#and practically told her straight to her face that he respects her and acknowledges her

[kindaasrikal]

‘Kai would be so protective over Wyldfyre dating Roby!!’ ‘Kai hates Jay for dating Nya!’

Okay ONE, Kai does NOT hate Jay, he just rlly likes messing with him cause it’s funny. TWO, overprotective? Over Wydlfyre?? She’d rather eat a couch than deal with that, and he is well aware she would.

And THREE, this idiot walked in on Jay and Nya having a talk, assumed they were having a moment and would kiss, covered his eyes whilst apologising, and then walked into a damn wall.

Why, out of ALL people to choose to make him overprotective for, would you choose his sister who taught him very easily and very quickly she is capable of handling herself, and the literal menace to society

He has to be protective over other people when it comes to Wyldfyre.

Like yes one of his traits is being protective, but he isn’t over protective, and he very easily understands boundaries and what others are and aren’t capable of. They’re ninja, they’re near death almost everyday, Kai is far too used to this to be overprotective.

[theemporium]

Eddie Munson could be a real fucking brat sometimes.

A brat who liked to wind you up and tease you and get you all worked up to the point you are practically soaking through your panties all day. A brat who found so much pleasure in making you squirm and whine and beg, only to not give you what you want. A brat who loved making you watch him stroke his cock and make himself come whilst you’re forced to watch.

And you loved Eddie. You truly did. No man had ever made you feel as loved or secure or comforted as Eddie had. He was the perfect boyfriend: he made you laugh, he made you smile, he made you come (which was a feat with past boyfriends). But sometimes he just liked to tease you a little too much, and it was starting to wind you up how unfair it was.

So, you decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. 

There had been countless conversations between the two of you about Steve. He was the mutual friend you met through, close to both of you in his own respect. And it was a known fact around Hawkins that Steve Harrington was hot. He was hot, and both you and your boyfriend acknowledged more than once. 

Eddie had joked one night about inviting Steve into your bedroom. But after seeing your serious response, it got the gears in his head turning and his mind had played out countless fantasies about the other boy joining you between the sheets. There was just a doubt in Eddie’s mind that Steve would want to join, that he wouldn’t scare off one of his closest friends over something he might find weird. 

However, you had decided to take the step. You took the step and you told the boy the plan, and you wanted to give your teasing brat boyfriend a taste of his own medicine, show him what it’s like to be left squirming and whining and begging.

“Fuck! Yes! Just like that!”

You pressed your face into the pillow, the fabric soaked with your tears and drool as your body jerked with each thrust. You turned your head to the side, pushing strands of your hair out of your face as you watched your boyfriend a few feet away.

Eddie didn’t know what he was expecting when you made him strip down before tying his hands behind his back after he settled down in the chair in the corner of his room. The last thing he expected was to see you crawl onto his bed, face down and ass up before Steve walked through the door and headed straight towards you. 

Maybe he should be angry. Or jealous. Or pissed off. Maybe if he was normal, he would feel all those emotions at once and more. But in all honesty, watching his pretty girl be fucked dumb by his best friend was making him harder than anything ever had in his life. 

“Fuck, Stevie,” you moaned, your lips pouted and swollen and he just wanted to bite them. “Feel so good, so fucking deep.”

“Yeah?” Steve groaned as he pulled your hips flush back against his. “‘m I fucking you better than your lil’ boyfriend, honey?”

“Mhm,” you nodded, pressing your face further into the pillow as his thrusts got faster, rougher, harder.

“Hear that, Munson,” Steve cooed mockingly. “Your girl loves my cock. Such a greedy lil’ thing, aren’t ya, sweetheart?”

“A cock-hungry whore,” Eddie remarked, a little breathless as he squirmed in his seat. He tried tugging on his hands once again, but the restraints remained tight and secure.

“All for me tonight,” Steve mused, his cheeks flushed and his lips turned upwards in a smirk. “Gonna have her screaming my name while you watch, Munson. Gonna have your girl squirting on my cock.”

“Please,” you begged, wiggling your hips back into Steve who only laughed and playfully slapped your ass.

“Patience, sweetheart, don’t wanna ruin the show for your boyfriend too soon,” Steve hummed, squeezing your ass before tapping your thigh. “Turn around, baby. Wanna give you a pretty, lil’ facial before I fuck you dumb. Give Eddie something pretty to look at when you’re screaming f’me.”

.

[bannock-freak]

It makes my heart ache that Penber starved Naomi of the validation she so rightly deserved so much that the second a freaking kid goes, "I think you're right" her eyes light up and she says, "Really? You mean that?" Honey... Oh honey...

She is a former FBI agent. He is a highschooler. LIKE.

Light's literally not even gassing her up. He's just acknowledging and respecting her intelligence and treating her like a goddamn person, and it has her practically over the moon enough to smile since probably the first time Penber died. She's being told that her deductions make sense. Her brain is worth something after all. Light's not lying when he tells her her theory could become central to the Kira case. It's literally the truth. He acknowledges this to himself. It's basic fact. And he treats it like such, and verbalizes that to her as such after a touch of light skepticism to see the strings she's connected. And she's all for it.

And she has indeed connected them. Every single one. Everything she's saying makes sense, but she's been so goddamn trained by Penber that she was very nearly resigned to not being believed. She's adamant to explain her conspiracy board piece by piece in person because she's so acutely aware of getting swept aside, but she still knows she's right, and that her deduction is important, and she overcomes that fear and goes anyway.

She is a careful, intelligent woman. She IS. All Light does is respect that and she's suddenly spilling fucking everything to a kid she doesn't know, who she knows is tied to the police, who she knows have a leak, who she knows her fiance was investigating. She plays some cards close to her chest but she's just so swept away by being believed for once that. Well. She dies.

Light very quickly falls into honeytrapping and using women as tools but based on this I wonder how much of it is his. I don't know. Headcanon territory alert but. Seeing a reflection of the self in them? IIRC he only does this to women who are blatantly attracted to him. He doesn't seek to use Naomi in any way. Manipulate her, yes, as she's a very real threat but she's also blatantly a person to him even before he learns how much she knows. I very well could be reaching, but I could see Light seeing people who are attracted to him and being disgusted by them. He knows he's attractive on the surface, but underneath...

Does Light see the world as rotting because he's viewing it through the lens of self? Ykno?

They see his face and swoon and suddenly it's like they don't seek to know him at all. He's effectively been a prop his whole life, a model 'good son', and he sees that he's become a prop to these people too. So, too, do they become props to him. He's serving his worth to them by just being there - it's practically reciprocal, and therefore the fair and right thing to do.

Light uses Misa. He's not kind to her. He uses Takada. He's really not all that kind to her either, though he's less blatant about it to her face for the most of it. He cheats on them with each other aaaaand literally doesn't care if they might be hurt. But he still trusts Takada to effectively become his second, and trusts Misa to information gather and write names and follow a plan outside his immediate supervision. He is a two-timing manipulative gaslighting bag of dicks who'd happily sell them to the devil for a corn chip, but I'm tempted to think that's because he knows their worth, their abilities, sees his need of them, and is therefore always keeping that in mind as he tries to seduce them sweetly to where he needs them to be. Light thinks women are easy as hell, his opinion of their intelligence is definitely a hand waggle at best but he still sees them. And honestly, he thinks everyone's intelligence is a hand waggle at best, and he thinks everybody is easy to manipulate, and he's, frankly, not always proven wrong. His dismissal is pretty sex-neutral. Women probably get singled out because statistically she's gonna be straight and therefore attracted to him and that's just another button he can mash. Looking at Mikami, I have no doubts he'd treat men who are interested in him in the same way.

Naomi, obviously, is not attracted to him in this way even though he's able to please her with almost excessive ease. Naomi therefore seems to retain her personhood in his mind. 'She's just a woman', yeah, he thinks to himself as he's freaking out and going over worst case scenarios where he might actually have to assault her. She's smaller than him. Her long hair means she has an easy handhold. He's not really figuring out that she could kick his ass before he can do so much as yelp... he still hesitates, doesn't go for it, and finds another way. He thinks to himself that she's too careful for him to successfully assault her even though she's 'just a woman'. People say he taunts her after she walks away to commit her suicide but I'm not so sure he is. He's ensuring his alibi publicly in every way he can, to anyone who happens to pass them by, to anyone who can see him smile, to anyone who can hear him and register his 'friendly' voice the moment he's not speaking so only Naomi can hear. Naomi is a threat. Naomi is careful. Naomi is very, very fucking smart. Light needs to ensure his victory as much as possible, and is acting to do this from every angle even as Naomi is in the grips of the Death Note's thrall because she's goddamn Naomi Misora.

And Light, though he's only met her very briefly, knows that. There is no way he didn't enjoy that cat and mouse game. Of course he revelled in his victory. She was an exceptional opponent who very nearly had him in checkmate several times in, like, the span of a half hour. L's been at this for months and he's never gotten as close to catching Kira as Naomi did lmao Him being giddy makes sense in that context.

Penber trusts Naomi enough to get him tea and keep house. He tells her as much to her face. All she is, is his fiance. That's all she's good for anymore - whatever her capability, whatever her intelligence, whatever her reputation 'before', they're now worthless. He'd never even think to try and manipulate her to make use of her blatant fucking intelligence because he literally doesn't see it. He dismisses her skills out of hand. What a waste. What a goddamn waste. If Naomi had been the one investigating Light, he'd be in custody before Ryuk even told him he was being stalked.

[maizumis]

— HAIKYUU BOYS WHEN THEIR CHILD SAYS THEY ARE NOT THEIR FAVORITE PARENT

ft. timeskip!miya atsumu, suna rintarou, iwaizumi hajime, bokuro koutaro, osamu miya

note: reader refered as mom ‼️ not edited cos I'm sleepy </3 enjoy hotties 😽

•ATSUMU opened the door with his daughter in one hand while the other had a huge blue balloon she wanted, hearing the click of the door you turn around and see your little bundle of joy running with open arms to you "mommy! I missed you" event if the two of them went out for an hour and a half, you really missed her too "aww darling! I missed you too! I'm your favorite, right?" she gave your cheek a sweet kiss with his tiny hands in your jaw "yes! mommy the best" at this scene, atsumu was long forgotten on the door, amused about what his daughter just said "and what about papa? he bought you this balloon!" he moved his hand to make presence of it, slightly jealous of you "papa is very good too! it's just mommy is always the best" you let go of her embrace, tucking her brown hairs behind her ear "why don't you go and clean yourself? I can make a choco milk!" she didn't need to be told twice that was already running to the bathroom " ‘tsumu you know she doesn't mean it, right?" pouty atsumu came walking to you "a know but a want to be her favorite now!" chuckling at his childhood behavior, you make sure to peck him before going to the kitchen, even after all this year's you never failed to make him blush "you can be her favorite tomorrow ‘tsum, come hug me now"

• SUNA had his daughter on his lap, paw patrol playing softly on the TV in front of them, you always tease him about how he is more into the show than his own daughter but he is quickly to change the subject, everytime "how was your day at school baby?" the little girl raised her head from his chest, messy hairs blocking her sight " ‘t was okay, I missed mom" his hand was already on the hairs in front of her eyes, using the hair-band he always had on his wrist just in case something like this popped out "and you missed dad too I like to think" she hummed before resting her head on his torso again, little hands roaming around his body like she was caressing him "I did, but mommy is my favorite so I missed her more... I'm gonna go to sleep daddy, wake me up when mom ‘s home" and with that she was out, leaving suna with wide eyes and lots of questions filling his brain, the clack of the open door scares him, even knowing it's you coming home from work, he was deep in thought "a penny for your thoughts, rin?" he sighs before patting the place next to him on the couch, you gladly obey and lay your head on his broad shoulders "she told me you're her favorite" you interlaced your fingers with his, giving him a little squish "you know she is just a child, right? she lives you so much, everytime you're away she only talks about you" a little hope came back to his eyes "really, she talks about me?" you hummed, assuring him he is the one of the biggest thing in his daughters mind "lots, rin"

•IWAIZUMI was playing with his daughter in the backyard, his hands on both sides her waist while he throws her up and down the air "higher daddy! higher!" her little giggle brought life to his ears, this kid was gonna be the death of him "I wanna fly! like the birds we saw in the park!" "that's very high, sweetie" she was screaming her lungs out, non-stop laughing, toothy smile on her face that had a little of chocolate that Hajime gave her after lunch as a secret between the both of them. to lost in their own world, they didn't notice your arrival, they were having the times of their lifes "I'm home! where's my sweet girl and lovely husband?" her eyes got wider than they already were and her smile impossibly bigger "mama! you're home, put me down dad I wanna go hug mom!" he placed her down on the grass and her little legs were running as fast as they could "mommy! we had such a funny day! we saw lots of things outside?" you could tell hajimd was a proud dad, his daughter being talkative and smart, she sometimes reminds him of tooru "yeah? and what else" "I was telling daddy I wanted to be a bird but I missed you so much! you know you're my favorite, mom" hajime's lips were pressed into a thin line while his brows got a little down, you could tell he was feeling a little insecure so a little assurance wouldn't make him wrong "go inside and change your clothes then we can do something together, how does that sound?" she went inside the house screaming he was gonna wear her favorite blue dress, you giggled at her cute actions "hajime, the entire neighborhood can feel you, she doesn't mean it, she is just a child, we did the same when we were her age" he went towards you and placed his big arms around your waist, placing his head on the crook of your neck "I know, but we were having such a good time" your hands came to his face so you could make him see you "and we are gonna keep having a good time! we have to make sure you're her favorite by the end of the day, come on big boy! we are in this together" and with that you started running inside the house, holding his hand in the way in, the feeling of love and pride fulfilling his heart, happiness and love could be described like this exact moment, he thinks

•BOKUTO happily took his son out, ready to spend a little ‘daddy-son day’ as he called them, sometime they would go to his practice or to the aquarium! to learn everything they can about the infinity of animals the ocean has. today they decided they would be going for an ice-cream then straight to the park to play a little "okay bud! what flavors do you want? one or two?" the kiddo look up to the list of flavours that were in front of him ‘so many choises’ he thought before speaking "chocolate and vanilla please!" his choose of flavors made bokuto think about the old days, when you would wait for him in highschool after every practice to go on a date, you always, and he means always, wanted to eat vanilla ice-cream, I didn't matter the occasion "you know, your mom loves vanilla ice-cream! what if we buy a little for her?" his little golden eyes were shinning at the mention of his mom "yes! she's my favorite so she deserves ice-cream for being a good mommy" mid way taking his wallet out of his pocket, bokuto stops, looking directly to the floor "I'm sorry, your favorite what?" "my favorite parent! duh" he tried, he really tried not to have an episode in front of everyone but his deflated hair was exposing him "oh, that's good! your momma is perfect!" "she indeed is, dad!" the laugh of his son made him feel a little better, but ache on his heart was still there; after both of them has their ice-creams in hand, they started walking towards the park hand in hand "yummy! daddy this is delicious! you're absolutely my favorite!" like that? kids changes of opinion that fast? either way, his heart was pumping with joy "of course I'm your favorite! let's go play and the we can buy more ice- cream!" needless to say, you had a fridge full of icecream that night and two sugar rushed boys

•OSAMU has one twin in either side of him, his little girl with two pigtails while is beautiful boy had a green apron on "I know mommy will love this!" the little boy exclaimed, his daughter quickly following behind "uh-huh! mommy always love when we cook for her" osamu was happy he had this life, he didn't expect to have twins the first try but here he was, bragging about his perfect set of kids to his brother every chance he had "yer mommy loves both of ya so much" the kids were trying to make the onigiri shape with the rice while giggling "I know mommy love us! she is my favorite indeed" osamu's heart skipped a beat after hearing is daughters words "ugh she is my favorite too! I love it when mama let us sleep with her" but why is he saying this when he lets them sleep with him too? "that's right! we need to make this onigiri perfect so she is proud" nervously chuckling to erase a little the tension he was feeling "okay, daddy keeps going from here, go set the table and change yer smelly clothes!" the kids were racing to their respective bedrooms, yelling how they were gonna be prettier than the other one. the younger twin was so deep in thought leaning on the kitchen counter that he didn't acknowledge your presence "samu, baby, I'm here, everything okay?" his features relaxing when he saw you, gently placing one hand in your chin to kiss you "everything good sweetheart, the kids just told me yer their favorite parent so am just thinking a lil" you were laughing at his concern, those same kids told you this morning that his papa was their favorite "you want to know something fun ‘samu?" he raised a brow before his hands found home on your waist, gently pressing your chest to his "what, love" your hand came to play with the hairs he has on the forehead "this kids told me this morning you were his favorite, don't take to seriously what they said ‘samu, they love you unconditionally" taking your advice, he pecked you before hearing little steps coming to the room "our alone time has ended angel, a love ya" finishing his words with a sweet kiss

[bowdownbucky]

𝐁𝐀𝐃, 𝐁𝐀𝐃, 𝐁𝐀𝐃 !

part 2 <3

summary: you have an encounter with your best friend’s brother bucky!

pairing: innocent! reader x college! bucky

warnings: cursing, asshole! steve rogers, kissing, drug use, oral (female receiving) fingering.

your heart began to beat heavily, bucky didn’t care that his sister was outside of the door but you started to feel guilty. this was so wrong of you and you didn’t even want to look at yourself. “you better answer her sweethear, she’s not gonna leave.” bucky taunts you, he hand trails your stomach, groping your breasts hard. “uh-im almost finished, i h-had to ohhh.” you slap you hand over your mouth, bucky smirks as he pinches you nipple again.

“what?” rebecca moved closer to the door. “are you okay? i’m coming in.” your eyes widens, you pushed bucky away and slowly cracked the door. “i’m f-fine, the um…pizza! the pizza went down the wrong hatch.” you lie. rebecca’s face screws up. “ew i did not need to know that y/n” you watch as she walks into her room. you close the door, leaning your head back onto the wooden frame.

you closed your eyes and hoped that this was all a dream, that you didn’t actually kiss your best friends brother. you slowly open your eyes only to meet a pair of blue eyes, bucky laughs at you. “went down the wrong hatch? seriously?” you cross your arms in front of your chest. “well what was i supposed to say, sorry can’t talk now i’m making out with your brother. she’s kill me!” you exclaim, you ran your hands down your face in an irrational manner. this was too much for you and bucky didn’t see anything wrong with it.

“would you chill out? here take a hit, it will make you feel better.” bucky offers the small bud once more, you smack it out of his hand. “do you always solve your problems with weed!” you hiss. his eyes were low, he watched as the joint flew onto the ground. you hitch your breath realizing what you did, you see his tongue rub his lower lip. you almost melt at the sight.

“your gonna regret the doll.” he seethes into your ear. he pushes you against the door, you let out a yelp but he covers your mouth. “i know a way you can make it up to me, and you are gonna make it up to me. you know why baby?” you shake your head. “because you don’t want to get on my bad side. i would hate to ruin that innocence of yours.” he whisperers, he hands managed to find their way to you ass, giving it a light squeeze before letting you go.

you move from the door and he exits the bathroom, leaving you alone with your thoughts. you could barely comprehend what happened let along what he meant by his bad side. you grabbed the nail polish remover and walk back to rebecca room. “finally! you took forever.” you mumble a small sorry and sat on her bed, she lends you her hand and you get to work on her nails, she chose a peach color and wanted you to add a french tip, such a classic.

as you continue painting her nails she squeals making you mess up the curved line. “becca! your nails!” you groan. “i don’t care! why didn’t you tell me?” you tilt your head confusingly. “you and steve hooked up and you didn’t tel me?!” you eyes go wide. “what! no! where did you get that from?” you ask her. she huffs. “no, no, no, no don’t try to act all innocent! you and chris did it and there is evidence on your neck. i rest my case.” you rush off the bed and check your neck, you internally face palm seeing dark purple marks all over your neck.

“i had no idea steve was like that. i guess i have to stop making fun of him now.” she chuckles. “just taking me home my ass! so how was it? was he big? why arent you giving me details.” rebecca whines, kicking her feet in her bed. you ignored her and attempted to kneed out the hickies. as you run the marks you notice bucky staring at you from his room door, you could practically feel his smirk as you watched his reflection go back to his room. you heart raced as you tried to come up with an excuse.

“it’s no big deal i just burnt myself with a straightener.” you curse to yourself knowing she wouldn’t fall for that. “fine don’t tell me! i’m going to sleep, all this secrecy has made me tired.” rebecca yawns, you hoped she wouldn’t ask you about the hickey again because lying was never your forte. you lie in the large bed, clouded in your own thoughts.

did he like you? was he just messing with you? you had so many assumptions of why he kissed you, what bothered you the most was that you had steve. steve was a jock and you were an outcast, you didn’t know how it would work. even though you and steve hadn’t officially said you were together, you still respected him and wanted to be faithful.

the next morning at school, you kept your head down and didn’t talk to anyone for the most part. no one really seems to notice because you were kind of a nobody. you sat in your forensics class, jotting down notes here and there. you stop writing when you feel a hand creep up your thigh. you turn your head toward steve, he kept a straight face and didn’t acknowledge how unamused you were.

“what are you doing?” you whisper. steve’s hand tries to travel up your skirt but you close your legs firmly. “steve!” he turns to you. “we’re in the middle of class.” you point out. “i’m sorry you know i can’t resist you baby. let me make it up to you but taking you out after homecoming.” you hault yourself as you almost roll your eyes at him. steve could be pushy sometimes especially when it came to losing your virginity to him. you hated that rebecca told him that, now he wouldn’t leave you alone.

“oh really.” you say pretending to be intrigued. “the guys and i bought hotel rooms for tonight and we get to bring a special girl along. and you know since your my favorite girl, i thought we could go together and have fun. go swimming, watch movies, kiss, cuddle, the whole nine and maybe some other stuff if you want.” you remove his hand from your thigh and continue writing notes. “i told you steve i’m not ready for that stuff yet.”

steve huffs, returning back to the lesson. your virginity wasn’t something that you kept sacred but you wanted you first time to be meaningful and steve hadn’t even asked you to be his girlfriend yet so your answer would always be no if he asked. when school ended you took the bus home, you quickly packed a bag full of makeup, hair supplies and your clothes for homecoming. you checked the time, almost cursing yourself seeing how you were going to be late to rebecca’s house.

you ran as fast as you could to the barnes’ house, you could practically feel the lecture rebecca was going to give you. luckily, you live a few blocks down from the barnes so it wouldn’t be too long of a walk/run. when you arrived at the barnes’ you quickly rang the doorbell. the door opens’ revealing a shirtless bucky who looked like he just got out of the shower. “can i help you?” he smirks looking down on you.

“becca t-told m-me to come, for homecoming.” you gulped attempting to maintain eye contact. his couldn’t help but peek at his glistened abs, you really hoped he didn’t catch on to you checking him out. before he could let out a snarky comment rebecca came gritting down the stairs with curlers in her hair. “there you are! y/n your late and we only have three hours to get ready.” you pushed pass bucky and ran up the stairs.

bucky watched at how nervous you were, it was like the fuel he ran on. rebecca closed her door and pushes you onto her vanity chair. “please tell me i have creative freedom tonight!” rebecca pleads with her big blue eyes staring at you. you sigh and nod. she kisses your forehead before beginning your makeup.

after a few hours of prodding, poking, blending, and brushing, rebecca finally finished your makeup and hair. normally you wouldn’t wear makeup because you didn’t know how to do it very well but when you did have it on you truly looked like a princess. “now carefully get into your dress y/n, i swear to god if you mess up an eyelash i will kill you.” she threatens you with her high pitched voice. you removed your jeans and shirt revealing your body, you quickly unzipped the dress as you start to compare your body to rebecca’s. becca was tall and slim while you were a little curvy. you had a small tummy with stretchmarks and she had a flat tummy with a slender waist. your best friend was beautiful and you didn’t want to see mom jealous, so you put up a front and delt with it.

you and rebecca were finally dressed, rebecca looked stunning in her white and pink dress. with the help of rebecca and mrs.barnes, you had pick a pale green dress, the curve of the dress fit you like a glove. the creases on the dress made you look more mature and sexier. you were never use to being sexy so the look on your face made rebecca freak out. “you totally hate it, i knew we should’ve gone with the black dress.” you shake your head. “n-no! it looks…great. thank you becks.” the door opens, your heart quickens when you meet a pair of bright eyes. you noticed bucky had put on a shirt, a part of you were bummed out. “would it kill you to knock! we’re girls who need privacy!” rebecca yells. bucky didn’t give his sister the time of day, his eyes were fixated on you. you felt self conscious as he stared at you long and hard. “mom and dad are going to a banquet dinner in manhattan. they won’t be back until tomorrow.” he tells rebecca. she crossed her arms in confusion. “what? no! i was supposed to have the car tonight. how the hell are we supposed to get to hoco?” rebecca flings her arms up dramatically.

bucky chuckles at his sister’s agony. “wait!” you spoke up as bucky was about to walk away. “c-can y-ou drive us?” you ask quietly. rebecca pulled your arm. “are you crazy? do you know what people say if we shows up to homecoming in a pickup truck?” rebecca vocalized. you couldn’t care less what people had to say, you just wanted and excuse to be see bucky. “becca this is important to you and even you said yourself we had to be there under any circumstances.”

rebecca whines. “fine but you’re dropping us off a block away. i need to retouch my hair, you’ve made me stress away the curls.” you watched as she pushes past bucky, leaving the two of you. you stare at him for a second then turn around, attempting to act uninterested. “you know you should skip this whole homecoming thing altogether.” bucky told you. “what! no, this is important to becca and i promised her i’d be there.” you felt his presence behind you, your back was pressed to his front. “come on doll, you never seemed like the type to be into this stuff anyway. i have a few places we could go instead. wouldn’t that be way more fun.” he was baiting you and hell, you were falling for it very hard. he pushed your hair to the side, laying a kiss on your shoulder. his hand cupped your waist, pulling you as close as you could get.

his pressed more kisses up your neck, he liked testing you, he would make you beg for it if you gave him the chance. “c’mom dollface, don’t you wanna have fun with me?” you almost gave him a nod but refrained. “i should go help rebecca, see you in a few james.” you walk away smiling to yourself, you won this round of the game but best believe, bucky was going to win the next level.

you sat in between bucky and rebecca once more, y’all were currently picking up nathan and steve, your dates for the evening. “you look beautiful beck.” nathan smiles at his girlfriend. rebecca left you in the front with bucky so she could kiss her boyfriend more. steve walks to the front car door but bucky locks him out. “hey man, open the door.” steve groans. the two had seem to have history and now you were going to be in between it. “you know the rules big guy, no douches in the front seat.” bucky smirks. “then why are you sitting up here asshole?” steve sarcastically jokes. rebecca huffed from the back, leaning in the front of the seat. “hey dickheads, we don’t have time for this, have your cat fight after hoco. let’s go!” she demands. steve huffs, taking a seat next to the couple who had no problem with pda.

the ride to the school was pretty silent except for the rock music playing from the radio. you stared out of the window, you could tell bucky was mad because of how tight he was holding the steering wheel, his knuckles were almost white from the tight grip. suddenly, his hand was on your thigh. your eyes widened, you quickly look back to make sure no one saw what was happening. “what are you doing?” you whisper. he doesn’t say anything to you, his hand stays on your thigh and his eyes stay on the road but you could still see the smirk on his face. you tried to push his his hand away but he only moves it higher, almost touching your core. you didn’t want to play games anymore, you were never built for them, you open your legs up more, instead of doing what you wanted, he removed his hand. “alright guys, have a good night.” rebecca and nathan were the first ones to leave the truck. steve exits the truck and stands by youre window. “you coming?” you nod to him. “i’ll be out in a second.” steve walks away from the window, bucky bursts out into laughter.

you throw a punch at his arm but he doesn’t flinch at you. “thats not funny! you’re so mean.” you pout. “no what’s funny is you actually going out with steve.” you eye him in confusion. steve was a good guy, he could be a little pushy but that was just high school boys. “he’s nice and he asked me to go with him. i really don’t see what’s funny bucky.”

