#and tried staying neutral as to what plug made and what i added on in my own...

[the-californicationist]

Cali's Kinktober: Day 01

post cibum - "after a meal" - Kinktober Masterlist TF141 x f!reader Kinks > wet/messy, food play, objectification Full tags on AO3 - MDNI - Read at your own risk.

Your new job as a professional nyotaimori model pays all the bills and then some, but tonight, you are serving a group of soldiers who want more than just the novelty of eating fancy sushi rolls off of a naked woman. After they’ve had their fill of the nigiri and the rolls, they want you for dessert. 

“That’s fine, sir. We can do a seven o’clock tonight. Have you had a chance to choose your selections from the menu?”

You strained your ears as you listened to your maître d' consult with a customer over the phone. You were prepping in the adjoining room, going through your normal routine, but the growling, Manchester accent coming through the speaker was making it difficult to focus.  

“Yeah, give us a full spread. The works. No barriers.”

It must be a big party, you thought. The full spread option included a large array of sushi and sashimi. Asking for no barriers was quite adventurous, and you felt your skin flush with excitement. 

“Yes, sir. And would you like your artist bound or unbound?”

“Mm,” he thought for a minute, and you tried to send telepathic messages to the gruff stranger, “Let’s have ‘er tied down.”

Yes, you celebrated, already imagining the feel of the ropes crossing over the big, wooden table and pinning you to it, forcing you to stay in place all night long.

“And will you be including the sake option?”

“Yeah, sure. Johnny’s a bloody lush.”

Your heart began to race just imagining what sort of night you were in for. The sake option meant needing to shave your sensitive pussy completely bare, so you added that step to your process. Being a food model wasn’t something anyone seemed to take seriously, but you felt like a true artist, and you wanted your guests to have an unforgettable experience when they came to dine with you… on you. 

“Alright, sir, that’s –”

“And we want the additional package. I’ll pay extra. Whatever it costs. Just put it on the tab.”

“Yes, sir. Would you like A, B, or C?” 

The additional package? How did he know about that? You’d never performed for this man before – you would not have been able to forget that voice – and only your regulars knew about your secret options.

“A and B, but keep her mouth open, yeah? In case she gets hungry…”

His dark laugh made your blood burn in your veins. Your add-on package meant that he wanted to fill your holes while you lay on the table for him. Option A was for a large glass dildo in your pussy, warmed and heavy, option B was for a bulbous anal plug made of the same body-safe glass, and option C was for a rubber ball-gag in your mouth. But, he wanted to have access to you there, and that made you almost see stars when you thought about the implications. What did your mystery Manc have planned for you?

“Yes, sir. Do you know how many will be in your party tonight?”

“Four. The one with the mohawk is the birthday boy.”

“Thank you, sir. I will add that to the notes. Any allergies?”

“No.”

“And the name for the party?”

“Riley.”

“Thank you. See you later.”

When she hung up the phone, you listened to her boots clack against the marble floor as she came into your dressing room,

“Hey babes, here’s your ticket for tonight. Table of four. Bunch of soldiers. Sure you’re up for it?”

“Yeah,” you nodded, not feeling as confident as you sounded, “Just make sure to keep their drinks coming. They tip more when they’re drunk.”

You winked at her and she laughed, closing the door behind her to let you finish grooming and cleansing your body. 

Each swipe of your razor was another tantalizing part of your ritual. Once you were fully shaved, you cleaned your skin with special antibacterial soap before applying neutral oils that wouldn’t affect the taste of the food. No perfume, no deodorant. Those were the standards. You weren’t allowed to talk, or to move if you were bound by the tight ropes that pinned you to the table, and you were simply there to be a beautiful platter for the immaculately-made sushi. 

At more traditional restaurants, your position was revered, and guests were forbidden from interacting with you directly. You’d worked at a number of venues that hosted nyotaimori events, all with varying levels of standards and rules, but this one paid the most. This place allowed their guests to do almost anything they wanted, and those high risk situations added to the excitement and to your bank account. However, you’d never felt safer. There were cameras, guards, and highly trained staff all over the premises, and if you ever needed to press your emergency button, you could do so. You wore your panic ring at all times, and you’d used it effectively once or twice; it worked like a dream. 

But, you had to admit, it wasn’t just the money that kept you coming back here. You liked the clients. You liked feeling their hands and mouths eating off of your warm body. You enjoyed the more adventurous customers who wanted to taste you and touch you after they were done with their food. It was exhilarating, and you loved being at their mercy. 

Just before your call time, your attendant brought you your glass dildo and anal plug from the back. They had been sanitized, and you used a little lube to insert the familiar, rigid shape into your pussy. You felt yourself already wet from anticipation, and although the glass phallus was thick and heavy, you took it with a satisfying ease. 

The anal plug was another story. You used much more lube and began to play with your hole with your fingers before you committed to pressing it through your tight rim. The pressure from the fat dildo in your cunt made it even harder to accept, but after a few deep breaths, you felt your body relax and allow the round bulb to sit inside of your ass, pushing against all of the sensitive nerve endings inside of your stretched hole. 

You washed your hands thoroughly and cleansed your skin again, just to be sure. Eventually, you finished with your prep and walked through the hallways to lay on your long black table. It was a chabudai, a short table where guests would sit on mats on the floor, and the dining room where you served was dimly lit, very minimally decorated, and had instrumental music playing softly through the speakers. You looked up into the corner and saw the camera light go from red to green. It was showtime. 

Your attendant returned to perform your shibari. You were laying on your back, and she tied your wrists to your thighs, making sure to position your thumb so that you could press your panic ring easily. Then, she began to lay the ropes over your ribs, framing your breasts, using the ties to make them stand perky and proud on your chest. Finally, she fed the bindings under the table and fastened them down. You were stuck. You could bend your knees and twist your body, but that was about it. 

“All good, ma’am?” She asked.

You nodded,

“Yes, thank you. All good.”

“Alright. I’ll tell chef.”

She left you alone, and you tried your best to focus on your breathing. The dildo was nudging a very sensitive spot inside of you, and you pulsed against it, attempting to find some relief. But, you were just making it worse. Your clenching muscles were allowing it to thrust against you, and no amount of wiggling was going to grant you any reprieve. So, you stopped. You shut off your mind as much as you could, listening to the music and imagining an infinite, empty expanse in your head. 

The door clicked open and the sushi chef came in with his two other servers. They set to work, laying slabs of salmon and octopus sashimi across your breasts in a spiral pattern, using delicate roe to dust the inner circle over your hard nipples, making it look like the pollen-covered pistil of a flower, the fish serving as your beautiful petals. 

A row of maki trailed their way down your belly and each arm. More sashimi were laid on all the places where a roll wouldn’t sit, and one of the chef’s assistants began to place thinly-sliced mango across your neck like a choker. Your legs were covered in sushi and more fruit, and finally, right in the join of your legs, you balanced a bowl with a single lotus flower inside. 

The door cracked again, and your attendant poked her head in,

“Chef, your party is here. Should we send them in?”

The chef nodded, and everyone left the room. But, this time, the silence was deafening rather than zen. Your heart was pounding. You couldn’t wait to see and hear and feel what these four guests had in store for you. 

Finally, the door opened, and you heard their jovial laughter and talking. 

“Cannae believe you got a reservation, LT! Been dyin’ to try this for the longest.”

“I know, Johnny,” you recognized that deep, Manchester accent, “Won’t shut up about it.”

Johnny finally came into view. He peered down at you with a uniquely boyish wonder, staring at your face and your body like a kid at Christmas, eager to unwrap his presents. His friends surrounded him on both sides. You guessed that the wry blond was Simon, your vocal crush. You didn’t know the other two, but they were just as nice to look at. One of them was enormous, over-muscled with a bit of a belly, and an odd beard. The other was like a professional athlete, chiseled and masculine, with big brown eyes and dark, smooth skin. 

“Sure is a pretty plate, huh, lads?” The beard spoke with a growling, gravely Scouse accent. He was a smoker, that was for sure. 

“Fittest table I’ve ever seen,” the athlete smiled, his full lips revealing sharp, blinding teeth. 

“Please, have a seat, gentlemen,” your attendant put on her best sexy customer-service voice, “First round is on the house.”

“Oh, shit,” Johnny laughed.

He and his friends ordered an absurd amount of alcohol, and then you were left alone with your party. 

“Think we can get started?” Johnny asked, “Is that alright with you, bonnie?”

You watched out of the corner of your eye as the bearded one hit him lazily on the arm with the back of his hand, 

“She isn’t supposed to speak, MacTavish. Didn’t you fuckin’ listen, or is all the blood that’s meant to be in your brain stuck in your prick?”

“Here, Captain,” the athlete called the bearded one over, “Try this.”

You felt the soft wood of your restaurant’s polished chopsticks graze the side of your breast as he lifted a slab of salmon off of your skin. 

The captain grabbed the fish with his fingers clumsily, but he slurped it down, groaning with pleasure,

“Mm, that’s not bad, Gaz.”

Johnny reached out to you, his hands steady and sure, 

“Lemme try…”

You felt his warm thumb graze over the top of your nipple, pushing some of the fresh roe onto a cut of octopus, and as he curled the fish, he let it drag over the same spot he touched, purposefully teasing you. 

Once they started, they didn’t want to stop. Their hands were roaming all over you, picking up food and feasting on what you had to offer. 

“Look here,” Gaz commented, letting his fingers swipe up the side of your ribs, gathering up dark sauce and licking it off of his knuckle. 

“Oh, tha’ looks tasty,” Johnny smiled, leaning his head down and using his tongue to lick up the rest of the flavor, taking great pains to get as close to the side of your breast as he dared. 

They were getting braver, but you could tell they still weren’t sure what they were allowed to do.

Before long, your attendant was back, ready to get more drinks and appetizers for your men, and you listened to them politely dismiss her, too focused on their task at hand: uncovering you from your delicate morsels of sushi. 

“Mm,” Simon grunted, “Not bad, hm?”

“It’s proper tasty,” the captain agreed. 

“I’m so glad to hear you’re enjoying yourselves,” your attendant encouraged them, “Could I interest you in a sake presentation?”

“Wha’s tha?” Johnny asked with his mouth full, excited to know more. 

“Your artist has more than one talent, gentlemen,” she smiled coyly down at you, kneeling beside the table, carefully removing the bowl from where it was so carefully perched on your pussy. 

The whole room stood still as your smooth, oiled vulva was revealed. Your attendant leaned over you, pouring warm sake into the divot between your closed legs and your mons, filling the space with drink. She made sure the men were looking at her with rapt attention, and she bent to suck the alcohol from your body, her mouth sucking right below your clit, slurping up the delicious sake until it was almost gone. 

“Creepin’ Jesus,” Johnny said under his breath, “Can I do one, lass?”

“Yes, sir,” she smiled, “Of course! You can do anything you like.”

“Anything…”

Johnny’s eyes watched as she filled the crevice between your legs again, letting the sparkling fluid pool and ripple against your skin. Then, when she was done with her pour, he bent to drink from you, putting his mouth exactly where hers had been, gulping and swallowing the sweet brew, his eyes fixed on your pretty pussy until you were empty. Then, he stole a lick, shoving his tongue between your lips to tease your clit, testing the limits of what was allowed, trying to find the boundary. 

“I’ll leave the bottle, yes?” Your attendant asked, leaving it on the table without waiting for an answer. 

“Thanks, love,” the captain smiled, watching his friend hovering over your wet quim as Johnny considered going back between your legs for seconds.  

“Go on, then, Sergeant,” Simon encouraged him, “For what I fuckin’ paid, you better enjoy it.”

That was the only permission the mohawked birthday boy needed. He sank his hot mouth down onto your pussy and began to suckle at your clit like it was part of his meal. He laved his tongue inside of your swollen lips, licking you in rhythmic, rolling thrusts. 

You tried your best to control your reactions, but there was only so much you could do to contain your pleasure. Gaz noticed when your eyes rolled back in your head, your lashes fluttering closed as you tried to breathe through the feeling. 

“Delicious, aren’t ya, babe?” 

He bent his head to your breast, feasting on the two pieces of sashimi that were left behind, using his tongue to pull them into his mouth. You could feel the warmth of his full lips on your skin as he ate from you, and every little touch was electrified by Johnny’s feast between your legs. 

As Gaz chewed on his bite, he used his thick finger to scoop up the fresh roe that remained on the peak of your nipple. Then, he bent over you, smiling like a demon, 

“Open up.”

You obeyed, and you melted into your submission. The hard, unflinching stare from those big brown eyes was enough to crush your will to dust. You felt your skin flush across your whole body as you surrendered to him, as if allowing him to control you made you even more sensitive to the touching, licking, kissing, and groping that was happening to you.

He slipped his finger past your lips, placing the roe carefully on your tongue. You felt the tiny eggs spill into your lips like beads. Just when you were about to swallow them, he grabbed your chin in his hand sharply, his face turning darkly serious,

“Hey, open, I said. There’s a good girl. Stick that pretty tongue out for me. Say ahh, pretty girl.”

You did as you were told, and to your shock, he bent his mouth over yours and spit into your throat. You could feel the bubbling drool pooling in your cheeks and sliding to the back of your tongue, but there was nothing you could do about it. His lips turned up into that same dirty smirk as he said, 

“Swallow.”

You took the roe into your mouth and swallowed it along with his saliva, the salt of the fish eggs mixing with the salt and alcoholic tinge in his spit. He must’ve been drinking at the bar before his party sat down at your table because the herbal scent of gin was unmistakable. 

He pet your cheek with the back of his hand, praising you with his touch, watching your face twist with pleasure as Johnny became almost uncontrollable between your legs. The mohawked man was sucking so hard on your clit that the slurping sounds from his mouth were filling the room. 

Gaz bent to kiss you, and you kissed him back. The softness of his lips lulled you into an even deeper sub state, and you felt like you were melting. Suddenly, he forced his tongue into your mouth and wrapped a huge palm around your jaw, holding you in place as he began to slide his slippery muscle in and out of your cheeks. It was as if he was fucking your throat with his tongue, and your mind fed you an imaginary scene of how his cock might feel in its place. 

When he pulled away, you felt Johnny stop his kisses as well, and your body writhed without your consent, desperate to feel them tasting you again. 

“This is the best fuckin’ birthday I’ve ever had,” Johnny smiled, wiping a hand across his shining mouth. 

The man who’d made the booking, Simon, sat beside his friend and pointed between your legs,

“Pour us one, Johnny.” 

“Aye. Here ya go, lads. Slàinte mhath.”

You watched as he poured sake into the divot between your legs again, but he over-indulged. He began to pour it across your belly as well, letting it pool in your belly button and settle in the dip of your sternum. 

The captain was the first to take a sip. He lapped at the pool of sake that splattered across your mons and lips like a hound, aiming to taste you more than he was the alcohol. Then, he followed Johnny’s trail, dragging his hot tongue along the swell of your tummy, aiming for the well of spirits in your belly button. He hovered over it when he found it, and as he leaned down to drink from you, you could feel the tickle of his mustache, making you squirm.

His filthy, gravelly chuckle made your blood run cold. It seemed that he enjoyed forcing your body to respond to his touch. 

“Ticklish, love?” He returned to your lower belly, letting the bristles of his beard tease you until your breathing became ragged, your lungs trying to suck in, doing your best to pull away from him and yet not being able to escape. 

Your tormentor shoved Gaz around the table so that he could tease your breast with his bearded mouth, and Gaz followed suit, both of them fighting for the puddle of sake between your breasts before suckling on your tight nipples. They had such different agendas. Where Gaz seemed to suck because he wanted to see you squirming from pleasure, the captain seemed hell-bent on keeping you from it. 

You could feel him biting into your delicate flesh with his sharp teeth, causing just enough pain to pull you out of your relaxed, pleasure-induced haze. Then, when he could see your eyes flash with just a hint of apprehension, he would retreat, rewarding your responsiveness with a long, deep suck or hungry, flat licks with his tongue, a barely-there smile twisting across his cheeks as he did. 

You felt something brush against your leg, and Simon was using a napkin from the table to wipe the rest of the food off of your legs, not giving a shit about the hundreds of pounds worth of sushi being gathered up in the cloth. Dinner, apparently, was over. 

Your mind raced. This was far and beyond the bravest party you’d ever served before. They worked on you as a team, giving each other silent feedback, and when Simon finally bent to drink from between your legs, your mind was throbbing from the overstimulation. 

You weren’t supposed to, but you began to let long, cracking moans escape from your throat. Anything you did to hold them back was just making them worse, and your voice only seemed to spur these men to double down on their efforts. 

Simon did not eat you like Johnny did. His Scottish companion ate you out like you were the food, but the Manc was more like his captain. He wanted to see where your buttons were, and when he found them, he began to press them just like a lad playing with a shiny new toy. 

His tongue found the body of your clit and swirled around it, avoiding the searing head, swollen and sensitive to the point of discomfort. Instead, he pushed the tip of his tongue just below it, lifting it up, making the hood stretch just enough to apply its pressure. 

You bucked your hips, the sake that rested in your thighs sloshing out, ignored by your new master. He didn’t give you a smug grin like his bearded boss. In fact, you could barely tell what emotion he was feeling. It wasn’t until you met his gaze that you noticed the fire behind his eyes. 

Only then did he begin to drink from you, emptying the alcohol from your body, letting his tongue venture down into the crevice of your thighs and licking between them as if they were your cunt. He had gone deep enough to feel the edge of your dildo, and when he found it, he turned to the others, getting their attention,

“Had them do something special for Johnny. Wanna see your surprise?”

Johnny had been busy sharing a nipple with Gaz, leaving hungry little hickies across your skin. But, when Simon called him over, he seemed all too eager to return between your legs.

“Aye,” he smiled rakishly, “Gonnae spoil me, Si.”

All four men shifted to the foot of the table, their eyes wide and focused on you like hyenas with a wounded gazelle, selfish and ready for their next taste of you.

Simon took your legs and lifted them up, bending your thighs at the hip, showing the others how two fat, glass dildos were shoved deep inside of your holes. 

“Oh, bonnie…” Johnny reached forward, grabbing the dildo stuck in your pussy gently between his fingers and giving it just the slightest twist, “For me? Such a good lass, innit she?”

Simon reached down below Johnny’s hand and began to tug at the anal plug. The resistance was driving you mad. You tried to relax, but he was not waiting on you, and the pressure began to build and build until finally, your muscle relented and you felt the heavy bulb slip wetly out of your asshole, soaking in lube.

“Bloody hell,” Gaz murmured, not wasting any time, sticking a long finger into the gaping hole left behind by the plug, testing the stretch of your ass with his strong hands. 

Simon pressed it back in, forcing Gaz away, slowly fucking the heavy toy back into you, letting it sink inside of your body with a sloppy pop, pushing on it just a little harder than he needed to so that it would feel like it was thrusting inside of you. 

Then, Johnny did the same with the dildo in your swollen pussy. He didn’t pull it all the way out, choosing instead to fuck you with it, shoving it into your hole with wet, slicking sounds, marvelling at the sight. 

You were so drunk from the pleasure that you hadn’t noticed their captain sneaking around to the head of the table. He startled you, grabbing you beneath your arms and yanking you and your ropes up, strong enough to move you even though you were tied down. He had pulled you far enough that your head hung off the edge, and you found yourself staring at his black slacks, amazed at the thickness of his thighs. Then, you watched him roll down his zipper, stroking his cock until it gleamed with his precome. 

You felt his other hand supporting the back of your head, holding you at just the angle he wanted. Then, he purred his command to you,

“Let me in, pretty girl.”

You allowed your muscles to weaken, opening you mouth wide, unsure if you could pry your mouth open enough for his girth to fit inside of you. He chuckled in that same, devilish way, slapping his sticky head against your lips twice before feeding his head into your cheeks, settling at the back of your throat, letting you gag and cough around him all you wanted and doing fuck-all about it. 

Between your legs, you felt the dildo slip out of your pussy, replaced with eager fingers and a tongue. Now that you had the captain’s thick cock to block your noises, you let yourself whine against him like a gag, moaning and crying out from the overwhelming feeling of being used. 

“Oh, fuck. That’s it, lads,” he grunted, “Make her scream for me.”

Both of his hands were cradling your head as he fucked your throat, guiding his fat dick in and out of you like a piston. You breathed when you could, but it was only just enough, and you felt yourself going light-headed. 

A mouth found your nipple again, and a hand rolled itself beside your clit, making frantic circles from above. Then, below your thighs, a round prodding cockhead pressed its way into your lubricated walls, making your dildo seem like nothing more than a thick finger or two. You were being well-stretched, and your body flooded your cunt with wetness to try and ease his way, doing everything it could to make it easier for whoever it was to fit his prick into your warm body.

He rested your ankles against his neck, and your bare feet scraped the side of his head. Buzzed hair. It was the birthday boy afterall. 

“Mmmph, fuckin’ hell, bonnie. Too tight. Too goddamn tight. Fuck…”

As he pumped himself into you, his movements made free and fast by the lube and your dripping cunt, your whole body began to jerk across the table. These men weren’t just large; they were stronger than you could’ve ever imagined, and you felt like you were nothing more than a mere toy to them. 

The fingers teasing your clit were sending your mind into a panicked orgasm, and your whole body convulsed as you let yourself tumble into the swirling madness of your bliss, your eyes wrenched shut and flashes of rainbow light dancing across them as you came violently. 

Apparently, that was enough to send the captain over his edge because as you were trapped in the throes of your orgasm, he shoved himself all the way inside of you and began to pulse hot shots of his come into your belly. You were desperate for air, but there was nothing you could do. They were in control of you, and you were ashamed by how much you enjoyed being at their mercy. 

“Ohhh, Cap’n. She loves tha’, dontcha, lass?”

“Knew she would,” the captain slipped out of your throat, smiling down at you as you gasped wetly for a breath, “Filthy little slag.”

You watched as he shifted to the side of you, his thighs leaving your line of sight, being immediately replaced by a pair of dark jeans. You knew it was Gaz when his wide thumb reached down to wipe the drool and come from your lips, lovingly cleaning up after his captain’s mess. 

“Being so good for us. Still hungry, baby?”

You couldn’t answer him, but he didn’t care. He tugged his long, curved rod out of his pants and let his balls rest on your mouth. You started to suckle on one of them, taking it into your mouth and letting it roll between your lips.

“Yeah, she is. Mmff-fuck, tha’s it.”

Gaz lifted your head up with his hand to help you reach, stroking his huge shaft with the other, jerking off as you did your best to pleasure him, trying to be careful with his sensitive sack. 

Johnny’s thrusts became frantic. Simon and his captain were taking turns pouring sake across your belly and sucking it off of you, and you were dizzy from the feeling of being fucked with your heavy plug inside of you. When you began to come again, it hit you slowly, building and building in waves, making you tremble from the suffocating joy of it. 

You cried out, and your mouth was open wide in a silent oh. Gaz took the chance to feed you his cockhead, giving you something to scream around. You felt Johnny pause deep inside of you, his cock nestled as close to your womb as he could get, and he began to fill you with his come, shamelessly bending himself over you to fit his rod down to its root in your wetness. 

“Christ, bonnie! Come for me. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Hnngh…” 

He slid himself out of you, but almost immediately, someone filled your empty hole with your dildo, keeping his load sealed safe inside. 

Gaz was still jerking his cock as he rested his tip inside your mouth, and you could feel him shuddering above you, his fingers twisted and tugging at the base of your scalp. 

“Suck on me harder. Yesss,” he groaned, “Just like that… mmfgh. Good… girl…” 

You felt him throbbing, pulsing, and ready to come. Then, just when you were ready to taste him, he pulled out and painted your mouth, chin, and neck white with his seed. There was so much of it, and whatever your tongue could reach, you licked it up, sucking him clean when he let you have the tip one more time before he smeared the remnants of his dripping cream across your cheek. 

