#and of course a ton of chains can be seen at the land of departure itself. even the chamber of waking kind of had a chain motif

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Like Master like Students

And even though Sora isn't a student of anyone in the Wayfinder Trio (though Aqua did think of making him an apprentice for a second when he was four, of course), Sora is continuing to adapt what he learns from other warriors into his own fighting style and can be seen using the keychain of his Keyblade to fight in the KHIV trailer (though part of me wonders if that could also be a hint at web slinging and a Spider-Man world, but take that with a huge grain of salt).

But now that Kairi is going to be trained by Aqua, I wonder if we'll see her using chain magic, or whatever, too. I sure hope so.

[deanwinchesterjournal]

“So this is it,” Charlie said as I stuffed my last pair of jeans into a duffel bag.

I looked around the small berthing area that had been my room for the last four years and nodded. “Yep, this is it.”

This was my last day in the Navy and it seemed that everyone was having a moment.

Except me.

“So what? He doesn't even know you're out?” he asked already knowing the answer.

“No one knows, Charlie. That's the whole point.”

He was sitting on the edge of his bunk. “What if he says no?”

I paused and then smiled. “He won't.”

“But what if he does?”

“He won't.” I said again zipping up my bag.

“But let's say he did say no, what then?” Charlie didn't always know when to stop asking questions. I thought for a second how much two-year-old Charlie's questions must have driven his parents crazy.

I looked him dead in the face and told him honestly, “Then I'd spend the rest of my life crying and being miserable. But he won't.”

Now Charlie took a few seconds to think about what I had said. “How do you know?”

I hoisted my duffel bag onto my shoulder and gave him my best Graymark grin. “Cause he's my guy.” Maybe half a dozen goodbyes followed me as I walked down the gangway. Tons of people who had been like family to me over the past four years because we had all been stuffed together into this sardine can of a ship were suddenly going to be people I used to know.

For some people the military is a way of life, the center of their universe. It had never been that for me. I was proud to have served in the Navy and I loved my time here but the center of my universe was not on a ship.

The center of my universe has always been Kyle.

"Hey, Graymark! Over here!" I shot a look toward the voice and grinned.

One of the guys had volunteered to drive me to the airport instead of making me pay for a cab, which was nice. We didn't talk much during the ride over, just listened to music and made one-word comments. At the Departures ramp, I got out before he could get snagged in traffic and headed toward the doors. I heard him shout, “Go get him Fire Crotch!”

Oh yeah, I might have picked up a nickname while I was in the Navy, and, no, I have no desire to tell you how it happened. I made my way through the airport and got on the plane, the entire time my mind was counting down the time until I got back to him. I reclined into my seat in first class and thought about what Charlie had said. It wasn't like I'd lost Kyle, not like we had broken up or anything. Over the past four years we'd seen each other six or seven times when I had enough leave accumulated to get to him. Each time saying good bye was harder than the last.

The guys on the ship had warned me at the start that long distance relationships didn't work but as time went on, Kyle and I became the exception. If anything, over time we had grown stronger together. So I wasn't worried that he had moved on.

What I was thinking about was more important.

I would be asking him to start his life with me, and I wasn't sure he was ready for that.

When I left for boot camp, I told him I would just show up without warning, some day after I'd finished my Navy duty and ask him to spend the rest of his life with me. We hadn't talked about it since, both of us not wanting to tempt fate by making plans we might not be able to keep. Last month the navy made me a pretty attractive offer to re-up for another tour of duty, but as much as I loved military life, I loved Kyle more.

I knew who I was now, he had always known who he was. It was time to figure out who we were, together.

I landed in San Francisco and spent the next hour trying to figure out where the hell Kyle worked. Once I had the address, I got one of those Ubers to pick me up, since I had no idea where I was. While I waited, I changed my shirt and slipped on my bomber jacket that made me look so Top Gun, it wasn't funny.

The jacket alone could have gotten me laid anywhere in the United States, Hawaii and Alaska included. Kyle was going to make fun of it because he would know it was my second-generation letterman jacket. Which was entirely OK because, secretly all that leather was going to turn him on as much as it would anyone else.

A little purple, cube of a car pulled up and the driver leaned over to call out from the passenger window, “Please God, tell me I'm here to pick you up.”

I forced myself not to roll my eyes, I told you. This jacket was sex.

“Yeah.” I got into the back. “You know where this is?” I handed him the paper with the address on it.

He took it sight unseen, his gaze hadn't moved off of me. I had never been ogled so blatantly before and it was uncomfortable. “Um, can you get us there?”