“you think just because the guy asked you to a dance, he suddenly changes his player ways. i think you forgot i use to be one of those guys. guys like that don’t fal for girls like you” he pauses. “all he wants is to get you under him and then he’s gonna hop to the next willing participant. god you’re so naive.” you crossed your arms. “you’re such a jerk james! at least he has the decency to not play with my feelings! you’re sister was right! you’re nothing but a-an…asshole.” you yell, leaving the truck with a slam of the door. you surprised yourself at how you went off on him, what did he know about steve. you knew being involved with bucky was bad but now you officially got your sign to stay away from him.

you walked into the school looking for steve. you pushed pass people grinding and dancing on each other. when you find steve you see he’s not alone, he was dancing with lila miller. the two were close together, you turn you back in disgust once you catch the two of them share a very tongue-filled kiss. you sit at the table in annoyance. of course bucky would be right about steve, you hated the fact that he was right.

it took an hour and a half for steve to find you sitting at the table, watching everyone have fun. “hey y/n sorry i was waiting for you but then the guys wanted to go take some shots in the bathroom.” steve leans over to kiss your lips but you dodge him. he looks at you with a confused face. “come on let’s go dance.” he offers you his hand, you play with the fork that was covered in strawberry cake. “i’m good, maybe you should go dance with lila instead.” you say. steve sits back down in the chair, he cleared his throat. “you saw that? i didn’t think you’d be mad, it’s not like we’re together or anything.”

you roll your eyes, pushing your plate away from you. you get up and begin walking to the double doors. as you enters the hallways you ignore steve calling your name. “y/n! can you just wait a minute!” he yells, pulling your arm back causing you to hault. “it was just a dance, i was being nice. you can’t just get mad at me like that, i asked you to be my girlfriend more than once and you said no.”

“because all you want from me is sex which is not ready to give to you. you don’t think i hear about you hooking up with girls in the gym closet. i don’t want to be the next dumb girl who becomes a play thing for you.” you snap on him. “oh come on, sex is just sex, why do you make such a bug deal over this?” he groans.

“it’s not just sex steve, i want it to be meaningful and memorable. i’m sorry if i don’t want to hook up in a sleezy hotel.” you yell, your faces were extremely close. “and you think barnes is gonna make it special? god you’re so naive.” you furrow your brows, what did bucky have to do with this situation. “he has nothing to do with this steve! you asked me to come to this dance with you only for you to dance with another girl and make me look dumb sitting there waiting for you. you can’t take your hotel invite and shove it up your ass.” you walk away from steve, this time he didn’t bother calling your name. after he heard you curse at him he knew you guys were not going to work this out

you sit on the stairs of the school, tears slowly slid from your eyes. you felt so stupid and used, you knew steve was right but it still hurt. you two weren’t together and if he wanted to take another girl to the hotel he could because you weren’t together. you cringe at how bucky was right about steve, you wanted to be angry at him but he did warn you.

you decide to head home, walking alone the lonesome streets of brooklynn. you were wet due to the copious amount of rain fall, you shiver once more and continue to walk to your house. you noticed a familiar truck driving beside you. bucky rolls down his window. “get in.” he tells you. you continue walking, deciding to ignore the older boy. “come on doll it’s raining. a pretty girl like you shouldn’t be walking alone.” you couldn’t believe he as trying to flirt with you right now. you were hurt by his words and you were standing your ground, well that was until you heard a loud crack of lightning. you quickly rushed into the truck, slamming the door behind you.

before bucky could speak you began to talk. “just because i’m sitting in here with you, doesn’t mean i forgive you.” you seethed. bucky nods at you. “okay.” you angrily slap his arm. “okay? are you serious right now? how about a sorry for being a jerk!” you yell at him. bucky doesn’t acknowledge you, he starts looking for something in his truck. “god! boys are stupid! all you do is crave sex and hurt girls!” you rant, arms crossed over your chest. once you finished your rant you peek over at bucky holding two blunts. “wanna get high?”

you later found yourself in bucky’s room, high as a kite. you didn’t know what effect he had on you but you gave into his temptation. you sat on his bed, letting him shotgun smoke onto your mouth. “god you’re so hot.” bucky kisses your right shoulder. you softly hum in response, he trails his kisses to your exposed neck. you knew this was wrong on so many level but it felt so right.

“kiss me.” you whisper against him. the drugs in your system had your hormones at an all time high, you needed him to touch you. bucky locks his lips with yours, tongue roaming each other’s mouth in such a sensual way. bucky’s hand roams your body, cupping your breasts then your neck. you moan as he applies pressure to your throat.

he slides down you dress straps, with every kiss and touch you felt your dress being pulled lower and lower. bucky lifts you up on his lap, helping you out of the green champagne dress. you were fully exposed to him, his large hands grope your ass. he slaps the soft skin sending your lower half to grind against his tight jeans. bucky groans, pulling you closer to his bottom half. you felt the jean material rub against your clothes clit, your body shakes at the new feeling. “god you have no idea what you do to me princess.” he moans into your neck. his right hand unhooks your bra, you let the bra fall off of you. bucky eyes your bare chest, his blue eyes darken filling with lust.

he pulls your breast into his mouth, twirling his tongue around your swollen nipple. you grip onto his shirt, when moves your ass back and forth on his pants. “p-please bucky.” you whine, your body was aching for him to touch you. “what do you want doll?” you grab his, guiding him to your clothed cunt. you slip his hand under you, allowing his to grope your pussy. your mouth gapes open when bucky slowly rubs your clit back and forth.

when he notices you like the feeling of him touching you, it sends him into a deep lustful trance. he flips you over, bucky’ dog tags dangle over you. he kisses between your breast, trailing down to your stomach then he comes in contact with your laced white panties.

you can feel his breath on your wet core. he inhales you, moaning as if your cunt was the drug he was addicted to. he removed your panties from your body, bucky’s cock hardens once he caught a look at your pussy, your cunt was glistening from how wet it was, it took everything in bucky not to dive right in. “your so wet for me baby, and i haven’t even touched you yet. your pussy is begging for me to devour it.” bucky taunts. he slips one finger in your folds, your back arches at the finger passes your clit.

“bucky…please. i’ll do anything.” you beg. bucky perks an eyebrow at you. “anything?” you nod vigorously. “you’re going to cum for me three times. understand?” you nod your head. bucky licks a stride up your cunt. he moans at the taste of you. bucky wraps his pink lips around your clit, your legs spread wide as you beg for him to devour you. your back arches more, his hands pin your waist down to keep you steady, you screw your eyes shut as he sucks your clit into his mouth softly.

you moan out in pleasure, letting your hands grip his soft brown hair. you tug on his roots, attempting to push him closer to you. bucky pulls away earring a whine from you, he slips his middle finger into your core. at first his movements were slowly, he was preparing before adding his ring finger. you rode his fingers, moaning as he pumped you. you watch as he spits on your core, watching his saliva mix in with your cunt. you felt your stomach tighten, bucky felt your pussy clench around his fingers, imagining you around his cock.

he wastes no time, diving into your pussy. his tongue rapidly worked your clit, his fingers pumping you at a fast pace. your body was overwhelmed by all the stimulation. “bucky!” you scream at the top of your lungs. you were now grinding against his face, he didn’t tease you anymore, now he was on a mission to give you your orgasm. your legs shake, you cry out for bucky, your toes curled and your back arches to its full extent. bucky slows his movements as you come down from your high.

you collapse on his bed, you shiver as you feel bucky remove his hand from your pussy. you try to catch your breath, bucky hovers over you. “who knew my babydoll had that in you.”

[stormkobra-5]

The Heir of Djarin

Episode 3: Mandalorian Healer

Summary: There’s only one person in the galaxy Din knows who can tell the Djarins where the Resistance is, and that’s easy enough. But getting to D’Qar is the hard part, especially in a ship as old as the Slave. And then there’s always the problem of fitting in, which Laylah is sure will be difficult enough without her absurdly grand entrance in view of the whole damn base.

A/N: Hey look, Poe’s finally arrived! And there has to be a gif for each character, because it sets the MoodTM.

Notes: I know absolutely nothing about how the Slave flies, by the way. It’s just a damn awesome spacecraft that is necessary for the story, so... There’s probably a lot of stupid inaccuracies in this chapter. Not to mention, because my lazy ass doesn’t feel like scrutinizing the cross-sections of it, the Slave has had a lot of internal remodeling...

Warnings: This story is rated 14+ for canon-typical violence, action, and language. The main character is recovering from a traumatic backstory for the sake of the plot, so there is mention of distrust, social anxiety, self-doubt, and emotional damage. Later chapters may involve mature themes for drug usage (spice), excessive alcohol consumption, and clubs that imply adult entertainment (the main characters do not take part). Nothing explicit in any chapters.

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   Takodana is beautiful.    A small, lonely planet, it’s fairly uninteresting to an organization like the First Order, despite the conjuction of races which give it a colorful air even from above. The vast emerald forests and shining silver lakes are reminiscent of a fairytale, and the fortress of dark stone doesn’t help that impression.    Din and I are instructed to land practically in the forest, and once we’re both out of our respective ships he leads me into a throng of unusual aliens and humans alike. Din’s encyclopedia holos and books have helped prepare me for some of them, but I’m just glad my face is covered.    “Whatever you do, don’t stare,” Din told me as we’d met up at the end of the Slave’s exit ramp. “Don’t acknowledge anyone. This is your first time off Yëa, and it might be your final resting spot if somebody pulls a blaster on you.”    I try to remember that now, as we navigate toward an ancient, imposing castle. People are staring at us-- of course they are. One Mandalorian is rare enough, but two? Unheard of. I fight to stay looking ahead as a humanoid with four fishy eyes and a mouth in the center of its face leans over to whisper to a furry thing with the face of a spider. A hulking creature with no discernible face wiggles something like an elephant trunk at us. Twi’leks watch us curiously, and an ugnaut scrambles out of our path. Jawas exclaim to each other wildly while gesturing at us. I struggle not to cling to Din’s arm, because that shows weakness. I walk with confident strides and remember my promise to the Mand’alore.    Then I smell it. I haven’t smelled it in three years, but damn do I recognize it immediately. I stop in my tracks, and Din stops too. “What is it?”    “I smell chocolate!” I whisper excitedly.    Din leads me over to the stand with a chuckle, looks around a bit, and then purchases enough for the three of us. He shrugs. “Been awhile since I’ve had it. I don’t think Grogu’s had it at all.”    “You’ve never had chocolate?!” I’m still buzzing from the sad fact that that is the closest I’ve come to getting ice cream with a father. It’s a good feeling. I feel like a kid again.    “Badu,” Grogu admits, very seriously.    “We’ll just have to amend that, won’t we?” Din gives me a look, so I add, “But later. After we’ve completed this very important task.”    Finally, we’ve come to the archway of the castle. Music blares out over-loud, and inside people gamble at tables, sit around a bar and laugh, and there’s a stage where somebody’s singing very loudly.     And out of tune.     In either case, Din and I head inside without hesitation. Din goes straight for the dog-faced bartender. “We’re here to see Maz Kanata. Tell her it’s Djarin.” The bartender nods, and Din guides me to a table in a quieter corner where we can sit all mysteriously.     “You going for full Aragorn vibes here? Why don’t you just pull a hood over your head and smoke a pipe?” Din stares at me blankly until I sit down, sighing. “Yeah yeah, my genius Earth-based references are totally lost on you.”    Din sighs. “You know... I’m really gonna miss having you around back home. I got used to you.”    “How weird do you think it’s gonna be for me? I’ve gotta get used to waking up without Grogu throwing his gruel at me.” Grogu giggles, his face covered in chocolate. Somehow, he’s gotten it from our very surprised father, who just sits back in exasperation.     “Guess you and I will have to buy more. If he doesn’t throw it all back up and ruins it for us forever.”    A Twi’lek waiter comes by to hand us a menu. Most things look like the equivalent of squid tentacles in rice, which, eugh, and then I see it. Something that looks an awful lot like cake. I lean over and point to it. “What’s this?”    “Cake,” He replies with a half-shrug. “Y’know, soft and fluffy. Comes in different flavors. Covered in icing.”    You don’t have cheeseburgers, but you have cake? I set the menu down as slowly as possible and smooth it flat. “...Got a budget on you, Dad?”    He snorts under his breath, trying to cover up a laugh “Don’t go over twenty credits. And don’t overfill yourself.”    Of course, I don’t listen. I eat with my helmet half-raised and by the time I spot Maz making her way over to us, I’ve totally ignored the savory items and have focused solely on devouring eight whole pieces of a cake that tastes suspiciously like blueberry pancakes.     Even Grogu looks surprised. He could only stomach one piece before hurling all over himself, and yes, ruining me for ever wanting chocolate again. “So...” Din says, having watched me probably kill myself on all this sugar, “You have a sweet tooth.”     I’d respond, but I’m finishing off my eighth piece.     “My, Din Djarin,” Says Maz right behind him, making him jump. “Do you even feed the girl?”     I’m wiping my face with one of the few napkins left after Grogu’s mess, wondering what the hell I just did to myself. I can feel my body asking me what the kriff what the kriff what the kriiiiiiff after having eaten only wild game for three years. Sugar overload is probably a bad thing. A hyper Mandalorian is the last thing anybody needs.     “Hello Maz,” Din says.     The little lady takes a seat, shaking my hand with a smile. “So, you have become a Mandalorian. How does it feel?”     My stomach twists. I’m seriously fighting the urge to run around her fortress twenty times to get rid of the jumpy feeling. “Being a Mandalorian feels great. But I just gorged myself on cake, so I’m prematurely excusing myself for suddenly running off to hurl it all back up again if needed.”      Maz laughs, her eyes squinting beneath her goggles. “You’re forgiven.” She spreads her arms. “Tell me, what do you think of my castle? It’s my pride and joy, you know.”    “It��s beautiful!” I reply honestly. “I love it! I wish I had a castle like this!”    She chuckles, sharing a glance with Din. “I’d offer you a job, but I doubt you’d take it. You’re not here to join a bounty hunting guild, are you?”    “No ma’am,” I lean forward, not wanting the fact that I want to join the Resistance heard by all these strangers. “I’m following my path, just as you and Dad have told me to. My path is leading me to the Resistance-- I want to join. I want to be a doctor.”    Maz leans back in her seat. “A doctor, you say? An interesting path indeed for a Mandalorian. Although I’m sure there were many Mandalorian healers that were unsung heroes, yes?” She continues before either of us can say anything. “Leia would be glad to have you. Help is help, after all, and I’m sure she’s eager to meet you.” She turns her eye on Din. “What of you, Djarin? The princess could use your leadership qualities.”    “My goal is only to protect Grogu. Now that Laylah is my heir, his safety is ensured and I can live out a peaceful retirement on Yëa.” My heart sinks. I’d still been hoping that he would change his mind and come with me. Being surrounded entirely by strangers is an idea that I’m not exactly open to.    I still have social anxiety, clearly, because this crowd is making me uncomfortable, although having my helmet and armor does help a little. Din and Grogu I’ve become accustomed to, but total strangers? I don’t want to be alone near them. I can only picture myself just like I’d been when I’d first arrived on Yëa: meek, shy, distrustful. I want to at least have somebody with me that I know. The thought of being all alone... Just like on Earth...    Maz nods and passes me a chip. Gingerly, my hands shaking from the obscene amount of sugar I’ve just consumed, I take it. She pats my hand, smiling warmly. “The Resistance base is currently on D’Qar. Do you know it?”    “I know of it,” Din replies, “I can easily point it out on her navicomputer.”    “Good. Then I wish the best of luck to both of you.” She stands up in her chair to pat me on the head. “Bo-Katan would be pleased that her armor has found a capable bearer. It was nice of you to keep the scars she earned.”     I bow my head to her. “Thank you, Maz Kanata. For everything.”     She waves me off. “Bah. Off with you both!” With that, she leaves us as she hums a merry tune. Din and I return to our ships. We go slow, taking our time. We even take the time to buy me two more outfits to use while with the Resistance. When we do get to the Slave, he takes fifteen minutes to input the coordinates into my navicomputer, while I hold Grogu right beside him.     “There,” He says, albeit reluctantly, and steps away from the cockpit to stand in front of me. “You’re all set. Now that you have more than one destination, a prompt will appear for you to choose a specific one. Yeä and D’Qar. Come to visit me as often as you can, please.”    I hesitate. I don’t want to be alone. All I can think about is Earth. My family and I were always alone. I can’t have a repeat of life on Earth, I can’t... “Dad... I know I... I know I’m supposed to be strong, for our people. But... I don’t want to be so alone somewhere so... new. With all those people I don’t know. Can you come with me, please? Just for a month or two, while I get settled in? I mean, besides Yëa, there’s no safer place to be than the Resistance, right?”     Din puts a hand on my shoulder. “You are supposed to be strong. But there’s no shame in asking for help to get there.” I look up at him hopefully, mentally begging him. Please... Please... “...I’ll go with you to D’Qar, but only for a few months.”     I let out a whooshing breath of relief.     Even after three years, Din doesn’t know my whole story. He knows that I’m a severe introvert and have extreme social anxiety-- I hardly said a word to him during my first few months on Yëa-- and he knows that until him, everyone I ever met outside of my family ended up being cruel to me or abandoning me at some point. He knows about my negligent biological father, and I’m even still always talking about my good family.     But that’s just the surface. I don’t think I’ll ever tell anyone everything.     He accepts the fact that I have these issues and need to work through them, in my own way, although being an introvert seems to be a Mandalorian trait anyway. It took me months after I started talking to hear any stories of Din’s past.     I lift my head up and pass him Grogu, excited now more than ever for the path ahead. “To D’Qar?”     “To D’Qar,” He agrees, and departs from the Slave.

                                                      -  -  -

    As soon as we exit lightspeed over D’Qar, a beautiful green orb of a planet, we’re met with a squadron of T-70 X-wings. Two flank Din’s little starfighter, and two pull up on either side of me. I glance back-and-forth between the white-and-blue and the black-and-orange worriedly, resisting the urge to keep my hands up like I’m being confronted by cops.     “Uh... Dad?”     “Stay calm, kid. Just a security escort. Answer their questions.”     I’m very aware of the fact that the pilots can see my every move. I can also see theirs. In the blue-and-white to my right, the pilot watches me warily. In the black-and-orange to my left, the pilot leans far enough over in his cockpit to look at the turret on the bottom of the ship. A comlink crackles to life, nearly scaring me enough to jump. I only tense, refusing to let them see that. A jumpy Mandalorian. That’ll be a nice story to tell.     “Modified Firespray-31-class, please identify yourself,” The pilot in the black X-wing says.     Oh hell, human interaction. I nearly panic before reigning myself back in. Din can’t always speak for me. I take a deep, calming breath, count to five, and open the channel. “I’m Laylah Vhaene-Besu of Clan Djarin.” I keep my voice level, calm, and force myself to speak clearly instead of too low or too loud. I’m tempted to say, Who is this?, but it’s not my place.      “Odd to see not one, but two Mandalorians show up at once. What’s your business here?”      I swallow hard, hard pounding and throat dry. Once again I’m thankful for the helmet concealing my expression. “I’m here to join the Resistance with my father.”     “Join? Mandalorians?” The pilot to my right asks, “Isn’t that against your rules?”     I glance between them, and end up blurting the first thing that comes to mind. “Last I checked, the First Order has some influence on almost every race in the galaxy, including Mandalorians. What exactly is it in the rulebook that forbids us from joining in the fight for freedom?”     “A little bold of you to be getting smart,” The pilot in the blue snaps.     “Bold of you to assume the rules to the Mandalorian Creed.”     “Easy,” The pilot of the black says, but he’s looking down so I can’t see his face. I get the distinct impression that he’s laughing. “We’ve got new allies here, maybe.” I hear a new channel open. “How about the other one, Jess?”     “Says he wants to join up with his daughter there, commander... He’s got some little green thing behind him, though.”    “Easy on the little green thing,” I say before I can stop myself, a little defensive, “That’s my baby brother.”    “One odd family you got here,” Says the pilot in the blue, almost suspiciously. I can’t bring myself to respond, feeling a little concerned about how brash my words were earlier. I’m overthinking everything I’ve said, but I try to keep breathing normally. Just breathe. Be yourself. And try not to say anything stupid.    The pilot in the black glances to me before pressing some buttons. The little orange-and-white droid behind him whirls its head about. “BB-8, run a check on their ships.” In a few moments, the pilot is nodding. “Off the radar. Nice. No tracking signals or anything. You’re both clean.” He opens another channel. “Ground control, this is Commander Dameron. We’ve got some new recruits here.”     The blue X-wing pilot scoffs in disbelief. “Poe, you can’t just--”     “I can just. My just-ing is what gets us a lot of our new members.”     “We were shown the way here by Maz Kanata,” I interrupt, and I have their full attention all of a sudden. Hell. Not the plan. “O-on Takodana. She said she knew Leia.”     “She does,” Commander Dameron replies, shocked. “If she sent you here, she must trust you. Where are you from?”     Uh-uh. “Well, if I told you that, I’d lose my reputation as a mysterious and vague Mandalorian, now, wouldn’t I?” I know that Din told me to answer all of their questions, but I’m not going to give up his safe place with Grogu to anyone. I’ll guard that secret with my life.    “You’re taking her word for it?” The blue pilot sounds appalled.     The pilot in the blue is really pissing me off. With respect. “No sir, you are taking Maz’s word for it. Go on, call and ask. I’ll wait. It’s comfy in here. I’ve got snacks. I’ll just chill. Not a bad view, either.” I make a show of crossing my legs and arms, acting a lot more confident than I feel. Kriff. Was that too far? They gonna blow us out of the sky now?     Commander Dameron does laugh this time. “How ’bout we take the general’s word on it? If Maz really sent you, General Organa will know.”    “Sounds good to me.”    “You’ll be given landing instructions by ground control. We’ll escort you down to the tarmac, and there you’ll be given further instructions.”    I salute commander Dameron and the other pilot, despite having been mouthy to him. “Thank you, sirs. I’ll follow your lead.” I’d always respected military of any kind-- in fact, my social anxiety wasn’t as bad around them-- but I held pilots in the highest regard. My brother, Tristan, he was going to be a fighter pilot; Thomas already had been one for two years. I’d spent a good portion of my life on Earth around aircraft in museums as my brothers learned about them, and I came to take comfort in them. It had been my dream to become a doctor on a C-17 or C-130 hospital-ship, but then I’d been whisked into this world, where I’m something far different.     “Nice ship, by the way. How is she?” Dameron asks. I try to relax. Pilots are okay. I can talk to pilots just like I talk to Dad.     I beam, though I know he can’t see it. “It’s my inheritance. The Slave. Belonged to the bounty hunter Boba Fett before me, and I pilot it in his honor. Flies like a charm. Helluva lot better than Dad’s little starfighter.”     I can see Dameron’s smile even from here. “You’re flying the Slave. The Slave. Boba Fett’s ship.”     “Yes sir.”     He shakes his head in astonishment. “I’ve heard stories, but never though I’d get to see her in person. Damn, she’s beautiful.”     I’m beaming at the fact that he’s gushing over my ship. “That she is. Can’t ever bring myself to change her paintjob, though.”     “Don’t ever. Makes her who she is.”     “Indeed it does.” I look over at him. “Your ship’s pretty badass too, if I may say so. T-70 X-wing, right? Nice choice of colors.” Why am I still talking? I want to shut up despite him being a pilot, but... I can’t. It’s fun talking to this Commander Dameron. Someone besides Din or Maz, or even baby Grogu.     “Yes ma’am, that’s correct,” I see him pat the dashboard like it’s his pride and joy. “This is Black One. Black One, meet Slave. Slave, meet Black One. There, now our ships are properly introduced.” I see a glint of his smile.     I can’t help but laugh. “Good, now she knows she’s got a friend.”     Dameron’s comlink crackles to life. It’s Jess. “Commander, Djarin wants to be able to open a channel to his daughter.”     “Let him.”     Din’s voice comes through my comlink loud and clear. “Laylah, remember what I said earlier about doing what I say?”     “Yeah.”     “This is your first entry into an atmosphere. You need to do this right or you’ll crash and burn.”      I pause, taking in what he said. “Wow. Thanks for the graphic images and immense fear of turning into a fireball, Dad.”      “You’re welcome. Now do exactly as I say.”      Dameron speaks up. “You’re a new pilot?”      “In space,” I admit, “Most of my flying’s been in the air, within the atmosphere.”      “Laylah,” Din says, “Ease up on the thrusters. You go the speed you’re at now and you’ll go out of control. Do not lock the wings.” Flames start to erupt on the transparisteel. On either side of me, the X-wings go smoothly, but the Slave shudders dangerously.      “Uh... Dad, how long’s it been since the Slave’s entered an atmosphere?”      “About twelve years.”      “Maker!” The blue pilot exclaims.      The Slave is shaking. A crimson light starts blinking, and an alarm simultaneously starts beeping loudly. “I-I’m redlighting.”      “I wouldn’t let you in it if it were unsafe,” Din promises, and I know he’s telling the truth. “Just stay calm. Ease up and adjust your trajectory... There you go.”      Then something happens. On the belly of the ship, right under the cockpit, a whole panel tears right off the Slave with a horrible screech. “Dad!”      “Just stay calm,” Din replies, but he himself sounds worried.      “Djarin,” Dameron says by way of warning, “The whole front section of your protective steel just tore right off. You’re exposed and burning up. It’s about to get real hot in there real fast.”      “So I’m feeling,” I say, as the cockpit starts heating up and glowing red. Lights are flashing and alarms are beeping and blaring in cacophony of noise. The controls start smoking, and then they explode in a burst of sparks. I scream and flinch away, shielding my face on instinct as sparks fly onto me and pour onto the canopy. I feel the engines cut, and then I’m free-falling. “I just lost the main repulsors. And the secondary engines. I have no control, I’m falling!” The height gauge is declining, rapidly. I need time I don’t have to start up the systems again.

