turned back around to address the guy, trying to sound nice, "It was nice meeting you."

With that, you left him sitting there, Mando‘s grip on your hand tightening in a protective manner, as you left the cantina.

When you were back at the ship, you could see Grogu fast asleep in his pod, "He's the most adorable thing I've ever seen." you say to Mando, looking at the little being with a look of pure love. Mando‘s heart warmed at the sight of you and Grogu. His little odd family.

"Even more than you getting all jealous of that guy back in the cantina." you grinned at him teasingly.

Mando stepped closer to you, his hands on your hips once again. You slung your arms around his neck.

"I wasn‘t-" but he interrupted himself, he was jealous, so much so that he would've loved to take his blaster out of the holster, even if it was just for show. "I was protecting my aliit." Family. You could barely get your fastening heartbeat under control, no matter how many times he'd say it. "I'm all yours, Din."

"Good." he said, and lowered his head. You could feel the cold beskar of his helmet touch your forehead. A Mandalorian kiss. You loved when he showed you his love that way. You closed your eyes, just soaking up the moment. You couldn‘t see it, but Mando had also closed his eyes, his hands still on your waist, he tried to memorize every little detail about this, about you.

After some time, spent taking the other in, after savoring the intimacy, you could hear a content sigh voice through his modulator.

"I'll look after you, always." His hand wandered to your cheek and cupped it gently. “And trust me,” he huffed, "I won't let anyone flirt with my wife like that, cyar'ika."

You grinned up at him. You couldn't wait to be all alone with him, leaving Grogu in the cockpit to sleep, and kiss him. Oh, how badly you just wanted to give his lips a little peck. You settled for wrapping your arms tightly around his armored middle, pressing yourself against his chest.

Mando's arms around your shoulders, he leaned his helmet against your hair. Even if all you could feel was his armor, it was still him. Your Mandalorian. Your husband. "I love you, mesh'la." the modulator had barely picked it up. He'd whispered it into your hair, like he couldn't believe that you were his. That he had the privilege to be the one to hold you… to love you. And to be loved by you.

"You know," you started smiling at him innocently, „since the baby's asleep, I thought you could show me how much. I mean, just so I know-"

"Haav." he interrupted you, his voice low, "Now." This was no plead, no, a demand. You chuckled and started walking to the makeshift bed you shared with him.

Behind you, you could hear him taking off his helmet, and you could barely hold in your excitement to finally see his face again. You had really missed it, although you've just seen him this morning before getting up. His armor followed next, a second later you could feel his arms wrap themselves around you. "Too many clothes." he whispered into your ear, his voice clear without the modulator. It gave you goosebumps all over your body, "Take them off then.".

Mando‘a translations:

ner = my, mine

riduur = partner, spouse, husband, wife

Me‘bana? = What‘s happening? What happened?

Kaysh mirsh solus = He‘s an idiot (lit. His brain cell is lonely)

cyar‘ika = darling, sweetheart

mesh‘la = beautiful

aliit = clan name, identity, family

haav = bed

🩶taglist: @alexxavicry @kittenlittle24 @hereforfics124 @Snow30285 @cl16version

#the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian reader insert #the mandalorian x f!reader #the mandalorian #grogu my beloved #star wars #star wars fanfiction #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin #din djarin x female reader #din djarin x reader #jealousy #pedro pascal #fluff #em's masterlist

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itsshypen · 2 months ago

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୧ 𝐓 𝐇 𝐄 𝐁 𝐈 𝐊 𝐄 𝐑 - 𝑳. 𝑯𝑒𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑢𝑛𝑔⋅☆

Pairing :: Dom!Heeseung x Sub!femreader

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

Synopsis :: Your life turned upside down before your eyes, so you dive into the night in order to forget your frustrations for at least a few hours... but little did you know that someone to help you and make you forget your problems was practically... a pedestrian away from you.

Part 1. Part 2.

MASTERLIST ★

──── Warnings :: Mentions of alcohol and drunk reader 2 times (reader kind of takes out problems by getting drunk..); cursing; motorcycle racing; almost run over 2 times; smut; Oral sex (fem receiving.); size kink; two orgasms; Safe Sex (protection ofc <3); edging; fingering; virgin!reader; dom!Heeseung; pet names (doll, princess,baby,madam [...]); Heeseung is soft at first but soon changes-; bigdick!Heeseung; dirty talk; worshipp; squirting; i think that's it ^^

A/N :: i got excited so it's REALLY long lmao 😭; hope y'all enjoy and sorry if there's any mistake and if i forgot to put something in the warnings and tell me so i can add there <3

!! LET'S GOOO AND MINORS DNI !!

Shit. You already lost all your senses after getting stuck in that bar with your sister, who was worried behind you and with the most apprehensive expression possible. Of course, you were already 21 and it wasn't now that you would be irresponsible, right?

Wrong. You were being, you were drunk. You didn't care who bumped into you and called you names for walking with a limp and talking nonsense, you didn't really give a damn. Until you stop at a traffic light, at least you managed to see the lights of the traffic light that was on green, and you huff as you run your restless hands through your messy hair and finally hearing your sister.

── "Are you sure you're okay to leave alone?? I can call a taxi!" - Her voice was filled with worry and regret, grabbing your shoulders and staying there until a few seconds before you pushed her away while clicking your tongue;

── "i'm fine". - You were stubborn, even in that state you could say that, your sister sighs and signals that the traffic light turned red and then the cars stopped to pass and so you did, while your sister again filled you with questions worriedly with you shrugging, still saying nonsense.

Without her realizing, Heeseung analyzed her, face hidden in his helmet after seeing her give the middle finger to her sister, who coincidentally he knew, except for you... which made him curious and sitting on his motorcycle, he watched you cross and mess up your slightly disheveled hair as if you had undone some elegant hairstyle you had done; which made him smile intrigued. As soon as the signal is green to proceed, he puts the motorcycle in gear and sets off, still with his head on you. He noticed that you were drunk on account of your wobbly walk and he couldn't help but laugh at that. And so, the night fades away in the noisy city that never turns off its lights.

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

You woke up feeling like a truck had run over you and then two more, that's when you realized how avoidable your drunkenness could have been, knowing that you had to pick up your things at your best friend's studio that same day.

To recap, In just a few weeks, you lost your job at your best friend's atelier, your career as a fashion designer went down the drain thanks to your now ex-best friend succumbing to the reputation of having the best atelier and the best collections of clothes for fashion shows; Recurring arguments always end in the most unpleasant endings possible.. and you thought you were influenceable, tsk.

At the cost of dragging yourself out of bed, you finally get up, opening the curtains of your large window so the sun shines on your face and you growls low because the sunlight is too bright for your taste. You do your business and decide to go at night to get your things. You didn't want to see the face of the crook who ruined your career without any mercy, who would want it?! Exactly, No one.

You lived in a building almost in the center of Seoul, alone with the company of only your kitten, whose name was Jia. At the moment, your best friend was her, she would never abandon you nor would she be influenced by the things of this world that are often hypocritical.

You realized that you hadn't paid the apartment's taxes that month, and how would you if you were unemployed? So you just put on a coat, grabbed your bag, car keys and left; going down the elevator considering possibilities of ateliers or fashion companies for a new job. In your head, it was much easier to be employed when you already had someone VERY close to you and was already your boss, but now... you'll have to go through a lot of bureaucracy and give several interviews because let's face it... the world of work is tough.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day begins to set, and you have just left the last building of options, but not tired and for sure hopeful, the boss of that last fashion company was very excited to see your resume, was there a chance that you would be accepted?! You even wanted to drink soju and eat kimchi to celebrate... but wait, you have to get your things from the studio.. fuck.

You parked your car apprehensively in front of that huge studio which was entirely gold and red, it even looked like a theater stage (you couldn't tell, but somehow the choice of colors was funny); heavy footsteps and breathing almost suffocating you, you enter hoping not to see anyone other than the other employees you already knew, unlike your former boss, they greeted you with smiles and kind words... but you went there with a purpose, so you headed to your old creation room and started packing your valuable things in the cardboard boxes you took on the way there. Unfortunately for you, as you finish putting your sewing threads in a box you have chosen as their destination, the voice you hated hearing echoes in that room.

── "So sweet.. y/n came to clean up her mess here?" - she was standing in the doorway with an ironic smile to match her voice, her arms crossed as if she were projecting an air of superiority.

You turn around and sigh, rolling your eyes in disbelief and then you also cross your arms, without showing much expression, your voice relaxed;

── "I didn't come to talk to you, I'm getting my things and I'll be leaving, you won't see me anymore except on television with my creations in fashion shows being announced, don't worry." - you emphasize your likely success and also take the opportunity to smile mockingly but soon you lose it and start putting tape on the boxes again.

── "I'm glad you think so, I want to see if without me you can get somewhere, without any experience" - she laughs in mockery for a brief second and you feel your teeth grind against each other, but you try to ignore it by shaking your head and continuing to cover the boxes;

── "You know that alone, it's harder to get anywhere, right? You have to take a few slaps to see if you understand what I'm saying." - she repeats and laughs again and at that you slam the tape on the table in front of you and turn to her, eyebrows raised and voice violent;

── "Shut up!! I don't need advice from a spoiled by the public, narcissistic little shit like you!! I haven't known you since that day, it's deplorable!" - you say and angrily close the last box, and start to stack it in your arms.. there were four heavy boxes, but your hatred was bigger than the pain in your arms from the weight.

You had no hands, so you used your elbows to open doors and kicked to make space, leaving that studio without even listening to what your ex-best friend said.. you open the car in final despair due to the weight of the boxes and finally put them in the trunk, arching your back afterwards in relief and you roar briefly with anger and relief from your back;

── "Who does that bitch think she is just because she's getting recognition?! I don't give a fuck!!" - you slap your car and it makes your hand hurt, but you don't care.

Until suddenly a motorcycle passes quickly avoiding you, making your hair fly in front of your face and stress you out a little more as you staggered, still scared from almost being run over.

── "It's too slow you idiot!!" - in irony you scream in the hope that the pilot will hear, but it is in vain, it was only for relief, and so you get in the car and start driving.

..You finally get home, taking a shower and drinking two bottles of soju while checking your email to see if anything opportunistic from your interviews today has come to anything.. but nothing and nothing as the bottles empty.

── "Who am I kidding? Maybe she's right. Without experience, I won't get anywhere.." - You didn't want to admit it, but it was true, the business world wanted someone experienced enough to provide them with profit, and you weren't as much as they needed.

Soon you huff and put the two bottles of soju in the sink, turn off the lights and go to bed, nervous and anxious about your interviews... hoping that at least this would work out in your life after so many problems.

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

Well.. after days passed and your agony to pay bills grew more and more, you finally received an email from a studio that wanted to talk again about your resume, but the way it was written... scared you. and rightly so!! half an hour later, you leave the studio crying and tearing up a piece of paper with a comforting phrase, "don't worry! other opportunities will appear!", WRONG! You saw no hope. This time, you will go all out on the drink.

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

You weren't drunk yet, but you had already had a good amount of drinks recommended by the club... the lights and people were kind of blurry in your vision, the music became just a muffled annoyance. Your sister was there with you too, but she had gone to the dance floor and you were left alone... but you were feeling bad and so, with a little difficulty, you went out a little, stopping near a pedestrian crossing, but just looking at the dark sky.

You sighed, thinking about how you would fix your life from that moment on, you were in pure fear juice.. why did life turn upside down in the blink of an eye?; until you decide to go to the other side of the street, to see more of the city, and so you start walking along the pedestrian crossing... but you didn't looked at the sign.

You notice a light growing on you and when you look to the side, a speeding motorcycle is coming towards you and the only reflex you have is to put your arms in front of you and lean to the side... but you knew you could die, you didn't think because of the alcohol..; But... the motorcycle braked a few centimeters away from you, and slowly you returned to a normal pose, but your vision hurt because of the light from the motorcycle and so you put your hand in front of your eyes in order to try to see the figure who took off the helmet, but without success and so with your voice a little heavy, you ask:

── "Who are.. you?"

── "I believe that the middle of the street is not a good place to see the starry sky, madam~"

That's what the guy said, as soon as you finally saw him, you didn't notice the blush on your face and widened your eyes... he was tall, wine-colored hair, well-defined features especially his lips and a charming smile, was he an angel or something like that?!; You stood there speechless, only trembling lips registered your reaction, until he smiled at you again, taking you out of your reverie and his voice echoed in your ears.

── "I'm Lee Heeseung.. but you can call me Heeseung or Hee.. and you?" - he puts the helmet on one of his arms and runs his hand through his hair back while smiling without showing his teeth (perfect, by the way) this time and his hair falls beautifully on his face again.

And again you were speechless, you took in every movement and detail of the man in front of you, until you blinked, shaking your head briefly in an attempt to "return to reality", and finally looked at him properly, with a slightly heavy voice, answered him.

── "I'm y/n.." - Your voice sounded sweeter than you wanted but your drunkenness was noticeable, without even looking at your appearance.

── "y/n.. nice to meet you" - He smiles warmly and extends his hand for you to shake, and so you do, and soon you notice that you both were in the middle of the street and you gesture to go to the sidewalk.

── "What are you doing out here on the street alone? And you smell a lot of vodka" - he says with a relaxed expression and analyzing you from top to bottom, getting on your nerves because his look didn't seem very.. innocent.

He didn't mean any offense, he was just curious, and you knew you really did smell like alcohol..;

── "Well.. some problems happened and I came to this club to distract myself a little and... I just came to get some fresh air" - you say and your sister suddenly appears grabbing Heeseung's leather coat-covered shoulders.

── "found you!! Oh.. y/n? weren't you inside the club?" - She says smiling at Heeseung but as soon as she notices you there, she gets confused and releases him.

── "I just... wanted to clear my head and then I almost got run over by him" - You say, laughing weakly and gesturing to him, who laughs too and suddenly licks his lips and then just smiles, leaving your structures shaking for a few seconds;

── "I understand.. let's go in!" - she says and goes ahead, excited.

You and Heeseung look at each other and follow further back, until he suddenly nudges you and looking at you, says:

── "I came because she called me, we were going to meet anyway so... if you want to tell me what's bothering you so much, I can help maybe" - his smile was very kind as well as his look.

If you stop to think about it, you shouldn't tell your problems to someone you've only met for a few minutes... but the way he smiled and chose his words gave you confidence and comfort... maybe neediness? Maybe, but your sister knew him so you could trust him. You just nod with a little smile, which he returns, and so you enter the club, losing sight of your sister, but soon he gestures for you both to sit at a table.

You sit next to him on the large upholstered sofa and sigh, the lights and people were no longer so blurred in your vision, but the noises were still muffled noises and was kinda irritating.. until he settles on the upholstery and resting his elbow on the table, he looks at you smiling slightly.

── "I'm sorry to tell you to tell me about your life when we barely know each other.. but I just want you to know that you can trust me" - he puts a hand on his chest and smiles more.

If you already felt confident in him, you felt even more, and then he continues..

── "I'll tell you... I know your sister from her work, I'm a photographer and I'm the one who did most of her photo shoots" - he says this in an excited voice, you can tell he loves his profession... which made you feel a little.. attracted.

── "I know that her career improved after I recommended her for some photo shoots for a company I worked for, when I participated in the modeling selection process and saw her candidacy" - he smiled and looked at you with a certain intensity that was making you feel a little hot.. shit, the alcohol might have been going down but you felt drunk with the way he was standing next to you.

── "So.. I've known her for about three years, but I never heard about you so.. let's get to know each other" - he says this with a sweeter voice and smile than she had heard and seen since she met him, and so you also smile a little;

── "I am a fashion designer and I have already created many clothing collections for the Rose Atelier fashion shows.." - your voice is sad at the end of your sentence and your smiling expression fades as a whole, and he realizes that something bad symbolizes that name you uttered, but he doesn't say anything because by the look in his eyes you already understand that he is listening and wants you to continue, and so you do.

── "It's been about two weeks since I resigned from this studio... my now ex-best friend was my boss there but... we fought because she started to get very demanding and complain about everything I did" - you sigh, wanting to cry but you held yourself back;

── "The most annoying thing about all this is that i had spent several sleepless nights just to create collections based on her requests, but nothing worked for her.. she is becoming recognized with that studio and now she thinks she is the boss bitch because of it... and then I have been unemployed for two weeks and that is what is frustrating me, and now I am here getting drunk"

Your voice was frustrated at the end of your speech, and you run your hands through your hair, stunned to remember your bad memories of the last few weeks; you see his expression sketching pity and he also sighs, between his teeth and he straightens his back;

── "I'm sorry this happened.. it's really hard to leave the comfort you were used to, especially if it's your job" - he says, taking a drink from a waiter who was passing by and taking a generous sip.

── "But.. I can help you, if you want" - he smiles gently and places the glass on the table, leaving one of his arms on top of the upholstery and his eyes that looked at the people having fun and drinking, look at you in search of an answer.

Besides being hot, he was kind, passionate about what he does and he still volunteered to help someone he barely knew? It was too much for you, you squeezed your thighs every second, not knowing if it was the alcohol that was passing through your body, if it was the need for being vulnerable or if it was just attraction to him, you were completely in shit.

With a voice that in your plans was not supposed to be shaky, it comes out that way, but you answer him;

── "w-well... how would you help me..?" - you struggled to look at him, but you smiled to at least disguise your despair. He smiled bigger and again, licking his lips before smiling wider and picking up his drink, taking another sip, all of that affected you and definitely you wanted to melt into the wall at that moment.

