#bob x mantis

[lottesreads]

Why Me? - Part 4

Pairing: Bob Floyd x Mitchell! Female Reader (Callsign Mantis)

Warnings: Cursing, insecurities, pining, mommy/daddy issues, throw up, little bit of angst, mentions of pregnancy, dirty jokes, mentions of death, mentions of being drunk/drinking

Word Count: 6892

Summary: The next morning commences after Bob sleeps over. You tell him things you never thought you'd talk to anyone about, and you both get to know each other a little better.

A/N: I realize now I have no posting schedule, I just post when it's done, so sorry 'bout that! Things are starting to pick up and I cannot wait to get to the next couple of parts, enjoy! And as always, love to know what you think!

Masterlist

Contrary to popular belief, you are actually a very level-headed individual. You made it through the academy and multiple deployments, often as the only woman in your squadron. You pushed back when people tried to knock you down, and you were able to do it by yourself. You didn’t need to call your dad for backup, he often didn’t know just how much shit you had to sit with just because you held his last name. It wasn’t just the Navy that held you in suspicion because of this. Your own flesh and blood held some animosity toward you. You often heard your grandmother tell you how great her daughter’s life could have been, “If your good for nothing father hadn’t come around.” You took it as she meant it: If she never had you.

That’s how it has always been around your mother’s side. She met Mav when he was stationed in Florida, your mother on spring break from her junior year in college. She was barely old enough to drink, but they made quick enough conversation. He was still in his flight suit from work when she walked into the bar with the rest of her friends. Only looking for a little fun she quickly left them in the dust for the man behind the aviators. They spent the entire week together until she had to go back to Ohio. He gave her his number in case she ever found herself back in Florida, and that was it. That is, until about a month later after finals were over and she still had one test to take. It came back positive. 

Pete was thrilled to hear back from your mom already, hoping they’d be doing a different kind of catching up. Instead, he was met with the sound of your grandmother yelling at him through the phone. He didn’t hear much, but the few words and sentences he did catch were “pregnant”, “kill you”, and “my baby”, but to be honest he didn’t hear a lot after the first time she said pregnant. To be fair, your dad stepped up to the best ability the Navy would let him. He requested a transfer to be closer to the two of you, calling Carole for advice, and when you were born, she and Bradley even made the journey to see you.

Then there were the deployments. Everywhere he went, Mav seemed to piss off someone, whether it be his Captain, Admiral, or anybody above him who had the power to send him out, they did. Moving to Virginia, your parents tried for the first two years of your life. They really did. Your mother ended up dropping out of school to take care of you while your dad was away. Always citing the Navy for the reason their troubles began. When he was back they’d fight constantly, her saying he was always away, and him telling her that it was his job. She couldn’t stand to look at him anymore. Thus started the arrangement you grew up with. Spending the school year with your mother, and the summers with your dad. Even if he had to leave in the middle, you spent the rest of your time with Carole and Bradley. A great reprieve from your mother’s side. Even from such a young age you felt bad taking away Carole from Bradley, learning guilt from your family very early on. There was one point when Pete was deployed when you were 8, Bradley 14, that you told him this. He told you he felt the same way about your dad and ended the conversation with, “We can share.”

You miss the times when you couldn’t wait to see the two of them. Which makes what happened last night even more bittersweet when you look back on it. Your dad didn’t even think there was conflict between you two, he just saw his kids talking again. That was enough for him. You didn’t even want to think about Carole right now. It always hurt, but knowing that her girl was fighting with her boy would have her smacking the both of you upside the head.

You could practically feel her in your brain the next morning. Either that or your head was pounding from all the tequila and lack of water in your system. From behind your eyelids you can tell the sun is just barely starting to come up. Damn that internal clock. You dare to move your face further into the pillow, but still completely at the feeling of something moving underneath your arm. Your hand lies curled into Bob’s side, the remainder of your arm resting over his stomach. You must have shifted in the night, you on your stomach, Bob’s hand now resting on your arm. His head facing toward you, eyes fluttering every couple of seconds, obviously in a deep sleep. He looks so peaceful like this, it almost stops your heart from beating out of its chest.

You take slow, measured breaths, praying you don’t wake him up. Not wanting to leave the only moment thus far that you’ve seen Bob completely at peace. Your eyes get caught wandering over the same few freckles across his nose and cheeks. As you admire the appearance of each dot, you are made painstakingly aware of how close your faces are. Your arm unintentionally flexes around his side and he takes a deep inhale. You close your eyes immediately, scared that you may have woken him up. His hand starts to smooth up and down your arm as you try to quiet your breathing. His hand abruptly stops in the middle of your arm as you feel his head lift from the pillow. You are trying your darndest to quiet your breathing all while your heart rate is skyrocketing. An impressive feat you are hoping Bob doesn’t catch on to. His head falls back to the pillow as you hear him let out a breath. He hasn’t dared to lift his hand from your arm quite yet, it still lingers, his fingers now tracing small shapes.

Oh god that was even worse. Feeling his hand wrap around your arm gave you butterflies. But now he was being so- delicate. Drawing deliberate shapes and patterns, none of which you could decipher. He was fully aware of what he was doing and now so were you. Your chest begins to feel light until the butterflies in your stomach are absolutely lurching. Wait, no you were going to be sick. Your eyes shoot open, alerting Bob, as you untangle yourself from the sheets and run toward the bathroom. Barely making it in time your stomach promptly evacuates whatever was left in there from last night. You can’t even hear Bob follow you in, but are made aware of his presence as he holds back your hair and rubs your back. Even as you’re puking up your guts, you take a moment to acknowledge just how touching the gesture is. And then you feel immediately guilty for letting Rooster get to you last night and ruining the plans you made with Bob.

Once you’re absolutely sure you’re finished, Bob helps you stand as your eyes meet in the mirror. He grabs your toothbrush, applying some toothpaste and handing it to you.

“You feeling ok?”, he asks as you begin to brush your teeth. You close your eyes and nod, not finding the strength to look at him quite yet. “Where do you keep your pain meds?”. You spit and rinse your mouth, continuing to lean over the sink.

“Cupboard to the left of the fridge”, you grumble. Just as soon as he’s gone, Bob reappears right next to you with a couple pills and a glass of water. You graciously accept the drugs and sip the water. You spare a glance in the mirror and catch Bob’s eyes. He had put his glasses on at some point, but was still sporting the sweatpants you lent him. It seemed weirdly intimate and almost fitting to see him in your clothes as well as in your bathroom. Oh god. This poor man had to put up with you all night and had to carry your drunk ass up the stairs. You place your hand over your forehead in embarrassment. “Oh god.”

“What’s wrong, you gonna be sick again?”, concern etches into his voice.

“No it’s not that. I’m just- I’m so sorry I ruined your night.”

“My night wasn’t ruined.” This has you opening your eyes once again and turning to Bob.

“How did I not ruin your night? You were supposed to go out and play pool, not carry your drunk coworker up the stairs and have to crash at her place.”

“Ok, first thing: If I recall correctly we did play pool. Number two: I offered to drive you home and then carry you up the stairs. And number three: I crashed here because I wanted to make sure you were ok. I didn’t feel right leaving you drunk and alone.” He seemingly and very purposefully left out the part where you practically begged him to stay in your bed. And you are grateful for that. The levels of empathy and generosity radiating from this man are astronomical. After getting through the exterior of anxiety and doubt, there is a big old softy in there.

“Well, thanks for doing all that. You didn’t have to.” You shyly offer. 

“I wouldn’t have been able to sleep if I didn’t make sure you were taken care of.” You look up and share a small smile with him. Seemingly meeting your embarrassment and his kindness in the middle. But your head is still pounding as you wince at the light coming through the door. As if he could read your mind, Bob closes the blinds to your bedroom alleviating the pain slightly. “Let’s get you back to bed.” You blindly take his arm as he leads you to your bed once more, allowing you to get situated before he comes back. The bed dips as he sits next to you, “Fair warning, I’m gonna place this rag on your forehead, ok?”

“Ok”, you whisper. Bob gingerly smooths the cool rag over your head and places the glass of water on your nightstand.

“Now that I know you haven’t died during the night-”

“How can you be so sure? It doesn’t feel that way”, he lets out a small huff of laughter.

“Because you still have the ability to be a smartass. It’ll be a cold day in Hell when you don’t have a quick comeback.” You smile at his use of the word ‘smartass’. You want to take it with a grain of salt, but hope it means he’s more comfortable around you to finally swear.

“Robert, such language.”

“I know I know, just don’t tell my mama.” You open your eyes a crack at the use of his southern drawl, smiling. He’s smiling right back at you, breaking the contact finally as he clears his throat. “Anyway, I’ve gotta get home to Sylvia. But I’ll be back later if you’re feeling better to go grab your car.” You reach out to grab the nearest thing to you, which happens to be his hand.

“Bob, I didn’t even think about my car. I am so sorry. I’ll just walk over there-”

“Hey it’s fine”, he squeezes your hand, “I only live about 10 minutes away, it’s not that big a deal.”

“After this you better be able to call me your friend. You took care of me while I was drunk and held my hair back as I puked. That’s as close as two people can be.” He smiles at your tired words. Of course he wanted to be your friend. He wanted to be more, but he would take anything you were willing to give him. And therefore what the Navy would allow. But he shouldn’t get ahead of himself. It still baffled him why you would want to talk to him in the first place, but here you are. Bonding over the fact that he took care of you. It wasn’t even a question in his mind, he was always going to make sure you were ok.

“Of course you’re my friend”, taking a look down at your still connected hands he realizes all the compromising positions he’s put you in during the last 12 hours. Deciding this is still too intimate for friends, he slips his hand out of yours and stands. “I’ll be back later if you’re feeling up to it.”

“If you insist.” Bob grabs his pants from their folded position on your dresser as well as his phone, looking back to you for one last glance.

“Oh I do.” He taps the door frame, “Get some sleep.” Your eyes slip shut as you succumb to a sleep you would classify as coma-like. You don’t even hear the front door close, Bob being mindful and shutting it as quietly as possible so as not to disturb your headache further.

Bob couldn’t help the smile that crept on his face the entire drive back to his place. You wanted him to be your friend. You wanted to spend time with him. And more importantly, he would be seeing you again later. He didn’t even care he saw you throw up this morning, he still thought you were the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Not to mention you were funny as hell and strong-willed. You didn’t back down when Rooster had confronted you, and you ended up beating him in pool, drunk. Thinking of how amazing you are had the smile slipping from his face. What exactly did you see in him? Even just as a friend, what could he have to offer you?

He all too soon pulls up to his driveway, noticing Phoenix’s car waiting for him. He furrows his brow, she never said she was coming over. He makes his way to the front door, unlocking it and walking in. He’s greeted by the sound of paws on the hardwood floor running towards him. Sylvia stretches her back legs jumping up on his chest.

“Hey girl!”He greets her with head scratches, gently resting her front back on the floor. Hearing him enter, Phoenix frantically rounds the corner and lets out a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank god. Where the hell have you been?!” She looks him up and down once, face contorting in confusion, “And who the hell’s pants are you wearing?”

“I crashed with Mantis, she was pretty drunk and I didn’t feel right leaving her alone. Why are you here?”

“Because you haven’t answered your phone all night or this morning! I was worried about you.” Bob grabs his phone from out of the pocket of your pants, realizing he left it on do not disturb. There in all their glory are the missed text messages and calls from Phoenix.

“I’m sorry, I put my phone on silent so it wouldn’t wake Mantis up.” Phoenix smiles softly at the notion, but furrows her brow once more.

“Wait, where exactly did you sleep?”

“What do you mean?”

“If you were afraid of your phone going off and waking her up that means you were pretty close.” Bob looks away and rubs the back of his neck. “Bob, answer the question.” The way she squints her dark eyes at him makes him realize she isn’t messing around.

“I was in her room.”

“Did you sleep on the floor?”

“No” He responds quietly, hoping she didn’t hear it. By the way her eyes widen and mouth drops he knows she did.

“BOB!” He quickly holds his hands up in surrender, attempting to clarify the situation.

“I only did because she didn’t want me to leave! I stayed on my side the entire time and I promise you nothing happened.” She huffs out a sigh.

“If Mav finds out you were in his house, in his daughter’s bed-” Bob’s face reddens at her implications.

“Phoenix! Oh my god! You’re making it sound like something it definitely wasn’t”, he rubs his face in his hands avoiding her gaze.

“All I’m saying is, you are literally in her pants right now.” He continues to hide in his hands while Phoenix snickers at her own joke.

“You should go.”

“Oh come on, you’re the one in her clothes! But if it’s making you uncomfortable I’ll stop.” He peeks through his fingers and realizes she’s being sincere. She hears a muffled “thank you” from him as she makes her way to the door. “Good to know you’re alive. We still on for brunch tomorrow?”

“Yeah I’ll be there”, Bob mumbles out, still embarrassed.

“Good, Rachel’s really excited to meet you.” Bob finally looks at Phoenix and smiles, noticing the love-stricken look on her face. 

“Well I’m excited to meet her, too.” Rachel and Phoenix have been going out for three months, Phoenix only now taking the initiative to introduce her to her friends. Not wanting to scare her off by bringing her by the Hard Deck. Last night only solidified that she was making the right choice in not doing so.

“See ya later!” she calls out, shutting the door behind her. Leaving Bob alone with Sylvia, he bends down and gives her all the attention she deserves. He takes her head in both his hands and scratches her ears.

“I’m so sorry I wasn’t here last night”, he says in the baby voice reserved only for her, “Daddy had to go take care of someone. I know, I know. Maybe you’ll meet her someday.” She cocks her head to the side. “But don’t get too attached, that’s gotta be my problem and mine alone.”

True to his word, after texting to make sure you were feeling ok, Bob came over to retrieve your car. After getting a few more hours of sleep and almost throwing up a couple more times, you were able to shower and down a few glasses of water. Then miraculously you put on some clothes and were attempting to do your hair as the doorbell rang. As fast as your legs let you, you cautiously walked down the stairs to open the door. Even with the pills you took earlier this morning, you were still feeling lightheaded. Not even attempting to eat anything after Bob had watched you at your not-so-finest moment.

You open the door and there’s Bob in all his coiffed hair and wire frames glory. Sporting another t-shirt that wraps perfectly around his biceps as well as jeans that hug his legs just right. You really wish you were a pair of jeans right now. You barely even notice he’s holding your neatly folded sweatpants until he holds them out for you to take.

“I washed these for you, thanks for letting me borrow ‘em.” You graciously take them, taken aback by his thoughtfulness. You really shouldn’t be surprised anymore.

“Thanks Bob, you really didn’t have to do that.” He simply shrugs and puts his hands in his pockets, straining his forearms.

“It’s really no problem. How are you feeling?” You move to take the pants back to your bedroom, answering him while climbing the stairs.

“I’m alright, definitely better than this morning, thanks to you.” You return downstairs and find Bob admiring the framed pictures on the walls. Some of you and your dad, some of just you. And of course some of Bradley with his family. He picks up a frame of you, Bradley, and Carole. You were only 10, and didn’t know it at the time, but it was one of the last summers you’d spend with the Bradshaws. “Oh god, don’t look at that.” It was meant to be playful, but scared Bob nonetheless.

“Sorry.”

“No I’m sorry, I don’t want to subject you to pre-pubescent me.” He smiles softly and looks back at the picture in his hands. You’re sporting a great toothy smile and hugging Carole while she sticks out her tongue and Bradley gives you bunny-ears with his fingers. Bob doesn’t think he’s ever seen you smile that wide since he’s met you. 

“You look so happy” He watches as you reminisce, your eyes softening while your finger runs over the woman’s face. You don’t look a thing like her, but he notices the similarities in Bradley.

“I was”, you say simply. You clear your throat, breaking the both of you out of the moment. “So, you ready to finally get rid of me?” He lets out a small laugh through his nose. That statement could not be farther from the truth. Bob opens his passenger door for you, almost reaching to help you up, but pulling his hand back before it lands at your waist.

“Good to know it wasn’t my truck that was the problem.” You scoff at him as he slides into his seat, pulling his seatbelt on as you do the same.

“I happen to like your truck Robert, just not so much when I can barely feel my legs beneath me.”

“Glad to hear it.” You both smile at each other until he tears his eyes away to the road to get going. The radio begins to fill the silence with its humming, guitar filling the cab of Bob’s truck. His hands start to sweat as he looks over at you, your eyes closed as your head falls back to the headrest. “How’s your head?”

“Haven’t had any complaints yet”, you mumble. Bob chokes on his spit, eyes widening. Did he hear you correctly?

“What?”, he asks quickly. Your eyes mirror Bob’s as you look over at him, his gaze narrowly avoiding yours as his face heats up. You slap your hand over your mouth, forgetting whose presence you were in.