     “Laylah,” Din says, trying to remain calm but clearly worried, “I’m gonna put my starfighter on autopilot and bail. Grogu will land safely. I’m gonna come and get you.” I’ve seen his jetpack, and I’ve seen how effortlessly he flies with it. I know he can do it. But I don’t want him to.

   “You ever hear the phrase the captain goes down with the ship? I am not letting the Slave just crash!” It survived years under Jango, years under Boba. I’m not going to destroy their legacy now. I mean, really. It survives two bounty hunters and then is destroyed by a new Mandalorian who supposedly will revive Mandalore? Just kriffing great for my people’s morale.

    “You really think that dying is what you’re being pulled to?! Get out of that cockpit and open the ramp!”     I have an idea. One that might give me enough time to fix the engines. I’m flipping switches and preparing for the stunt I’m about to pull. “Dad, you know how you said to do everything you say?”     “Laylah--!”     “I’m about to not do that.”     I lock the wings and slam on the brakes.     The Slave seems to stop in midair. The X-wings speed by for a few seconds before realizing what’s happened, flaring their wings to slow down themselves. “What the hell is she doing?!” I hear the blue pilot exclaim, and I see Din’s starfighter wheel around despite the X-wings flanking him telling him to stay on course. He’s yelling at me, but I hardly hear him. I interrupt and try to talk casually to disguise my own terror, fully aware that all the nearby fighters can hear every word I say.     “You ever been to an airshow, Dad?” I twist the wings. The view of D’Qar’s forested, mountainous surface disappears, leaving my only sense of ground in my fellow flyers and declining gauges. The Slave smoothly flips, turning turret-over-top to ride the wind on its flat side. “Sometimes the jets’ll fly real high, cut their engines, and fall. They’ll level out flat to catch the wind and give them drag, give them time to bring the power back to them. Some pilots are good enough to glide the jet to a perfect landing without any engine power at all.”     “A jet is a lot different from the Slave!” Din yells.     “First time for everything, right?” I kick the underside of the panel hard. “Dameron, where the hell is the runway?”     I see the black X-wing come up beside me, leveling out to fall with me on my left. “What are you trying to do?”     “Restart the engines, but if I can’t I need to already be in the glide for one rough landing.”     A prompt appears on one of the screens: trajectory and height, in case I can’t hear him over the comlinks. I adjust, but the Slave is being practically held still by the momentum, so it’s difficult. Din appears on my right, and I see Grogu banging at the glass of his little secondary cockpit. “Don’t worry Gizmo, I got this. It’s all cool. I’ve done this a thousand times in video games.” Of course, I always crash, but I’m not gonna tell him that. I hear him squeal unhappily, and I add, “Just watch, buddy. This is how you fall with style.”    Within the primary cockpit, I see Din watching me intently as I kick the panel and toggle switches. I change up power distribution and try to put everything I have into the engines. At least, I entered the atmosphere awhile ago, so it’s not so hot in here.     Nine hundred feet. I’m either going to crash or glide. “C’mon, work dammit!” Seven hundred feet. I kick the panel. “Come on...” Six hundred feet. Again. “Come on!” With the next kick, there’s a shower of sparks and at first I’m scared I’ve only done more damage. Then the control panel whirs to life, lights returning and alarms calming down. The engines sputter and burst with a roar of thunder and fire, and the Slave slows down significantly. Now I’m flying, not falling. “HELL YEAH!”     I hear Din’s distinct sigh of relief as he and Dameron pull away. Dameron even cheers. “You’re one hell of a pilot, Djarin. I should buy you a drink.”     “I’d like that!” I laugh, turning the Slave so I can make an actual landing.     “We’re glad to have you, Mandalorians. We need people like you. See you on the ground.” The whole X-wing squadron pulls away in formation with Black One at the helm, as Din and I pull in for a landing on the tarmac. He lands much quicker, but I have to circle around and swing the Slave onto its flat side in order to land properly.     I’m shaking as I unbuckle from the seat. I lay there, taking deep breaths and trying to calm down. The calmness of the fall is gone, replaced with the overwhelming fear that washes over me. I’d pushed it away, but now nothing is blocking it. I almost freaking died.     Social interaction and almost crashing? That’s too much in one day. I’m glad Din came with me. “I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m alive.”     The ramp opens, and I turn to hear the sound of Din’s jingling armor as he runs for the cockpit. I lean over just as he reaches me. “Dad...” I all but fall out of the seat. He helps me stand and engulfs me in a bone-crushing hug. “I’m okay.”     “You’re shaking.”       “But I’m alive. Therefore I’m okay.”     “You almost weren’t.” He pulls back, probably scanning for injuries. Grogu reaches for me and I pick him up out of the satchel at Din’s waist.     I actually manage a breezy laugh. “Guess I’ve gotta get used to this, right? Death-defying stunts? That’s what the Resistance is all about.”     Din lets out a sigh of relief, nodding. “Yeah.” He keeps a hand on my shoulder. “Guess you are okay, kid.”     “Sir,” Says an impatient voice, and we turn to see a young woman, her blonde hair drawn up in twin buns, standing between two men with blasters aimed at us. “Ma’am. Your weapons.”     “Oh.” Weapons are a part of our religion. They define us. But Din and I pull off all our blasters, rifles, knives, and set them in a pile on the floor. Fat lot of good religion is gonna do if we’re dead, or refused here. Neither of us mention our flamethrowers or whistling birds, though. One of the men comes to collect the pile at our feet.     “I know every item that’s there,” Din says by way of warning, and the man nods respectfully.     “We’re just taking precautions,” The young woman says. “I’m Captain Connix.”    “I’m Din Djarin. This is my daughter, Laylah Vhaene-Besu Djarin, and this is Grogu.”    “Why are you here?” Connix asks. She keeps her hands behind her back and her demeanor very controlled. I can’t read her. Which makes me nervous. Friendly or hostile?    “Maz Kanata told us where to find you,” I answer without thinking, and she looks surprised. “I want to be a doctor, and I want to help free the galaxy from the First Order. So Maz sent us here.”    Connix looks between us maybe trying discern how truthful we are but unable to with our armor. A bit reluctantly, she draws herself up and nods. I can tell that if we were to do anything, she would take full responsibility for what happened. “I’ll have to take you to General Organa. She’ll decide what to do with you.”    “If we’re denied, will we be allowed to stay long enough to fix her ship?” Din asks, and Connix nods curtly.     “I’m sure that something can be arranged.”     We follow Connix out of the ship, flanked by the soldiers, and I’m thinking about how absolutely useless they are. After all, if a lightsaber can’t get through beskar, what do they think a blaster’s gonna do? I don’t say anything though, because that could be perceived as a threat.     The Resistance base is full of a mix-match of ships from ages past and current. The Slave and the starfighter fit right in. Pilots in orange flight suits rush to-and-fro while maintenance crews work on their ships. Droids of all kinds meander about. People of all races have gathered to fight for freedom, and we’re two of them.     Seems like not many people have seen Mandalorians, though. People are watching and whispering and staring in awe. I pretend to ignore it, though I’m self-conscious of every individual step I’m taking. Everyone staring reminds me of Earth: that’s what people would do. One person that disliked us could spread false stories and everyone would believe them, and so we were watched. Judged.    Thankfully Din strikes up casual conversation. He grabs my elbow-- outwardly, just a father-daughter gesture. I know, though, that he can tell I’m nervous. Apparently I have a different walk and bearing; Din says I act like a wary deer, ready to flee at any second. Back when I first arrived, I flinched away from any kind of physical contact Din tried to show me. Eventually, though, having him near me became a comfort. I take solace in his grip now, trying to relax. I dunno, some part of me sees him as my protector, though I can full well take care of myself-- at least, in a fight. Against speaking? People talking to me that aren’t pilots? Din can help keep me safe from that. So long as he’s here, I can do it, but if it gets to be do much, I can do what I would do with Mom: subtly hide behind him so that they address what they’re saying to him, not me.     “You asked me to come with you because you didn’t want to be on your own, but you seem to making friends pretty quickly.”     What kind of parallel dimension has he been experiencing? “With who? I’ve been here all of twenty deadly minutes.”     “That pilot,” He specifies, “Dameron. You got along pretty well.”     I half-shrug in agreement. I hadn’t realized he could hear us. “That’s only ’cause you were there, Dad. You gave me the confidence to just... act natural. Besides, he’s a pilot. I’m always more comfortable around pilots. When I talk to them, it feels like talking to a family member.”     Connix smiles at me over her shoulder. “Commander Dameron isn’t just a pilot-- he’s the pilot. The best in the Resistance.”     “Really?” I glance up, knowing his squadron is probably still patrolling somewhere. “Not bad for a first impression, am I right?”    “Not bad at all,” Din chuckles, and Connix adds, “You had the attention of the whole base.”    I go silent at that.    Kriffing great. Now everybody knows me. The whole base knows about the Mandalorian girl with the Slave who somehow managed not to crash. People might want to talk to me, ask me questions-- or worse, there’s always the jealous few with their cliques. Suddenly the Resistance base seems more intimidating, and I subtly scoot closer to Din.    Connix leads us into a tunnel buried right in the side of the mountain-- the Resistance base has been set up in some kind of ruins, old and dusty but perfectly functional and rigged with hundreds of feet of extension cord to power old light fixtures, holoprojectors, radar observations, and the like. She takes us through a maze of dimly-lit corridors, control rooms, monitoring stations, and hallways fashioned out of old caves and structures, until we’ve reached a little archway guarded by a golden protocol droid with a red arm. “Hello, C-3PO.”      “Why hello Captain Connix,” He replies in a soft, almost British voice. He jerks to look at Din and I in turn. “Oh! The Mandalorians. Welcome. Princess Leia has been expecting you.”     Connix looks just as surprised as we feel. Din and I regard each other curiously, but say nothing. “Uh...” She gestures for the guards to leave, and then for us to follow C-3PO. “Follow him, then.” She and her soldiers leave immediately. C-3PO turns and walks with the small, whirring steps of a protocol droid, leading us through the archway.     “I’m nervous,” I blurt out quietly to Din.     “I’ve met her brother,” Din replies, patting my back in assurance, “He was the one that was going to train Grogu to be a Jedi, remember? If she’s anything like him, she’ll be very calm and wise. Though I don’t think she’s a Jedi.”     “You’re quite right, Master Djarin,” C-3PO inputs, “Princess Leia never followed in her brother’s footsteps. She preferred the life of a senator.”     “But she still has the Force?” I skip ahead a few steps to look at Threepio as I walk beside him. I remember what Maz said, about how Leia had sensed me too. And about that strange pull that brought me here.    “Indeed, Lady Djarin. Though she does not use it.” Threepio stops, looking at something beyond me. “Ah, here we are. Princess Leia, the Djarins have arrived.”    I turn to see her. She’s old, but not in the way of an old lady. In the way of an old, experienced starcraft that’s seen things most people can’t even dream of. Her face is wise and kind, telling a story of a lifetime that saw two rebellions and the end of the Empire. She stands before a holoprojector, strong and regal. Her gray hair is done in a royal fashion, but not overdone, and she wears robes of gray lilac. Her dark eyes are full of warmth and kindness, and I find myself bowing at the waist before I know what’s happening.     “Princess,” I breathe automatically, “It’s an honor to meet you, my lady.”     Beside me, Din mimics my gesture, but says nothing.     Princess Leia smiles. “Please, no formalities. I’m only general here.” We stand straight. Her gaze lands on Din, then Grogu, who has gone uncharacteristically quiet. “Welcome, Din Djarin and Grogu. My brother Luke spoke of you. The Mandalorian with his Darksaber and the only survivor of my father’s assault on the Jedi Temple. Tell me, are you still traveling the galaxy as a bounty hunter?”     “Those days are far behind me, general,” Din replies, mildly amused, “Though I’m surprised to be in such high standing with Luke Skywalker.”     Leia turns to me. Something glitters in her dark eyes, but I can’t place what it is. “The Girl Misplaced... I saw your arrival here as clearly as I see you now. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for you, adjusting to life here; but I see you’ve become one of us without question.” She smiles softly with approval. “May I see your face, Laylah Djarin?”      I turn questioningly to Din. He nods. “You follow a different Creed than I do. You may remove your helmet.”     I take a couple of steps forward and remove my helmet slowly. My crown braids remain intact, surprisingly enough, though I’m sure they’re messy. All my confidence has left me, and I can’t bring myself to speak without the shield of the helmet. Leia nods slowly, as if confirming something. “You remind me of me, once upon a time...” I at least manage smile a little-- it’s an unexpected compliment, to be told that. “You’ve come to join the Resistance.”     “Yes, general,” I say past the dryness of my throat, “I want to be a doctor.”     She raises an eyebrow. “Usually those who want to join us want to be pilots. You’d make an excellent one.”     “I’ll fight in the Slave if necessary,” I answer reluctantly. I really don’t want to fight. I don’t want to kill. But if that’s all the Resistance will take me for... then I can be a pilot. Maybe I can even become a part of Commander Dameron’s squadron, so that I have at least some familiarity with my superiors. Leia, however, is nodding.     “In the medbay, you’ll meet San Dia. We don’t have doctors officially, but some of our medics might as well be. Most of us can’t afford the years of college, and those that can are taken by the First Order to serve them as surgeons. Your training will begin tomorrow, but I advise that you don’t wear your armor unless you want a little too much attention.”     Din scoffs as I turn to beam at him. It’s happening, Dad! “Promise me one thing, Laylah.”     “What?”     “That you’ll wear your beskar any time you go off-world.”     Eagerly, I start nodding to try and emphasize the fact that I’ll hold to what I say. “I promise.”     Leia smiles at him. “And you, Din Djarin? What will you do?”     “I’ve come to accompany Laylah for a few months, until she’s settled... But in the meantime, I’ll offer what leadership aid that I can.”     Leia inclines her head. “We’re glad to have you, Commander Djarin. C-3PO will show you to your bunks. They’re really nothing more than small closets with cots, but it’s all we have.”     “We’re grateful for all you can give us, general,” Din replies, and then we bid the general farewell and follow C-3PO to our bunks. The maze of corridors is still intimidating, and I can’t imagine that I’d find my way easily here.      “Tomorrow I shall retrieve you for breakfast and give you a tour of the base, if that is permissible,” C-3PO says as we stop at Din’s door-- basically just a small cave with a door fashioned to it, unlocked via a keypad.     “Thank you,” He says, hoisting his bag onto his shoulder and taking Grogu from me. “Be watchful and wary, Laylah. Even here you may have enemies.”     Visibly, I flinch. Yes, I might. There may be a few people who have grudges toward Mandalorians, who are often mistaken for bounty hunters only. “I know, Dad.”     Separating from him puts me on edge, but I confidently follow C-3PO. “I’ve never met a protocol droid before,” I admit.     “Oh! Well I am happy to be the first, Lady Djarin.”     I ease up a bit. It’s far easier to talk to a droid than a person. “Is it true you know over a million languages?”     “Quite right, Lady Djarin. I can translate almost any language into Galactic Basic, or in the reverse.”     “Cool. Wish I could do that.” That prompted an unexpected explanation about how and why the human brain and lifespan would restrict learning such a vast amount of knowledge unless my entire life were dedicated to it, and even then I might not get to that point.    Still, I’m grateful for him speaking so that I didn’t have to. I’d put my helmet back on, so no one can see my face, but that doesn’t stop everyone from staring at the Mandalorian following C-3PO. I’m waiting for an attack, and though no one has shown hostility yet, my mind is automatically assigning everyone to an enemy status. Suddenly I’m understanding why Din sleeps in his armor.    My bunk is two hallways down from Din’s. It feels like much too far a distance. “Here we are, Lady Djarin. It is late, so I advise you get some rest for tomorrow. Resistance members start their days early and end them late, so it may take some time for you to adjust. Do you require anything to eat?”    I’m surprised at how polite he is. “No, thank you. I have food with me.”    “Very well. Goodnight, Lady Djarin.”    “Goodnight, C-3PO. Thank you.”    “You are quite welcome, Lady Djarin.”    I input the code the droid had given me into the keypad, and the door can be pushed open noiselessly. The bowl-like room is dark, pitch black, but my helmet lightens it to a gloom of black-and-white. I reach in and tap the light switch, and the yellow cylindrical lightbulbs hanging from power couplings on the ceiling illuminate the little room. About ten-by-ten, it’s a very small room. It contains only a beside table, a cot with blankets folded underneath of pillows. The dark stone walls should be intimidating, but it’s comforting. I sit on the edge of the cot and eat what I’d packed-- demon-rabbit jerky and some river water-- and then lock my door.     I unpack my bag. I fold my clothes and put them away in the drawers, set out my rock from Grogu on the nightstand, lay my pelt-blankets on the floor as rugs, and then go about the process of taking off my armor. In twenty minutes, I’ve gotten everything off and have set it carefully in my pack, storing it under my cot. Just down the hall is the women’s fresher-- there’s nobody in there tonight, so I enter a tiny stall and take a shower, for the first time in three years instead of bathing in the river. Hell, I’m even able to shave-- although instead of razors, they have bottles of cream that just wipes clean to reveal clear, shining skin. Sweet.     I come out and immediately brush and braid my hair before changing into the old pants and shirt I’ve always used for pajamas, rushing back to my room and making my bed, and turning out the lights. It’s been a long day, and I’m tired. I fall asleep almost instantly when my head hits the pillow, but I’m dreaming of escape routes and how to fight somebody off if they try to attack me while I’m sleeping.

                                                      -  -  -

   The next morning, I’m already dressed before C-3PO arrives at my door with Din. I keep the armor underneath of the cot, instead wearing an outfit the color of sand, one of the ones I’d gotten at Takodana: capri pants, a thin sleeveless jacket longer in the front than in back, and a tank top, along with a pair of shoes very much like hiking boots and thin, fingerless gloves that go up to my elbows. I’d brushed and rebraided my hair, returning it to the double-crown on my head, but this time I didn’t put on the headband. I’d pulled a couple of strands free to frame my face-- they were shorter, only just past my jawline, and curly from being in a braid all the time.     This morning in the fresher was the first time I’d been able to look into an actual mirror instead of a warped piece of metal for three years. Last night I hadn’t really even registered it, too tired and excited to care. But when I’d caught a glimpse of myself this morning, I had to pause and look.     I was so much different than when I’d first come here. Din’s training had worn any lingering baby fat away, so I’m fit and thin. My white skin is clear and smooth, and my dark hair soft and silken. Very different from the ratty-haired, acne-covered teenager that looked like she was about twelve.     I’ve just returned from the fresher when somebody knocks on the door. Perfect timing. I hurry up to answer, and am greeted with the sight of C-3PO and Din waiting patiently. “Hi guys!” Not for the first time, I’m aware of how much smaller I am than Din. Even Threepio is taller and broader than me, and without the armor, I already feel vulnerable even though I’d only worn it for a day. “Ready to start an epic day of freeing the galaxy?”     Din snorts with amusement. “Just so long as you don’t try to crash the Slave again.”    “Shall I take you to the mess hall before we begin the tour?” Threepio asks, and we both tell him to lead on. I close and lock my door behind me and we follow the golden droid.    “So how’d you sleep?” I ask Din.     He shrugs. “I can sleep anywhere.”    “Du,” Grogu says as he reaches for me, and I let him hold my hand with a smile.    “I slept great!”    “Good. You’ll have plenty of energy for today.”    The mess hall isn’t very big, and it’s not very busy, although over half the tables in the cave are full. Threepio leaves us, promising to return in twenty minutes, and we order our breakfast from the droid behind the makeshift counter-- they’re working on bare necessities here; stuff like dried meat, potatoes, corn, beans, stuff that’s easy to keep. I’m nervous, so I only order something small. The droid gives us each a tray and we walk away with jerky and something like oatmeal.     “I just seen you eat an entire cake’s worth by yourself. What happened?” Din asks as we take a seat on the far end of the mess hall. His helping of space-oatmeal actually takes up the larger space of the tray, and he has at least a dozen pieces of jerky. Grogu’s tiny helping of gruel is big for him, so his doesn’t count. My helping, however, is only about a handful of the space-oatmeal and a couple pieces of jerky.     I nibble on the jerky. “Nerves. Can’t eat when my stomach’s jumping.” I try to take a sip of water, but my hands are trembling so badly I almost spill it. I wipe my palms down my pants, trying to dry the sweat on them.     Din chuckles as he helps Grogu with his food with one hand and pulls his helmet up a bit with the other. “Good thing you’ve still got all that sugar in your system, then.”    A ruckus from behind makes me turn slightly to see a bunch of pilots entering the mess hall, all wearing the orange flight suits but free of the white vests for now. One of them-- a man with a goatee-- says, “I doubt they’d be here, commander. They’re Mandalorians. Can’t they like, not show their faces?”    Finally, I manage to start drinking the water, although I realize that the pilot talking is the one that had flown the blue-and-white X-wing yesterday based off his voice. I hope he’s not as truly irritated as he looks about me having mouthed off yesterday.    “You heard the lady, Snap,” The one in front says, and turns to look at him. “Don’t assume you know everything about the Mandalorian Creed.”    They start laughing at Snap, which is a good thing, because I’ve just choked on my water. Din and Grogu both jump. “What the--”    “That’s Poe Dameron?!”    “Uh...” Din glances over warily as I continue to cough up a lung. “I guess. Why?”   “Poe Dameron?! They mean Poe Damneron, good Maker...” I glance over. He’s just... He’s just... Guh. His thick inky black hair and his tan skin and his perfect jawline and just Maker. GUH. He’s kriffing gorgeous, and I know I’m not even going to be able to so much as mutter around that man. “I’m moving.” I announce, and gather up my tray and cup.    “Why?”    “Because right now I don’t look like a Mandalorian, and you stand out of this crowd like red-on-black, and I do not want Dameron coming to talk to me!” I’m whispering frantically as I stand, so I’m surprised he even hears me.     “You seemed fine talking to him yesterday,” Din points out, a little confused.     “That’s before I actually saw him!”     “What? What’s that have to do with anything?”     I lean down, glancing over to ensure that they’re all still teasing Snap. “I am not going to be able to function properly and act like I did on the ship while talking to him. I’m gonna look stupid.”     Din pulls his helmet down, but I still see his mouth twitch. It doesn’t help me that I’m blushing, hard. “Oh boy...”     “Cover for me!” I race to a table nearby and take a seat. I’ve been here all along. Ignore me. Ignore me. For Maker’s sake, ignore me.     I nibble on a piece of jerky, trying to act normal and hide the fact that my hands are shaking again. I can’t taste it in my dry mouth, and swallowing feels horrible. It takes all I have not to freeze up as Dameron starts to approach Din, who I can feel is trying not to crack up.     And I’ve only heard him laugh really hard once.     “Commander Djarin?” Says Dameron; he’s balancing his tray in one hand, and offers his hand to Din, who shakes it firmly. “I just wanted to officially welcome you and your daughter to base, sir, though...” He looks around, and I try to casually keep eating as his gaze scans over me briefly. For a split second we make eye contact before I look down at my gruel and make a show of messing with it with my spoon. “She was fine, right?” Thank Maker, he’s not looking at me anymore.    “Yeah. She’s around here somewhere.” Din sounds amused as he looks around pointedly, pretending he has no idea where I am, but that’s all he says.    Dameron smiles. I almost choke on my jerky. Kriffing HELL... I am so glad I didn’t wear my armor. I can’t imagine that. Or, maybe, I can. I’m sure he’s got a reputation. I wouldn’t be afraid to bet good credits that a story about a Mandalorian freezing up wouldn’t exactly be surprising. He has to be the heartthrob of the base, or I’m Master Yoda.    “Well if you see her, can you tell her that I’m looking for her?”     KRIFF YOU ARE WHAT--    “Gonna try to convince her to fly for you?” Din asks, a smile in his voice.    Dameron nods a bit. “Maybe. She’s a good pilot.”    Thanks, you obscenely gorgeous man.    “Good luck trying to convince her. She’s here to be a medic. Starts her training today. If you’re still looking for her later, ask San Dia where she is; she’ll be her mentor.” Din pretends to cough, but he’s just cutting off a laugh when he sees my face.     Why. The. HELL.     “Thank you sir. I’ll do that.” Dameron leaves. Din is chuckling to himself as he wipes Grogu’s face. He gives me a little wave, and I avert my gaze. I don’t know this Mandalorian at all. Not in the slighest.     A beeping at my left gets my attention and I look over, freezing in mid-chew when I see the droid from Black One. What was his name? BB-8? He’s stopped to look up at me inquisitively. I’m sure I look plenty surprised-- wide eyes, frozen like a statue. I manage a tiny wave. BB-8 bobs his head in what might be a nod.     “Beebs,” I hear Dameron call, and glance up with my eyes. DON’T COME OVER HERE TO GET YOUR DROID PLEASE-- thank Maker he’s only calling him. He glances at me briefly and I feel my whole face blush from neck to hairline. I avert my gaze back to the droid in a panic. Get outta here, buddy, quick! Before he comes to get you! “What’re doin’, bud? Let the lady eat. Don’t stare at her.” To me, my whole purpose in leaving Din’s table is only narrowly avoiding being totally useless, because he says as his droid rolls back to him with a series of beeps, “Sorry about that, miss.”     My jerky goes down the wrong way. RIFK--HELL-- I can’t even mentally swear properly. I mumble what might be a slew of different versions of “it’s alright, sir,” but I nod to make sure he understands before pretending to turn my full and complete attention to my food. I take a drink to help the jerky down and start eating with hands shaking more than that girl from Jurassic Park eating the jello.     That’s it. Goodbye Resistance, goodbye noble life of epic deeds before reviving Mandalore, there goes my kriffing confidence, and damn has he blown any hopes of me ever getting a partner out of the water. Every man or woman I ever look at will seem inferior ’cause I’m just gonna think, What a kriffing shame they’re not Poe Dameron. Fifty years from now on New Mandalore I’m gonna be sighing about Poe kriffing Dameron.     I nervously eat until C-3PO arrives, and then I’m going full panic mode. Dameron’s squadron is still here-- right beside the entrance, no less-- and Threepio’s going to be leading Din and I around him. I’m considering escape routes when Dameron’s squadron starts getting up and returning their trays to the counter; I hear a tall, blue woman with cat ears and a ridge on her head that parts her black hair loudly dare Dameron to try the move I did in his X-wing. They’re only just leaving as Threepio reaches Din, rambunctiously placing bets as Dameron cockily says he could repeat it in any ship, any conditions.     Kriff. And this man is gonna come into the medbay later. To talk to me.     When they reach me, I frown at Din. “Why’d you do that?”     “You’ll thank me later,” Din chuckles, hoisting Grogu a little higher up in his arms. The little guy giggles, though whether it’s at me or not, I can’t tell.     I smack the leather-covered part of his arm. “I’m not gonna be able to talk to him! Even from a distance I was freezing up!”    “He’s the same guy you were talking to in the X-wing. The same guy who, if I remember correctly, said he’d buy you a drink.”     I flush up to my ears. The idea of Poe Dameron buying me a drink is profoundly terrifying. “That’s before I saw him,” I mumble, getting to my feet.     He is completely unfazed by my situation here. “Should I get you a poster to drool over?”     “Dad.” Yeah, sure. Get me a poster so I can continuously wonder how he naturally came into being and how he was never cloned like Jango Fett for being the height of masculine perfection. Yeah. Nice.     Thankfully, Threepio interrupts. “May I take you on the tour now, Master Djarins?”     Din’s nodding, still chuckling, and finding this all really amusing in a really Dad-like way. “Yes, please.”     So Threepio does. I force myself to pay attention, only relaxing when he takes us to the tarmac and I see that Black One is gone, meaning I have no chance of running into him. Yet.    There’s a control room, a monitoring station, several hallways full of bunks, the mess hall, kitchen, storage, and that’s about it, save for the medbay, which is near to the entrance tunnel. All are stationed in repurposed ruined rooms from a time long past, covered in just as many vines as there are wires. Brush even creeps along the floor near to the walls and animals can be found skittering around.       Inside the medbay, the old room smells of alcohol and bacta. Bright white lights give the area good lighting, and a hundred or so beds are set up with white sheets. There are a few medics rushing around to do their respective duties, while a few patients sit and work on datapads while their casted limb heals. Two or three seem to be in more serious conditions, hooked up to a bunch of equipment. “Here is where I shall leave you, Lady Djarin. Master Djarin, if you will follow me, I shall take you to your station.”     Din pats my back. “Good luck, kid.”     I take a deep breath. Here we go. “Thanks, Dad.” As him and Threepio leave, I try to pretend I’m wearing my confidence-giving beskar as I approach a medic. They wear normal clothes, only distinguishable by the fact that they’re monitoring vitals and standing, rather than on any of the beds. “Excuse me, I’m looking for San Dia.”     The medic nods. “Right this way.”     She’s on the other end of the medbay, giving a fishy-looking patient an IV. She’s an elderly woman, stooped from age, but with how quickly she moves, she’s awfully spry. She kind of reminds me of Maz. “Miss Dia,” Says the medic, and once Dia looks up, the medic nods and leaves.     Dia steps away from the patient, pulling a white curtain closed to give them privacy. “Hello dear. How may I help you?”     Deep breaths, kid, I picture Din saying, You got this. I think of Bo-Katan and Boba Fett, my Mandalorian people. Strength is life, strength is life... “I am Laylah Vhaene-Besu of Clan Djarin,” I introduce myself, surprised at how confident I sound, “General Organa sent me here to speak with you about medical training.”      Dia all but sags with relief, clapping her hands together with excitement. “Finally, a new recruit that doesn’t want to be a pilot! We’ll get you started right away, Miss Djarin...”      Excited, I eagerly followed Dia as she begins to explain the workings of the medbay.