── "Well.. I have a friend who is the CEO of a fashion company too, he's been hiring fashion designers and who knows.. you might be able to get the job if I recommend you?" - he smiles and he massages his own thigh;

You listened to every word attentively and that lit fireworks inside you, you could hardly believe the opportunity you could receive, that made you jump out of that armchair shouting "YES!!" and laughing euphorically, you grabbed a drink with a huge glass and drank it all in one go, laughing afterwards. Heeseung laughed and went after you,

── "Calm down, you don't have to drink like that" - he laughed and so did you; you looked at him smiling and so did he, with that intense look since you two met.

── "Thank you.." - you smiled sweetly and he smiled the same way; ── "You're welcome..", he said.

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

You had been dancing for two hours with Heeseung; ..your sister? the same thing but with any stranger around, since she didn't care as long as she had fun;

You were euphoric with happiness, maybe not so much drunk but happy with the solution to your big problem, thanks to Heeseung. As the night went on, you two drank together and talked more about yourselves, you seemed to have known each other for years and you felt happy and protected with him.

── "For a twenty-one year old woman... you got spirit, doesn't you..." - He says in a whisper in your ear and you laugh, nodding and continuing to dance, he does the same.

When you realized, you both were curious to see the top of the club, where the lights were slightly red and you two ran up the stairs laughing... as if you were playing tag, and then you entered a random room in your attempt to run away from him, which was in vain and he hugged you laughing in surprise.

── "I got you!" - You laughed and left your hands on his shoulders and looked at each other still laughing.

── "got me" - you said and little by little both your laughters stopped..

── "And to think you cursed me because I almost ran you over that day.." - he says and laughs, leaving you confused.. what was he talking about?;

── "What?" - you arch your eyebrows and he smiles at you.

── "that day in front of the studio where you worked... I was the one who ran past you and avoided you so I wouldn't run you over" -he says that and the memory goes through your mind, leaving you in shock.

── "s-sorry... I didn't know"; fuck... you stuttered at the thought of him being close to you for a long time.

── "It's okay... and by the way, the day you crossed the pedestrian crossing with your sister behind you... I was standing there for you to cross and you... intrigued me, I admit" - he bit his lower lip smiling and you didn't know what left you more without structures there, what he said or the bite of his lip.

── "Heeseung.. damn.." - you sigh and feel your body hot than ever when you feel him caressing your waist with one of his hands (maybe he didn't notice), he looked at you calmly and with a neutral expression,

── "yes?" - he asks innocently and his fingers still caressed your waist..

── "Nothing.. I just.. I didn't know you've been seeing me for a while.." - soon after you laugh weakly and looking anywhere but at him and he laughs muffledly,

── "yes yes.. but well.. I see you love this idea"; it caught you by surprise and you look at him blushing,

── "I-I think so..", fuck.

── "Since you like this idea and I like the idea of being right here with you... how about I help you with your stress?" - at this point he was playing with the hem of your black shirt... you were going to lose control.

Fall between us... You're a virgin. You've never slept with a guy, you didn't know what it was like to be held all night, to feel a physical connection with a man... and to feel love on the surface; even though you were nervous about it... you wanted it, and it wasn't this opportunity you were going to pass up.

──"How..?" - your mind was clouded just thinking about what could happen there, and you had pleading eyes (outside of your will);

── "I admit that I'm attracted to you... a hard-working and determined woman like you... but who is super fun... I fucking love it." - he smiled and his hand went just a little under your shirt, and little did he know that you were going crazy..

── "You said while we were dancing that you wanted to find ways to de-stress... and I'm going to help you with your job and so... I want to help with your stress" - he smiled biting his lip and then letting go after, that moment, your legs were already shaking.

── "Heeseung.." - you were dangerously close to his mouth, and both he and you were looking at that same place of each other;

Did you guys meet hours ago? yes.

But who said you cared? you were wishing this for both of you since he started drinking with you down there in the party, and it wasn't now that you were going to throw something good in the trash.

Without thinking any more and without needing to do anything, he quickly glues your lips together, in an already anxious and intense kiss, which by the way followed the same rhythm as his hands moving up your shirt... dear god, you've never had sex but you were there... about to lose your virginity.

You only had time to reason the space of the world when he laid you down on the bed, sucking your lips while his hands were already on the edge of your black lace bra, and then he separates from you in a low sound and looks you in the eyes..

── "can we do this? You can tell me to stop whenever you want, it's okay.." - his voice was deep and like a whisper, you can only sigh, seeing the effect of all that on his pants.. and shyly say.

── "yes.. please.. but I'm.... a virgin" - after the pause, shy, you blush and cover your face after you say it.

Heeseung widened his eyes slightly and smiled, stifling a giggle,

── "So.. I'm going to have this honor..? Fuck.. you're driving me crazy just with this information.." - That's what he says and he starts to arch your back by himself just to reach the clasp of your bra and open it with one hand... and then remove your shirt with your help.

── "Don't worry doll.. I'll be gentle.." - and he says taking your bra off you and the sight of your pink, full breasts makes his member, already twitching in his pants, trembling his body and he mutters a curse..

── "shit.. I'll be gentle... but I know that at some point you'll want more than that.. at least, i'm sure i'll want that." - he smirks and lowers himself onto one of your breasts, taking one of the pink nipples in his mouth and delicately starting to suck it while his fingers play with the other... you started to moan softly and your hands didn't know where to land, you were completely restless.

You felt your cunt pulsing painfully with just his circular movements with his tongue on your nipple, and at that point you were already panting his name incessantly and you just felt him smile on your breast with your sly voice and hands on his shoulders... until he stops and starts kissing underneath the breast he was on and giving little bites;

You had started to get anxious for the place you wanted him to go, whether you wanted him to or not, but he goes back to your face and kisses you again for a few brief seconds and starts to deposit kisses that could be on your mouth, on your neck; you made hummed sounds when he started leaving marks there too, and your hands roamed over his chest until you started to take off his leather jacket, drawing his attention;

── "calm down princess... I said I'd take it slow, so I'll appreciate you first, don't you think?" - he was teasing you. he was understanding how you worked.

Soon, he chuckles and takes off his jacket, making your eyes widen at the sight of his broad shoulders and slightly and buff chest in that black shirt.. you could let a sly sound out of your mouth, but you held yourself back.

He goes back to your neck as he runs a single hand over your breast that he didn't put his mouth on, massaging it there vigorously and playing with your nipple, you were getting impatient... but you didn't want to say it out loud, so as an indirect, you moved your body slightly;

── "Is the little doll impatient..? How cute.." - he chuckles and starts to move his hand down to your thigh and starts to go up under your skirt,

── "I'm just getting started, princess.."

He says and you feel his fingers starting to pull the side bow of your lace panties, taking them off soon after with mastery and throwing them on the floor. With every second that Heeseung spent lifting your white skirt and admiring your pink and already wet pussy, you became more anxious and yearning for what he was going to do,

── "please...", you accidentally let out a beg, softly and quietly.

── "Please?" - he repeats, imitating you, with a smirk and malicious expression in that same intense way from the beginning, and you decide to answer anyway, you were at his mercy.

── "do what you want.. it's taking so long.." - you tried to hide your face in your hands, shyly.

── "I will." - he leaned towards your face and whispered against your lips, and before anything else he smiled and started a slow kiss with you while his hand went down to your already swollen clit and started circular movements with two fingers there... making you moan in surprise against his warm lips, who controlled himself as much as possible not to finger you right away.

Somehow, that pressure on your sensitive spot left you wanting more and even though it was kind of painful, it made you wetter by the second. You heard him chuckle softly as he smirked and he played with your sensitive clit in quick and precise movements, but instead of question him, the only sound that came out of your mouth was loud sly pants and moans.

── "Heeseung.. ah.." - you didn't really formulate any sentence as he started sucking your breast again at the same time that he took care of your soaking wet cunt.

And suddenly, the pressure and speed in your sensitivity stops, you were confused for a second until you felt his two fingers pass between the luscious lips of your cunt and you sighed exasperated at the sensation;

── "You got this wet just for me..? God.. I'm going to savor this gift in the best way possible.." - his voice was hoarse as he whispered in your ear, and with those words.. you shivered from head to toe and widened your eyes a little.

── "Hee.." - you just say that.

You have time to run your hands over your own breasts with your wet nipples that he sucked and suddenly you feel him brush his lips against your belly, going down slowly, sending shivers down your spine.

── "y-you.." - you stammer.

── "Shh.. It's all under control." - he said and you felt your cunt walls clench against nothing and moan softly, becoming embarrassed afterwards.

── "So cute moaning just with my words.. imagine when i really act with you" - he says this and at the exact moment you feel his hot breath on your pussy lips, making you gasp in anticipation and your hands become restless of where to land, once again.

The sensation is beyond your knowledge of anything you have ever felt before, the sensation of the warm, velvety tongue between your pussy lips and swollen clit made your vision blur and you moan the most obscene sound that could come out of your mouth and reach his ears.

The slowness with which he ate you was delicious and sensual but.. you wanted more.. you craved more.

── "Faster.. please.." - you gasped, struggling to say and placing your hands on his scalp.

For a moment you thought he wouldn't answer your request, but... you were wrong. You heard him chuckle and felt the warm air hit the surface of your cunt.

Soon after, he suddenly began to eat you out; sucking, licking and putting your sore clit between his teeth like a starved man.. fast and rough, and that made you give a tiny scream and you began to squeeze his scalp with your hands.

── "O-OH Fuck-!" - you gasped swearing weakly as the feeling of him eating you out was consuming your complete reasoning; You couldn't close your mouth because of the pleasure that ran through your veins, his name was incessantly uttered from your lips along with sly and panting moans.

When you least expect it, you feel two fingers threaten to invade your hole along with his tongue, scaring you for a few seconds until you feel him thrusting those fingers together with his tongue and that made your vision have stars;

At that point, you no longer knew where you were and the volume of your moans, which could probably be heard from down the club;

He increased the speed of his fingers as he sucked on your clit with a certain breath-taking desire, you would probably leave his scalp red and burning with how much you squeezed and pulled but he barely cared about that, he would giggle in the pauses of occupying his mouth there.

Soon you felt a strange sensation and it was right at the foot of your womb, you thought you were going to urinate, which made you despair a little.

── "H-Hee..! I'm feeling something-!" - you moaned more cunningly every second and he leaves your clit with a small popping sound and he smiles, as if he was enjoying it, but he keeps fingering you even faster;

── "You're going to cum, baby...", he sighs and increases the speed of the fingers at a frantic pace as he feels your walls clench him;

── "fuck... I want to feel you squeezing my cock like now so damn much.." - he sucks in air between his teeth and smirks while biting his lower lip;

Soon you felt like you were about to cum, but suddenly you feel empty and you moan in frustration when you see that your orgasm was interrupted.

── "w-why did you do that?!" - you practically whimper and he laughs, briefly licking his fingers and humming in his throat.

He climbs on top of you and leans down enough to reach your ear and after giving your earlobe a little bite, he whispers,

── "I want you cumming on my cock instead of my fingers, doll..".

You felt your heart beat faster and your pupils dilate as you saw him removing the shirt that was slightly tight against his muscles in front of you; as soon as it was removed, he turned the shirt to the right side and the movements of his muscles left you trapped and stunned, catching his attention and earning a mischievous smile from him,

── "Do you like what you see, princess?" - he asked in a mischievous tone that you have already engraved in your mind, as he opened his belt and that left you throbbing more than the start.

── "Heeseung.." - the only thing you could say in your thin voice and your eyes watched intently every movement he made taking off his pants.

You mentally cursed him for purposely pulling out his clothes slowly, smirking as he watched your every single anxious move and bites on your lip. Finally he was left only in his underwear and his well-marked erection being clearly visible made you salivate and widen your eyes

── "t-this will fit..?", you ask, pointing and closing your legs in an attempt to relieve the heat in your soaking cunt.

── "I prepared you very well to fit... and now.. I guarantee I will make your pretty cunt be shaped in his size, my love.." - his voice is hoarse and he pulls you closer by the thighs smirking, you shivered at the contact of his erection in your cunt, making you gasp.

You were stunned by that friction but you managed to see when he took a condom from the cabinet next to the bed, too big for your taste and you blushed,

── "There's just.. this big size?" - you shyly ask and he smiles with a muffled chuckle,

── "I need this size.." - you let out a genuine "oh.." with your face all red and he smirks, it quickly fades as he opens it,

── "if you want to stop.." - he doesn't finish his sentence with you interrupting him,

──"No!! Please..! I.. I want to" - you beg sitting up, looking at him with doe eyes.

Heeseung gives a little smile with your desperate manner... your gaze on his length covered by the condom... he was determined to make you feel in "heaven" for the first time.. he knew damn well he could do it.

Your trance of all the sensations you felt were thrown out, when he laid you down again and pulled you by your full thighs, doing you reach to against his well-trimmed pelvis, making you sigh anxiously.

── "I'll put it on.." - he said in a low tone, strolling his large length between your folds.

You just nodded, eyes closed, nervous in advance... and as soon as you felt him penetrate you, opening your walls wide and painfully, your mouth opened in an 'O' making a silent moan along with your hands grabbing his arm desperate.

── "N-not going in, Hee..! Holy shit..!" - You moaned slyly in exasperation at the feeling of him opening you up, it felt like you were going to break.

── "Yes, it will... but I'm not even halfway there, princess.. just a little more.." - He said, a little breathless from the effort of entering you, you were almost throwing him out if it weren't for his insistence.

You swore he had already gotten at least halfway... but after what he said, you widened your eyes in disbelief and turned your attention back to the sensation in no secod, already lightly scratching his biceps. After a little more effort from him, he reached the end, and you sighed heavily in relief and stopped squeezing where your hands were.

── "I'll wait for you to get used to.." - he said using all his strength to stay still.

── "I-I feel you so deep.. oh my god.." - You whimper and sigh through your mouth, shivering at the feeling of being so full.

── "You haven't even seen what I can do being this deep, doll.." - he chuckles and makes a small hip movement, taking out a small squeak from you.

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To Be Continued..

@itsshypen property!; do not copy and give due credit. ★

#enhypen #engene #enhypen fanfics #enhypen hard thoughts #heeseung #lee heeseung smut #lee heeseung #heeseung hard thoughts #heeseung hard hours #the biker #Clara posts!#enhypen smut #smut #heeseung x reader

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g1rld1ary · 9 months ago

Text

ode to my family ; lockwood x relicman!reader

➻ synopsis: you're a relicman, lockwood is the agent who's trying to recover your stolen sources, but you both might get more than you bargained for

➻ word count: 2486

➻ warnings: swearing, violence, no pronouns but reader is referred to as a girl

➻ wrote this for the anniversary of l+co's cancellation :(( I love this little show and all the joy its given me this year <3

════ ⋆★⋆ ════

Life as a second-generation relic man (or woman) wasn’t easy. Far from it, in fact. A life of dealing with the black market, being on the run from agents and being stuck under your father’s thumb wasn’t exactly the life plan from your vision board, but what could you do? Your father had never let you pursue any training for your talents and you’d never had much education either, so you were more or less stuck in the family business.

Still, you made the best of it. You were dedicated to your job — maybe just because you had nothing else to do — and some point along the way you started to believe that your father might have been right. Why should DEPRAC get the final say on all these sources? As long as they were handled properly, why should all those beautiful old artefacts be destroyed? And as far as your father told you about his trade business, the sources only went to serious collectors with proper protection. So, you were a pretty instrumental hunter in the business, and that was the way you figured your life would continue.

Despite the popular misconceptions about your job; the violence, other ruthless relic-men, near-death experiences, your biggest nuisance was agents. Mostly the other relic men left you alone once you’d staked out a location but agents were so nosy. Like, finders keepers much? They were so aggressive too, always whipping out their rapiers the second they spotted you. You wondered if they’d surrender when they found out you were a girl. You hated the leering looks from the older men you met on missions and your skills being underestimated, so you wore a fencing helmet whenever you went out to pose as a boy. It also helped you get out of sticky situations; more than once you’d ducked behind an alleyway to stuff the helmet in your bag and walk away from the scene unharmed.

Anthony Lockwood hated relic-men, with the exception of one Flo Bones — but that hardly counted. All they did was make his job harder and stop him from getting back to Portland Row and a nice mug of steaming tea. He particularly didn’t like you, though he truthfully had no idea who you were. The sabre mask had given you a bit of a reputation amongst hunters and agents alike; tough, efficient, and deadly with a rapier. Plus, you had a great success rate in beating Lockwood and Co. to collecting a source, waving it around obnoxiously as you slipped out the window and into the night.

Tonight there was something different in the air. Your father had sent you for a major haul, some old source collector had recently died and left their entire collection in an old dusty warehouse. It was simple, get in, grab as much as you could possibly hold and get the fuck out. However, it seemed that you weren’t the only one who’d been alerted to the news. The area was crawling with men you recognised from other missions or auctions, and you knew instinctively the night wouldn’t go how you’d initially planned. Still, you weren’t going to let your father down and come back empty-handed — he’d probably have your head if you failed.

You trudged up the hill to where the building was, cursing the wet grass underneath your feet. In a big plot twist for everyone, it was raining in London. However, the dark clouds made it easier for you to go unnoticed, sticking to the shadows and ducking past the men hanging around. You’d made it inside the warehouse pretty easily and started packing sources into your bag before you realised it was almost too quiet inside — there should be way more collectors around. Peaking out the window you blanched, there were a myriad of agents outside scaring away other relic men (or fighting those who weren’t so easily deterred). You cursed quietly, knowing they’d soon venture inside and find you unless you could get out fast.

You were almost out, just creeping through a backdoor when you spun towards freedom, only to be met with the cocky grin of none other than Anthony Lockwood. You sighed, scanning the landscape for a quick escape route.