He glanced at the paper and nodded. “I can take you anywhere you want.”

I just smiled politely as he turned around and began driving. “So military, huh?” he asked with a lewd smile.

That's what I get for putting on my gray athletic t-shirt that had NAVY printed across my chest. I nodded. “Yeah, just got out.”

“Oh really? What brings you here, then?”

Well, he wanted to know.

“I'm here to tell my longtime boyfriend that I think we should move in together.”

Several emotions danced across his face as he digested what I had said.

“You're gay?” I nodded. “And you got out of the military?” Another nod. “And you have a long time boyfriend?” Third nod. “He better be a fucking model.” was all he muttered as he started looking at the road.

What did I say? My jacket was like catnip and the whole world was my cat.

He pulled up in front of a large building and rattled off what I owed him. As I got out he called after me. “If he says no, he's insane.” I told him thanks and he added. “If he does say no, here's my number.”

“Thanks again.” I said, putting the number in my pocket.

He drove off, after taking his own sweet time to look me up from head to toe.

OK, maybe the jacket was a mistake.

I walked into the lobby and asked the guy at the front desk if Kyle Stilleno was in the building. He looked at his computer and nodded and asked if I needed to talk to him. I looked at the time; it was 4:40 and I was pretty sure he said he got out at five. “I'm good, thanks.”

I walked out and looked around for a place to wait.

There were a couple of benches, and a fountain and then I saw it, a lamp post at the corner of the sidewalk leading out of the building. I leaned up against it and made sure I would be visible from the front door when he walked out.

And I waited. The clock in my mind had slowed down, and the past four years had faded away almost as if they'd never been. For a couple of minutes, everything was silent around and inside me and just like that I was no longer almost 23 and a veteran of the Navy, I had not seen five different countries and ate weird food in each of them. I had not spent countless nights looking up at the photos taped to the ceiling of my bunk and wondered if I made the right choice or not.

Instead I was the same guy standing next to a high school locker, wondering if I was about to make a huge mistake. I was wondering if I was about to fuck up again and put my trust in something I wasn't sure of. Spend the rest of our life together? I hadn't even owned a dog and I wanted to ask him about forever?

While I fretted, I pulled out the chain necklace I wore around my neck and looked at what was attached to it; my dog tags of course, then the 81 cents Kyle had given to me one Christmas, and lastly, my class ring. He had given it to me when I left for boot camp four years ago. I had been stunned when he held it out to me.

“But, we aren't breaking up.” I told him, not reaching out to take it.

“I know. But it's your ring and if we don't stay together, I don't want you out a class ring.”

“You don't think we're going to get back together?”

He shrugged, which was Kyle for yes.

“I told you, one day you are going to turn around and I'll be there.”

He sighed. “Fine, then take the ring and give it back on that day. Because if you change your mind or whatever I don't want this thing reminding me I fucked up and lost the best guy I had ever met.”

I could see the tears forming in his eyes and I leaned toward him and pulled him into a hug. “You didn't fuck up anything. This is for the best, Kyle.” He just stood there and cried. “I'm coming back.” He nodded but I could see he didn't believe it. “Fine, I'll take the ring, but when I give it back, you can never worry that I don't want to be with you again. Got it?” He nodded and I took the ring.

Now I took it off my chain and slipped it in my pocket.

A little after five people came pouring out of the building, by ones and tens. None of them was Kyle. I wondered if I was standing in front of the wrong exit when he walked out with Teddy.

He looked so hot in his suit.

I could have jumped him right there he was so fuckable, but instead I just leaned against the pole, waiting for him to notice me. Teddy had stopped to dig out something from his satchel and Kyle began looking around. He looked right past me. I waited.

He did one of the fastest double takes I've ever seen as he stared right back at me.

I smiled and for a moment time stopped. Nothing else existed in the universe but us; and we were both OK with that.

He pushed his briefcase at Teddy and walked over to me. I waited until he was closer. “Hi.”

All he could say was. “Hey,” as he took another couple of steps towards me.

“Wanna spend the rest of our lives together?” It took every bit of control I had to keep from exploding. I needed to hug him so bad.

“Thought you’d never ask,” he said, putting his arms around me and giving me a kiss so intense that it might have went back in time just to prove that this was the actual reason I became gay. Just to love this man.

“You're really here,” he murmured once we had that first kiss out of the way.

“I am, like I said I would be.”

His smile was as wide as I had ever seen it. Then he tipped his face to the side and made a guess.

“You're out?”

“I am.”

“And you didn't tell me?”

“I wanted to see the look on your face when I gave this back,” and I handed him my ring.