                                                      -  -  -

     Throughout the course of the day, Dia focuses on showing me what areas of the medbay are dedicated for what procedures and treatments, how to tend to stitches, and how to stop a wound from bleeding out. She shows me CPR, and begins to teach me how to take vitals. “If you’re good, it will only take you a few standard months to become a medic, though if you’re aiming for a doctor-level of knowledge, you’ll need training for far longer. Until then, you’ll work as an apprentice, under me.”      People come in for mild injuries such as a cut that needs stitching or a sprained wrist or ankle. Dia always has me stand by and watch closely. She draws blood a couple of times and in the midafternoon, she gives me a round of vaccines, a birth control shot, and draws my blood. At one point, Din comes down, sent by Leia to receive his vaccines-- and with Dia watching closely, I administer them myself. He’d patted my head and said, “I hardly felt that, kid. You’re a natural.” Then, I work with my first child patient: I give Grogu his shots, too. He takes them like a champ, though, only whimpering a little.     I spend my days, from morning until evening, in the medbay learning all I can from Dia. Luckily I’m never interrupted by Dameron coming to search for me, hopefully far too busy to bother with it. I see him from a distance at the mess hall on the rare occasion he doesn’t eat on the fly, but he pays me no more mind than he would any of the other hundreds of other Resistance members he doesn’t know.     Din and Grogu and I only see each other at mealtimes, when we talk about our days. I promise him that I wake up extra early to keep up my physical fitness, although it’s a little hard to work out in my bunk. If there’s a gym on base, I haven’t seen it. Din tells me about how he likes this better than he thought it would. It gives him something to do other than hunting and fighting-- helping. He enjoys helping Leia strategize and thinks he might actually stay with the Resistance. This makes me happy, because I can’t possibly imagine being lightyears away from him and Grogu.    Grogu absolutely loves it here, and everybody loves him. Random people will come and give him cookies and hand-made toys, and he’s absolutely eating it up. Din tries to limit how many unhealthy treats he eats, but with Grogu being a Force-user, it’s extremely difficult. Somehow he consumes at least ten twelve-packs a day.     Which even beats my record of a whole damn cake.     People leave me alone, which I’m thankful for. Besides Din, Leia, Dia, Grogu, and occasionally C-3PO, I don’t say much more than an “excuse me” to anybody, and they don’t to me either. Somehow nobody has put two-and-two together yet and figured out I’m the pilot of the Slave-- which everybody is still raving about three days later-- which I’m just fine with. I came here to help, not to make friends, and I’m still extremely uncomfortable around people-- I can only see the idea of friends as guaranteed betrayal and abandonment.     In the evenings, when everything is winding down except for the skeleton crews, Din and I work on repairing and upgrading the Slave. It’s hard, long work, but we both enjoy being able to spend that time together.     At nights, though, I explore the base. I find nooks and crannies and hallways C-3PO didn’t show us on the tour-- I’m not sure what I’m looking for. A safe place, maybe. On Earth, my “safe place” was the bathroom, where nobody would mess with me. On Yëa, it was in the shelter of two boulders, where nobody would find me if I curled up-- although I’m sure Din could have tracked me if he really wanted to. Sometimes everything is still overwhelming, and I need a safe place.    Nowhere seems safe here. Anywhere I find anyone could come upon me and ask me what’s wrong, if I’m okay, what am I doing there. I’ve tried three different places, including the Slave, but someone has usually always come across me.     Until tonight.     I stop in my tracks and back up, peering into the barely-open door leading into the makeshift X-wing hangar. I’d never been down this hallway before. I thought the only way to get to the hangar was from the tarmac. So this is a pleasant surprise.     Don’t go in there, I think, It’s not allowed.     Personally, I have never received that memo, my brain argues back.     I slip inside and stand there for a second. There’s nobody here. I relax. I breathe deep, inhaling the scent of iron and steel and jet fuel. It reminds me of an airshow or an aircraft museum. Just the kind of place I feel at home in. I smile, taking a few steps forward. It’s a little chilly in here-- D’Qar’s days are hot, but its nights are cold, and I’ve just had a shower. But I don’t care. I close my eyes and enjoy the feeling of being so close to the fighters.     After a few moments more, I make up my mind and come further into the hangar. The aircraft feel like old friends, though the only one I know by name is Black One. I see it, sitting further back toward the hangar as if it was the last one in. Farthest away from the door. It’s the only one I’m familiar with, and if it really came down to it, I think I could explain to Dameron what the hell I’m doing lurking around his X-wing since I’ve spoken to him once before, especially if I introduce myself as the Mandalorian with the Slave. Anyone else... I know they’d only be hostile.     I take off toward Black One at a brisk walk. Once I reach it, I’m suddenly aware of how absolutely huge the X-wings are in person-- like the size of an F-18 superhornet, but with a wider wingspan. I try sitting under its wing, under its fuselage, but eventually I somehow end up perched on its wing with my legs dangling off, right next to the engine; and here I stop moving. I feel better here. Relaxed. I take a datapad out of the satchel I’m carrying and start to study what Dia’s given me for the day.     A curious beeping makes me jump. Down on the ground, rolling up, is BB-8. I remember his name now, maybe because he’s just as beloved as Grogu. I panic, looking around wildly for Dameron because they’re rarely apart; but he’s nowhere in sight. “Hello,” I say, trying to act normal. “You’re BB-8, right?” He issues a series of beeps, and I frown. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know Binary yet. Just uh... nod. Can you nod?”     He does, that little head-bop, and I smile. “Okay then, BB-8. I’m Laylah.” He makes a noise that I swear is wow, like WALL-E or something. I laugh a little, at ease enough to do so. “Yeah, the one with the Slave. I don’t always have to wear my armor, so...”    He rolls closer, whistling in question. I tilt my head. “I’m not sure what you said, but if you’re wondering why I’m sitting on the X-wing, I’m trying to find a place to relax while I study. There are a dozen other places, but... I feel safest here. I spent a lot of my life around pilots and aircraft.”     BB-8 whirrs, and I ask, “Is it alright if I sit here? Black One is the only X-wing I’m familiar with.”     He nods, then rolls over to a crate and reaches up with a robotic silver arm to grab a datapad, pinching it between his two angled fingers. “Thank you for letting me sit here, BB-8.”     He beeps and whirs. “It’s good to meet you, BB-8. I’ll make sure to learn Binary so we can talk next time I see you.”     BB-8 cheerily beeps and leaves. I remain in the hangar for a few more hours before returning to my room for the night, and the next night BB-8 meets me again on the wing of Black One, this time carrying a datapad. I smile and climb down to meet him. “What’s this?”     He issues a stream of excited beeps and passes it off to me. I power it up to find the screen says Binary, Lesson 1. I beam and pat him on the head. “Thanks, BB-8! Now I can learn what you’re saying!” And I do. Over the next two days I’m able to pick up bits and pieces of Binary when BB-8 meets me at the Black One. I start my nights with studying, and then BB-8 and I get to know each other. I feel so much more at ease talking to a droid rather than a person.    Somehow, we become friends though communication is hard. We play games, I talk to him about how I feel sometimes, and he beeps away as he tells me his daily activities and how cool certain drills are and which are his favorite. He’s always gushing about Dameron, who I’m starting to realize is kind of like his dad. Sometimes, though, when a day has been too tough, I climb down from the wing to sit against the tire, and we sit there in comforting silence, just keeping each other company. My best and only friend is a droid, and I couldn’t be happier about that.    Tonight, though, I’m anxious. Tomorrow Dia’s giving me an exam, and if I pass, I can move on to the next level of training. Din’s told me not to worry about it. Grogu has already given me his lucky knob, that I’m to return when I’m done under any circumstances.     What if I don’t pass? I roll the metal knob between two fingers and try to ease my nerves. Certainly nothing awful will happen if I don’t pass; I’ll just have to keep learning at the level I’m at for another few weeks. But the Resistance needs good medics, all the medics they can get. Fat lot of good I’m gonna do if all I’m able to do is take vitals and tape sprained ankles.     “Hey.” He doesn’t yell or sound angry, but the very human voice when I was expecting a droid makes me jump and drop the knob. I scramble to catch it, but it only bounces off my hands and plummets to the duracrete-- it’s old metal. I’m sure it will break. Lucky for me, pilots have fast reflexes, and Dameron snatches it before it can touch the ground. BB-8 whistles; that was close.     I let out breath of relief, though now I’m frozen half-off the wing. Flushing, I straighten up and try my hardest not to look more stupid or weird. “Th-thank you, sir.”     Dameron looks down at the knob curiously. I look to BB-8 for assistance. Help. The droid only whirs reassuringly. “What’s this? Looks old.”     “It’s Grogu’s,” I answer immediately, contemplating whether or not to jump off the X-wing and run. Maybe if I do it fast enough he’ll think he imagined me sitting here, but I’m not the Flash. “He gave it to me for good luck for my exam tomorrow.”      “Nice of him...” Dameron arches a brow at me, and my stomach drops. “You got an exam tomorrow?”     I try to speak twice and my voice fails when looking at his face, so I avert my gaze and try to calm my heart, which threatens to break out of my ribs and make a run for it without me. “A-A medic exam...”     He smiles then. My stomach drops. Kriff... “Oh. Well, good luck. Ready?” He holds the knob up, letting me know he’s about to throw it, then tosses it up. I catch it with both hands. Thank the Maker I didn’t make an idiot of myself and drop it again. Wary of that fate, I stuff it deep in my pocket.     Dameron puts his hands on his hips, jerking his chin at me. “So you’re the girl Beebs is always talking about.” My eyes find the droid in a panic. “You uh... You always hang out on my X-wing?”      Hell. This is embarrassing. BB-8, at least, is easy to talk to. But this is Commander Dameron, and I’m not wearing my beskar. I’m hurrying to scramble off the ship, but finding the footholds is difficult now that I’m flustered. I’m rambling a stream of apologies. “I’m sorry. I feel more comfortable around aircraft. It helps me study. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have--” I’m standing before I realize he’s amused, gesturing for me to stop.     “No no, you don’t have to move. I get it.” Slowly, not trusting my legs to give out and make me fall right off the wing, I sit back down. I wonder if he notices the fact that my knees are shaking. Dameron takes a couple steps closer, scanning he fuselage of his X-wing. Kriff. Is he coming up here?!     Effortlessly, he finds a couple footholds on the fuselage and then the engine to climb up and sit down beside me. I avoid looking at him, instead waving at BB-8, who chirps and rolls over so that he’s underneath our dangling legs. My heart is pounding, blood rushing in my ears and face flushed. It’s hard to breathe and my mouth is dry. He’s too close to me, almost brushing against my side, and my terror doesn’t just come from who he is. I’m so hyper-aware of the moment that suddenly the fine details of the X-wing’s metal seem prominent. I see the scuffs on his old boots and dents on Beebs that I hadn’t noticed before. When he talks, I’m trying to will myself to just blink away from here as fast as possible. “So X-wings help you study, and you’re not a pilot?”     I stiffen. Kriffing kriff, don’t talk to me, I’m stupid. I have to calm down. He’s just a person. I just have to say a few words, right? This is the guy who I was talking to when I first got here. He should feel familiar to me. He’s a pilot. I should be comforted and at ease. Talk, dammit! Be a Mandalorian! My tongue feels like lead. “...My older brother’s a pilot, sir. My younger brother is well on his way. I spent my whole life around jets, so...”     I can see Dameron nodding out of my peripheral. I still haven’t met his eyes. “So they comfort you.” He leans back on his hands. “You should bring your brothers here. We need good pilots.”     “I can’t, sir... It’s... complicated.” How am I supposed to explain that I come from a wholly different galaxy entirely? Another time? To a stranger? Even if he’s a pilot?    He nods, understanding. He doesn’t push anything, which surprises me. He offers me his hand to shake. I can’t tell if he’s oblivious to the effect he has on me or if he’s amused by it. “I’m Poe. Poe Dameron.”    Hell. He’s offering to shake my hand. Then I register what he said. The fact that I mentioned Grogu earlier hasn’t clicked yet, I guess, and I wonder if he’s been wanting to meet me or has forgotten about me. I half consider a fake name. Hi, I’m Jeff, your average nobody. Absolutely nobody at all. I swallow hard. Guess we’re talking now, though. Might as well. I shake his hand. His grip is rough and calloused from years of working on his fighter, and has the strength of any soldier I’ve shook hands with. I start to feel a little more at ease. “I know. I’m... I’m Laylah.”    I force myself to meet his gaze, though my whole body is screaming for me not to, because when I would do it on Earth, people only responded with harsh glares and harsher words. But in his face I only see kindness and warmth. Some of his dark curls have fallen onto his forehead and this up close, I can see he has day-old stubble that makes him seem more rough. And his eyes... I’ve never seen such dark eyes filled with so much light. They sparkle and glint when they catch in the dim spotlights overhead, like he has diamonds scattered in his irises. I can’t even bring myself to mentally curse about how gorgeous he is, because he just looks so... kind.    I relax. My confidence returns a bit. My flustered state from meeting Commander Damneron has faded, because now he’s just... himself. Poe Dameron. The artist part of my brain takes over. Just like it’s been assigning aesthetics of vanilla and oranges to BB-8, it starts assigning one to Dameron. When I look at him I see warmth-- oranges and burnt siennas, desert sands, nostalgic sunsets. I see sparks and jetfire and burning stars. The scents of cinnamon and iron and jet fuel.      Recognition flashes across his face, and he’s in disbelief. His eyes widen slightly and his mouth drops open a bit before curling into a faint smirk as he’s shaking his head a little. “Wait--”    “Hello again,” I say, at ease, with just as much confidence as when I wear my beskar. “Nice to see you when I’m not hurtling to the ground.”    Our eyes meet and hold for several moments as he lets it sink in, then he gives a quiet laugh. He has a beaming, contagious grin like sunshine, one that lights up the whole hangar. “I knew you didn’t look familiar.”    “What?” Did I hear that right?    He sits forward, gesturing vaguely to the expanse of the whole base with an arm. I can’t take my eyes off him now. How can someone be so bright in a war? “I’ve seen you around, in the mess hall. I wondered where you came from-- Beebs said you weren’t one of our long-time faces, so I figured you were new.” He faces me, eyes scanning over me for any sign of being a Mandalorian. He bites his lip. “Guess I just expected you to wear your armor all the time like Commander Djarin.”   It strikes me then that Dameron and Din have been together more often that I’ve seen either of them. “I don’t follow the same Creed as my father. I can go without mine if I want.”    He’s still in disbelief, and he pats my bicep with the back of his hand accusingly. I don’t even flinch away from him. “I’ve been looking for you!”    “So I heard. Dad told me.”    He nods seriously, though there’s a lighthearted air about him. He arches a brow. “Ah. You were avoiding me.”    I shake my head, shrugging. I’m not overwhelmed by panic, but I do explain. “I was busy. I figured we’d run into each other eventually.” I may be at ease near him, but I’m still meek when I meet his gaze. My legs swing automatically. “Here we are. What did you want to see me for?”    He leans back again. It’s like his body can’t go without moving. “To say your flying’s badass, honestly, and we need you up there,” He shifts again, forward, leaning closer with an excited smirk on his face. He takes something out of his pocket and I see it’s a small wrench. He fidgets with it; he can’t stop moving.    I smile with amusement, the medic part of my brain wondering if he has ADHD or if he’s fidgety because he’s a fighter pilot. “I’ll tell you what I told the general: I’ll fly the Slave into battle if necessary. I’m a medic, not a fighter pilot.”     “It’s in your blood, though,” He points out, and I know he wants to ask me where the rest of my Mandalorian family is. He’s been beating the wrench against his palm rapidly without really thinking, but his movements slow for a second as he regards me seriously. “...Your family even know you’re here?”    After a moment of hesitation, I shake my head. And suddenly I’m talking. I’m telling him everything, I don’t know why. Desperation for a human friend, I guess? I have no idea, but Dameron only listens until the end, when he starts nodding. “I was there when Leia saw you.” My eyes snap up to meet his. “She just... she had to sit down. She went silent for a minute-- we were in the middle of an important briefing and were short on time, so everybody noticed. It was over as soon as it happened, though I did manage to ask her about it later. I was scared it had something to do with Kylo Ren. All she said was she saw a girl... She saw The Girl Misplaced. She told me you’d come here, but she wasn’t sure when.”     “She... She knew I was coming?” A horrible thought is taking shape in my head. “Then... do you think Ren--”    “If Ren saw you, he’d have already been here. He’d have wiped us out and been waiting to ambush you.” He shifts so that he’s leaning with his back on the engine, facing me, tapping the wrench against his dangling knee. “I’m sure he saw you, but he probably doesn’t know where you are. Not yet.”     I stare down at the duracrete, frowning. Why the hell does every Force-y person in the galaxy know me? Slowly, I come to the realization, one that I’d already known but have been denying. It scares me. I don’t want any part of it. “...I’m Force-sensitive.” I admit, and I see Dameron lift his head abruptly out of the corner of my eye. He goes eerily still. “Grogu and I, sometimes we can... talk. Without words. Sometimes I know what’s going to happen before it does. That’s why I came here-- there was just this pull that was driving me to come here.”     Slowly, his wrench-tapping continues. “Uh... I’m pretty sure telepathy is bordering on Force-user.”     Involuntarily, I shudder. “If I can use the Force, I wouldn’t.”     The drumming on his knee falters. “Why not?”     I hesitate. I dunno, because I have seventeen years of anger and hate that I had to bottle up that still hasn’t completely dissipated? That when I’m angry enough I get so bad I scare myself? “...Because then Ren would be able to make me into a Sith if he caught me.”     Dameron is shaking a hand and his head simultaneously, shifting forward until he’s sitting right beside me. “No, you’d be able to resist him. Not many of us can do that when he tortures us with his mind-flaying outstretched hand of doom.”     I meet his eyes. He’s just as easy to talk to as his droid. “...You don’t know anything about me, Dameron. Earth wasn’t kind. If I were caught, my anger would be my undoing, and I’d come out of there a Sith.”     “Hmm.” He shifts so that he’s sitting even closer. He has one leg hanging off the wing next to mine and the other propped up on the edge. His weight is on one arm, the other balanced on his bent leg; he drums the wrench against his shin. “Maybe I don’t know you. But you’re a good person if you’re here instead of with the First Order, that much I can say without knowing you. Which I would like to, by the way. I’ve still gotta buy you that drink I promised.”    He looks at me. I try to gauge his sincerity by his eyes, but all I see is kindness. I glance down at BB-8, who beeps in support. Softly, I smile, lifting my head so that he can see me nod for certain. “...I’d like that, Dameron.”    “Call me Poe,” He insists, and starts to climb down. He pauses on the engine, standing in it almost. “Can I call you Bez?”    I’m surprised. I introduced myself by my first name days ago. “You... You remember my names?”    Poe scoffs, like this should be obvious. Somehow he’s balancing on the lip of the engine with his arms on top of it like its the roof of a car. “Kind of hard not to. That entrance made you unforgettable.” He smiles warmly and I can’t bring myself to turn away.    Bez. That’s what he wants to call me. “Sounds fine to me. But why?”    He continues to climb down. “Your name’s a mouthful. Pretty and badass, but a mouthful. I’ve gotta have something short and quick to call you on the comlinks.”    The absurdity of his reason hits me a second after I’ve almost accepted it. “Poe?”    “Yeah?”    “Just say you wanna give me a nickname. Why in the hell would you be on a comlink with me unless I was in your squadron? I’m in the medbay.”    “Okay...” He drops the last few feet in a crouch before standing with a smile, spreading his arms to emphasize his point. “I wanna give you a nickname.” He stands there for a second, then, “See you tomorrow, Bez.” I’m confused for a second, because I rarely see him off the tarmac. He puts his hands on his hips. “If the X-wings help you study, I don’t see any reason why you should leave ’em. I’ll come by tomorrow night to see how you did on your exam-- I’m sure you’ve got it though. Good luck.”    I avert my eyes, because I can’t not smile when I’m looking at him, and my face hurts. A part of me believes his promise to see me tomorrow is empty; the rest is absolutely certain that I’ll see him again. “Thanks.”    Poe jerks his chin at BB-8. “C’mon, Beebs. Gotta get you to your charging station.”    I watch him go, and can’t help but laugh softly when I hear him muttering the lyrics to some half-remembered song; he glances down at BB-8 when he beeps in protest, and I just barely hear him say, “I know that’s not how it goes. I’m freestyling.”    I stop looking for a safe place after that.

_______________________________________________________________

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@simonsbluee​

[wandaromanova]

Can you do a fluffy wanda one (with a little angst because of course) where reader and wanda are best friends, reader wants more, but thinks wanda is interested in vision so she doesnt say anything. And then one day a mission goes wrong, and reader gets into an accident that results in her getting powers, and it makes wanda wake up and confess her feelings?

Requited Love

Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader

Warnings: cussing, injury, that’s all!

A/N: hello! i hope you enjoy what i’ve created out of your request, anon! sorry i couldn’t think about how i could incorporate the powers part of the request! not proofread, so i apologize for any grammatical errors! join my taglist here <3

Summary: Wanda Maximoff and Y/N L/N are your typical best friends who refuse to admit their feelings for each other.

Word Count: 3.3K (had a lil too much fun with this)

(gif is not mine)

You and your best friend, Wanda, had been friends practically since the moment she had joined the team. Being the youngest Avenger, you were so excited that there would finally be another member that was close to your age. Despite the events of Sokovia, you didn’t fear the woman. If anything, it only made the urge to get closer to her stronger.

Her powers absolutely mesmerized you. From the color of her powers to the different ways she could use them to her advantage; it was mind blowing how much power she had literally at her fingertips. As time went on, you and Wanda became very close. You’d always have movie nights together in your room, which eventually led to the Sokovian woman peacefully sleeping next to you in your bed.

Not only was Wanda drop dead gorgeous, but she was genuine and humble. She had confided in you about the many different traumas she had been through and expressed how the surreal amount of grief constantly consumed her. It broke your heart to know that such an amazing person was put through so much.

Her past could’ve easily turned her into a villain, but she decided to go the opposite direction. She came to the conclusion that her powers could help others and that’s what she had chosen to do in Sokovia and up to now. It was why she had agreed to join the Avengers in the first place. Wanda knew how awful the world could be and she wanted to be there for people the way that her family had been before they passed. The amount of respect you had for Wanda was immeasurable.

Over the span of two years, you and Wanda became joined to the hip. Wanda didn’t even sleep in her own bed anymore. Before, she would just accidentally fall asleep in your room or sneak into your room in the late hours of the night to sleep with you. But now, she just barged into your room every night and slept there. She said that you kept the nightmares she had at bay and you were more than happy to be there for her if it meant she got a full night’s rest.

You both jumped at any opportunity you guys could to be on the same mission as the other. You not only wanted to spend time with her, but you wanted to protect her. Lord knows that Wanda of all people could handle herself, but it kept you at peace when you were with her; knowing that she had you to back her up. Naturally, you fell in love with your best friend.

At first, you thought you were just confusing your special platonic friendship with Wanda for romantic feelings. But sometimes you caught yourself wanting to kiss Wanda. You knew damn well that friends don’t daydream about making out with each other. So, yeah, you definitely had feelings for Wanda, but there was one thing standing in your way; Vision.

Vision basically joined the team at the same time Wanda did. He was created during the Ultron situation and has been an Avenger since then. Wanda and Vision were very close. They weren’t as close as you and Wanda were, but he was a close second. They had a bond over the mind stone that you couldn’t ever compete with. This fact discouraged you and forced you to keep your mouth shut. You’d rather keep your feelings to yourself and suffer in private than risk your friendship with Wanda.

I mean, you didn’t even know if Wanda was into girls! She could be as straight as a wooden ruler and you would most definitely embarrass yourself if you told her. Vision wasn’t exactly a man by any means, he was a robot. If Wanda were to like Vision that must mean you had a chance right? Not to be an ass, but he’s literally a hunk of metal. Regardless of all these thoughts, you knew at the end of the day that you would have to hide your feelings for the sake of maintaining the relationship you currently have with the Sokovian.