Suddenly, Gaz’s hands returned to the back of your head and lifted it up. At the same time, another man yanked your whole body back down the table, making the wood creak from the stress. Now, you could see what was happening to you. 

Simon was holding your thighs, playing with your pussy, making sure your dildo was nice and snug. Then, he removed your anal plug again, twisting it out with a steady tug. When you made a whimpering cry, he looked up at you, and you saw that same light in his gaze, a hunger unlike that of his other friends. Something uncanny and secret about his message that you failed to decode. 

He began to pry open your asshole with his fingers, exploring just past the rim. First, it was just one, but then it was two. They twisted, curling inside of you, plunging deeper and deeper and testing how pliant you were. Your plug was pretty large, so you weren’t usually concerned about a man’s cock being a challenge. But, the way he was preparing your hole made your whole body tense with anticipation, worried about what was going to happen to you. 

You watched him rest your heels on his shoulder, just like his friend had done, and his tattooed hand held your thighs as the other placed his swollen head at the rim of your asshole, teasing it, barely even touching you. 

You thought he would plunge inside, but he never did. He just kept painting little warm circles around you, pressing on the outside yet never allowing himself to slip into your ass. 

“Mngh…” You whined, twisting your hips as much as you could, begging for it. 

“What’s that? Speak up, love. Can’t hear ya.”

You looked at him with pleading eyes, knowing you weren’t allowed to break your ceremonial rule but desperate just the same. He let himself smile softly down at you, planting his head at your hole and using the weight of his cock to rest it there. 

“C’mon, sweetheart. Tell me you want it. It’ll be our little secret.”

His friends were kneeling around you, spent but still groping your body, licking and kissing you lazily, enjoying watching Simon torment you.

“She doesnae wanna break the rules, Si. Good lass tha’ she is,” Johnny cooed, letting his fingers rest on either side of your clit, drawing deep ovals and watching your face twist in desperation.

“Let him hear it, love. We won’t tell,” the captain whispered in your ear, using his fingers to slide Gaz’s come from your chin into your mouth, making you taste his salty seed. He kept his fingers inside of your lips, pushing them all the way to the back of your throat, letting you suck on them, “Tha’s right. Our perfect little slut.”

Your mind went blank, and all you could focus on was the feeling of relief that would come to you if you just broke your rule…

The captain removed his hand, returning to your tits to suck on them and pinch your nipples. Then, Simon pressed forward just a little more, giving you his head before immediately taking it away, leaving you hollow.

“... please…” You whispered, your voice so shallow and small. 

“What? Cannae hear you, bonnie,” the Scot smiled, moving his hand faster between your pussy lips. 

“I think I heard something, did you?” Gaz joked, raising his eyebrows at Simon, smacking your ass cheek with the palm of his hand. 

“Say it,” Simon growled. 

His team was all smiles, but he was dead on. You locked eyes with him and said it again.

“Please.”

“Fuck,” Simon’s eyes rolled back in his head, the whites peeking through his long lashes, and he sank himself deep into your asshole in one punishing thrust. 

He was as thick as your plug, but he was so much longer, and you had never felt so stretched out in your whole life. As he began to fuck you, he wrapped his hand around the dildo in your pussy, covered in come and lube, and he fucked you in time with his own prick, making it seem like he was in both places at once. 

“You ready for more?” Simon asked you breathlessly, checking in with you. 

You nodded, fuck-drunk but just as submissive as ever. Whatever he asked for, you were ready to give it to him. 

When he saw your shallow nods, he began to fuck you at an incredible pace. Your whole body was shuddering every time he slammed himself forward, and the strength of his thrusts was making you feel like his cock was even bigger than you thought, your poor asshole stretched past the point of comfort. 

“She’s takin’ it so good, Si,” Johnny sighed, watching your face go slack as his friend railed himself into you.

You weren’t even moaning. You were barely breathing. Your mind only had one goal: making you come and come and come. 

“Spread her legs,” Simon commanded his team. 

You heard the schnick of a knife’s blade being unsheathed, and then the ropes around your ankles were sliced away. Gaz and Johnny pulled your knees up to your chest, forcing you open for him like a book. 

Johnny bent down over your pussy and spat onto your slit, smearing it with his fingers. Then, he slapped you gently a few times, increasing the pain each time his hand came down until you were literally screaming from it. But, it didn’t hurt. It just made you come even harder. The pleasure was muting the pain to an incredible degree. You wanted him to give you more, but you were too far gone to ask. 

The captain was kissing your mouth, using his hands to feed you come again, and you couldn’t even kiss him back. Your body was frozen, your muscles tight and stuck in a loop of pleasure. You were coming in cyclical waves, unsure of where one started or ended, just suspended in blissful torment, sucking in breaths when your lungs allowed you to. 

Then, Simon’s movements stuttered, and he slowed, sinking into you as deep as he could fit before pulling out in one swift movement and jerking his cock right in front of your swollen, punished pussy.

He slid the dildo out of you, leaving you feeling empty to the point of grief, and you watched as he hovered at your entrance, shooting his load into your already-filled cunt. Rope after rope of milky come seared its way into you, messy but accurate. Then, he replaced the dildo and sat back on his heels, out of breath. 

His friends let your legs back down, and they all moved away from you, leaving little kisses on your body as they retreated. 

Once they recovered, they had one more shot of sake together, and Johnny poured one into your mouth. 

“There ya go, bonnie. Job well done, aye? This birthday party willnae be topped anytime soon.”

You swallowed the shot, tasting just not the alcohol but the remnants of Gaz’s come as well when it slid down your throat in tandem. 

“Don’t worry, pretty girl,” the captain said, “You don’t have to say your goodbyes yet.”

Simon peered down at you over his shoulder,

“Riverbend street, apartment six, right?”

Your eyes went wide. How did he know where you lived? 

But, before you could ask him, they let themselves out, leaving you stunned, full of their come, and thrilled about what you would find when you finally made it home tonight.

[mapofthemazeinthemirror]

When he thought he'd moved on (ex-boyfriend!txt)

Warnings: not really gender neutral

note: when I started this I wondered if it was appropriate, please let me know if there is any problem. sad hours open, I guess.

Soobin

The cafe was quiet, just the way he liked it. This was your meeting place; even if the place was closed, the two of you would meet here. He got here early, the table in the corner waiting for him as always. The owner had smiled at him and said hello, recognising him as a long-time customer.

As he pulls his earphones from his pocket and begins to detangle them, he unconsciously bounces his leg, an old habit. Soobin's thoughts are distracted, the new song he wants to show you by his favourite band occupying his mind. He's sure you'll like it - he's slowly converted you to a fan over the years.

Once the wires of the earphones are all straightened out, and he plugs them into his phone. The ear with a green sharpie heart is his side, the one with the blue is yours, a little faded from so many bus rides and time spent in bed sharing music together.

The bell on the door grabs his attention, and he looks up - and remembers. It wasn't you who he was meeting. This isn't your meeting place anymore. He feels guilty about being excited, more guilty about forgetting that he's supposedly moved on. Still, he grins painfully convincingly as she takes the seat across from him, as if this was what he had been expecting all along. He tries to figure out how he could have forgotten that this is how things are now, nodding as she is talking, although he doesn’t hear a word.

Yeonjun

Yeonjun doesn't know what day it is, what time it is. All he knows is his phone is ringing, dragging him from his much needed sleep. With a long groan he rolls toward the edge of the bed, not even daring to open his eyes and expose them to the bright light of the sun he can now see from behind his eyelids. Which means he hasn't looked at the caller ID. Which means he answers the way he normally would, half asleep and his brain not quite engaged. He answers with your name.

But it's not you. The voice that replies is so different from yours that it snaps him awake entirely. He is so disappointed he doesn't even panic, his voice so groggy he can play it off that she heard him wrong. After a short conversation, most of which he wasn't paying attention for, he throws the phone into the covers and wonders if he's made a big mistake by starting something new.

Beomgyu

He can't remember much about the dream, only your smile, your eyes, and your hand in his. Now he's awake, and the bed is familiarly warm, the sound of soft breathing behind him. He rolls over with a contened sigh, reaching arms out to pull you against his chest, pressing his nose into your hair. He feels a cheek nuzzle against his neck and all feels right with the world.

"Did you get a new shampoo?" he asks, voice rough with its first use of the day. He lazily pulls his head back and opens his eyes, and reality cracks down over his head like an egg when he sees her.

"No," comes her reply.

It's the first time she's stayed over, the first time anyone has stayed over but you. He was totally fine with it last night. Now it feels so gut wrenchingly wrong. Maybe he should wait a while longer before letting her stay again.

Taehyun

It's been a long, long day. Every muscle aches, and even his brain feels like a muscle with how tired he is. He drops his bag at the door and kicks off his shoes, the sofa calling to him longingly from across the room. The minute his back is on the soft cushion, he knows he'll fall asleep here, but he's not sure that he cares - he's fallen asleep worse places than this. Flicking on the TV, the first thing he sees is an ad about an upcoming movie, a remake of an old classic. He smiles.

"Hey babe," he calls out, "we should take your mom to see this, it's her favourite."

Hearing the familiar creak of the floorboards leading into the kitchen he glances up, and his smile falters. How could he have forgotten? She's looking at the screen with a confused expression, shaking her head. "No, it's not. I've never heard of it." She swings around to look at him now. "Have you even met my mom yet?"

He blinks, somehow feeling more drained than he was before. "Oh... I meant my mom."

Maybe he will go to bed after all.

Huening Kai

He's looking at the photos again, the ones in his phone that he keeps telling himself he'll delete. But every time he pulls them up to get rid of them, he finds he can't. He should, he knows he should, but it seems his head and his heart are at war.

He spends so long flicking through them, there are so many, accumulated over the years you spent together. He lands on his favourite; the two of you at the carnival. The memories the photo brings are so vivid, so precious, he swears he can remember every detail; the temperature of the air, the foods you ate, even the songs you listened to on the way home, car windows down and an impressive amount of sugar in your systems as you sang and bopped along. His mind replays the scene of the two of you on a ride, your laughter amidst the screams of other riders, clutching onto each other's arms for dear life, and how you almost dropped your phone as you reached out to capture the moment.

Kai forgets himself, forgets where he is right now, that this isn't your room he's lounging in, and a loud laugh bursts from him. When his joy filled eyes turn to meet hers, she is giving him an incredulous look over the top of her computer screen. He snaps out of it in an instant and tucks his phone away, apologising with a duck of his head. What is he going to do about those photos?

written by mapofthemazeinthemirror - do not repost my work in any form

[ospguenolelorho]

Exercise 2:

Actor:

Charlie did a casting call for the short, I thought it could do with some improvement as we needed

I asked Charlie to do a casting call, and she did (left), but I thought it lacked design, allure, and some kind of punch to really sell the project to actors. Based on her design, I redid a version (right) and sent it to the acting course.

From this casting call, two people answered me. I decided to go with the first one who answered: Fraser J Henderson.

I didn't bother making a script and just sent him an outline of the character's actions:

Man is sleeping on a bed. He jumpstarts into wakefulness, then his body remembers the alcohol or something worse.

He picks up a mug of coffee and takes a sip. It's cold and disgusting, he spits it out.

He sees his TV and looks around the bed for the remote, but can't find it. It's at his feet.

He's too lazy to bend down a grab and so manages to drag it up to him with his feet.

He tries switching the TV on. It doesn't work.

He tries repeatedly, taking the remote batteries in and out and smacking the remote. No changes.

He rage quits and throws the remote which shatters in what is revealed to be a tunnel. The TV is plugged into nothing.

I did warn him about the conditions under which we were planning on shooting and that he should bring extra layers to put underneath the pyjamas -- he seemed fine with everything.

Set Dressing/Costumes:

Most of the set was provided by April. I provide the mirror, the lamp, the drying rack and the bible. I got a pair of Pyjamas from Amazon and brought a thermos of cold coffee to set.

We set up two tarps, one for the equipment and one for the set. We used extra tripods and high-vis vests as traffic cones to warn passersby. To save time, we decided not to cut but simply pause the action when bikes came through.

On the set, we set up the black drape attached to the Manfrotto skylite as background. This was taken off for the last shot to make the transition to tunnel more natural

We got very lucky with the shoot as we found a couch while we were setting up. This made us save a lot of time as the bedframe April provided still needed to be assembled and dressed. This was also closer to how we originally intended the film to be.

We also found a crate of empty bottles nearby and helped ourselves. As we were starting to shoot, we thought the scene lacked underwear to sell the seediness so me and April took our socks off and added them to the set.

Lighting:

Using two C-stands and black flags, Nick and April blocked out the closest ceiling light. We placed one 600D on each side of the drape, pointing down on the subject and only ended up using the left one for the shoot. The rest of the light is just the ambient light from the tunnel. April was holding a black drape or a black umbrella as a negative fill on the shadow side of the actor.

The lighting stayed the same throughout the shoot, with only adjusting the 600D's output slightly and changing the position of the negative fill.

Although I'd like the lighting to be a bit prettier and 'cinematic', it does work in conveying the emotion and looks very much uncomfortable.

The shoots were mostly following the shot list, some had to be slightly adjusted.

Shot #1

This shot was made closer and more dutchy to better hide the set dressing and accommodate the couch.

Shot #2

The TV reflection shot was not possible to do on set (the TV was too mat and so didn't reflect anything). This shot was a replacement, acting as a neutral-looking WS.

Shot #3

Shots #4

This shot is probably the one that looks the closest to what I put in the storyboards.

Shot #5

The shot was made closer to better hide the set dressing and the tilt was made more prominent to showcase the totality of the action.

Shot #6

Originally intended to be part of Shot #1, this was changed to a new shot starting with a CU to better match with Shot #6 and enhance the reveal with a crash zoom-out.

The slight Dutch angle is due to the awkwardness of how I was holding the camera for this shot. We decided to turn off the 600D during the take as it did a strange spot of light after the zoom-out, we didn't exactly nail the timing so you can see it dim after the pan/crash zoom has ended.

Shot #7, #8, #9 etc...

We also did a bunch of pick-up CU shots to facilitate the edit if needed. I did end up using the one of the Hands smacking the remote, which brings the final film to 7 shots, not 6... oops :(.

Editing:

Rushes review sheet:

The edit makes heavy use of motion stabiliser to better blend the tripod shots and the handheld ones. Moreover, one of the shots is digitally zoomed in to make it appear more different from the following one and the cut less jarring (cut between shots 4 & 5 just before the character finds the remote).

Except for the ending sound of the remote smashing and the ambient sound of the tunnel, all the sounds in the scene have been replaced. We recorded foley with Heather, which was a bit of a tedious process as it involved recording sounds and then editing the ones that fitted and re-recording the ones that were still missing.

Because the wind was visible on the character's hair, I decided to add an AC sound effect. This also helps build tension and better hide the shoddy sound design.

[rabble-dabble]

This john crocker, jade english au is so intriguing, can you tell more about it? :D

*inhale*

FIRST OF ALL, This wonderous AU idea was made (and is currently being extended upon) by the spontaniously genuis @plugnuts !!! Very near and dear and near to my heart of hearts, the AU isn't quite to an extended fleshed out world with everything figured out yet but what there is so far is amazing. I can tell you right now you will not be disappointed.

Okay, now to the actual AU: it's john and jade crocker being raised by the Condy, essentially your classic Alpha timeline ponderings about how the two of them must've lived with her. But- what's this! This ain't yo classic oldies times yonder in the good mid 1900's - oh no, this one is a bit more modern to our tastes. Jade and John are raised under the Condy as normal, but in a more of a modern era; Jade still cunningly revealing some of the Betty Crocker's secrets in her childhood while oblivious John doesn't quite get what's wrong yet. Seems just like your classic time-moved idea.

Jade runs away first. Her discoveries of the Imperious Condescension and her childhood have her looking for a way out, and she takes it. John is met with an empty space in his heart where his sister used to stand beside him, and everything in his life turns as he starts to realize that something is going on.

We haven't fleshed this part of the AU out yet, but I'm gonna say it's assumed Jade grows up outside of the Condy's reach as she discovers more and is led to the island, while John grows up with the Condy's standing behind him, missing his sister horribly and realizing there are pieces of the puzzle he must pick up from what Jade left behind if he ever hopes to find her. Jade and John establish themselves outside of Condy, John growing and learning more about her and becoming distant (but he still needs her close - he needs her technology, her insight, her connections if he wants a chance to find Jade's trail) as he becomes the established (yet still growing) actor and Comedian he grew to be normally.

John Crocker's life is turned one day, though, as he gets a call from his mother - Betty wants him to care for a baby orphan. Actually, John Crocker has been so invested in finding Jade he doesn't realize that the baby orphan is no longer a baby - but a young miss Jane Crocker, helpfully taken under a (suspicipusly invested) mother Crocker and raised on the sidelines. Condy wants John to take Jane now, though, and John obliges only after he makes her promise to help aid him in his investigation. A Jane Crocker is added to the family, and John has to now stumble in his life discovering deep and dark secrets, connections to Jade that lead to dead ends, and taking care of his new daughter whom calling him Dad once sends him into a midlife crisis, prompting him to call a good friend Dave Strider - woah, wait, what??? Well this is a more modern AU folks! By this time, John has been searching for his own connections enough that he's got a couple of aquantances - Dave Strider, growing popular director, and Rose Lalonde, and ever esteemed writer of a famous book series John for the life of him cannot read without having to hug and hold Jane close five times after. But the more John runs into dead ends, the more he loses hope - Jade's trails are running few and cold, and he has no where near enough information for him to figure out where she has gone.

Meanwhile, our little Jane Crocker is living her life under normal circumstances - going to school, being generally parented by her Dad (who seems to be growing sadder, which she wishes she could help with) and making friends; internet friends, to be exact. She has just a few, and there is a very interesting boy whom has a very interesting life - a mother who forbids him contact to communicate to the outside world, living on an island and being generally carefree as a young esteemed boy under the guise of his mother's happy guiding touch-

The boy is Jake English.

Jane and Jake happen to make a few dots connect, of which I would like to personally think went something like

GG: HOLY SHIT YOU ARE MY COUSIN!!!!

GT: HOLY BOLLUCKS WE ARE COUSINS!!!

And thus, Crocker meets English. Now they can be happily reunited!!!

Or, er, no, actually. See, Jake knows of his mother's rules, and heard all about the Condy's terrible plans and secrets (the pg ones that wouldn't give him nightmares and would also just make him assume she is the Bad Guy tm). Jake understands it took a long time for Jade to work to where she is now, and reveiling that information to John, who is still in contact if estranged from the Condy, would just ruin it. Jade's happy, and Jake wants his mother to remain happy. Jane, understandably, agrees to keep the secret. But it hurts her inside every day to watch as her father grows less hopeless. She wants to tell him, but Jake's promise and Jade's happiness weigh on her, and she isn't sure if the weight of bearing breaking those to tell her father she found his sister would be worth it. She wants her Dad to be happy, but that'd mean compromising the safety and happiness of Jake and Jade's own.

And, after all, she can't be too careful while that Betty Crocker lingers around. Who knows what could happen within the next few years? Will Jane be able to keep Jake and Jade safe while also keeping her father happy?? Will John ever find Jade and figure out the Condy's secrets??? How do Rose and Dave figure into this?? How do Dirk and Roxy figure into it all?!?!? Will we EVER get that happy ending?!??!?!? Will we EVER KNOW?!??!?!?!

Well, you'll have to follow @plugnuts to find out. ;)

[technowoah]

Show-off

Dream x gender neutral reader blurb

Something that came up in my mind during a past livestream 😋 it might be bad idk i wrote this fast

⚠︎ mentions of food (?), one swear word, fluff, fluff, fluff 🐑

Masterlist

The Florida heat was still something to get used to. Especially when all you wore were Clay's hoodies. He practically gave you them, your closet was filled with Dream merchandise. You had shirts, hats, a box filled with prototype milestone coins, hoodies, and more hoodies. He gave you his own non-merchandise hoodies as well, basically when you moved to Florida you already had a full closet.

You didnt mind if Clay took his stuff back for the day, because you knew that the clothes would end up with you again.

Clay loved to spoil you with things ever since you agreed to move down to florida. It was easier to buy things and hand deliver them to you then wait patiently until you called him day later, yelling about the new gift he bought you. He loved buying small jewelry pieces, clothes, small things that reminded him of you, favorite foods, useless things you find on amazon, he loved to shower you in gifts.

You tried to do the same, but you werent a YouTuber with over 20 million subscribers and views. You did it in your own way, making food, or ordering out when he plans to stream for long hours, giving him space when he needs it, buying him small things that remind you of him like he does to you, and spending time with him when he's editing just giving him company.

These moments were like heaven to you, it was such a comforting feeling to be around him. You felt protected, when you're with him you were only his and no one else mattered. One thing Clay loved is when you wore the oversized Dream hoodies he gave you. He gave you oversized hoodies so you coukd wear shorts underneath and still be comfortable. It was a comforting contrast in clothing.

He adored seeing you in his clothes, it reminded him that you chose him, you chose to message him on Twitter, you chose to evolve your relationship into dating, and then a long distance relationship, you chose to move down to Florida to become closer. You're choosing him, and he is choosing you everyday. He knows that sound cliché, but its the truth.

"Hey whats up? Im streaming." Clay turned around in his gaming chair.

"Oh hey!" He laughed as he saw you in his huge Dream hoodie.

You made your way over to him and seated yourself in his lap, you made yourself comfortable as he turned around and rolled his chair back up to his desk. He un-muted his mic and talked to, what it heard like, Sapnap and George. Their voices were quiet because of the headphones Clay wore, you couldn't quite make out what they were saying, but it didn't matter. You laid your head on Clay's chest and he gave you a small kiss on your forehead.

You stayed there for while shifting around to make yourself comfortable from time to time, and Clay trying to make you comfortable too by leaning back a little. You weren't bored of Clay's stream, but nothing was happening at the moment so your focus was on the two glass bottle of water, wishing he would refill them and put them back in the mini fridge.

You heard your name be addressed so you turned your attention to that. It was Nick's voice being heard by you through the headphones.

"Where's Y/N at? Are they doing something?" Nick asked Clay.

"Oh no, they are right here!" Clay said while squeezing you in his arms for a moment.

"Oh really say hi to them for me." Nick added

"Me too, hey Y/N!" You heard George yell.

Clay laughed, "You're so loud for no reason and the heard you both."

Everything went back to normal for a few minutes with the boys playing around in a creative world they recently made, until Clay spoke up again.

"Dont you guys wish you had someone to cuddle you like Y/N?" Clay said smugly to the other two men in the chat.

"Didn't you wanna cuddle me Dream?" George asked jokingly.

"Yeah I still want to! Y/N is a replacement right now." Clay laughed as you pinched his bicep.

There was silence until Clay spoke to the two men in the chat again.

"You know Y/N is wearing my Dream hoodie?"

Clay continued on talking about you. "They're pretty cute. Just sitting here, willingly listening to our bullshit."

"Dude." Nick started.

"What I'm just saying they're in MY hoodie." Clay started again.

"Is this just a thing to plug your merch?" George spoke up.

Clay laughed and you did too. "No I just love them. That's it."

"You're possessive." Nick laughed

Clay laughed as well and planted another kiss on your forehead. "Well I'm possessive over whats mine."

[ramblesamongstardust]

Stressed- an AI x reader

A-35 x gender-neutral reader I’m not thrilled with how this one turned out, but I figured I might as well post it for y’all, because why not? A story where you yell at your AI boyfriend for being a gosh darn workaholic can’t be that bad, right?

---

The outpost they sent you to was a dusty, dingy, backwater world. You were the only mechsuit assignment there, for one. All alone in your class. When you arrived, the team of wearied soldiers and scientists regained a spark of excitement in their eyes. A Radiant-class suit, they whispered among themselves as soon as you would turn the corner. Maybe things will pick up around this dump.