“Oh my god”, you say behind your hand, taking it away only to rest it in between the two of you. “I am so sorry, it’s a reflex response at this point! Phoenix showed me the Elvira movie while in school and it’s just something we say now.” You start to laugh nervously, hoping to dissipate some of the awkward tension you created. His facade cracks as your nervous giggle continues, he begins to break into a full hearted laugh while your giggle turns into something akin to his. “Bob”, you say as your laughter dies down, “If we’re going to be friends you’re going to have to get used to stupid crap like that.” His smile grows a bit wider, as he imagines himself laughing like this with you more often.

“I could get used to that.”

“Good”, you say, resting your head once again. Trying not to stifle another smile that threatens to take over your face.

“But seriously, how are you feeling?” You let out a large sigh.

“Oh you know, drugs can only do so much.” He knows you’re not letting on to how bad you’re actually feeling as your eyes remain closed.

“Have you had anything to eat today?”

“Oh god no, you were there this morning. I haven’t even dared to try to keep anything down.”

“Well that’s why your head still hurts. You need to absorb the lingering alcohol with some carbs. I know just the place.”

“Ya know I usually have dinner with someone before they sleep over, not the other way around.” Bob’s face still reddens at your remark, but this time he doesn’t shy away from laughing first.

“You know me, always breakin’ the rules.”

Bob pulls off into the parking lot of a small diner, one that had not seen any renovations since at least the 80s. You’re out of your side before he has a chance to open your door. He’s kind of glad you don’t give him the option. He wants to be a gentleman, but doesn’t want to toe the line between friends and something else. He does open the door for you and lets the hostess know it’s just the two of you before getting seated in a small booth close to the back.

You both begin to look over the menu before you speak up, “So, what do you recommend?” He glances up from over his menu before reaching over and pointing at yours. You can’t help but notice the veins bulging out of his hands and forearm as he does so. You keep reminding yourself that friends aren’t supposed to think of each other this way but you just can’t stop yourself from remembering how his hands felt on you. The drag of his long fingers over your arm, and the way his hands gripped your hips-

“They serve breakfast all day, and make a mean biscuits and gravy. But you can’t go wrong with a burger and fries.” Your stomach lurches at the thought and Bob must notice the grimace on your face. “Or, if you’re not feeling up for something that big, they do have good soups. But mama always said that the best cure for a hangover was some nice greasy food.” You smile at the slip of his accent.

“Well, if your mama says so.” His hand retreats as his lips curl up at your mirroring of his accent. The waitress comes over to take your orders, and at his mama’s advice you order a burger and fries. She leaves with the menus as you turn your attention back to Bob. “So, where ya from Bob?”

“I shoulda seen this coming”, he starts to fidget with his hands, drawing your attention back to the long digits.

“What do you mean?”, you respond coyly, feigning ignorance.

“Oh come on, I say ‘mama’ one too many times and people start asking where the twang comes from.”

“Well?”

“If you must know, I’m from West Virginia. Born and raised.” You raise your brows.

“No shit.”

“What?”

“It’s just that I spent every summer with my dad in Virginia. We’ve been next door neighbors this entire time.” Bob allows a slight smile to take over his face, entertained by your excitement.

“Where’d you spend the rest of the year?” It’s your turn to tear your eyes away from him. You try not to let the thought of your mom and her family affect you, but it’s obviously no use.

“With my mom, in Ohio.” Regardless of the fact that Ohio is also a neighbor to West Virginia, you brought up the time with your dad instead. Before he’s able to ask any follow up questions, the waitress comes by with your food, dropping the heaping portions in front of you. You hesitantly take a bite, but instantly melt into it as the first taste hits your tongue. “Shit, that’s good stuff.”

“What’d I tell ya?”, you smile at him through a mouth full of burger while he takes a bite. Opting to slow your roll before you upchuck anything else today, you set your food down and take a drink of your water. “So, your family’s still in West Virginia?” Bob gently sets his burger down and gives you his full attention.

“Yeah, I got an older brother and a younger sister. As well as my mom and dad. They live back on my family’s ranch.”

“So you are full-heartedly a John Denver country boy”, Bob laughs and stares down at his plate.

“I guess I am.”

“So how’d you end up in the Navy then? Assuming your family wanted you to work on the ranch.”

“They just wanted the best for me. One day I picked up a book in the library about planes and I was hooked. Then a Naval recruiter showed up to our high school and told me about the aviation program and here we are.”

“Here we are.” You share eye contact for a quick beat, both smiles growing slowly on your faces once more. You can’t help but feel a little jealous of his family. Both parents just wanting the best for their kids, supporting them no matter what. “I bet your mom’s the kind of person to have a sticker on her car saying ‘Proud Navy Mom’”. He bites his lip to stifle a large grin and you know you’ve hit the nail on the head.

“I plead the fifth.” You break out into a small laugh while Bob admires your smile. He wants to know more about your family but is hesitant to bring up the subject. He decides to go for it anyway, hoping to get to know you a little better than surface level. “I already know about your dad, but I’m assuming your mom wasn’t too thrilled when you joined?” Your hand stops mid-air from bringing the ketchup covered fry to your mouth. You place it back on the plate and dust your hands off on your jeans avoiding Bob’s gaze.

“Uh, no. No she wasn’t. There’s a reason I didn’t tell either of my parents I was going to the Academy, my dad didn’t even know until I sent him a graduation announcement.” Bob’s brow practically raises to his hairline.

“Really, not even your dad?”

“No”, you say shaking your head, “After everything that happened with Bradley I didn’t want to risk him pulling the same bullshit.” “What exactly happened between you and Rooster?” You shake your head again, looking at him this time.

“You don’t wanna hear that.”

“I wouldn’t be asking if I didn’t.” Your eyes latch on to his, the sincerity oozing off of him.

“Well, he was like a brother to me. Closest thing I’ve ever had to one, excluding the step-siblings who couldn’t give less of a shit about my existence if they tried. And after my dad pulled his papers to the Academy I never heard from him again. I tried reaching out, and every year I still sent him a text for his birthday. But he never responded.” You swallow and look away from Bob, debating whether or not you’d tell him the whole truth. “And then when I needed him the most he still didn’t pick up. I even left him a voicemail hoping he’d hear it and after six years he’d respond. But nothing. After his mom died, I thought he’d need us more than ever. Turns out he was angry enough to never speak to us again.” You look back at Bob, bringing you down to earth once more. “That was, until this mission. It took them almost dying to get back to each other. That and one weekend in the middle of nowhere, God knows what they talked about.” Bob waits patiently, noticing you struggling to find the words to continue. He continues to nod and stare at you. Not in a pitiful way, but in a way that he wants to understand where you come from. “And I guess I’m still mad at him because both him and my dad got closure. I didn’t. I’m not going to apologize for something my dad did, and I guess Rooster doesn’t think he has anything to apologize for. And now they’re off playing catch-up, and I’m… still here. Not that right here is a bad thing, I’m glad to have your company.”

Bob’s eyes go from understanding to confusion. “If he made up with your dad, that still doesn’t explain why Rooster’s being- “A dickhead?” You cut him off. There’s a small fire behind his eyes now, a look you have never seen on Bob until this point.

“Yeah.” You shrug, going back to your fries.

“I dunno, I’m no psychologist but I think it has something to do with the fact that I started all the smart comments and he’s just getting back at me. Still, I’m angry at him for good reason. I don’t know what his is.” You go back to your food, hoping Bob will notice your want to shift the gears of where this conversation has gone. “But now that you know my tragic backstory, I’m gonna have to kill you.” Catching the way you dissolve into humor, Bob’s face softens as he takes your hand across the table, he seems to be doing that a lot in the past week. You’re not mad about it, not at all. Just.. perplexed. How could you go from barely talking to this man, to sharing some of your darkest secrets with him all within the span of six days?

“Hey”, he brings your attention back to his face rather than your smaller hand in his. His brow turned up in the middle, conveying empathy in the highest degree. “I’m sorry you have to deal with all that, especially by yourself. And you know what, Rooster sounds like a total-” He stops to find the word he’s looking for, you look on waiting to let him see what he comes up with “asshole”, he finishes for himself. Your eyes widen as you take in his words, and that’s when you feel him squeeze your hand in his much larger one. The same hand that traced your arm this morning when he fell asleep next to you, the same one that lifted you up all those stairs, helped you into his car, the same one that pulled you off the ground after your failed exercise, and the same one that is now reassuring you that everything is going to be ok. He can’t know for certain, but for right now everything is better than ok while he holds your hand in his.

You want to tell him how safe he makes you feel, how you want to tell him more about yourself. Something you always had a hard time doing. You squeeze his hand right back and gaze into his ocean-blue eyes. You get lost in them before you’re able to seemingly find the words you’re looking for. They’re in your heart, but you can’t get them to your brain and out of your mouth. You open your mouth to speak, but before you’re able to get anything resembling a ‘thank you’ out, you hear your name being called.

Your head turns in the direction of the voice, as both you and Bob immediately retract your hands from each other. You’re met with Penny and Amelia walking toward the booth you and Bob are seated in. Your heartbeat is racing as you blink rapidly, you barely manage to speak, “Penny, hi!” You glance back at Bob as he rubs the back of his neck, avoiding any eye contact. Why are you so nervous? It’s not like you were doing anything wrong. You were just holding hands across the table with your newly coworker turned friend and getting lost in his gorgeous eyes. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

“Hey, good to see you made it out of the parking lot alright last night”, Penny remarks as she and Amelia stand before your table. “Not that I had any room for doubt when Bob was the one making sure you got home safe.”

“Right, yeah he made sure I was ok.” You feel a flush take over your face at the prospect of anyone finding out Bob was in your bed last night. Especially your dad’s girlfriend and her daughter. But you know you didn’t do anything wrong, friends share beds all the time. It was purely platonic. “I’m sorry for last night though, won’t happen again.”

She waves her hand, “Don’t even worry about it. You had a little too much to drink in a bar, it happens all the time.” Amelia scoffs at this.

“I heard she got absolutely hammered-”

“Amelia!”Penny scolds her. Bob turns to face the wall, attempting to hide his laugh as you lightly kick his foot. “Anyway, what brings you two here?”

“Oh you know, just pulled off on the way to grab my car. Bob mentioned they have great burgers.” You give him a sly smile, as if it was your own little secret they were the perfect hangover cure.

“That’s exactly why Amelia and I are here. Just having a little date before the bar opens later.” You force a smile as you feel Bob’s gaze on the side of your face. That jealous feeling crawls back up your throat again as you look at the mother-daughter duo. “I thought you would have left already though?” Your brows furrow, breaking you out of your trance.

“Left? For what?”

“Rooster stopped by earlier to grab something for your dad, he was heading out to his hangar earlier today. I assumed you were going with him.” You clear your throat and stare at your hands, twiddling with your thumbs to distract yourself. Your heart drops as you realize, once again, you’ve been left out.

“Um, no. I wasn’t invited.” Screw Rooster, and you know what, screw your dad, too.

“Oh, well. You are always welcome to come over if you ever need or want to.” She seems surprised at the actions of her boyfriend. You make yourself look up at her, plastering on a small smile.

“I know, thanks Penny.”

“We’ll leave you two be. Good to see you both!”

“You, too.” Bob waves at them as you look at your plate, suddenly feeling nauseous again. Your throat starts to tense up as you reach for your water. You are almost 30 for heaven's sake, you should not be jealous of Rooster and your dad. And you sure as hell aren’t going to cry over it.

“Hey-”, Bob starts but is interrupted by the waitress dropping by with the check. You pick it up immediately before Bob can reach for it. “Hey no, let me get that.” You place the check on the seat next to you as you rifle through your purse to grab your card.

“Nope, after everything you did for me last night and today I am not letting you pay.” He goes to open his mouth and you stare directly at him, “Don’t even try Bob.” Sensing the determination in your eyes and voice, he reluctantly allows you to pay.

“That’s alright, I’ll just grab the next one.” You look away as the waitress grabs the bill from you, and surprise coats your features.

“You wanna hang out again? Even after everything that happened in the past 24 hours?”

“Especially after everything. I can’t go back to being just your co-worker after seeing you vomit.” A nervous smile makes its way to his face as a more real one replaces yours. 

“You’re right, we’re friends now. And I can promise you there will be less vomit next time.”

“Can’t wait.”

After getting your card back, you and Bob make your way back to his truck and head off to the Hard Deck. You spot your lone car in the back, only a couple employee cars litter the front row. Bob pulls up right next to your car, hopping out and making sure you have everything before you leave. He even goes so far as to open your door for you as you roll your window down to say goodbye.

“Well, I guess this is me.”

“I guess it is.” He rests his hands on the open window as you grab one final look at him. You rest your elbow in between his hands, admiring his veins. Trying not to imagine tracing over them with your fingers.

“You better not ghost me at work on Monday.” You scold him. He laughs through his nose and looks down.

“I promise I won’t.”

“I’m holding you to that, Floyd. And thanks again, for everything.” He taps his fingers a couple times before leaning away.

“I trust you will, Mitchell. Drive safe.” You bid him goodbye, taking a deep breath, trying no to process everything that happened today while driving. Saving all your feelings for when you’re home alone, in the privacy of your room. The only four walls you feel safe to cry in.

Bob watches you slowly drive to the edge of the parking lot. He would have never guessed so many things that he learned about you today. The way you looked at Penny and Amelia deeply saddened him. The fact that Rooster is still being an asshole after he didn’t speak to you for 16 years angered him. After you shared that with him, he wanted to do everything in his power to make you happy. It’s obvious you’re good at putting on a mask, but Bob is good at noticing the little things. How great you are at faking happiness being one of them. And then there’s the fact that after today you’re going home to an empty house because your dad and Rooster made plans without you, yet again. 

Before he fully knows what he’s doing, his feet start moving toward your car, hoping to catch you before you leave the parking lot. It must have been the fastest he’s ever run, possibly even faster than when his older brother, Tom, chased him with a handful of cow poop. You must notice him in your rear view, as you stop and poke your head out the window.

“Is everything ok?”, you ask, concern lacing your features. Bob’s out of breath as he gets to your window, once again resting his hands in your car. And he’s still out of breath as he asks his question.

“Do you wanna get brunch tomorrow?”

Taglist:

@lemmons1998

[valentine-cafe]

Hi! So this is the second of my orders per the question I asked earlier today! :3 Its a smut: Can I get like a scenario for tiramisu (alessio) and the herrera husbands (209) again a scenario where they find their partners (fem or gn afab reader) g spot while fingering them for the first time their partner (us) freaking out at the foreign and much stronger sensation and then after a while when they are about to cum, it also feels unlike anything we experienced and we try to stop them but they calm us down and talk us through it? :3 Thank yew :3

˖⁺. “ right here, baby ? ” : 

﹙ various boyfriends x inexperienced fem reader ﹚.𖹭 ݁

. . . verse 781 alessio, herrera husbands x fem reader !! 🍓 : ﹙ alessio: mercenary ˖ immortal ˖ punkgoth character ˖ jingyi: mad doctor ˖ snake monster ˖ yandere character ˖ rishen: mad scientist ˖ spider-moth-mantis monster ˖ yandere character ﹚

you're still getting used to this type of thing. what happens when your lover finds his inexeperienced darling's sweetspot?

﹙ cws ﹚: explicit content ˖ inexperienced reader ˖ fingering ˖ overstim ˖ multiple orgasms ˖ some mocking | wc : 1.2k 

﹙ receipts ﹚: giiiiddd every request that you put in just SLAPS i had so much fun with this and I'm so excited to get to the others!

꒰  other treats : guidelines ˖ m.list ˖ characters ˖ our lore  ꒱

﹙ Alessio 781. ﹚. . . !! 🍒 : Oh the grin that splits his lips is far from innocent. Unlike you, his poor querida hiccupping your spluttered confusions. “F-Felt so good - Ale - Alessio what was - ah!”

The pads of his fingers push into the spongey flesh. Massaging rapidly in tight, taut circles that cross your eyes at the centre and have you bucking up into his large hand. What the perfect opportunity for him to shove the heel of his palm against your swollen clit and grind down at you.

A pretty girl squirming on his sofa. What more could he possibly ask for?

“Oh? This spot, querida? Right here?” He withdraws and fucks back in to the knuckle. Knocking against the bundle before repeating the motion like a sadistic mantra. “Here? Right here baby? That feel good?”

Fat tears roll down your face and you fist the black throw cushion. Your throat bobs with your soft whines and cries. The overwhelm has you instinctively attempting to squirm up — but Alessio’s large hand claps down on your thigh. Squeezes at the plush flesh. Yanks you down with a small narrow of his emerald eyes.

“Now now. That’s not how we accept a gift. C’mon baby. You can take it - hold tight.” Your pussy squelches and slathers his two long fingers that fuck into you ruthlessly. Hitting bullseye every time as he twists and angles his wrist. Making sure you feel him like a piston.

White clouds your vision and your gasp out through heated lungs. He’s brought you to orgasm before, but this was something else. All consuming as you grip at his shoulders and sob through the hit of release. You’ve stained his hand in sticky slick and he grins.