You did pretty good at hiding your feelings for awhile. You acted as if everything was normal and not like you were emotionally crying out inside every time you saw Wanda with Vision. It began to get too much when you had caught sight of the pair cooking Paprikash in the communal kitchen. Cooking was something you and Wanda used to do together. It was kind of your thing. It may seem silly, but watching her do something with Vision that used to be sacred to you both hurt.

You began to distance yourself the closer Wanda and Vision got together. What sucked even more was that Wanda didn’t even acknowledge your sudden distance. She no longer slept in your room, opting to spend her nights with Vision. You were dying inside and Wanda didn’t even care to notice.

You had a mission to get to today. Usually, Wanda would be down in the hangar whenever you were going on a mission without her, but she wasn’t there today. She was probably off somewhere with Vision, again. It stung that Wanda didn’t even want to see you off. She was so preoccupied with Vision that she didn’t even give you a second thought. A toaster was stealing your best friend who you just so happened to be madly in love with away from you. And you couldn’t do anything to stop it.

So, you reluctantly got onto the Quinjet with Steve who was accompanying you on the mission. Fury only sent you two in for this mission because it was a simple one. It didn’t require the entire team to complete. You both were to capture and detain the scientist responsible for the latest human experimentations at the hands of Hydra. From the intel gathered by S.H.I.E.L.D, their security wasn’t that bad so it would be a walk in the park for you and Steve. You had just left and you already desperately wanted to go home and wallow in your own self pity in the comfort of your bed.

But first, you had to get this mission over with. The Quinjet landed a little far away from the small Hydra base. You and Steve made your way out of the jet and began to trudge your way toward the building. As you guys got closer, Steve stopped abruptly.

“No matter what, we stick together okay? Just because this should be an easy mission, doesn’t mean we should let our guard down. Understand?” He lectured you sternly as he stared at you intensely.

“Yeah. I got it, Cap.” You replied to him dismissively as you continued to make your way toward the building. You took note of the five guards that were guarding the entrance and gave Steve a nod before you both sprung into action.

After you guys had taken down the entrance guards, you both sneakily made your way into the building. It was pretty easy to find your target, seeing that the building was the size of a house. You and Steve barged into the room, the scientist whipping around quickly and freezing in shock at the sight of you both.

Steve quickly charged at the man and placed him into handcuffs. As Steve pulled the man up by the collar, forcing him to his feet, a thought crossed your mind. This is too easy. Only five guards and the professor was just conveniently in here? This had to be a setup.

Before you could voice your concerns to Steve, you felt a sharp pain rip through your shoulder as Hydra agents flooded into the room. You fell to your knees in pain as Steve threw the target to the ground. He quickly began to fight as many agents as he could. You stood up as you tried to temporarily forget the pain. You began to take on agents yourself. Despite being injured, you kicked their asses with ease.

You were down to the last agent while Steve was pulling the scientist back up to his feet, much more aggressively this time. For some reason, your thoughts went to Wanda. How would she react to your injury? Would she even bother to visit you to make sure you were okay?

Unfortunately, you had chosen the wrong time to become distracted by your thoughts of Wanda. While your thoughts were racing, you failed to notice the glint of a knife in the agent’s left hand. As you blocked one of his punches, he quickly stabbed you right in the stomach. At this, Steve jumped in to help you and made quick work of knocking out the man who stabbed you.

You fully fell to the floor this time, gasping for air. Not only were you shot, but now you got stabbed. Seriously? Did god decide you weren’t already having a shitty enough time? Steve quickly picked you up in his arms in a panic. He carried you to the Quinjet while making sure the scientist was following behind you both. Steve placed your body onto the medical table that was in the Quinjet, handcuffed the man to a railing, and sped off to the compound. He took note of how much blood you lost; it was a lot to say the least. If he didn’t get to the compound soon, he feared you wouldn’t make it; and that wasn’t an option.

The 30 minute trip to the compound turned into a 15 minute ride. Steve quickly rushed you into the medical wing of the compound and placed you into the care of Doctor Helen Cho. He knew he had to tell the team about what happened. The Avengers were a family, and you being the youngest meant you were like a child to them, well besides Wanda obviously.

Steve hurriedly made his way into the living room of the Avenger’s living quarters and made sure Jarvis informed everyone that it was an emergency. As Steve entered, everyone turned to face him with worry present on each of their faces.

“What’s wrong, Rogers? Is everything okay?” Natasha asked as she looked over his body. There was an insane amount of blood all over his star-spangled suit. “It’s Y/N.”

At Steve’s words, everyone in the room stood in shock as their jaws dropped. But no one’s feelings could compare to Wanda’s. She abruptly stood up from the couch and made her way towards Steve.

“What about her? What happened to her?” Wanda began to get angry as hints of her powers made their way to her eyes. Steve took a step back and looked at Wanda before returning his gaze back to the other people in the room. You could hear a pin drop in the silence of the room.

“We went on a mission together. It was supposed to be an easy in and out thing. But we were setup. She got shot in the shoulder and stabbed in the abdomen. She’s in the medical wing right now.” Steve spoke strongly, attempting to remain calm for the sake of the team, but he was terrified inside. Your state refused to leave his mind. Your limp body in his arms as your warm blood covered his hands.

Wanda didn’t say another word as she ran towards the elevator and impatiently hit the button to the medical wing. She didn’t bother to wait for anyone else. Nothing mattered right now except you.

Wanda had feelings for you. Ever since she met you, you were this light in the darkness that was her life. You could cheer her up when no one else could. You knew her better than she knew herself. You were not only her best friend, but you were the woman she was irrevocably in love with. She was terrified to tell you how she felt. She thought she would lose you if she had confessed how she truly felt for you. So, she remained quiet and tried to forget about her feelings for you by hanging out with Vision more. She wasn’t using Vision by any means, she genuinely did enjoy his company. But he wasn’t you.

Wanda didn’t even wait for the elevator doors to fully open as she squeezed herself through the small gap and made her way towards the medical bay doors. Before Wanda could open the door, Steve abruptly grabbed her hand, stopping her from going any further. He must’ve taken the stairs. Damn his super soldier abilities.

“Wanda. Stop. I know you’re worried about Y/N, we all are. But barging in there won’t be any help. You need to let Cho and her nurses focus on helping her.” Steve desperately tried to talk some sense into Wanda; it worked. Wanda’s shoulders slumped as she made her way towards the seating area that was right outside the doors. All she could do was sit, wait, and pray to whatever god there was that you would be okay.

Wanda didn’t even know you were going on a mission today. If she did, she would’ve went to the hangar and hugged you before she left, like she always did. Oh fuck, she didn’t even get to see you off and now look at your state. Now that she thought about it, she had been neglecting you for some time now. She let her fear of her feelings consume her. She spent more time with Vision than with you, and now she wasn’t sure if she would get the opportunity to be with you again. The thought of not being able to tell you how in love with you she was mortified her. This was the wake up call she needed.

——————————————————————————

2 hours later

After two agonizingly slow hours, Doctor Cho made her way towards the anxious group of heroes. Wanda shot up from her seat and approached Helen.

“How is she? Please, tell me she’s okay.” Wanda asks as she nervously chews on her bottom lip. “Y/N is fine. Luckily, the knife didn’t hit any major arteries. She won’t be able to make any sudden movements for the next few weeks which means no missions until I give her clearance.” At Cho’s words, the entire team was struck with relief. Wanda’s eyes lit up at the good news. You were okay. You were still here.

“Can we see her?” Steve asked from behind Wanda as he made his way to stand beside her. “Yes, shes awkward, but only one person can go in at a time. She’s very sensitive right now from the anesthesia.” Helen gave the team a smile before walking off.

Everyone looked at Wanda as she gave them a nod. Of course she had to go in first. You and Wanda may have been oblivious to each other’s feelings, but the team wasn’t. It was almost annoying how unaware you two were of how the other person felt.

Wanda quietly made her way into your room and almost let out a sigh of relief as she saw you laying on the table awake. You were trying to reach for a glass of water beside your bed, but the pain in your side made the small task a burden. Wanda quickly made her way to the table and handed you the glass of water. You were startled since you didn’t even hear her enter the room. You took the water from her hands and took a long sip before handing it back to her.

“What’re you doing here?” You asked coldly as you glared at the Sokovian woman. She was shocked at your animosity. You were never like this with her before. “I needed to make sure you were okay. I was worried sick.” Wanda frowned as she pulled a chair up to your bedside and sat in it.

“Oh. Now you suddenly remember I exist? It only took me nearly dying for you to notice me again.” You knew you weren’t being fair. You guys were just best friends and she was entitled to hang out and be with whoever she wanted. But the part of you that loved her and longed for more took over.

“Y/N. I’m sorry I haven’t been around as often. I got caught up hanging out with Vision when I should’ve been there for you.” Wanda’s eyes softened as she stared at your face. She missed you so much. She may have seen you around the compound, but she hasn’t been this close to you in what felt like decades.

“Yeah. You got caught up with Vision. Why don’t you just go back to him now. I’m fine.” You stubbornly spoke as you tore your eyes away from Wanda and stared out the window in front of your bed.

Wanda made a ballsy move and grabbed your hand in here. Thankfully, you didn’t move it away. “Y/N. I don’t care about Vision, I care about you. I love you and I mean that in more than a friendly way.” At Wanda’s words, your head snapped back to her as you looked over her features for any indication of a lie; you didn’t find any.

“I was spending time with Vision to try and forget my feelings for you. That obviously backfired and only solidified what I already knew I felt. I’m sorry it took such a terrible situation for me to finally grow the balls to tell you this. I love you Y/N.” Wanda squeezed your hand tightly as she stared at you full of love and adoration.

You were speechless. As cliche as it sounds, this was what you’ve wanted since the moment you laid eyes on her. She said the three words you’ve been longing to hear spill from her mouth. She loved you too.

“I love you too, Wanda. I’m sorry. I thought you had a thing for Vision and I let jealousy and insecurity get the better of me.” You looked down in shame as you tried to pull your hand out of Wanda’s hold, but she only gripped it tighter.

“Don’t be sorry. I completely understand. I’m so glad your okay and I’m so unbelievably happy that you feel the same way.” Wanda smiled brightly at you as you smiled right back. You guys must’ve looked like maniacs with your big, cheesy smiles, but you didn’t care.

Wanda began to slowly lean towards you. You attempted to meet her in the middle, but only ended up wincing in pain as you were reminded of your impressive stab wound. Wanda let out a laugh.

“Let me handle it, moya lyubov (my love).” Wanda said before closing the gap between you both and giving you a heated, desperate kiss. All the pent up emotions that you both had been withholding from each other were coming to light through this kiss. You guys were interrupted by the door swinging open abruptly and the sound of someone clearing their throat.

You both jumped apart as you cringed at the sting of your injuries. You turned to the door and caught sight of the team standing at the door with shit eating grins on their face.

“Sorry to interrupt you, lovebirds. But we wanted to check on Y/N too. Cho gave us the clear to come in now.” Natasha smirked at yours and Wanda’s flustered states.

“Pay up, Barnes.” Sam said as he held his hand out to Bucky, who groaned before placing 50 dollars in his hand. You and Wanda stared at the two confused, Bucky took notice of this and decided to fill you both in.

“We made a bet on when you two would get together. I said in the next two months, he said in the next two weeks. He won.” Bucky gave you both a shy, almost embarrassed smile.

Everyone in the room laughed, making you and Wanda turn even more red than before. You didn’t care about the inevitable, endless teasing you would have to endure after today. You would deal with the comments forever as long as it meant Wanda was by your side. You once thought that she didn’t feel the same, and you were so glad you were proven wrong. Sometimes, love can be requited after all.

[serowotonin]

falling ; bakugou k.

pairing ( bakugou katsuki x fem!reader ) wordcount ( 2.4k ) genre ( fluff & basically pining )

↷ a hc-styled narrative describing the four stages bakugou katsuki goes through as he finds himself falling for you . . .

STAGE I ( impression ) ;

the first time bakugou laid eyes on you was during the entrance exam at UA. 

back then, you were just another face in the crowd of faces he was going to have to beat to earn his spot in UA

the first time bakugou spoke to you wasn’t memorable to him either

like with everyone else, he was loud and rude and made it very clear he wasn’t interested in playing friends

after that you became a part of the class, just another extra, someone who’d just get in the way

that was all he thought you were… 

until you kicked todoroki’s ass one day during training

the teachers had paired everyone in the class and told you to practice your 1-on-1 combat skills using your quirk 

bakugou, who was paired with kirishima went first

you and todoroki were to be the last pair

despite a good effort put up by kirishima, bakugou still ended up winning that round

when it was finally yours and todoroki’s turn, bakugou paid extra attention

in his mind, he knew todoroki was powerful and someone to watch out for

but what happened was quite unexpected

you maneuvered easily through todoroki’s attacks with a combination of physical prowess and creative usage of your quirk

let’s just say his ice didn’t work on you and he was caught off guard, allowing you to snatch a win 

needless to say, most of your classmates were a bit surprised at first

bakugou included

they knew you were strong but they didn’t know you were that skilled

whatever the rest of the class thought didn’t matter to bakugou though

all he knew was that now he had to keep an eye on you

STAGE II ( perspective ) ;

after that event, bakugou did indeed keep his eye on you

it started off with him observing your moves whenever the class had to do any training exercises 

he saw you fight with todoroki a couple more times after that

those didn’t end in easy victory for you as it did before because todoroki was now more wary of you

however, the way you evaded and countered his attacks was something to be praised

in bakugou’s subconscious opinion at least

your moves were carefully thought out and bakugou could see that

he could see the effort and practice you had put into perfecting them

not only that, he could also see the natural talent that you had to be able to become this strong

and it wasn’t only your fighting capabilities

you were also smart

maybe he hadn’t noticed it before but he did now

you seemed to always know the answer when a teacher called on you and your grades were great

slowly, but surely, you gained respect in his eyes 

if he knew one thing about you, it was that you were maybe the tiniest bit better than the other extras 

for a while it stayed like this, him acknowledging you but never making it obvious and you just doing your thing

that was of course until one day in the morning before class started

mina, kirishima, and sero were talking about things as they usually were and somehow the conversation led to you

they were talking about how strong and smart you were and going on about stuff

bakugou must’ve turned his head in their direction or something but mina noticed him listening so asked him cheekily what he thought of you

“y/n? of course they’re strong. anyone could see that.”

he said that pretty loudly and didn’t seem to notice you walking into the classroom

and of course you heard

“did my ears deceive or did the bakugou katsuki just praise me?” you teased

he was pretty embarrassed, blushing and sweating a bit but trying to hide it

soon after though, class started and the ordeal was forgotten

but something about that interaction led to you and bakugou becoming closer

closer in that instead of passing the other off as another strong classmate as you usually would, you’d actually greet each other and talk 

you’d say hello to him in the mornings and goodbye after school and he’d just grunt or nod your way

but this was what it meant to be close to bakugou anyway

during the weeks that passed, bakugou found himself noticing you even more

before he only paid attention to your skills and thought about you as an enemy or rival of sorts

now it seems as if he’s just noticing the little things about you and your personality that make you who you were

he wasn’t doing it on purpose god forbid

no no it was just him being unknowingly observant

weeks turned into months and months turned into years

in a blink of an eye, you were all well in your second year

with everything that happened, you and bakugou became close

close enough for you to tease him at random times and close enough for him to ask you to fight him as training

by then it was safe to say bakugou knew you

he knew the little quirks you had 

he knew your different smiles, your different laughs

he knew your favorite foods and your not so favorite ones

he knew the many different little things that made you you

STAGE III ( contradiction ) ;

before the start of the third year, the class decided to have a little get-together party of sorts

to celebrate the start of their last year in high school and to catch up as everyone’s been busy with internships and whatnot

you spent the break away from tokyo so it’s been a while since you saw the rest of the class

naturally you were excited to be able to meet them all casually again before the intense studying and training that awaited you all 

bakugou, on the other hand, wasn’t too excited

frankly, he could do without seeing the class before school

but when he heard you were going to be there, he also agreed to go

so there you two were with the rest of the class at a cinema buying drinks and popcorn before your movie started

the neon lights and the prospect of popcorn lit up your face and bakugou couldn’t help but stare

there was just something, something he couldn’t quite figure out

it’s not that you were beautiful, it’s not that you looked cute in that outfit, it’s not that your smile was making his heart flutter

no it wasnt any of that true though they may be

you just.. you looked nice

thats why he was staring

yeah he hasn’t seen you in a while and you come back looking *nice* 

of course he would stare

anyone would

apparently you had noticed him staring though, so you sent a wink and a grin his way before turning back to the popcorn and drinks

in other words, you killed him

with ridiculously high levels of cute and nice

kirishima and sero were just watching the whole thing happen and hell was it obvious to them

their boi was falling hard

now they knew he’d never admit it and they knew you weren’t likely to do anything about his “crush” even if it was obvious to you too

so…

while bakugou was busy helping you carry your popcorn, they devised a rather devious plan

operation: jelly burst

objective? none other than to make explody boiy jealous

for what reason? no reason really it’s just fun to mess with him and this is probably the first time he’s had this big a crush

once everyone finished buying popcorn and was walking into the cinema, operation: jelly burst was put into action

“hey y/n ! come sit next to me” — sero

so you did, nothing strange bout that, sero was a good of yours anyway, nothing strange at all

bakugou moved to come sit next to you too but kiri hurried past him and sat down on your other side before he could

“oh hey bakubro didn’t see ya there sorry”

the seat kirishima stole was the last seat on the aisle

and bakugou was forced to go sit somewhere else

alone

poor guy</3

the seat he found was a few rows above yours though and all went according to the jelly burst plan

by the end of the movie, bakugou was in the foulest mood and no one, except for the 2 lads sitting on either side of y/n, knew why

operation: jelly burst didnt end there though

see they got him jelly but they haven’t gotten him to burst

the next week at school, kirishima and sero both acted really nice to you

it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary but they did talk to you just a tad bit more than usual

either way bakugou noticed big time and he did not like it

he did not like it one bit

the jelly was there alright

it was just boiling to unprecedented levels

pretty soon, the boys dumped the idea of operation: jelly burst 

mainly cos it was taking too long 

but also because bakugou had become at least 10x more hostile

except to you of course

for some reason, a reason absolutely no one could figure out(sarcasm intended), he was just

quiet around you

didnt yell but didnt really talk to you either

whenever anyone else, kiri and sero especially, tried to talk to him though, he’d shout louder and be a lot ruder to them 

he’s just agitated

and he knew why he was that way

he’s just in denial about it

he’s also in denial about the reason why

why couldn’t he just accept his feelings and act on it already?

kirishima asked him that one day in the dorms

he saw bakugou staring very intensely straight at you without blinking for a full minute

“look man, don’t even try to tell me you don’t like y/n. it’s obvious and i’m not an idiot. you aren’t either.”

“i know shitty hair. it’s just… i’m me. and she’s y/n. nothing’s ever gonna happen.”

“you don’t know that”

“but i do. cmon, she’s just so fucking perfect even with all her flaws. and i’m just the loud guy with exploding hands and no emotions.”

kiri was surprised honestly

this wouldn’t be the first time bakugou was insecure around him but the way bakugou talked about you and how he implied he wasn’t worthy

damn that hit kirishima 

“bakubro, i’m gonna help you”

STAGE IV ( intimacy ) ;

ever since he told kirishima abt what’s been bothering him about you and ever since kirishima declared he’d help, bakugou became more…

quiet

he was still loud, but he just became a soft kind of loud now(?)

it was like he got calmer and he was assured that things would be okay

of course things were not okay

why? because ever since bakugou fully accepted his feelings for you, he doesnt know how to act around you

the other day you asked him what he wanted to eat for dinner cause you were cooking tonight

his answer:

“you”

“umm..”

“-you can make anything you want. i’ll eat whatever.”

that and a lot of other little awkward incidents started occurring

also maybe it was just the weather but he always seemed red whenever you saw him

it wasn’t the weather though

it was him being shy and nervous and flustered

which made bakusquad extremely weirded out cause seeing him like that is like seeing aizawa cheerfully smiling and wearing bright color clothes

it was weird af and was just not right

anyway, mina’s advice to him was to try to get closer to you

“but we’re already close”

“no i mean closer on a personal level. ask her how her day was or ask her random stuff about her likes and dislikes or her hobbies or literally anything”

“oh… ok then”

and so he tried that

he tried getting closer to you by greeting you every morning and sometimes asking you if you slept well

you found it odd

it certainly was odd, but you didn’t mind

if you ask him why he asks about your sleep he just goes red and says he needs to make sure his opponent for his afternoon sparring session is well-rested and healthy

speaking of the sparring sessions…

he asks you to spar more often than usual and actually makes small talk during your breaks

he was also a lot nicer to you, offering to help carry stuff for you and assisting you in the little things

like getting a mug from the kitchen’s high shelves or picking up the pencil you accidentally dropped

what he did worked though and within a few weeks, the two of you got a lot closer

the next step, as mina put it, was “making sure she knew you weren’t interested in her as a friend”

now that was hard for bakugou to do

“it’s not that hard. you could just tell her.”

bakugou: ..??

“basically confess”

bakugou: wha- *shortcircuits*

CONFESSING

he never thought about that

he actually has

he knew in his mind he’d have to do it eventually if he wanted to have you

but he didn’t think it would be *this soon*

“dont think that much and just tell her you like her”

“you’re making it sound easy”

“because it is!”

he groaned internally

he’s faced tons of villains and been in quite the number of fearful situations but the fear he felt now was completely different 

“look if you’re afraid of rejection just confess like this”

*sero clears throat*

“*y/n i like you and i would like to be something more than friends. i’m not going to pressure you into anything so if yoh don’t want to we can just pretend this never happened>:)”

“...”

bakugou ended up confessing the next day though

just not like that

it was a spur of a moment thing and he wasn’t really aware he said it until you responded

the two of you were sparring as usual and you had just gotten close enough to knock him down and pin him to the ground

in that moment you were just so beautiful and amazing and everything and he just couldn’t keep it in apparently 

“i like you”

“w-what?”

“what?”

“did you just say you liked me?”

“like not liked dumbass”

“:o present tense o:”

well long story short, you like him too and you tell him that and you two just sit there grinning like idiots 

from then on things didn’t change much

you and bakugou still talked, although maybe more than usual

and still sparred with each other, although maybe less seriously and more playfully

some were surprised when it became known you were together

some weren’t 

whatever other people thought though, they couldn’t deny one thing:

bakugou looked at you as if you were the world

STAGE ∞︎ ( fallen ) .

note ; i started writing this soo long ago but then abandoned it cuz thats just me:”] bUT i decided that since its his birthday i might as well finish it up and finally post it u.u,,, also TYSM @animebsposts for helping me with this ily and ur amazing<3

taglist ; ( send ask to be added ! ) @lilikags​

[high-functioning-lokipath]

Prompt: "I'll Be Here To Protect You" - Loki x Reader - Words: 2,564

A/N: This sort of follows the oneshot "Worthy" but can be read alone. Basically, Reader is Silver Shadow (see Marvel character list for reference), Loki and Reader are married, yada yada, you'll see…

"Silver? I think you should take a look at this," Cap said over the comms. You, Cap, Loki, and Widow had gone to investigate a Hydra base you'd received intel on. You'd been informed that the base was abandoned but that they still had some records stored there.

"On my way," You replied to the Captain, teleporting over immediately. "Oh my goodness," You gasped at the sight that greeted you. There, lying curled up in a small cage, was a girl no older than 5 or 6. Cap ripped open the cage and gently pulled her out, holding her in his arms. She whimpered slightly and you could tell she'd been beaten. Instantly, you wanted to kill the people who'd done that to her.

"Can you help her?" He whispered, not wanting to startle her any more. You nodded and held out your arms to take her. As soon as you touched her, you started working.

"You might need to hold me up," You warned the Captain. "This is going to be tiring."

"Alright," He nodded. "Then let's get you out of here." He easily lifted you both and carried you out to the quinjet. You vaguely heard him talking on the comms but were a bit too focused to actually make out his words. He set you down on one of the chairs with the girl curled up in your lap. After a while, before the others got back, she seemed to be healed and sleeping. You were exhausted so you adjusted yourself slightly in the chair and dozed off as well.

"Y/N?" You turned your head, eyes still refusing to open with exhaustion, and groaned slightly feeling the kink in your neck from sleeping weird. "Y/N! Please wake up, hm? Please?" Someone said. Now they were poking your arm. Your other arm however seemed to be asleep, as you couldn't feel it, and you had a weight on your legs and chest. Suddenly remembering what all had transpired, your eyes shot open. "See? I told you she would wake up if I did that!" Natasha said, with what you knew to be false happiness, to the girl on your lap. The girl simply glared back at Nat before turning her attention to you, with a completely different expression. Her eyes widened and she tried smiling as though she was out of practice and waved slightly.

"Hi there," You smiled. "My name's Y/N. What's yours?" She frowned and looked away before mumbling something. "Hm? I couldn't hear you," You said.

"Helius," She replied with a frown.

"Oh," You replied. "Well, do you like that name?" She shook her head vigorously. "Would you like a new name? One just as pretty as you?"

"Really?" She asked, eyes lighting up once more.

"Yep! And then you'll have a special name for yourself! Just like I do, and just like Natasha," You said pointing at the redhead. "And-" You were about to point to your husband when you realized for the first time since waking back up that he wasn't with the team anymore. Your eyes darted back to Nat who looked worried.

"Y/N?" The little girl said quietly, pulling on your sleeve.

"What is it, dear?" She whispered in it in your ear and you nodded. "Oh yes, um. The bathroom's right over here." You took her over and opened the door.

"I get to use that?" She asked, surprised.

"Yes," You replied slowly.

"Wow! You're really nice!" She hurried inside and closed the door herself. You stood there for a moment, shocked, and Nat walked up behind you.

"She's not even accustomed to using a normal bathroom, Nat!"

"Those people, if they even should be called that," she said, shaking her head. "Are monsters." You looked around once more, trying to see if Loki had shown back up. "He's up with Steve," She said, pointing to the cockpit.

"What? Why? He's willingly spending time with the Captain?" You said teasing.

"He said he needed to think."

"Did he give any clues?"

"Not verbally. But I think he's nervous."

"About what?" You exclaimed. She nodded towards the bathroom door.

"Being a Dad."

"A Da-" you interrupted yourself, chuckling lightly. "You think just because we found her means we'll be her parents?" Nat smirked and nodded. "First of all, Tony will probably have a cow if we wanted to keep her."

"Well your husband had a horse, may I remind you."

"That was a made up story! Would you please stop referencing it!" You shrieked.

"Only when it stops being funny," She laughed.