But they didn’t. In a week, you were just as bored as the rest of them. A backwater world with no action. Your assignment there had been not much more than a show of force and a morale boost. This world, far from any front, was about as protected as they came.

At first there were plenty of menial tasks. Things needed lifted and rearranged, so what better to do it than a suit? You and A-35 wrestled around loads of cargo and rearranged the storeroom. Then you went on to do the dangerous jobs- calibrating the weather sensors in deep sub-zero temperatures would be a risk for any of the ordinary folk. You, however, waded through the deep snow with little effort.

Each one was a job well done, even if it involved no actual combat. You and A-35 would write the report for your excursions together. He was a very good analyst, and you knew he could write the reports all on his own, but you liked to pitch in with your own thoughts and experiences, and he happily included them. 

He found it odd. He thought that most humans would have wanted to get out of menial work, not throw themselves into it. But. . . there was no denying that he liked having your input. 

Then the labor jobs ran out. 

It wasn’t through the fault of anyone running the base. There were simply no more jobs to be done that required you to be in the suit. During the last march to the hangar, you debated whether or not to actually get out of the suit when they commanded you. You wanted to hang onto the murmurs of A-35 in your ear and the way that he held you. 

It was only when A-35 assured you he would be fine that you got out. 

It turns out, they did still have a valuable and important use for a Radiant-class suit: processing power. There was no doubt that A-35′s systems were state-of-the-art, and it would be wasteful to leave such a powerful computer sitting out in the hangar. You watched as the tech team tugged thick wires and plugged them into the interior of the suit. 

They had to remove the helmet- your helmet -in order to make the connection. The cables snaking out from the empty shape of the suit made you feel strange, as if A-35′s insides were spilling out across the floor. 

You had asked him if it hurt. 

“Hardly. Although I am designed to be a more centralized unit, I’m just as capable being spread out amongst a larger system.” He had told you.

“Are they making you process things?” You asked again.

“Yes. It’s nothing more than menial calculations. I could do these while powered-down, easy.” He replied.

You were also called to work. Although your training was not being utilized, you were still an extra set of hands, and hands could work. You helped the rest of the personnel keep the base clean, cook the meals, wash the dishes, keep up with maintenance, etc. You almost felt like a recruit again.

You tried to make time to see A-35. You first came every night, but when he asked what you were doing here in the hangar instead of trying to befriend your bunkmates, you couldn’t help but withdraw. He did have a point.

Your cohorts were nice. There was Sarah, and Jason, and Latisha. They invited you to hang out after hours, and after A-35′s encouragement you began to take up their offers.

And so, every night slipped into every other night, and every other night slipped into twice a week, and twice a week. . .

When you two had first began, you had felt a real spark with A-35. It wasn’t just the thrill of getting the suit. It was getting in the suit with him. You began to have dreams about piloting, the feeling of the suit around your body, his voice a steady stream in your mind.

But now? Those dreams were fading. A-35 never reached out to you. Whenever you came to him, he always implied that you should be somewhere else. He spoke as if now you had become an inconvenience, choosing as little words as possible to make you go away.

You couldn’t get your mind off of it.

You sat on your bunk. Sarah was trying to show you her old movie collection and you were just nodding along.

After your last ‘mhmm’, Sarah turned to face you. “You alright?”

“No.” You admitted.

“That’s what I thought. What’s on your mind?”

You couldn’t say him. No, you couldn’t. You shook your head. 

“Look, friend, you got to get your problems out of your head. Holding onto them only makes things worse.”

Sarah’s advice, you knew, was to try and make you fess up to whatever was on your mind, but instead it gave you a new feeling. You gave Sarah a half-hearted excuse and before you knew it your legs were carrying you to the hangar bay.

This bay was tiny, only able to house one or two suits, nothing like the glistening training bays. A-35 stood against the wall. It had been a full week since you talked. Last week he had spared only a few words.

“Hey.” You said. 

There was no response at all.

“Hey, A-35?”

A pulse travelled through a cable, but it headed outwards, to the wall, rather than back into the suit. Still there was only silence.

“A-35.” You raised your voice. “It’s me. Y/n.”

“. . . y/n?”

His voice was slurred, with a hiss of underlying static. It sent a cold shiver through you. You practically ran forwards to the pilot entry ladder. Before you could climb it, the suit’s external lights came back to life and its frame became more rigid, or maybe that was just a trick of the light.

“Hello, y/n. Progress is moving smoothly. Nothing to run but more numbers. What are you doing here?” His usual, smooth tone returned.

“Are you okay?” You asked.

“Yes. Just running the process. Nothing of any note. Nothing much to say.”

There he went again, the polite refrain of please go away. But this time you wouldn’t. This time you needed to stay.

“What’s going on? You’re not acting like yourself.” You bit your lip and stood your ground.

“I am running at functional capacity-” a series of pulses came up the cables and traveled into his systems. 

You reached out to the cable.

“Receiving next data set, do not disconnect.” He said sternly.

His voice was becoming more monotone with every word. You took your hand off the cable, and instead extended it to his plating.

“Wait! Y/n, don’t!”

You let out a cry and jerked your hand away. The metal was hot, and your palm was now an angry red. But you did not spend time to blow on it. You could only look up at him in horror.

“You’re overheating.” You realized

“Current suit temperature: too warm for pilot comfort.” He stated in a rigid cadence, before adding. “Please go, I’m busy.”

“Like hell you’re just ‘busy’! You’re straining your systems!” You countered.

“I’m busy!” He shouted.

“A-35, pilot override: stop your calculations NOW!”

The words were bitter in your mouth. You had told him that you would never need to use the pilot override. The two of you were a unit- two halves of the same whole. You had put full trust in his judgement. Now, though. . .

A flurry of pulses came swarming out of his frame through the cables, random in pattern, disappearing back into the wall. The suit itself shuddered with the expulsion of the data.

You wanted to put your hand on his frame to steady him, and it hurt that you couldn’t. 

“There. You happy now?” He asked.

His voice returned. No more was the stiff modulation. Now, his aggravation spilled through the air, injected with all of the personality you had so dearly missed.

“You told me they were only light calculations.” You said.

“The science team needed more. So?” He replied.

“You could have hurt yourself.”

“’Hurt’ is a word with a very tricky meaning. It applies better to humans-”

“How long have you been running like that?” 

He paused. “Only a few days.”

“A few days? A few days!” You balled your fists. 

“I was doing fine. I was fulfilling my duty on this mission.” He replied.

“If this was your duty, then I should have paid more attention to what they were using for.” You began to pace around.

“I took on the extra work.” He admitted quietly. “The team needed the help. I knew I could get it done faster than any of them could.”

“You could have burnt yourself out. Literally.” You said.

“The risk was low enough-”

“There was risk!” 

“No different than combat risk.” He finished. 

“Then why did you do it?”

“I’m designed for taking risks. I’m a combat AI. What do you expect?” He grew angry again.

“Then why didn’t you think about how it would affect me?” You shouted.

The suit shuddered again. You reached your hand out and brushed his plating. It was still warm, but no longer burning. You pressed your hand against it.

“You weren’t. . .” he began. “You weren’t a part of the equation. You weren’t involved in this operation at all. I’m afraid I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

“I’ve missed you.” You pulled yourself to him and pressed your forehead against his plating.

“I never left.”

“No, but you weren’t here.” You whispered.

“I-”

He stopped. You could almost feel the electricity of his artificial synapses snapping together in realization.

“. . . I suppose I wasn’t.” He murmured.

You pulled yourself away from his frame and climbed the pilot ladder. The platform at the top was a bit of a mess of wires and diagnostic tech, but you found a spot and sat down anyway.

“It’s okay.” You said, wrapping your arms around your knees. 

From here you could see the crystal glow of his interior. You couldn’t enter, not right now, not with all of the wires and cables hooked up. But just the sight was good enough.

“. . . I don’t get what I did to deserve you.” A-35 mumbled.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” You asked.

“You’re so thoughtful and kind. I don’t understand it.” He said.

“Maybe,” you smiled, “it’s because you’re worth it.”

“Even when I’m snappy and foolish and generally unpleasant?”

“Then it means I need to remind you to take a break.”

“Oh, perhaps.”

You both laughed a little. You leaned against his frame and closed your eyes. You could feel his warmth and electricity in the air, something you had been missing for some time.

[kortsitron]

Almost gone

Pairing: Thor × Gender Neutral! Reader

AU: None

Requested: by @cotton-candy-clouds-26 (somehow tumblr can’t find the person :<)

Warnings: blood, agnst, but fluff later

Summary: You got yourself into a car accident and you ended up in the hospital. Thor comes from Asgard, to see what happened to love of his life

[A/N]

Another request! I thought Thor would be a good one since he's a big silly bear, that doesn't fully understand everything about Earth and I thought that would be adorable. (It is) Plus I hope the part with the car accident doesn't sound numb. Anyway, enjoy! 💞

There was nothing better than coming back to your house after a long week, full of work. The best thing about weekend was the fact that Thor was going to spend this time with you. Thinking about him immediately made you blush. All you wanted to do was to kiss his adorable face and hear his voice. Unfortunately you had to wait until Saturday, because he had a lot of things do at Asgard as well.

While you were on your way to your house, listening to music and bouncing a little in your seat, you heard one long honking sound from your right before speeding car hit you.

Your car hit the nearest building, while your head met window hardly, leaving a lot of blood on it, then immediately you passed out.

Tony Stark, who was the first person who was informed about what happened to you, contacted Thor after he got to know about the situation. When your boyfriend heard that something bad happened to you, he immediately went to Earth, to meet with Tony. At the moment, they were at Tony's office.

"I'm sorry to say that, big guy, but (Y/N) got themselves into a car accident." He said emotionless. You were Tony's friends and knowing that you weren't okay was hurting him. Tony sighed and continued. "They are in the hospital, but doctor said they're in critical condition. Be prepared for the worst." Thor was silent, he was letting the information sink in. He was trying to understand what was happening. "I have heard that they are going to have an operation. I can get you to see them."

After a minute of being silent, Thor finally was able to say something. "Is there any change that my (Y/N) will be alright?" Thor's voice broke once, he felt tears going to his eyes while asking about you. Tony nodded. "Let's go then."

Around an 30 minutes later, they were outside the hospital. "Want me to go with you?" Tony asked while Thor was about to leave car.

"No, but thank you." As soon as he left it, he got inside. Light walls was the first thing that he saw, next was the receptionist sitting in front the big monitor. "Excuse me, miss." He said as soon as he closed to her desk. "Can you tell me where (Y/N) (L/N) is?" He asked politely, impatiently waiting for the answer. She looked at him quickly and started searching.

"And who are for them?"

"I'm their boyfriend. My name is Thor Odinson." He looked around nervously before looking at the receptionist again. She tried not to show how embarrassed she felt for not recognizing him. "Please, it's really important. I'm worried about them."

"At the moment they are having an operation at the floor 6 in the room 56."

"Thank you so much." As soon as he got the answer he waiting for, he went at the floor and looked at the door of the room with number 56. He was able to heard some muted voice behind the door. God decided to sit down at chair next to other door and wait for operation to end. He was waiting patiently for 3 hours until the operation was finally over and you left the room with two doctors and a few nurses. When Thor saw you, sleeping on the bed with mask on your face and bandages on your arm and face, his heart broke. He felt tears coming to his, but he tired to stop them. He knew that he has to ask doctor to know what was going on with love of his life.

"Excuse me," Thor stood up and followed one of the doctors "E-excuse me. What's with (Y/N)? I'm their boyfriend and I need to know what's with them."

Doctor quickly looked at Thor, before answer and entering room, where you were supposed to spend your time until you won't wake up. "They are in coma. We'll try to wake them up in a few days, if they won't wake up by themselves. Operation was complicated and I don't promise they will woke up." Thor's felt like he couldn't breathe for a moment. The vision of you not waking up and leaving him, in any meaning, was terrifying him. "You can stay with them, if you would like to." Doctor added as he placed the bed in right place and right position. Right after that one of the nurses plugged drip-bag to your arm, then life-support machine and left the room, leaving Thor with you alone, with sound of light beeping in the background.

"(Y/N), my love," He choked out as soon as he sat down on the chair next to bed and grabbed your cold hand. "Promise me that you will wake up, alright? I am not able to live without you be my side." Tears started to go down his cheeks, he didn't care about that, you were more important than some stupid tears. "I believe in you and I know you have enough strength to do it. I love you so much darling." He kissed your forehead and pulled away to wipe his tears. He had no idea if you were hearing him or not. He believed you did.

A few days went, Thor was coming to the hospital everyday to visit you. You still were sleeping peacefully. He thought that would be another day, that he would spend looking at you and waiting for you to wake up.

"Is it getting better?" Loki asked as he entered room. Thor shook his head. "I'm so sorry, brother, but I do think that (Y/N) will feel wake up in a few days. You just have to be patient."

"I am, but knowing there is a change of not getting them back horrified me."

Around an hours later, while Odinsons where waiting, the beeping sound became louder and faster. Thor panicked, started to call the doctor to help you, while Loki was trying to understand what was going on. You were taken form your room and they took you to the operation room. Thor was heartbroken. Now he was over more afraid of losing you. Loki was doing his best to comfort his brother.

None of them where expecting for operation to take so long. Six hours of waiting in stress of what are they going to heart as actors will The room in front od them. "(Y/N) will be alright." Doctor informed brothers as soon as he stepped in front of them, while you were going back to your room once again. "Now there is a bigger chance of them to wake up, so stay positive. If there would anything that would worry you, tell me, I will take care of your friend." That information gave Thor more hope than ever. If the doctor said there was a bigger chance of having you back, he was believing in more than before.

One night after the operation, Thor looking outside the window in your room, didn't noticed that started to lightly shift in your bed. He probably would notice that if you wouldn't call him. "Thor?" You questioned quietly as you looked at him. He immediately turned to see you. He couldn't help smile and tears. He started crying, because of emotion that went through him at that very special moment. "Don't cry, baby. It's okay." You brought your hand to touch his face and wipe tears away.

"It's good to see you awake, love."

"It's good to see you too, handsome."

Rest of the night both of you spent talking about the car accident, what was happening while you were in coma and other stuff like that.

You spent almost two weeks at the hospital before leaving. When the information about date of your leaving was official, Thor decided that he is going to stay with you at your house to make sure that his partner is getting better.

"Do you need anything besides water, my dear?" Thor asked as he got you glass of water and laid in bed next to you.

"No, thank you. Plus you know that I can go by myself if I need anything."

"But your leg hurt a little." He murmured as he snuggled into you and kissed back of your neck. "I don't you to get worse again." You shook your head. "Don't stay that you will be fine. Only doctor can say if you're fully healed."

"You're caring little big too much."You turned to kiss his nose as he chuckled.

"Caring to much is better than not caring at all, my love."

[missfangirll]

Ad astra per aspera

Chapter 1 Chapter 2

Fandom: Guardian Relationship: Shen Wei/Zhao Yunlan Tags: Fluff, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fix-it Words: 2223 Summary: Ye Zun has a whole lot of revelations.

Read on AO3

- - -

“Why did he do it?” Ye Zun almost screamed, but the person opposite him didn’t reply. He had been raging for a while now and didn't expect a reaction, so he just inhaled and continued. “He left me, he fucking went away, and then he stuffed me in this fucking pillar and left me again!” He was panting now, his voice getting hoarse. “And then he made himself into a fucking bomb and tried to kill… I don't even know, himself, me, both of us? What have I done to deserve being left by him my whole life, huh?” When no response followed, he let himself fall back into the couch, covering his face with his arm.

“Are you done?”

He groaned at the other’s casual tone, ready to shoot back a quip, when he heard him say softly, “He didn’t leave you when you were kids, you know?”

Abruptly, Ye Zun sat up, staring at the other. “What would you know about that?,” he snapped. Da Qing sighed. “He told me once… We had been friends for a while already, and that day, on a mission we lost two soldiers. Twins. “He inhaled shakily. ”He told me then that he had lost his little brother, too, and how that had happened.” He paused to look at Ye Zun, a soft look in his eyes. “You might remember it differently, but that day, the Rebel Chief found you two and used his powers on you after trying to kill your brother.” Ye Zun’s breathing came to a halt. The cat continued, “He threw Shen Wei off the cliff and thinking him dead, tried to kill you too, at least that’s what your brother saw from below, but you didn't cower before the Chief and maybe he liked that defiant spirit, I have no idea, but it probably saved your life. He took you away, while your brother tried for years to find you, but never could.” Da Qing looked at him again. “He never forgot you, Ye Zun. He never stopped loving you, and he never stopped looking for you.”

Ye Zun couldn't breathe. He felt as if his chest was held in an iron fist, his eyes burning with the unshed tears of a lifetime of sorrow and grief. In a daze, he sank back into the sofa, staring unseeing at the opposite wall. Dimly, he felt Da Qing put a hand on his shoulder, but he was too stunned to even shake it off.

He didn't leave.

He tried to find me.

And then, a voice in his mind added, He hasn't left this time, either.

After a while, he found his voice again. “How,” he began hoarsely, clearing his dry throat. “How do you know all that? When…” He trailed off, and the other snorted softly. “You want to know how old I am?” He smirked slightly. “You’re older than me, I think, but not much. I still have some memory issues, but most of it has returned, so I’m pretty sure you should remember me, too.” Ye Zun stared at him, uncomprehending. The cat chuckled again. “We met before, dimwit, when you tried to kill us and get the hallows.” Ye Zun bristled, and before he could stop himself, blurted out, “Apparently I didn't try hard enough.” With wide eyes he stared at the other for a second, until they both snorted, then started laughing. Wheezing, Ye Zun hid his face in his hands to quell the bubbling mirth, and after they both had calmed down a bit, let his arms sink again, leaning back into the sofa. Looking at the other, he had the feeling of truly seeing him for the first time. He had of course looked over the Yashou when they first met, but then his thoughts had been full of violence and he only had seen strengths and potential weaknesses. Now, he looked more closely, taking in the other’s features. He had thought the cat looked very young, but this close it was apparent that he was older than he let on, even without the revelation from before. But he had kept a boyish aura full of mischief, his eyes sparkling bright in the sunlight, a few remaining tears in his lashes. Then, he raked a hand through his already dishevelled hair and suddenly, Ye Zun had to swallow hard and avert his gaze. He didn’t even know why, but had the sudden feeling that the other shouldn’t see the look in his eyes.

Da Qing smiled at him. “Are you hungry? We could grab some take-out on the way back to the hospital,” he offered. “There is a place not far down the street that has really good noodles.”

Ye Zun nodded, his throat dry. “Noodles sound good”, he agreed.

They had been bickering the whole way to the food stall, falling into an easy routine together, and Ye Zun discovered their edges and thorns somehow fit together, like gears. Da Qing never once had commented on his sometimes blatant lack of experience with modern things, he had just laughed and stated that he was used to his brother’s ignorance regarding everything that came with a plug, explaining things to him without even having been asked to. They ate together, enjoying the last warmth of the evening sun and Ye Zun suddenly realised how much he had missed this. He felt more at ease than he had in… decades? Centuries? Millenia? Probably the latter, he mused, since his life hadn’t been very pleasant after… Angrily, he pushed that thought aside, trying to focus on the present instead. Closing his eyes, he savoured the warmth on his face, the taste of food, the sounds of the busy road, and somehow, he felt his mind quiet down, for the first time in a long while.

His good mood lasted exactly two steps into Shen Wei’s hospital room, until someone said with audible annoyance, “Oh, it’s you.” Swallowing down the anger that started to rise, he gave the other a stiff smile that bordered on a snarl, then turned to his brother.

Ever since he had come back with the SID, Zhao Yunlan had been wary of him, as if he expected him any minute to drop the act and start throwing dark energy. The fact that he couldn’t had been hard to swallow for all of them, even if for vastly different reasons. He knew his brother felt horrible that he had caused his… current condition, but Zhao Yunlan apparently had more complicated feelings. Ye Zun didn’t understand half of it, but Da Qing had told him that the two SID members he presumably had killed when he infiltrated the SID had somehow returned, unscathed and, according to the cat, even without hard feelings about the whole ordeal. So, the main reason for Zhao Yunlan’s animosity had dissipated, and in addition to the fact that he was now totally, utterly powerless, this had led to Zhao Yunlan treating him like a younger cousin who had broken his favourite toy. It wasn’t the blazing hatred he was used to, more like a constant needling whenever he got the chance, and Ye Zun found it very annoying and very exhausting.

Thus he didn’t protest as the other stood up, kissed Shen Wei insistently as if to prove a point and then strolled out of the room to meet with Da Qing. Shen Wei sighed, looking exasperated, then turned his gaze towards his brother and smiled. Ye Zun smiled back, feeling himself calm down.

Since his brother had woken up, there had been brief moments of utter happiness, a bubble of contentment where nothing else existed but his brother’s smile and a warm hand holding his. Nothing but his whispered didi that Ye Zun had been sure never to hear again, which, when he heard it again for the first time, forced him to press his eyes shut, else he’d throw himself over Shen Wei’s chest and sob uncontrollably.

Even his brother’s lover and the cat left them alone for these moments, and he just floated in the feeling of having his brother close. If he opened his eyes, every single one of his problems would still be there, but right now they could go screw themselves. (Zhao Yunlan could, too, screw himself that is, but the cat could stay if he wanted, Ye Zun decided. He was annoying at times, but had listened to his outbursts and not flinched away, which was more than anyone had done for him in a while.)

Exhaling softly, Shen Wei raised his free hand from the bed and pushed a stray strand of hair behind Ye Zun’s ear, the gesture making him feel being eight again, when all he had in the world was his big brother. He smiled at him. “How are you feeling?”

Shen Wei smiled back. “Alright, I think.” Seeing his brother take a breath to protest, he chuckled softly. “I mean it, didi. I feel fine, better than I have for a while, to be honest. I hadn't expected to--” he broke off, a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes, then continued in a neutral tone, “anyway, I have no serious injuries and my dark energy is almost back to its normal level, so it shouldn’t--” he interrupted himself again, this time looking apologetic. Ye Zun knew instantly what he was thinking and waved it off, trying to look unbothered. “It’s good that your powers are back,” he said, proud his voice didn't waver. Still, Shen Wei gave him a complicated look. “Didi,” he said gently, “I am sorry. I didn't know that this would… That it would take your…. I thought it would…” He trailed off, biting his bottom lip. Ye Zun couldn't remember ever seeing his brother this unsure of himself, but in this moment also couldn't think about it.

You didn't think it would take my powers. You expected it to kill us both, or at least yourself. We both got a second chance and you don't know what to do with it either.

Very careful not to show his thoughts on his face, he shook his head and gave the other a stiff smile. “Don’t think about it anymore, it’s in the past. We should focus on the future.” Immediately, Shen Wei’s face lit up. Da Qing had told Ye Zun that the human-- Zhao Yunlan , he corrected himself, had gone and bought a house before everything went to hell in Dixing, and now there was talk of him and Shen Wei moving there. It was close to the university and even closer to the SID, had a garden and all that other domestic nonsense people in love cared about. Ye Zun inwardly hated that house and everything it stood for with a passion, but it made Shen Wei happy to talk about it, and so he swallowed his feelings and smiled with all his teeth.