“Messy girl.” A sloppy slap to your trembling cunt as he yanks his fingers out. Then another firm one to your clit. So that you scrunch your face and whine up at him. If only to choke and cry once he’s finger-fucking you again. Not once leaving that spot. As if addiction itself controlled his hand.

“Since you like it sooo much lemme show you how it really feels.” His thumb digs into your clit once more and rubs quickly. All while he grins down at you. “Poor thing. Just feels soooo good here. Right?”

꒰  mercenary ˖ immortal ˖ punkgoth character  ꒱

﹙ Rishen 209. ﹚. . . !! 🍓 : The second his delicate fingers brushed up against that sweltering bundle of nerves, you were done for. Splashing your excitement all over his hand and squealing in surprise. The heat that prickles through your pussy has you grinding back into his fingers as your head limps into his office desk.

“R-Rishe - Rishheeen - oh god - there -”

You’re not even sure what you’re begging for. All you know is that he’s so close but yet so far away. His fingers continue their strokes, yet fade into a languid stride more than anything. Missing the target each and every time.

For a moment you think he might now understand. Until you open your eyes and bat your heavy lashes full of glossy tears. The sight of his charming smile makes you whine as your hips buck forward with more effort.

“Oh?” He croons, low. As the tips of his fingers circle that throbbing bundle. He knows its exact location, and he demonstrates such by featherly brushing against it. It’s both all you need and so little as you buck your hips up again.

“Does my sweet cielo want something? She’s gonna have to use her words.” He goes back to his terrible aim. Hitting every spot except the one. Your cunt practically does the crying for you. Squelching and trembling. Clenching round his fingers in pathetic little begs. “Look’s like this pretty pussy’s talking louder than you, my dear. . . we can’t have that, now can we?”

He accentuates the lewd claps of your pussy with a rapid pace. Blindly fucking your gummy walls — yet evading that sweet spot each and every time.

You dig your nails into the desk and sob out for him. To make matters worse he teases a thumb on your puffy clit and all you can do is stare up with big, pathetic eyes. “P-Please - please please pleasepleasplease -” you sniffle through your whining cries. Your hips bucking up fruitlessly. “Please there - p-please - please I’ll be - hngh!”

Delirium swims through your head and you let out a mix of whimpers and whines as at last, his fingers begin circling, hitting and massaging the wonderful bundle. All you can do is sag your jaw and dumbly rock your hips through the most intense orgasm of your life.

All while he tilts his head and hums low. “So polite. . . spread a little more, hmm? Let me really overwhelm it.”

꒰  mad scientist ˖ spider-moth-mantis monster ˖ yandere character  ꒱

 

﹙ Jìngyí 209. ﹚. . . !! 🍒 : His fingers caressed the spot like a delicate petal. Circled it slow and thoughtfully to really familiarise your clenching cunt with the feel of such intensity pouring through wave after wave.

“Do you know what this is, darling?” He leans over to murmur deeply into your ear. His fingers pull all the way out and then stroke back in. He makes sure to hit that spot again, gently, then massage every so softly. The moans that leave you block out any possible words and you shake your head stiffly with small stiffles.

“F-Feels really - really good - gege,” you hiccup softly and he shushes you with a tender voice. Soft lips peppered over your face as he repeats the rhythmic action.

“So inexperienced. Don’t even know your own body, do you. Oh sweetheart.” Jìngyí is back to circling gently around the area before he hums low once more. “This is your g-spot, my love. Sometimes referred to as the sweet spot.”

His free hand cup the side of your neck and strokes his thumb lightly on your jaw. “The g-spot is characterised as an erogenous area of the vagina, that, when stimulated -” his fingers gradually pick up, yet only enough that has you sighing in bliss and bucking your hips up shakily. “- may lead to great sexual arousal. Potentially even female ejaculation. Like so.”

Abruptly, his fingers begin to reach a slow crescendo. Faster, and faster, until they’re fucking into you so wildly and hitting that one spot dead-on. So that your eyes roll back and you tighten up around him. Spurting and squirting your messy juices until you’re singing for him so beautifully.

“J-Jìng — yí! J-Jìngyí!”

“See, sweetheart? Making a mess all over. Look at you.” His smile is nothing short of sadistic as he works you through a mind-numbing orgasm. Not without fucking his fingers even faster. So that you can barely see, barely think. All you can do is gush over his hand and sob for him through it all. To say that he was almost more excited to find your sweetspot than you surely wouldn’t be too much of an overstatement.

꒰ mad doctor ˖  snake monster ˖ yandere character ꒱

﹙ taglist. ﹚: | get tagged for specific posts

﹙ tip jar. ﹚: like our work? consider suporting us 𖹭 

[jo-harrington]

Luminous Beings - Episode 6: Hopeless

Art by @monologichno || Beta Read by @undead-supernova Part of the @eddiemunsonbigbang

Summary: Eddie's ship is gone, he might be hunted by the Empire...everything seems hopeless. Now what?

Word Count: 7.1k

Pairing: Eddie Munson x OFC (Thalia Trieste)

Warnings/Themes: Star Wars AU, Fluff, Angst, Humor, Romance, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Miscommunication, Distrust, Mention of Alcohol and Substance Use, Minor Canon Inaccuracies/Adaptation, Galactic Politics, Mention of Death, Vague References to Order 66 and the Jedi Purge, Discussion of the Force, Abstract Spirituality

Note: Big big thanks to August for all of her lovely beta-reading and for striving to make me a better writer with her critical eye. Seriously, you push me to be better.

Thanks again to everyone for reading.

Luminous Beings Masterlist - Jo-Harrington's Masterlist

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Thank you for reading. Enjoy!

Bogano, 10BBY

The first steps out of the Stranger Mantis were disorienting. Eddie always felt that way after a long trip through hyperspace, but more so now. A new planet, a new…everything. Bright suns, fresh air, gentle clouds, and grassy plains as far as the eye could see.

It was a paradise, and it felt like a punishment. Like they'd given up.

Once again, he felt out of control.

There had been a collective sense of mourning aboard the Mantis between himself and his friends. The loss of a ship, the loss of a purpose. They sulked for days. However, they soon realized that everyone aboard—save for Benny, Bob, and Thalia—felt that way.

The first night, one of the kids had cried to her brother about how she missed their family, their friends, and their home. And her brother, only a few years older, had responded with a wisdom that was well beyond his age.

"It's okay," he attempted, trying to soothe her woes. "I miss them, too, but they'd want us to be safe and happy above all else."

So the crew of the Dragonborn felt like they couldn't really complain about missing out on things like scantily-clad dancers and sub-par drinks when these people, these kids, lost practically everything they'd ever known.

Still, as Eddie's eyes scanned over the generally uninterrupted horizon in front of him, he couldn't help but loathe the sense of displacement. He'd always been used to cities. Civilization. Something. Not...whatever this was.

There were huts and large tents big enough to house dozens of people, with a few small, sturdily constructed buildings dotted around the camp and further out in the distance. Short barrier walls around the perimeter were reinforced with sandbags. Big pieces of mechanical equipment, generators and moisture vaporators, were also familiar shapes around the encampment.

It was a stark difference from what he was used to. What any of them might have been used to, surely.

Benny, the good captain that he was, rolled out as much hospitality as he could.

"Alright," he announced as he herded everyone out of the ship. He clapped his hands together excitedly. "Follow me."

He led the group of nervous passengers around and gave them the grand tour. One of the buildings at the edge of the camp closest to the landing pad housed refreshers, and they were nice, but they felt a little sterile. There was soap that didn’t have a scent and cramped shower stalls. Benny said that they were remnants of the Clone Wars, that he had a buddy who was able to help them source everything through surplus dealers. 

As the Latero droned on about everything that had been crafted for clone troopers, Eddie remembered how Wayne’s work buddies used to grumble about the war on nights they came over to play sabacc. How the Galactic Senate had allocated insane amounts of credits to war efforts, and just like everything else in the damned galaxy, it was all left to rot once the sham of a war was over and the Empire came to power.

“But hey,” Benny’s laugh broke Eddie from his thoughts. “If we can get a real toilet out of it, instead of shitting in a hole, I’m not complaining."

He showed them an old building at the perimeter. Not a pre-fabricated building like the others, but something more makeshift. Something the crew of the Dragonborn were used to seeing on Bracca, with its mismatched durasteel walls and rickety-looking roof. It was where he and Bob stayed when they were on-planet. Not necessarily traditional living quarters, but certainly a home.

And then, Benny gave them all a home too.

They went, tent by tent, and he welcomed them, all the while narrating about how Bob and Thalia struggled how to set everything up and worried that the beds would be uncomfortable or the sheets and blankets too scratchy. Was Bogano too hot or too cold? Would they be happy here?

Eddie didn’t need Force powers to know that happy wasn’t the right word. Happiness took time. Contentedness? Sure.

"You kids can run around and play to your heart's content." Benny laughed as he spoke to the younger refugees. One set of arms folded across his torso while another arm scratched the back of his head. "Don't know about school...but I'm sure none of you will be too bummed about missing out. I'll let Bob know to scrounge up some holobooks on our next supply run. Otherwise holovids will be your teachers. What could possibly go wrong?"

There were a few swoop bikes tucked behind the structure that housed the refreshers. They were off limits apparently, but Eddie and his friends all gave each other knowing looks; it's not like anyone could stop them from taking a joy ride.

"We'll come up with some sort of chore rotation," Benny explained towards the end of the tour. "I'm your resident chef, though. Used to run a little snack window on Takodana once upon a time. Those pirates get hungry. Speaking of hungry, I hope everyone likes shaak stew. I'll make us all a little food. Think of it as a welcome dinner."

He was about to head back to the ship, but he turned to everyone and held his hands out to them. It was a gesture of sincerity and trust.

"I know it doesn't look like much, but this is what we have to work with for the foreseeable future. I...I'm not the best with words. I should've had one of the others do this, but I drew the short straw. What I wanna say though is...there's nothing you need to worry about anymore. You're home now. And you're safe."

It might've been the force abilities that he apparently had, it might've been the stress of the past week, it might've been that he wasn’t a kriffing idiot.

But Eddie had a hard time believing that.

"What would you say if I told you this feels like home for me?"

"I would ask how long you've been here because this place kind of stinks."

Thalia let out a laugh and took his words as permission to enter the tent.

Eddie was the last of his friends to unpack his meager belongings. Their new living arrangements weren't too bad, actually. Bigger than the bunk room on the Dragonborn, with enough space for their instruments and a charging station for D5-TN, who was currently powered down and sulking in his own way.

The others had taken it upon themselves to start helping around the encampment, but they let Eddie have the time alone.

He should have known there would be a limit to how alone he could truly be. And that Thalia would destroy the distance he’d created between them as he avoided her.

“This is nice.” She looked around the tent. “Nicer than where I’m staying.”

“I didn’t know you were staying,” Eddie huffed.

“Well, I’m sure they’re gonna be looking for a blue-haired force user now,” Thalia ran a hand into her hair and ruffled her curls. He could see the slightest bit of growth at the roots, that muddy brown from his memory. From hers. “So I think I need to lay low for a bit.”

"Well, could you lay low somewhere else?" he groused at her.

"Where's the fun in that? Besides, I have something to ask you."

"Ask me? Or tell me?"

"Both."

"Knew it."

He gestured for her to take a seat on Jeff's bunk, across from him. She sighed deeply as she sat and her whole body shrank in on itself at the small comfort.

The wind blew just outside the tent and the kids shouted to each other in the distance, playing some game, as Eddie and Thalia got reacclimated to each other's presence. There was relative silence for a few moments as they sat and watched each other.

Then Thalia finally spoke.

"You know," she started, looking down at her hands settled neatly in her lap. "I had...a different plan, if you can believe it."

"I don't believe in making plans," Eddie responded after a beat. He sniffed judgmentally and then leaned back in his seat with his arms folded across his chest. "They always end up changing."

Thalia hummed in response, amused. "I had a feeling you were gonna say something like that."

"I'm an open book, sweetheart."

"Uh huh."

"Unlike someone."

"Do you want an apology?"

"For blowing up my ship? For forcing my friends and I to come to this abandoned planet? For ruining our lives?" He nodded. "Yeah, I would, actually."

"I'm sorry," she said solemnly.

He poked a finger in his ear and wiggled it. "Can you say that again? I didn't hear it."

"I'm sorry," she repeated and then lifted a brow expectantly. "That good enough?"

"How about some groveling?"

"You're pressing your luck."

"Then I accept your apology." He held his hand out to her to shake. "And if there's a way for me to get a reimbursement of the credits I left behind on Coruscant trying to save your hide."

"I'll talk to Bob." She chuckled lightly. "Not like there are many places you can spend it here on Bogano, though."

"I'll figure something out." He grinned. "I always do."

There was another stretch of solemn silence.

"The force..." Thalia broke the silence, then took a deep breath. "Works in mysterious ways."

"Why do you say that?" he asked. She paused again, then reached into her jacket and pulled something from where she'd tucked it. Hidden it. She carefully passed it across to him and he felt his eyes widen.

It was a little leather-bound journal; the cover was a deep mahogany and crafted well, with shapes embossed into it and a loosely knitted cord around its middle. Pieces of rough paper were carefully folded and sewn together inside.

Eddie knew it well, because it was his.

"You...where did you get this?"

"Stole it," she teased lightly. "I...I was planning to give it back to you. And I would've if the inquisitors hadn't shown up. I think it would've been a nice goodbye. A real goodbye."

"I thought I lost it," he muttered. "It's been a while since I'd seen it."

"I know." She nodded. "Found it in a camtono while I was organizing the ship. There were all sorts of things inside. Tiny figurines, dice...but this was the thing that caught my eye the most. It felt lost. It was excited for someone to open it again."

"And did you? Open it?"

"I might've," she said slyly.

Eddie eagerly untied the cord and flipped through the long-forgotten pages. He traced his fingers over his own scratchy handwriting inside; stories that he used to write to entertain his friends, little notes and ideas for their games. They'd come up with names and planets that didn't exist and creatures, and he'd lead them through the little made-up adventures to pass the time. Both back home and when they started travelling.

It got boring in space.

"Why a journal?" Thalia questioned. "Why not a datapad?"

He looked over at her and saw the way her mouth quirked at the corners. Not quite a smile, but enough of one.

"Something tells me you already know," he accused lightheartedly.

"Oh yeah?"

"So why ask?"

"Because I'd rather hear the story from you," she assured him. "Than experience it through echoes in the Force."

He looked down at the little book again. He was nervous, but it was an acceptable answer; he could do this...he could tell her.

"My uncle Wane gave it to me," he began. "After my mom died, my dad had a hard time. He loved her but he couldn't handle his...grief, I guess. Wane always said I was just like him...itching to get off planet. But mom was the only thing holding him down. So once she was gone, he didn't really have a reason to stay."

Not even me, he thought bitterly for the millionth time in his life.

"Anyway." He cleared his throat and held up the journal. "Wane took me in. And he says he's a homebody, that he has no interest in doing much more than keeping his head down and sticking to the status quo. But he's just as curious about the galaxy as I am. As Al was. Full of stories that he's heard over the years. Some are fun, others are a little more...cautionary.

"So when he saw me tapping away at my datapad, writing little stories, he marched his ass down to the Terrace and got this for me. Sat me down and told me this...I mean, I guess I know it's true now. But back then it was unbelievable."

He remembered being eight or nine, hearing the story and thinking Wane was just being his usual old coot self.

"This planet...Taris...used to be a bigger metropolis than Coruscant. Skyscrapers and resorts and casinos and pleasure barges. If it wasn't in the Outer Rim, it could've been the Capital of the Old Republic. Took thousands of years to build...and a single year to destroy. All of the people, all of the technology, all of the money couldn't save them. But what did survive? Books. Hand written and printed books, unwanted, deep in the undercity. Along with the few survivors.

"So he said to me, 'Ed, don't you trust any of your important thoughts to a datapad. You better write them all down.' And he handed me this journal, and the rest is history. Honestly, I don't think that I would've ever gotten the courage to leave Bracca if it wasn't for Wane and this journal. Everything I ever thought was important to me, I put in here."

He stopped at a page that had his rough little sketches of a ship and the name Dragonborn scrawled across the top. He felt his eyes sting with unshed tears, then he looked up at Thalia and forced a wry smile.

"So, did I tell the story better than your...Force Echo?"

Her fingers twitched on her lap, and in his mind's eye, Eddie could see her reach across to comfort him. He almost wanted her to. But she stayed on Jeff's bed and simply stated, "You absolutely did."

"Why, thank you." He held his arms out and did a little bow in his seat, hamming it up to try and push past the heavy emotions that lingered. "So...what does this have to do with the force working in mysterious ways?"

Thalia scoffed and rolled her eyes, muttering something under her breath before stating, "You know, there have been plenty of scholars in the history of the galaxy that have questioned whether we truly have freewill. Or if there is some predetermined fate that the Force keeps us moving towards."

Fate? Well, that was bantha shit in Eddie's opinion.

Still, he asked her, "What do you think?"