“So we meet again,” He said, rolling up one of his shirt sleeves. You refused to glance down and take your eyes off his, knowing he was, annoyingly, a great fighter, and you needed to stay focused. “Will this be the day you finally speak?” He all but taunted, still not reaching for his rapier. You wished he would, it would make the interaction go faster if you could skip the niceties and go straight to fighting. You wouldn’t indulge him and break your cover though, you doubted Lockwood would keep your secret.

“I suppose not,” He mused, “No matter. How about you return the sources you’ve stolen and we’ll call it even, hey?” More silence, you didn’t dare to move, not until you knew you could get away. Only when it was evident that you weren’t going to cooperate did Lockwood’s hand reach for his rapier and you eyed it slowly, hand drifting over to your own.

“I don’t want to fight you,” He tried once more, though you watched the blade slide slowly from its holder, “These sources deserve to be handled with proper care — these people deserve to be laid to rest, don’t you think?” You faltered for a moment. You’d never thought about it like that, it had never occurred to you that these sources really were the very essence of so many dead people. Your father had raised you to think of them as a means for profit, nothing else. Still, if you returned empty-handed your father would kill you, or worse. You had to succeed.

Evidently, Lockwood could tell your intentions, and brought his rapier out in a preparatory position and you did the same, slightly apprehensive for the fight to come. You knew you were good, but Lockwood had impeccable technique. Regardless of your feelings the fight began, and all you could hope was that you could hold your own until there was an opportunity to escape. Lockwood was putting up a significant fight though, which was highly inconvenient. Just when you gained the upper hand he subverted your expectations, putting a foot square into your stomach, pushing you back against the wall of the shed.

You groaned, losing your footing and smacking down against the ground, head hitting the dirt with a dull thud. You didn’t immediately recognise anything was wrong until the finishing blows from Lockwood never came. Looking up at his dumbfounded face you understood why.

“You’re a girl?” He asked, and you hastily grabbed the mask that had fallen off, then stopped when you realised there was no point in putting it back on now.

“Yes.”

“You’ve always been a girl?” You rolled your eyes.

“Yes, Lockwood. I’ve always been a girl. And if you’re too afraid to fight one then can I go?” You looked at him expectantly. He shook his head.

“Sorry, but you’re still holding extremely dangerous sources that cannot be sold. If you hand them over I’ll let you go and keep your secret?” He offered, and it was your turn to shake your head no. You used his shock to switch your positions, your back now out to the world. You didn’t run though, rapier out in front of you. In terms of the limb-to-body ratio, Lockwood had about the same proportions of a Daddy Long Legs, and you knew he’d catch up to you easily if you ran. So you fought, rapiers clanging as you defended yourself against him.

“How old even are you?” He asked and you rolled your eyes.

“Sixteen,” You said, “Why? Do you think I’m a child?”

“No, Jesus,” He laughed, parrying your move easily, “I’m hardly older, don’t be so aggressive. Why are you fighting? Don’t you have a life to live?”

“Obviously not,” You scoffed, “I’ve been trained for this, this is why I was born! I have to help my Dad’s business.” Lockwood grew more bold on the offence and you were struggling to keep up, distracted by your chatter.

“Why not run away? You’re too pretty to be stuck as a pawn for him.” You faltered for a second, stumbling backwards from the compliment, but counteracted it with a harsh hit aimed at Lockwood’s side. He let out a noise of pain but didn’t move, only coming closer to you as you grew more tired, movements becoming sloppy.

“You don’t get it, do you? If I leave I die. I have nowhere to go, and even if I did have somewhere to go my father would hunt me down and probably kill me for betraying him.” You kicked him in the knee and he swore, but he looked more enlivened by the fight than anything else. You supposed he probably didn’t actually get to fight much — with ghosts not being enthralling fencing partners and most relic men actually trying to kill him. And as much as he was annoying you, you didn’t particularly want to kill Lockwood. So here you were stuck in an endless match, blocking and parrying and him trying to convince you to leave the business you’d grown up in.

“Oh my God!” You groaned, smacking the hilt of your rapier into his shoulder, sending him stumbling back a few steps as you similarly retreated towards freedom. “Can you just leave me alone?” As much as you hated to admit it, Lockwood was making a convincing point. You had never truly realised the damage your dad’s business was doing, blissfully ignorant from the explanations he gave you. You had no choice though, no way out of the mess you’d been born into.

Lockwood was drawing closer, his years of technique and experience outlasting your brute force and passion, and you didn’t really know what was going to happen. Surely he wouldn’t kill you, but you’d be in deep shit if you returned home empty-handed, or you could very well be arrested for theft. You were deep in thought about this, as well as trying to keep Lockwood a suitable distance away, which was prohibiting you from being completely aware of your surroundings. This had been working out for you so far until you felt your foot miss solid ground. Your eyes widened, knowing exactly what was happening a moment too late. You’d hit the hill and there was no chance you were finding your footing after slipping the first step down.

Lockwood had evidently realised this at the same time as you, hand reaching out to grab you instinctively. It did little to stop the momentum you’d already gathered, instead pulling him down with you. You both gasped as you tumbled, Lockwood instantly tossing his rapier out of the way and you followed suit — no sense in you both being stabbed because you couldn’t control your limbs.

The fall itself was a blur, you only knew you’d landed because of the dull pain spreading up your back. You’d screwed your eyes tight bracing for the impact, and when you opened them slowly you were face to face with none other than Anthony Lockwood, only inches away from you and breathing heavily from the adrenaline.

For once Lockwood had nothing to say. No charming comeback, no witty remark, he couldn’t even offer one of his trademark megawatt smiles. All he could do was stare at you and breathe, which should have been creepier than it was. Maybe because you were doing the exact same thing. You didn’t know what had come over you but all you could do was look at Lockwood, held up by his forearms, droplets of sweat collected on his brow from the previous fight. You were only ripped from your stupor when you saw Lockwood’s eyes flick down to your lips, so fast you were sure it was unintentional. Still, it did the trick.

“Get off me.” You hated the way you stuttered the first word, still wanting to put up a brave front, but you were tired. And confused. And you really didn’t want to explain to your dad what had happened. Lockwood coughed, instantly rolling off you and onto his back next to you, both of you staring at the overcast sky. You were glad it wasn’t actively raining anymore, but you knew your back would be caked in mud when you stood up.

You were tired, you didn’t want to fight anymore. You got the feeling that Lockwood felt the same since neither of you moved a muscle, lying side by side in silence. You had much to think about. As much as you hated it, you couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d said earlier. Your father’s business was bad, torturing those who wanted to be laid to rest and endangering others — you had a feeling he wasn’t actually checking the qualifications of his clients. And in that case, you didn’t want to be part of it anymore. You wanted to be good. You just didn’t know how. Glancing at Lockwood, he was still staring at the sky like it was a puzzle he was trying to decipher.

You broke the silence.

“Hypothetically, if I were to leave… where would I go?” He was looking at you in a flash, hope and bewilderment clear on his face. “If I leave my father will kill me, I have nowhere to turn.” Lockwood hesitated for a moment, seemingly searching for the right words.

“Well.” He scrambled to stand up, dusting off the front of his pants as if his whole back side wasn’t covered in earth. “You could come with me.” He extended a hand out to you, looking the picture of a perfect gentleman. And honestly, with the little you’d spoken to him, it seemed as if he really might have been. You sent one more cautionary look toward his hand before taking it, being pulled up to your full height before him.

Lockwood didn’t say anything more, merely giving you a smile, a genuine one that seemed to create its own source of light, before leading you away from the warehouse. Your backpack full of stolen sources sat sadly in the grass next to your mask, waiting to be collected and disposed of by DEPRAC officers, laying the poor ghosts to rest for good.

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kuni-is-daddy · 2 years ago

Note

cuddling with kabukimono scara

Sub!Kabukimono x Male! Kaedehara clan reader

Fluff + Smut(hint of angst at the end. IF YK. YK)

1.2k words Scara masterlist

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

"12.." you took a deep breath while counting another soon to be dead nobushi samurai. "Its truly a shame.. such distinguished warriors as ourselves can succumb to banditry." You raised your cursed blade. preparing to kill the nobushi samurai as the rain drenched through your hair. "Y/n!?..Y/n? are you here?!" You lowered your katana as the sound of pattering footsteps through the forest grew louder, along with a familiar voice. "Kabuki?..What are you doing here?" the shorter man approached you. Unbothered by the rain as his amulet dangled from his kimono. "Well..Niwa said you would be here..So I went looking for you!" You sighed, cursing your brother in your head for bringing your lover all the way out here. "Buki.. Its been awfully dangerous in inazuma. You should be back at the estate, WITH niwa." He sucked his teeth at your remark. "Ugh. Who cares about that Y/N. Cmon.. I wanna hang out with you already~ and maybe have some fun~" He peaked his head over your shoulder to notice the wounded samurai behind you. "Who is this?" You turned around, now holding your blade up again. "THIS. Is the danger ive been trying to tell you about buki.'" Kubuki scoffed andwalked around you Infront of the nobushi. "Looks weak to me." he grabbed the samurai by its helmet, watching as thin streaks of blood could be seen brushing through the outside. He then whispered into its ear. "A pathetic excuse for a samurai like you shouldn't have existed. If it was up to me, I would've killed you already. Humans like you always take up my time with y/n..My everything. Know your place."

The rain picked up, Now turning into roaring thunder and lightning which crackled through the sky. Your primary concern of killing changed once your lover arrived. Now you we're focused on getting him back to the estate safe. You held onto his hand, He turned away from the samurai and blushed as you sheathed your sword. Now walking him through the forest. The walk was silent, mostly consisting of you looking around at your surroundings and Kabuki in absolute love with your dedication to protect him. A simple eep or yell and you'd be ready to protect him in a heartbeat. You then broke the silence. "Our almighty shogun hasnt been doing a good job of maintaining order within inazuma. Day after day things get worse buki. More samurai leaving the clan, more people betraying us. Thats why i keep telling Niwa to not send you on wild chases for me." He frowned while gripping tighter onto your hand. 'The almighty shogun' was his mother. He couldnt do much to change her will regarding eternity. After all, To her. He was nothing but a liability. "im..sorry..I cant do much about my mother y/n. If only I wasnt so..Emotional..Like she said things wouldnt have-" He was cut off when you suddenly smashed your lips against his. Pulling him into a messy kiss then pulling away to witness his dummed out expression, how the rain fell against his shiny purple hair. "Dont be sorry baby. Your perfect just the way you are. Infact If you we're our archon i think id have to put in more work to impress you."

You two eventually made it back to the clan's estate, fingers intertwined together as you both settled into the kitchen. You sat on the couch. Resting and wiping off any remaining blood from your weapon. "Oh Y/n! I was with some blacksmiths earlier and they offered me some tea. I didnt think much of it, but they insisted I tried it and it was really good!" He sat beside you and placed a cup on the table. Seeing kabuki so happy over something as dull as tea made your heart ache. You grabbed the cup and blew onto it before consuming the drink. "Huh...whats this buki?" He smiled at your reaction. Did he like it? "Its bitter black tea! its great right? I took one cup but then i just kept drinking more and more until they had none left! hah hah.. but some old man gave me his recipe so I can make some for you!" "Thats great kubuki, Im glad your starting to enjoy being around everyone."

You sat closer to him. Now placing your hand along his body. "How about..I make you feel even better? Would you like that?" His body shivered at your request. "Y-yes..Id like that.." you got up off the couch and the shorter man followed you to your room. Closing the behind him then pushing him against the wall. "mmm..How about I treat you right here tonight buki? would my baby boy like that?" He let out a small moan at your sudden agression. "Ah~ yes~ I want it." You bit and licked along the side of his neck. Kabuki covered his mouth at the sudden wave of pleasure. "Shit..Bet this cock is so hard for me isnt it?" he nodded his head while still covering his mouth. You slightly pulled down his pants, enough to reveal his cock already covered in precum. "Your such a needy boy buki~" You whispered into his ear. Rubbing the tip of his cock with your thumb "Y..Y/n..~" "Yes baby?" "W-want.. more.." you laughed. "Hmm? what was that buki? Need you to get a little louder f' me." tears began to form in his eyes. He wanted you to push him harder against the wall and stroke him so roughly he screamed for you to let him cum. "Please! Go faster Daddy!!" he yelled out desperately. "Anything for you baby boy~" You grabbed him by the hips, pushing his body closer against your own as he held onto the wall, Crushing him in-between you and it. "Oh fuck~ YES~" You roughly grinded your body against him, grabbing tight on his cock while stroking it. "Fuck...Love how desperate you get for me buki' like a slut." "I Wanna be your slut daddy~ Wanna be your good boy~" he panted hard with how close he felt to cumming, how much his body burned for you. "you are buki~ so fucking good for me. Cum on daddys hand, let me taste you baby~" he yelled out your name with a sharp cry. Ropes of his cum oozed onto your fingers. "hah..Such a good boy buki'" you tasted his cum. Letting him watch as you licked it all off of his fingers. His grip fell light against the wall, falling back into your embrace "Y/n..." "Shh... come baby.. lets relax a little." you guided him to your bed, helping him take off the rest of his kimono and switch into lighter clothes of yours, Rubbing your hands through his hair as he laid besides in bed. "Y/n...I love you, I love you so much..is that okay?" You pulled him into a hug. Letting him sink into your touch by how happy yet sad you we're by his words. 'is that okay?' "Of course it is Buki, I love you more than anything else in the world." He smiled, then suddenly remembering his conversation with your brother. "Y/n..Are you not going to be home early tomorrow? Miwa said you we're going to be busy." he pouted, hoping you could cancel what ever you had to do to stay with him again.

"Im afraid so my love, I have to bring him on a acquaintance he has with a man known as 'the doctor' We're going far out into tartarsuna and I dont want him getting injured on the way there or back. But please, Dont worry about me. I will be back for you. No matter what."

#genshin smut #genshin x you #genshin x y/n #genshin impact #genshin x reader #scaramouche smut #scaramouche x yn #scaramouche x y/n #scaramouche x you #scaramouche x reader #genshin impact x reader #scaramouche #genshin fluff #scaramouche fluff #kabukimono x reader #kabukimono #scaramouche x male reader

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1-have-no-idea · 3 months ago

Text

five laments

Character(s): Fox, mentions of Fives, brief mentions of Rex

Genre: angst

Overview: Fox prided himself in many ways, but after making a shot he could never take back, the weight of everything finally crashed down upon him, revealing the tired, anguished and abused worker underneath.

Warning(s): character death (Fives), Fox smokes, cigarettes, guns, mentions of Heaven and Hell (but nothing is religious), this is angst with no comfort

977 words

Fox liked to think he was a hardworking man, and he one-hundred percent was. Very. You had to be when you worked directly under the Chancellor. The Coruscant Guard. In charge of keeping the Chancellor safe and to follow any given order he bestowed upon them. Honoring, right? But what if the Chancellor didn’t really need protection? He just needed a quick back-up. What then? The answer?

Fox didn’t know. Or… he did. He just didn’t want to believe it.

With trembling, gloved hands, the clone set down his blaster on his desk, shuddering breaths leaving him. His helmet long discarded, the only piece or armor he threw off as soon as he returned to his office of a home. It laid on its side on the floor by the door, and now Fox’s face was bare. All scarred and gruff and oh, so very tired. With salt and pepper curls cascading down his face as he hung his head low. What had he done? The memories of the actions he had committed previously were still fresh in his mind. Fox liked to believe he was an obedient man, and he was. All clones were meant to be obedient. That’s what they were made to do. That’s what allowed him to pull the trigger, yeah? A single push of the trigger, pushing back so very easily, something that Fox had grown accustomed to. Ready, aim, fire. The weight in his calloused hands was something borderline comforting, a reminder of his role, his power, his purpose.

Only now was it something considered burdening. Fox didn’t like to think he was aggressive or violent. Sometimes, he may have snapped at his brothers while under pressure or been a little harsh, but he wasn’t malicious. Never. Especially towards a brother. That’s why he didn’t want to pull the trigger, right?

When you aimed at a person, it was a warning. A silent ‘don’t do it, or else.’ Or maybe an urgent cry of ‘get away from me!’ Those words rang through the clone’s head, an oppressing shadow that hung over the man, more oppressive than the chancellor who breathed down his neck and couldn’t give him a break, a desperate cry that even he didn’t listen to. Because he had a job, a direct order from the chancellor himself, and Fox prided himself in being an obedient man, like any honest clone. When you shot at a person, it was because they didn’t heed the previous warning. You shot to protect yourself. And right then, with a blaster pointed at him held by the gloved hands of a crazed man, a brother, what else could he do?

Forgive me, brother, forgive me, vod, forgive me, vod’ika. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.

Five unspoken apologies, and for what? It’s not like he was even alive to hear them anymore. Leg bouncing erratically, he needed a cigarette, and he needed it now.

Pushing the millions of papers on his desk away. Pulling out an already opened pack from out the small compartment in his desk, tugging out a thin, firm stick, placing it between chapped lips and lighting it. Puff, puff, there was no one to pass it to, it was all for him, and by the Maker, did he need it. Gray puffs of air rising up, rising up to make a dark cloud around his head, fogging up his mind, but it wasn’t working. It just reminded him of the way the bolt collided with plastoid armor and made a deep hole into fabric and flesh, leaving a barely there, cloud of smoke from the heat.

Did it hurt, vod? Did you die peacefully in your captain’s arms? Are you relieved of your mission? Are the nightmares truly over? Are you really free?

Five questions that would never be answered. Even if his brother was alive, he doubted he’d want to talk to him. Not to his killer, his murderer, his unfaithful, scared, ori’vod.