Predictably, Shen Wei began to ramble about the move, listing things he’d need to pack, things that he needed to get from his office, and a myriad of other details Ye Zun wasn't interested in in the slightest, but he smiled and nodded regardless, letting his mind wander. Only when he heard his brother pause, he turned his attention back to him, finding himself confronted with the other’s scrutinizing stare. Apparently he had been asked a question. “Umm,” he responded creatively, not quite sure how to mask the fact that he hadn't been listening, when his brother continued, “I know that you’re not accustomed to living with other people, but I think it might be good for you.” Ye Zun stared at him. He had missed a very vital part of that conversation, it seemed, and now his brain spun uncontrollably what exactly his brother could have meant. Did he want him to move to campus, to live in a dorm with his students, so he would be able to have him under his control again? Ye Zun shuddered. No. That wasn't very different from the pillar, and just thinking about this thing made him nauseous. He began to shake his head, but before he could voice his protest, Shen Wei added, “I know Da Qing can be irritating at times, but I have lived with him as well and he really is a good roommate. Just make sure you have enough fish snacks,” he said with a smile, but Ye Zun was too stunned to react. “Da… Qing?,” he wheezed finally. Shen Wei raised an eyebrow. “Did you listen to anything I said earlier?,” he asked, sounding mildly exasperated, but his brother just stared. With a sigh, Shen Wei explained, “I was saying that, when we move to the house, Zhao Yunlan's apartment will be empty. I don't know if Da Qing is going to move with us or if he wants to stay, but either way you can have the apartment. It’s not that large and the furniture is…,” he tactfully cleared his throat, “but I think you would like it. It’s close to a mall and Da Qing said there are a lot of bars around, not that I would know person--” Shen Wei huffed a startled laugh when Ye Zun threw himself bodily over his brother’s torso, both arms around his neck, burying his face in the crook of his neck. “Thank you,” he muffled into the t-shirt the other was wearing, trying desperately not to cry. Shen Wei laughed silently and patted his back. “You should thank Zhao Yunlan, it was his idea.” Ye Zun groaned petulantly.

Previous Chapter    ---   Next Chapter

[bi-bard]

Foreign Exchange Student- Arthur Broussard Imagine (SKAM France/Belgique)

Title: Foreign Exchange Student

Pairing: Arthur Broussard X Reader (I’m trying to make this gender neutral)

Requested: Nope

Word Count: 2,927 words

Warning(s): I mean... it’s gonna be a little long... maybe some fear of the future/commitment, general awkwardness and fear of being in a new place

Summary: (Y/n) thought that a foreign exchange program would be fun... until the actual day to move comes. Now (Y/n) is lonely and is completely out of their depth. Everything feels like it can go wrong... whether that be immediate or at the end of the program.

Author’s Note: Alright, this is an experiment of sorts. I would love to write for Skam if that’s what people want to see. If you would like to see more Skam (or if you think I should back away from Skam), let me know. I’m really looking for reader input on this.

Also, I don’t know when this would take place... just go with it. 

I tried to do as much research as possible but I am so sorry if I got something wrong.

Finally, I was planning on making the host family (if that’s the right term) a family from the show but I am not having very much fun with that and where is the joy of writing if you can’t enjoy the hard work you’re doing... at least a little bit.

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

My mom always said that I had a habit of popping my thumb. I never really admitted it until now. I think the constant clicking calmed me in some way. I just wish it would work right now. (A/n- Sorry to interrupt but this thumb-clicking thing is something I actually do a lot).

I was trying to grab my bags without making everyone think I was a total idiot or a total asshole. I almost missed one of them but a man next to me grabbed it and handed it to me. He gave me a comforting grin as I cringed at myself and mumbled a thank you.

I grabbed my phone and opened my photos. I continuously looked from the picture to the amount of people in the airport. Shit, this was not enjoyable. 

I looked up from my phone and saw a sign with my name on it. I double-checked my photo and sighed in relief. Thank god. 

A teenage girl waved at me with a small smile. I copied her movement with my hand that was holding my phone. I couldn’t hear her mom but the girl was quick as she walked over and grabbed one of my bags. I thanked her quietly.

“(Y/n),” her mom greeted me kindly. “You probably remember but I’m Louise and this is my daughter Eva.”

“Hi,” I replied awkwardly. After a few more awkward moments, I followed them out of the airport.

The rest of the day seemed to go by in a flash. We got some food, I got some notes on my pronunciations (thankfully before I had to go to school), and then went to the house. Now I was organizing what I had brought.

“Want some help,” I jumped when Eva popped her head in. I chuckled at my own reaction.

“That would be great,” I said. Eva walked over and grabbed some of my shirts, carrying them to the drawers. “This room is gorgeous.”

“My mom wanted to make sure it was ‘comfortable’,” she explained, pretending to be snooty when she said comfortable. I chuckled, going to put my pants away.

“Remind me to thank her for that,” I replied. 

We spent the rest of the unpacking time making jokes and talking about our interests. This was nice. It had only been a few hours and I was already more comfortable than when I walked off that plane. 

“Are you ready for school tomorrow then,” Eva asked after I had shoved my bag into the corner of the room. 

“Probably not,” I replied with a small laugh, plopping onto my bed. “What’s it like?”

“Depends on who you hang out with,” Eva shrugged, sitting next to me. “I could try to introduce you to people.”

“Sure,” I nodded. “That sounds great.”

“Good,” Eva stood up. “I’ll go check on dinner.”

“Okay,” I said.

Once Eva walked out, I laid back and stared at me ceiling. My head was spinning. In a matter of hours, I had found myself in what could be called some kind of new home. This was so strange. 

I jumped when my phone rang. I reached over to it as quickly as possible. It was my mom.

“Hi Mom,” I smiled.

“Hi sweetheart,” she replied. “Did you find your way alright? How are you?”

“I found my way... eventually,” I chuckled to myself, standing up to look out my window. “I’m good. I have my own room. I really like it so far.”

“So school starts tomorrow,” she continued. 

“Yup,” I confirmed.

“Are you going to be telling me about any cute boys or girls next time you call,” she asked. I sighed before chuckling and pinching the bridge of my nose. “That wasn’t a no.”

“Mom,” I snapped. “Can we not talk about that? Please.”

“It might be good for you,” my mom explained. "A cute romance.”

"Why would I even focus on that,” I asked. “Can we just not talk about my love life... or lack thereof?”

“Alright, alright,” she sighed. “Just try to enjoy your time in France, okay?”

“Okay,” I mumbled. “I love you.”

“Love you too,” my mom whispered back. “Be safe. I’ll talk to you soon. Bye.”

“Bye,” I hit the end call button and sighed.

Him. I couldn’t believe he was acting the way he was. Everything was fine until we broke up. What I thought was a relationship ending on good terms turned into a jealous ex who now thought I went to France to “run away” from him... even though I had been wanting to do this for years. 

“Hey,” I looked at the door to see Eva peeking her head in. “Dinner is ready.”

“Okay,” I replied. I plugged my phone in and followed Eva to the kitchen, who pretty much bounced to her chair.

The rest of the night is calm. We talked about what I could expect tomorrow, what I thought I was going to miss the most, and other smaller topics that seemed to just flow with the conversation. I didn’t expect to be so comfortable so fast but I definitely wasn’t complaining.

**Next Day**

“Come on,” Eva shouted as I jogged out the door to follow her. 

“Thank you so much for telling me the wrong time for us to leave,” I said sarcastically. She just shrugged with a smirk. “Did you do that on purpose?”

“I have to keep you on your toes,” she replied. I rolled my eyes as I continued following her. 

It almost felt like no time at all before I was leaning on a wall next to Eva, going over my schedule. She was pointing from one direction to another. I nodded along, hoping that I could remember all of this.

“I’ll walk with you to the first class,” Eva said, moving from the wall. I followed close to her. I looked around the halls and my schedule. I tried to make a mental map so everything would make sense... not that it really helped. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” I replied, heading inside and giving her a wave.

I walked to an empty desk in the corner and kind of kept to myself. I started clicking my thumbs again. 

“Excuse me,” I jumped, snapping out of my thoughts when someone spoke up next to me. A blonde girl was smiling at me. “May I?”

“Sure,” I replied nervously, suddenly realizing that no one was there to correct me if I said something wrong. 

“Are you new,” she asked as she sat down. I nodded. “Wait... are you the girl staying with Eva?”

I nodded again, confused as to how she knew that so fast.

“Eva told me about you,”  she explained. “She was actually really excited about the whole thing.”

“Oh,” I grinned, looking down at my desk.

“I’m Daphné,” the girl said. I looked over at her.“(Y/n),” I replied. “Sorry for being so... weird.”

“You’re okay,” she shrugged off my awkwardness, adding a wave of her hand. “It must be strange to be somewhere so new.”

“Exactly,” I nodded, chuckling lightly. 

“If you want, I have some friends that you could meet,” Daphné offered. I nodded.

“Sounds good,” I replied. My attention went to the front of the room as someone else spoke. Maybe I could be kind of comfortable here.

**Later That Day**

“(Y/n),” I smiled and walked over to Daphné, who was excitedly waving at me. I waved back as I got closer. She wrapped an arm around my shoulders and introduced me to everyone. “This is Emma, Manon, Imane, and Alexia.”

“Hi,” I said with a small grin. 

“This is (Y/n),” Daphné explained to her friends. “The exchange student staying with Eva.”

“Really,” Alexia asked. I nodded. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” I replied before Daphné kind of pushed me over so I could sit down with them. 

“So,” Manon started awkwardly. “What do you miss most from home?”

“Oh, my family, really,” I answered. “My mom wants me to call every night and really pushed me to do this.”

“That’s really sweet,” Alexia commented. I nodded in response.

I was about to talk but froze when a group of guys came walking over. Or stumbling... whatever you wanna call it. Everyone greeted each other but I sat there awkwardly.

“Oh, guys, this is (Y/n),” Daphné motioned over to me. She copied what she had done with the girls earlier. “(Y/n), this is Lucas, Yann, Basile, and Arthur.”

“Hi,” I waved at the all. They all said hi back. My eyes seemed to focus on Arthur a second longer than everyone else. I forced myself to blink again before turning back to Daphné. 

The entire group dove into a conversation. I didn’t say much, making the occasional comment every now and then, which got a few chuckles from people. I felt like I was adapting. I was feeling happy. 

I was trying to join in the conversation when I decided to look through the corner of my eye. I made eye contact with Arthur and he sent me a smile. I smiled back before looking over his shoulder.

Eva was waving at me, motioning for me to follow her. I nodded and held up my index finger to tell her one minute. She nodded.

“I have to go,” I turned to the group. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Bye,” a few of them called out at different times. I waved to all of them as I walked backwards for a second. 

“Look at you,” Eva wrapped her arm around mine as we started walking. “Already fitting in.”

“I’m trying my best,” I chuckled, shrugging.

“Well, you’re doing a good job,” she replied. “Looks like you’ve even got a little boyfriend.”

“What,” I asked.

“Arthur,” she answered.

“We literally said hi to each other,” I rolled my eyes.

“And he literally watched you walk from your little group over to me,” she continued. “It was adorable.”

“Oh shut up,” I closed my eyes, looking down at the ground. “I’m not even looking for anything like that.”

“You can’t control that kind of stuff,” she explained. “If it happens, it happens.”

“Too bad it won’t,” I dropped my arm from her’s, sticking my tongue out at her. 

**A Few Days Later**

Everything had been going very well since I had arrived. Daphné had invited me into her circle of friends so I wasn’t nearly as lonely as I thought I’d be. They had just accepted me into their ranks. It was great.

My mom was still calling me everyday. She loved hearing about what I was up to. She was really excited when I said that I had made some friends. She was still pushing to find out if I had met anyone who had caught my eye. I thought that I could avoid that conversation... and then I mentioned Arthur.

Arthur and I had probably been the closest in the group. We just seemed to get along really well and our conversations just seemed to flow really well. I guess my mom thought that meant I had committed to a relationship in a matter of days.

I was currently waiting for Eva. Everyone seemed pretty busy today so I was just planning to head home. Eva was taking forever to say goodbye to her friends. 

“(Y/n),” I looked over my shoulder to see Arthur walking over to where I was sitting.

“Hi,” I waved as he circled over to sit next to me. “What’s up?”

“Well, there is a bit of a party or club thing that the group is going to,” he explained. “I was wondering if you wanted to go with me... or us?”

“Sure,” I nodded. “When?”

“Saturday... Tomorrow,” he smiled. I bit my lip and glanced at the floor, hoping to hide my blush.

“Sounds great,” I replied. “Should I meet you there?”

“Sure,” he said before rambling off an address that I was going to need to write down later. 

“I’ll see you there,” I grinned before turning around and walking over to Eva, who was finally done saying goodbye to her friends. 

As we walked, I quickly scrambled through my bag and pulled out a piece of paper. I quickly scribbled down the information that Arthur had given me.

“Ooo, what’s that,” Eva asked, looking over my shoulder. 

“None of your business,” I sassed. “I’m going out on Saturday.”

“A date,” she asks, grabbing my shoulders and shaking me excitedly.

“No, it’s a get-together with the whole group,” I chuckled at her. 

“Sure,” she replied sarcastically. I rolled my eyes. “Why didn’t you write that on your phone?”

“I forget about stuff when it’s on my phone,” I shrugged. “If I can put it on my wall, I’ll remember it better.”

“Interesting concept.”

“I don’t remember asking for your opinion,” I sassed. She laughed loudly as we continued moving.

**Saturday**

“(Y/n)!”

I laughed as Daphné hugged me tightly as soon as I walked through the door. I hugged her back and said hi quickly as I looked around.

“Isn’t this place cool,” she asked.

I nodded. There was loud music, flashing lights, and people dancing all over. I could see some people drinking and trying to talk. I looked back at Daphné, who could see how stunned I was.

“Come on,” she shouted, tugging on my arm.

She dragged me through the crowd and we soon found the rest of our friends. We were in our own little circle. Everyone shouted their greetings quickly... and all of them were jumbled together.

I completely lost track of time after that.

I found myself dancing freely with a smile on my face. I was being twirled around by Daphné, who was clearly just trying to make sure that I was comfortable and happy. 

The music had stopped bothering me and I had finally adjusted to all of the lights. Daphné must have noticed because she had finally let go of my hands. I had just accepted it and continued dancing.

I spun around without really looking and ended up running into someone. I blinked a couple of times before focusing on Arthur. I was going to apologize and step back but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. 

Arthur and I had completely stopped moving. Slowly, I smiled at him. He smiled back at me. It was like everything had faded away.

I wasn’t sure who leaned in first but I knew that each movement was careful. My breath hitched my throat as our lips touched. It was short and soft and gentle and... perfect. I cupped the sides of his face as he touched my waist. 

After a minute, we stepped back. We looked at each other and smiled at each other again. He grabbed onto my hand before twirling me around again. He chuckled at my shocked expression and I laughed with him, pulling him closer.

**Two Weeks Later**

The next two weeks were a happy blur. The day after we kissed, Arthur had asked me out on an actually planned date and here we are.

The weekend was quiet. I was leaning against the wall, reading a book that I had brought along with me. This was really the only chance I had to sit down and read.

“Hi,” I looked over at the door. Arthur was leaning his head in from behind the door frame. 

“Hi,” I replied, waving for him to come in. 

He leaned down and kissed my forehead before sitting down and wrapping his arm around my waist. I leaned my head on his shoulder and kept reading. 

We were sitting comfortably for about ten minutes before I finally placed my bookmark in between the pages. I set the book next to me before moving so I was facing Arthur, my legs now crossed. I grabbed his hand. 

“Can I ask you something,” I asked quietly. He nodded, rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. “Well... I’ll have to go home eventually...”

“Yeah,” Arthur trailed off, trying to get me to continue talking.

“And that’s all the way across the ocean,” I continued. “...Do you actually want to commit to something like this knowing that it’ll have to end?”

“Who said it had to end,” he asked, furrowing his eyebrows. I shrugged. “Why are you so focused on that?”

“I guess I’m nervous,” I shrugged. Arthur moved so he could lean forward and kiss me softly.

“Can we ignore that idea that this will end when you leave,” he nudged his nose against mine. “We deserve to be happy. That bridge is so far off in the distance, I can barely see it.”

I chuckled at his response. He sat with a small smile on his face until I leaned forward and kissed him again. He cupped the side of my face and leaned in a little bit more. I pulled back with a grin.

“We will talk about this,” he promised. “But why not live in the moment a little while longer?”

“I like that idea,” I mumbled. I uncrossed my legs and draped them over Arthur’s lap and move so I could cuddle into his side. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he answered. There was a moment of silence. “Your room is pretty empty.”

“You can help me decorate later,” I chuckled, closing my eyes. “I don’t want to move right now.”

“Deal,” he said. I bit my lip to keep from laughing. 

Arthur was right. This moment was better than worrying about what was going to happen when I went home. It was so much better.

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[soprano193]

Not a Couple

Chapter 4

Constance:

"Maura, no!" Her cry made her seven-year-old jump, her hand rapidly retreating from the still hot curling iron that rested on the bathroom counter. "What are you thinking? Do you want to hurt yourself?"

Maura's eyes welled up, her hands knotted in front of her stomach. "I wanted my hair to look like yours." Her head fell, her eyes looking at the floor. It made Constance's heart break.

Walking forward, she attempted to soften her tone, plugging in the curling iron and tapping her child on the shoulder. "Next time, just ask for help." It was more blunt than she meant, but in the long run, was a lesson Maura needed to learn. "I would be happy to help you curl your hair like mine." The iron on a low heat setting, she wrapped a section of honey blonde hair around the barrel. Maura's hair curled easier than hers, so it didn't take long for her to have loose ringlets bouncing on her shoulders. Maura was quiet the entire time Constance fiddled with her hair, her hands tapping a rhythm on the sides of her legs. When Constance was satisfied, she turned Maura towards her, twirling the last ringlet around her finger. "All done. Now go pick out a dress."

Maura's hands came up to touch the navy blue strap of her mother's dress. "Is this what you're wearing?"

"Yes. Now go pick out your dress, we don't have much time." This spurred the young girl into action, and she dashed from the bathroom, her feet hitting the floor with a heavy thud as she ran down the hall.

As Maura frantically dressed, Constance switched over her purse and spoke on the phone with the gallery director, apologizing for the need to bring her daughter. "She is very well behaved, you won't even notice she is there." The woman on the other end seemed annoyed, but consented to the added person. As if Constance had any control over the nanny falling ill, or her husband's busy schedule. She yelled down the hall for her daughter one last time. "Maura! We need to leave, now!"

"Coming, Mother!" After a few moments, the young girl appeared in a navy blue dress of her own, and little pink heels. Her dress had short sleeves, and buttons down the front, but the color matched Constance's almost exactly.

"Maura, dear, what happened to your black shoes?"

The you girl's shoulders dropped and she shuffled her feet. "They don't fit. I know I don't match." It was futile to ask her to put on a pink dress instead. She wanted to match her mother, not her shoes, and they were running late.

Constance let out a sigh, but beckoned her daughter to come closer. "Regardless, we don't have time for you to change. Come along." Her daughter grinned, and clomped along behind her, reaching a hand out to walk with her mother.

Art installations always put Constance out of her mind. There was a lot going on, many people to talk to, pieces to sell, and she always seemed to lose track of time. Thankfully, Maura managed to stay close, always within reach, yet silent for the most part. She had always been a shy child, and large groups of strangers could make her anxious. So she stayed close to the one person she knew, and focused on the art pieces she could see.

When the event started to die down, Constance placed her hands on Maura's shoulders and looked up at the piece she was admiring. It almost reached the ceiling, with splatters of red, green, and orange prominently featured. "What do you think of this one, dear?"

The girl leaned back into her mother. "I like it."

"Why?"

There was a moment of silence before she answered. "The colors. They make me happy."

Before Constance could answer, someone walked behind them and tapped her on the shoulder. "Can I get a photo for the newspaper?"

Both of them turned, Constance nodding in the affirmative before walking towards better lighting. "Of course. Maura, stand right there for a moment, dear."

The photographer flashed a soft smile and addressed the girl, who tried her best to put on a brave face as she stood alone. "Hi, sweetie. Do you want to be in the picture with your Mom?" Maura nodded, but waited for her mother to hold out her hands. Constance knelt down and put her arm around Maura's back, careful not to crush her curls. "Beautiful!" The photographer gushed as she sapped a few photos. "Beautiful like your Mama."

"You think I look like her?" The seven year old beamed, turning to face her mother with excitement.

"Absolutely. You even dressed alike." The photographer grinned as she lowered her camera. "I used to dress like my Mom, too." She turned her attention to Constance. "I can get one of just you, if you'd like."

"I think what you have will do. Thank you." She rubbed her hand in circles on Maura's back, who was still beaming from the photographer's compliment.

"She said I look like you, Mom." Her body thrummed with energy. She didn't hear it too often. Most often they guessed that Maura must take after her father, when in reality, she didn't look like him either.

Constance twirled a loosening ringlet around her fingers, meeting Maura's eyes with pride. "She did." She took her daughter's hand in hers. "It's time to head home."

"You aren't usually the type for nostalgia, Connie." Her husband's voice pulled her out of her thoughts, the newspaper clipping of her and a young Maura dropping back into the box. He sat at the table next to her, picking up a picture at random. "I don't remember this one." He passed it over to her, looking for an explanation. Here, Maura was around four, a handful of weeds in her hands, the strap of her yellow dress falling off her shoulder.

"I don't remember this one, either." It pained her to admit it, but she didn't remember a lot of the photos that were currently spread on their dining room table. "I think that the Nanny might have taken this." She moved the photo to the left and picked up another. Maura with bulky safety glasses on, her Halloween costume when she was nine. She laughed as she passed it to Arthur, making a note to put it aside.

"I don't remember this either." His voice was quiet as he sat it down.

"You aren't the only one that missed her life, Arthur." She picked up another unrecognizable picture, with a two-year-old Maura dancing toward the camera. "But we can be there for her now." She reached for that picture with the safety goggles, placing it in a small pile with similar photos.

"So what brought all this on?" Arthur had started gathering piles of photos, leaning back in the dining room chair as he looked at each one.

"Maura's friend, Jane, sent me an email. She needs pictures of Maura as a child, with a preference for 'especially geeky and sciency pictures, please'. I think she said something about a slideshow for a party." Jane was a frequent subject as she worked on reconnecting with her daughter. Maura was always describing some new joke Jane told, or filling her in on the latest Jane gossip. It was clear the woman was a big part of their daughter's life. "You would like Jane, I think. She's very direct, a straight shooter, but very protective and understanding of Maura. They're a good fit." She grabbed her husband's hand, shot him a knowing glance, and pulled the photo of Maura with a ribbon from the science fair off the top of his pile.

It seemed to take a moment for Arthur to get it, but when he did, his eyes widened and he lowered his pile of pictures. "Wait. You don't think…"

"I do."

His brows furrowed as he processed the information. "But she never showed any indication that she might be interested in females."

Constance let out a breath as she picked up her own pile. "I'm not sure that's true." At his puzzled expression, she continued. "Do you remember when Maura came home for her first Thanksgiving break? We were all sitting for dinner, and Maura was going on and on about Biology." She could picture it perfectly, Arthur at the head of the table with a journal open as they ate, while she tried to dab at a cranberry stain on the front of her shirt. Maura was looking in Arthur's direction as she spoke. "She was rattling off facts about all the species they had seen homosexual relationships in. Mammals, birds, fish, she had an example for just about everything. And I made a mistake." Arthur raised his eyebrows, his pile lowering completely as he gave her his full attention. "I asked her what she was trying to tell us. And it came out so harsh, I think she thought we wouldn't approve." Maura protected herself the only way she knew how. She shut down the topic, moving to something else, refusing to be swayed. "I have found out from a source that Maura experimented in college, and she may not have hated it."

"Is that source Jane?"

This made Constance chuckle. "No, Jane doesn't tell me anything Maura doesn't want me to know. Jane's mother told me."

"Wait, how does Jane's mother fit into all of this?"