Of course, she avoided the question in the way only she could.

It seemed it was her turn to tell a story.

“The Jedi..." She paused in thought. "They take...took...children from their homes when they were very young, to begin teaching them the ways of the Force very early. To teach them to follow the light. And to prevent them from forming an attachment to their homes or their families. For some, that meant they were taken as babies. For me? I was...old enough to remember. Not much. But faces and names and places. Feelings. Things.

“The first time I came here…well, that’s a story in and of itself. I came across another survivor of the Purge, who urged me to try and find Master Cordova. I hired Benny and Bob to take me to a remote planet no one had heard of, but once I got here…everything clicked. Everything felt right. I could feel Master Cordova’s signature in the force. He might still be missing, but his presence is here if you know where to look. I could feel the planet itself urging me to reconnect with the force, taking me on a journey of self-discovery. Most of all, I could feel the long-forgotten memories of my childhood return.

“Bogano reminds me of the home I remember. Fields and marsh mud and soft wind…and nothing. So much nothing. So much death.”

Eddie felt a chill down his spine.

“Death? You feel…death here?” he asked, but she ignored it.

"One of the last things I remember, before the masters came, were letters. Paper letters. Electronics were shoddy at best, but the colony was safe enough for children to run around alone. My mother handed me a letter to take to my aunt who lived by Olaris Spaceport."

Eddie frowned.

Olaris...why was that familiar?

"You know why," Thalia responded, as if she could hear his thoughts.

"I'm gonna need you to stop doing that, sweetheart." He scoffed. "Or teach me how to stop you."

"We'll get to that," she said dismissively, then leaned closer and grabbed Eddie's hand. "You know why Olaris sounds familiar. Think about it. Really think. You know the answer."

Olaris. He let the word bounce around his thoughts for a moment. At first he could hear the echo in Thalia's voice.

It quickly changed to his uncle's, in the tone he used when he spun tales for Eddie's entertainment. Stories to get him to fall asleep on those long nights when he missed his parents.

The Sinking City. Olaris Spaceport. The Verdant Marshes.

Marsh mud and soft winds and death.

He looked down at his journal and muttered, "You're from Taris."

Thalia smiled sadly.

"Your uncle tells you a story and gives you a journal to write in. Paper to write on. Because of a half-destroyed planet where technology failed them. You write down all of your dreams, and one day those dreams take you halfway across the galaxy where you meet someone from that planet. Someone who tells you that...that you're something special. Something worth protecting. Something worth saving.”

"Bob said you'd done research on me," Eddie whispered.

"There are some things that you can't find out just by slicing, Eddie," she whispered back with a nervous smile. "I think...I think that's fate."

He pulled his hand away from hers and stood. He paced the length of the tent, mind racing as he tried to find some flaw in her story. Flaw in her logic. He pivoted to face her many times, only to keep pacing, unable to find some point to bring up.

"I didn't listen when you offered to bring me to Bogano. But you blew up my ship and brought me here anyway.” He pointed at her. "How is that fate? You forced me to come here."

"I didn't know the inquisitors were going to show up!" Thalia threw her hands in the air. "I was going to try one last ditch effort to get you to come, with the journal. But they beat me to it. Regardless of what I had planned—of what you had set your mind on—we ended up here."

"But you blew up my ship!"

"But I blew up your ship!" She got to her feet abruptly and closed the distance. She grabbed the lapels of his jacket to get him to stop pacing and shook him. "Do you want another apology? Or a smack in the face? I'm trying to ask you something important here, Eddie. I’m trying to ask if you want to learn the ways of the force.”

What?

“But you're too kriffing stubborn,” she continued, all the while still shaking him. “All roads led you here. To this minute. To this planet. To me. Whether you wanted it to or not."

"Fine!" he shouted at her.

"Fine! And you're here now."

"And I'm here!"

"So do you want me to teach you how to harness the Force? Or not? You big...scruffy...stupid...moof-milker!"

"Yes, I would like that a lot actually!"

"Gah!" She shoved him with all her might, sending him back a few steps. There was fire in her eyes as she seethed at him. It was funny. It was cute. "I knew you would say no! I hate you so much. You're such a little—"

"Thalia!" Eddie took a step towards her but she kept on yelling. "Thalia! I said yes!"

She went silent immediately, shoulders heaving as she caught her breath.

"You did?" she asked after a beat. She straightened her shoulders and ran a hand through her hair, trying to compose herself. "You did."

“Against my best judgement, yeah.” He huffed a bit of a laugh. “I guess I believe in fate after all.”

“Great.”

"Good."

"Good." She nodded and then headed out. "We'll get started in the morning then. Meet me at the edge of camp, by the vaporators, after breakfast."

And once she was gone, Eddie really let it all sink in. Let it all hit him.

What the hell had he just agreed to?

Eddie Moonsun and routines had, historically, never really gotten along.

He'd always been late for his classes at the Training Institute back on Bracca, rarely did his homework with any sort of timeliness. Once he was the Captain of his own ship, he knew not to delude himself into thinking he would grow up or take any more responsibility. He was going to be a great smuggler, sure, and his friends relied on his leadership to succeed, but that didn't mean he needed to wake up early every morning. Or adhere to any sort of schedule.

The only time that he could be considered reliable to stick to a schedule was when he promised to deliver something to a client on a certain date. That was just because money was involved.

So, it shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone, least of all to Eddie, that he was hopeless when it came to the expectations of routines that Thalia set for him.

He was late to meet up with her after lunch. He and Benny had been discussing a plan to replace the Dragonborn when he realized. He'd run across camp, interrupting the small group of kids that Thalia guided through meditation.

Their eyes all popped open in unison, giggling at his flustered appearance. Hair disheveled, out of breath, cheeks flushed.

"Sorry, I thought it was just going to be the two of us, sweetheart," he apologized as Thalia pulled him aside.

"They need to learn the basics," she explained. "Grounding themselves, their abilities. Learning to control them. You...it's going to be a little different. You're older."

"I'm still a kid at heart."

She laughed. "Oh I don't doubt that.” 

Then she explained what it was she expected of their time training together:

Wake up, walk the perimeter of the camp—some kind of patrol perhaps?—breakfast, chores, lunch, meditation with the kids, dinner, then bed.

"What about fun?" he questioned when she told him.

"What about fun?" Her brows shot up in surprise.

"You didn't give us any time for...I don't know...playing sabacc or reading, or...anything!" He threw his arms up in the air. "What about lightsaber training?"

"What about lightsaber training?"

"Stop repeating what I say!"

"You're not going to start with a lightsaber." Thalia scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Younglings don't get a lightsaber for...a few years at least."

"What?" Eddie screeched. "I have to wait a few years?"

"If you even get one." Thalia grabbed him as he tried to walk away from her. He mumbled expletives under his breath. "You need to learn how to channel the force first. Then to control your abilities. Then we can talk about a lightsaber."

He looked over her shoulder at the group of kids, all sitting restlessly, and he wondered if they would get a lightsaber eventually. Or now. Would this be different if he'd been found at their age?

He let the thought roll around in his head for a second, let it simmer with the doubt inside of him. When he'd agreed to this, he supposed he'd gotten caught up in the novelty of it. Be taught the ways of a Jedi? Become a hero? Sure. That was an easy yes. But how could he be one? He was just...a scoundrel. A no one.

"What if you were wrong?" Eddie asked abruptly. "I...I don't have...I can't move things with a wave of my hand or feel any echoes. You said you had a list? What if...if my name was on it by mistake?"

"I'm not wrong," Thalia insisted.

"But what if?"

"I'm not," she repeated. "But if I am...well, we just have to find out in the first place, right?"

She gave him a knowing, smug look and waited for him to agree.

"I guess," he said reluctantly.

She took a step forward and took his hands in hers, then looked deep into his eyes with a sincerity he hadn't known in anyone outside of his uncle and his friends. It was shocking, especially coming from her.

"I believe in you, Eddie," she muttered gently. "I hope I can help you believe in yourself."

He didn't know how to respond. So he just nodded.

She stepped back, pulling him along with her. "We just have to start. So, let's go."

She led him over to the group and made him sit, legs crossed, amongst them.

Meditation was difficult.

Day after day, he simply sat there amongst the kids, waiting for something to happen. Anything. To the point where he was starting to get desperate.

He wasn't really sure what he should've been doing; he looked around at the others. Max's hands rested on her knees, Will kept his eyes closed, and El was practically buzzing with energy even though she herself remained perfectly still. The atoms around her shifted imperceptibly, or so it seemed.

But for Eddie? Nothing worked.

He couldn't stay still enough, keep his eyes closed for long enough, or stay in one position. There were too many noises, too many feelings, too many bodies near him.

And the frustration he felt over failing at the simplest activity led to more failure and discontent with everything else expected of him. He stayed up late every night with worry, slept in every morning, missed all of the one-on-one time that Thalia had planned. He grumped and groused, threw insults at everyone who could take it. It happened to the point where he'd even pissed Hop who was apparently El’s adoptive father. El, the so-called force protege.

He even began to annoy his friends.

"You're being a real piece of bantha shit, Ed," Jeff called him out when he'd grumbled through chores for the 3rd day in a row. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Eddie hissed.

D5-TN rolled by, honking and whistling in a way that almost sounded like Eddie's own grumbling. It earned laughs from the rest of the crew of the Dragonborn—former crew, that is—but Eddie simply kicked the back of Dustin's can-shaped body and stormed off.

He walked.

And walked.

And walked.

Past the edge of the camp, past the small body of murky water that he and Thalia were supposed to meet every morning but never did, past the series of machines and satellites that Bob had erected to pick up any stray comms.

Until he was well and truly alone for the first time in...well, had he ever been this alone?

Eddie observed his surroundings. The small outline of the camp from the direction that he came and, up ahead, a spire of stone cut through the burning, setting twin suns. He closed his eyes and savored the warmth of it on his face, smelled the sweet grasses and peaty soil around him. Little critters jumped and chittered around him—boglings—but it was generally peaceful. Quiet.

He let instinct control his body, let himself fall to the ground with his legs crossed and hands rested on his knees. He breathed deeply, tried to focus on...focus on nothing. Wasn't that what Thalia instructed them all to do?

Breathe deeply, clear their minds until they were the only ones there. Push out all of the distractions of the outside world, then they might find the light within them.

But what light was there in Eddie? He couldn't feel that within him. When he thought of the force, when he thought of the Jedi...he thought of the heroes of his childhood. He thought of the austere monks that could move things with their mind and preached peace and justice and balance. Even Thalia, the self-proclaimed not-Jedi, was surrounded by calm.

He was...he was chaos personified. He was wild and unpredictable. He was always looking for the next place. He was restless. He was less than. He could never be like that. Wise and powerful and serene. It was simply not him.

"Is that what you think about yourself?" Eddie's eyes popped open and shouted in surprise at Thalia's sudden interruption of his...well, it wasn't really meditation, was it? "Probably not," she answered his thoughts again.

"Stop that!" he growled at her.

"No," she scoffed and dropped to the ground before him, knees almost touching his. "It's fun to mess with you." He refused to look at her. "Oh, come on, don't tell me you didn't try and mess with me before either. I know you enjoyed it."

"I don't like having the privacy of my mind invaded," he spat at her.

"I'm not reading your thoughts, per se," she explained. "Some people can. But I'm simply feeling the way you interact with the world around you. And you were projecting a lot of...self-doubt."

"I told you I didn't think this force thing was for me," he snarked. "Of course I doubt myself."

She rolled her eyes.

"Why are you so hell-bent on this?" he questioned.

"Because you're barely even trying, and you're already quitting."

"I can't do what the others can. I can't even meditate."

"Everyone is different." She reached across and poked him, hard, in the chest. "Did I, or did I not make that clear when I explained that I wasn't given the opportunity to be a Jedi? I'm not a soldier. I couldn't...wave a lightsaber around and take a life. But that doesn't mean I couldn't do other things."

"Like what?" he scoffed. "Your little mind tricks. Your little force echoes. Your little...memory walks."

"Yes."

"How useful."

"It is useful. It's a gateway. It's how I found out how to do more, how to be more. How to redeem myself. How to be this. How to find you."

"And once again I say, I'm useless. I'm nothing."

Thalia sighed again, but closed her eyes this time.

"Listen, I'm no teacher," she began, but Eddie was quick to interrupt her.

"Well, don't look at me. I barely paid attention in class."

She ignored him and continued. "That doesn't mean I'm going to give up on you." Her eyes opened and stared deeply into his. "Those kids? They could be the next Jedi Order. They could be the ones that take down the empire, protect the galaxy. But doesn't that just put us right back where we started? A Jedi Order that doesn't care to do things the right way? One that values soldiers over...peace? I can't do that to them. I need to protect them from that.

"But you, Eddie...you're...nothing. You're a blank slate and a loose canon, and you don't fit in any one slot because you aren't meant to. If the Jedi didn't come and find you, it's because you didn't fit their mold. And that's a good thing. Maybe that's what we need right now to save the light that is left.

"A single spark of courage," she concluded, almost reciting some quote she knew from her past life. "Can ignite the fires of hope and restore peace across the galaxy. We are that spark. You are that spark."

His eyes darted between hers, a warm feeling building in his chest at her words.

"You know," he muttered. "You might find a career in motivational speeches since Star Tours isn't gonna end up working out for you."

Thalia snorted and gently pushed against his shoulder. Then she took his hands in hers and told him to match her breathing.

Breathe. In. Out. Breathe.

"The Jedi," Thalia explained as she wrapped a scrap of cloth around his head to cover his eyes, "were focused on these higher realms of thought. Find the light within and suddenly the whole universe opens up for them. One being dies and they become one with the force, part of a greater whole. Fulfill their destiny to strengthen the force. Which is true!

“But, it didn't ground them into reality. In fact, they were so focused on the rest of the force that they even went without themselves. They clung to their emptiness, convinced themselves it was superior. No emotions, no attachments. No fear, no love. And when it was time for them to face reality, they were unprepared to deal with the fall they took."

"I don't see why that means I need to keep my eyes closed, sweetheart," Eddie muttered as she tied the cloth tighter.

They stood at the edge of camp, late at night. Everyone else was asleep, even the droids, but they were wide awake and training. A small warming fire was glowing nearby, but they were almost entirely bathed in the darkness of night. The only other light they had was the star-filled sky above them.

It made the blindfold almost doubly-redundant.

"Because you're the opposite. You’re…unique. You’re you, and you feel so much. When you try to meditate, you can't stand the thought of finding the light within yourself." Eddie tried to protest but she stopped him. "And that's good, for what we want. It means you're inclined to the Living Force."

He could practically hear the unspoken like me in her voice.

"And what does that mean?"

"The Living Force is exactly what it sounds like. All things living. All life is unique and special and part of the greater whole already. We live our destiny. To live, before we become one with the force, is a gift.”

On and on she went, and he could feel her pacing around him; she explained everything she expected from him calmly and in great detail, but didn’t dumb it down or condescend to him at all.

They were all incredibly confusing concepts, and Eddie made a few self-deprecating jokes about thinking it was only as simple as sword fights and good vs evil. But Thalia was patient with him, and explained how the Living Force affected those things. It was eye-opening, pun intended, and it made him more eager and excited to finally find where his strengths in the force lay.

When she got to the end, she took one of his hands in hers and settled the other on her chest, right over her heart.

“What are you doing?” He tried to tug his hand away, to pull it to his own chest but she held it there steadily.

“These are the first steps,” she explained. “But we need to jumpstart your training. I had hoped getting you up early before the rest of camp was awake, you’d be able to feel the little changes in the world as everything came to life for the day—”

“I’m not a morning person.”

“—but you aren't a morning person so we need to try a different approach. This is it. We get you to recognize how the living force manifests in me, then we branch out to the rest of the camp. And eventually…eventually you’ll be able to find it within yourself too.”

“Again I ask, why the blindfold?”

“Your eyes can deceive you. Sight is both the strongest and weakest sense. You won’t truly feel what it is that you need to feel if you keep relying on what you see.”

“That…” Eddie let the thought mull around his head for a moment. “…makes sense.”

He could hear the smile in Thalia's voice when she said, “Glad you’re finally seeing things from my perspective."

"Don't expect it to happen again."

"Uh-huh. Now, I want you to feel. Feel the physical aspects of me as I stand here in front of you. With you. And then we can build from there.” She squeezed one hand, and then pressed the other hand further into her chest.

He took a deep breath. Once, twice. Tried to sync his breathing along with hers like they'd done the other day, so he could focus on what he felt.

The steadiness of her pulse beneath his fingers, the stitches of her jacket that indented into his palm, her unexpected calluses that brushed against the back of his hand. She was solid and real and tangible in his grasp. She felt like Thalia, which seemed a little obvious since she was Thalia...but there was just something intrinsic that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

It felt the way it did when he kissed her. Calm and bright. Quiet and powerful. Human. Alive. Here with him, here for him.