Tears welled up as he put it back on. “God, I haven't seen this...”

“Told you I'd be back.”

“I love you,” he blurted out.

I knew exactly how he felt.

[wilwywaylan]

Departures and arrivals

Fandom : Star Wars VII : The Force awakens / Star Wars VIII : The last jedi

Modern!AU, Poe & Ben (and Amidala is here), 1921 words

Totally based on my favourite trope, “Ben looks up to his grandmother and wants to follow in her steps”

Also on AO3 !

Poe stepped down the plane, happy to feel a solid ground beneath his feet. He liked flying - scratch that, he loved flying, more than anything else in the world - but there was a moment when you were happy to just walk on a tarmac, and not try to balance a who-knew-how-many-tons machine way, way above the ground.

Behind him, his dog jumped on the floor. He stopped just long enough for Poe to pat him on the head, then ran forwards. Poe didn't bother calling him back. He knew that BB-8 wouldn't run more than a few meters ahead of him. And the dog was like him ; after having been stuck in a cockpit for hours, he was very eager to stretch his legs. Poe followed him, taking his leasure time, enjoying the sun on his back. A gentle breeze started blowing, ruffling his hair just the right way. Behind him, someone wolf-whistled. Poe waved at him, and followed his dog inside the building, smiling all the way.

He stepped inside, enjoying the cool air after the warmth of the sun. The hall was mostly empty, just a few groups here and there, waiting for flying lessons, goods to retrieve, or a few short-distance flights. Good, he wouldn't have to hide in the office in the back, waiting for the place to be less crowded. Not that he didn't like people, he usually liked them very much and the more he was around, the merrier. But a man needed his alone time after work, especially after flying for five hours with no music.

After swinging by the office to confirm he had landed safely and grab something to drink, he went back outside, to take care of his plane and park it away. He was crossing the tarmac again, BB-8 bouncing on his heels, when he spotted a small group coming down another plane on another lane. This wasn't anything out of the ordinary. The small airport was used by quite a number of private planes, and it wasn't unusual to see vastly different people walk around, from sharp-dressed businessmen holding briefcases like they held the secret of the universe (or plans for very important weapons), to people already (or still) in vacation mood, wearing gaudy shirts, pareos and flower necklaces. Poe loved watching them, trying to imagine where they came from or were going, what was on their minds at this instant.

But people like these ones... he'd never, ever seen anyone remotely like them. Three of them were quite unremarkable, with dark clothes, elegant but rather simple. His eyes quickly slid over them to land on the other two. Leading the group was a small, older woman, dressed in a beautiful, complicated red dress. The heavy fabric was swishing around her and pooling at her feet, the large sleeves falling past her wrists, almost to her knees. The gold it was embroidered with was shining under the sun, sending little glints like a fistful of stars. She was wearing a dark cloak, closed around her throat by a large broach. Her hair was pinned in a complicated bun, by a dozen metallic hairpins fanning around her hair, like a halo. From them, a delicate circlet hung, going around her head to join at a crescent moon resting on her forehead. Her face was painted white, and ornated with several symetric marks in blood red.

She turned to say something to the one standing behind her. From what he could see, Poe thought that they might be related. The man had the same dark hair, but his was shorter, falling on his shoulders. Several golden chains were circling his head in the same way of the woman's hairpiece, and he was wearing the same crescent. His clothes resseambled hers too, falling to his feet. His opened at the belt, on a pair of pants and knee-high leather boots. The fabric was black instead of red, but similarly adorned with gold thread. Strangely, while the outfit was closed at the neck with a high collar, his shoulders were bare. He was wearing the same make-up as the woman, stricking red on white.

Poe watched them cross the tarmac. There was something about them, something that rang a very faraway bell. But he'd be darned if he could find what. Had he already seen them somewhere else ? Did he know them ? No. He would remember it, if he counted such elegant persons among his aquaintances. Then again...

Until they walked past him, and he could see the man's profile in greater detail. He knew that face, the long nose, the high cheekbones, and the dark brown eyes with their weird, intense stare. But last time he had seen him, the man was... well, not a man yet. Smaller than him, with short-ish hair reaching his ears. Too quickly grown-up, and scrawny too. Nothing to do with the tall, muscular man in beautiful garb. Before he could stop himself, Poe waved and yelled :

- Hey, Ben ! Hello !

The man didn't just stop walking, he *froze* in place. Foot hovering a few inches above the ground, arms bent at an awkward angle. Very slowly, he put his foot down, and turned to face him. He stared - glared - at him for a few seconds, then opened his mouth, probably to tell him to go fuck himself. But the lady besides him, who Poe now recognized as Ben's grandmother, was faster than him. She smiled at him, and held out her hand.