Constance put her pile of photos down, focusing on her husband. "Angela lives with Maura. They have a good relationship." A relationship she was envious of. But she was trying to do better. "Every time I see her, I try to drop hints about how open-minded I can be, but she isn't picking up on them."

This had Arthur laughing, his baritone bouncing off the walls. "You can't drop hints with Maura, Connie. You have to ask her directly."

"Well how do you suggest I do that? 'Angela told me about your ex-girlfriend, Sam, and now I want to talk with you about her?'"

"Sam?" He stopped laughing, eyes wide, and grabbed her hand. "She talked about Sam, I remember that."

"She talked about Sam in very gender neutral terms. And then stopped, probably whenever they broke up."

They both took some time to take it all in. Constance started putting the photos she wasn't sending Jane back into the box. Arthur's voice made her pause. "Has she dated other women since then? I feel like I've heard about a few guys."

"I don't know."

Arthur started adding photos to the box, looking at a few of them along the way. "What makes you think she is interested in Jane that way?"

She took her time to answer, thinking about what she had noticed as they worked toward rebuilding their relationship. "Well, she trusts Jane completely. And they understand each other. Both drop everything for each other, Maura even cancelled a night out with me because Jane needed her. And you know what I learned from that Thanksgiving night all those years ago?"

"I think you'll tell me."

"I learned how to listen to Maura. Really listen. To watch her face when she talks, to figure out the meaning behind her words. And I'm telling you, she has deep feelings for Jane."

Her husband was silent, holding onto the last picture, his eyes fixated on the young woman speaking at her high school graduation. "So what's the next step?"

"Keep up with her, regain her trust. I hope one day she can talk to me the same way she can talk to Angela, or Jane." Arthur regarded her answer with a nod of his head. He rose from the table and walked toward the front door. "Where are you going?"

He returned a half minute later with his briefcase, and pulled his phone out of the side pocket. "I'm going to reach out. I want to be around when she tells you."

Maura didn't answer. She hadn't spoken to Arthur in years, and never wanted to talk to Constance about it. But he was making an effort, as was she. It gave her some hope that their relationship would mend along the way.

[viridian-angel]

Black Pearl [Chapter 2]

Series: Original [Sara]

Genre: Thriller

Characters: Original [Rights Reserved] 

Words: 2,606

[ Prologue / Chapter 1 ]

11:37 PM.

Sara quickly made it back to her headquarters, making a beeline to the room Kentaro and the cat was in with her bag full of kitten-related groceries. Kentaro, in all his huge stature, was currently laid out flat on his back as the cat playfully attacked him here and there– its claws too dull and his skin too thick to really hurt in any way.

“Mm. Hey, boss.” he murmured, a small yawn escaping his lips.

“Hey.”

Sara offered him a small smile, sitting down, rifling through her bag. “I got a decent amount of stuff here. Enough to last a few days, at least. If we end up keeping it we can just get more when it’s not pouring and dark out.”

She took out a paper plate and cracked open a can of food, immediately catching the attention of the feline who darted over to watch it slowly plop onto the plate. Sara laughed and used the lid to spread it around a bit, making it shallow so the cat wouldn’t make a mess of its face trying to eat.

Her smile widened watching it lick its chops before hurriedly eating; but, as it went on, her grin began to falter into a more neutral expression. She took a deep breath in, running her fingers through her bangs. Kentaro pushed himself up into a sitting position, hunched over and watching the cat intently.

“I know that face, boss,” he muttered softly. “You know, it ain’t a good idea to go runnin’ all busy like right after a killin’. You oughta just stay inside and try to relax or process it a bit more.”

He offered a huge hand out to the cat, who turned from its food and gave it more curious sniffs.

“At least, that’s what you told me. No one judges you for doin’ it, but it's still a whole lot for one person to take in, right? You may be our boss, but you’re still human.”

“Yeah. Yeah…”

She leaned back against the wall and stared at the ceiling, rubbing the side of her face with a hand. It’s not that she was expecting tonight to go without a hitch, but there was something off about what was happening. Something she wasn’t being told.

Sara absolutely despised being left in the dark.

“I don’t know, Kentaro. I’ve had a pit in my stomach since this morning. Stress pangs running through my arms. A tightness in my chest. I knew it wouldn’t feel good, but something feels wrong. It should be over and done with. I should be able to simply go to sleep tonight, with a worry knocked out of the way. But no matter what, I can’t get over this bad feeling I got about tonight. Something’s not adding up…”

A long silence between the two hung still in the air.

11:45 PM.

She put her hand out, getting the attention of the cat herself. Sara let it get a good sense of her scent, before gently scratching under its chin and around its neck.

Then, her nail suddenly caught on something.

Her eyes widened a bit, taking a closer look.

“What the hell…?”

She carefully ran her finger to where her nail caught, feeling it out– to the cat’s complaints.

“Kentaro.”

“Yeah, boss?”

“I need some scissors.”

“Sure thing, boss.”

He quickly got up and walked out of the room, returning with a pair of small scissors as Sara continued to inspect the cat’s neck. A black zip tie had been blending into the cat’s fur around its neck.

Kentaro handed the scissors down to her, holding the cat’s body down as gently as he could while Sara carefully snipped the zip tie off. With it, a very small thumb drive fell to the floor, illuminated by a dim, flashing red light inside of it.

Both of them stared down at it for a long, quiet moment, before looking back up at each other with dismay.

“That… can’t be good, can it?” Kentaro whispered.

“I can’t say I like the look of it,” Sara whispered back.

“Should we… plug it in and take a look at it?”

Sara reached out a hand, hesitating before slowly picking it up between two fingers. She eyed it cautiously as she tried to think out a confident answer for him. None seemed to come.

Regardless, she was the one in charge. No room for self-doubt and indecisiveness here.

The cat strutted into Kentaro’s lap as Sara slowly stood up to her full height. A stoic, calm, and certain look on her face. She opened the door, a hand on the frame. Her head turned to look back at him, a confident look in her eyes.

“Fuck no.”

She stepped into the main room, slapping the drive down on the table a bunch of her subordinates were playing poker on.

“Eizou."

“Yeah?” one of them asked, a comparably thin, short man.

“Take a look at this. It’s shady as hell. Is it a bug?”

He took it, bringing it to his face and carefully peering at it.

“Mm… yeah, probably so. It definitely looks like a normal flash drive, but there are some weird wiring and circuitry at the top. No reason it should be on there for any standard USB flash drive. Hell, it’d probably do something real nasty if you even tried to plug it in with all this other shit in the way. If I had to guess, it’s probably a live transmitter, and the USB is just a cover for people to pick it up or somethin’. None of the wirings goes into the actual… well, you know. Flash drive part of it. Nothing we’re saying now would be stored, so… if they heard us, they heard us already.”

11:50 PM.

“Cool,” she said shortly, picking it back up and walking over to one her other subordinates who was on a computer near one of the building’s windows.

“Hey, Kenji. You used to do baseball, right?” she asked, opening the window and squinting from the wind suddenly coming in.

“Jesus– yeah, boss, what’s up?” he asked, shielding his face as he turned to look at her.

“Just want to know how my form is.”

Everyone suddenly turned to her, watching as she eyed up her throw, closing one eye and winding up her arm.

“Shit, boss, you’re not even going to plug it in and give it a shot?” one of them laughed, watching with rapt attention.

“No good comes from mysterious flash drives, games bought at shady garage sales, and creepy dolls found in the garbage. Fuck this thing, watch it go.”

She waited for the wind to die down for even a moment, and immediately whipped it outside of the window as hard as she could, watching it go flying over two different rooftops before disappearing from sight into some alley far away. Sara let out a long whistle, quickly shutting the window and pulling down the blinds. It felt like a weight fell off her shoulders alongside them.

“Pretty good, boss.” Kenji laughed, turning back to the computer screen he was watching.

“Ahhhhh.” Sara sighed, closing her eyes and stretching. “You know, I’m feeling a little more like myself, now. Maybe I can get an early night’s rest. Well, early for me, at least…”

“You aren’t worried about it?” one of the others asked skeptically.

“Nope. That thing is a SEP now, no point in worrying about it. If they heard something important while you guys were yelling about poker, I’m sure we’ll hear about it later.”

“SEP, boss?”

“Somebody else’s problem,” she said with a grin, heading back towards the currently designated cat room. “Just be on your toes for tonight at least, we can look into it more tomorrow.”

11:55 PM.

“Wow, look at that,” Sara laughed, watching as the cat happily rolled around on the floor, Kentaro tickling its belly with his large fingers. “Looks like they’re a whole lot happier without some piece of plastic pinned to their neck.”

“Yeah, seems so, boss.”

Sara took a deep breath, squatting down and absentmindedly watching the cat.

Kentaro’s gaze flicked over to her for a moment, before returning to the current subject of his affection. “Some night, huh, boss?” he asked, his voice in a hushed tone.

“Yeah.” Sara murmured, turning her gaze up and staring at the ceiling. “I just want a good night’s sleep. And maybe a month of business as usual, without having to shoot someone.”

Kentaro nodded solemnly. He couldn’t say he understood how he was feeling– so he didn’t. Sara often took the duty of honor killings herself, as opposed to having the rest of them do it. In all their time, her yakuza family had given out beatings, knocked people out cold, sent people to the hospital– but not one of them, besides Sara herself, had taken a life. They knew she had killed a previous family patriarch in her time; long before any of them had joined up with her.

“I’ve already taken that plunge,” she had told them, “You can’t take back killing someone. Once you’ve done it, that’s it. Whether it was justified or not, it’s going to change you… it becomes just a little easier each time, but I can still feel that hollow feeling in the gut of my stomach every time. I’m never going to ask you to kill for me; so please, if you can avoid it– do so. We can earn our place at the top without you having to kill. It may be justified, it may be needed at times, but I’d never have you do it. Come to me. I’ll take that role for all of us. It’s my duty, now.”

Even now, it still affected her– and all the others could tell, even if they didn’t talk about it directly. She had earned their complete loyalty and trust– Sara ended up being a natural born leader. Even in a system where the thought of a female yakuza on its own was laughable to most, she had risen up the rank of a “patriarch” of her own family. They knew how heavy her role weighed on her, and not one of them would dare to add to it by doubting her strength.

So there she sat, eyes closed, trying to sort through her feelings. It was one thing to kill in the heat of the moment, in self-defense, but going out to find someone, for the explicit person of killing them, always made her skin crawl. She didn’t seek to justify it in her head; she never wanting killing to be easier. She wanted it to feel wrong, to hurt her– in her heart, she felt that the moment it stopped bothering her would be the moment she lost who she was… and what she was doing all of this for in the first place.

“I’ll make this city a place to be proud of one day. No matter what it takes, no matter how far I fall. Just a little longer… and the killing can stop…” she thought to herself, sighing deeply.

11:59:30 PM.

She ran her fingers back through her hair, shaking her head.

11:59:45 PM.

The cat’s ears perked up, going still and looking alert.

12:00 AM.

A sharp whistled sounded out through the air outside, loud enough to hear through closed windows– then, a loud crack followed.

“Kentaro, keep the cat inside. Stay here.” she ordered, jumping up and dashing out the door towards the windows. She was immediately greeted by a blinding, scarlet light outside, falling through the air.

“Who the hell is popping flares out in this city?” a family member asked, shielding his eyes.

“That’s stronger than a normal flare…” Sara muttered squinting to try to keep an eye out on what was happening.

There was a period of silence as the light fell back down to the city streets– the rain eerily paused in its loud downpour with it.

Then, the unmistakable, thunderous crack of a gunshot in the distance. Followed by another, and more ahead of it.

“What the hell…?”

Her eyes were open wide, fingers twitching.

“Boss, what’s… what’s going on?” someone nervously asked behind her, unused to seeing her so worked up.

“I… I don’t know,” she said quietly, frozen in place as she saw the streets a couple of blocks away light up with gunshot after gunshot. “There… there hasn’t been a clan feud in months… there shouldn’t be… what’s…?”

She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to shut down. She had people in her care now. If she couldn’t lead in unsure times like this, she was in no shape to have her own family.

“Everyone– we’re locking down for the night,” she stated firmly, balling her hands into fists. “That’s an order. Hit the shades.”

Eizou ran over to one of the computers and hit a command shortcut with the keyboard, a loud rumbling emanating from within the building’s walls. Heavy sheets of metal crawled across the windows, shutting out the chaos outside.

“All of you, stay inside. If the shit outside hits here, leave. I don’t care if we lose everything in this building– money can’t replace your lives. Got it?”

They all nodded in confirmation, the atmosphere dripping with tension as opposed to only a few minutes ago.

“I’m going out.”

“Wait, boss, hold up–” Eizou interrupted, “One of us can go out instead. Get a look around, figure out what’s happening, and come back. You don’t have to…” he trailed off, his voice catching in his throat. “We don’t even know what’s happening out there– what if you get hurt?”

Sara paused in her tracks, everyone’s gaze falling onto her.

“Eizou,” she said calmly, walking over and clapping a strong hand onto his shoulder. “This city has murderers and thieves– but an outright gunfight between people is rare. There are still people out there in the streets, trying to close their shops and go home to their family. Kids who snuck out past their curfew. The homeless, huddled under the cover of alleyways to get away from the freezing rain. I don’t know what’s happening, but if no one comes out to stop it, innocent civvies are going to get hurt. They might be getting hurt right now. And we both know… the cops around here certainly aren’t going to put a stop to it.”

He shook in place, eyes glued to the ground and hissing through his teeth. “Maybe, but it isn’t your job to…”

“Eizou…” she said again, grabbing his face with both of her hands and turning his head to look at her. “I won’t die. I can’t die.”

She let go of him, walking away back towards the stairs– before pausing a gun, turning her head just enough to barely meet all of their gazes.

“As long I’m carrying the hopes and dreams of all of you on my back, not even a hundred bullets could put a stop to me. Be back soon.”

They all watched in rapt silence as she turned back to the staircase, and calmly walked down to the front door– letting herself out and locking it behind her.

She looked up to the sky, flickers of light splashing against the black clouds rolling over. Sara squinted her eyes as the rain starting to fall again, her hands in her pockets as she took one more deep breath.

“An omen, or an old friend…?” she asked rhetorically to the uncaring sky. “I hope you can wash all the blood off these poor streets before the night is over….”

[cocomaxley]

Paws for a Cause Part 2

This was a prompt request from @stopforamoment

This is a part of a TRR A/U called Cordonians Gone Wild, a collaborative effort by @ao719 @speedyoperarascalparty @leelee10898 @riseandshinelittleblossom and yours truly. Catch up HERE.

Summary: A furry friend joins the CGW squad which results in another boys vs. girls wager.

Rating: Fluff

Tag List: @hopefulmoonobject @fullbeaumonty @brightpinkpeppercorn @alj4890 @zaffrenotes @annekebbphotography @carabeth @moneyfordiamonds @give-me-ernest-sinclaire @3pawandme @indiacater @ooo-barff-ooo @ownworldresident @tornbetween2loves @perfectprofessorherokid @stopforamoment @editboutique @wannabemc2 @enmchoices @lauradowning29 @lodberg @smalltalk88 @gibbles82 @heatherfilliez @noey718-blog @nikkis1983 @sweetest-marbear @classylady1234 @daniv2278 @jlouise88

Paws for a Cause Moodboard

Milo's Moodboard

The ladies were sitting in the royal chambers ready to leave for their calendar photoshoot. Anitah heard a knock on the door, and Brad entered. Milo walked up wagging his tail. Before he could close the door, the puppy ran out of the apartment.

“Brad, come on! Why does he always get passed you when you come in here?” Anitah asked in an exasperated tone.

“So-sorry, your majesty,” He stammered. “I'll go get that little ass...I mean little cutie.”

Brad took off and as expected the pup was waiting for him at the end of the hallway. “Milo, I don't have time for these games! Get your ass back here!”

Milo stood up and started walking away. He stayed far enough ahead of Brad but ensured his bodyguard was still able to see him. He walked into the kitchen, and the staff immediately started cooing at him.

“Is prince Milo here for some snacks?”

One of the cooks reached into her pocket and took out a dog biscuit. He happily accepted the treat from his friend. Milo continued to strut around the kitchen when Brad came into the room. Brad cornered him by the walk in freezer. A staff member walked out of the freezer, and Milo slipped inside. Brad caught the door before it closed and followed him inside. Once Milo saw that Brad was closing in, he immediately changed direction and ran out. Then the door clicked shut. Brad sighed and pushed on the door. It wouldn't open. He place his hand on the center of the door and pushed as hard as he could. However, the heavy steel door still wouldn't budge. His teeth started to chatter, and he could see his breath against the cold air. He crossed his arms around him trying to keep his hands warm. Trying to find a way out, he surveyed the door looking for a knob or release latch.

“Shit! Shit shit shit. That dog is trying to kill me!”

He was trying not to panic and thinking of ideas to get out of the frozen room. He pounded on the door and yelled, “HELP! I'm stuck in here!”

No response. He couldn't hear a single person on the other side. He tried to take a running start and rammed his shoulder against the door. “Fuck! That hurt.” He rubbed his sore shoulder and yet the door remained in tact.

Anitah picked up her phone and dialed Bastien’s number. “Bas, have you seen Brad? He let Milo out again and he still isn't back.”

Bastien joined the ladies a short while later. He informed them that he pinged Brad’s phone and found his location. The group followed him down to the kitchen and saw Milo sitting on the floor looking at the freezer door.

“Milo, there you are!” Anitah said. Before she could pick him up, he walked up to the door and scratched at it.

“What is it, Lassie? Did Brad fall in a well?” Genevieve snorted.

“Do you think Brad’s in there?” Pam asked.

Genevieve giggled, “This would be the best day ever if he was.”

“Aww, Gen, don't be mean. If he's in there he could be freezing. Not everyone is accustomed to cold temperatures,” Stephanie replied, looking concerned.

“Well if his dumbass can't get out of a walk in freezer, then he deserves it,” Alicia added.

Bastien pulled the door open and inside was a very cold and very pale Brad. His teeth chattered and his body shivered as he stepped out.

“What the hell happened to you, Bradley?” Anitah asked with a huge grin on her face. Bastien tried to hide his smirk.

“Th-the dog...the damn dog locked me in there,” Brad responded, his teeth still chattering.

Genevieve burst out laughing, “are those tears frozen to your face? Brad, you just have to push the door to open it.”

He explained how he pushed, knocked and even tried to shoulder the center of the door to open it. This made Genevieve and Alicia laugh even harder. Alicia walked into the freezer, allowing the door shut behind her. She pushed the door open a short while later.

“Ta da! You just have to be smarter than the door.” She took a bow in front of a very annoyed and still frozen Brad.

Anitah looked at Brad’s frozen state, “Brad, you think you can handle this or do you need to take the day off? I'm sure Liam wouldn't hold this against you...”

Brad gulped, “N-no-no, I'm fine, your majesty.”

He led the ladies to the waiting vehicles. They decided to have the photoshoot at the shelter. The shelter staff showed them to a room where they could take pictures. Anitah arranged for props and backdrops to be set up in the room. The men would be using the room the following day for their session.

Stephanie looked at each of the ladies and their clothing. She then set up a backdrop to complement their outfits and chosen animals. Anitah posed with Milo. She was wearing a multicolor dress which stood out in front of the black backdrop. Milo was ever the sweetheart posing with his mommy. Next up was Alicia with the white and gray terrier she picked for her photos.

“Since your birthday is in November, maybe throw this coat on and lay down next to Fred.” Stephanie said, pointing to a mat on the floor, “Perfect, just like that,”.

Next up was Pam with a sweet Husky puppy named Mantra. Stephanie changed the background to a plain white one to contrast the black dress she was wearing. Pam picked up the puppy and made a kissing face that Mantra mimicked.

“So cute, Pam!” Anitah squealed as Stephanie snapped the picture.

Pam couldn't help but giggle as Mantra licked her face. Stephanie turned to Genevieve who was holding Snowball, a long haired white cat. She set up an ornate pink chair that coordinated well with Genevieve’s white shirt and pink sweater. Stephanie had her sit down with Snowball on her lap.

“She's purring! I think she loves me,” Genevieve said with a grin on her face. Alicia walked up and petted the purring kitty. “She is so sweet. I really miss having a cat.”

“Alright Stef, tell me what to do and I'll take your pictures,” Alicia said.

Stephanie setup the mat to look like a bed with green pillows and light neutral colored bedding that matched her floral shirt. She had her furry friend, Jasper lay on it. She held his face and placed a kiss on his nose. Alicia snapped the picture at just the right moment.

They did a few group pictures since they needed twelve photos. Stephanie took out the memory card and plugged it into her laptop. The ladies looked at the photos and picked the best ones. Realizing they needed more pictures to get the calendar filled, they knew that they had to up the ante.

Anitah looked at the group with a mischievous grin, “Ladies, we should pose in our bra and panties. Each of us has a nice sweet photo but the other picture will be a bit more…risque. I think that's exactly what we need to get these calendars sold.”

The girls agreed and stripped down to their underwear. Brad cleared his throat, and the ladies turned around. Alicia glared at him, “Enjoying the show, Brad?” He adjusted himself before quickly leaving the room. The girls giggled at his panicked departure.

“I forgot he was here!” Pam said giggling.

Stephanie got the ladies and their animals set up for the poses and snapped picture after picture. She set the timer on the camera and joined the rest of the women for the group photo.

“Well girls, I think we have everything we need. I'll edit these and pick the best ones for our calendar. These boys have no idea how bad they’re going to lose!” Stephanie said laughing.

The following day, the men met up at the animal shelter ready to take their calendar photos. The photographer hadn't arrived yet, so the men were talking about ideas for their pictures. Maxwell looked at the group taking in their attire. All of them were dressed in casual clothes.

“Maybe we should do formal wear. The animals we choose can wear a bow tie if it's a boy or a ribbon if it's a girl,” Maxwell said excitedly.

Leo scoffed, “You're overthinking this Beaumont. You forget that we are good looking guys that women would love to pin up on their office walls. I think we keep it simple. Maybe shirtless or in our underwear.”

Drake looked pointedly at Leo and asked, "No way, Leo! You don't get to make suggestions. This is your fault. What made you think for one damn minute that betting against the girls was a good idea? Have you learned nothing?"

“I agree with Drake. They haven’t lost a damn bet yet and now I’m going to be stuck in a fucking speedo washing cars because you can’t keep your damn mouth shut!” Liam agreed and nodded his head.

Rashad sighed, “While I agree that it was...not smart to take this bet, we have to try. I think Maxwell has a good idea. These girls are going to play dirty. They always play dirty. So we need to be creative.” He looked directly at Leo. “I am not posing shirtless or nude.”

“Come on. We can't admit defeat already. These girls can't win every bet. We are due for a win,” Leo laughed.

Just then a young guy walked in looking like he just came from a frat party. The men assessed his disheveled clothing and unkempt hair. He looked around the room and said, “Hi, I'm Matt. I was hired by a Maxwell Beaumont to take pictures?”

Maxwell walked up to him and shook his hand. “Great! We're ready. Just tell us how we should pose with the animals and we will give you our best sexy faces,” he said giving his best smoldering look.

“Do you need help bringing in your equipment?” Liam asked him.

Matt looked at Liam confused, “I'm just gonna use my phone. I have an app to edit them. I'm taking a college photography class. Our current unit is taking and editing pictures using your cell phone.”

“And we are fucked…” Drake grumbled under his breath.

Matt picked Maxwell to go first. Maxwell picked up a floppy eared hound puppy named Cooper.

“Ok, why don't you hold him like a baby?”

Although he was confused, Maxwell did as he was told and cradled the puppy like a baby. Cooper wriggled in his arms, clearly uncomfortable in the way he was being held. Matt held up his phone and started snapping pictures. Every once in a while he moved the phone to a different angle.

“Alright, next. How about you in the jean shirt?” Matt looked at Drake.