He'd been a little shit to her, but she had been there for him. He couldn't deny that. She was right, the small little things that connected them. Maybe it wasn't fate in the way that you would think of it, but she hadn't given up on him. Hadn't given up on trying to save him. And how many others could he confidently say had done that for him in his life?

She squeezed his hand. He squeezed back.

And then his touch went through her. He reached into her.

She evaporated and he fell forward, stumbling ahead a few steps. He waved his arms frantically, trying to find her; he called her name but got no response.

Panic settled in, shortness of breath and the sudden urge to rip the blindfold off and run away. In fact, his hands had immediately went to his face, fingers gripping the cloth. But, for some reason, he stopped.

Calmness settled over him, deep breathing that wasn't his...but who did it belong to?

He tried calling for Thalia again, to no avail, and then he thought beyond her. Because he wasn't really alone. They were just at the edge of camp. He focused on the crackling of the fire and the distant beeps of machinery, then further beyond that. Dayv's snoring, G'areth farting, Benny checking readings in the cockpit of the Mantis before he went to sleep himself.

There were over a dozen consciousnesses in the depths of sleep; just out of reach, past the edge of his blindfold. He could feel them, practically see them. See their dreams. Nebulous clouds and colors of their minds, of their souls, floating and swirling in innocence and imagination. Pinpricks of light, like the millions of stars above him.

No, not just above him.

Every being in the camp...they were all made of starlight.

Then the stars began to converge, forming shapes around him in his sightless landscape. Until he could see again, see everything. The camp, the fire, the sky above and the planet below. All living creatures, not just the members of their ragtag little party, but the wild creatures that lived beyond the confines of their camp, too. He could even see the millions of electrical signals relaying on D5-TN's motherboard.

Was this it? Was this what Thalia felt? Saw? Was this what she was trying to get him to see too? Was this it? Was this the Living Force?

Was he doing it? He couldn't believe it. Couldn't believe that this was the Force, and that he was doing it...he did it. He had it.

It was overwhelming, and out of his control.

It was exhilarating.

Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled back and the weight of a hand settled back into his. He squeezed first this time, and she squeezed back. Without him taking his blindfold off, she began to take shape before him.

Gleaming and glowing, Thalia's luminous inner starlight formed her gentle smile and her wind-swept curls, the shape of her body and the depth of her soul. She burned and glowed brightly under his touch.

She was beautiful.

Then it was gone as she abruptly reached up and pulled the blindfold from his eyes. He blinked and found her there, tangible and whole and human, in the flesh before him. Even in the low light, he could see the blush that burned her cheeks.

"Alright." She cleared her throat awkwardly. "That's enough for tonight."

She tried to pull her hand away from his but he held fast.

"I did it," he whispered, tears building in the corners of his eyes. "I really...I did it." The defensiveness melted from her posture and she took a step closer, squeezing his hand once again.

"I told you that you could," she insisted. Pride was evident in her voice.

Eddie started rambling, relaying everything to her. The entire experience. He was full of wonder and disbelief as he spoke a mile-a-minute, fumbling over his own words like he couldn't tell her fast enough.

He paused to catch his breath and his eyes darted from her to the camp, then out into the wild and back. It wasn't as vivid as it had been as the blindfold was on, but he could still see the little remnants of energy that emanated from the world around them.

"I just..." He ran a hand into his hair and started laughing. "Is that...well, no wonder you keep reading my mind, sweetheart, if that's what you see all the time."

She let out a chuckle, and opened her mouth to say something. Eddie could sense the snark that was building in her chest, about to come from her lips.

But before the words could escape her, he closed the distance and pressed his lips to hers, arms circling her.

Thalia stiffened in his grasp again, and then settled against him. Unlike the reluctance she showed on Outpost 86, she accepted his embrace this time, accepted his kiss.

Their lips moved together and their hands softly explored of their own volition. The heat between them roared and crackled, like the warming fire beside them. It was hesitant and gentle, but still bright and burning.

He thought about other kisses he'd experienced in his life—shit, he could even sense the vestiges of Thalia's recollection of kisses she'd had in the past—and he decided that he liked that there was something different about this experience with her.

For the first time in his life, this kiss felt like hope.

Next Chapter: Episode 7 - The Force is With Me

The Tag List for Luminous Beings is currently open; please comment/ask/DM to be added.

[dalekofchaos]

MCU Recast

Just for fun, I will be recasting the MCU

Notice. Because of the 30 picture limit, will not be able to do them all the pics for the fancasts.

Timothy Olyphant as Iron Man/Tony Stark

Glenn Powell as Captain America

Alexander Skarsgard as Thor Odinson

Hugh Dancy as The Hulk/Bruce Banner

Yuliya Snigir as Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff

Jensen Ackles as Hawkeye/Clint Barton

Idris Elba as Nick Fury(if Ultimate)

Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Nick Fury(if 616)

Morena Baccarin as Maria Hill

Ewan McGregor as Ant-Man/Hank Pym

Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Wasp/Janet Van Dyne

Hiba Abouk as Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff

Jesus Castro as Quicksilver/Pietro Maximoff

Ryan Gosling as Star Lord/Peter Quill

Sofia Boutella as Gamora

Simon Pegg as Rocket Racoon

John Rhys-Davies as Groot

Jason Momoa as Drax the Destroyer

Maggie Q as Mantis

Ana de Armas as Nebula

Christian Bale as Doctor Strange/Stephen Strange

Katee Sackhoff as Captain Marvel/Carol Danvers

Joe Keery as Spider-Man/Peter Parker

Chiwetel Ejiofor as Black Panther/T'Challa

Ben Barnes as Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes

Robert Pattinson as Daredevil

Alexandra Daddario as Jessica Jones

Trevante Rhodes as Luke Cage

Lewis Tan as Iron Fist/Danny Rand

Frank Grillo as The Punisher/Frank Castle

Jamie Chung as Colleen Wing

Sonequa Martin-Green as Misty Knight

Jesse Plemons as Foggy Nelson

Amanda Seyfried as Karen Page

Yaya DaCosta as Claire Temple

Dakota Fanning as Trish Walker/Hellcat

Stephan James as Malcolm Ducasse

Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa as Stick

Rainn Wilson as Microchip/David Liberman

Jamie Foxx as War Machine/James "Rhodey" Rhodes

Michael B. Jordan as Sam Wilson

Amy Adams as Pepper Potts

Kevin James as Harold “Happy” Hogan

Christina Ricci as Betty Ross

Léa Seydoux as Sharon Carter

Daisy Ridley as Peggy Carter

Charlie Day as Ant-Man/Scott Lang

Amandla Stenberg as Shuri

Maya Hawke as Hawkeye/Kate Bishop

Sasha Luss as Black Widow/Yelena Belova

(I'm changing the direction of the MCU Spider-Man since there would be no mind wipe at the end of said trilogy, no Iron Man Jr, Peter is in college and already an established hero, there would be no pointless change to MJ's name and I would reframe from basically copying everything about Miles and give all his traits to Peter)

Brendan Fraser as Uncle Ben Parker(flashbacks)

Jamie Lee Curtis as May Parker

Stefanie Scott as Mary Jane Watson

Dylan O'Brien as Harry Osborn

Chloë Grace Moretz as Gwen Stacy

Jake Austin Walker as Flash Thompson

Keira Knightley as Jane Foster

Stellan Skarsgård as Odin

Mark Strong as Charles Xavier

Jacob Elordi as Cyclops/Scott Summers

Liana Liberato as Jean Grey

Matt Berry as Hank McCoy/Beast

Finn Wolfhard as Iceman/Bobby Drake

Mason Dye as Angel/Archangel/Warren Worthington III

Kiki Layne as Storm/Ororo Monroe

Jared Keeso as Wolvine/James "Logan" Howlett

Wyatt Oleff as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler

Charles Melton as Warpath/James Proudstar

Sadie Sink as Wolfsbane/Rahne Sinclair

Petr Skvortsov as Piotr Rasputin/Colossus

Maude Apatow as Kitty Pryde/Shadowcat

Victoria Pedretti as Rogue/Ann Marie

Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Jubilee/Jubilation Lee

Olivia Rodrigo as Dazzler/Alison Blaire

Ekaterina Samsonov as Magik/Illyana Rasputina

Sonya Mizuno as Psylocke/Elizabeth “Betsy” Braddock

Esme Creed-Miles as X-23/Laura Kinney

Wolfgang Novogratz as Havok/Scott Summers

Jodie Whittaker as Emma Frost

Dallas Liu as Daken

Kat Graham as Polaris/Lorna Dane

Chad Coleman as Lucas Bishop

Hunter Doohan as Banshee/Sean Cassidy

Austin Butler as Gambit/ Remy LeBeau

Will Arnett as Deadpool/Wade Wilson

Saara Chaudry as Kamala Khan

Madison Reyes as America Chavez

Isaac as Moon Knight/Marc Spector/Steven Grant/Jake Lockley

Andrew Lincoln as Reed Richards/Mr Fantastic

Jodie Comer as Sue Storm/Invisible Woman

Paul Mescal as Human Torch/Johnny Storm

Liev Schreiber as Thing/Ben Grimm

JK Simmons as Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane

Dolph Lundgren as Crimson Dynamo/Anton Vanko(adding Dynamo as I felt not including him was a waste)

Danila Kozlovsky as Whiplash

Bob Odenkirk as Justin Hammer

Chow Yun-Fat as The Mandarin(No Trevor, he's The Mandarin and actually uses the Ten Rings against Tony)

Michael Shannon as Abomination/Emil Blonsky

Mark Gatiss as The Leader/Samuel Sterns

Jamie Campbell Bower as Loki Laufeyson

Christoph Waltz as Red Skull/Johann Shmidt

Cillian Murphy as Baron Helmut Zemo

Javier Bardem as Thanos

Jeremy Irons as Ultron

Matt Smith as Malekith

Sean Bean as Alexander Pierce

Manu Bennett as Crossbones

Iain Glen as Ronan the Accuser

Oded Fehr as Baron Mordo

Brian Cox as Ego The Living Planet

John Malkovich as Vulture

John Goodman as Kingpin/Wilson Fisk

Boyd Holbrook as Bullseye

Tonia Sotiropoulou as Elektra Nachios

Jodie Comer as Typhoid Mary

James McAvoy as Purple Man/Zebediah Killgrave

Common as Cottonmouth/Cornell Stokes

Taraji P. Henson as Mariah Dillard

Barkhad Abdi as Bushmaster

Željko Ivanek as Agent Orange/William Rawlins

Wes Bentley as Jigsaw/Billy Russo

Dev Patel as Davos

Alexander Ludwig as Nuke/Will Simpson

Matthew Rhys as James Wesley

Kate Beckinsale as Vanessa Marianna

Marwan Kenzari as Bakuto

Brian Tee as Nobu Yoshioka

Lucille Soong as Madame Gao

Julianne Moore as Alexandra Reid

Eva Green as Hela

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Killmonger/Erik Stevens/N'Jadaka

Andrew Scott as Mysterio

(sidenote, Mysterio wouldn't die and would return to form the Sinister Six which would feature the villains from NWH, but it's the MCU variants, no Multiverse)

Bryan Cranston as Green Goblin/Norman Osborn

Mark Hamill as Doc Ock/Otto Octavius

Sam Worthington as Sandman

Sendhil Ramamurthy as The Lizard/Dr Curt Connors

Aaron Paul as Electro

Naomi Scott as Ghost

Henry Golding as Namor

Jason Isaacs as Magneto/Erik Lensherr

Natalie Dormer as Mystique/Raven Darkholme

Pablo Schreiber as Sabertooth/Victor Creed

King Kerim as Apocalypse/En Sabah Nur

Bryan Cranston as Sebastian Shaw

Christopher Eccleston as Bastion

Matt Smith as Mr Sinister

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Adam Warlock

Antony Starr as US Agent/John Walker

Ted Levine as Thaddeus Ross/Red Hulk

Charlie Clapman as Doctor Doom/Victor Von Doom

[lottespics]

Why Me? - Part 1

Pairing: Bob Floyd x Mitchell! Female Reader

Warnings: Drinking, cursing, insecurities, pining (if I do end up writing more I will put more chapter warnings)

Word Count: 700

Summary: Bob is a total simp, and he is too caught up in his own insecurities to ever think about the possibility you may very well like him back.

A/N: Ok, so this is my first attempt at writing in a VERY long time, so pls be gentle to me, thank you. But if anyone comes upon this I hope you enjoy it! I'm hoping to write more and have it become a series but we'll see what happens. Also I suck at summaries so sorryyy.

For the twenty-nine years Bob had been alive he had never felt this way before. It took a single stare. A look. A glance really, to know that he had been blessed in this life. You’d think he was admiring a masterpiece carefully handcrafted by a tortured artist who had dedicated his life to his craft, or perhaps the sunset over the cliffs of La Jolla that reflected off of the water just right. But no. Because nothing in this moment could compare to the sight before him. It was simply you, holding a hand to your chest, throwing your head back in a laugh over some wild story Phoenix was telling you about her family back home.

Everything slowed down around him as the light from the bar cast a halo around your head. The way your cheeks flushed from the rowdy atmosphere of the Hard Deck. The way your soft hand slid from your chest to Phoenix’s shoulder in an attempt to catch your breath. He knew he was staring at this point, but he just couldn’t tear his eyes from you. Even gazing at you in awe from behind the pool table he found himself blushing at the thought of you and your inviting smile. 

Just as you take a sip from your glass, your eyes scan the bar and land on his, already staring right at you. Your eyes widen at first at how intently his eyes bore into yours, until they soften and a crooked smile makes its way to his lips. You smile right back at him and raise your hand in a small wave. Bob’s heart beats faster as you continue to smile at him, he picks up his hand and gives a wave back. Your smile widens as you stare back into your drink.

Even in your khakis Bob thinks there is no way you could get more beautiful. He should go over and talk to you. But he thinks better of it as you’re still in your conversation with Phoenix. That is until Phoenix gets up and heads to the restroom. Oh god. This is his chance. He should take it right? No, he’ll just end up making a stuttering mess of himself like the last time he tried to have a one-on-one conversation with you. The team still held that over his head, as they only thought he was nervous to say something wrong and have you go running to tell your dad what a dumb-ass he was.

Your father of course being their Captain, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. That was its own obstacle. Other than the fact that the thought of you had him stumbling over his own words, your father was one reason why he was hesitant to approach you. You had mentioned to Phoenix before that because of this every aviator either kept their distance from you, or had made a game of trying to hook up with you. This detachment had been different this time. Everyone has been friendly to you for no other reason than to be friendly. Of course, Hangman tried his hand at you, but that was before he realized who your father was. Bob remembers it quite well. The way Hangman sidled up to you to introduce himself. Giving you his best lines, eventually asking how you got the call sign of “Mantis” only for you to stare at him and casually say, “‘Cause I’ll bite your fucking head off if you try anything”. You gave him your best smile and walked off after Hangman promptly choked on his drink.

Lost in his daydream, Bob barely notices Phoenix coming back and reclaiming her seat next to you. Another opportunity slips out of his hands. He looks back to his empty cup of peanuts and decides to call it a night, heading out without saying goodbye to anyone, not like they would notice anyway. Besides, if you ever were to take a chance on anyone in the squad why would it be him? He makes it to the front of the bar before you look up smiling, hoping to see him again, he was too far gone to see it slip from your face. You let out a dejected sigh before asking Penny to close out your tab.