"Second, there's probably already some rule in place that states we need to put her in the custody of Child Protective Services."

"We'll see about that."

"She's yours!" Tony said 2 hours later once you'd arrived home and gone straight to a conference room to meet with him.

"What?" You exclaimed. You hadn't even had the chance to talk with Loki yet. You glanced outside the room at the girl sitting in the hallway. The whole team was there with you but Loki had still not said a word. You looked at him but he refused to make eye contact and you couldn't read his expression. "Don't get me wrong, Tony. She's wonderful and I think she deserves the world but why?"

"You found her! Who knows if she has powers? It's best to have one of our own caring for her just in case. And besides, according to Romanoff's story, the girl practically glared daggers into anyone else who came her way."

"Alright I guess. I mean," You sighed. "Loki? Darling? Um, what do you think?"

"You've already made the decision, Stark. I will respect that and allow my wife to make the necessary changes to our living quarters to care for the child. Now is there anything else you'll be needing at the moment? I need a shower."

"Uh, no. It's-we're done," Tony said, seeming surprised at Loki's attitude just as you were. You all started to head out but Tony stopped you for a moment. "Here," He said, handing you a credit card. "Buy whatever you want for her." You smiled and shook your head.

"What do you know? The man of iron does have a heart."

"Yeah but don't tell anyone," He chuckled.

About a week later, Helius was in her new bedroom, thoroughly showered in gifts from Tony, but still not talking to anyone. Neither was Loki for that matter. You yourself were exhausted, staying up late nights keeping the girl company when she woke up screaming from nightmares. When you eventually came back to bed, you often found your husband had gotten up already and disappeared somewhere to 'be alone'. With Helius, you offered her a few ideas for a new name but she didn't like any of them. You even told her some ideas the others had suggested but she hated those even more. You seemed to be the only one she was comfortable with. With Loki, you'd tried to talk to him, even calling and texting him but he wouldn't answer. Today, though, you decided you needed to do something about both of them or else you were probably going to go crazy. First, though, you had some formal paperwork to take care of with Tony in order to have legal guardianship of her.

"I don't know what to do about it, Stank," You sighed, hours later. Tony wrinkled his nose slightly at the nickname but listened. "Half of this I honestly still can't fill out for you because she won't pick a name. I don't know how to make her socialize and I sure don't know how to get Loki to spill what's bugging him." Tony got up and walked to your side, putting his hand on your shoulder.

"I'm not sure what to tell you either, Shiny."

"Watch it," You hissed, whipping out a knife you always kept on your person and holding it dangerously close to his baby-maker. He backed away quickly.

"Maybe you just need to corner your husband and, uh, pull that trick on him," He chuckled nervously. "Ok, well, um, just hold onto that paperwork and send it to me when it's done, alright?" You nodded and gathered it together before heading back to your floor. It was early afternoon and you thought you may have a shot at talking to your husband while Helius took her nap. She'd found her own little routine to keep her occupied during the day in her room even when you weren't there. But you always had to be home when she slept because of her nightmares and she refused to socialize with others.

"I'll be in the bedroom until dinner is ready," Loki said upon your return.

"Can we please talk first?" You asked.

"There's nothing to discuss," He replied, quickly walking to the bedroom and slamming the door.

"Oh yes there is!" You exclaimed, teleporting yourself inside the bedroom.

"I hate when you do that!" He yelled.

"Well I hate when you do this! Now man up and tell me what's wrong or I really will back you in a corner with my knife!"

"I don't want to talk about it, alright?" He hissed. "Now keep your voice down or else you'll alert the child that we're having a disagreement."

"Oh, so you're finally acknowledging her?" A guilty expression flashed over his face and he turned away. "What is it, Loki?" You pleaded. "I don't want to argue. I just want to know what's going through your mind. Ever since we found her, you've been-"

"You found her," He said. "I want no part in raising a child that is not my own."

"What about your own blood?" You asked, wondering for your own future if he was against kids in general or not.

"I-" He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "I don't know. But I certainly don't want to adopt. I've never seen a good result of adoption."

"Oh," You said slowly. "So that's what this is about."

"What do you mean?"

"You're worried about your own background. Is that it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," He huffed, crossing his arms and further distancing himself from you.

"Loki, please. Listen to me. You may not have had the best family situation yourself, but that doesn't mean you won't be a great Dad. I think-no-I know you'd do wonderfully! Please believe me!"

"I-"

"Mommy!" A voice called out, sounding frightened. Your eyes and Loki's widened in surprise. She'd never called you that before.

"I had better check on her," You sighed. Loki nodded and you rushed off. Half an hour later you came out of her room to find Loki waiting for you on the couch.

"What happened?"

"More nightmares," You groaned and slumped down next to him.

"Is that why you're never in bed anymore?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah. It seems she can't go more than half an hour without having another one." He nodded silently and took your hand in his.

"Well, I suppose I should commend you for your sacrifices for her. I just don't know if I can-" You shushed him, pressing a finger to his lips.

"I understand, Loki," You smiled sadly. "Mind you, I don't exactly agree. But I respect how you feel. I guess I can talk with Tony tomorrow about finding her a new home." You got up quickly, to hide your own emotions from him, and went to prepare dinner. That night, Loki made you go to bed extra early so you could actually get some sleep. You appreciated it, but your internal clock had gotten so used to it already that it woke you up a few hours later about the time Helius would be having her first nightmare. When you didn't hear anything from her room, you got worried. You rushed out of your bedroom and, as you approached her room, heard voices.

"Where's mommy?" Helius cried, again sounding frightened. Drawing your knife outside her closed door, you were ready to teleport in a surprise whatever intruder was there.

"She's sleeping, sweetheart. Do you think your new Dad could help you?" You nearly cried at hearing Loki's voice so soft and gentle with her. It took you a few more seconds to process that he'd referred to himself as her 'Dad'.

"I thought you hated me," She whispered.

"I don't hate you, little one," He assured her. "Do you want to know why I haven't talked to you yet?" You didn't hear a reply but as Loki went on you could only assume she nodded. "I never had a good father. And when you came along a week ago, I was so worried that if I tried to be your father I would mess something up. And I couldn't let that happen because you are too wonderful and too beautiful."

"I don't have a beautiful name," she sighed.

"Hasn't mommy come up with any good ideas?" He asked.

"No, well, yes but I didn't like any of them. They're pretty but," she trailed off, leaving the sentence unfinished.

"May I suggest one of my personal favorites?" You cracked the door open just a little so you could see. Their backs were to you, sitting on the edge of the bed. Loki had his arm wrapped around her as she curled onto his side, dwarfed by his height even sitting. She nodded slowly in reply to his question. "How about Arabella?"

"I love it!" She exclaimed, standing quickly and jumping up and down. "Thank you, Dad," She said smiling brightly as she threw her arms around his neck for a hug. He was surprised but gladly gave her a somewhat awkward hug back. "But what if the monsters come back?" She asked, voice trembling slightly.

"I'll protect you."

"Always?"

"I, Loki of Asgard, hereby make a promise to you, Arabella, my daughter. I'll be here to protect you forever and always." Arabella hugged him again and started crying. "Why are you crying, my dear?"

"Because you're the most bestest Dad I could ever ask for."

"Well, I, uh, thank you," He stuttered, not used to that kind of compliment. "I've got an idea. How about tomorrow morning I introduce you to some of the others here?"

"Why? I don't wanna!" You bit back a chuckle at her childish exclamation.

"But they're all really nice and they'll be like your new Aunts and Uncles!"

"Well, maybe," She conceded.

"Good! Now why don't you go back to sleep and I'll stay right here until all the monsters go away for tonight." She nodded and gave him another hug before allowing him to tuck her in. You smiled, wiping away your own tears, and snuck back to your bedroom. A couple hours later, Loki snuck back in himself.

"So how's the bestest Dad doing?" You whispered. Loki tensed up when you said that.

"So you heard us?" He said. You got up and wrapped your arms around his waist from behind.

"Yep," you said. "And I couldn't be happier. You really mean it? This means I don't have to talk to Tony tomorrow?"

"Absolutely not!" He replied grinning.

"Well then I have some very exciting news for you." He turned around, quirking his eyebrows questioningly. "How would you like to be a father to two?"

[princecharmingwinks]

heres another fail date, emphasis on FAIL. he took me horse riding. i have a healthy respect towards horses as they are sentient beings, sherlock holmes said it best with 'Why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing about between my legs?' anyway i'll spare you the set up and hit you with the punch line. the horse galloped straight for the fence, suddenly stopped short, threw me off directly into said fence, and my helmet got stuck in the wire. the worst part? fence was electrified.

Firstly, I am soooo sorry for how long this took me. Life happened and apparently my studies think they are important? Ridiculous really haha. Anyway! Thank you for gifting me another fail date prompt. Had lots of fun with this one. Hope you like it too <3

Setting the scene: established sterek, alive hale family, hales have a farm in their extended family somewhere and Derek spends most holiday breaks there while growing up...enjoy!

---

"Remind me again how you convinced me to do this?"

Derek snorted as he continued bridling the horses, "I believe it was around the time I was making breakfast."

"Naked, Derek. You were making me breakfast naked. How am I to be held liable for what I agree to when I've got your glorious ass bending over to find cinnamon for my waffles?"

This time Derek really did laugh. He finished up with the horses and made his way over to Stiles, placing a kiss on his lips.

"It will be fun. And besides, it's the best way to show you everything. Wasn't it you who wanted to see where I grew up?"

"Fine." Stiles huffed. "But only because imagining baby Derek herding cattle is adorable."

Derek smirked, "Imagine what current me looks like."

Images of a shirtless Derek swinging around a rope while on horseback flickered across Stiles' mind. He made a bee-line for the smaller horse without further comment.

~~

While Stiles didn't love the idea of horseriding, the scenery was making up for it. Both the acres that the Hales had owned and worked for several generations as well as seeing his boyfriend so at peace. Derek was a natural, even with being away from the farm for months. Stiles on the other hand was a city-boy through and through so while he might respect horses, riding one was another story.

He held the reins tightly in his grip and tried to pretend he wasn't freaked out.

"Hey, deep breaths. Horses can smell fear." Derek teased. "I thought you said you liked all animals?"

"I have an appropriate level of respect for horses. But why would I want anything with a mind of its own bobbing about between my legs?"

Derek rolled his eyes, "Come on, Holmes, we're almost back at the house. Dad promised to keep mum as far away from the kitchen as possible so I'm actually looking forward to dinner."

As they neared the homestead, Stiles saw some mini silhouettes crowding onto the front patio. He couldn't make out faces but could already guess who the spectators were.

"Introducing you to the twins was a terrible idea." Derek mused. "I'm starting to think they might like you more than me."

Stiles grinned. Of course he would hit it off with the twins. They were the offspring of Laura, who was practically his partner in crime when teasing Derek.

"That's because they like that I can do this!" Stiles let go on the reins and twirled his fingers in the air.

"Stiles, don't-"

It was too late for Derek's warning. The moment his spark shot out in bursts of mini fireworks from his fingers, the horse bolted.

Stiles yelped and clung on for dear life. He squeezed his eyes shut and prayed this wouldn't kill him.

"Pull on the reins, Stiles!" He heard Derek yell somewhere off in the distance.

Right. Stiles wasn't a damsel in distress. He was a human who ran with wolves. He could stop a runaway horse, right?

Without acknowledging his surroundings, Stiles pulled the reins with all his might. In her mercy, the mare did stop. Except the abrupt halt forced Stiles forwards and over the horse. For a moment, he experienced what it was like to fly...and then fall.

Stiles' helmeted head wedged into the wired fence that the horse had suddenly stopped in front of.

Stiles remembered muttering, "Well least things can't get worse." Just before a bolt of electricity shot up his spine.

~~

When Stiles came to, it was to a ceiling of eyes. Derek's he recognised instantly, before his brain registered the others belonged to the twins. He was lying on the soft grass, thankfully away from the evil fence line.

"That was awesome! Do it again, Stiles!" Nate cheered.

"Yeah, do it again!" Ruby joined in.

"Give it a rest you two troublemakers. Stiles just got himself electrocuted." Derek huffed, shooing them away towards the house before returning his focus to Stiles. "You ok, baby?"

Derek had removed Stiles' helmet and out of the corner of his eye, Stiles saw the blank ink lines tracing up the wolf's arm. So that's why he wasn't in agony. Yay for supernatural boyfriends and their ability to take away pain!

"Told you horseriding was a bad idea." Stiles smiled at his boyfriend's frown, "I'm fine, sourwolf. Just got a bruised pride and possibly tailbone."

Derek kissed his forehead and rubbed his stubbled against Stiles' cheek in a scent-mark.

"Next time no Spark Shows while on a horse, alright?" He said, helping Stiles slowing to his feet.

"There won't be a next time on a horse. Sherlock was on to something." Stiles dusted the grass off his shirt and jeans.

"You sure there's nothing you want bobbing between your legs?" Derek whispered against his earlobe.

A ripple of arousal slithered down Stiles' spine.

"Maybe just one exception."

"Aunty M said if you two don't come inside now, she's gonna eat all your roast beef!" Nate yelled from the patio.

"Ok, pocket that thought for later because there is no way I'm letting Malia eat my hard earned dinner." Stiles grinned, "You'll have to carry me babe to make it in time."

Derek rolled his eyes but understood the seriousness of the situation. His cousin never bluffed about food. He scooped Stiles up and they took off towards the house

---

Ta da! Ok so I picked Ruby as a nod of recognition to my favourite headcanon / casting of Laura (Ruby in Once Upon a Time). I know Malia is a cousin but I'm going with the theory that all the next generation call her Aunty M because...why not haha. I have never been electrocuted so please forgive any inaccuracy on that. Hope you weren't too badly injured in the real situation, concussed dragon! As always, thanks for popping in!! <3

[everseeking]

hello!! It's your relief story anon!!! i friken love what you wrote!!! may i have another request 🥺 similar to the relief story, Levi's s/o gets into a near death experience right in front of him and he freezes for the first time. everyone's super shocked abt it after the mission and he gets reprimanded just for formalities (erwin n hanji rlly just wanna check up on him personally) but they all understand since he's been through a lot. Levi can't deal with his emotions and he wants to say i love you to his s/o (first time saying it) but he doesn't know how and yes HAHAHAHA

- OMG HI AGAIN ! IM SO HAPPY THAT YOU ENJOYED IT THANK YOU SO MUCH !!!!! thank you again not only for requesting that, but also for requesting again, it’s so awesome when u guys come back and request more :) plus your ideas are always so great. i had a lot of fun writing this, i hope u enjoy <3 (and i got your second message tysm for adding it ! i tried to include as much fluff as possible but my dumb brain always defaults to angst hahaha)

how to say i love you

- levi ackerman x reader

warnings: season 2 and ova spoilers (if you haven’t watched the ova’s yet they’re on youtube but this only references ‘a choice with no regrets’ aka levi’s ova)

levi has never had...feelings for anyone before.

the romantic kind, of course. he's felt plenty of things towards people on a regular basis—anger. hate. disgust. confusion. annoyance. frustration.

to be fair he has had the occasional friend, or the occasional person who he respected, and others who he flat out wanted to protect. just never anything romantic.

this didn’t bother him, falling in love wasn’t his top priority or anything. his life has been one traumatic experience after the other. there was no time for him to be romantically involved with another, nor was he willing to take the risk of potential heartbreak that would add to his constantly growing list of traumatic events.

when he first met y/n l/n he acknowledged her as nothing more than another member of the survey corps. someone he would work with. someone he would train with. someone who he would give orders to if deemed necessary. someone who would join his team. someone he would slowly become more curious about. someone who would bring him feelings that he couldn't describe in words.

his plans had clearly gone astray.

y/n was supposed to be nothing more than a colleague, but somehow fate had much more in store. the young girl began to appear more and more in his life and before he could even process it, she was already apart of his team.

now that the they were spending almost everyday together, along with the rest of his team, levi had the opportunity to try to solve the mystery that was y/n.

there was something that he felt about her that he couldn't put into words. the way she was determined to save humanity and her friends, the way she poured everything she had into everything she did, the way she was strong in every aspect of the word, the way she got along with the rest of the team, the way she laughed, the way she smiled, the way she spoke, the way she moved, all of it. it all encapsulated him.

what is this emotion ? fascination ? curiosity ? these words weren’t completely right, but they safe enough for him to settle on for now.

yes, that's all. the brat just makes me curious because i don't understand her.

at least, that's what he told himself. but the tingles that remained on his skin from the place where she accidentally brushed up against him or the way his stomach felt after his eyes met hers or the way he noticed himself always wanting to be near her or the way he wanted to protect her more than anything in the world, said otherwise.

whatever message he wanted to send probably definitely was not passed on. when y/n accidentally brushed up against him he snapped back "watch it." when she made eye contact with him, it was more her meeting his eyes and him seemingly glaring back. when he took a few steps towards her to be closer, she felt paranoid, wondering if he was determining whether or not he should scold her for something. when she was on missions and he occasionally had to step in and save her tail, she felt like she was slacking.

truthfully in all these situations levi just resorted back to his true nature. he never meant any harm so clearly he wasn’t the best at expressing his feelings. henceforth, the three word phrase was foreign to him.

after all the many challenges that came with trying to understand each other, the couple finally got together. but despite being together, neither had said the 'L word’ yet. 

to be honest, y/n hadn’t dwelled on it too much. she had learned the best way to survive mentally was to live in the moment. when the time would come, the time would come, however, the thought that time wasn’t a guarantee gnawed at the back of her brain.  she always wondered how levi felt about the matter, but never got around to asking. little did he know he’d once again find out for himself that time wasn’t a guarantee.

just like every other day, y/n awoke to levi placing a kiss on her forehead. he wished nothing more than to let the love of his life sleep late into the morning in their shared bed, safe from the dangers of the world, but there was another mission today in which he needed her by his side.

the plan was to head to the outskirts of wall rose to a forest that was known to be surrounded by titans. hanji convinced erwin to let her try to capture titans in the forest again, as it all but worked on the female titan. erwin agreed, not only because he too believed the survey corps had all the materials necessary to capture titans again, but also because he knew the scouts needed more real time practice in the forest. levi wasn’t happy to hear the commander refer to this as “practice,” since so many lives were guaranteed to be lost in the process, but there was nothing he could do about it.

with everyone’s approval and the preparations complete, they were off. the ride there had been as close to smooth sailing as possible, with erwin successfully rerouting the troops to avoid as many unnecessary collisions with titans as possible and a surprisingly low amount of abnormals in their path. but everyone knew the real problems would be up ahead.

in this area, the titans were mainly surrounding the thick trees in the forest. it wasn’t too far from the forest where they encountered the female titan so the layout of the jungle was fairly similar. a large path ran straight through the trees, leaving the scouts lots of opportunities.

before the forest itself came into view, the hoard otherworldly creatures showed up. the crowd of titans didn’t seem to be too bad, with none surpassing ten meters. a bit of the outer edges of the formation took a hit, but everyone else made it into the woods unscathed.

unlike the last time levi’s squad was in the forest, their objective was not to be the bait. instead, they were to take to the trees and be on clean up duty. it was a little different from their normal clean up duty, as they weren’t doing chores around the castle or cabin—they were eliminating stray titans. the survey corps was only prepared to capture two titans, so any others that entered needed to be exterminated.

they weren’t the only ones with this job, but erwin placed them as the last hoop the titans had to get through before they were captured. any titans that escaped the first few groups were more likely than not going to be challenging, so they needed to be left with the most talented squad.

the eight scouts that made up levi’s squad traveled the path that cut through the forest until they found the four trees in which they were to set up camp. levi and jean were on the first tree, armin and sasha on the one across from them, connie and mikasa on the next, and y/n and eren on the fourth. the formation placed y/n and levi diagonal from each other so they could each defend half of the younger scouts in their squad if necessary, as well as had the team in pairs that weren’t often together for even more practice.

the ground rumbled beneath the group as they looked down to see the first wave of soldiers acting as bait pass through. after some time and a few more waves, including hanji and erwin who were in charge of the traps, everyone passed through and the titans came into sight.

the ground troops had all reported that no abnormals or titans above ten meters made it in so they all relaxed—or relaxed as one can be when they’re facing man-eating giants. levi recognized the last troop passing through and gave his second in command a nod which she returned, letting everyone else know it was show time.

the rumbling of the ground from the horses before was nothing compared to that of the titans. not counting the first two, there were nine titans in all. everyone gave a silent thanks to the squads who had narrowed down the hoard before it arrived to them.

finally, the first two titans ran past the trees levi’s squad was hidden in, chasing the ground troops. with a loud “now !” from levi, the rest of them deployed from their hiding places. thanks to the squad’s impeccable teamwork and countless hours of training in forests closer to home, the remaining seven titans were taken out without a hitch. y/n couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride as she watched her team improve with every mission and it was obvious they all felt the same way. the way they beamed and had to hold back their celebration was as a clear as day.

the team regrouped, with y/n checking the younger members for any life threatening wounds and levi double checking all the titans were taken care of. she had just finished examining sasha when levi came back and announced the next step of today’s plan. everyone was to head forward to meet the other troops and aid in getting the titans back to the walls. although the titans may be secured, there were still infinite possibilities for catastrophes that could happen so they needed all the backup they could get. the young cadets nodded in agreement then followed after levi as he took to the sky, with y/n tailing the rest of the group. if y/n and levi weren’t side by side during missions, this was always the formation everyone fell into. levi led the way, protecting the front of the party, and she acted as the caboose to make sure no one got left behind as well as to protect them from the back.

after a few failed tricks from eren as he tried to show off with his gear and a quick scolding from levi, the rest of the scouts came into view. the mission appeared to be a success. the final two titans were both apprehended, one nailed to the ground and the other bound in the air.

squad levi landed and began to greet everyone but didn’t get very far when hanji’s squeals flooded everyone’s ears.

the scientist was practically bouncing up and down as she came over. “squad levi ! all in one piece, i see. let me show you what we’ve done,” she gushed, ushering all of them towards the titans.

it was no surprise she was so excited. she had been waiting for this day to arrive for ages, but levi still gave a quick “tch,” under his breath out of annoyance which forced y/n to cover her mouth with her palm to stifle a laugh.

the eight, now nine, of them cranned their necks up to see the side of the beast that was hammered into the ground. the sight would’ve been cruel if it were anything other than a titan, but remembering all the pain they’ve brought to each one of them, no one did so much as bat an eye. returning the focus back to hanji, everyone watched as she took a sharp inhale to prepare for her long ramble about how everything worked. lucky for y/n, before hanji could exhale, levi grabbed his partner’s arm and pulled her away.

he pulled her close so he could whisper in her ear, “come on, let’s go find erwin.”

as much as she wanted to argue with him and tell him he was being mean, she really didn’t want to listen to hanji’s spiel that she had heard a million times over. a tiny pang of guilt struck y/n for leaving the other half of the squad behind forced to listen to her, but sometimes everyone has to take one for the team.

she threw a quick wave over her shoulder to the others, then followed levi, who was still holding her arm, as he dragged her through the crowd of other scouts who were just floating around, waiting for orders, until he finally spotted the commander.

the tall man’s eyes fell upon the pair and he drew himself away from whomever he was speaking with to come greet them.

“ah levi, y/n,” erwin began. levi’s expression stayed the same but y/n offered the man a small smile and wave which he returned with a nod. erwin was actually the one who recommended to levi that he should consider y/n to be apart of his squad, so she heavily credited him entirely with starting your relationship with levi (even if levi disagreed every time she told him this). 

levi and erwin fell into formal conversation, discussing the remainder of the mission, which left y/n realizing levi hadn’t really saved her from a talk you’ve heard countless times before, but instead brought her into another one. 

hanji’s rambling would have been more interesting than this she thought to yourself as she began lazily scanned the small sea of scouts scrambling around, looking for a way to entertain yourself until the two men were done talking. one group in particular caught her eyes.

the soldiers seemed to be much more jittery than everyone else. they frantically looked amongst each other and towards the titan that hanji had just finished showing the rest of levi’s squad, and seemed to be contemplating a solution to an unknown issue.

it was clear something was up. 

just as she placed her hand on levi’s shoulder to bring his and erwin’s focus over to the scene, the ground began to shake, which caught their attention for her. 

no one had time to react when dust flew up everywhere, obstructing everyone’s views so they couldn’t see where the loud crashes that followed came from. a strong force slammed into them, throwing them who knows how far into the air. the fear of hitting the ground barely had enough time to settle into y/n before everything went dark.

everyone in the vicinity had been sent flying into the air along, but levi was the first one to be up on his feet again. bringing his arms up to shield his eyes, he decided to stay where he was as the dust cleared so he could assess the situation and move on from there. 

the scene finally came into view; he gathered that the titan had ripped its arm through the nails that secured it to the floor of the woods, then flailed it around in an attempt to grab people. it made a clean sweep in the area that he was previously standing—all that was left were debris and broken wood planks from the compartments that were attached to the other titan’s traps.

a wave of adrenaline passed through his body as he remembered who was with him. he needed to find not only erwin immediately, but also y/n. he reached down to grab the handles of his controller grip but froze instantly upon seeing what had just come into view as more of the dust cleared.

y/n was sprawled out on the ground, ODM gear tossed a few feet away from her body but more importantly, the titan’s hand was hovering mere meters above her.

his pulse almost quickened twicehold, but it felt as though it heart had stopped in his chest. situations like this presented themselves to levi almost everyday of his life, but this was much different. in those, he was almost two steps ahead. he knew that by now he should be wrapping his arms around y/n and pulling her to safety at breakneck speed, or even better, he should’ve shielded her from harm at the very beginning. but right now he couldn’t do so much as move his finger.

levi was completely inert—his arms felt like they being weighed down by a ball and chain, his legs felt like they had grown roots into the ground that planted in him place. his throat ran dry and his stomach felt like it had just done a flip. the rest of him went numb while shock consumed his body, physically and mentally, rendering him entirely helpless.

images of isabel, farlan, petra, oluo, eld, gunther, and countless others all flashed before him, the same running theme echoed in his mind—he wasn’t able to save them. all he had to do was pull back a single index finger. this would launch one of his anchors into the back of the titan’s neck, sending him flying to slice its nape. but he couldn’t do it. the only thing he knew he had the power to do was watch helplessly as his partner would be eaten alive.

the shouts of others flooded his ears as his senses slowly began to return to him, but it didn’t matter. he couldn’t make out a thing. frankly he wished he could so he could break away from the things that occupied his mind now. shame. guilt. humiliation. fear. regret. he took for granted every moment he had ever spent with y/n. every smile she gave him. every time he embraced her. every kiss. every conversation they shared under the stars while everyone else was fast asleep. every opportunity he had but failed to tell her that he—

before he finished his thought someone finally broke through his trance. erwin was the one who was able to crack the surface and bring him back to life. 

the commander was shouting levi’s name, hoping, praying, to wake him up from whatever was going on in his head. levi was still unable feel his body, but he realized he was moving as the ground began to grow smaller. one of erwin’s strong arms hooked around levi’s middle and they were flying away from the chaos below. the commander spared a glance to levi to see the man’s eyes were still trained on y/n.

the feeling returned to levi’s body as he felt the pain of being thrown onto one of the thick tree branches surge through his body. not knowing how else to bring him back from the trance that wasn’t full broken, erwin had tossed off of him levi instead of placing him down gently.

he watched as levi scrambled up and expected him to yell back for throwing him, but the response was much different.