Drake rolled his eyes and picked up the cat he chose for the shoot. Taken by surprise at his sudden movement, Teddy the tabby cat swatted Drake’s arm.

“Shit! That hurt,” Drake yelled. He looked at the scratches that were starting to bleed. “Great. Fucking great.”

Drake moved towards Teddy again. He bolted across the room and stopped at Rashad’s feet. He looked up at him and started rubbing his head against Rashad’s leg. Rashad picked up the cat and scratched behind his ear. He handed the happy feline over to Drake.

Matt held up his phone and said, “Ok, why don't you hold him like a baby, but over your shoulder. Like you're burping him?”

Drake snorted, “You're kidding right?”

Matt glared at Drake and he reluctantly obliged holding Teddy with his front paws over Drake’s shoulder. Next was Rashad with a golden retriever puppy named Bandit.

“Let me guess, hold him like a baby?” Rashad said with a smirk.

“Actually, yes. But hold him so he's sitting upright and support his hind legs.”

Rashad shook his head in disbelief, but kept his mouth shut. When Matt took the first picture, the flash went off blinding Rashad.

Matt groaned, “Sorry! Sorry, let me turn that off.”

He took the next photo and the flash went off again. “Shoot. This stupid phone acts up sometimes. I think I've got enough of you two though. Your majesty, you're next.”

Liam happily picked up the brindle puppy, Maggie. He cradled her in his arms with a huge smile on his face.

“This will be practice for whenever Anitah decides that we can have a baby, right Maggie?” Liam continued to baby talk the puppy who was enjoying the attention.

After Matt felt like he had taken enough of Liam and Maggie, he pointed at Leo.

Leo picked up Sasha the bulldog puppy and looked Matt smart square in the eye. “I'm not holding her like a fucking baby.”

He sat down on a chair and held the puppy in his lap. Matt didn't argue, instead he focused on taking pictures of Leo and Sasha.

Matt smiled triumphantly, “Well gentlemen, it looks like we're all done here. I'll show you the pictures I took and the I'll edit them and email them to Maxwell.”

The guys gathered around Matt when they noticed that his screen was completely shattered. The pictures looked distorted through the cracked screen. Drake ran his hand down his face. With their mouths open, all they could do was stare at the screen. Liam paid Matt, and Leo practically pushed him out the door.

“Max, call Stef and ask her to take the pictures. Those were horrible,” Liam pleaded.

“They can't be that bad right? I'm not calling Stef. She was really upset when I told her that she couldn't take the pictures because she would sabotage them,” Maxwell replied.

Rashad sent a few text messages and said, “Stef is on her way. Maxwell...she told me to tell you...‘you're welcome darlin’ with a middle finger emoji.”

A short while later, Stephanie walked in and took the men’s photos. When she was done, she pulled them up on her laptop. They breathed a sigh of relief as they looked at Stephanie’s work.

“Hey, Stef...does that folder have the ladies’ pictures? Why don't you let us have a sneak peek at our beautiful wives?” Leo said trying to be smooth.

“That's a hell naw, Leo,” Stephanie said as she snapped her laptop shut. “By the way, remember to deduct what you paid your photographers from your profits.”

“We only paid Matt. Thank god we didn't have to pay him much,” Drake responded.

Stephanie pulled out an invoice from her bag and handed it to Drake. “You didn't think I'd work for free, did ya? You can send the cash home with Max. Bye, boys.”

With that Stephanie grabbed her stuff and walked out of the shelter.

[theleafpile]

@dressedforthebills asked, in reference to the post I made stating that Solo: A Star Wars Story, is a bad movie:

What makes the writing bad? Plot? Structure? What stereotypes would that be?

So I’m just going to go over what’s fresh in my head, so there might be some pieces missing that I’m not particularly interested in. I enjoy the Star Wars movies and read a lot of fic about it, but I’m not a die-hard fan and haven’t read anything in the extended universe.

SPOILERS abound.

Rule #1 of Storytelling: Don’t tell the audience something they already know.

Solo already sort of breaks this rule simply by existing, but we could forgive that fact based on the idea that it was meant to show Han’s early years. However, this rule sticks out to me throughout. 

We know Han won the Millennium Falcon from Lando in a card game - we see two (three?) card games played. It’s difficult to be invested in a card game when you don’t understand the rules. When they lay down their cards, we have no basis of understanding if they are good or not before being shown an in-world audience reaction, which throws off the beat. (At least in most card movies there is a shot of the cards and a voice over of the dealer saying what the hand is for those who don’t know, so the audience can see the cards and hear the hand and make the connection as though they made it themselves. So that could be a simple editing issue.)

We know Han and Qi’ra don’t end up together. We have no reason to be invested in their romantic arc. I could forgive this if they did something at the end like they did at the end of Casino Royale, where the pacing was thrown off because we thought Bond was really going to leave with Vesper, only to find out that she betrayed him at the end and he vowed to go back to work (and never fall in love again). But instead, at the end of Solo, we have Solo left on a beach wondering why the fuck the ship Qi’ra is on is suddenly leaving - was she trapped? Did someone else take over? Is she a hostage again? (all perfectly acceptable canon questions that Han would ask). There’s no clear cut image or moment to show that that was a betrayal, leaving us (and Han) confused.

Rule #1 of Romance: If you have to show two characters kissing to show they’re together, it’s bad writing.

The first scene with Qi’ra and Han breaks this rule. He’s running, in a panic - there’s no reason at all why he would suddenly stop what he was doing, switch gears immediately from panic to lust, and kiss her as he did. It’s a simple and fast way to show two characters are allied, but its boring. If he saw her hiding and waiting for him, and while running took her hand and dashed them to a safer place it would have 1) established that he is confident in his surroundings enough to hide (we love experts) and 2) shown them allied anyway.

They were able to show Qi’ra and Dryden Vos allied even though they never macked on one another, which I guess was to show that Qi’ra still had feelings for Han and that she wasn’t really on Vos’ side.

Qi’ra would have been a more interesting character if she were Han’s sister, not his love interest. 

The guilt he feels for not be able to return to Corellia sooner and the worry he feels over her would have been more palpable if she were his blood relation, the only person in the world he had left and/or could trust, and the only person in the galaxy who could have actually relied on him - making seeing her on the yacht that much more of a surprise, showing that this girl who once relied on him has grown up.  

Also, it would have made a neat parallel for Leia/Luke if there was any strange sexual chemistry between Han and Qi’ra’s actors.

No idea what planet Han was on as a soldier, their objectives, or the purpose.

Which, I guess, was the same as Han felt. If confusion was the goal, they got it. In the book, I guess, they give a reason why Chewbacca was caged there, but for the movie they didn’t tell us so it just felt very, you know. Contrived.

The heist scene doesn’t make any sense.

The goal was to attach the ship to one shipping container, detach the container, and lift it away. Which means that there was no reason to blow up the bridge ahead. Which means...

Val didn’t need to die during the heist.

There was no reason to kill her character. If they were doing this job, as Beckett said, to steal a bunch of coaxium for a gangster, then being a thief she would know the risk involved (i.e., Dryden Vos would kill them if they did not return with what was asked) and not be willing to sacrifice herself in the chance that 1) their failing plan would work, 2) Beckett would survive, 3) the coaxium would survive and 4) her life was worth saving Beckett.

Which, love, I guess. But seriously she had no reason to die. And, being the only black character of the group, it was pretty shitty that killed off her and the alien pilot and not one of the two white guys. Because plot. Of course.

Coaxium is apparently super unstable when unprocessed - but it’s okay to be tossed around.

Take any high school chemistry class and the teacher’s going to tell you that unstable materials are called that for a reason. All the moving around they do getting the raw coaxium out of the mine, loading it and transporting it on the ship, and the temperature heating up to the breaking point (yet still safe enough to get onto the other world, unloaded, and stuck in a container and plugged into something that I guess immediately neutralizes it) but it’s still able to be handled, without any safety gear, by Beckett when he takes “a drop” (not a unit of measurement) and shoves it into the fuel line of the Falcon.

I mean, hell. When it is processed look at Han so carefully gives the containers over to Dryden Vos. The audience is meant to think he’s being too extra careful because we think it’s fake and he’s overdoing it, but - no. That’s how you handle very explosive processed material. I guess the “super unstable” unprocessed material is okay, though.

Stereotypes.

Seems like Hollywood can’t make a movie lately without poking fun at “SJWs.” Enter L3. Who walked, talked, and sassed like a prototypical black woman. No thanks. She did have some funny lines, but I hate how her character’s actual correct ideas were treated as the punch line. (The same problem Hermione had with the SPEW stuff in the HP books.)

Lando is vain. He has a whole closet for capes. Unfortunately we don’t get to see him be or say anything vain at all whatsoever elsewhere. 

The alien pilot at the beginning is like “I am here to state the theme and die.”

Major characterization problems - aka I don’t care about these people.

Qi’ra’s woe-is-me / you won’t look at me the same way if I’ve told you what I’ve done / you don’t know what I’ve done lines. The audience has no idea either, so I feel absolutely nothing when she says these lines. Was she a prostitute? Did she steal, lie, cheat? Did she make other people work for her? How did she get to be in Dos’ inner circle? No clue. It doesn’t make her mysterious. It makes her boring.

Enfrys Nest’s rebellion has nothing to do with rebellion against the Empire. 

Meaning I don’t care about it. That twelve year old mercenary is rebelling against the crime syndicate, which is not affiliated with the rebellion. But wait - 

There was zero indication that was Darth Maul speaking to Qi’ra.

Maul came from a planet where people just... looked like that. The actor was the same but much older, and it showed enough that I had zero inkling to think “oh, hey, that’s Darth Maul” who is a character I really liked. You know why else? Because Qi-gon Jin murdered his ass twenty years ago. I don’t think the Force can keep you alive after being sliced in half and sent down a bottomless well. That’s not how the Force works. They tried to make me think it by needlessly igniting his double bladed red lightsaber, but I was still like.. okay. Another Sith. Whatever.

Also. There’s no indication in the prequels that Darth Maul was the leader of a crime syndicate. 

Things I liked:

- Making the Kessel run. The visuals were pretty cool with the tunnel vision, the Imperial ship, and darting off into the wild unknown with the eldritch monster. Here’s a good example at telling something the audience doesn’t know: Han cheated to do the run in 12 parsecs using the coaxium, which is why no one believes that he actually did that fast. So that’s funny. (”Not if you round down” was a cute line, too.)

- The riot scene with the droids at the mine. They were having a good time.

- Chewie helping his fellow Wookies to get free, and that moment where they touched foreheads. Small character movements like those make a big difference.

- Vos’ blades. That looked like kyber power, which means that those were probably super expensive, and that’s cool characterization. 

So, no. I didn’t like Solo: A Star Wars Story. It added nothing to the characterization of Han or the Skywalker space opera universe we’ve all come to know and love. I know the prequels aren’t as beloved because of the political content, but I think a young Leia movie would’ve been a more worthwhile investment. We could have seen her on Alderran, a planet which we know nothing about, struggling with the life of being both royalty and a senator. We could’ve seen a young woman struggle to be taken seriously at her job that would have had actual in-universe repercussions for the storylines and characters we are familiar with. Yes, it could have had all the problems Solo did, but we would have known that Alderran would be blown up by the Empire, making us root for any chance we saw for characters to leave the planet (and be heartbroken when something required them to stay). 

Young Leia was feisty, not afraid to stand up to Vader (of all people), and I want an origin story for her, dammit! I’m tired of men’s stories! Honor Carrie Fisher you cowards!

[futurepurplepaladin]

When I’m With You I’m Home- Part 2

Anonymous: 11+15+73+81 for lance reuniting with an s/o he left on earth

11) “Wow, you look… amazing.”

15) ““When I’m with you, I’m home.”

73) ““Please don’t say goodbye.”

81) “Come with me.”

Phew, this took so long to write! Sorry about that! I forgot to add on the last post- this is with a fem s/o, and Im really working on writing gender neutral- Im just not used to it. So Im so sorry if this made the fic harder to read! And this DEFINTELY doesnt match the storyline from Season 7-so sorry?

Word Count: 3,468

Who: Lance x Reader

Warnings: Some cuss words in Spanish- mentions of depressio 

Hope you enjoy!!!

(not my gif- gypsyastronaut)

“Getting busy over there LAnce?” a voice taunted in front of you; the voice was undefiable as male or female- but you recognized it at once.

“Wait is that- PIDGE?” 

------

You looked over Lance’s shoulder, seeing Pidge (and Hunk) walk over in almost identical lions as Lance (Pidge was green, and Hunk was yellow). They also were wearing the strange armor.

“Y/n?!?” she called excitedly, and soon as she said that both Hunk and Pidge where running over.

“Oh my god you guys, where’d you get all the weird costume?!” You laughed, hugging both individuals.

Pidge’s short, messy hair was a little longer like Lances, but she was still the same height.

Hunk look like he had gained some muscle, and his bandana looked like it could use a good wash.

“Soo…” Pidge smirked at LAnce, “you never told us you had a girlfriend!”

“And you never told us it was her- I mean- y/n!” HUnk exclaimed, trying to be very polite (per usual).

“Well….” Lance tried to explain, giving you a nervous smile.

You smiled back, saying, “We weren’t a thing… we just kinda figured it out right now.”

Hunk and Pidge looked at each other, evil smirks on their faces. You remembered those faces- that meant they were gonna screw with someone (most likely Lance). But just as Pidge opened her mouth, you felt another “whoooosh” over you that made your hair fly forward. And then a second one flew over you 5 seconds later.

“Okay- why is there different colored lions, I thought there was only a Blue one? And is Shiro and Keith in those ones?” You asked the group quickly, anxiously waiting for their answer.

“Yeah, that should be Shiro and Keith,” Hunk answered, turning towards the spot that they landed.

Lance pondered for a second- how do you know about the Lions?

He gave you a look that you knew to well that he was confused, and you realized he caught your mistake- he couldn’t know about what you did- he CANT. You quickly left him, running to go meet with Shiro and Keith to get away from any awkward questions.

“Mr. Shirogane! Mr. Shirogane is that really you?!?” You yelled, happily excited to see your favorite teacher again- until you realized you were only wearing a breathing suit and you stopped running awkwardly.

“How have you been y/n?” He asked politely, not noticing your lack of clothing.

“Uh- pretty good-“ you said thinking “He’s hairs way different…….”

Then you noticed Keith, you were standing right beside him.

He looked moody- as usual.

“Hey Keith,” you gave a small wave, and he gave a small ‘Hey.’

Hunk, Pidge, and Lance had finally reached you, standing behind you.

“Alright- somebody tell me what’s going on?” You asked your dying question quickly, afraid that they wouldn’t answer it if you didn’t ask at once. “Why is there lions? Where did you guys go? Where did YOU GET THE ARMOR?!?l

Everyone did something different- Lance looked guilty, Pidge was still smirking at you two, Hunk was staring off at the darkening sunset, Keith looked at you as if he trying to see if you were trying to backstab them, but Shiro looked at you with seriousness and sympathy.

“Y/n,” he began, “I know your confused at all this, to be honest, we are too. We can tell you the story…. but not right now.”

“WHAT?!?” You yelled in frustration. “My best friend left -“

(“Boyfriend”, Pidge snickered)

“And all my friends were said to be dead- and you can’t tell me where you guys have been for the last year and a half?!” your frustration got the better of you, and you forgot who you were yelling at- but Shiro gave a soft smile and said, “I know this is frustrating, but promise me, You will know what happened.”

“Alright….” you complied, and Keith, thinking it was the right time to talk, “Guys, it’s getting dark, we’re gonna have to go.”

“Wait-“ You swiveled quickly to look at Lance- “you can’t go!”

Your heart throbbed to think you had to leave Lance- AGAIN- after only seeing him for about 30 minutes. You would be more heart broken than the last time.

Lance hurt seeing your face- it was as if all the guilt and worry he caused a year and half before was coming all coming to surface on your face.

“Keith- Shiro- I can’t go,” he said defiantly, “this is my home- let me stay for the night- then I’ll go.” You looked at him, hope filling your eyes again, and he smiled down at you.

“Lance you can’t, we have to get back-“ Keith started, but Shiro put a hand on his shoulder, signaling him to stop, and he finished for him.

“Lance, you can stay, I don’t see the trouble in it- but please be back before 9. We do have the meeting with the Garrison tomorrow, and we all need to be there.”

“Alright,” Lanc said gleefully, and you gave him a look he could read as if you were actually talking to him- “Meeting?”

“Just something I have to do,” he looked back, and you nodded in understanding.

You watched all the paladins leave one by one, hugging each one (except Keith, who looked extremely moody and had wrapped his arms around himself- and you were also secretly angry at him for trying to get Lance to leave), and watched as the flew into the sky and into the night, like reversed shooting stars- each one a color of the rainbow.

It was now dark, the ocean turning a dangerous indigo, and the night sky was covered in stars.

“Well- what do you want to do?” you asked Lance, grabbing his hand. You realized how good it felt to put your hand in his and wondered why it took you so long to actually confess to him. You haven't felt this happy in a long time.

Lance blushed, hoping the darkness covered up the red traveling up to his cheeks- but since his armor glowed in the dark, it illuminated his face and almost made it look worse.

“U-um...well- I just want to see my family, I've missed them so much!” you guys walked up the beach, you leading Lance back to your belongings. The sand felt cool and soft and it reminded you of the Moon Sand you and Lance used to play with as kids.

“Yeah its been awhile….” you said airly, imagining the happy faces of the McCLains when they realized their boy had came back home, and you smiled.

After Lance admitted to missing his family, it was as if a plug had come undone and he was spilling everything in a happy, home sick voice.

“Ive missed the my family so much, and especially the food. I haven't  had actual Earth food in forever! Like tacos, and pancakes, and the Spongebob ice creams from the ice cream truck with bubble gum eyes, oh and garlic knots! Man your tia used to make the best garlic knots- does she still make them- “

“Oh mierda!” you yelped.

You stopped walking, your happy bubble being popped.

“Whats wrong?” Lance asked, confused and instantly on guard.

“MY AUNT!” she had warned you not to be out so late- and it definitely looked like past 9.

“We gotta go!”

You sprinted towards your board, Lance following suit, and you ran towards the main road.

A normal walk to your house took a few minutes, but you got there at record time.- but you felt it wasn't fast enough- she was gonna be so PISSED.

You arrived at your little house, the outside being illuminated by warm yellow light streaming out through the windows. The door was open, letting in a soft breeze and the smell of garlic filled the air.

You quietly put down your board, dreading the telling to you were gonna get- and in front of LAnce. You had gotten in trouble in front of him before, but know it was different- your relationship was different. This wouldn't be only just embarrassing- you probably just start digging your grave right after.

“Wait are those… Garlic kn-mmph!” Lanc energetically yelled, and you frantically shushed him with your hand. His eyes got wide, and you whispered, “Just- stay quiet okay- I dont know what shes gonna do if shes sees you-I just tell her super gently so she doesn't have a full blown heart attack- let me handle it.” you quickly added, “Nod if you understand.”

Lance nodded in agreement, and after you realised him from your hand, he spat on the ground.

“Next time you do that,” he whispered harshly, “make sure your hands aren't covered in sand!”

You giggled quietly, angry butterflies fluttering in your stomach.

“Stop being a baby, Feo- just wait here.”

You gave him a weak smile and quietly walked up your front steps, dread building the closer you got to the door.

You slid through, and you saw your aunt’s back in the kitchen, smoke rising as she clanged pots and pans around. You swore your aunt had eyes in the back of her head, cause just as your crouched through the doorway, she turned around quickly, giving you a glare that made you flinch.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?!” she bellowed in her slight Spanish accent, “YOU HAD ME WORRIED SICK- IF YOU WERENT HOME IN 5 MINUTES I WAS GOING TO CALL THE POLICE! I TOLD YOU, IF YOU EVER DID THAT AGAIN YOU WERE NEVER GOING TO- Santa Maria….”

Your aunt stopped abruptly, staring not at you but at something behind you. You felt a familiar someone near you, and you stated quietly with a smile- “I got kinda side tracked.”

You looked up at Lance, seeing his soft smile, and you smiled wider.

“Lance… is i really you?” your aunt tentatively walked towards you, clutching her heart as she walked towards him.

“Yeah, its me Tia,” Lance said weakily, as if the amount of happiness in him was sapping his energy.

Your aunt screamed in glee, and put Lance into a bone crushing hug. You laughed, knowing that your aunt saw Lance as a son- you guys were like family.

She finally put Lance on ground as he rubbed his arms to get blood flow back there. “Come come, I just finished making dinner,” you aunt said, a smile etched on her face. You both walked over, seeing the silver baking sheets covered in assorted food; Lance was right, she did make garlic knots.

“Mijo, eat, your a twig!” she said affectionately to Lance, handing him a whole pan of food.

Lance licked his lip, clearing cant waiting to eat. You were hungry as well- you hadnt eaten anything all day, and the hunger had just caught up to you. You grabbed for a bread yourself, and your aunt hit your hand with a spatula.

“Ow!” you yelped, grabbing your know throbbing hand, “What was that for!”

“You were gone for 10 HOURS! No, you can wait- not until you change into something other than THAT!” she said, aiming her spatula at you like a weapon and motioning to your bathing suit.

“Its a bathing suit, Tia” you said, “its something that your suppose to wear at the beach.”

“But you need to cover up- especially around this one,” she looked at you while pointing the spatula at LAnce, who was currently stuffing his face.

“I think she looks great,” Lance said after he swallowed a huge chunk of bread, giving a smug look at your body. You blushed, feeling that maybe it would be a good time to change- your aunt had just whacked Lance on the head with the spatula and Lance gave out a yelp.

You shook your head and laughed, going into your room.

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

You turned on the light, the warm glow illuminating the walls. Your room really had no concept- it was just a mess of things that your owned and liked.

In front of you was your window, opened to let in a breeze. The lacy white curtains curled lazily in the breeze. Your closet was open, relieving a mess of shoes and shirts. The far sided wall was painted with stars and constellations, that glowed in the dark. Your bed was blue, covered in pink, green, and white assorted pillows that said “Whatever” and “Shooketh” and other wierd saying you thought were funny or just cute. The walls were covered in snapshots of star constellations and Star Wars posters. Next to your bed, was another curtain- it was red, clashing with the pastel colors of your room. Yes, your room was messy and maybe a little hard on the eyes but- you liked it. It was yours.

You stepped over clothes strewn on the floor, grabbing your phone and playing hit on your favorite playlist, not noticing the quiet voices in the kitchen.

---------

Lance had just explained to your aunt were he had been, giving her a quick run down. He didnt give her more information than he gave you- he felt it would be wrong to tell your aunt first instead of you.

“So- how has y/n and you been doin- since I….you know….” Lance asked, finishing off his 7th garlic knot.

He was worried about you- he knew you too well. The fact you guys had fought hurt him alot, but he knew it would hurt you worse.

“Ay mijo… she wasnt doing well, not at all,” she replied sadly, putting down the towel she was using to clean her hands.

“After you left, she went into a sadness. She was crazy, not the same- going around, crying, yelling at officials saying that they needed to work harder to find you. They gave her a deal and said that she could come back in the next year- how I heard she was acting, shes blessed to have a second chance”

Lance gulped dryly, noticing how dry his throat was.

“What else happened?”

Your aunt continued, “The town was just as sad as she was. Your family mijo- they were heartbroken. But y/n- you would have thought you had died. After what happened to her parents-she had already lost so much, and then losing you… I think it was too much for her.. She stayed in her room all day, never came out, and wouldnt eat. I think she barely slept. I never knew what she was doing, but that was when she put up that red curtain- I never checked what was under i. I didn't want to look into her private things…”

“A red curtain/” Lance looked up quickly, feeling more guilt washing over him. How could he do this to his family? To the girl he loved? And he never realized it?