- Poe Dameron, it's been a while.

Poe took the offered hand, and bent down to kiss it. Dialing the charm up couldn't hurt him, right ? Especially with at least four people watching him like a bunch of black-dressed hawks.

- Mrs Amidala, he stated, it's always a pleasure.

She was a little smaller than in his memory, or was it he who had grown up ? Probably. Still, she had the same impressive presence that he remembered, and he felt oddly self-conscious under her gaze.

- And how are you ? she asked when he finally let go of her hand.

- Fine. I just got off my plane, and I was going to take care of it, when I saw you and decided to say hello.

Amidala wisely didn't adress that he called Ben across the tarmac and not her, and instead followed his gesture towards the small plane.

- Oh, you've become a pilot ?

Poe tried not to beam too much. He was very tempted to glance at Ben to see if he was admiring him too, or at least looking at him, but that would probably have blown in his face. He kept focused on Amidala, who was graciously admiring his craft.

- My, she said, you can be proud of yourself. I'm sure you're a fantastic pilot.

- The best, of course, ma'am, he answered with an exagereted drawl and a small bow. Would you like to witness by yourself ?

- I would love to, really. But sadly, we need to go.

- Well, he mock-sighed, I can take a raincheck on that one.

Amidala smiled politely. She walked back to her grandson, then turned back, as if forgetting something.

- Say, dear, why don't you come for a cup of tea, one of these days ? This way, you could tell us about piloting, and about this little guy here too.

BB-8 looked very pleased with the attention. Poe did his best to ignore his heart suddenly jumping.

- I would love to. Here, let me give you my number...

He patted his pockets, despite knowing perfectly well that they were totally devoid of any writing implement. One of Amidala's followers took pity on him, and with a theatrical eyeroll, handed him a pen and a piece of paper. Poe quickly scribbled his number. He went to hand it back to Amidala, noticed that she didn't seem to have any pockets to put it in, and gave it back to her advisor. Amidala watched him with a gentle smile.

- I hope we'll see you soon, she said when he was finally done.

- With pleasure, of course.

She bent down to pat BB-8's head, bid Poe goodbye, and left, followed by her suite. Poe watched them go, admiring their elegance and poise. He was ready to resume his work, when Ben glanced at him over his shoulder. Just a fraction of a second ; when he realized that Poe was still looking at him, he hastily turned back and hurried after his grandmother. The distance between them could be misleading, but were his cheeks a bit pinker ?

There was a poke against his leg, and Poe looked at the dog pressing himself against him. He bent down to pat him, and announced :

- Right, buddy. Why don't we get that plane sorted so that we can go home ?

BB-8 dashed towards the plane, and Poe followed. He was happy to have seen Amidala, of course, she always had a soft spot for him, since the day he met her daughter, in fact. Spending some time chatting with her would surely be very enjoyable. Even more enjoyable with Ben around. Not that he would say it out loud, of course. But a small part of him hoped that he would be there when Poe would be invited. That would be nice too, to see him, chat with him, maybe ? They had be friends, a long time ago, before The Great Fight No One Talked About. Before Ben disappeared from his life - and everyone's, really.

Of course, Poe didn't let himself harbour any illusions. That strange, tall man with his closed-off expression didn't have much in common with the Ben he had known and befriended. He was a different person, with different ideas. And Poe's idea of him had been marred beyond all hopes of repair by what had happened. But the small glance Ben had thrown him before leaving seemed to have a strange effect on him. Nothing strong, like he was used to when a man was looking at him. He hadn't been struck to the bone, breath catching in his throat. He hadn't felt the earth stop spining under his feet.

But it had sparked... a longing. A want. Poe wanted to know him. Wanted to learn to know him again. Wanted to discover everything that had changed in him, and what was still the same. Not dig too deep, to the reasons that made him as he was now, and certainly not to the reasons that made him leave all those years before. But start something new. He knew he couldn't go back in time and find his friend again. But there had been something in Ben's eye, that made him think that maybe, he could make a new friend. Start at square one and go from there. He knew Ben could not want, and push him away. There were probably several reasons why he wouldn't want to talk to him again. But, Poe thought while walking behind BB-8, there was no harm in trying, right ? Right. After all, fortune smiled to those who were daring, and Poe was nothing but daring. Fortune would not let him down. Whistling a little tune, he shoved his hands in his pockets and skipped along, keeping an ear out for his phone while he finally set himself to work.