“where is she ??” levi demanded. his eyes may have been on y/n the whole time, but his mind was elsewhere replaying scenes from the past. he had no idea if she had been eaten, or even survived the initial attack. the only think he saw was her body on the ground, unmoving.

“safe,” erwin confirmed. “hanji ran over just in time and got her. but what happened to you ?” no one had ever seen levi freeze up the way he did. others believed it was just fear which made him seem a little more human to them, but erwin knew it was more than that.

throughout the years, erwin watched levi witness the deaths of those closest to him, and even then he was still able to act. but after seeing him go rigid, erwin was more than worried. it was clear levi went into shock, however, shock runs more than skin deep. 

this became even more evident to him as levi remained silent the entire way back to the walls. y/n was still unconscious, so one of the open carts was her escort. guilt continued to wash over levi as he wasn’t able to ride in the cart with her to monitor her closely because he had to ride his horse back. regardless, he stayed as close to the cart as possible and stole as many glances her way as he could.

if he had it his way, he would’ve waited outside the infirmary for y/n when they arrived back home, but hanji and erwin practically dragged him to the mess hall to replenish his energy. this may or may not be skipping the part where levi was questioned about what happened, followed by him being chastised for his actions (or lack there of). levi could bare focus even though it was such a serious conversation. his mind was still a hazy mess. as much as hanji and erwin wanted to talk to levi more about the situtation, they knew it was best for the conversation to end there for the day. levi looked so shaken up that he could barely keep himself standing so the last thing he needed was to be yelled at more. the entire corps also made sure to steer clear of the man. he usually had all his emotions hidden but they were on full display now. it still scared the hell out of them.

but the fear alone wasn’t enough to stop them from whispering to themselves. word carried fast about how captain levi froze up and watched one of his squad mates almost die. the ones who only heard about the story instead of witnessing it couldn’t believe what they were hearing. the captain levi did nothing while one of his own almost became titan food ? 

hearing the whispers in passing, levi didn’t care that they were talking about him, but he was still affected. their words just made reality sink deeper into him. they weren’t the only ones who were unable to believe what happened. he really just watched helplessly as someone almost died. and it wasn’t just someone, it was his other half.

“hey levi ?” hanji voiced, pulling him out of his head. levi didn’t bother looking up from his food that he had been staring at for the past few minutes to face her. the best he could to was give her a side glance as he peered at her from the corner of his eyes and waited for her to finish.

the glare he was sending her way made her blood run cold, but she took the hint and continued. “are you alright ?” she asked in a small voice.

“does it look like i’m alright ?” he growled back, then went back to eating.

“just wanted to ask,” she added with an awkward laugh then turned to erwin who was on the other side of her. for once in her life she knew not to press any harder, but making levi upset wasn’t her intention. she was genuinely worried about him. hanji gave erwin a what do i do now ? look, hoping for some help, but erwin could only shake his head. he cared about levi just as much as she did, but he knew there was nothing either of them could do or say to make levi feel better. the only thing he needed was to see y/n.

at last, levi finished his dinner and excused himself to go find his partner. as his feet carried him at a quick pace across the stone floors of the many hallways in HQ, fear came back to his already grim mind. there was no word on y/n’s condition so he assumed no progress had been made and she was still unconscious. 

needless to say, when he rounded the corner and saw her sitting on the bench right outside the infirmary swiveling her heels and tapping her toes together as if she was bored, shock overcame him once again, this time on a much lower scale. similar to just a few hours ago, he was frozen instantly upon seeing her. it was a much prettier sight this time, but it was still painful to see. the bandage that wrapped around her head peaked out from being any strands of hair that fell in front of her face, other wraps and patches plastered themselves across her arms and legs, and some purple and blue splotches peaked out from behind them. this was only the skin that was exposed. for once in his life levi didn’t want to think about what she looked like when she weren’t wearing any clothes. he made a quick mental note to later place tender kisses on all her bumps and bruises, and took of running towards her.

y/n had been discharged from the infirmary during dinner hours, so the halls has been quite empty as she sat outside alone, falling into boredom. when the first sounds of shoes hitting the ground entered her ears, she got a bit excited, but calmed herself down reminding herself it probably wasn’t him. but when the steps got quicker and louder, she finally let yourself look up to see up to see her partner was the source. there was no point in holding back anyone; her face visibly lit up and a wide smile placed itself on her lips. just like levi, y/n wanted nothing more in the entire world than to see him. 

he run turned to a jog then a complete stop as he halted in front of her. despite being so anxious to see one another, neither were really prepared. they just kinda...stared at each other, neither sure of the right words to say. levi decided to take the initiative. he opened his mouth, hoping something, anything, would come out, but his attempt fell flat. words just weren’t enough. instead, he lifted his arms and placed both hands gently on y/n’s shoulders. she caught on quickly, standing up at the same time as he was pulling her into his arms for a tight embrace.

the pair remained silent in each other’s arms until y/n decided to take initiative this time and finally spoke. “is it true ?” she mumbled against his neck, barely loud enough for him to hear.

as much as he had hoped the gossip would stay in the mess hall, levi knew that inevitably word would spread to her. someone must have told her everything that happened, leaving in every little detail about how levi made no moves to save her life, ending up having to be saved by hanji in the end.

based off his silence, y/n knew levi had a lot on his mind so she continued “did you really freeze up?” 

he didn’t realize it, but he had tensed up at her words. it absolutely pained him to answer, but he couldn’t imagine the pain she were feeling. 

summing up his courage, he began to confirm the worst, but she pulled away before he could get more than a “yes,” out. levi braced himself for the hurt expression that he would be faced with, knowing his heart would break instantly as she realized he truly did failed to protect her, but instead he was met with kind eyes and soft face.

the look on his face had utter disbelief written all over it as her hands went up to cup his face that was now reddening. “are you okay?” y/n asked softly. “im so sorry.”

levi was beyond bewildered. he wanted her to be furious at him. yell at him. pull her soft hands back and strike him as much as she pleased. tell him he failed and that she couldn’t stand the sight of him. he knew he deserved it all and more, but he should’ve known she would never do that. that wasn’t y/n.

he melted into her touch and placing one of his hand over one of hers that remained on his cheek. “i was terrified, y/n.”

y/n finally gave him one of her beautiful smiles and giggled softly. “why were you scared ? i was the one who almost got eaten,” she teased.

y/n’s laughs had quickly subsided after seeing the serious look that had etched itself onto levi’s face. “because you were in danger,” he started.

“i don’t know what id do with myself if i lost you, i...”

“i love you, y/n.”

it was finally y/n’s turn to get a taste of the shock that levi had been experiencing all day. she could’ve sworn her heart skipped a beat at his words, followed by butterfly wings tickling the inside of her tummy, her eyes widening and jaw falling slack. her hands slowly slipped from his face to instead place one of her palms on her chest to make sure her heart was indeed pumping at a regular pace.

levi, on the other hand, was not having a magical experience. y/n’s reaction made him feel as though his feelings weren’t reciprocated despite having been together for so long. he started to get deeper into his head, negative thoughts starting to eat away at him once again, when she finally spoke.

“i love you too, levi,” she breathed out, still too stunned to breathe properly.

levi had had enough of being unable to move for one day. one of his hands grabbed y/n’s waist while the other found its way to the back of her head, as he kissed her roughly, which she eagerly returned. the way he felt her grin against his lips was enough to make all the pain and fear he had experienced that day worth it.

he couldn’t have asked for a better outcome to such a shitty day.

levi had finally learned how to say i love you and he thanked the stars every night following that day that y/n was the one who taught him how.

[xutokawa]

↬ dance with me | pt. 3

pairing: k.bokuto x fem!reader

genre(s): soulmate!au, soul-crushing angst, some fluff, childhood best friends to lovers

warnings: none, just angst

wc: 1.3k

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✧ updates every 1-3 days

a/n: sorry it took a little longer to update pt. 3! i was lacking some motivation but seeing so many people liking my series gave me the motivation i needed to finish pt. 3! its a big shorter than pt. 2 but packed with angst >:) hope you enjoy :D

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Bokuto tried to ignore the clench of his heart once he took in your state. He tried to ignore the urges to pull you into his arms and protect you from whatever was causing you distress. 

He shouldn’t be feeling this way. He shouldn’t be blushing anytime your hand accidentally brushed against his. There shouldn’t be butterflies fluttering in his stomach anytime you flashed your oh-so-beautiful smile at him. He shouldn’t be going out of his way to say silly things just to hear the beautiful melody of your laugh.

He can’t have feelings for you. You aren’t his soulmate, that much was made clear on the morning of your eighteenth birthday.

Bokuto didn’t understand why he felt so disappointed hearing you say you didn’t have a soulmate mark. He couldn’t explain why even though he felt sad, all he wanted to do was make you smile again.

His feelings were unexplainable, he couldn’t have feelings for his best friend.

What was even more unexplainable, however, is why he accepted Machi’s confession. Don’t get him wrong, Machi was beautiful. There wasn’t anything bad about her; she was sweet, smart, and attractive. That’s why Bokuto said yes, it had to be. No one in their right mind would turn down Machi. Of course, that’s why Bokuto agreed to take her on a date. He should be happy.

So why did it feel like his world was crumbling when he told you about Machi? Why did he feel like the scum of the earth watching you take in the information. He felt pathetic. He couldn’t even look you in the eyes. Watching you turn around in a flurry, mumbling about forgetting something in your classroom, he wanted nothing more than to run after you, tell you it was a mistake. 

The spiker pulled on his hair in frustration. Despite knowing these things, he still didn’t understand why? He has no right to feel this way. 

Chalking it up to guilt from not consulting with his best friend before accepting a confession, he pushed away his feelings, claiming it was just platonic guilt.

His confusion only grew when he realized you were avoiding him. He tried to convince himself otherwise. The spiker just assumed you were respecting the boundaries between the two of you because of Machi, letting her wait for him after practices instead of you, giving him time to catch up with Machi before classes instead of talking to you. 

You didn’t miss his longing gazes that burned through your shoulders as you brushed past him in the hallways. refusing to acknowledge him. It felt wrong ignoring Bokuto, a weird feeling settling in your chest after acting as if he never existed. But it was necessary. Your couldn’t put yourself through the pain of acting like everything was normal around Bokuto, knowing he was your soulmate, yet giving all of his firsts to her.

Laying in bed, you often find yourself wondering if Bokuto already had his first kiss, first date, first time. Unbeknownst to you, your soulmate was laying in his own bed across the street, wondering if your hair always looked so pretty in the sun.

That’s why the next time you two are alone, the tension between the two of you became unbearable. “So what do you think about Machi?” Bokuto asked, trying to clear the air of any awkwardness.

“I don’t know her that well, but she seems nice,” you tried to reply, not letting your voice betray your emotions.

Bokuto looked down. Nice, huh?

“Why did you do it?” you suddenly asked, eyes boring into the side of the spiker’s head.

“I don’t know,” Bokuto mumbled honestly. Clearing his throat, he looked up, meeting your eyes, trying to decipher the emotions running through them. “I guess I wanted to date someone. Waiting around for my soulmate seemed boring,” he lied, eyes searching a little too hard to see your reaction, still seeming to miss the flash of hurt in your eyes.

“What are you going to do when you find your soulmate?” you prodded, curiosity taking over, knowing you would be hurt by his response.

“I guess we’ll have to see,” Bokuto started, sending a knife straight into your heart, “I know our soulmates are meant to be our perfect match, but what if things between Machi and I turn out to be really good, y’know?” You wanted nothing more to escape and return home, shutting yourself away from the outside world.

Hearing there was no guarantee that Bokuto would chose you, even after finding out about being soulmates, caused something inside you to shatter. You quickly stood up from where you were sitting, walking off before the spiker could see the tears well up in your eyes.  

“Y/n, where are you going?” Bokuto’s eyes shone with concern as he started walking after you.

“It’s nothing, I just remembered something important I have to do,” you lied, trying to level your shaky voice. 

You hoped your lie would work, but you knew you couldn’t fool Bokuto. That’s why it hurt even more when he didn’t come after you, demanding you tell him what was wrong so he could cheer you up. He used to do it all the time, so why stop now? Was it because of Machi? It would make sense for him as a boyfriend to respect some boundaries. 

After all, to him, you were just his childhood friend.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

The next time you ran into Bokuto was at the library. You were there to finish up a paper, feeling stuffy in your own bedroom after being holed up attempting to avoid Bokuto. It was just your luck that the moment you went out in public, you would run into him. He hadn’t noticed you. How could you when he was sleeping soundly, mouth slightly agape as drool pooled onto the book under his head. You could help but slightly giggle at his appearance. His left splayed on the table, palm facing upwards as his right arm acted as a cushion for his head. His soulmate mark on his left wrist stood out proudly against his milky skin. 

Before you knew it, you were walking towards where he was seated. An insatiable urged filled you to match your soulmate mark to his. Perhaps you just wanted confirmation that what Akaashi said was true, perhaps you just needed reassurance that the wing spiker was actually your soulmate, wanted the justification that he was deemed to be your perfect match. 

Quietly pulling out the chair next to him, you set your belongings on the table before turning to face Bokuto. Your breathing fell in time with his as you tentatively reached out with your right hand, soulmate mark tingling. Nervously, you stared as you watched your fingers lightly brushed against his palm before slotting them between his calloused fingers. It wasn’t like you never held his hand before, but somehow, it felt different this time, more intimate. You hesitated before slowly pushing your wrist to align with his. Holding your breath, you watched as the thick lines on your wrist perfectly filled the gaps between Bokuto’s lines, filling them in to create a perfect square. The blood in your body rushed to your head as your heart pounded furiously against your chest, soulmate mark burning at this point. Tears unknowingly rolled down your cheeks.

He’s mine. Bokuto is my soulmate.

You couldn’t help but let out happy chuckle. Your happiness was quickly replaced with panic as you felt Bokuto’s hand tighten around yours. Eyes quickly darting to Bokuto’s face, you breathed out a sigh of relief as you took in his sleeping figure, knowing he was still unconscious. However, no measure of preparedness could have braced you from the heartbreak you were about to endure.

The happiness you built up knowing Bokuto truly was your soulmate was soon shattered as soon as the spiker breathed out one word in his sleep.

“Machi.”

That day you realized it didn’t matter if Bokuto was your soulmate, if he was your one true other half. He would never be yours.

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[skiyoosmi]

if fate permits

chapter twenty

a taste of his own medicine

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“Hey… uhm… I’m sorry. I’m not sure where to start because I’ve been the worst friend to ya for the past weeks. But I want to start with an apology, I guess… yer probably tired of hearing it, right? … it’s something I’ll never gonna be proud of, my pettiness, I mean… but yeah… I’m sorry, YN. I hope ya believe me when I say yer impo–”

Beep! You sighed, ending yet another voicemail from Atsumu. It’s been almost a week since you and your brother moved out of the apartment and ever since the day after that, your soulmate has yet to cease dropping more than three voicemails every single day.

It wasn’t that you haven’t caught sight of him at school; in fact, you see him everywhere. It’s just so happens that you couldn’t help but avoid him like a plaque. You think he knows it though and you’re actually glad that he’s trying to respect your space (except for the endless ringing of your phone which only gets sent straight to voicemail every time, much like today). Which is why right now, you only stared at his contact, contemplating whether you will entertain his ‘apology.’ He sounds like he regrets it, after all and the fact that you only have less than 10 days before your flight wasn’t helping the situation.

“You know, if you keep having a soft heart like that, I’m betting a hundred bucks you won’t get too far once you become a famous writer. A lot of people will take advantage of you, you know. And don’t even get me started with those haters that disguise themselves as critiques,” Speaking of the devil, Kiyoomi suddenly spoke up, his figure leaning against the doorway of your room, much like the pose your father had when you were leaving your previous apartment.

Hundred bucks, you begin to think, where the hell would your jobless ass get a hundred bucks? You won’t tell him that verbally, of course; you value your life too much to even risk being strangled by your brother’s own hands.

“What do you mean soft heart? Where’d you even get the idea that I’m going to talk to him, doofus!? No way, he needs to learn his lesson,” You huffed, turning to him with an eyebrow raised, as if challenging him. He scoffed, entering your room, and sitting on your bed. You were kind of surprised he did given that your room was still messy as hell; but once again, you opted to keeping your mouth shut.

“It’s written all over your face, dear sister. Plus, you’ve said that a million times already I’m actually tired of hearing it now. After all these years, you think I don’t memorize every habit you have?” He replied, hands taking some of the clothes that were still stored in a brown carton and beginning to fold them neatly before standing up and putting it into your closet. He really does take after your father, from appearances to characteristics, “Your eyes, they speak to me the loudest, telling me every bit of your feelings. In fact, I’m kind of puzzled Atsumu never found out through them. But then again, it just supports the truth that he’s as dumb as he could get.”

This boy doesn’t really miss a chance to voice out his disfavor for your soulmate, huh? You wonder what is it that made him dislike… no, wait dislike was an underestimation… rather, loath Atsumu to the core. Bad first impression? No, your brother was not that petty. Did they have a fight you never knew about? If Atsumu and him ever fought, you were sure as hell you’d be the first one to know, seeing as your best friend practically whines and complains at you at every single thing in his life… so why?

“He hurt you and not just once. It’s not supposed to be my business but technically speaking, you are my sister before you were his soulmate and that’s all I needed to dislike him,” said Kiyoomi, continuing to fold your clothes as if what he said was practically nothing. Was he a mind-reader? You don’t know but perhaps, you could try to convince him to start up a fortune-telling business with you and earn millions.

“… You’re so creepy, ‘Yoomi,” You spoke up after a few moments of silence while he sneered, obviously not pleased with your comical reply, “Forget it! God, it’s so hard to have a serious talk with you.”

You only pursed your lips before bursting out into laughter, making him glare at you before his eyes softened. He hasn’t heard that pure laughter in a long time, after all. For some odd reason, he is proud that it was him that made you happy again like that, even for just a short while. After watching you work on something he doesn’t really know what, probably for the play, (it’s a relief you still have a smile on your face while you were on it though), he stands up, stopping by the doorway again when he heard you speak, “Thanks for being there, ‘Yoomi. Can’t imagine my life without my best brother.”

Kiyoomi knows he’s far from being the best brother in the world; he wasn’t expressive, sweet nor overprotective… but hearing those words from you means he’s at least good and somehow, he’s fine with that. He remains quiet before saying, “You know, your friend Hajime, I think he’s nice.”

He doesn’t say anything more, but he knows that his words reached you; he didn’t miss the way you blushed, after all. He takes note of making you flustered more often.

Osamu grumbles under his breath in annoyance, clenching then unclenching his hands as he watched Yui cling onto his brother’s arm like there was no tomorrow. Doesn’t this girl have any decency left in her blood? They were in the public cafeteria of the university, good heavens! And they haven’t even officially became soulmates AND a couple.

The last thing he wanted on his agenda today was to become a third wheel, much less to his brother; and the fact that it’s not even with you, the true soulmate, his favorite Sakusa (he won’t let Kiyoomi know that though), and best drinking buddy, makes it more unbearable for the gray-haired lad. He could only scowl so hard at his twin, who on the other hand, remained unmoved. At least that’s what Osamu sees but unbeknownst to him, Atsumu just wishes he could go and find you as soon as possible.

He has had enough of you averting your gaze each time you catch each other’s eyes at the theater room. According to his brother, your flight is in ten days which means he only had a few more days to make your friendship right; to make it up to you and prove that you are, indeed, an important figure in his life (cue Osamu’s mocking last night when they talked: “HAH!? You sure do have a peculiar way of showing her that she’s important. You’re making me want to laugh and choke you at the same time.”)

“Oh! Iwaizumi-kun, Tooru and… Sakusa YN?” Yui trails off, making the blonde perk up at the sound of your name, turning his body quickly only to find you already looking back at them with… disappointed eyes? As quickly as it came, it disappeared and soon, you were smiling and waving at Osamu, completely ignoring your “best” friend. Atsumu can only stare at you in disbelief; never, not even once, had you disregarded his existence like that before. Even when you had small arguments, you made sure to acknowledge him with a simple nod.

In addition to your indifference, Hajime only furrowed his eyebrows in confusion at Yui’s greeting, as if he doesn’t know Yui at all, not even as an acquaintance. Hence, the three of you only proceeded to the table Makki, Mattsun and your brother saved for you.

“Eh? Iwaizumi… ignored me?” Yui frowned, obviously not used to being disregarded by the boy who used to give her a greeting every time they come across each other. As far as she could remember, they ended their bond in good terms, without anyone having to feel angry at the other so why is it that he acted that way? Did he hold a grudge after all?

Meanwhile, Atsumu gazed into nothing, your sad eyes flashing into his mind and staying there. Have you given up on him already? Did his nightmare that day actually came true? His trail of thoughts was cut off with Osamu’s voice speaking with amusement plastered on his face, “ooh, a taste of his own medicine, huh YN?”

He smirks, finding his brother’s suffering oddly satisfying. He too, like Kiyoomi, has his limits as to Atsumu’s undesired talent of hurting you (he knows the blonde was also suffering but you know, it just really gets on his nerves how blind his twin could get). So right after saying that, he stands up, picking up his tray that holds his food and beginning to walk where your table was.

“Samu! Where are you going?” The said lad looks back at his blonde twin weirdly before shrugging, “YN and Kiyoomi’s table, where else? You can’t expect me to stay on the table with you two, it’s weird.”

“So… you really can’t remember anything about your soulmate? Like who it is or something?” Oikawa asked, staring at Hajime’s hands, as if he’d be able to see anything on his pinky. Unfortunately for him, the ex-captain was not given the ability to be a Moira so he wouldn’t be able to see any changes no matter how long or hard he looks. The spiky-haired lad merely groans, feeling a headache coming due to his dear friend’s pestering, “Yes. I told you that already. I just woke up, saw my thread black and now, I can’t remember anything about who it is.”

“But you can remember us? It’s just the soulmate stuff you forgot?”

“Well, I’m talking to you right now, am I not, you dumbass?” Hajime snarled; an inch close to punching his best friend in the face. Beside him, you look down, feeling the sadness and heartbreak for him because even those feelings were lost the moment he woke up. If you let go of Atsumu, will this also happen to you? You can only give a pathetic laugh at your silly question; of course, it will. You weren’t some kind of special Moira that will be exempted from that ‘curse.’ But you wonder, how would he react? Would he be sad? Or would he just forget about you too and just throw everything you had away? It seems so easy for him to do that, after all.

Now that you witness what’s gonna happen upon cutting the thread, a part of you somehow wishes you should’ve just told him when it was still early, when you were still young and problem-free. Maybe he would’ve given you a promise like those in the movies wherein he says he would marry you once you get older. Maybe he would’ve been able to love you if you could’ve just given him a chance to do so. But it’s your fault, isn’t it? Because you were a coward; you were so greedy for true love that you can no longer have it, you think to yourself.

In the midst of your rather negative thoughts, a warm hand pulls you away from mentally beating up yourself further. Looking up, you find Hajime looking at you with soft eyes, as if assuring your heart that: “You’ll be fine. I’m here. I’ll keep you safe.”