“Si, mijo… near her bed- maybe you can talk her into showing it to you. But please-” your aunt graped LAnce’s hand with both of hers, “don't tell her I told you this. She would be so mad at me.”

“Of course,” Lance smiled sympthatically at her, patting her hands with his free one.

---------

Lance walked into your room, seeing you lay out clothes on your already messy bed. You pulled a earbud out of your ear, smiling at him.

“Been stuffing your face?” you smirked at him.

“Ha funny- but your not wrong,” he laughed weakly, watching you sadly. How could his happy-go-lucky, sassy, beautiful y/n been depressed over him a year ago? He couldn't see it- he didn't want to see it.

“I just wanted to put something on sorta nice, ya know? You know Auntie, shes crazy over looking presentable over guests- Im surprised she didnt care about what she was wearing when she saw you. What did she say about your suit thingie? That thing, not gonna lie, its a little wierd- What are you doing?”

You stopped abruptly as you turned to look at Lance. He was staring at your wall, your secret, private wall- the curtain was open-nobody was allowed to touch it- especially- him-

Silence filled your room. You felt guilt, shame, dread, and even fear fill up inside you.

“What are you doing?” The room felt still as you whispered those words harshly at him.

“I-just-y/n- what is this? How do you know about-”

Your “secret wall” was covered with a map and black and white pictures of the Blue Lion, Lance, Pidge, and Hunk on the day they had gone missing. All of them were quick snapshots, some fuzzy, some as clear as day- alot of them looked like they were from secruity cameras. All of them had red string going from one picture to another, sharpie circling important spots, and sticky notes.

Lance pulled one sticky note off, the words on it clearly spelled out ‘Voltron?”, as if the sticky note itself was confused on what it was.

“How do you know about this? y/n?” Lance’s starined voice hurt you, and it hit you like a pile of rocks. You were looking at your feet, feeling as if again your world had fallen around you. You had worked so hard to keep this a secret.

“Lance- I-” you began, realizing it was a lost cause to lie- he would see right through it.

You walked towards him, Lance’s eyes covered in confusion.

“The night you left- I-I followed you. I knew where you were going. Pidge had invited me to help her at night before because she would sometimes need help with her machines, but she was good at covering up her tracks. The only thing I accidentally saw was the word “Voltron.””

“So, that night, I followed, you, to make sure you didnt do anything stupid- which you did. After the explosions, I tried to follow you, but you had already were gone after I recovered from the sound. I went inside to maybe find you, see if you went inside too- I wish I didnt- cause after that you were gone.”

“I started- feeling the Garrison was doing enough to find you. I spent months telling them my story, but they did nothing. I was- failing classes, because I was going and stealing information off the Garrison.”

Lance gasped, scolding, “y/n!”

“I know, you laughed, “bad, right? Well, they found me out one day- I was printing off a picture of something- i dont know- another snapshot of the Blue Lion? I dont know- anyway, they called me in and started inerrogating me. They realized i knew too much information, and after I said that I was going to call in the government and tell them what they were hiding- the Garrison freaked out. They let me off the hook, and said I could come back whenever I could- I think they just didnt want me to sell them out.”

“So yeah- came back home- and started doing this-” you motioned to the board. “This was all I would do. I just wanted to find you Lance.” you turned to the board, facing away from him because tears were threatening to spill.

“I was lost without you.” you voice hitched, giving away the tears that were slipping away. You felt hands around you, and grabbed them like you needed them to help you stand up. You smashed into his chest, filling yourself fall part.

“God, Lance, I couldnt think, “ you cried, “I didnt know what to do with myself. Everyday- it was the same and I couldnt do it. I couldnt do it anymore. Please dont leave. Please dont say goodbye. dont go back.” you cried, grabbing his neck like your life depended on it.

Lance’s heart gave a violent throb. He had seen you cry- but never seen you breakdown. He grabbed you tighter, knowing he had to go, there was no way out of it- but he didn't want to leave you- knowing you would be this upset and depressed-

“Come with me,” he said, so quiet you were the only that could her him.

“What?” you asked, feeling you eyes itch with puffiness.

“Come with me, the Lions are stationed at the Garrison- thats where were staying at! Y/n Im so sorry I did this to you- I hate seeing you cry….”

He pulled you into another hug, and you realized how much you loved him- he cared so much about you, and how you could have ever been angry at him for leaving made you angry at yourself. But going back to the Garrison? You were scared- so many bad things had happened there, you didnt want to relieve that again…..

“I know your scared, but itll be okay, this time Ill be by your side the whole time- I promise,” he said, almost as if he was reading your mind.

You stayed quiet, still feeling uncertain.

You pulled apart from him,, dabbing your noise with the back of your hand. “Let me think about it, kay?” you asked him, giving him a smile.

“Alright,” he replied sadly, and left your room, knowing that you would make your decision soon- you never liked to dwell on things for too long. You closed the door, locking it.

The Garrison? Again? You did miss learning about space though...and you'd be able to be with Lance and your friends again…..

You sighed, thinking, “What am I gonna do?”

----------

Lance walked out to see your aunt feverishly doing the dishes.

“Did you see it, mijo?” she asked quickly, walking towards him.

“Yeah, I did.”

“Well- what was it?” she asked fear and hope filling her eyes.

“Well, um- “ Lance started, feeling as if maybe he shouldn't be the one to tell her, he paused thinking of a way to not tell your aunt outright but not lie to her at the same time.

“Lets just say- it involves a Lion.”

And right when he said that, you had walked out, wearing something all too familiar.

You were wearing your old Garrison jacket and pants, and you had put your hair into a sleek bun.

“A blue Lion to be exact.” you smiled, looking at Lances beaming face.

-----------

Oh mierda- oh shit

Feo- ugly

------

Requests are open!

[doptimous]

VeC - chapter 2 - Antwerp

Here we are, second and last chapter of my contribution of @moonprincess92nz‘s Food Travel AU. It’s too long but I truly love Antwerp and I wanted to do it justice and then plot happened. *sigh*

He drifted in and out of sleep for nearly two hours and when finally, the bus stopped, Cassian felt overly disoriented. The night completely surrounded them, there was nearly no light outside and with Jyn still snuggled to his side, for the first time in days, he was actually a bit too warm. For such a small person, she ran surprisingly hot. The thought brought a new wave of warmth to his face and he was glad of the low light in the bus that prevented anyone to notice his blush.

He was lucky enough no one teased them but since Kes and Shara were all wrapped in their own bubble and Kay wasn’t the kind to comment on things like that maybe, maybe, he’d manage to avoid a public humiliation for indulging some human contact. After all, it wasn't his fault if Jyn fell asleep on his shoulder and okay, maybe he could have pushed her away slowly but why risking waking when she wasn't bothering him in any way? It didn't mean anything. And it didn't mean anything either when she blinked owlishly at him with her hair in disarray and the cutest smile on her lips.

“Hey,” he said stupidly, “we're here.”

If he could, he would have bang his head somewhere but luckily, no one heard him and Jyn seemed too out of it to notice the absolute nonsense of his words.

“Let's get out of this bus, shall we?”

That was a bit better but not for long because of course, Jyn realized what had happened and she blushed and stuttered an apology while trying to put the maximum distance between them and she nearly tripped on the strap on her bag in her rush to flee. Cassian reached for her arm to help her and with what he hoped was a very neutral tone, told her, “It's okay. Take your time, everything's fine.”

Then he grabbed his bag and went to join Draven and Mothma on the parking lot and didn't get time to worry about her anymore. Part of him wanted to stay but a bigger one feared the comment of the team so he chose to put some distance between them, at least for now. Since Kay was overseeing the unloading of the bus, probably to be sure that his equipment wasn't manhandled in any way, Cassian went to discuss with both directors about the upcoming shooting. The schedule wasn't too full and it didn't involved anything weird. A quick diner here at Antwerp followed by a few shots and a lunch the next day then they'd go to Brussels to take their plane and since it only took an hour to join the capital, they stayed here for two nights to minimize the cost of the bedding.

For now, of course, they had to check in their hotel if only to put their luggage away before filming. It would be unpractical to wander the city with a duffel bag and a suitcase so he followed Kay in the lobby and waited with the rest of the team to get his key. That when he noticed Jyn and Shara talking animatedly, well at least Shara was speaking with her hands and Jyn nodded while looking extremely bored and finally, Shara hugged her and left without another word.

“You're staring, dude,” Luke chuckled beside him, his phone in his hand. Cassian gaped but didn't deny it. He watched the Community Manager typed quickly on his screen and he nearly missed Kes walking behind him. He wrapped an arm around his shoulders and whispered, “So, amigo, how was it to sleep with the girl of your dream, hu?”

Cassian resisted the urge to push him away and only huffed in response but of course, Kes wasn't deterred so easily.

“Just admit you like her, Andor, we all see it. And I'm pretty sure she likes you too.”

Luke scoffed at that but he never looked up from his phone so it was difficult to know if it was really addressed to them. Anyway, Cassian was relieved when Draven call for him and Kay to get their key and prepare for their first shooting. It was time to work and maybe, he'd think about how good it was to have in his arms later but nobody needed to know that.

–--

She was settling on her bed and finally talking to Bodhi when there was a knock on her door.

“Oh oh, you've got company!”

Of course, Bodhi had to hear it too but Jyn rolled her eyes and didn't bother to get up. “It must be Shara. She gave me her suitcase when we arrived because she was hungry and couldn't wait to pick something. She can't work with a empty stomach, or so she said.” She pushed her computer to the side and said loudly, “It's open, come in!”

Her friend didn't seem convinced but he didn't press on the subject. That was one of the best things about him. She smiled at him when he resumed his story about the daily life of their home and she was so focused on her screen, on her friend, she didn't notice it wasn't Shara who came in her room. When finally she saw Cassian, he looked absolutely dreadful.

“What happened?”

The question was out before she could think and she was immediately on her feet.

“Nothing, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I...”

Bodhi's voice interrupted whatever he wanted to say when he squealed happily, “So you score a night with your crush and you didn't tell me!!”

Jyn groaned, mortified. “Shut up, Bodhi! That's not... just shut up.”

Again, she pushed her computer away, as if it could help with her situation and looked back at Cassian with her best fake natural smile pretending Bodhi didn't say anything. “So, what are you doing here?” She tried to smile more genuinely but she was way too stressed to manage more than a pitiful grimace.

“I... My suitcase was...” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, trying to avoid looking at her as much as possible. That was when Jyn realized she had her pants wide open and only a very slim tank top under her hoodie.

“Shara told me there was a mistake with the luggage and apparently, my suitcase should be here.”

Brow furrowed, Jyn walked past him to grab the suitcase Shara'd given her and indeed, now she looked more closely at the tag, it wasn't hers.

“Why would she ...”

“She set you up, mate!” Bodhi's voice rang loudly in the room, followed by his barely hidden laugh. Jyn scolded, as did Cassian but before she could say anything else, Bodhi added, “You should play her.”

“How?”

Bodhi grinned at Cassian when he sat at the edge of the bed to face her computer and Jyn would have blushed if she wasn't so upset at her teammates.

“Well, obviously this Shara wanted you to spend some times together outside of your work,” Bodhi began and his eyes bored into Jyn's like a 'and I totally wonder why' but he had the very bright idea to not say it loud. “So you could either pretend you spend the night together and go all mushy until they all get bored of it or-”

“Or we'll do the opposite and pretend-”

“No,” Cassian cut brusquely, “since she wanted to meddle, the best way to get back at her is to let her in the dark.”

“What do you mean?”

Cassian was now avoiding looking at both her and Bodhi and it was very frustrating, especially with a topic like that. Then he turned to her and nearly pinned her with his intense gaze.

“Do you trust me?”

There was something dark in his eyes but his lips were gently curled, as if he was fighting a smile. Jyn took his hand and nodded.

“Then go change, we're going on a date.”

This time, his smile was more obvious and clearly playful. Jyn grinned back and she just waved Bodhi off when he tried to know what they were up to. She had no idea what Cassian had in mind but she wouldn't refuse a date with him, even a fake one.

---

Founding an open supermarket at nine in the center of Antwerp was tricky but they managed to find a weird place underground but it was clean and it sold all kind of snacks and comfort food someone could want at night.

Jyn followed Cassian in silence as he grabbed random bags of candies or biscuits and finally, and the end of a third aisle, she asked, “So, what's the plan? Dying of sugar poisoning?”

Cassian stilled and looked down sheepishly.

“Well, I thought we could watch a movie or two in my room and I'd hope it seems conspicuous enough for Shara to take the hint-”

“You'd hope ? Well, sorry to tell you that but obviously you don't know Shara very well.”

He tried to hide his blush but Jyn saw it and smiled. He was cute when embarrassed.

“Okay so you're picking snacks for a movie night, but do you realize we've both eaten less than a hour ago?”

He nodded slowly and mumbled something about tomorrow morning that sounded highly suspicious but Jyn let it go because she wasn't sure how she felt about it. Instead, she grabbed two bags of candies and put them back on a shelf, replaced them by a bag of pop corn and went to the drink aisle for beer because if she was to spend the night in his room, pretending to whatever he had in mind, she preferred not to be to sober. She also picked a box of chocolates by the cashier because she could and when they went back to the hotel, they both had their arms full of junk food but at least, there was variety of it.

It was a bit weird to follow Cassian in his room, even if it was a perfect copy of her own it seemed intrusive and when she put her purchase on the bed she was glad she had alcohol with her. There was no place to sit beside the bed if they both wanted to see the screen. Cassian must have realized it too because he began to shuffle with his laptop, searching fr a way to plug it to the TV so Jyn opened her first bottle for the night, took a big gulp and shoo him away.

“Let the professional do her work, okay?” she teased while looking for the HDMI cable and when she found it, she held it to Cassian with a smirk. “See? I know my way around this kind of stuff.”

“Never doubt it.”

The way he said it, with such honestly and warm nearly made her blush and to avoid any more embarrassment, she asked, “What are we watching?”

Cassian pushed his laptop her way so she could see his list of movies. It was a very long list. He had almost every films of the last two years plus some older, a few classics and even some short films listed by foreign festivals.

“Wow, you're a real film-lover. I never thought I found someone who had anything from the ASSF.”

Again, Cassian hunched his shoulders and avoided her eyes and she was pretty sure his neck was red when he said, “I told you Kay'd stalked you when he'd learned you'll stand in for him... and well, you did a short film for the Aesthetic and-”

“And you had to watch it, of course.”

If anyone else had saw this particular movie she did in 2014 for the Aesthetic Festival, she would have felt ashamed, because it was bad but Cassian didn't mock her for it. Still, she drank some more because she didn't know what to say.

“you were cute in front the camera, too.”

She groaned but his smile was sincere so she didn't say anything else.

“So anything you fancy?” he asked in a blatant change of subject she was truly grateful for. “That's my to-watch list, so don't worry about me, choose whatever.”

He let her with his laptop and went to arrange the cushions so they can lean on the headboard and she was glad he didn't try to force them to stay too close. She picked up a random title and went to sit next to him. She could do it. After all, even if they were on his bed, it wasn't really his, he never slept in it and it was large enough for the tow of them, they didn't have to touch. She took the pop corn bag he gave her and focused on the screen because if she started to think about how she was here, she'd make things awkward.

In hour in the film, she was in her third Chouffe and she felt pretty dizzy. Cassian wasn't any better. They both giggled stupidly and once again, Jyn felt herself falling. It shouldn't become a habit to sleep on his shoulder, yet here she was. The film was good but it was late and she was drunk. By the time the credits rolled, she couldn't keep her eyes open but when she tried to get up, Cassian pushed her down on the bed. He ran his hand through her hair and she would have purr if she could.

“Shh, stay here. I'll go sleep in your room, don't worry.”

Jyn mumbled something that sounded dangerously like a too honest version of “no problem, I can share,” but when she opened her eyes again, she was alone in his bed and she didn't bother to get up. It was just an hotel room, they could perfectly switch, nobody should care.

---

Antwerp by day light was a very pleasant surprise and Cassian really needed it after his fiasco of the night before. He should never have suggest to go out with Jyn in the first place and he shouldn't have made her come to his room. He'd made a fool of himself and even if she hadn't seemed upset this morning, he still felt like a jerk for spending the night in her room just to be seen at the right time and never telling her anything. Part of him wanted to tell Jyn what had happened and how he'd prepared for it but he feared for her reaction and for now, he couldn't speak to Jyn directly about anything else but the shooting so he didn't try.

He took a deep breath when he walked out of the hotel and was very pleased to note Antwerp wasn't as cold as Amsterdam and even if the sun was still missing, there was no rain, no wind, nothing. Just a late autumn day in a city that was truly beautiful. They were a few blocks away from the main station and when he saw the baroque buildings around Queen Astrid Plaza with all the gilding and the dramatic intensity of the construction, he regretted even more arriving at night. He would have sold their first filming better he had knew. Then maybe Draven had other ideas about the montage and wouldn't have it in a linear way.

Today, they walked around the Diamond district to take some pictures and shoot a few scenes before making a small chat with local tourism officials in front of Rubenshuis, the former house of the well-know Flemish artist. Cassian wasn't really familiar with architecture business but as he walked around the large streets of Antwerp's Center, he still appreciated the work on the stone façades with the exuberant towers and the half-columns.

As they took a break in front of the cathedral, he saw Shara coming near Jyn with a very determined look on her face and he nearly sighed when Kes and Luke tried to approach him as well. Of course, they wouldn't let the matter drop now.

“We didn’t see you this morning,” he heard Shara said as she looked over Jyn’s shoulder to peak at the small screen of her camera. Jyn hummed in response and still focused on her screen before raising her eyes to catch his and smirked. Maybe he'd be lucky enough for her to not mind much. She was nearly asleep when he left her and it wasn't like he took advantage of her or anything.

“What are you getting at, Shara?”

Cassian knew he shouldn't look at her, not with Kes and Luke so close, not with Kay probably still filming because the man didn't know when to stop but he couldn't help himself. With her legs firmly camped on the cobblestone and her camera raised in her hand like a weapon, Jyn looked ready for the battle and Shara didn't stand a chance. Despite her best effort to pry, Jyn didn't give her anything and Cassian felt a rush of pride to see her defect so easily her friend questioning. Of course, since Jyn didn't break, Cassian had to face his own questioning and if Luke tried for subtlety by mentioning his plans for the day, Kes was far more onerous. He kept ranting about how Antwerp was the right place to catch a girl, how buying diamond here was the best idea because of the price and how the city was so romantic.

“So, you bought your girl something?” Cassian finally asked to avoid having to tell him anything. When Kes fumbled with a response, Jyn chuckled and came to wrap an arm on his shoulders.

“Oh come on, dude, you should have seen it coming! You're the only one here trying to be steady. So go pick some ring and put it on her, I'm sure she'll be glad and won't think about all the thief and slavery associated with diamond's market.”

“You seem like you like jewelry very much,” Cassian noted wistfully and Jyn shrugged.

“I can see the appeal of it but honestly if you need a sparkling rock to know your partner's feelings, it's a bit sad.”

“So what would you like as a sign of affection?” Kes asked, looking meaningfully at Cassian who resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Again Jyn shrugged and looked around her, her brow furrowed. She was avoiding him but she was quite discreet about it.

“Respect of my opinion would be good. Oh, and not meddling without my consent too. Like, you know, just respect me as a person.” She smiled brightly, fake sweetness and all then she went to Draven, Wedge and Kay to organize the rest of their shooting. Cassian wasn't sure whether he wanted to hug her or beat Kes and himself for potentially ruining their relationship before it'd started. Probably both.

---

tellmewhatyoueatofficial Welcome to Antwerp, the city that makes you feel small!! #tellmewhatyoueat #Antwerp #antverpen #anvers #belgium

@CassAndor Why would you choose THAT picture @walkstheskies WHY?!!

@walkstheskies Only because I couldn't get a nice of @jynserso and you ;)

----

Since lunch wasn't a big deal here, like in most Northern Europe, they chose a little deli near the historic center and Jyn stole some fries from Wedge while filming Cassian. He had a cup a stew in his hands and tried to eat without making a mess, which, honestly was quite a feat. His meat wasn't cut small enough to make for one bite only and the sauce was too liquid but somehow, he managed to still look cute. It was weird to see him like that, as if he was another person in front of her camera. The shy man she spent the previous night with had disappeared to leave only a confident journalist with an easy smile she found strangely empty. When Draven called for a cut, she had to check for herself and used her criminal lack of food to approach him.

“Taste any good?”

He chewed quickly and handed her the cup.

“Actually, yes. But don't ask me what it is, 'cause I have absolutely no idea. Don't know the name either, potjives something, I'd say.”

Jyn grabbed the cup and took a full spoon of stew before looking for his fries.

“Did you know Belgian chips are fried twice?” Kay asked right behind her and Jyn nodded along with Cassian. Neither could speak with their mouth full so Kay went on about the nutritional disaster that Belgian chips were and when finally she could speak without being gross, all Jyn could say was, “And I don't know if you've noticed, but beer is cheaper than water. Belgian are truly disrespectful of the basic of human need. Weird they survived this long.”

Cassian chuckled beside her and something in his eyes made her feel hot. She shouldn't be talking about beer in front of him. Not after last night, not ever.

“But they've got good beers and good fries and as long as we don't...” Cassian stopped mid sentence clearly trying to maintain his composure and failing by a mile. “As long as we don't abuse it, we should be okay. And we're here to sample, Kay, but since you stay behind the camera, you don't have to risk anything.”

Then he turned to Jyn and with a bashful smile, asked, “Would you like to try some dessert later, when we're finished? I heard there's good pastry here, or maybe we could find some chocolates?”

For a short time, Jyn didn't catch it and all she could hear was the frenzied beating of her heart. Then she saw Kes' smug smirk and Luke suggested they took lots of pictures, for documentation purpose, of course. She realized then that Cassian was just playing his game to provoke them so she followed his lead and accepted to meet him later. It was weird but she enjoyed spending time with him and by the way Kay sniffed indignantly about how he would be left alone again to visit the Rubens museum, Jyn felt a wave of pride to be preferred to the best friend.

tellmewhatyoueatofficial  This is THE place to go if you like shining jewel. They've got everything !! #putaringonit #loverplace #diamond #sparklingrocks

@Dameron_Ks Wow, look at this @sharathebae, won't it be perfect for our lovely couple @CassAndor & @jynserso?

@jynserso Are you really trying to propose on Insta? Dude, that's lame. Even for you.

@walkstheskies Don't be worry, @jynserso, we all know  @CassAndor is totally into you. You’ll get one soon!!

---

They found themselves in a nice tearoom called Désiré de Lille, because Jyn couldn't resist when she saw the name earlier and it happened to be a very good choice. The place was cozy and warm, and they served one of the best hot chocolate he ever had with a lot of whipped cream and barely no sugar. Jyn ordered one of their sugared crispy waffle, the same kind she had on the bus, minus the chocolate, and nearly the same she gave him in France and he watched with honest fascination as she licked her finger when some treacle ran onto it.

Cassian was fairly sure they'd passed Kes and Shara at least two times but they'd both pretended they hadn't seen them as they'd tried to be sneaky. Jyn'd had the hardest time to keep from laughing at the very obvious couple in front of some diamond shop but Cassian'd caught her arm and crossed the street to avoid any confrontation. Then, a bit further, near the Grote Markt, Kes and Shara had been reading the outside menu of an Argentinian place just as they'd walked down the street and Cassian'd caught sight of Wedge and Luke smoking in front of a bar. But since no one had acknowledged them, they'd gone their merry way and had fun losing their stalkers.

Jyn was surprisingly good at disappearing in a crowd, even if it was as sparse as it was on a week night in the old center of Antwerp. If Cassian hadn't kept her hand firmly in his, he would have lost her just as easily as she lost their teammates and when he tried to broach the subject, she shrugged.