[little-miss-dilf-lover]

hiya! so I was thinking about Peter Quill with an artistic reader (in the form of headcanons) bc omg i think that'd be absolutely adorable and ive been going in a spiral for him lately

Just a thought! You dont need to do it if youre busy, have a great week!

hii! omg yes I love it. and don’t worry me you and everyone else feels the same way😭 ive been defending him in comment sections for years so im glad he’s finally getting recognition he deserves. big up quill. I also did this first, as it was a fun sorta break in between other writing. thank you for requesting, hope you like it💌 have a great weekend also. xo

headcanons/ imagines (2)

Peter Quill x reader (gn)

warnings || none

masterlist + rules

taglist

- he doesn’t always have the best attention span, but when it comes to you he could watch you paint/ draw for hours. it’s something that keeps him entertained

- he likes to ask questions/ communicate while you work “that’s cool, what does that do?” or “how did you do that?” feel like he’d be mesmerised watching the canvas come to life

- you both listen to his music while you do anything artsy, the combination is the best of both worlds

- but if he’s not watching you/ hanging around at the same time, you like to listen to his music so it feels like he’s still there. he’s silently caught you a few times and it makes him feel special that his music means so much to you

- he definitely brags to the other guardians about how talented you are (like tony and thor talking about their girls in age of ultron)

- I feel like he can be a great helper- if you’re at the easel, he stands next to you holding the things you need so you don’t have to keep bending/ reaching etc. or if you need a brush cleaned, he’d do it for you

- if you wanted to do pottery, he’d get rocket to make you a pottery wheel, whatever you needed, rocket will make

- if you live with him in his apartment on knowhere, he’s moved his things about so that you could paint by the window/ designated a space/ area for you to work at (he remembers watching bob ross a couple times when he was a kid, so he used the tips he learned and put them into practice for you)

- if and when he sees any kind of art materials on other planets, he definitely brings them back for you. over a while you’ve acquired quite a diverse set of tools that’s broadened the quality of your art

- I feel like he’d kind of pimp you out- would put your name out there to get more people to commission work from you

- you’re now the go-to that people come to when they want new things for their houses. a majority of people on knowhere have probably bought work from you

- you’ve made pieces for every guardian, something specific and detailed that has meaning to each individual (kind of like the holiday special) you’d be very creative and intricate in tailoring the work to the person

- mantis absolutely adores what you made. nebula was apprehensive at first but you caught her smiling when she thought you weren’t paying attention. drax goes into great detail when he describes what he loves about it, always using crazy big adjectives. rocket said he doesn’t care for art, but the way it’s displayed in his apartment tells you otherwise. and groot was super happy to have something made by you

- quill has treasured everything you’ve ever made him, he can be very sentimental so all the work you made is something he deeply appreciates. something minuscule you made at the beginning of the relationship, is kept in one of his memory boxes (like a flower made of tissue)

- maybe you’ve made things to honour his parents, using stories he’s told you into creating something beautiful (two separate pieces- one of meredith and one of yondu) they are something he has hung up and displayed in his apartment. I feel like it’s helped him deal with his grief- and over time he’s been able to look at the artwork without feeling sad. now he can smile when he sees their faces

- its definitely made him fall harder for you

[aceoflove]

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆Hello Darlings!!!⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

I'm Bee. I'm a uni student who adores fandoms from across the galaxy

Pronouns: She/Her

I adore writing.

This is my second blog, but I've barely posted my writing anywhere, so I thought why not! I also thought that I could post my art here!

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆Fandoms + Characters⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

Ask about ships, I will most likely do anything from the fandoms except incest. The ask will be deleted if it breaks those rules/my personal rules

Platonic Only ✯

Set Ship (one that will be present as a background one if appropriate) ۵

𓆸 Marvel:

Tony Stark ۵

Natasha Romanoff

Bruce Banner

Thor

Steve Rogers

Clint Barton

Wanda Maximoff

Pietro Maximoff

Loki

Spider-Man

Peter Quill

Gamora

Nebula

Rocket ✯

Groot ✯

Drax

Mantis

Adam

Cosmo ✯

Kraglin

Kamala Khan

Bruno Carrelli

T'Challa

Shuri

Scott Lang

Sam Wilson

Bucky Barnes

Pepper Potts ۵

Carol Davers

Yelana Belova

Kate Bishop

Shang Chi

𓆸 Narnia:

Edmund

Lucy

Peter

Susan

Caspian

Eustace

Aslan ✯

𓆸 Harry Potter:

Harry Potter

Hermione Granger

Ron Weasley

Fred Weasley

George Weasley

Draco Malfoy

Blaise Zabini

Pansy Parkinson

Luna Lovegood

Ginny Weasley

Neville Longbottom

Oliver Wood

Cedric Diggory

Mattheo Riddle

Regulas Black

Sirius Black ۵

James Potter

Remus Lupin ۵

Lily Evans

I may be inexperienced with writing for some fandoms, but feel free to ask if I do know the fandom!

Ones that I am less confident in, but will write for include:

𓆸 Top Gun (both):

Maverick

Goose ۵

Carole ۵

Iceman

Rooster

Phoenix

Bob

Hangman

Fanboy

Payback

Coyote

𓆸 Across/into the Spider-verse:

Miles Morales (Both)

Hobie Brown

Gwen Stacy

Peter .B

Mayday ✯

Miguel O'Hara

Pavitr Prabhakar

Spider-Noir

Spider-Ham ✯

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆Notes⋆⁺₊⋆ ☀︎ ⋆⁺₊⋆

𓆸 I can do ships and x reader.

𓆸 I don't do smut.

𓆸 I can do requests, but they maybe a little slow

𓆸 Is this self indulgent.... yes

𓆸 I don't do some AU's, so if I don't do your AU request, I'm sorry

𓆸 I am straight cis and white so I am sorry if I do get representation wrong, I will try to do my research if it is specific and I will ask people around me to get it accurate as possible

𓆸 Please ask if you don't know!

𓆸 I may post OC's and their stories too

𓆸 I am open to talks btw!

Thank you my darlings!

[freddy5bear]

HELLO Y'ALL!! :3

My name is Sebastian, I'm trying to become a writer and I wanted to start with something small, So id like to get into fan fiction!!

THINGS I WILL WRITE FOR:

Hazbin Hotel/ Helluva Boss:

Vox,

Alastor,

Lucifer,

angel,

husk,

Adam,

Rosie,

Molly/Mollie,(my interpretation)

Fizzaroli,

stolas,

Asmodeus,

Chaz,

Striker,

Loona,

Verosika,

Blitzø

I also love writing for some AU versions of some of them, like Shark!Vox, human alastor etc.

Detroit: become human:

CONNOR♥

Ralph💕

Kara

Makus

Luther

The Jerry's

Nines

Gavin

Simon

North

Hank (only platonically cause I don't feel comfortable writing a romantic situation with him.)

Please specify which route as well, like deviant!Connor, Pacifist!Markus etc.

Arcane:

VIKTOR♥

Jayce

Mel Medarda

Jinx (maybe)

Vi

Caitlyn

Silco

(I have never played league of legends and have only seen arcane so if the lore is inaccurate or it's super out of character for them in the game I am sorry🙏)

Spooky month:

(Characters I will NOT write for.)

any minors, if you do wish to request an aged up version of them i can do that, or if it's a platonic thing.

I WILL NEVER EVER EVERRR WRITE ANYTHING WITH FRANK(THE KIDNAPPER) ROY'S UNCLE, OR ANYTHING WITH BOB PHYSICALLY HURTING THEIR S/O. you can still request Bob but I won't write anything like, " he eats your arm and your attracted to it! *makes out*"

Cuphead:

(Casino cups):

Cuphead

Mugman

The devil

King dice

Chalace

(I'm not sure about the other characters cause I don't know all their lore)

Rise!TMNT:

(AGED UP.)

Leo

Donnie

Raph

Mikey

April

Casey (Jones and Jr)

Hipnopotamus

Repo mantis

FNAF:

I cant list every character bc I love most of them, will not write for the souls inside the animatronics, will base it off of other media with their personalities not relating to the kids. Again, not writing for minors. Wich means, no golden Freddy, circus baby, or the bidybabs. I can't really picture those without thinking that they are children.)

Sonic the hedgehog

Will write for:

SHADOW♥♥

Sonic

Silver

Knuckles

Amy

Blaze

Rouge

I will not write for tails bc he us a child, and I will write for some fan kids, though I need full proof they have given you permission for me to write about them in the way that you want me to, if not I will ask them myself :3

RULES:

Absolutely no noncon.

I won't write reader that is not the gender the character is attracted to, like I wouldn't write a female reader for Angel unless platonic, and any other character that has a confirmed sexuality. even if there is a widely agreed apon head cannon for the character I will still interpret that as up for grabs. Ex: Leo from rise, lots of ppl agree he's gay but it's not been confirmed so I would still write female reader if somebody asks.

I will write smut, my writing when It comes to male characters, Dom or sub is exceptionally better than my writing for women, but I'm here to get better at it so pls still ask.

Please no abusive relationship asks, I don't want unhealthy relationship ideals to become something people look for in relationships.

If any of these things are requested to me you will be reported and blocked.

Also if a character is not in the fandom/list I made, please still ask! I am in many fandoms and like getting into new pieces of media, so although I may not know the request at the time I'd love to get more into the fandom and then write for it!

Also please specify weather you want a platonic, fluffy or smutty fic, otherwise I'll pick for you😈 (it'll be smut guys dw.)

I will not write character x character or character x oc, UNLESS it's like, an amazing ask, but it's not common you'll see me write smth like that. I WILL do specific reader traits though, ex: Bunny!reader (LITERALLY ME GUYS I LOVE THEM SO MUCH♥♥) hellborn!reader, mutant!reader, etc.

One last thing, I love drawing! If you ever see any kind of fiction you would like to see drawn, I would love to, please send an ask/request to draw a part in a fic! Only thing is that I will/can not draw any smut, nor will it be digital, I can really only do traditional art, so enjoy my low quality photos of paper😋

I can't wait to see requests from everyone, and be able to write them! I hope u have an amazing day/night, remember to eat and drink smth today, and dont stay up all night reading smut. (AHEM...)

-Fredd5🐻

[rockman-x]

@0047silver's funny y2k guys and which pokémon they would be

realizing i forgot most of the robot's serial numbers, i decided to use codenames for everyone. have fun guessing who is who (i think it's obvious)

Izutsumi the Original - Espurr, the Restraint Pokémon (Psychic) X: The organ that emits its intense psychic power is sheltered by its ears to keep power from leaking out. Y: It has enough psychic energy to blast everything within 300 feet of itself, but it has no control over its power.

Invader Zin - I'm not sure, actually. Dewott, the Discipline Pokémon? (Water) Black: Strict training is how it learns its flowing double-scalchop technique. White: Scalchop techniques differ from one Dewott to another. It never neglects maintaining its scalchops. B2W2: As a result of strict training, each Dewott learns different forms for using the scalchops.

Bob the Builder - Gurdurr, the Muscular Pokémon (Fighting) Black: This Pokémon is so muscular and strongly built that even a group of wrestlers could not make it budge an inch. White: They strengthen their bodies by carrying steel beams. They show off their big muscles to their friends. B2W2: With strengthened bodies, they skillfully wield steel beams to take down buildings.

Hetero Jessica - Nihilego, the Parasite Pokémon (Rock / Poison) Sun: One of several mysterious Ultra Beasts. People on the street report observing those infested by it suddenly becoming violent. Moon: One of the Ultra Beasts. It's unclear whether or not this Pokémon is sentient, but sometimes it can be observed behaving like a young girl. Ultra Sun: A life-form from another world, it was dubbed a UB and is thought to produce a strong neurotoxin. Ultra Moon: It appeared in this world from an Ultra Wormhole. Nihilego appears to be a parasite that lives by feeding on people and Pokémon.

Average Malice Mizer Fan - Ampharos, the Light Pokémon or Luxray, the Gleam Eyes Pokémon (both Electric) Ampharos Gold: The tail's tip shines brightly and can be seen from far away. It acts as a beacon for lost people. Silver: The bright light on its tail can be seen far away. It has been treasured since ancient times as a beacon. Crystal: When it gets dark, the light from its bright, shiny tail can be seen from far away on the ocean's surface.

Luxray Diamond: It has eyes that can see through anything. It spots and captures prey hiding behind objects. Pearl: When its eyes gleam gold, it can spot hiding prey-- even those taking shelter behind a wall. Platinum: It can see clearly through walls to track down its prey and seek its lost young. HGSS: Luxray's ability to see through objects comes in handy when it's scouting for danger.

Spamton S. Spamton (The S stands for S-hole) - He's a Team Rocket Grunt, actually. They will do anything for money. According to them, all Pokémon in the world are theirs to use as they please, always for a profit.

Atheist Mantis - Lurantis, the Bloom Sickle Pokémon (Grass) Sun: It requires a lot of effort to maintain Lurantis's vivid coloring, but some collectors enjoy this work and treat it as their hobby. Moon: It fires beams from its sickle-shaped petals. These beams are powerful enough to cleave through thick metal plates. Ultra Sun: For self-protection, it pretends to be a bug Pokémon. Both of its arms bear keen-edged petals. Ultra Moon: As it slashes into its enemies, it looks like it's dancing. Its elegant appearance has led some to call it the most glamorous Grass Pokémon.

It's Short for Cakes - Scizor, the Pincer / Scissors Pokémon (Bug / Steel) Gold: It swings its eye-patterned pincers up to scare its foes. This makes it look like it has three heads. Silver: Its wings are not used for flying. They are flapped at high speed to adjust its body temperature. Crystal: This Pokémon's pincers, which contain steel, can crush any hard object it gets a hold of into bits.

Chao Tribute AMV Break Stuff - Poipole, the Poison Pin Pokémon (Poison) or Rotom, the Plasma Pokémon (Electric) Poipole Ultra Sun: This Ultra Beast is well enough liked to be chosen as a first partner in its own world. Ultra Moon: An Ultra Beast that lives in a different world, it cackles wildly as it sprays its opponents with poison from the needles on its head.

Rotom D&P: Its body is composed of plasma. It is known to infiltrate electronic devices and wreak havoc. Platinum: Its electric-like body can enter some kinds of machines and take control in order to make mischief. HGSS: Research continues on this Pokémon, which could be the power source of a unique motor.

[starielluvsdnd]

Session 2 of Speak No Harm Summary:

We entered the ant hill where the party was sent to the dungeon. Kingsley’s characters tried to resist by initiating combat but Sting gave up on that pretty fast. A highlight is when Bob (Faragrim) and Fennel (both tied together) climbed onto the back of one of the ants and used it as a mount (Nel even grappling it while using her Rabbit Hop to get over a [fake] wall [for cover in the training area]) which I gave them inspiration for.

When the party got sent to the dungeons Kings hatched an amazing plan using an arrangement of spells (which I will beg him to explain in the comments or a reblog) and since Sting had spent all week talking about how he wanted there to be a lake nearby to cause a flood with discovered the river which was the showers water source (which had to totally been there the whole time). The party met some NPCs I’m quite proud of (like an ant who was sent to jail for trying to join the bees, 2 ants who didn’t speak common, an angry ant who responded to everything with “IS IT MY FAULT THAT X?!” and dangerous praying mantis in solitary [who told them a piece of a prophecy I wrote]) and took a bunch of rests before breaking free.

We’re at the escape now and it’s dinner so we’ll probably continue tomorrow. The 1st part of the poem is written below (as it’s the first law drop in the campaign it’s VERY vague but I’m still happy with it);

Bells will ring

Birds will fly

And the grass will sing

At the arrival of Spring

[lilylovelyxo]

Mantis: “Oh Peter, is this turning into another one of your peeing races with Y/N?”

Peter: “It’s not called a peeing race, Mantis. It’s called a pissing contest.”

[lottesreads]

Why Me? - Part 13

Pairing: Bob Floyd x Mitchell! Female Reader (Callsign Mantis)

Warnings: Forbidden relationship, some angst, some fluff, lying, allusions of abuse, swearing, mentions of sleeping in a car

Word Count: 5500

Summary: The aftermath of what you've done hits you like a truck. Bob is just as blindsided by what you told him, and it's time the two of you have a real honest talk.

A/N: Hello everyone!! I can't believe my last post was in September, it makes me so sad. Anyway, I've been having the worst writers block as well as dealing with work and school, it's been so great. I thought I'd give you a shorter chapter to hold you over, and just thank all of you for sticking around. Enjoy, and happy reading!!

Masterlist

The steadying rhythm of your breathing is what lulled Bob to sleep. A sleep he might add where he didn’t dream. There were no visions of you pulling him closer, or kissing his cheek, his face, his hands. There wasn’t a part of him wondering what it would be like because that’s exactly what he fell asleep to. He’s already living it. For last night at least.

A whine from the side of his bed is what finally wakes him from his dreamless state. He goes to move his head toward the noise, but is swiftly deterred as you stir in his arms. A shift in the night must have caused you to fully wrap yourself around him. Nuzzling your face in the crook of his neck, he tries not to shiver at your breath against his skin. He doesn’t think it’s real until he rubs your shoulder through the t-shirt he gave you last night. Your arm tightens around his stomach and for a second he thinks you’re waking up. Until you release another deep breath and he knows this is real. You’re really here.

Sylvia pulls at the side of his sheets with another whine. Glancing over at her, she sits patiently with her head tilted in his direction. Without another look, she walks over to the door, staring at it as if she’s willing it to open on its own. Bob wouldn’t be surprised if the one dog he adopted from the shelter had crazy telekinetic powers, especially this little weirdo. But that’s why he loves her.

With a silenced groan, he lets his head fall back just to take in this moment for one second longer. His hand runs across the smooth skin of your arm around his midsection as he breathes you in. You’re so warm and soft and he doesn’t want to get up. But he doesn’t want to be cleaning up pee at- he slowly picks up his phone from his side table- 7:00 a.m.

Ever so gently he untucks your face from his shoulder, resting your head on his pillow while your arm drapes over the unkempt sheets on his side. He watches you for a second, his hands outstretched over you as if he could keep you from waking if he held still for a moment longer. Without even a wiggle of your fingers, he follows Sylvia to the door, releasing her from the confines of the room as she rushes down the stairs and straight to the back door.

The rain has slowed to a small drizzle, clouds still clogging the sky. A rush of cold air flows into the house as Sylvia runs to the yard. He can’t help the goosebumps that crawl up his arms as he closes the door behind him. Even living this close to the ocean, the rain dampened breeze still remains the cleanest air he’s ever been able to breathe. It reminds him of you.