Maybe… just maybe, the universe has given you another chance for true love.

marga's notes. I HAVE FOUND A NEW HUSBAND AND HIS NAME'S BENIMARU SHINMON

taglist is closed

[liquid-luck-00]

Seven Deadly Sins x Maribat

Medieval Au

@maribat-bdbwm

Based on this idea

~~~~~~~~~~

Ten years ago.

On the outskirts of the city of Liones, of the capital of the country Liones, in the land of Britannia, homes destroyed, and countless holy knights laid butchered in the streets.

That day will go down in history for its infamy, the day the Seven Deadly Sins betrayed the country of Liones.

---

This is a tale of ancient times, an era before the human and non-human worlds were forever divided. When the Holy Knights, defended the realm, wielding their magical powers they were feared and highly respected. But among them a group emerged, that betrayed the kingdom, and became mortal enemies to all Holy Knights. They were known throughout the land as the Seven Deadly Sins.

---

Present day.

Near the Kaynes Village, there was a new tavern that was a buzz with customers.

“Here you go, drink up.” A young girl placed five steins of ale on the table. She had dark black hair that shown blue, pulled into twin pigtails by two pink ribbons, and bangs that framed her face and blue eyes. She wore a collared off-white shirt under a black vest with green panels. A pink skirt over leggings that reached halfway down her calf. And wore black and green boots. As more people come in, she directs them all with a smile.

“For a little lady, she is one hard working waitress.” A customer acknowledges.

“Oh no, I’m not the waiter, Buddy” She turns around. “I’m the owner of this place.” She turns to walk away.

“She’s the owner?!? A young kid like that.” But she doesn’t hear them.

“Alright, fresh from the oven. The meat pie that made the Boar Hat famous. Enjoy.” Three patrons dug into the pie, and promptly got sick. “You should have known. Our reputation is for having really good booze, but the food not so much.” She said with a completely straight face.

“Are trying to mess with us you little punk.” One shouted ready to fight.

“Wait guys, she’s packing a sword.” Another of the three pointed out. The handle was an emerald green and looked like a dragon with ruby eyes.

“Well, you guys, looks like we have a problem.” Her smile fell and she snapped her fingers. “Now let’s fix it.”

“Come on you call that a mess.” Out trotted a shiny black pig, wearing an earring tag. “Really what do you need me for?”

“Wait!!! That pig. He’s talking.”

“Yes, I’m a talking pig, what a bunch of dum-dums.”

“Plagg, we need to get this floor cleaned.” She spoke.

“Ugh, what a hassle.” Plagg complained. “Scrap disposal is a tough business.” He ate leaving, but before he did, he retorted. “Next time there better be some decent sized scraps.”

“You know I have an old family recipe for whole roasted hog.” She spoke to no one in particular, but with a deadpanned expression. Which changed Plagg’s tune quickly.

Then someone barged in. “I saw it. I really saw it.” He sat down. “I swear to all that is holy. I saw the wandering Rust Knight.”

“That’s just a made-up story, like how parents get their kids to stop misbehaving. The Seven Deadly Sins will come in blood rusted armor, oooh ahhh.”

“The Seven Deadly Sins?” She asks from behind the bar.

���You’ve never heard of them? They’re wanted posters are hanging everywhere, like those over there.”

She looks at the board and there were seven faces and seven names. Marinette, Chloe, Adrien, Luka, Felix, Lila, and Kagami.

“How long has it been? Ten years. When all those holy knights were slaughtered so fast, they couldn’t defend themselves. It was the Seven Deadly Sins that did it. From what I've been told the way the holy Knights’ grandmaster was killed was too gruesome for anyone to look at.” They began to talk amongst themselves.

“They say their captain, Marinette, is the scariest of them all. It's even said that she's brought down whole countries on her own.” Everything went quiet.

Until another patron spoke up. “Well none of them have been caught yet have not a single one.”

“They’re dead, they have to be the new Holy Knights would never let them live after what they've done.”

“Yeah you've got a point even now with the kings sick. The Holy Knights are making sure that the Kingdom stays safe for all its people. But those notices up on the board get updated every single year. Doesn’t that mean those seven criminals are still out there?”

“Yeah well some spooky knight walking around in rusty armor sounds pretty ridiculous to me.”

“You’re right.”

A crash, scraping, and banging was heard just outside the Tavern door.

“That smells an awful lot like rust to me.” Plagg sniffed the air and then cowered behind the counter.

The door opened and there stood the rusted knight. “The Seven Deadly Sins…” Hhe moaned as he entered the Tavern.

Screaming, panic, and everyone rushing out of the Tavern ensued. Fleeing from the rusted knight.

The girl jumped over the counter and stood her ground defiantly looking at the Rust knight. “Now who are you?”

The Rust knight swayed and then fell to the ground collapsed. His helmet rolled off of him. And then they saw his face, his eyes shut tight in the pain and exhaustion, his black hair short and messy stuck to his face from the sweat. And he wore a singular earring, a true blue engraved with something in red and gold.

“This kid is one of the Seven Deadly Sins?” Plagg asked the girl, and they took him up to the room taking the armor off of him. “He's just a boy.”

“Let’s just make sure.” The girl went up to the boy and started poking him first on his thigh, then his stomached, his bicep, she was leaning over him and was about to poke his cheek when his eyes flew open. “Yep, he's a boy.”

“Um, pardon me but what am I doing here?” He was quiet and soft spoken.

“Oh yeah you came into my bar then you passed out cold.”

“Your bar?”

“Yeah, the Boar Hat, my Tavern.”

“You’re the owner?”

“Is that so weird?”

“I just saw that sword, so I naturally assumed.”

“Oh, this old thing.” She motioned and pulled the sword from its scabbard. “Ha ha ha. Yeah, I guess if you only see the handle, it can fool ya huh.” All that rose up and out with her hand was the handle and a small stub was left of the blade, which was practically worthless in a fight. “It makes guests think twice about skipping out on their tabs.” She put the sword handle back into its scabbard on her back.

Which was when they moved downstairs to the raven again. Marinette cooked up something for the boy, and set the plate in front of him.

“First you nurse me back to health, now you're feeding me, how can I possibly thank you enough.” He barely choked out.

“First before saying thanks you should probably try the food first.” Plagg’s nasally voice cut into his words.

“What do you think? Awful isn't it.” She leaned down on the bar now watching him eat with a grin on her face.

“Yes.” He responded.

Which caused both her and Plagg to respond in unison. “Knew it was.”

But then something shocked them, he started to cry.

“Still its delicious.” Tears fell down his face.

“So what exactly were you doing walking around in that old armor, anyways?” She asked the boy.

“I'm on a personal quest to find the Seven Deadly Sins.” He answered.

“Why would you do that? You don’t even know if those guys are even still alive or not, and they’re serious villains.” Plagg reasoned.

That was when banging was heard on the tavern door, knights banged on the door, and ordered them to open up for them.

That was when she noticed the boy got slightly afraid at the mention of Knights.

After a moment of the Knights bickering to themselves, that gave her just enough time to think. She went and opened the door.

“Who are you?” One of the Knights asked her as she opened the door.

“I'm the owner of this place. What do you want?” She was relaxed.

“The Rust Knight is in there, send him out!” The same knight answered.

“Alright.” She turned around and looked back. “You might want to come out now.”

They all looked past her and saw Plagg dressed in the armor that the boy was wearing walk out.

“You have some nerve mocking the Knights of this land like this.” He grabbed her by the shirt and lifted her up off the ground. She was small, sure but he still held her up a meter off the ground.

That’s when the boy had snuck out of the back and made a run for it into the forest. Unfortunately, he was seen. “Look a boy just ran out, after him.”

The knight threw her back to the ground and she and Plagg shared a worried look.

The two of them ran after the boy and the Knights, Plagg mowed down, tackling each and every one, while she went after the boy. The last knight got pushed down off of the cliff at the edge of the forest by Plagg. While she and the boy were safely out of the way in one of the trees at the edge.

“So why are you looking for the Seven Deadly Sins anyways?” She asked him once they were back on the ground.

“To stop the Holy Knights.” He answered.

“Are you serious!! Why in the world would you wanna do that?” Plagg exclaimed. “The Holy Knights are the king’s men, the knights are here to protect us they are heroes.”

“But what if they were behind a plot to start a war in our country. Except for the king himself, the entire royal family was arrested and is being held by the Holy Knights.”

“Does that mean the king isn't really sick in bed?” Plagg asked the boy.

“That’s just a cover story the Holy Knights are using. I don't know what they think they can accomplish by driving the nation to war, but now they're drafting people. Taking men wherever they can get them they're preparing for war everywhere you look. So their reach will even extend all the way out here.” He shook his head.

“Yeah tough break, huh?” She finally responded.

“Wow you don't have any empathy at all. How does this tie back to the Seven Deadly Sins again?” Plagg shook his head.

“If there's even the slightest hope of preventing the Holy Knights from doing this. I know they're the only ones who can.” He was resolute.

“Just checking here.” She Butt in again. “You’re trying to find those guys even though you know what kind of people they are?”

“The Seven Deadly Sins are the most vile Order of Knights the Kingdom ever produced, made up of seven vicious bloodthirsty criminals each one branded with the mark of the beast. Ten years ago when they were suspected of trying to overthrow the Kingdom the Knights of the realm launched a full force attack scattering them to the four winds.”

“Well if you believe the rumors they each died a long time ago.” She spoke distractedly.

“Such amazing people wouldn't possibly let themselves get killed!”

“But they are criminals aren't they causing the suffering of the people right now?” She asked confused.

“When I was small, only five or six years old, my father would tell me stories about them and that's when I learned they are the most powerful Knights!”

A rumbling was heard and then the edge of the cliff they were on started to crumble and fall beneath them, dropping them down.

“I did not confirm whether or not they were people named in the report. Conclusion two individuals of unknown origin dead. What do you think men that sounds about right?” A man wearing red armor, silver grey hair and mustache.

“But Sir Twiggle, one of our knights was still under the cliff.”

“Simply put three fatalities in the report then.” Twiggle answered haughtily.

“But Sir, you can't! That’s too far even for you”

“How about seven fatalities instead?” The knight in red armor moved towards the rest of his men, but that was also when she jumped back up on to the cliff with not only the boy and Plagg in her arms but also the knight who fell.

“When I give a signal to you run into the forest got it.” She spoke quietly to the boy.

“Which one of them would you believe to be a member of the Seven Deadly Sins. Neither bears any resemblance to the wanted posters?” He then noticed something. “God is smiling upon me today, the crystal earring you're wearing is from the royal family. Conclusion you are Prince Jonathan!”

“Wait hold on Prince Jonathan?” The knights shouted.

“You're a Prince?” She added softly.

“Orders from the Capital are to determine your whereabouts. the order was to capture you alive and in healthy condition, but if you lost your life in an unfortunate accident…” Twiggle spoke aloud.

“I can't allow myself to get captured not yet!”

“Conclusion accidental death.” Sir Twiggle let off a shockwave of air magic chopping the entire forest down to the ground.

“Hi there, you alright?” She had pulled him down and covered him from the blast. “Plagg?”

“Seriously I'm a shaved pork on a skewer.” He cried. A single small little twig had splintered in his back. And he went off crying and screaming Tikki.

Johnathan stood and started to walk towards Twiggle. “Johnathan. Hey! What are you doing?” She called after him.

“There’s no escape.”

“Wait hang on you just said you couldn't afford to be caught or to give up.”

“Maybe if I surrender myself peacefully, he'll agree to take me back with him and your life can be spared.”

Sir Twiggle sent off another blast cutting into everything again, but she was able to tackle him out of the way just in time.

“Please get out of here while you still can.” He begged her.

“I think he wants to make sure neither one of us gets out of here alive.” She noticed as She was above him once more. After the attack ensuring he was fine yet again, the only real damage done to her, and that was her left sleeve was completely torn revealing her entire arm from shoulder to fingers. A mark barely visible on her shoulder.

“I was so happy when I met you. Searching for the Seven Deadly Sins, I so scared alone in that rusty armor. There wasn't any help I could ask for. Then you show up and show me such kindness, someone that you've never met before. I don't wanna see you hurt my problems anymore when I don’t even know your name.”

Memories flashed behind her eyes and a smile spread on her lips.

“Marinette. If you really wanna know.” She grinned from ear to ear.

“I… I don't believe it you can't be you're just.” Tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

That was when the knight who fell with them regained consciousness jumping up. “Where's the girl the one with the sword. I saw it when she saved me from the cliff the symbol it was right there. The symbol on her shoulder it… it… it’s her.”

Sir Twiggle struck again now closer, right on top of them. The magic was unleashed but Marinette stood up and was now facing the Knight.

“How is this possible? My technique was flawless I am certain my blade struck her!” Twiggle began to look even more and more frazzled. “But I was the one who felt the force of the blow. How could it have hit me?! And what is that in your hand?! A broken blade! Broken blade… now your face is beginning to look familiar. Truly it can’t! How can you look exactly the same as you did then?!? No matter your time's up! How dare you still exist!”

Their blades clashed their magic erupted, which sent Twiggle and his men flying high, high into the sky almost like a meteorite.

“Extraordinary power.” Johnathan breathed.

“Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins, the Dragon sin of Wrath, Marinette.” She announced.

~~~~~~~~~~

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[hydrangeasimagination]

Cadence

Pairing(s): Saiki Kusuo X Gender Neutral! Reader | Onesided! Saiki Kusuo X Teruhashi Kokomi

Summary: When Kusuo feels, he feels with all of himself. It bleeds into everything, from exasperation to pining. Two things that came to him this special afternoon... The afternoon he’d told his mother he’d confess to his crush.

Warning(s): Unrequited Love. Slight Angst.

A/N: I'M SORRY KOKOMI... This is a fandom I haven't written for in a while! I know some people probably don't like her that much?? But it came to me. Think of it like Conan Gray's "Heather", just that Heather isn't the one our love interest has affections for. Oh - the reader is a musician here!! This is longer than usual.

(P.S. The last line of it probably doesn't make sense unless you've watched the Saiki K dub.)

“bolded italics” is Saiki speaking via telepathy, “italics” are thoughts.

“Amorous feelings were something hard to harbor.

Especially if they're directed towards someone that feels unreachable.

Like no matter how far you stretch, you can never reach them.

With heart in hand, ready to give.

Though the seeds of concern at possible rejection, the sting of heartbreak is painful. As is losing the receiver if your relationship predates the confession, if they were close already.

Unshakeable worry.

Even for someone like the invincible Saiki Kusuo.

Settled in his slightly uncomfortable desk, head resting on his palm. His gaze settled on the rolling clouds, thoughts filtering in and out of his head. Half-lidded violets sleepily dreaming of drizzling rain, of huddling close under an umbrella. Spending time under dreary skies with the one to brighten it all.”

"Well her thoughts aren't exactly far off."

A chill washed over his skin, his cryokinesis calming the blood about to rush to his cheeks.

Teruhashi's gaze felt heavy on his back, her commentary matching his recent feelings word for word. Sweeping strands of blue over her shoulder, she discreetly watched him from the corners of her eyes under a veil of lashes.

"Of course, the thoughts of a boy are always so predictable," She nearly giggled "especially when they're in love with someone like me."

His face dropped into a deadpan.

"She's way off though... I feel kind of bad honestly."

Kusuo shook his head, brow furrowing as he slid his gaze down to his desk.

Or rather, what was sitting in it.

"My mom told me not to be ashamed or feel guilty for not reciprocating someone elses' feelings." He breaths in, sliding his ring into his finger.

"Especially when I'm not responsible for them."

The tone of the bell filled the airways, signaling dismissal for students - voices of relief and rejoice. A long school day dragging to a close, its occupants reader to leave and relish in the weekend.

But there was a mission Saiki was on.

One that would have him stay after school as opposed to his want to escape the clutches of his friends.

Most of which were aware of his plans.

He left before he even questioned or asked about plans, skillfully dodging the flow of the crowd. Of course, with the ring, it makes it the slightest bit harder to discern the best route to move through them. But it wasn't a problem for him despite the handicap on one of the more useful powers he has.

The lack of knowledge of those around him in that moment was a little nerve racking(though not any less when it came to matters of the heart), though his general instincts were aware about those on his tail.

He paid it no mind.

He was on a mission.

The light taps of his shoes stopped right at the door, squeaking lightly on the linoleum. Fingers running along the edges of his already immaculate blazer, he slid it open and peered inside.

Notes of music thrummed from within, melody flowing into harmony soothingly.

"Oh, Saiki - san."

The club's president was first to notice him, having been near the door.

Gesturing him inside and quietly pestering him again with a mumble, "I don't mind you coming here but have you reconsidered join -"

"My answer is still no."

This time, Saiki doesn't wait to hear the boy's thoughts even if he could. Instead shifting his attention to the reason he even came to the music room.

Basking under the glow of the window, swaying just slightly with a serene calm. In rhythm with the mellowing sounds of music blending together, he feels his heartbeat sync with it. Then skipping for one or two as he slowly walked across the room, careful to not disturb the other practicing musicians. Though their eyes were also taken.

Fingers skimming over strings, its noise vibrating throughout the guitar as chords shifted and moved.

It didn't stop as the fingers' owner, you, smiled at him. Soft and easy going, silently acknowledging his presence before going straight back to playing.

He didn't mind, no, not at all.

Instead, he set himself down at your side.

He could wait.

It was you after all.

As the arrangement ended, notes left ringing out to leave his head and body with a nice break. No thoughts flooding and bashing at the insides of his skull, no need to strain himself or his powers.

The light round of applause was also not as jarring as loud cheers or things of the sort.

It was one of the reasons he'd come to this club, enough for the President to ask him if he'd like to join due to their frequency.

"Came about as early as I did this time."

Stashing the guitar in a case and stretching aching fingers, you smiled again at him. Shimmering gaze and soft features accented by filled windows, his heart fluttered gently from it's place. Thudding against his sternum like a drum.

Fitting.

But the music was only one of the reasons he visited so often.

"What, excited to see me, Saiki - kun?" You jested, his breath hitching just slightly at that.

He contemplates the question. The stares on him burn a little, with a short glance at the door, he can see the pair that took the risk in following him. There was no way to stop them anyhow...

Yumehara was a horrible gossip monger - and Teruhashi?

... He knew of her crush on him.

There is something in his chest that moves along with the speeding of his pulse.

Vindication?

Satisfaction?

How petty of him...

As he shifted his rose tinted gaze back to you, he can't really find it in himself to care.

"What a pain." He thought, quite derisively.

Removing the ring, he gorged himself on the sweetened sight of your sleepy eyes and smile - full of cheek.

It's pleasant.

Seeing you was just what he needed - his racing heart petering to a mellowing flicker. A warmth washing through his veins, breathing and thriving in your scent and calming presence.

This is a nice feeling.

Having a crush like this.

Being surrounded and swaddled in the fuzzy feelings of pining hit him a couple months back, when he'd first grew privy to the melody playing in your head. Naked truth and honesty, utter genuinity from every pore - matching actions to words.

Hearing and sitting and watching you play... It made him grow endeared to you over the time you'd spent with each other, even if it wasn't long.

"You don't have to answer, I was just joking."

"... But I was excited."

You blink.

He only lifted his hand, pressing the back of it to his mouth in slight abashment. He really isn't good at this.

But he's trying.

With the color tinging the tips of your ears, it seemed to fell through. Making a look, though shy, appear 'pon your face. Now less drowsy.

"I'm glad you came," You admitted, turning away to try and hide the timidness you suddenly felt "always am."

Saiki's stomach did flip flops, hand falling from his now smiling lips.

"Perhaps I would do it a lot more often, that is, if you were interested in filling a position." He is somewhat aware how funny it is for him to be making music jokes, "It's first seat - just for a guitarist."

Fiddling with the collar of your uniform, quietly, you mumbled, "It sounds like... You're trying to ask me out -"

"I am." Kusuo ignored the squeaks he most definitely heard on the other side of the door. "Only if you're interested."

"I am." You parrot, honeyed confession interlacing in softened tone in difference from his. Paired with a expression of such tenderness any ice lingering on him melts away.

"So..." He trailed off.

You laugh a little bit, still somewhat sheepish as a warm color washes your soft cheeks. "My answer is yes, I will happily take that position."

He can't help it.

Your hand is warm as he took it in his own, heating in contact, darkening flush sweeping down your neck in response to the showcase of affection.

“Cute."

Playfully scowling at that, you only huffed.

"Shush you."

He felt the hodge-podge of emotions flooding from behind the door; hurt, anger, disbelief. Guilt pulled at his strained heart strings, knowing full well that just beyond the door was someone vying for his affections.

"She never respected how you felt."

The intrusive thought of his making was snuffed faster than a candle, fingers shifting and locking through the spaces in his.

"Saiki?" You spoke, brows knitting. "You okay?"

His troubles were showing on his face, huh?

It was hard to remain dishonest around you.

"Kusuo... Call me Kusuo."

Surprise filters over the shyness, but you positively titter at your new boyfriend's insistence.

"This means you gotta stop calling me your senpai." The comment leaves butterfly wings fluttering in his belly.

He tested your appellation on his own lips.

Though he was unsatisfied, now rather irritated with your voyeurs despite his previous guilt. Especially at the insulting thoughts he now hears in your name - subject to Kokomi.

It came to him as he moved closer, soaking in the music playing again you both watched someone seat themselves at the piano.

Petty?

Yes.

But they were the ones that decided to follow him in the first place.

So he might was well hit two birds with one stone.

He indulged in the sticky, gooey feelings you'd plagued him with. Pressing his lips to your cheekbone in a display of his devotion, relishing in the gasp of shock he tore from you.

Kusuo squeezed your hand, charoite eyes promising a little mischief.

"Does that mean I can call you my baby doll?"

[shadoedseptmbr]

meet cute pt 4

Only a week or two *cough* late.  lol the final part of Meet Cute, in honor of MELE!

All Aboard the Normandy SR1

Pt. 1 Anderson

Pt. 2. Joker

Pt. 3. Chakwas

Part Four: Kaidan Alenko

Kaidan isn’t aboard his new ship long enough to find his locker before the doctor has him under her scanner.  

He’s used to it.  Most of the medical branch falls into three categories for him, either they think he’s some sort of monster they want to dissect in their labs or they think he needs coddling.  He prefers the ones like this one.  

“I just want a baseline, Lieutenant.  To run comparisons in case of injuries or later concerns.”  

She never even mentions the implant, other than a slight tsk over the scarring just visible under his hairline.  He’s pretty sure it’s just professional disdain for his surgeon’s workmanlike handiwork, though.

Their omnis ping at the same time and Chakwas shakes her head.  “Our presence is requested, Lieutenant.  I suppose we’ll have time to stow all this away once we’re off.”

“Have you served with Captain Anderson before, ma’am?” He holds the door for her to enter the lift, first.

Chakwas has a warm smile, it probably serves her well in her bedside manner. “Yes, several times and with Engineer Adams and Nav Officer Pressly.  Anderson has a certain style of command and he’s found himself a crew that suits it.  He’s earned the right, I would think.”

He has to ask, “And what about the XO?”

“Shepard?  No, never served with her, though she has popped up in our wake a few times.  Have you?”

“No. She was stationed on the Tokyo but she transferred off right before I came aboard.”  He had, in fact, peeled her nametape off the locker he’d been assigned.  And maybe he’d listened to the stories the crew had told about her.  Hard not to listen to stories.  

The one they told the most was how she’d just vanished -no goodbyes- at a fueling station on the edge of the Terminus system after a month of almost being part of the crew.  Pretty standard for N7’s, the captain had assured them.  Orders from HQ and a freighter headed the right direction.

Kaidan holds the door for Dr. Chakwas and follows her out of the lift when they arrive at the CIC, Joker still running his checklists as they exit.  Guess he gets to miss the handshaking.

The rest of the Normandy’s command is waiting at the base of the gangway. Kaidan’s been to one or two of these launches, but this time there’s no band or families waving them off.  

A few official looking people- humans and turians, mostly- are scattered to the edge of the dock.  Pressly, who he’d met earlier, holding the scanner and checking the credentials of the steady stream of boarding crew.  Captain Anderson, familiar from vids, towers over most of the humans and a couple of the turians.  

There’s someone at Anderson’s elbow, in crisp BDU’s.  He can only see her straight back and the curve of her shaved head. The XO, if he has to hazard a guess. Hero of the Blitz, N7, all of the legends in one uniform.

Though...hunh.  

He thought Shepard was taller.  

Maybe this is a yeoman? 

The woman turns her head slightly and the scar curving under her right eye -familiar from the vids and even a recruiting poster or two- stands out.

He remembers Nera telling him once that she’d shared a cup of coffee with Shepard, not long after Elysium.  On a night watch when Nera was still getting used to it on a ship full of Marines headed back to Arcturus.  “She laughs pretty easy for a hero,” Nera had told him.  “I guess I expected her to be...colder.”

Kaidan snaps out of his musing into a salute as Anderson’s head turns in his direction. “Lieutenant Alenko!”

“Sir!”

“Glad to have you with us, Kaidan.  I know Captain Helcik was pushing it to get you turned around to us.” Anderson reaches out a large, broad hand.  

Kaidan grasps it, gets firm shake and only the slightest hesitation at the buzz of his field.  “I’m glad to have made it, Captain.” 

“This is Commander Aedan Shepard, our XO.”  

“Commander.” 

“Lieutenant.”  He has to blink at the direct onslaught of a frank, appraising stare from a pair of neatly lined steel grey eyes.  A faint smile, not particularly friendly.  But she offers her hand.

And doesn’t flinch at the slight pop of static between them, when he takes it.  Her palm is cool and rough against his, for just a moment.  

He drags his attention back to the captain as Anderson continues, “You come from a good ship.  I commanded the Tokyo before Helcik.  She recommends you with...some pretty high praise.”

“I appreciate hearing that, sir.  I hope to do as well here.”  

“Well, your record and your commendations spoke well of you.  And your abilities are…”

He’s trying not to be distracted by Shepard’s continued, cool eyed assessment but he isn’t sure that distracting him isn’t the point, just to see if she can.  

Anderson seems to have a pretty friendly style of command.  

Maybe Shepard is the steel in all that velvet.

She catches him glancing at her while Anderson is still talking and lifts one, slanting red eyebrow in a question.  Or a challenge.  He cuts his eyes back to the captain, but he’d swear there was a trace of a satisfied smirk at the corner of her mouth. 

And then her eyes shift and targetlock on something...someone else and he realizes that he only thought she’d been looking at him coldly.  She shifts...her shoulders, her chin?  He isn’t sure.  But Kaidan has to physically stop himself from throwing up a barrier in reaction.

He follows her gaze and the sight makes him square up, instinctively.  

“Captain Anderson? We have a...guest.” Her low voice is respectful but laced with warning and it says something about how the captain thinks of her, how fast he reacts. Anderson immediately turns toward the armed turian approaching them in red and black armor, the pale markings stark on his dark skin as the crowd parts, whispering.

Under his breath, Anderson murmurs, “Stand down, Shepard. He’s expected.” Louder, he calls out, “Nihlus!  Glad you could make it.”

Shepard grunts an acknowledgment and her expression shifts from guarded to interested.  Still, when Anderson advances she’s in lock step at his left flank.  Kaidan -almost on reflex- moves to the opposite elbow and matches her step.  

Despite the captain’s order to relax, there’s an energy about her.  An intensity.  

Kaidan isn’t sure why- but it’s catching.

The turian scans them with bright green eyes and then nods.  “Captain Anderson.”  There’s a warm vibrato to his voice.  His attention goes immediately to Shepard, dismissing Kaidan entirely.

Well.  That’s new.  Usually, aliens lock on a biotic human as an oddity.

Shepard, for her part, is returning the regard, hands behind her back in a deceptively at ease posture.  She isn’t armed.  At least, he can’t see anything.  Not the way this Nihlus practically bristles with weaponry.  

Anderson introduces Shepard and then Kaidan to “Council SPECTRE, Nihlus Kryik.  He’ll be coming with us on the shakedown.” 

That’s all he says.  Kaidan turns to Shepard as the captain introduces the SPECTRE to a minister who’s come to see them off.  

He catches just the hint of blank shock before her face clears but she meets his look.  And lifts her eyebrows in a clear question.

Kaidan shakes his head. Yeah, he has no idea why a Council SPECTRE would be cruising with them. She scowls and tips her head and they fall back into place at Anderson’s back.

Nihlus dismisses the minister with fairly diplomatic speed and turns back to Shepard.  “I would like a tour of the ship, if you don’t mind, Commander.”   

“Of course, SPECTRE Kryik.”

“Just Nihlus.  The SPECTRES don’t stand on all of the formality of the Hierarchy or the Systems Alliance.”

“As you like.”  Kaidan has to be imagining the way Anderson glares at Shepard from beside Nihlus.  But she follows it up after a short hesitation with a crisp, “Please, just call me Shepard.”

“Family names are last for humans, as I recall.  So many similarities in our cultures.”

“On some levels.”

The turians mandibles shift before he adds, “But I understand you don’t know your family.”  Okay, seriously, what the hell is up with this guy?  

The smile she flashes is bright and cheerful and doesn’t get anywhere near her eyes.  “No, I do not.  I would love to start that tour, anytime you’re ready.  If you don’t need us, sir.”  There’s an emphasis on that last word that Kaidan thinks is important.  And Anderson clears his throat like she’d said something rude. 

“Hm. Yes.  Go on.  We’ll want you on the bridge for launch, Shepard.”   

“Yes, sir.”  There it is again.  Anderson just shakes his head as she courteously waves Nihlus in front of her.

“Lieutenant, you can be my second for the rest of the festivities.” 

“Of course, sir.”  Anderson sighs and goes back to chatting with the dignitaries and Kaidan takes the chance to glance back at Shepard who is gazing out briefly over their heads from the top of the gangway as Nihlus navigates the door.  Her eyes out on the stars beyond the dock’s shimmer of shielding. For just a second, the smile is real and eager.  She leans up on her toes, towards the open sky.  And then she shuts it all down and, blank faced,  follows the SPECTRE back into the ship, her fingers trailing along in a caress of the gleaming hull, the last thing Kaidan sees.