Nicotine filled his lungs, and he puffed on that cig until all that was left was ash, and he quickly replenished it with a new one. The smell of smoke filled the room, something that he already naturally smelled like, and he hated it. He wanted to rid himself of the smell, the burden, the blood on his hands that belonged to a clone just like him. He just hoped that he was in a better place now.

If there’s a Heaven, are you up there, dear brother? If there’s a Hell, would you be down there? Is the Maker even real? This galaxy is Hell enough, there’s nothing worse than this. Are all of us clones destined to go to Hell?

Five laments that would never be uttered. Did the clones deserve this? No. Did he? Now that was debatable. After all, he just killed one of his brothers. Not out of malice, because Fox didn’t agree with the statement that he was a malicious man, but out of given orders. Because all clones were meant to obey. That’s what they were made for. They deserved more. They deserved more.

The commander leaned back in his chair, cheeks hollowing as he inhaled more smoke, before breathing it out of his nose and mouth, tapping the cigarette once, twice, until the butt fell off before placing it in the ashtray. And he hunched over, holding his head in his hands and fisting his curls. Fox liked to believe that he and his brothers deserved more. And he knew it was true. But he didn’t think it’d ever become true.

“I’m sorry, Fives. I’m sorry.”

Five words that were a mere whisper in the room, as the nonchalant, loyal and tired clone crumpled and cried because it would never bring his dear brother back or change the harsh reality the clones were faced with that was so unfair

#the clone wars #commander fox #arc trooper fives #angst #star wars #tcw fox #tcw fives #tcw

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isacksteban · 10 months ago

Text

First Kiss (Race 10)

A strollonso AU where 18 year old rookie Lance Stroll falls helplessly in love with the notoriously mean world champion. (1.4k words, slight description of car crash) [@v3lnys @biancathecool] {I KEPT ADDING TO THE BIRTHDAY CHAPTER INSTEAD OF WRITING THIS,, SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG}

last part - masterlist - next part

Fernando and Lance made their way onto the paddock together, laughing as they spoke. Their teams having booked the same hotel for the first time all season. Before arriving at the hotel the day prior they hadn't seen eachother since their dinner in Canada two weeks ago, it was nice, Lance knew all the good places (that were both ridiculously expensive and ridiculously beautiful.)

"No, Lancito, I swear, am convinced someone else has a key to my hotel room!"

"Nando, I don't think that's allowed" Lance laughed, Fernando complaining about losing a handfull of his things since arriving

"Exactly! Is not allowed, so how am I losing stuff if no one else is in my room?" He asked, not giving the Canadian time to even process his words and answer "Is not possible! Am being stalked."

"Okay, Nando, Stalked is a little much" Lance rolled his eyes, arm finding its way across the World Champions shoulders

"I think your hotels are bad luck, Lancito, maybe this is why we never have the same one, is cursed!" He spoke enthusiastically, purposefully being more dramatic in an effort to make the boy laugh.

"I'll protect you, Nando," He hummed, patting the Spaniards shoulder "If you win"

"Ay, will be no problem! You know I am good" He winked, watching as Lance rolled his eyes, moving his arm to slightly push the Spaniard away, both exchanging looks that truly should've revealed how they felt right then and there but both drivers were far too oblivious to even consider the reality of how their eyes shined as they stayed so close, practically beaming with joy on the way to their garages.

Quali was over almost as fast as it started, Fernando upset with himself because of a p5 finish, knowing he could do so much better but for some reason hadn't.

"Nando, good job" Lance said from behind him, absentmindedly patting the Spaniards ass

"Ha ha ha" He laughed dryly, shaking his head at the rookies words

"What! You did good, Nando" Lance frowned, not meaning to sound sarcastic

"Thank you, Lancito, am just not happy" Fernando shrugged, aware Lance got 12th but not hesitating to express his disappointment with 5th.

"I know you'll do better tomorrow, you always do" Lance smiled, moving his arm to ruffle the Spaniards freshly cut hair "You look nice, by the way" He added before wandering back to his garage, leaving a very flustered and messy haired Fernando standing alone.

The race finally started, Lance managing to make up two places right away, ending up behind Kimi. The tires were already decently warmed up from the formation lap so all he had to do was pass Kimi and points would be one place closer.

He stayed behind him through turn 1, then turn 2, and turn 3. It was annoying. Kimi was good so it wasn't surprising that it was hard to overtake him.

As they came up to turn 4 Lance saw an opprotunity and took it, Kimi hitting the brakes earlier than Lance had expected and the two collided, Lance completely losing his front wing and helmet being smacked with debris from the underside of the Mercedes.

Kimi's car was practically thrown into the grass, Lance sliding the opposite direction into gravel, head pounding and ears ringing as he quickly exited, the race continuing without them.

"Who crashed?" Fernando asked over the radio, he didn't usually care as long as it wasn't him but this time he was curious.

"That was Räikkönen and Stroll"

"Lance crashed?" Fernando asked, the gap to the car behind wide enough for him to lose focus for a second

"Lance crashed."

"Mierda" The Spaniard muttered, the word barely picking up on the radio as he moved his focus back to the track

Fernando had another disappointing result, managing to make up no places by the end and finishing 5th. It was weird, not going to the cooldown room right after, not looking forward to the podium and seeing Lance's eyes on him.

He debriefed with his team, annoyed at the outcome of the race and acting colder to the Renault engineers than he meant to, he just couldn't help it. It was a very disappointing result.

Lance had been waiting all race to see where Fernando ended up, seeing him finish in 5th was a shock but part of him was excited. He left his garage a few minutes after the race ended and headed to Fernando's, hoping he was done debriefing by now.

As he reached the blue and yellow garage he spotted Fernando right away, his now short hair poking up sporadically.

"Nando" He spoke, smiling as the Spaniard turned his head, face lighting up as he confirmed the voice was Lance's

"Lancito, mi sol" He stood up quickly, rushing over to the boy and grabbing him by his shoulders, turning him in a full circle before placing both hands on his cheeks "Are you hurt? Is everything okay? I haven't rewatched the crash, was it bad?"

Lance smiled softly, leaning into the touch as Fernando asked him questions "I'm fine, Nando. It was my fault, I think Kimi's car is more fucked up than mine anyways."

"The engineers were saying he saw you and moved over on purpose, did your team report him? Are they talking to the FIA about it?"

"I'm not hurt, Nando, the car's fine too, we just needed a new front wing but besides that theres no damage, we don't want to cause unneeded problems"

"Is not fair, should be looked at, you were close to the points, no?" Fernando was more frustrated with the outcome of Lance's race than his own, his team behind him surprised at how adamant he was about Lance saying something because as long as Renault did good Racing Points places didn't matter.

"Shush, let's talk about sonething else, I'm fine, you finished the race, and now you aren't on the podium so let's get something to eat."

"Again?" Fernando asked, not protesting the topic change

"Wow, Nando, do you not want to eat with me?" Lance frowned, pouting slightly at the Spaniard

"Ay, Lancito, I never said that, let me treat you." He smiled, more than happy to return the favour.

The two didn't go far, they just decided on something easy and not insanely priced that they could only have in Texas, Whataburger.

Lance had never had Whataburger before and Fernando was shocked, changing his plans of going to a nice sit down place to just going into the drive-through and eating in the Spaniards car.

"Still cannot believe you have not had Whataburger before, is so good" Fernando gushed as he ate, Lance not being able to help himself as he gazed lovingly at the man

"Well I'm glad I'm losing my Whataburger virginity with you" Lance laughed, not fully thinking about his choice of words

"You are a virgin?" Fernando asked, sounding genuinely shocked

"I'm not talking about sex, Nando" Lance laughed awkwardly, wondering if it was obvious

"You poor boy" Fernando shook his head, hand leaving his food to pat Lance's shoulder "You really should spend less time racing and more time looking for a girlfriend"

"I'll have to pass on that" Lance rolled his eyes, lips slightly curved up as his eyes fell back on Fernando, their eyes locking as the Spaniard moved his arm, his eyes flickering down to the Canadians lips then back to his eyes.

Lance felt his heart skip a beat, licking his lips slightly, wondering if maybe there was sauce on his face, how embarrassing.

As he did so Fernando looked again, his eyes lingering this time, slow to find their way away from the Canadians narrow lips.

"Is good, no?" Fernando spoke, desperately changing the topic to stop his mind from wandering farther, not wanting to have such thoughts about a boy who was as innocent as the one in front of him.

"Si" Lance responded, nodding as he took a bite of his sandwich

"Si?" Fernando smiled, pleased with the random Spanish response from the boy

"It means yes, Fernando" Lance teased, explaining the Spaniards language to him

"Ahhh" Fernando nodded, a smile still on his face as he pretended the boy taught him something.

It was nice, this, whatever this was. Both of them enjoyed it, eating together, speaking together, they hadn't realized just how attached at the hip they'd become since Bahrain but neither man was complaining, they loved eachothers company.

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bamber344 · 1 month ago

Text

Culture Shock

prev/next

masterlist

it is 20 minutes to midnight but the chapter's done so i'm UPLOADING!!

Once again being bullied by these chapters, though for a very specific reason this time. I was stuck on one scene for like three days because I was trying to write a character doing something that I very much don't know how to do in real life.

Anyway, I'm overall pretty happy with how this one turned out. Enjoy!

CWs: Living weapon tingz, Jordyn's false belief that her abuse is normal, sexual references (in Jordyn's anatomically focused internal dialogue), dislocations, references to previous injury (stabbing), poor videogame skills

Culture Shock

“Need anything else?”

The officer shook his head. “Nah, I think we’re good. Tha-”

“Hey, get back here!”

I turned my head to find one of the suspects I’d just helped apprehend making a run for it. He must have wiggled free from the other officer’s grasp. No biggie. With a little bit of focus, I turned the darkness inside his pant leg solid, and sent a spike of it into the ground. With his hands cuffed behind his back, there was nothing stopping him from faceplanting hard on the asphalt road. Served him right for trying to run. The officer quickly grabbed him and dragged him back over to the cruiser.

The one in front of me cleared his throat. “Right. As I was saying, we should be good from here. Thanks for your help, Seven.”

I nodded, ignoring the way the name rankled. That was dangerous. I was starting to get used to being called ‘Jordyn’ again. “You’re welcome.”

Leaping up to a nearby rooftop and perching on the ledge, I stuck around and watched over the scene until the police left, just in case anything else happened, as per usual. By the time everything was done, the sun was starting to set, bathing Tombguard in a beautiful orange light. The season was turning, apparently. Summer had run its course, and now the weather would begin to grow colder. The idea was exciting. I didn’t feel like the outside world would ever lose its novelty after how long I spent in the facility.

I stepped back from the ledge to make sure no one could see me, and pulled my helmet off. Usually, that would be pretty risky, but I knew Father was out of his office right now, and the odds of him checking back over the footage were pretty low. Yes, I was taking a chance with being put back into that dark room and chained to the wall for another eight hours, but… Well, I’d been thinking about Maggie lately, along with everything she told me. Never stop asking questions, and all that.

Why did Father always want me to keep my helmet on? I thought it was to protect my identity, but everyone at the Union knew my identity now. Even if it was just to protect the sight of my face, surely it didn’t matter if no one was around to see it anyway, right? I mean, he let me run through the city without it back when we went to that ‘party’ thing, so… I felt bad just thinking it, but… it seemed a little arbitrary. Especially when the wind picked up and I got to feel it rushing through what little hair growth I had since I last cut it two weeks ago – another one of my small transgressions, since Father almost never saw me without my helmet anyway.

These were questions I would’ve ordinarily purged from my mind the second they cropped up, but… after what happened with Steve, I’d been letting them sit and working through them in my head. I still didn’t have an answer for why I had to do that to him, and it was making me realise just how much else I didn’t have an answer to. I did what Father wanted because I owed him for saving me, and that wasn’t going to change, but I just wished he wouldn’t keep me in the dark so much. I knew I wasn’t as smart as Maggie seemed to think, but I didn’t think I was as stupid as Father thought, either. I could handle knowing the truth about more stuff.

…Well, it was pointless to think about. It wasn’t like I could just ask him to explain it all to me. I would have to work hard with this Union job and show him I could earn it.

Speaking of, I should probably head over there. It had been about two weeks since I first joined, and I’d only visited a handful of times. If I ever wanted to finish this mission, I needed to start sucking up my nerves and actually interact with the Union heroes. It was just… very uncomfortable whenever Vivienne was around. I wanted to spend time with her, but knowing what I did to her uncle, it was still difficult to be in her presence for any length of time.

Well, whether she was there or not, I couldn’t procrastinate forever. Better get moving.

—

I stepped into the Union conference room, looking around for any sign of life. So far, the place seemed empty. Aside from Muffin, of course, who somehow always knew when I’d arrived and was always there to greet me. He pranced up to me, trilling, and I removed one of my gauntlets to pet his weirdly wrinkly head.

“Wrinkly little boy,” I said. He mewed in agreement, nipping gently at my fingers.

With no one around, I decided I might as well explore the place on my own. To that end, I followed a hallway out of the conference room, taking turns randomly. Muffin came along for a bit, before getting bored and skulking off somewhere else.

Eventually, I came to what appeared to be some sort of gym. Brianna was there, running on one of the treadmills. Her braids were tied back behind her head, swaying back and forth with her movements. It looked like she’d worked up quite a sweat, based on the sheen that had covered her dark skin.

She turned her head towards me slightly, slowing the treadmill down to a walk. “That you, Jordyn?”

“Yeah. How’d you know?” I asked.

She smiled. “The way you walked in. You step like you’re trying not to be heard, but those boots aren’t exactly subtle when they hit the ground.”

…I did do that, didn’t I? “O-oh. I hadn’t realised. That… That’s a pretty impressive skill.”

Brianna shrugged. “Eh. I can’t see people when they approach, so I’ve had to figure out other ways of determining who’s who. Doesn’t work all the time, obviously, but you’re pretty unique, so it’s hard to mix you up with anyone.”

Unique, huh? The thought made me feel warm. “What if I didn’t have my armour on, though?”

She seemed to ponder on it for a second, then shrugged again. “Then I’d probably be out of luck unless you spoke.” She grinned, showing off her teeth. “Why, planning on stripping down?”

“No, just curious.”

Brianna paused, her expression faltering slightly. She then quietly chuckled for some reason, shaking her head. “Ah, you’re funny. Say, do you wanna run with me? I’ve still got a few K’s left before I hit my goal.”

It seemed as good an opportunity as any to start ingratiating myself, and I was no stranger to a treadmill. “Sure.”

I hopped up on the treadmill next to her, turning it on and slowly increasing the speed until I was at a steady run. For the most part, we remained silent, only focusing on the pounding of our feet and the occasional beep of Brianna’s treadmill announcing her progress every 500 metres or so. It was relaxing in a way training usually wasn’t for me. Probably because for once I couldn’t feel Father’s eyes on my back, watching for every mistake.

“You’re keeping a pretty good pace,” Brianna said. “Do this often?”

“Every day,” I replied. “It’s usually just a warm up for my daily training regiment. Gotta keep my stamina high, y’know?”

“Damn, I’ve gotta respect the grind. Though, with the work you do, I guess that’s to be expected. Bet you’ve got a pretty nice physique under that armour though, huh?”

“Y-yeah, it’s, uh… It’s pretty nice, I guess…” I muttered, insides swirling. “You’ve got a nice body, too.”

It was the truth. I wasn’t sure why, but I had to keep myself from constantly glancing over to her to catch another glimpse of her toned midriff, exposed by her exercise-wear.

Brianna laughed. “Thanks, babe. I work pretty hard for it. You’ll have to show me yours sometime, too.”

I frowned. “How would that work if you can’t see?”

She grinned again. “I’ve got hands, don’t I? I’m sure I’ll be able to get the picture with those.”

I stumbled a bit on the treadmill, almost falling off before righting myself again. “Uh, y-yeah, I guess you would.”

…Wow, the thought of that felt funny. There was this weird, sparky sort of tingling in my gut, similar to that feeling I got back when I first figured out I could touch my clitoris to feel good, only not quite as strong yet. It made me want to go home and do that right now, actually. Or, alternatively, feel Brianna’s hands on my body and maybe between my legs as well. I wondered what that meant.

We ran in comfortable – yet contemplative, at least in my case – silence until Brianna finished up and reached her goal. She powered down her treadmill and got off, reaching down and picking a red and white cane up off the floor as she did so. I followed suit.

“So, you wanna… hit the showers?” she asked, enunciating the last part a little weirdly.

“No thanks. I usually just shower when I get back home.”

Brianna paused for a second, then shrugged. “Alright. Some other time, then. Catch you later, cutie.”

She winked at me, before turning and making her way out of the gym, sweeping her cane back and forth in front of herself as she went.

Wow, she was nice. I made a mental note to try and come back here around this time more often, so we could run together again.

Now that I was on my own, I turned back to the gym at large and had a proper look around. The space seemed pretty well-equipped. They obviously had an array of treadmills, but there was also an absolute truckload of other exercise equipment, too. Racks of weights, padded flooring clearly meant for sparring, a small selection of martial arts weaponry on one wall, and in an adjacent room, a big pit in the ground filled with water. That last one confused me a bit, so I ignored it, honing back in on what was familiar: the weaponry.

I picked a bō up off of the wall, examining it. The wood was rough and unfinished, as to be expected, and covered by a slight layer of dust. It was nothing I couldn’t wipe down though, and it had been a while since I got to work with one of these. Might as well make the most of it.

I walked out onto the sparring mat and settled into a comfortable stance, holding the bō in a standard two-handed grip. Taking a breath, I moved through what I remembered of my katas, swinging, thrusting, and spinning the bō around me, in sync with the rhythm of my body. As more came back to me, I began moving through them faster, striking harder, picturing targets in my mind’s eye to take down with my attacks.