Not just because he held you close all night, breathing in the scent of rain from your skin and hair. But also because he can really, truly just breathe around you. Especially when he’s not trying to pretend around other people.

He takes in another deep breath before Sylvia’s done and running to the door to go back inside. Her paws pad to the kitchen as she stands in front of her bowl. Just staring.

“Oh, I guess you’re hungry now, too?”, he whispers. He laughs as she tilts her head. He fills her bowl with food, slightly cringing at the echo of it hitting the metal. Last he left you, you were in a pretty deep sleep. He’s only hoping this wasn’t the thing to wake you. The way you didn’t even flinch when he left your side. He didn’t even think it was possible for you to embed yourself even further into his brain until last night. He only hopes you don’t regret it when you wake up. Even if you do, he’s not going to force you into something you don’t want to be a part of. But god, does he want to go all in with you. What that looks like he’s not sure. All he knows is that breathing is easier when you’re with him. And he’ll take anything you’re willing to give him.

Rubbing his hands down his face, Bob walks to the bathroom. Everything’s a little blurry without his glasses, but just walking around his house is something he can manage. After washing his hands, he splashes cold water on his face. Just to make sure he really wasn’t dreaming. And as if the universe had the answer for him, he spots your clothes hanging over the shower curtain in the mirror. Not just your clothes. Your bra and underwear. Which means the only thing you’re wearing right now are his clothes.

Good lord, he needs to get a grip. Being the gentleman his mama raised him to be, he rids himself of the impulsive thought to look over your… intimates, while folding them up in your wet clothes and taking them to the dryer.

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

Oh dear god everything smells like him. Wiping the sleep from your eyes you notice the clothes you’re wearing. Even you smell like him. Wait. Where even is he? It isn’t until you hear the patter of Sylvia’s paws coming from downstairs that you take in a breath of relief. Why you were so worried he would have left his own house you don’t know. But you take a calming breath and steady yourself before taking a look at Bob’s room in the light of day. Or rather the muffled light from behind the clouds outside. There’s a couple scattered pieces of clothing, not any different from any other person. He’s still much tidier than yourself. Your eyes catch on his glasses, simply sitting on his nightstand. You smile at the sight. Just staring at them makes you feel like he’s close.

The sound of something sizzling in a frying pan and the scent of cinnamon and sugar welcomes you as you descend the stairs. Bob’s back is to you as he faces the stove, humming a song you can’t decipher. You watch while he flips whatever he’s cooking. His forearms flex as he lifts the pan, until you’re staring at his chest while he turns around to place what looks like french toast on a plate.

“That smells really good”, you compliment him as he flinches.

“Holy mother-”, he exclaims, attempting not to drop the pan. His eyes grow comically wide as you try to hide your laughter.

“Sorry”, you chuckle.

“No, it’s ok. I just didn’t see you there”, he smiles as he squints in your direction. And you’re reminded of what you swiped from his side of the bed.

“Well how could you? You’re not wearing these”, you ask as you lift his glasses in your hand.

“I’m not completely blind, ya know?”, he defends. He still extends his hand as you pad across the kitchen, giving his glasses to him. His eyes adjust as he puts them on. He immediately looks at you and you grant him a small smile. He gives one right back.

“Hi”, you whisper.

“Hi”, he whispers back. Clearing his throat he motions to the plate of french toast on the counter. “Made some breakfast if you’re hungry.”

“Starving”, you say, pouring syrup all over your helping. “It just so happens that french toast is my favorite.”

“I thought it might be”, he says while plating up his own. You furrow your brow as he sits next to you.

“Why’d you think that?”

“It’s what you ordered when we went to brunch with Phoenix and Rachel”, he responds so casually while he takes a bite. You can’t help but stop and stare at him.

“What?”, he asks, swallowing a mouth full of french toast.

“You remember that?”

“Yeah”, he shrugs. Smiling down at your plate, you take a bite and melt at the cinnamon mapley goodness.

“Bob”, you can’t help but moan, “This is so good.”

“Glad to hear it”, he smiles as he takes another bite. The two of you continue to eat your breakfast under the light patter of rain.

“Is this something you make often?”, you ask in between taking bites of this moan-worthy breakfast.

“Um”, he laughs, “Sometimes. It’s my grandma’s recipe and I try to leave it to the master. Although she hasn’t made it for me since I last slept over. Which was-”, he huffs out a breath trying to find the memory.

“You’re telling me you didn’t have a sleepover at your grandma’s last time you were on leave?”

“Oh yeah, everytime I have leave I’m headed straight to Gammy’s for a sleepover”, he laughs. “But her french toast was always my grandpa’s favorite.”

“Is this your grandpa with the penny?”

“Yeah”, he laughs, “That’s Pappy Floyd for ya.” The two of you continue to eat your breakfast as the rain settles as the perfect backdrop for this lazy morning. When you’re finished you immediately start tending to the dishes in the sink.

“Hey-”, you cut Bob off before he has the chance to protest.

“Floyd, don’t even try to stop me from taking care of a few dishes after you just made me breakfast”, you scold him with a soapy hand. He surrenders with his hands in the air, but soon follows you to rinse and dry what you’ve scrubbed.

It’s quiet. Calm. This feels normal, which in turn makes you feel odd in your chest. His shoulder brushes yours every once in a while and the odd feeling appears in bursts with it. You could see yourself standing next to this man doing dishes for the rest of your- Whoa.

Ok, one dish at a time here. You still haven’t even talked about last night. And it’s creating this itch under your skin. One that you know you have to scratch, but you don’t want him to look at you while you do it. 

Unsure of what to do after finishing the last dish, you stare out the window in front of you. It’s stormy outside, clouds covering the once blue and sunny San Diego sky. It’s not unwelcome as the winds calm, just different.

Bob places the last dish to dry and watches as you tuck a stray piece of hair behind your ear. It reveals the bruise he couldn’t tear his eyes away from last night, and it makes him feel protective again. Like for some reason he should have been there to stop it from happening. Even if it was an accident. He doesn’t want you to hurt. And most of all he doesn’t want to be the one to hurt you. If he goes along with what he thinks you want to do, he is risking your entire career. But if he doesn’t? He’ll miss out on the best thing he thinks will ever happen to him. You.

“Hey”, he grabs your attention, breaking the silence. “We should talk.” You nod solemnly, the domestic morning forgotten as he leads you to sit on the couch again. You knew this was coming. Ok, you don’t know exactly what’s coming, but you try your best to quiet that voice in the back of your head telling you the worst outcomes. You try to ignore it, but as Bob sits in front of you and his mouth starts moving you realize you aren’t paying attention to him at all.

“I’m sorry-”, you shake your head, “What did you say?” His mouth twitches in the corner before he repeats himself.

“Are you feeling ok?”

“Yeah”, you nod to convince yourself you’re doing alright. “Definitely feeling ok. Just a little embarrassed.”

“About what?”, he asks as you look anywhere but at him.

“I don’t know, just showing up completely unannounced last night. And dumping all my thoughts onto you. And now I feel… stupid.” Playing with a thread on the couch cushion, you mumble the last part.

“That’s not stupid. I actually think it’s very brave. The driving through a storm part though, that was stupid.” You breathe a laugh out through your nose as he smiles.

“I know. I just- I had to talk to you. And now… Before you say anything,  just know that I don’t ever want to put you in a position to make you do something you don’t want to. But the way I see it, we both know how we feel, now we just have to decide if we want to do something about it.” He chews on his lip while he reaches for your hand.

“Mantis, you mean a great deal to me-”, here it comes. The other shoe is about to drop, and you tell yourself you knew it was too good to be true the entire time. “I just don’t want you to go through with this and regret it.” Regret me, he means.

“Bob”, you try to find the words, “Every regret I have is not doing something. I’m not going to let this slip away from us.” He holds your gaze in silence. “Not if we both feel like this is something worth exploring.”

“I think this is very worth exploring.” That funny feeling crawls from your stomach to your throat. The good kind that turns sour once you realize what it means you’ll have to do to carry this through.

“If we do this, no one can know.” The conversation takes a solemn turn as your hard gaze bores into him. He hangs on to your every word, making sure he doesn’t miss anything. “Not Phoenix, Fanboy, or anyone from work. Not even our families.”

“And if you change your mind? If you-”, get sick of me, realize I’m not actually what you want, “Realize it’s not worth the risk?” He asks with a grimace. You squeeze his hand with a reassuring tenderness, hearing his unspoken thoughts.

“Let’s make a rule right now: No more lying to each other. We can have complete and open communication, so long as no one else knows about what we have going on, ok?” He nods and squeezes your hand. You pause and take a deep breath in before rubbing your thumb over his knuckles. “And if either of us want out of this for whatever reason, we have to walk away. So long as the reason isn’t for the other person. No self sacrificing on the other person’s account. It’s fine if we think it’s too risky for ourselves, but we both get to decide where that point is.”

“Ok”, his soft voice washes over you. This is really happening. Oh god. This is really happening. Your heart wants to float out of your body, but you know the secrecy that comes with it. Your heart beating is trying to override the doubts clouding your mind and- You’ve never felt this way about someone before and Bob is just… perfect. This has to work.

“So what now?”, his question breaks you out of your train of thought.

“I don’t know”, you laugh and shake your head, “I didn’t think this far ahead.”

“Oh, you mean when you were driving and running though a hurricane?”

“I mean, yes?”

“Yeah, just- don’t do that again”, he tries to jokingly reprimand you. The grip of his hand tells you he’s really not laughing.

“I’ll try not to”, you respond behind a small smirk. He meets your gaze and you almost want to hide. It’s one thing confessing your feelings to him under the influence of adrenaline, it’s another having him just look at you. You’ve never felt so naked before under someone’s eyes. He clears his throat before looking back down at your joined hands.

“I’m a little rusty, but I think what happens now is that I take you out.” You can’t help the blush that rises from your neck to your cheeks. You don’t even remember the last time someone asked you out, let alone someone you really liked.

“Are you asking me on a date, Floyd?”, you ask under an involuntary smirk. He tries to hide his smile underneath the nodding of his head, but it’s no use. You tilt your head to get a better look at his child-like grin before he looks up.

“I think I am, Mitchell.” There’s a whisper of doubt still lingering in your head, much like the fog outside. He must see your smile drop slightly as you wonder aloud.

“Are you sure?” He turns his hand over so he’s holding yours now, and he squeezes as he pulls to make sure you’re listening.

“I wanna do this right, so if you’ll have me I’d really like to take you out. And- I know we’ll have to be careful.. But I’ll take anything you’re willing to give me.” You would give him the world if you could. Wrap it up in a nice bow and place it in his hands, but you know what he means. There are going to be limits to how this thing between the two of you plays out.

“Ok”, you whisper.

“Yeah?”, he asks, almost in disbelief. Like you weren’t practically begging him to do something just moments ago.

“Yeah”, you smile, “Let’s go on a date.” And then there’s a moment. Another moment where it’s only the two of you, nothing else exists except for you and Bob. You can’t help it as your eyes drift to where Bob’s teeth pull at his bottom lip out of nerves. It makes you feel bad for doubting him at all, but you would do anything right now to tear his lip from his own torture. Maybe provide some relief of your own. But no- you have to take this slow. Do this right. Like Bob said. It still doesn’t stop the pull you feel for him, though.

But as if the universe wasn’t cruel enough, the buzz of your phone from the coffee table rouses you from this moment.

“Oh shit”, you mumble as your dad’s name pops up on the screen. “Umm”, you stall as you try not to panic. Bob’s eyes are already wide as they switch between the phone in your hand and your face. “Don’t make a sound. Ok”, you say with a breath. Braving the unknown you tap the answer button.

“Hey Dad, what’s up?”, you ask as if nothing’s out of the ordinary.

“Hey!”, he responds, and you immediately know he has no clue you left. If he did, he would have started this phone call in a much less cheery mood. “Good to know you survived the storm”, he laughs in relief.

“Yeah”, you respond, if only he knew. “Same to you.”

“Listen, it’s still a bit wet out there but it’s slowing down. So as soon as it stops enough for me to get my bike outta here, I’ll head over.” As your father’s speaking, Bob eyes Sylvia out of the corner of his eye, huffing at her lack of attention. He eyes her as a warning, and knowing he’s all talk, she huffs her first bark. You cough in hopes to cover the noise.

“Sorry”, you apologize through another fake cough, “So when do you think that will be?” You watch as Bob chases Sylvia to the back door, herding her outside for the moment.

“Well, my phone is telling me it’s not raining right now but-”, he grunts and you know he’s moving to look out the window, “It’s still going over here at Penny’s. By my guess, I’d say it’ll slow down in an hour, and I’ll be home by then.” Your gaze moves from the window back to where Bob is standing at the back door, waiting for you to be done to let Sylvia back in. Your stomach turns sour when you realize your time with Bob this morning will be cut short.

“Ok, sounds good. I’ll see you then!”, you reply in a happier tone than you’re feeling.

“Alright, see you soon kiddo”, you can still hear him breathing when you tap the red button. He’s always waited until you hang up first, something he’s done since you were a kid. It was either that or the line would get cut short from him running out of time on the carrier. Even then you’d both talk until it stopped. There were the few odd times he’d ask to talk to your mom, and sometimes you downright refused. It was your time with your dad, not hers.

Sylvia’s paws tap on the hardwood as she walks with Bob in tow back to the couch. You scratch her ears as Bob sits again, waiting to hear the verdict of the call.

“My dad’s going to be home soon”, you say as you watch Sylvia wander off. Bob nods, a furrow appearing in his brow as he thinks.

“How soon?”

“Said in the next hour”, you whisper as you lean your side into the couch cushions, getting a better look at Bob’s face. “I should leave before he gets back.”

“What about your car?”. Shit. You completely forgot about your stupid (up until now, loyal) car. Attempting to run both hands down your face in frustration, you stop immediately on your right side as you’re so pleasantly reminded of the bruise painting your cheek. As you flinch, Bob’s hand comes to hold your hurting side, delicately brushing his thumb just below the discoloration.

You can’t help but lean into the touch, your eyes following his arm up to his face where you melt just a little more at his slight frown. You both don’t want for you to leave. But if you keep going with this, even after your date, this is how it’s going to be. Lying, keeping secrets. It’s nothing you haven’t done before, but you feel bad implicating Bob in your transgressions. Even now you don’t want to leave the bubble in his living room.

“This is going to be hard”, you whisper in warning as you hold his hand to your cheek. His frown ticks downward just a smidge as he stares back at you.

“I know”, he sighs, “But it’ll be worth it.” This gets you to smile, and in turn Bob mirrors your expression.

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

Sometime while you were still sleeping, Bob had so thoughtfully placed your clothes in the dryer. You try to ignore the fact that he handled your bra and underwear, but all it does is make you laugh internally at the thought. You’re so sure he must have blushed when he realized your clothes were hanging in his bathroom.

You’re both quiet as he leads you to his familiar truck in the garage. But you’re not shying away from him either. The realization of what you have both decided to do is setting in and it’s…exciting. Well, exciting and scary. No different than the feelings you’ve had before. But it’s easier knowing you’re not alone. Especially as the man in reference opens your door before stepping in on his own side.

He gives you a brief smile before taking a deep breath. You do the same as the garage door opens. The sky is clearing and he lets the light come in. Once safely backed out, he takes your hand from its spot in your lap like he’s done it a million times before. And truly, it felt like he had. That smile however is wiped from your face as you round the street and find your car- crushed completely under a toppled over palm tree. Whoever said it never rains in southern California is a fucking liar.

Bob pulls off to the opposite side of the road as the two of you stare in shocked silence. The roof of your car is completely sunken in as the palm leaves sway with the now gentle winds. And all you can do is laugh. Bob looks at you with a raise of his brow, still a very concerned look in his eye.

“Ok, so… I definitely didn’t think the weather was that bad when I was driving last night”, you chortle.

“What-”, he asks now wildly gesturing back to your broken car, “How is this funny?! That could have been you!”

“Ok”, you respond, now without much mirth, “Bob, I am fine. I wasn’t in the car when it fell!” He goes to say something else, but you stop him before he can. “And I wouldn’t be dumb enough to stay in my parked car in the middle of a storm.”

“No, but you did drive and run through one”, he mutters, almost afraid to hear your response. He looks back at the car through a grimace and you know his mind is going to places it shouldn’t. He’s worried, that’s all. “Just- don’t do that again”, he repeats his sentiment from before. You move back to take his hand and give him a gentle squeeze.

“I’ll try not to, I promise.”

Bob so graciously (doesn’t let you leave the truck) offers to inspect your car while you call your insurance company and a tow truck. There’s no missing calls or texts from your dad while you and Bob talk to the tow truck driver, and you frown as your baby is hauled away. No matter what happened in the past ten or so years, that car was always there for you. It housed you, kept you safe, and was a warm place to sleep when you needed it. And now? It was a landing pad for a palm tree.

Your Toyota is carried off into the distance, and you’re taken out of your memories by Bob’s hand over your lower back.