“I told you I traveled a bit with my guardian when I was a teen. But even then, I was mostly left on my own so I have to pick a trick or two to avoid gross weirdos.”

“And then?”

“Then what?”

“What did you do? You said you traveled as a teen, but after that? Why did you stop?”

He inwardly cursed his lack of subtlety when he saw how tensed Jyn became and without thinking he reached for her hand and squeezed gently her fingers.

“I didn't mean to pry.”

She smiled slowly, the weariness around her eyes softened slightly and she squeezed his fingers back.

“It's okay. It's just... I don't really do anything after, except college and work.” She shrugged again and did that thing where she seemed to shrink in herself, as if trying to disappear. He knew the feeling well and seeing her so clearly uncomfortable with the subject, he didn’t push it. Instead, he grabbed his phone and suggested they order another round of hot cocoa.

“I’ll take a picture for Luke. It’ll look good on Insta.”

“You realize that’ll get them exactly what they want, right?”

Cassian frowned a bit and Jyn added, “Proof we went somewhere together.”

He smirked, quite pleased with her remark.

“Yeah, but they already know that. What they don't is what we're doing and since I’m not one to kiss and tell, they could only wonder and that exactly what I aim for.”

Jyn crossed her arms on the table, leaned toward him and looked at him between her lashes when she whispered, “Oh because now you intend to kiss me? I thought it was just to pretend?”

If it were from anybody else, he probably would have just laugh it off but coming from Jyn, it gave the suggestion a new light and he nearly regretted she was only teasing him. But he too could play this game so he leaned forward and stopped an inch before his nose bump into hers, “Well, I don’t know. I mean, we need to sell it, right?”

She blushed prettily and he was left to wonder if really, it was just a game to get their team of their back by pretending to date. Maybe they really had something here and they were just too busy and too coward to see it and act on it. If he was honest, he'd admit, at least to himself, he liked Jyn. He didn't jump to spend time with her just because a bunch of weirdos set them up. Yes, he found it easier to make them stop by playing along with their game but he couldn't honestly say he totally disliked having to pretend he dated her.

It could quickly became dangerous so he took a step back and smiled more gently. “Don’t worry, though, I know we're here on business and it would be very unprofessional of me to try anything with you. I just don’t like people poking into my business, even if they had the best intentions.”

“I'm still not hearing a no here.”

He knew she was only teasing because her smile was too mischievous to be really flirty and even if her cheek were still a bit red, she was looking at him with her eyebrows raised in a comical fashion, not a seductive one. Nonetheless, he preferred to be honest with her, to avoid any misunderstanding for later. Especially if they kept on doing this charade. Because if he pushed her away now, it'd be easier to avoid anything latter. He truly was a coward.

“Jyn,” he began and suddenly he had her undisturbed attention to the point it could be trouble, “we've met what, two weeks ago?” he paused and when she nodded, he went on, “so it's a little short to really say we know each other, right?”

Again, she nodded and she may have wanted to add something but he didn't let her.

“I'm not saying it couldn't be but I'm not interested in flings, especially on the job.”

Something in her eyes made him drop his gaze because even if it was true, he also knew, deep down, that given the time, he could totally fall for her and her for him and that was exactly why he was doing this. Now wasn't the right time. Not when they were traveling and working every day together with so many people around them. When he heard her deep breath, he found the courage to look up again and was quite relieved to see her smiling.

“Okay, well, I'll need something stronger than chocolate to wash that burn, but let's take your picture before hitting the road. Then we'll find a bar or something so I could forget being rejected in a fake relationship I didn't even ask for.”

She squinted at him before he had the chance to respond and declared in a hushed voice, “Not alcoholic, I swear.” He grinned and waved for a refill of their drink, happy to see her taking it so well and maybe just a bit disappointed she didn't try to convince him they had a chance.

Tellmewhatyoueatofficial The perfect place after a long day in a beautiful city ! #Hotchocolate #waffle #Belgianchocolate #comfortfood #guiltypleasure

@walkstheskies So, this the proof that @jynserso and @CassAndor are on a date... More details later, stay tuned, mates !!

--

It shouldn't have hurt so much yet Jyn still felt the burn of rejection deep in her bone even though she knew he was right. They barely knew each other. So what, she binge-watched his previous shows and saw him eat weird food? And okay, they had a few moments here and there where they talked but she had no idea what his favorite meal was even though they spent their days surrounded by food.

That was stupid. She was stupid. From the very beginning she knew she didn't stand a chance. He was a very well-known and very seductive journalist and she was just a nobody hired because no one else was available. And yes, she was pretty good at her job but that was beside the point. The point was Cassian had no interest in her and it shouldn't have been that much of a surprise. Plus she wasn't that interested either. Or so she was trying to convince herself while ordering a second Kwak and a plate of fries. Cassian was still nursing his Chimay bleue and the look he sent her way was doing stuffs to her that were totally inappropriate, especially now he made it perfectly clear even their charade could easily become too much.

“So,” she began as she plopped herself in the boot beside him, “tell me something about yourself.”

He blinked and she wondered if she was already drunk enough to not make sense.

“What do you want to know?”

She shrugged and looked around her to avoid facing him directly. They were in a local pub with nothing out of the ordinary, a mile away from the nice tearoom they'd left but the beer was good and pretty strong on the alcohol side so she had to be careful and not let herself say too much. She munched on her chips to gain some time and many absorb part of the alcohol she had.

“I dunno, tell me something I should know if we were really on a date and you tried to seduce me. That must be something people do, right?”

He rolled the bottle between his palms, stole some of her fries and Jyn fought the urge to look up. From the corner of her eyes, she saw him chew on his tongue and something coiled in her belly. He really had a nice mouth. A nice mouth that would never be near her because they didn't have this kind of relationship.

“I don't have much experience in the dating area,” he finally said and she nearly dropped her beer.

“Are you kidding me?”

Cassian's eyes were glued to the table and his grip on his bottle didn't seem so playful anymore. When he sighed, Jyn reached for his arm and squeezed gently his biceps.

“It's okay. I don't date either. I'm just surprise because... well,” she made a stupid gesture in his general direction and felt particularly foolish. She took another gulp of her beer, huffed a depreciative laugh and shook her head, “Appearance can truly be deceptive, right?”

His lips quirked up to the right and he caught her eyes for a second before shrugging, “I don't know, I've always felt quite dull outside of work. I mean, you've seen my best friend. He's not exactly the most appealing person yet we've known each other for years and we work well together.”

“But you work well with anyone.” She wanted to say more, to reassure him but the words escaped her.

“As you do. In less than two weeks you've charmed the whole crew, you've been friend with Luke since day two; Shara took maybe three more because she was ill, you've won Mothma with a pastry in France and even Draven is more lenient with you than with anybody else. You're truly a force of nature, Jyn.”

The way he was saying her name was doing things to her. Things she shouldn't be thinking of. Not right now. Not after he explained her he wasn't interested in her. Or was he?

“You're sending mixed signals, here, Cassian.”

Her head was spinning and she blinked owlishly, and of course he caught it because suddenly his arm was wrapped around her waist to steady her against him and he mumbled something in her hair she didn't understand and it was frustrating.

“I think we're both pretty drunk and we should get back.”

“You know, you didn't have to make me drink to get me to snuggle in your arms.”

Okay, she was definitely drunk if she'd said this aloud and the way he chuckled against her, she had. Damn it.

“We've already slept together, Jyn, remember.”

She stumbled a bit when they walked outside but the fresh air of the night helped slowly.

“In a bus. You're not interested, I get it, don't worry.”

Well, the connexion between her brain and her mouth wasn't working properly but she was fairly sure she could walk by herself. She just didn't want to and since he didn't seem to mind having her near him, why bother?

“I like it, having you near,” he said and maybe she'd talked out loud again, “and it's not I'm not interested in you, Jyn.”

Again, he said her name and she shivered because damn.

“I don't know you, I didn't have time. But if you let me...”

“Let you what?” she asked, suddenly stopping in the middle of the road. He was finally looking at her and the coil in her belly tightened even more. God, he was truly beautiful, even drunk. His eyes shined brighter and his lips... he did this thing again with his mouth and she wanted to kiss him.

“I don't want a fling with you. And don't want for either of us to be pressured into anything because some of our teammates got bored and wanted a distraction. I want to know you. Give me time okay?”

His words were whispered nearly on her lips and she felt his nose bump her when she nodded. They walked slowly back to the hotel and by the time they made it to the lobby, Jyn's brain was back to normal. Mostly. Still, in the lift, she asked, “Did you let your suitcase in my room?”

Cassian stilled beside her and she chuckled lightly, “Okay, Don't worry about it, you can take it now. And you could even stay with me to finish selling this all mess if you want.”

She tried to smile and feel confident but it was difficult when he had his perfect mask of indifference on. When the door opened, Jyn was ready to go to her room alone and sleep mortification away but Cassian grabbed her hand and lead her to her room.

---

Their bus for Brussels was supposed to be at eight. Cassian was sure of it because Kay had told him twice before he left him to wander with Jyn. Draven had said so too. Yet, when he arrived in the diner room of the hotel to grab a cup of coffee before leaving, he found no one. At least, none of his crew.

He waited for nearly a quarter of an hour before feeling suspicious and when Jyn arrived, alone, Cassian clenched his fingers on his cup and checked his phone. Maybe he missed something, a text or a call that told him there had been a last minute change.

But no. His phone was deadly silent, not even a notification from any social media. that was highly suspicious.

“Hey!” Jyn greeted with a small smile, “where are the others? We should be getting ready by now, right?”

“I thought so too but I’m trying to think we were stood up.”

She frowned and turned around to look at the room before reaching for her phone too. She tapped a few keys then went for a cup of tea and sat down heavily beside him. Her phone biped and she frowned some more while reading. At least, she had some intel but by the look on her face, it wasn’t promising.

“What?”

Cassian was stressed beyond being polite and somehow, he knew she wouldn’t mind. Actually, she gave him her phone with a sigh, “They already left. Do you want something to eat?”

Cassian blinked once, twice and read Luke’s text over and over, but he didn’t get it.

“Why? What happened?”

Jyn shrugged and grabbed a plate to help herself in the breakfast buffet.

“Remember when Luke told us to take pictures for documentary purpose? I think he convinced Draven to let us wander a bit on our own. There is another fly this afternoon, so if we catch the bus on schedule, we could still make it to Germany by tonight and we have a little less than a day in Brussels. I’m pretty sure I can shoot a few places too.”

She was very flippant about the all ordeal and when Cassian wondered out loud about it, she told him between to mouthful of porridge, “I always wanted to eat a mitraillette - a machine gun. It’s a meatball sandwich you find in Wallonia. And now, I can and it will be documented.” She grinned and he could help but chuckled because of course, she’d think like that.

“So you’re not bothered to be stuck with me?”

“No, why? Are you?”

Cassian shook his head and went to grab a plate too. It would be a weird day but at least, he’d get some time alone with her, and maybe, he’d learn a thing or two. Since she didn’t seem to mind, why would he?

Just so you know, Désiré de Lille is my favorite place in Antwerp even if the waiters are quite rude. Their hot chocolate is the best. And I’m truly sorry I couldn’t get to write out Brussels because it’s probably my seconde favorite place in the world but I couldn’t drag this any longer. Thanks to @crazy-fruit for her patience and comprehension. She’ll tell more about our couple being delayed!!

[ecofinisher]

Juleka’s Birthday (Day 1: Music)

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13060490/1/Juleka-s-Birthday

https://archiveofourown.org/works/15940889/chapters/37171418

Rose sat in the art classroom 33 together with other students working by themselves on a project, they wanted to do, while the teacher was present to lean them a hand, whenever they needed it.

“Juleka will love the self-made picture frame I made,” Rose said as she was coloring on a big, octagonal frame the upper part of the frame.

On another table, Nathaniel Kurtzberg sat in front of his table coloring a drawing of their friend Juleka together with her friends sitting on a picnic chatting and having fun with each others company.

“How can it be, that I’m the only boy at Juleka’s party?” Asked Nathaniel looking back at the blonde.

“You’re not the only boy, there’s also Luka,” Mentioned Rose.

“Come on Nate, there won’t be any tea parties or fashion show, where you gotta wear a dress,” Alix said passing by his table grabbing an orange spray can.

“That would be funny to see,” Said a brunette, that sat on a beanbag together with a blue haired girl, which sat next to her studying from a chemistry book, while the brunette held a black novel book on her hands.

“Hahaha,” Nathaniel said ironic, then observed her getting up to look at Rose’s frame.

“How many pictures can you put in there?” Asked Lila gazing at the frame, the blonde was coloring.

“I’ve counted ten before,” Nathaniel said walking up at Rose’s table to see the wood made a picture frame and Marinette got up from her chair too along with Alix, which had just finished her graffiti work on a canvas.

“It looks amazing Rose” Complimented the half Chinese girl.

“Yeah it does”

“Are you also going to use the red ink?” Asked Nathaniel looking at Rose, then the brunette dipped her thumb inside the color and nudged Nathaniel on the nose with it. “Are you for real?” Nathaniel asked annoyed, making the brunette laugh.

“Just kidding,” Lila said passing with a wet napkin Rose had on the table on Nathaniel’s nose. Rose looked at the girlfriend passing on the boy’s nose, then she widens her eyes as she had another idea for her artwork.

“Hey guys I’ve got a great idea,” Rose said dipping her finger on the purple color from the box with the various color pigments and pressed her thumb on the edge of the frame making a fingerprint. She did a few more and in the end, the fingerprints she made had formed a flower with petals.

“Hey that looks good,” Marinette said looking at the edge, Rose had made the flower.

“Why don’t we all do there our fingerprints?” The blonde suggested her friends.

“That’s a great idea,” Said Nathaniel dipping his finger in orange color.

“Kagami come get up and add your mark here too,” Lila said dipping her finger in red color then added it on the side of the frame making a heart. Kagami got up from the beanbag and stood between Marinette and Lila observing the others around Rose’s frame decorating the frame by dabbing on the wood.

On the Couffaine’s houseboat, all the girls of Miss Bustier’s class including Nathaniel sat in the living room of the boat on a couch all together. Next to the entrance of the living room the Couffaine’s had a small kitchen with a long counter similar to one of a bar with four bar stools one in each color.

Inside the kitchen, Mrs. Couffaine opened the box of a cake Marinette had brought from the bakery to Juleka’s birthday.

“That’s what I call a calorie bomb” Said Anarka looking at the rectangle formed cake decorated with a chocolate couverture, with small chocolate bars spread on the edges of the whole cake, the upper part of the cake had a portrait picture of Juleka made of Marzipan, under the raven-haired girl’s portrait, a third of the cake is filled with various colored chocolate drops with its brand’s symbol on it forming a straight line from the left to the right side. Under the different colored buttons, twelve half white and black chocolate eggs lied on their back up with a small bonbon of the same flavor lying inside the hole of the half egg.

“Whoa that’s the cake of my dreams and the one my mom would never buy me for my birthday,” Nathaniel said standing behind the counter gazing amazed at the chocolate cake.

“Your mom doesn’t, cause she knows you’re already too sweet to handle,” Lila said making him blush and roll his eyes down abashedly.

“When will Juleka come home?” Asked Mylène sitting on the couch along with Alya, Alix and Kagami.

“Rose said she was going with her to the shopping center to give us time to prepare everything for her party,” The daughter of the baker of the cake said to the short girl.

“Is there anything more we need to do for the party?” Asked Alix. “Luka said it was almost done, he just needed to plug in some wires”

“It’s fine girls, I only got a few apéro plates to bring up, but I can take care of that”

“We can take care of that Mrs Couffaine” The Martinic girl suggested the gray-haired woman, which nodded and opened the fridge and gave Alya a plate, which she passed on to Alix, who handed it over to Kagami, who then walked the stairs up at the deck with the plate, followed by Mylène carrying the plates for the apéro.

Luka stood in the conversatory, (At least I think it’s what that window covered place on the boat is) testing the music boxes he had placed in the room and the three girls appeared with the plates.

“Shall we put the plates on the table?” Asked Mylène walking at the raven-haired boy.

“Yes please” Responded Luka. “You place it in the middle”

“Thank you”

“Alya you can put the ham croissants up there and you with the mini pizzas...I don’t know your name” The older guy said feeling awkward looking at the Japanese girl.

“Kagami,” The blue haired girl said.

“Beautiful name,” Luka said with a smirk, while Kagami just stared neutrally at the punk boy.

“Shall I place this on the other side of the table, where the croissants are?” Asked Kagami.

“I…..of course” Replied Luka and Kagami walked away at the table, leaving Luka back disappointed.

“Yo Luka, what are you going to give your sister for her birthday?” Asked Alix carrying a plate with canapès.

“I tried to write her a song, I just hope she will like it,” The boy with the turquoise eyes said glancing at the short girl.

“She sure will believe me”

Marinette appeared along with Anarka and the mother of Luka gave Marinette a telescope.

“Here Marinette, you stay here in watch and see if Juleka and Rose are approaching the Liberty” Ordered Mrs. Couffaine handing the double citizen girl the glass, then Marinette saluted at the woman and placed the wrong side of the telescope on her eye to watch the location.

“I can see them already, but they’re far away from here,” Marinette told the others.

“Wait Marinette, you’re doing it wrong” Mentioned Alya walking to her best friend picking the glass up, turning it around to the correct side.

“Ops….thank you” Thanked the blue-haired girl to her best friend and placed the shorter part of the glass on her eyes, then shrieked as Juleka Couffaine and her best friend were arriving near the tail of the boathouse. “They’re coming!” Announced Marinette.

“Alright sailors, hide somewhere around here and when Juleka and Rose appear we jump out and sing to her happy birthday,” Said the mother of the birthday girl and all hid behind the table, then waited for the arrival of the two best friends.

“Warm, it’s getting warmer, hot, hot, hotter!” Rose said from down the deck, making Marinette chuckle by Rose playing with her friend. “Burning hot, you’re almost reaching the sun….tada!” Said Rose then Marinette and the others could see from under the table the legs of the two girls, afterward they jumped up on the air yelling.

“Surprise!” Shouted all at Juleka. “Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Juleka. Happy birthday to you!”

“Did you do this all just for me Rose?” Asked Juleka looking with excitement down at her short friend.

“I, Luka and your mom planned this last month” The little girl in the pink dress explained and Anarka walked up to her daughter with a present.

“Also without the help of the rest of your friends, we wouldn’t have finished everything here”

“Just imagine Luka had to blow up all the balloons by himself” Added Rose.

“The bicycle pump did the job” Corrected Nathaniel. “I just held the balloon, while Luka pumped air into the balloons” Nathaniel explained then saw Luka holding a full balloon on his lips, then took it away from him.

“Happy Birthday to you” Luka sang with a helium voice, making the others laugh.

“Ah, I love the way your helium voice sounds like,” Alix said.

“Sailors, we’ve got enough time to talk about this later, let’s first eat some snacks, after that Juleka can find herself looking at all the stolen….I mean given treasures by every one of you” Anarka said with a pirate-like voice and all the teens sat down on the table grabbing food from the plates.

A while later Juleka had opened the presents of the most of her friends and currently she had opened a square formed present, which was wrapped in red paper and she found inside a purple and pink colored makeup box.

“Wow Lila, that must have been expensive” Juleka said looking at the brunette, which was playing with her left bang of her hair.

“I didn’t find it expensive” Lila said. “I didn’t want to waste only 50 Euros on something cheap and quick broken after a month or two”

“Thank you, Lila” Said Juleka placing her box down next to Marinette’s self-made makeup bag.

“Great now you can put some new utensils in the makeup bag I made,” Marinette said with a smile getting to see Juleka nod at her suggestion.

“And from who’s this small box?” Asked Juleka taking it up, then saw it was from Kagami.

“I don’t know you so long, but I hope you like it,” Said Kagami earning a smirk from the brunette.

“What did you buy her a fencing suit?” Asked Lila getting pushed by Kagami by annoyment, but meaning it as a joke.

“Aww a necklace with the yin-yang symbol,” Said Rose looking at the necklace Juleka took out from the box.

“Come I put it on on you” The Italian girl offered, as she was the second girl to be sitting close to the birthday girl. Lila lifted up the dyed hair of the girl, so the French blonde could put on the necklace Kagami gifted her on the birthday.

“Those were really great presents you received there from some really great friends my girl,” Anarka said to her daughter, that smiled at her.

“Hey what about Luka?” Asked Alya. “What is his present?”

From the outside of the boat they heard strings of a bass guitar being strum, then all looked out to see Luka standing there with his bass connected to the bass speaker, he had brought from the living room up on deck.

“Come let’s check it out” Said Anarka walking out of the conversatory together with the girls and Nathaniel to see Luka playing on his guitar.

“Your brother didn’t buy you anything special for your birthday, but he wrote you a song,” Anarka said at her daughter, which observed Luka along with the others playing the guitar.

“Hey little sister, it’s the most important day today. Hey little sister, it’s September the ninth and you’re turning sixteen today, today, today….ay”

Juleka smiled excitedly at Luka’s performance, while all other applauded at him singing.

“Hey little sister, I’m glad, that you’re my sister. I couldn’t see anyone else as my sister.”

All clapped intact as Luka sang for the raven-haired girl keeping the eyes glued on the punk boy.

“I remember, when I was young you were born on a stormy night. Many thunders and flashing lights, illuminating the cloudy sky. My days were over as a lonely child, mom has brought me a new joy to life. That’s my little sister”

“Does he play in a band?” Asked Kagami looking at Rose, which was focused on Luka and didn’t pay attention to the Japanese girl’s question.

“He does with Ivan” Responded Mylène to the blue-haired girl, that smiled at knowing the answer.

“Little sister, remember that night, when I was done believing in me, you gave me hope and gave me trust to start in believe in myself again. Before I was just a small, little boy with broken dreams and now I’m here right in front of you raising up like a star” Luka sang falling down on his back towards the girls, which looked down at him, while he looked up at them pulling the cords on the guitar. “Little sister, God blessed me with such a great friend, I hope this bound lasts forever and ever and ever and ever...” Luka sang then finished the song, by stopping to play on the guitar and earn an applause from the audience.

“That was amazing Luka!” Rose shouted clapping loudly while Luka sat up smiling at the happy audience.

“This was the best present you could ever give me Luka. Thank you” Said Juleka sharing a hug with her older brother.

“You’re my sister and my best friend, you deserved the best….even if this didn’t sound like one of the best songs I wrote, but...”

“It was great Luka, really” Complimented Alix.

“Yeah” Agreed Nathaniel.

“Thank you guys” The raven-haired boy thanked the audience smiling relieved about his success. “I’ll write this song to end someday and I’ll give it back to Juleka,” Luka said getting up from the ground while helping the sister.

“That’s the kind of brother-sister relationship I need in my life,” Alix said at the thought of the Couffaine siblings. “I and Jalil are fine, but it would be nice”

“You got Nathaniel on the role as your brother, while Jalil is busy” Marinette added to the pink haired girl’s conversation.

“You’re right”

“So me mates, it’s time for us to share some of this delicious cake” Offered Mrs. Couffaine gazing at all the friends of Juleka’s class.

“I might just eat a little bit. Sugar drives me crazy” Kagami said neutrally.

“You’ve got diabetes?” Asked Alya looking surprised at the Japanese girl.

“No, I just get really, really hyper when I eat sweets”

“You can always share one piece of cake with somebody” Offered Luka. “I’ve already ate a lot from the buffet and won’t really eat a big slice”

“Alright”

“Come on guys, let’s eat the chocolate cake!” Exclaimed Rose excited entering back into the conservatory along with the others to eat later the birthday cake of Juleka Anarka was cutting for the students.

The End