Once I’d gone through each remembered kata at least three times, I began improvising, following the learned movements of my bō training and applying them to my own usual fighting style. The bō became an extension of my limbs, lashing out further and with greater power than I’d usually be able to muster on my own. I started flourishing a little, just for fun, spinning the bō around my arms and back as I brought it in for a strike. Then I began incorporating my shadows, using the bō as a conduit to manipulate them to my will.

Despite how hard I was pushing myself to maintain my speed and precision in my practice, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d felt so relaxed. Going through these repetitive yet satisfying movements without Father lurking over my shoulder felt… fun. Almost freeing, in a way. I’d never thought training could be enjoyable, and yet here I was, actually having a good time while working out for a change.

Once I was satisfied, I finished off with one final strike before settling back into a neutral stance, taking a deep breath and letting the tension flow out of my muscles.

A small round of applause from the side of the room startled me. I whirled around to find Vivienne leaning against the wall, clapping her hands along with one other guy I didn’t recognise, who was sitting on the bench next to her.

“That was impressive, Jordyn. You’ll have to teach me how to do that someday,” she said.

“Oh. Uh, thanks,” I replied. “When did you get here?”

“A couple minutes ago. I was actually looking for you. Brea told me you were in here.”

The guy stood up, waving. “I’m here too. The name’s Rishta. I was just coming by to do my dailies, but that was some awesome shit you just did there. Where’d you learn?”

“I had a trainer. I’m a little rusty, though,” I answered, then looked at Vivienne. “What did you need?”

“Oh, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out. I’ve finished all my studies for today, so I’ve got some time to kill. Do you wanna do anything?”

On one hand, this was a great opportunity to start gaining more trust among the higher-up Union members, as Vivienne seemed to be, as well as an opportunity to just to spend more time with her, which a large part of me still really wanted to do. On the other, what happened to Steve still sat heavily at the back of my mind. I couldn’t keep running from her forever, though. I was never going to make up for the pain I’d caused if I just kept hiding from ever having to think about it. If she had gone so far as to actively seek me out, it meant she wanted to see me. It would only hurt her more if I kept turning her down.

“Uh, y-yeah, sure. What did you have in mind?”

“Hold on,” Rishta interrupted. “Before you girls go anywhere; Jordyn, could I spar with you?”

Finally, something familiar. This must be a common pastime here. As much as I hated fighting, it was something I could do well. Accepting his offer would be a great way to start making ground on my mission. “Okay.”

He clapped his hands. “Great! I’ve been wanting to test your mettle ever since I saw you kick some guy’s ass on the news. I’ve been doing MMA for almost my whole life, but I’ve never seen moves like that. I’d be really interested to hear where you learned your stuff.”

Vivienne rolled her eyes with a smirk, sitting down on the bench. “Well, I guess I’ll ref, then.”

Rishta turned to her, hands clasped in apology. “Sorry Viv, just one match. It won’t take that long!”

She smiled. “It’s fine. It’ll make for some entertainment to see you get put on your ass at least.”

“Damn. Confident in Jordyn, aren’t you?”

“Jordyn is a highly trained special forces police officer. You are an admittedly pretty good martial artist. While I do think you have a chance, Jordyn’s got you beat in the experience department by a mile.”

“Okay, I’ll concede that,” Rishta said. “Either way, win or lose, I just wanna see how I fair. So, ref, what are the rules?”

Vivienne seemed to think for a second before deciding. “One round, either a ten second pin or a tap-out. No power use. Also, Jordyn? You’ve gotta take your armour off, otherwise it isn’t fair.”

I cocked my head to the side. “Why’s that?”

Rishta snorted. “Uh, because if you hit me with those metal fists you’re liable to take teeth out? And also, how am I meant to land a hit if I might break my wrist with a solid punch?”

That was… pretty reasonable, actually. There was a reason most of my trainers used special equipment when I was fighting them in my armour.

“Okay, but… I’m not allowed to let people see my face.”

“You can use your powers to cover it up, but only for that,” Vivienne said. “Like that night we ran into each other, remember?”

I nodded. “Yeah, alright.”

There was a chance Father would be mad at me for doing this, but… technically, I was still following all of his rules, right? Yes, he wanted me to keep my armour on at all times outside of my quarters, but if they still couldn’t see my face, what did it really matter? If he wanted me to gain their trust, I was gonna have to take some risks.

Step by step, I peeled my armour off, piling it on the floor. I summoned a cloud of shadows around my face before pulling off my helmet, and left it with the rest.

Rishta whistled. “Damn, girl. You are built.”

I didn’t know what that meant. Glancing at Vivienne heeded no clues, either. She was too busy looking at my arms, for whatever reason.

“Uh, sorry?”

Vivienne stood up, walking over. “He means you’re muscular. Seriously though, you have some nice arms.” She reached out, but stopped before she could make contact. “Can I feel?”

Most of the time, when people needed to touch me, they just did it. It was weird for her to ask, but oddly, it actually made me feel better about saying yes. I nodded, holding my arm out to her.

She placed a cold hand on my bicep, gently squeezing, before running her fingers up to my shoulder. I was only dressed in a tanktop and my underwear, so she had a lot of space to explore.

“What’s this scar here?” she asked, tracing over an indent on the front of my shoulder.

“A criminal’s knife got through my armour. It was a long time ago, though.”

Vivienne paused, stepping back with an odd look on her face. “Right…”

Rishta cleared his throat. “Are we gonna spar? Or do I need to give you two some space together?”

Vivienne’s face turned a fascinating shade of pink. She whirled around to Rishta, pointing an accusatory finger at him. “That’s enough out of you.”

“I’m ready,” I said.

“Alright, let’s do this,” he replied, walking into the sparring ring. I followed behind him and settled into a fighting stance on the opposite side.

“Are you both good to go?” Vivienne asked from the sidelines.

“Yup,” Rishta replied.

“Yes,” I said.

“Alright. Remember, you win by either pinning the other person for ten seconds, or getting them to tap out. No power usage. Just a clean and friendly match. Alright, fight!”

I inched towards Rishta, keeping a close eye on his movements as he did the same. Due to my lack of coverage, I was at a slight disadvantage; any twitch in my muscles to indicate my thoughts would be that much more visible, and I couldn’t read his thanks to his baggy clothing. I would just have to trust in my own reflexes.

We reached contact distance and Rishta didn’t waste any time, throwing out a few clear jabs to test me. I batted them away with ease, and returned with a few of my own. He ducked out of the way of one, but the second grazed his ear. He flinched, jumping back out of my range.

“Okay,” he muttered. “Faster than I thought. That’s fine.”

Why he was wasting time talking to himself, I didn’t know. I would, however, be taking advantage of it. I darted forward, aiming to sink a fist into his solar plexus before he could react. His reaction speed was pretty good though, as he noticed just in time and moved to block the hit. My fist was redirected, but I still landed a glancing blow on his ribs that would succeed in winding him a bit all the same.

I didn’t let up, aiming high this time. He blocked a hook directed at his jaw and grabbed my arm, clearly aiming to throw me as he spun into my centre. I moved with the throw, flipping over in the air to land back on my feet, and used my momentum to land a solid kick to his side. Rishta gasped, letting go of me and backing up.

“F-fuck, Jordyn. You’re-”

Apparently, he hadn’t learned his lesson. I just wanted to get this over with, so I moved in for the kill, returning his attempt at a throw by slipping my leg behind his and flipping him over my hip. He slammed back-first onto the mat and I wasted no time, grabbing his arm and pulling it between my legs as I wrapped them around his throat and waist, trapping him in an armbar. Then, I dropped to my back, squeezed my legs, and pulled with all my strength, pushing my hips up at the same time.

Rishta screamed as the pressure mounted, and it wasn’t long before the tell-tale pop of his shoulder leaving his socket reached my ears. This fight was over.

I released his arm and rolled back up to my feet. Rishta remained on the floor, catching his breath and groaning.

“What the fuck was that?!”

I looked up to find Vivienne staring at me, a horrified expression on her face. “What did you do?!”

“I dislocated his shoulder,” I replied. Why did she look so bothered?

Vivienne’s face didn’t change. “Why?!”

I frowned. “I… I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”

“J-Jordyn,” Rishta called from the floor, voice shaking. “While that was a s-seriously impressive armbar, I… I think she wants to know… wh-why you felt the need to dislocate my FUCKING shoulder!”

“Isn’t… Isn’t that normally how sparring matches go?” I asked, starting to get the distinct feeling I’d done something very, very wrong. “I dislocate my shoulders at least once a week in training.”

Vivienne’s face finally shifted, all the way from horror to pity. “Oh, Jordyn… No, that’s… that’s not normal. You shouldn’t be dislocating anything at all ever. I’m shocked you can even move your arms at this point if it’s happening so frequently.”

I looked down at Rishta, his face contorted in pain. Pain that I caused. I just couldn’t stop hurting people, could I? “I… don’t understand.”

What did ‘not normal’ even mean? This was just the way it had always been. I trained, and if I wasn’t good enough, I was hurt. My shoulders came out easier and easier the more it happened, but that was just what I deserved for failing to meet Father’s expectations. Was that… not how it was done in the Heroes’ Union? Was Father hurting me for no reason? No, definitely not. I never would have become as strong as I am if he didn’t train me like he did. But… If all of these heroes could do their jobs without needing to go through that training…

Vivienne kneeled down, helping Rishta to his feet. “We’ll talk more about this later, Jordyn. Right now, I need to get him to urgent care.”

No. No, I caused this pain, but I knew how to fix it, too. I needed to fix it.

“W-wait, I know how to put it back in. P-please, let me help.”

Vivienne looked at me appraisingly, and then at Rishta. “Are you okay with that?” she asked.

“If she’s really dislocated her sh- shit-” he paused, wincing for a second, “shoulders as much as she says she has, I’m sure she knows what she’s doing. Let her have a go.”

Vivienne nodded, gently laying him back down. I kneeled down next to him, hands shaking, throat clogged with the need to cry. Now wasn’t the time for that, so I forced it back.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I- I just thought this was how it was.”

“It’s cool, Jordyn. You don’t get very far as a martial artist if you hold a grudge every time someone puts you on your ass. If you wanna make it up to me, you can teach me how you did that flippy thing when I tried to throw you. Also, find a new trainer. Yours sounds like an asshole. Maybe a therapist, too.”

I grunted noncommittally. As if Father would ever let me choose my trainers. Also, I didn’t know what a therapist was, so it was hard to agree to that, as well.

Step by step, I walked him through the process of getting his shoulder back into place. He cried out a bit louder than expected when it popped back in, but succeeded nonetheless.

“Shit, that was intense,” Rishta muttered, still catching his breath, tears visibly pricking his eyelids.

“Feel better?” Vivienne asked.

“Yeah,” he replied.

“Do you have a sling you could use? Standard procedure with shoulder dislocations is to give the joint a rest for a week. If not, I could get one for you.”

“Thanks, Viv. That’d be great.”

“And you,” she said, rounding on me, poking me in the chest. “Rest your shoulders before you lose use of them entirely. You’re gonna give yourself arthritis.”

I blinked. “Huh?”

Vivienne sighed. “Do your shoulders hurt?”

I frowned. “Yeah. All the time. Don’t everyone’s?”

“Jordyn.” Her voice turned soft. “Most people aren’t in any pain at all. Your shoulders hurt because they’ve been constantly abused. Every time you dislocate them, the muscles and tendons are stretched far beyond what they’re made for. Even when you set the joint back in, the damage stays, and it takes time, and more importantly, rest, to recover. Even with the rest, your joint becomes weaker. I’m not a doctor, but I am in medical school, and honestly? I think at this point the only way you’re going to ever fully recover is through major surgery.”

“Oh.” That was… a lot to take in. There was no way that was correct, though. Father wouldn’t let me continue to injure myself if it would affect my performance in the long run, right? My performance was practically all he cared about.

“I know that must be pretty daunting, but don’t worry too much, okay?” Vivienne put a hand on my shoulder and I felt it dig straight into my heart. The tears started forcing their way back up my throat, despite my best efforts. “The Union is here for you. You’re never alone when you’re with us.”

This was too much. I needed to get out of here. I’d done my part for the day and now I needed to go.

I moved past Vivienne towards where my armour was, and began re-equipping it as fast as I could. Neither of them spoke a word or tried to stop me, and once everything was back where it should be, I all-but ran out of the room and out of the building, jumping up to the rooftops to hide.

Maybe one day I’d be able to have a normal interaction with Vivienne without feeling more emotions than I thought possible, but today wasn’t that day. So much was running through my head, and I didn’t know what to do with any of it. Once again, that advice from Maggie rang through my ears. Father was hurting me unnecessarily, and I couldn’t understand why. More importantly, how the hell was I supposed to unravel all of this when barely getting through the day took so much brain power already?

Vivienne said the Union would be there for me when I needed them. But would they be there for this?

—

“No, no, no, no, no, no- Aw, come on!” Vivienne grumbled, throwing the controller down on the bed.

“Did you die again?” Brea asked.

“Shut up.”

“Have you tried turning the difficulty down?”

“Brianna, I swear to god.”

Brianna giggled, sinking back against the pillows. “I’m just sayin’. Listening to you die over and over again is starting to get boring.”

“Why don’t you try it, then?” Viv teased, though she knew it was a bit of a low blow.

“Ooh, you’re so funny, Viv.”

Vivienne grunted. In truth, she wasn’t all that invested in the game. The earlier events of the day were still taking up far too many of her thoughts for that. Rishta would be fine after a week or so, of course, and he was a remarkably good sport about the whole incident. No, he wasn’t the issue. The issue was that Jordyn had once again inadvertently revealed something about her life that she deemed innocuous, but was actually horrifying, and now Vivienne couldn’t stop thinking about it. The poor girl dislocated her shoulders once a week! She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised, given what they’d learned about Jordyn’s origins. It made sense that de Vygon wouldn’t bother being too protective of her when he literally grew her in a tube and could grow another just as easily. Still, it was just… so fucked up. Vivienne wanted to grab hold of Jordyn, wrap her in blankets, stop forcing her to hide her face, give her a hot chocolate and some plushies and a kiss on the forehead, and put her in front of a tv with some disney movies or something. Just… anything to alleviate the trauma that poor girl was going through on a daily basis.

Yes, these things took time and she just needed to be patient. But knowing that didn’t make the burning need to do something any less powerful.

“So,” Brianna said, holding the syllable out for far longer than necessary. “What do you think about Jordyn?”

Vivienne blinked. Apparently, Brianna had the power to read minds on top of her ability to turn into smoke.

“What do you mean?”

Brianna sighed. “I dunno. Think she likes girls?”

Ah. That made more sense. “Hard to say. Maybe? Why?”

“I was putting out a couple of feelers today when we were running on the treadmills together; y’know, trying to see how receptive she was to a casual fuck. She seemed into it, but then she turned me down when I invited her to the showers, so I’m not really sure.”

Vivienne snorted at her bluntness. “You wanna screw Jordyn?”

“Yeah, why not? She’s cute, isn’t she?”

“I dunno, I’ve never seen her face.”

“I mean, like, her personality ‘n stuff. Y’know, hardworking, determined, but kinda naive. And at the same time, sort of meek. It’s interesting. I’d like to know more about her.”

“And, to do that you’re gonna bang her?” Vivienne asked.

“Well, to be honest, she gives me major anxiety vibes. It would probably be good for her to unwind, y’know? Obviously, if she doesn’t want to, I’m cool to just hang with her, but I’m of the opinion that fucking someone is the single best icebreaker there is. Once you share that… that ultimate vulnerability with each other, there’s no nerves getting in the way anymore, y’know? Isn’t that how our friendship started?”

“I- well, okay fine, you’ve got me there,” Viv admitted, much to her chagrin. Sleeping with Brianna had been a great way to loosen up and also gain some confidence in herself after joining the Union. Hell, it would probably be just as useful for Jordyn, just like Brea was saying. But, knowing what she knew about Jordyn’s whole deal, it could definitely backfire if not handled with caution.

“Still, if you’re gonna do it, just… be careful? Jordyn seems like she’s got a lot going on, and she might… I don’t know… go along with it when she doesn’t really want to. I get the feeling she has trouble saying no to people.”

Brea hummed. “Yeah, I can definitely see that. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Either way, I gotta get my intentions through to her first.”

“Honestly? You’re probably best off just being straightforward. Like you said, she’s pretty naive. If you’re not clear, she’s not gonna get it; like you inviting her to the showers.”

“Yeah, that tracks... Anyway, that aside, are you gonna keep playing any time soon? I’m actually starting to get invested in the plot, but if all I can hear for the next hour is the sound of you getting your ass kicked, I’m leaving.”

A laugh burst up from Vivienne’s chest. “Oh, okay then. Tell me how you really feel, Brea.”

She fished the controller up from where it had fallen between her and Brianna’s legs, and unpaused the game. It was serious now; her pride was on the line. Vivienne was gonna beat this boss or die trying.

It was a little weird to think about; Brianna and Jordyn having sex. Part of her instinctively objected to the idea, on the basis of Jordyn’s sheltered-ness and naivety. But, in truth, Jordyn was a grown woman, and she deserved to make her own choices, even- no, especially when it came to stuff like this. Besides, Vivienne trusted Brea. Regardless of how it turned out or what Jordyn decided, she trusted that Brianna would do the right thing. She knew what she was doing in this department far more than Vivienne could ever hope to. There was nothing to worry about. It would all turn out for-

“Did you just die again?”

“Fuck!”

Taglist: @steelandblood @sapphicwhump @urnumber1star @alsolucakairomi @thataquaticwhumper

@iamheretohurt @anoyedartist @dontyoubleedoutonme @seastarblue @lettherebepain

@bacillusinfection

This arc is great because it means I can explore Brianna more, since she lives at the Union HQ. She is fr everybody's friend and it is mostly because she just does not gaf about societal norms of intimacy and will love on you platonically until you accept your new best friend. She knows what she wants and how to get it.

(can you tell that her flirting scene was the one that gave me so much grief?)

If you can't already tell, the next chapter will very likely be saucy, unless I decide to put a buffer between them. So, if you're here for that, get ready >:) If you're not here for that, uh... my condolences. I will try to remember to indicate how to skip those parts.

Lemme know what you thought of the chap with a comment or reblog! See ya next time!

#project genesis whump series #whump writing #whump #whumpblr #creative writing #writeblr #writing #living weapon whump #original fiction #sapphic characters #dislocation whump

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hugmekenobi · 1 year ago

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S2: The Bad Batch (12)

Chapter Twelve: The Outpost

Gif by @dreamswithghosts

Hunter x femaleJedi!reader

Series Summary: Some time has passed since everything that happened at Kamino and you and the Batch are trying to figure out your place in the rapidly changing Imperial galaxy. And you're having to do all this whilst figuring out where your relationship with Hunter fits into it.

Chapter Summary: Crosshair's mission for the Empire finalises what he'd feared would happen to him. Meanwhile, you and the Batch take on a tame job yet you find yourself filled with anticipatory dread but you have no sense of why.

Masterlist for S1

<Previous Chapter

Genre: Friends (idiots) to Lovers (we're in the lovers stage now)

Chapter Warnings: Canon-typical violence, angst, Lieutenant Nolan, character death, my interpretation of Crosshair's thought process, Force-related anxiety, descriptions of exhaustion, poor attempt at kidnapping, light injury descriptions, reader isn't quite on top of things, briefest instances of innuendo (it's tiny and you might not even notice it but including just in case), me making up some of Hunter's past, hurt/comfort

Word Count: 5.9K

Author's notes: Told you I hadn't forgotten about Crosshair lol, the poor boy goes through it. Also added my own thing to go with it and thank you to @fuckoffthanos and @arctrooper69 for helping me out with deciding how this should go! Also, @arctrooper69, loved your idea and had to incorporate it somehow but just the way other things panned out, it's a bit on the tamer side but thank you again! Hope you everyone enjoys!

He waited by the shuttle and watched. He watched the group of newly redundant clones walk past. It was the same spiel from the Imperial officer every time- “The Empire thanks you for your years of service and wishes you well on your retirement.” Like that would really make a difference.

“CT-9904?”

Yes, that was who he was to them now. Just a designation, but at least he still had a purpose here, not like the countless others he’d seen be forced out. He turned to face the lieutenant who addressed him.

“You’re out of uniform.”

Right, yes. Can’t be seen to look too different. He put his helmet on and awaited his instructions.

“I’m Lieutenant Nolan, your commanding officer for this mission. We’re heading to the Imperial Depot on Barton-4. High-value cargo stored there has been targeted by local insurgents. We’re to secure it until it’s transferred at week’s end.” Nolan paused as he heard the faint voices of the clones already in the shuttle. He let out an irritated sigh. “Fantastic. More clones.”

“Problem, sir?”

“Yes. I don’t like used equipment.” He boarded the shuttle. “Let’s go.”

Right. ‘Used equipment.’ He couldn’t afford to give that more thought. There was a mission to complete. He grabbed his sniper rifle and stepped onto the ship.

Barton-4 was an ice planet. And a hostile one at that. The cold wind howled and worked its way through to his armour and seeped into his bones, and the gusts of snow made it hard to see ahead. It was understandable how things had been going so wrong. Getting caught off guard by native insurgents in a place like this would mean the squadron here would have no chance of defending themselves successfully.

The group made their way into the main cargo haul and Nolan addressed the droids moving the shipments. “Where is your supervisor?”

“You must be our reinforcements.”

They all turned in the direction of the voice who emerged from behind one of the containers.

“We expected you 36 rotations ago. Did you get lost?” The clone asked coolly.

“We work on the Empire’s schedule, trooper, not yours.” Nolan replied.

“It’s Commander, Lieutenant.”

“Well, Commander, your orders were to guard and protect this facility and its cargo, yet this outpost is grossly unguarded.” He followed the clone round the corner. “Where are the rest of your men?”

“Dead.” He replied bluntly before he introduced the clones cowering round a heat lamp. “Hexx, Veetch, and I, we’re all that’s left.”

Their names. He was using their names. Not designations.

“Your failings will be dealt with later.” Nolan scolded. “For now, I am in charge here until the cargo is transported.”

“I feel safer already.” The commander drawled.

“Look here, clone, you speak to me with respect.” Nolan snapped.

“In my experience, respect is something to be earned.”

The Lieutenant sneered. “Yet the Empire assigned you to this desolate rock, were you let the majority of your squad get killed.”

The commander didn’t rise to it. “Tell me, Lieutenant, how many missions have you commanded?”

Meanwhile, he watched the interaction between these two men with hidden interest. He liked that this clone wasn’t backing down so easily.

“That’s what I thought.” The commander said as his question was greeted by silence. He addressed his group behind him. “Boys, why don’t you help the new boss get situated?” As soon as they all left, he focused his attention on the soldier in black armour that had followed the lieutenant in. “You, uh, know the lieutenant well?”

“For about two hours.” He responded.

The commander scoffed. “Two hours too long, I bet.”

He hummed in agreement and was both surprised and grateful to see his fellow clone bring over the heat lamp.

“So, what’d you do to get stuck with this mission?”

“Just lucky, I guess.” He said distantly.

The commander’s laugh turned into a sigh. “The name’s Mayday.” He looked at the clone expectantly.

He debated for a moment. It had been so long since anyone had wanted to know his name and cared enough to ask about it. “Crosshair.” It almost sounded foreign; it had been a long time since he’d had a reason to use it.

“Welcome to The Outpost.” Mayday with faux celebration. He grabbed his helmet and blaster. “I’ll give you the lay of the land.”

Nothing was out of the ordinary, the ship flew peacefully through hyperspace, with you all deciding that you were going to heed Cid’s instructions- after all she had said you shouldn’t return if you didn’t scavenge anything from the crash site so you were doing as you were told and the added benefit of not being in her employment worked things out quite nicely.

So, why as you sat on the edge of your bunk, was it that with nothing being out of the norm, you had a deep sense of dread lingering in your heart? This was the worst it had been; you had sensed it creeping in the days since the failed mission from Cid and your sleep had been very limited but you had put the cause down as being the mission and assumed it would go away. It hadn’t. And last night had been the worst. It overwhelmed you and had prevented you from sleeping entirely and the exhaustion you were feeling wasn’t helping matters. A light tapping on your leg forced you out of your head.

You glanced down to see Hunter kneeling in front of you, hand on your knee. “Sorry, did you say something?”

“What’s going on?”

“Didn’t sleep well.” You said briskly, not wanting to create a fuss.

“Something on your mind?” Hunter asked kindly. He could tell you were putting a brave face on but even that couldn’t hide the dark shadows under your eyes and the way you could barely keep your head up.

You shook your head. You didn’t want to bother him with something you couldn’t even put a cause or label on. “Is something happening?” You jutted your head in the direction of the cockpit where the others were gathered.

Hunter let your deflection pass for now. He knew you well enough to know that he couldn’t push you to talk. You would come to him when you needed it.

“Phee got in touch. She’s got a mission for us, but she needs us to get some credits from a contact first.”

“And the catch?” You asked, stifling a yawn.

“Her contact seems to have five possible addresses to keep people guessing his location.”

You nodded slowly. “Honestly was expecting worse.”

Hunter gave you a small smile. “I’d figure I’d keep Omega with me and the rest of you split to check out each of the other addresses?”

“Sounds good, Seargeant.” You said as you stood up to go to the refresher. You splashed some water on your face, and you caught a glimpse of your reflection. You did look pretty rough. Your eyes were puffy and dark circles graced the skin underneath them. Maybe a distraction from this feeling would be a good idea. There wasn’t much you could do about the tiredness expect for push through but even doing a small job might help with forgetting for a little bit.

Not only had it sounded like Mayday and his team had been hung out to dry with degraded equipment and poor support all the while protecting cargo the Empire hadn’t deemed necessary to inform them of what exactly it was, but it also hadn’t taken long for the first attack on the depot to occur since he and the rest of them had arrived.

The raiders had made it in and out fast and had caused the deaths of the rest of Mayday’s team and had stolen more cargo. The only saving grace had been that Crosshair had been able to hit one of them as they retreated, and the blood trail led to a system of ice tunnels that had allowed them to slip through undetected for months.

Upon Nolan’s request, he and Mayday had gone in search of the crates, and they started with the ice tunnel.

“You sure you’re up for this?” Hunter asked you gently as the others stepped off the ship.

You knew he was coming from a good place, but your sleep-deprived state took it as more of an insult. “Yes.” You said tetchily.

Hunter raised his hands in appeasement. “I’m just checking in.”

You exhaled wearily and ran a hand across your face. “I know. I’m sorry. It’s probably best to just leave me be for the moment.” You lifted your hood and mask up.

Hunter debated pushing the matter further, but he decided to wait until this task was over. “Okay.” He put his helmet on and let you leave the ship first.

It turned out that Wrecker had the current address and after he confirmed everything went smoothly, Hunter had said you were all to head back to the ship. You cut down an alley way that was a shortcut but also a means to avoid a public scene since you’d been followed once you’d rounded the corner from one of the contact’s alternative residences. “Please, I’m in no mood to do this today.” You said tiredly as the figure dashed in front of you, halting you in your tracks. You stared the Weequay. “What do you want?”

“How’d you know about the money? I’ve been watching that house, and I heard your comm. Where’d you find him?”

“I don’t have it.” You ignored the crux of his question.

“No, but someone you know does. And you’re going to help us get it.”

You really couldn’t be bothered with a simple kidnapping. If you were going to be threatened today, you’d rather it be a bit more interesting than this. “You know you’re not actually going to get anywhere with that plan, right?”

The Weequay simply sniggered and drew a blaster.

You sighed heavily and reached for your holster. Your entire body was slow. You’d never felt so sluggish.

And that was probably why you didn’t pick up on the ‘us’ or register the person that came from behind and smacked the butt of their blaster across the back of your head.

“Alright, let’s get going.” Wrecker said cheerily as he stepped on board and put the case down. He took his helmet off.

Hunter glanced past him. “(Y/N)’s not with you?”

Wrecker shook his head. “Was she supposed to be?”

“She’s not come back yet, and we haven’t heard from her.” Omega informed him, her own troubled face matching Hunter’s.

Hunter reached for his comm and tried for you, but he got no reply. “She wouldn’t go radio silent without being told to.”

“You guys aren’t in a fight, are you?” Wrecker asked.

Hunter shot his brother an irritated look. “No. And even if we were, she knows better than to ignore any of us if we’re checking in.”

“(Y/N), come in.” Omega tried but again was met with no response.

Both Wrecker and Tech also attempted to get in touch with you, but nothing came through.

Hunter started pacing. You wouldn’t ignore all of them. You just wouldn’t, no matter what was happening. The panic was starting to set in now. It was something he rarely did and when he did do it, he didn’t like it, but now he was thinking he should’ve pulled his rank with you and at least made you stay on the ship. He’d known you were in not shape to go out there, even if it was a simple mission, whatever you were going through and the exhaustion you were experiencing would have an effect on anyone.

“Hunter, it’s her.” Tech called over from the cockpit as the ship’s main communication control lit up. Only it wasn’t your voice that came through.

“If you want to see her again, meet us with that lovely case of credits you picked up in 30 minutes.”

“How do we know she’s with you?” Hunter asked, doing his best to keep his voice level.

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Her top has half a white skull on it.”

Dammit. Hunter paid no attention to the looks the others gave him. He needed to know more. He needed to know if you were okay. “I want to hear her. For all I know, you just saw her and that was the first thing you noticed.”

The voice chuckled unkindly. “She’s currently… unavailable for speaking. If you want that to be a more permanent state, then by all means, don’t do as we say. But, if you want her back, you better be here.”

“If you’ve hurt her-”

“It’s 20 minutes now. By all means, keep talking and pissing me off if you want her to suffer but I’d suggest you start walking.”

“Wait, but where are-” Omega started to say but the transmission cut out. “How are we supposed to find her?” She addressed the others.

“They used her own comm. I can trace it easily enough.” Tech said calmly as he got to work.

“The rest of us will go over her steps.” Hunter directed before he led the way off the ship.

If it wasn’t for the throbbing radiating throughout your skull, you might’ve been grateful for being knocked out. It was the closest thing you’d had to a rest. But the resulting headache and embarrassment at being so easily caught took precedence over any relief at being able to not think about what signals the Force was trying to send you. Now that you were awake, the feeling was back.

“Ah good, you’re up.”

You ignored the voice and took in your surroundings instead. The room was dark, the only light came from the faint glow of a lantern, and you were sitting with your back to a damp wall. Your hands were tied loosely in front of you with a piece of frayed rope. It was the worst attempt at kidnapping you’d ever experienced.

“Don’t worry. We’ve been in touch with your friends. Once we have the money, we’ll let you go.”

Your eyes had adjusted to the dimness, and it was then that you saw the two Weequay men standing by the doorway. You snorted. “Yeah, I’m not all that worried.”

“Oh yeah?” The one that had originally cornered you in the alley said.

“You two really don’t do this a lot, do you?”

“What are you talking about?” The one you didn’t recognise asked.

“Kidnapping people. You two are clearly new to the game.”

“Meaning what?” The first Weequay asked suspiciously.

You released an aggravated huff. You were too tired to do this, but it was your way out of here. “Meaning if you were regulars at this, you wouldn’t have used my comm to send your demands to my team- I’m assuming that’s what you did, right?” Their anxious glance to one another gave you your answer. You continued, “Ideally, you also would tie my hands behind my back, or, at the very least, you would double check the strength of the knot.”

“Check it.” The one you had seen first ordered his companion.

Perfect. As he kneeled down in front of you, you punched him on the underside of his jaw, and he crumbled to the floor. Acting quickly, you broke your hands out of their restraints, and you fired a stun blast from his blaster to the second one, who had been too taken aback by your actions to get his blaster out in time.

You grabbed your stuff and headed for the door, but it was then you heard the faint sound of someone grunting. You were still pretty out of it so as you moved to dodge the blade, your reaction wasn’t quite fast enough. You inhaled sharply as the knife sliced the part of your forearm that wasn’t protected by your armour. It wasn’t much more than a graze, but you could feel blood slowly secreting from the wound and it stung like hell. You whipped around and fired a stun bolt to the half-collapsed figure, and he fell unconscious.

You opened the door to be greeted by three familiar faces. “Oh. Hey, what brings you all here?”

“We were coming to rescue you.” Omega said as she peered around you to see the two knocked out Weequays.

“I appreciate it, kid. I’ll save you something to do next time.” You dug deep for the smile that graced your face as you touched her shoulder. “Thanks for coming after me, guys.” You said to the group.

“Did they hurt you?” Hunter asked urgently as he scanned your body for any obvious injures.

You shook your head. “Nothing major. It was my fault anyway. I completely switched off.”

“Yeah, what even happened?” Wrecker asked you.

“Don’t really wanna relive the humiliation at the moment, Wrecker.” You took a breath. “We good to go?” You asked Hunter who nodded and the four of you walked back to the Marauder.

“Tech, would you mind bringing the medkit down here?” You asked as you boarded the ship and sat down on your bunk. “Also, thanks for helping find me.”

“No thanks are necessary. Although, it was a relatively simple mission; I do not understand how this incident occurred in the first place or how you managed to injure yourself.” Tech said frankly as he pulled the medkit down and started to make his way over to you.

He was right but you were embarrassed enough to be so caught off guard like you were and you didn’t need more reminders. “Tech, what about my general demeanour right now makes you think I’m unaware of that fact?” You said through gritted teeth as you tossed your vambrace with a little too much zest judging by the way it smacked off the wall by your bed. You were doing your best to keep it together. You were determined to not let your mood affect the relationships around you.

“I only meant-”

“Tech.” Hunter warned him off calmly as he took to medpack from him. “Just get the ship in the air, okay?”

“Very well.” Tech said with a nod before he turned back for the cockpit.

Omega and Wrecker followed him.

“Do you want-” Hunter started to offer.

“I can do it myself, it’s a really small cut.” You said touchily as you held your hand out for the case.

Hunter didn’t fight you on it and he was prepared to give you space, so he handed it to you. “I’ll be in the cockpit with the others if you need me.” He risked a step forward and pressed a soft kiss to your forehead.

You did feel instantly more tranquil after he did that. “I’m sorry.” You uttered quietly as he stepped away.

Hunter tenderly rubbed a thumb across your cheekbone. “Get some rest.”

Crosshair and Mayday rounded the corner of the tunnel, and the blood trail came to an end. Both their lights found the dead body of the raider hunkered against the wall.

“He didn’t get far.” Crosshair said wryly.

Mayday kneeled down to examine the body. “Not sure what bothers me more. That he’s wearing armour stolen off my men or that his cohorts just left him here.”

“No point in carrying deadweight.”

Mayday glanced back at Crosshair. “Remind me not to die on your watch.”

Crosshair didn’t pay the comment much mind. He just carried on walking past, but he didn’t get very far as he suddenly came to a complete standstill as he heard the activation click of something hidden in the snowy ground. His best chance was to not move a muscle.

“Pressure mine.” Mayday stated.

“Mm-hmm.” Crosshair nodded.

Mayday brought his light down to examine it. “What were you saying about deadweight?”

“Do you know how to disarm it?”

“I’m not an explosives expert, but since I don’t feel like carrying your body back to the outpost, I guess I’ll give it a shot.” Mayday took off his helmet and put his blaster on the ground as well as his torch- but he kept the light trained on the pressure mine- as he crouched down. He blew away the flakes of snow still covering it. “Hmm. This mine’s a little different than ones I’ve seen before, but I’m pretty sure they’re all the same. Guess we’ll find out soon enough, huh?”

It wasn’t the most comforting of statements for Crosshair to hear, but he’d take any help he could get at this point.

Mayday pulled out his tools and carefully got to work. “I wish I had the proper equipment for this, but the Empire’s ignored all my requests. I’ve learned to improvise though. I guess all clones have had to since the war. Can’t say I ever thought much about the war ending…” he sighed, “… until it did.”

As Crosshair stood still on the mine and waited for Mayday to get him out of it, he couldn’t help but let his mind wander and start thinking about his old squad and how different this mission would be going. Tech would have the suitable equipment. Hunter would’ve known where to step to avoid a situation just like this and he’d have made finding these raiders look easy despite the conditions. And, even if one of them still found themselves in this position, Wrecker would’ve disarmed it with a degree of ease and sophistication people wouldn’t necessarily expect from him. While he would never admit it out loud, he was finding that he missed them. Mayday’s question to him pulled him out of his thoughts.

“What unit were you with?”

That was a question he did not want to answer. “It doesn’t matter.” He just about manged to grind out.

“Humour me. I could use the distraction.”

Well, if he wanted them both to make it out of this, he had to do what Mayday was asking of him. “Clone Force 99.”

“What happened to them?”

“They’re gone.” He replied subduedly. It wasn’t a lie. They were gone and he didn’t know where they had wound up or even if they were all still together and alive. It had been a long time now since that day on the platform on Kamino.

“And here we are, the survivors.” Mayday peered up at Crosshair. “Hmm. Combat troopers stuck babysitting cargo shipments.”

If he let his mind start to drift down that path any more than he already had on occasion, then he’d lose all sense of purpose. He’d lose that purpose he was so sure this Empire would provide. “Mission’s a mission.”

Mayday chuckled sarcastically. “Yeah, I used to say the same thing.” He inspected his work and grabbed his gear before he stood up. “There. That should do it.” As he saw Crosshair start to move, spoke up swiftly. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don’t pick up your foot yet. Wait until I tell you, then lift it, but real slow like.” He started to walk past him. “I’ll wait around the bend. If I don’t hear a boom, then I’ll know it worked.”

“Glad your confident in your work.”

Mayday put his helmet back on as he continued to walk away. “Oh, I’m confident. I’m just not stupid. Remember, nice and slow. On the count of three. One. Two. Three.”

Crosshair lifted his foot and sighed in relief when there was no explosion.

The two of them made their way out the tunnel into the storm. It was then they saw the light radiating from the raider’s base and they put their plan of attack into action.

It had been going well. The enemy bas was destroyed, and they were able to reclaim the cargo. They went down to the area where the cargo had spilled. But it was then when it had started to go wrong as they both discovered what it was they were risking their lives for and what it was Mayday and his men had men had devoted their lives to defending. And… and it wasn’t worth the fight they had put in.

“Gear?” Mayday said aloud as he examined the boxes. “We’ve been risking our lives to recover equipment we could have been wearing this whole time?”

Crosshair nudged a helmet with his foot to expose the design. “It’s not clone trooper gear.” Because why would it be? They were disposable after all.

Mayday picked up a breastplate. “New toys for their shiny new military, and we get the scraps. After all the clones have done, all we’ve sacrificed… We’re good soldiers. We followed orders. And for what?”

Crosshair didn’t have an answer for him. He thought he’d been a good solider but how was that being rewarded? He couldn’t see it. If he had any lingering doubts about where his place in this Empire was, this mission was doing a good job of eradicating them. He, Mayday, and all his fellow clones weren’t valued. They weren’t worth anything to this Empire.

Suddenly, a growing rumbling echoed around them.

“Go!” Mayday ordered as he saw avalanche hurtling towards them from the mountain behind them.

They ran as fast as they could through the deep snow, but they couldn’t outrun it, the best they could do was make it past the rock ahead.

Crosshair didn’t know what happened. One minute both of them were running side by side, and the next Mayday was knocking him past the rock and letting himself get swept up by the snow first which meant he smashed into the rockface.

Crosshair’s helmet was knocked away and the best he could do was take a deep breath as the snow smothered him.

Crosshair punched a hand through the top of the snow before his head followed and he breathed in the cold air. His entire body was numb and shivering but he couldn’t dwell on that for too long since he’d caught sight of Mayday’s helmet a few metres ahead. He heaved his way through the waist deep snow towards it and started to desperately dig through to find his companion.

It was after a few moments that Mayday’s face came into view, but his eyes were shut, and his body was limp as Crosshair propped him against the rock behind him. “Mayday? Mayday, wake up!” The faint groan from Mayday’s mouth was enough of an indicator that he was alive… that there was hope for him. “Come on. We have to move.”

Mayday’s eyes flickered open. “Go.” He gasped. “I won’t make it.”

Crosshair didn’t know what possessed him to grab Mayday’s helmet and put it back on his head. All he knew now as he supported Mayday’s body was that it was something he had to do. He had to make sure they both made it back and Mayday would survive. He was going to get them both through the storm.

Hunter came back from the cockpit to see everyone else asleep but you. You were perched on the edge of your bunk looking utterly shattered and anything but relaxed. You still had all your gear on, minus the one vambrace you’d taken off to tend to your cut earlier. “Sweetheart, you need to get some sleep.”

“I can’t.” You mumbled, utterly defeated, as you brought your head down to lean against his shoulder.

Hunter rested his head on top of yours. “Tell me what’s wrong?”

“I can’t because I don’t know.” You sighed deeply and pushed your face into the crook of his neck. “I’m just so tired.”

“What can I do?” Hunter asked softly.

“Knock me out until we rendezvous with Phee.” You suggested, only half kidding.

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea, but we can keep it as an option.” Hunter said lightly. “Come on.” He gently nudged you up, ignoring your slight groan of protest. He went to the ground in front of you.

“Okay, but I’m pretty tired, can’t promise I’ll be super enthusiastic.” You attempted levity but your tone was too flat.

“Hush you.” Hunter said with a slight grin. He got to work on taking your boots off before he came to sit next you. He started to delicately take your remaining armour off before he reached for the ends of your first layer. “Arms up.” He prompted tenderly.

Your arms felt heavy, but you did as he asked and he brought it up and over your head, taking care to not let you get caught in the material. “Now what?” You asked drearily.

“Now you lie down and close your eyes.”

“You know, I have tried doing that.” You said drily.

Hunter gave you an imploring look. “Just trust me, okay?”

You did and so you found yourself lying back down.

Hunter enveloped you. He rubbed, light, soothing patterns across your arms and back. He could feel how tense you were. He kept his voice quiet and low to create as restful an environment as he could for you. “I want you to focus on me. Nothing else. Nothing else matters. It’s just you and me here right now. Switch off. Focus on my voice. Focus on my heartbeat. Breathe with me.” He stared taking slow, deep breaths whilst continuing his peaceful touches. “It’s just us. I’m right with you. You don’t have to think about anything else. I love you. I’ll always be right here.”

You did as he asked. His hands were warm- if a little rough- against your arms but years of wielding a blaster would have that effect and you welcomed that feeling. It reminded you of all that he had survived, of what you all had survived and that he was there with you. Deep breaths. He’s here. He’s okay. Everyone’s okay. Shut it off. You thought to yourself. You mirrored his breathing and continued to listen to his words.

As the minutes grew longer and you continued to listen to him, you felt yourself start to relax into him. Your eyes grew heavy, and it was easier to keep them shut this time. How’d you know how to do this so well?

“Growing up with enhanced senses had its difficulties. I had to learn how to manage it.” He felt you nuzzle closer to him, and a deep sigh left your body. “There you go” He murmured as he kept caressing your body. “Keep breathing with me.”

Things felt easier now as you focused on him, on his scent, on the feeling of his hands on your body, on his breathing. And the last thing you remembered was you telling him you loved him and the kiss to the top of your head from him before you drifted off.

Crosshair staggered onto the main platform of the outpost and fell to his knees. He tried to be as gentle as he could when it came to putting Mayday down.

“About time you two returned.” Nolan said harshly as he approached the two men.

“He-” Crosshair broke off with an exhausted pant before he removed Mayday’s helmet. “He needs a medic.”

Nolan ignored him. “I see you didn’t retrieve the crates, which means you’ve failed your mission.”

How could that be all he was concerned about? “Did you hear what I said? Help him!” Crosshair begged as he could feel the pain and weariness creeping into his own body, but Mayday needed the help first. He had to be saved.

“Certainly not. That would be a waste of the Empire’s resources.”

“He’ll- He’ll die.” Did they truly not care? And it was then he heard one last pained cough from Mayday before his eyes shut and he fell silent. Crosshair searched for a pulse but found none. No. No. This wasn’t supposed to happen.

“He served his purpose as a soldier of the Empire.” Nolan said unsympathetically.

Crosshair could feel white hot anger start to rise within him. “You- You could have saved him!”

“Perhaps you didn’t hear me. He is expendable, as are you.”

And there it was. Confirmation of the doubt he had been trying so hard to deny. Hunter had been right. They were only ever numbers.

“And if you speak to me again with such disrespect, I’ll see to it you meet a similar fate, clone.” Nolan continued disdainfully.

Crosshair caught the sight of the shadow of one of the ice vultures. He knew they were coming for Mayday. But it shouldn’t be here for him.

“Now, leave him and get back to work… while you’re still useful.” Nolan started to walk back to the shuttle.

Crosshair looked up to the sky and started at the circling bird. He’d thought he’d found a way to survive on his own too but that had changed. He was supposed to have this incredible ability to see things others couldn’t. How had he been so blind for so long? Well, no more. He’d had enough. He wasn’t concerned about the consequences he would face with what he was about to do. All he knew was that he wouldn’t give this Empire anything more.

He got unsteadily got to his feet and trained his blaster on the retreating back on Lieutenant Nolan. “Lieutenant.” He didn’t hesitate and the shot went straight through Nolan’s chest as soon as he turned around. It was after that final act that he finally let the exhaustion and agony take him and his sight went dark.

You awoke with a start and sat up. Things had been going well but that was a new development. You rested a hand on your chest as you felt your heart pounding. You shivered. You were cold, both outwardly and inwardly. There was a deep chill in your veins that left you feeling frozen and unsettled. You took a few deep breaths to settle yourself.

“What’s wrong?” Hunter rasped; his voice still thick with sleep as he sat up alongside you and laid his hand on your back.

“I don’t know.” You murmured uneasily as you fiddled with the bandage on your arm. “Something woke me up. There was this cold shadow and all I could feel was fear and pain, but I couldn’t see what from or who.”

“It was just a bad dream.” Hunter comforted. He kissed the back of your shoulder. “Come on, you should try to get back to sleep.”

“Right… a bad dream.” You whispered distantly as you let him lay you back down. Whatever it was that had woken you up, it felt real, it wasn’t just a bad dream, you were experiencing what someone else was going through but you didn’t have a face to put to the feeling and you didn’t know what it could be. You closed your eyes and tried to focus on the feeling of Hunter’s arm draped over you, holding you close, but you couldn't shake the feeling like there was something more to what just happened and so sleep didn’t easily come this time around.

Crosshair woozily came around to the sound of equipment beeping. He didn’t recognise where he was, and it was then he heard the muffled sound of someone addressing him.

“Hello, CT-9904. Or do you prefer, Crosshair?”

His name. She was using his name. The woman that was speaking to him seemed to be some kind of doctor. “Where am I?” He asked wearily.

“I’m holding you for observation. Once you’ve healed, the doctor will come for you.”

She was holding a needle to his neck, yet she wasn’t the primary medic? “Who- Who are you?”

“Remain calm. Cooperate and you might survive.” That was all he registered before the needle pierced his skin and he fell into darkness once more.

Next Chapter>

Tagging: @noeasyisnoisy, @fuckoffthanos, @tpwkcalli, @graciexmarvel, @arctrooper69, @nightmonkeysstuff, @brujaporfavor, @flyingkangaroo, @sunkissedclones, @ladytano420, @keep-calm-and-drink-caf, @yyourmotherr, @xxeiraxx, @dragonrider9905, @starwarsnerd111,

#the bad batch #the bad batch season 2 #the bad batch s2 #hunter x reader #hunter x femalejedi!reader #hunter x fem!reader #hunter x female!reader #sergeant hunter #sergeant hunter x reader #hunter tbb #hunter the bad batch #the bad batch hunter x you #hunter x y/n #tbb hunter xreader #the bad batch fanfiction #star wars #angst #friends to lovers #hurt/comfort

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euporie-art · 4 months ago

Note

Hellooo there!! I saw your blog description and I am a benbaro shipper who would like to interact with you please! My benbaro obsession has gotten well fed by wonderful artworks and correct thoughts such as yours (thank you!!) recently but I fear my obsession can never be completely sated...

So if you like, feel free to use this ask to express whatever is currently on your mind! Just ramblings or a headcanon or something about benbaro or Barok or Albert separately or TGAA in general that you have thoughts about; this is a free pass to let it out! I'm always curious about how my blorbos look in other people's eyes

OMG HI I have read all of your benbaro fics and they make me fucking AJDJFHWIJFKTOEMTK (a good thing) . I need to get hit by a car. I love them so much

prepare for a whole lot of fucking yap because I am insane about them so much. and I have no job so I kinda just stew them in my brain all day at the moment, among other tgaa pairings and characters

(i honestly very rarely fixate on ships within fandoms. but tgaa gave me 3 pairings I would die for. asoryuu, homumiko, and benbaro. they all make me insane I'm going to eat drywall)

I think about them a lot. I don't even know where to start.

so I'll go w some dumb headcanons. sprinkling in some pretty bad drawings.tbh (please ignore how inconsistent my art style is)

I think some time after tgaa2 he moves back to England and lives with barok, who obviously has more than enough money to spend on him, so Albert grows his hair out again (he has a very stupid hat/helmet thing he wears to protect his hair if he's working on something potentially dangerous)

First off I think Albert had long hair in university. most of the time when people draw him in uni he looks almost identical to his 2-3 design WHICH IS FAIR AND NOT BAD! but I have some thoughts of my own

pray forgive the discourtesy of this looking shit I drew it quite quickly. but. I think he had long hair in university and was a little more particular about his appearance. however i do think he had pretty bad acne in his late teens. the acne was just a hormonal teenager thing and cleared up by his 20s.

After moving abroad I think he cut his hair short because he had less time to look after it, and wanted to put any money he had towards funding his inventions, so he did pretty much the bare minimum when it came to looking after himself (I must clarify I do think that Albert is attractive, this is not me trying to "yassify" him. I have a soft spot for cute nerdy guys I'm dating one but he likes Elden ring instead of science)

because he's pretty much been alone for like. a decade. and basically just spoke in Law Words for half of that. I think barok is very direct and literal with how he speaks so he worries about not seeming "romantic" enough, so to compensate he's very physically affectionate and likes spoiling albert with nice food, gadgets and supplies for his inventions, and new clothes.

I think barok is extremely clingy once he gets used to having Albert around again. he's like a cat he'll just kind of bonk his head into him sometimes and sadly gaze at him until he gets attention. very cuddly and a bit melodramatic. I love characterisations of barok where he's really pathetic tbh. also him being shy is fun I enjoy it greatly

albert on the other hand I actually think he's the more bold/confident one (I hate when barok is portrayed as a dominant bad boy or whatever its so stupid he literally gets shy when his 10 year old niece invites him to dinner). albert talks baroks ear off about anything and everything, humours his clingyness, and drags him outside to have a life beyond his job and engage in whimsy and fun . he's also very verbally affectionate I think. he makes sure to try and help barok feel less alone, because I think he has lingering guilt for not being there during the professor bullshit and klints death. it may have been after he left England for Germany, and he didn't even know when it was happening, but i think he has a lingering, irrational guilt for not being there for barok at his worst hour

ALSO a lot of the time I see people drawing Albert talking a lot about science shit w barok listening happily, but I also think it goes the other way too! I think barok will rant about wine pairings and different types of grapes n shit. Albert stares at him lovestruck and adoringly the whole time. he has no idea what a pinot noir is (neither do I, I don't drink)

final thing or I will be here all fucking day: my boyfriend and I came up with a headcanon that barok has a really pathetic looking Italian greyhound named petunia, he likes dressing her up in little outfits. I think when albert starts living with him he starts calling petunia their daughter, and has the ability to make the exact same sad and pathetic expression as the dog

jk tiny bonus: I have a very dumb "100 years on" au stewing in my brain where everything is set in the 1980s and 1990s instead of 1880s and 1890s. in the 80s section, when barok and Albert are in university together, barok is a sulky and mopey trad goth and they listen to The Cure together. albert dresses normal and listens to talking heads i think. this is stupidly self indulgent because I like 80s fashion and clothing. I have not even thought about the 90s section because I don't want to 😊 (I HATE 90S FASHION.)

#euporie answers #barschter000 asked...#you will have to forgive me im very socially inept #long ass response im sorry 🙏 i am unable to be normal about anythint ever #this is probably way more than you asked for but #here it is

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melanie-ohara · 1 year ago

Text

A Hunt for Gold

Whumpuary2024, Bonus Day - Prompt: Flinching

Shin struggles to find her place with Sabine and Ahsoka

That's right, there's more! At this point I am mostly just using the prompts, this doesn't technically count as a challenge entry

AO3 Here

Sabine sat at the desk in Huyang's workshop and carefully soldered the powered plates back into her beskar's harness. She was right: the damage was too severe to be properly repaired and unless she could somehow build a forge out of twigs and shrubbery she couldn't reclaim the metal to start again. The remnants might give her enough protection from a glancing blaster bolt, but that was it. She had patched it together as best she could, and for now its appearance reminded her a little too much of Thrawn's reanimated storm troopers. She shuddered at the image. A new paint job would hide the scars, at least. Only her helmet and vambraces were still intact enough to stand up to a lightsaber - but now that Shin had started to settle in on the ship - uneasily, but it was a start - she wasn't sure how much she needed to worry about lightsabers any more. Sabine leaned back in the chair and her hand dropped to rest on her stomach, above the stab wound Shin had gifted her when they first met. Now we match, she thought to herself.

"I want to dye my hair."

Sabine jumped at the sound of Shin's voice. She had been so wrapped up in herself, she didn't even notice the door opening. Now that Shin had properly recovered from the surgery and didn't need the compression vest any more she had started wearing whatever she could find that was clean, which today was most of Sabine's training clothes with one of Ahsoka's robes draped artlessly over the top for warmth.

"Um… okay," she said, taken aback.

Shin paused and looked down at the workbench and Sabine's armour. "You're busy," she said, and turned to go.

"No," Sabine said quickly, standing up. "I have time, I mean." Shin didn't like being cooped up and it was rare to catch her in such a good mood. She was quickly learning to make the best of them.

"Your armour," Shin said, but Sabine waved her hand dismissively.

"It can wait." Shin stepped aside so Sabine could leave the room and lead the way back to her cabin. "Are we just bleaching your roots, or did you have a colour in mind?"

Shin touched the braid that hung down over shoulder, her fingers playing over the gemstones woven into it. "Green," she said.

Shin sat in the chair at Sabine's desk and talked more about how she wanted it to look while Sabine mixed the dyes and loaded them into applicator capsules for her spray tool. She got to work on her dark roots first. Shin shuddered a little as the first puff of cold pigment made contact with the top of her head and tensed as Sabine gently combed it in, but she settled in after a moment and let her work.

"What's with the gems?" Sabine asked, to distract herself from the strangely intimate feeling of carefully brushing bleach-white into Shin's hair.

"Baylan gave them to me," Shin said. "I didn't know what they were at first."

Sabine watched the teeth of the comb part Shin's hair and slip easily through the strands. "And what are they?"

Shin didn't answer for a long time, and Sabine saw her hand travel up to the crystals again. She rolled one between her finger and thumb for a while like she was thinking. "Something he gave up."

Sabine let her have the cryptic answer and backed off. She knew Shin didn't really like talking about Baylan - his leaving hurt much more than her stomach wound, and Sabine didn't want to push her. Instead, she slid the bleach dye out of her spray tool, replaced the nozzle and picked up the cartridge of green dye. She passed Shin a towel to put over her shoulders to protect the tank top she was wearing, though it belonged to Sabine and she wasn't too worried about it getting a burst of colour. With anyone else, Sabine might have draped the towel herself, but Shin didn't like to be touched.

"I'm surprised you're letting me do this," she said, and immediately wished she'd kept it to herself.

"Why?"

Sabine shrugged and fiddled unnecessarily with the settings. "I just… well, you don't like being touched, that's all."

Shin said nothing, and Sabine cleared her throat awkwardly. Just get on with it and shut up, she thought to herself, and started to carefully coat the lower strands of Shin's hair with a faint mist of green. She hadn't dyed hair this way since before the war, when she had given herself a purple ombré in the Ghost's refresher. Hera had been furious at the mess, but she had a lot more experience now - as well as better tools. While the dye was still wet, she back-combed it quickly but carefully into Shin's hair, varying the lengths of her strokes so the dye reached higher in some places than others, so the fading colour didn't look too neat. That had been her own idea: Shin was too wild for the Coruscant-salon perfect look Sabine had been trying for as a teenager.

Working on Shin's hair felt like painting. Like art. There was the same connection she felt to the canvas and the paint, only this time it was a living, breathing person under the hissing tool. She wanted to touch her, and comb her hair with fingers instead. To rub the dye into individual strands, one by one, until it was exactly how she envisioned it.

"I don't mind you," Shin said suddenly. It had been at least five minutes since either of them had last spoken.

"Sorry?"

"Touching." Shin's hands were in her lap and twisting over each other awkwardly. "It's okay, if it's you."

Sabine almost dropped the spray tool, and she was glad Shin was facing away and couldn't see the blush on her face. "Oh," she managed dumbly, and then, "good."

"Yes," Shin said. "Otherwise my roots would still be showing."

Sabine wasn't sure if it was a joke - Shin delivered every word with the same inflection, whether it was a death threat or asking for a drink - but she let out an awkward chuckle. She brushed at Shin's hair a few more times, and then put her tools down to examine her work.

"How do I look?" Shin asked, shaking her hair out and then rolling her neck to ease the tension from sitting still for so long.

Sabine stepped out from behind the chair and looked at her. "Beautiful," She said. It was the truth - the green highlights had an ethereal gleam amongst the pale blonde that made her eyes shimmer and her skin shine. The pale flush her words brought to her cheeks made for a very pretty contrast too. Sabine shook herself and picked up a hand-mirror to show Shin the back, and she nodded approvingly. Her oh-so-rare, oh-so-endearing smile spread on her lips and it was so infectious Sabine couldn't help smiling back.

"I like it," Shin said.

Before she had even thought about it being a bad idea, Sabine had leaned over her head and gently placed a kiss on Shin's forehead. She flinched like Sabine had just slapped her and almost tripped over her feet in her rush to get out of the chair and then out of the room.

"Wait!" Sabine called out, but by the time she had followed her out Shin had disappeared down the ship's ramp and into the Noti camp below. She was about to run after her when Ahsoka cleared her throat. Sabine hadn't even noticed her, but she was once again standing in the doorway of her room.

"Trouble?" she asked, one of her not-quite-eyebrows raised.

Sabine made a face and awkwardly clasped her hands in front of her. "I may have done something," she admitted.

"Like what?"

Sabine braced herself. "Like kiss Shin."

She didn't know exactly how she expected Ahsoka to react. Anger seemed unlikely, but not disappointment or frustration. She had taught her the Jedi code, and how it forbade attachment, and Sabine knew this looked like another of her arrogant rebellions.

Ahsoka smiled with a strange, almost knowing look in her eyes. "Are you going after her?" she asked.

Sabine frowned. "You're not… annoyed?" she asked. "The code - "

"My Master was married," Ahsoka interrupted. "His Master had a son nobody knew about, and I… well, let's not go into that now."

"Oh, we're going into that now," Sabine said, a little stunned by the idea that the stoic Ahsoka Tano might have dalliances in her past.

Ahsoka shook her head. "Not now." There was a hint of sadness in her gaze that convinced Sabine to drop it. Instead she dropped into a chair at the centre table and put her head in her hands with a sigh.

"I scared her off," she said, pulling her head up to look at Ahsoka. "I don't think she'll want to see me."

Ahsoka pushed herself off from the doorframe and started towards the exit ramp.

"Whoa, hey!" Sabine said, getting up like she was going to stop her somehow. "What are you doing?"

Ahsoka didn't say anything, just dropped down off the ramp to the ground below.

She thought Shin might have walked off, maybe down towards the river or out towards the mountains, but Ahsoka instead found her sat almost exactly in the middle of the Noti camp. They had all shut up their pods and powered them down, making her seem like the only living thing for miles around.

"Everything okay?" Ahsoka asked as she approached.

"They're all afraid of me," Shin said. Ahsoka looked around at the deserted camp and nodded a little. The Noti had locked themselves in as soon as they saw her.

"You were trying to kill them not long ago," she pointed out as she sat down next to her.

"Not them," Shin said. "That was the bandits. I only wanted Sabine."

Ahsoka looked across at her, taking in her new hair colour and the regret in her pale eyes. "Well you've got her now," she said. "Maybe not the way you expected."

"I didn't mean to run," Shin admitted. She picked at the scrubby ground in front of her and sighed. "I wish I didn't."

Ahsoka resisted the instinct to lay a hand on her shoulder, the way she would have done for Barriss all those years ago. "This isn't training," she said. Though she wasn't sure how Baylan had brought up his padawan, she knew he was a dyed-in-the-wool temple Jedi, and suspected he had driven her just as hard as Anakin had her. Or Luminara had Barriss. "It's hard to see at first, but it's different."

"I don't know what you mean," Shin said.

"You don't have to push yourself," Ahsoka explained weakly. She was not the person to be giving this talk, and she could imagine the infuriating way Anakin would smirk at her inability to communicate. "Whatever is between you and Sabine isn't a challenge to overcome, it's not… a trial to endure." Ahsoka sighed. "I'm no good at this," she admitted.

"No," Shin agreed, and Ahsoka smiled. Her honesty was refreshing, and reminded her not to try and make everything a lesson.

"Sabine doesn't want to rush you," she said. "She just doesn't know how not to rush herself."

Shin plucked a blade of grass and flicked it away. "I don't know how to feel this way," she admitted. "It's never happened before."

Ahsoka felt a sad smile creep over her face. She knew how that felt: there had been nothing in her training to prepare her for how it felt to see Barriss smile at a joke, and her training was all she knew. Before she had understood it, everything had changed. "Sabine knows," she said. "And you'll get the hang of it."

Shin stood up and stretched. "I'm going for a walk," she announced. "Tell Sabine…"

She trailed off, unsure, but Ahsoka nodded. "I will," she said.

Shin stared off at the ship for a while, and Ahsoka wondered what she was thinking behind her glassy, green-blue eyes. Without another word, she turned away and walked off.

#fanfic #writing #whumpuary2024 #shin hati #wolfwren #star wars #ahsoka #sabine wren #whumpuaryno14 #look at these idiots #sapphic star wars

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kybercrystals94 · 11 months ago

Text

The Hostage

(Part 2)

Read here on Ao3!

Master Post here!

Rated: T | Words: 1547 | Summary: The boys search for their sister while Omega learns about her captor's motives.

She was under their protection – his protection – and he’d failed her. What was he thinking, leaving her outside on her own. At least inside, she would have been flanked by their brothers, even if something had gone wrong during negotiations. She's been part of more than her fair share seedy deals before. It is practically the only life she's ever known after Kamino, much to Hunter's disdain. She deserves more than this, and Hunter has been secretly striving for it. A way to put this life behind them, of running. Hiding. Doing questionable jobs to make it for another standard week. He wanted more for her, and now she might...

Hunter cuts himself off from the thought, turning down another side street.

“Hunter, anything?” Tech’s voice interrupts through his in-helmet comm.

Hunter shoulders his way through the crowd that seems intent on working against him. “Still nothing.”

“I suggest you return to the ship. It is highly unlikely the kidnapper is still in the area. Our best option is to wait until they make contact with their demands.”

“If they make contact,” Hunter bites out.

“They would not have left Omega’s bow and comm for us to find if they did not plan to,” Tech says, his tone even and matter-of-fact.

Hunter wishes he had even a fraction of Tech’s confidence. “Has Wrecker checked in?”

“He is on his way back. He says that he checked his sector of the city twice but didn’t find anything that would indicate where Omega was taken. Echo and I have reviewed all security footage within the timeframe of Omega’s disappearance. Whoever did this, Hunter, knew what they were doing. There is no sign of Omega on any feed that we gained access to.”

“If they were going to contact us, why haven’t they done it yet? It’s been hours.”

There is a pause. “Uncertain.”

“What if it was a bounty hunter? What if they left Omega’s bow and comm to throw us off, to make us wait around for a call that would never come?”

“That is why we have taken measures to search the city and security footage. We are not simply taking a kidnapper’s word. However, we also have no leads other than that the kidnapper claimed they would be in touch. I for one believe they will. This individual has shown their ability to disappear entirely, so why give us any hope of hearing from them at all?”

Hope. A flimsy, terrible thing that Hunter dares to cling to with both hands. He takes a breath. “I’m heading your way, Tech.”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Omega wakes to the sound of a blaster being reassembled, slowly… meticulously. She’s listened to it many times, watching her brothers clean their own weapons, the sound of metal fitting into metal, latches clicking into place. It is a familiar sound, a welcome sound. A sound that means she is safe and protected.

“About kriffing time you woke up,” a voice growls.

Familiarity evaporates, and in its place a sickening twist of panic. Omega jerks upright, finding herself fastened securely into a crash seat. Sitting across from her is the man who attacked her and stole her away. She struggles against the restraints, hands searching frantically for the releases.

“Calm down,” the man sighs gruffly, standing up. He holsters his blaster. “I’m not gonna hurt you, kid.”

“Then let me go!” Omega snarls at him.

The man reaches out and unfastens the harness. “There, you’re free. Happy?”

“No!” Omega scrambles to her feet. “Take me back to my brothers!”

“Mouthy little thing, aren’t you.” The man goes back to his seat, takes out his blaster again, and sits down. He holds the weapon loosely, a casual threat. He grins, a twist of his lips. “You’ll go back to your brothers just as soon as they do a little something for me.”

Omega stands stiffly, hands balled into fists at her sides. “You’re not a bounty hunter?”

“Not strictly speaking,” the man says. He reaches into his vest pocket, pulling out a small device. “Do you know what this is?”

Omega glares at him.

The man tosses it at her, and Omega barely catches it before it hits her in the face. It is heavy, larger than her palm. Curiosity overwhelms her, and she activates the device. Blue luminance brings up an image of a twi’lek man. Words coil around the base of the image. Her gaze flickers back to the man across from her. “What do you want me to do with this?” she asks.

“That’s the information we are going to give to your brothers when we make contact.”

“We? Why would I help you?”

The man leans back. “Because if you don’t, your brothers won’t have what they need to have you returned. You see, I’m interested in a little trade. My bounty delivered to me in exchange for a little brat. Reasonable enough.”

“You went to all the trouble of kidnapping me so you could make my brothers do a job for you?” Omega asks, incredulously.

The man heaves one shoulder in a shrug. “Work smarter not harder, kid. Snatching you is a hell of a lot easier than going up against an assassin in my book."

“So you are a bounty hunter,” Omega says, gripping the puck in both hands.

“This job is gonna get me into the guild. Once your brothers deliver my bounty.”

“Isn’t that cheating?”

“Only if I get caught.” The man shifts the blaster, aiming it lazily in Omega’s direction. “So I better not get caught.”

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

“A transmission is coming through on our secure channel,” Tech announces, accepting the call without waiting for his brothers to crowd around him. Omega’s flickering image appears. Tech is relieved that she appears unharmed, even with the poor quality of the transmission.

“Omega, where are you?” Hunter asks at Tech’s shoulder.

Omega’s eyes dart to something beyond them. “I don’t know,” she admits, “but I have a message for you.” Her words are stilted, rehearsed.

Tech asks, “From the individual who took you?”

Omega nods. “He doesn’t want you to see him or hear him.” Omega holds up what Tech immediately recognizes as a holopuck. “He is going to send an encrypted message with the details of a bounty. If you want me back–” Omega stops short, and even with her features blurred in blue lines, Tech sees her expression crumble. It makes Tech’s chest tighten. His sister blinks hard and starts again, voice carefully even, “If you want me back alive, you'll finish the job. He says that he wants all the credit for the bounty.”

Tech can think of a dozen questions to ask, perhaps more; however, they all seem to get caught in his throat. Their time with Omega is short, any one question might be their last. Perhaps the last thing they will ever say to her at all if they are not able to comply with the kidnapper’s request.

“Don’t worry, kid,” Echo speaks up, “We’ll have you back in no time at all.”

Omega offers them a tight smile just before transmission cuts off.

The silence that follows is heavy and unbearable, Echo's fragile promise hanging by a delicate, invisible thread.

“Is there any way to trace the transmission?” Hunter asks, voice hoarse.

Tech shakes his head. “It was heavily encrypted and long range.”

“So our only way to get Omega back is to do what this guy says?” Wrecker asks.

“Such seems to be the case,” Tech replies. He cannot help but feel a small sense of relief that it is something they can do rather than something they have to give. They barely have enough credits to live on, let alone pay any sort of ransom. This will simply be another mission, although the stakes have never felt so treacherous.

The ship’s comm chirps, indicating an incoming message. Tech opens it and frowns as he reads over the details.

“This job isn’t going to be easy,” Echo says, reading over Tech’s shoulder.

“It makes it clear why the kidnapper thought that forcing us to complete his bounty for him would be advantageous, especially as taking Omega was substantially easier than the alternative,” Tech says.

“Taking Omega shouldn’t have been easy,” Wrecker mutters.

The silence that follows the statement is agreement enough.

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

Her captor’s name is Tonor Javik. It wasn’t hard to figure out since he carves his name into practically everything. Property of Tonor Javik is plastered on every crate, and he’s even crudely etched his name into some of the walls.

“How are they supposed to tell us when they finish the job?” Omega asks, picking at her ration bar. It tastes moldy.

Javik glares at her from across the table. “We’ll check in when I think they’ve had enough time,” he tells her.

Omega rolls her eyes. “It’s been three rotations. Unlike you, my brothers are actually capable.”

This earns her a growl, but Omega only smirks at him. Aside from their initial interaction where he snatched her up from the alley, Javik has kept his distance while watching her every move. He seems almost scared of her, although it's probably the enhanced clones he coerced into doing his dirty work that he’s afraid of.

Good. Omega thinks. He should be afraid.

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