“You ok?”

“Yeah”, you huff, “We should get going.”

Bob finds your hand again in the cab of his truck, and you hold onto it tight. It brings you back to the present and keeps you grounded. Something you’re having a hard time doing when you see your dad dismounting his bike in the open garage.

“Shit”, you whisper. Your dad’s still taking off his helmet he wears once in a blue moon, and you take one last look at Bob. You want nothing more than to keep holding his hand, but at the sight of your dad you loosen your grip and both your hands fall back. “Just agree to everything I say, ok?”

He nods as his breathing picks up and you’re hit with a sudden thought: Can Bob even lie? Guess you’ll find out soon enough.

The two of you hop out of the truck as your dad turns at the sound.

“Hey!”, he greets you with a twist in his features, “What uh- what’s going on? Where’d you go?” He questions as he greets you with a hug. Bob stands a distance away at the end of the driveway and your dad gives him a questioning glance. “Hey Bob…” He waves back with a forced smile. You quickly drag his attention back to you and place your hands on his shoulders.

“So- don’t freak out. But earlier Bob called and said his dog got out and asked if I could keep an eye out for her. Seeing as I wasn’t doing anything and everything had died down, I drove over to help him look for her-” His brows raise and you’re left wondering what his reaction would have been if you were telling him the truth. 

“We found her and everything’s fine. And I just want you to remember that I am completely fine…Great, even.” He lifts his brow asking you to continue, hoping it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to seem.

“My car died on the way over, and when we went back to jumpstart it…”, you pull your phone out and show him the pictures you took for the insurance company and he stops in his tracks. He almost scolds you as he releases your name in a breath. You give him a playful grimace as he looks over you in astonishment. Bob clears his throat from behind you as your dad continues to swipe through the pictures.

“Sir- I just want to say I did not ask her to come over, she did that of her own volition. But seeing as it’s my fault she was out in the first place, I am more than happy to give her rides to work while she doesn’t have a car. You know-”, he coughs again, “Since you usually have to stay later at work and…yeah”, he mutters in the end. Wow. Facing Bob, you give him the tiniest of smirks, impressed with his calmness. He tries to shake off his own smile while staring down at his shoes.

“I mean, that’s very nice of you, Bob”, your dad responds while rubbing a hand over his forehead. “But I think I should make her ride with me as punishment.”

“What?”, you whip your head around at your dad shaking his head. “Punishment? Might I remind you that I’m not some dumb teenager you can just ground whenever you want?”

“Yeah, well when you make decisions like a dumb teenager, that’s how you’re gonna get treated.” Your jaw drops at your dad’s stoic expression.

“Sir-”, Bob interrupts again, “I just- I feel responsible. She wouldn’t have been out there if it weren’t for me. Plus you are on my way to and from base. It’s no big deal, really.” Turning your head back to your father, you await his response. Wait, why are you even waiting for what he says? You’re a goddamn adult.

“Ok, I don’t need your permission. I pay my own bills and I refuse to be punished as a grown woman.” You turn back to Bob and decide to ignore your dad for the time being.

“I’ll see you Monday morning?”, you ask. Obviously not wanting to get in the middle of your argument he nods his head and you leave it at that. “Thanks again, Bob”.

“Anytime”, he responds and you see his lips twitch in the shadow of a smile. He shuts it down as he glances behind you to your dad, and you usher him inside as to let Bob leave in a quick getaway. Meaning, without an interrogation from your dad.

You huff as your dad closes the garage door behind you and you try to head to your room. Key word: try.

“Hey, I’m not done talking to you”, he barks to grab your attention. With a scoff you turn around at the bottom of the stairs. You’re reminded of how many times this has happened within the past few months. You were never yelled at or punished by him as a teenager, mostly because you did nothing to warrant that kind of action. But right now he’s making you feel like a child.

“What the hell were you thinking, huh?” You sigh as he places an exasperated hand on his hip.

“Couldn’t tell you if I’m being honest, but I am fine. I wasn’t even in my car when it happened.”

“Yeah, but you could have been.”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t. Why is this such a big deal?”

“It’s not-”, he cuts off his raised voice and takes in a breath, returning with a much softer version, “It’s not just your car. It’s that if we didn’t live under the same roof I wouldn’t even know about this.”

“That’s not true”, you argue while he gives you a pointed look. “Ok”, you relent, “maybe I wouldn’t have told you, but that’s only because I’m fine! When there’s something to worry about I’ll let you know.”

“That’s the thing”, he points at you, “You don’t though. You don’t tell me until it gets to a breaking point. Or you don’t even tell me at all.” Ouch. He raises his eyebrows as if saying ‘the truth hurts’. With a sigh, you give in.

“You’re right. I’m sorry. You of all people should know how hard it is to talk about your feelings, though.”

“I haven’t been very accessible in the past and I apologize for that. But we need to take advantage of the time we have now. I want you to come talk to me about anything. The good and the bad.”

“What, do you want like daily reports or something?”, you screw your brow up in confusion.

“No”, he laughs, “But I think we should have check-ins every once in a while. Every fortnight, how about that?”

“I think you’re the only person I know to use that word, but yeah. We can have fortnightly check-ins”, you smile.

“Fine, twice a month. Is that better?” He laughs with you, but you’re still reminded of the gravity of the conversation. You’ve been able to lie to your dad for the better part of- hell your whole life. But this thing with Bob is going to make things a little more complicated.

“In all seriousness I’m sorry for scaring you.” “I’m just glad you’re ok”, he crosses over and wraps his arms around you in a hug.

“I really am”, you sigh. “Bob made sure I was.”

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[valentine-cafe]

May I have a strawberry shortcake and a mango pudding please!!?!

[Afab reader]

Just thinking about Talisen making you choke on Rishen's cock!! Since you wanna be a brat about sucking Rishen's cock, then fine, choke on it. With a fist full of your hair, he'd make sure you were kept flushed against the base of Rishen's length. Talisen wouldn't let you up either, no matter how many times Rishen bucked and cried and spilt his cum down your throat!!:( You looked so hot with drool and cum running down your chin, you cry so pretty too, why would he want you to stop now? Poor Rishen, just caught in the crossfire, not that he's complaining.

(This is an alternative to one of my first asks I sent LONG LONG ago!!:D It has been haunting me for so long!)

-🍄

⊹ ۪ ࣪ ᥫ᭡ verse 781 Rishen & Talisen

˗ˏˋ꒰ 🍮 ꒱ snake monster x reader, aetheer x reader, x reader, grim reaper x reader, reaper x reader, reader x hero, spider monsters x readers, moth monsters x reader, mantis monsters x reader cw: smut, blowjob, spanking, degradation ⊹ ۪ ࣪

and poor rishen would be such a whimpering mess every time your throat bobbed. every time you would look up at him with those teary eyes and moist lashes. all while his boyfriend’s hand held your head firmly against his dick.

his hips would buck up. his glazed eyes looking up at talisen oh so desperately.

“p-please - please gege - I cant, I can’t,”

his splutters would be hushed as talisen leans over you. hand tightening on your scalp in the process as he presses wet, open-mouth kisses to rishen’s moaning lips.

and poor you - being made to bob your head with talisen’s tight grip. having to whimper as you heard their messy make-outs right over you. all while the only thing you could do was grind your hips into the bed.

searching for some kind of release. some kind of pleasure. anything.

not that you’d get it. after all, you wanted to just suck on rishen’s cock - didn’t you?

“don’t even try,” you’d hear talisen’s deep voice rumble against your ear as a large hand claps against your ass. leaving it stinging as you splutter on rishen’s cumming dick.

“you wanted to suck dick so bad, did you not? well go on then. he is not finished yet.”

he’d move his hand to squeeze at rishen’s thigh and chuckle at the whines he receives.

“look at that. slut cumming for a whore.”

[jo-harrington]

Luminous Beings - Episode 9: Inner Starlight

Art by @monologichno || Beta Read by @undead-supernova Part of the @eddiemunsonbigbang

Summary: Eddie, Thalia, and their friends embark on a mission to save Wane. But will they succeed? Or have they bitten off more than they can chew?

Word Count: 13.8k

Pairing: Eddie Munson x OFC (Thalia Trieste)

Warnings/Themes: Star Wars AU, Fluff, Angst, Humor, Romance, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Mention of Alcohol and Substance Use, Minor Canon Inaccuracies/Adaptation, Galactic Politics, Mention of Death, Vague References to Order 66 and the Jedi Purge, Discussion of the Force, Use of Force Abilities, Abstract Spirituality, Light and Dark Sides of the Force, Canon Typical Violence and Injury, Happy Ending/Hope

Note: Final chapter and I want to give a big thank you to my fellow team member on Team #029 @monologichno for being a great artist and partner in this, to @undead-supernova for being a great beta and for encouraging me to become a better writer with your advice. This project, as I've said before, was in the works for a while and was such an undertaking/labor of love but I've come out on the other side both a better writer and storyteller from having done it, as well as inspired to keep writing.

Thank you to everyone who read as I posted, thank you to the EMBB Mods for hosting such a wonderful event--my first Big Bang!--and anyone who reads well after I hit post. I really hope you enjoyed it.

Luminous Beings Masterlist - Jo-Harrington's Masterlist

Please do not interact if you are not 18+.

Thank you for reading. Enjoy!

Hyperspace, 10BBY

As the days went on, Eddie’s dreams only worsened.

Actually, after that first vision, things had settled enough that he had almost called off their trip entirely. Benny, Bob, Thalia, his crew, and even Hoppor, who joined to offer extra muscle, all thought he’d lost his mind when he said that he’d been overreacting.

He’d always had an overactive imagination; it was just a dream and Wane was fine.

"Besides," he told them. "We need to be careful. The Inquisitors found Thalia on Coruscant because we were on Outpost 86. We’ve already been galavanting to Jedha for my lightsaber. Who knows if we were recognized. The more we show up in Imperial-controlled space, the more we tempt fate.”

But the next night, he had another vision, and this time he saw things from his uncle's eyes.

Steev paced back and forth as he asked Wane questions. Interrogated him. And Eddie could hear Wane's muffled voice but couldn't make out what he said. His uncle spoke calmly, answered the inquisitor's questions as best he could. But with each answer, the younger man would grit his teeth and ask another. Clearly Wane wasn’t giving up everything he knew.

The vision itself wasn't so bad, but it confirmed that they needed to intervene to save Wane before it got worse.

And it certainly did get worse.

It was the first night aboard the Stranger Mantis, rocketing through hyperspace towards Bracca, towards Wane, that Eddie woke up screaming once again.

Pain had wracked through his body—Wane’s body—as Steev stood before him, hand outstretched. And it wasn’t a dull and persistent pain; it was sudden, hot, and burning. The power of the Dark Side was as unforgiving as the one who wielded it, and it intensified by the second as Steev’s leniency grew thinner, alongside his patience. 

"This can all be over if you just tell me what I want to know," Steev said menacingly, fingers splaying wider as he took careful, calculated steps towards the older man. His helmet sat in his other hand, curling with a punishing grip.

Eddie felt the sweat drip down his uncle’s forehead and the tears build in the corners of his eyes. But Wane never cried, never begged, and certainly never told Steev any of the information he knew. He endured in silence, like he had for his whole life, and instead Eddie was the one to expel the anguish that wracked his body as he woke aboard the Mantis.

Wane finally spoke the next night, finally giving into the pain. Four words. “I don't know anything." It was enough to earn a backhand across the cheek that broke Eddie from his sleep, clutching his own as the sting transferred.

He was livid, pacing the length of the ship as he ranted to the only souls who were awake. Benny and Thalia.

“He’s an old man!” he hissed. “Torturing him, hitting him. They’ll break his jaw before they get an answer. He doesn’t know anything.”

“They’d do worse,” Benny explained. “I’ve seen how the Inquisitors treat the people who get in the way of them finding a Jedi.” He gestured to Thalia. “We both have. It’s not pretty.”

“So what?” Eddie huffed. He ran his hands through his hair in exasperation, but ended up pulling on it anxiously. “They’re gonna kill him?”

Thalia couldn’t look him in the eye when she sighed and said, “Killing him would be too merciful.”

Eddie understood what she meant the following night when he witnessed the abject torture that Wane endured.

For almost a week, he’d been seeing these events unfold from his uncle’s eyes; now he was forced to watch from outside of Wane's body. He was confused for a second, then wondered if it was some mercy of the Force itself to see the agony on his uncle’s face. Or maybe it was more of a punishment.

He tried to move, tried to intervene and stop the scene before him, but he was frozen, as stationary and still as the wall. Maybe he was the wall. 

Wane’s mouth was open in a silent cry as the punishing hand inched closer and closer to him, but he made no noise. He didn’t budge. Steev, though he was inflicting the pain on the poor, old man, looked like he was in equal amounts of agony. His helmet was missing, gloves removed from his hands, no hatred in his eyes; instead he practically pleaded with Wane. 

“Give up,” he begged. “Tell me what I want to know. Then we can both be free.”

Eddie tiredly relayed the visions to the others, who all voiced their concern. Especially Thalia, who offered to try and meditate with him so they could reach Wane together. So they could offer him the strength he would need to withstand the assault.

"He'll be okay," Eddie promised. He denied her again when she asked if he wanted to meditate for himself. "I'll be okay, too. Once we save him."

He kept to himself after that and ignored their watchful eyes and the ever-present worry that lingered in the air like a fart.

Maybe G'areth was ripping them to get Eddie to stop being such a mope.

"He's definitely doing it to try and get you to get up out of that seat." Jeff's voice broke through Eddie's thoughts and he looked up to find his friend sliding into the seat beside him.

He’d been sitting in the galley, picking at a late lunch. He’d tried to have lunch with the others and practically fell asleep into his food. Benny had sent him off to try and get some shut eye, but that hadn’t worked, and soon Eddie was back to poking his food.

"Did...did I say that out loud?" Eddie asked bashfully and pushed the unfinished plate away from him.

"Even if you hadn't, I'd probably still have come to tell you myself so the rest of us could be spared. I don't know what he ate but...phew." He shot a grin at Eddie, who couldn't help the quirk at the corner of his mouth. He wasn't able to manage much more than that. "We're a day away; we're almost there. It'll be okay. We'll save Wane, we'll beat those imps, and we'll escape. Back to band practice on Bogano in no time."

Eddie hummed. "You know, I thought Thalia would be the one to come in here and try to make me feel better."

He knew that his friends had their own worries about this whole situation; their families were back on Bracca too, at risk of being captured and questioned because of their associations with Eddie and Thalia. Bob volunteered to round them up while the others focused on Wane, which lightened some of the tension. But Eddie didn’t need his friends to coddle him while they carried the same burden.

"Excuse me, but I've known you for longer than she has,” Jeff reached out and lightly punched him in the arm. “I was the official Pep Talk Giver of the Dragonborn. After you, of course."

Eddie looked down at his feet.

"Besides, I think she has her own worries that she's working through and she doesn't want to upset you any more."

"Has she been having dreams, too?"

"She's your girlfriend, shouldn't you know?" Jeff teased, then added somberly, "She really hasn't said much today. Wouldn't even tell Dusty and BD a story when they asked. This is weighing on her. She's…blaming herself. She said..."

He trailed off and Eddie sent him a questioning glance.

"What did she say?" he pressed.

Jeff hesitated.

"She said it as a joke..." He wrung his hands together. "I'm pretty sure she did, at least."

"What did she say, Jeff?" Eddie repeated.

"She said that it might be easier just to turn herself in when we land on Bracca..."

Eddie was on his feet and out of the galley in an instant. He beelined straight for the bunk room at the back of the Mantis to find Thalia.

Hop vacated his bunk as Eddie strode in purposefully, muttering a quick good luck as he passed the younger man. The bunks were small, claustrophobic, and stacked upon one another, three bunks high. Thalia preferred the top bunk, but it wasn't so high that Eddie couldn't rest his arms on the edge. He watched as she lay, curled in on herself, and silently stared at her lightsaber.

"So we're both in the same funk, huh?" he asked.

Her eyes shifted towards him, then back, without a word.

"Oh, come on," he tried to keep his tone light, "I'm usually the grump out of the two of us. And it's up to you or the guys to get me out of it. When did you take over the title of 'chief pouting officer' aboard my ship?"

"Benny did," she said matter-of-factly. "He's seen me pout for a lot longer than you've known me. And we are aboard his ship, actually."

"Well carry on with the sad sackery, then." Eddie waited, a wry smile playing on his lips, but she didn't respond. He, of course, wouldn't accept that response, maneuvering up the small ladder attached to the bunks. "Alright, scoot over. I'm getting in."

Thalia protested lightly, but failed to hide her amusement as he shimmied into the overly-cramped bunk to lay facing her. He folded an arm under his head and then reached over and poked her in the cheek.

"What's bugging you, champ?"

She rolled her eyes, but answered, "Your uncle is in danger, you’re barely sleeping, and you're here trying to cheer me up. Doesn't seem right."

"Wane'll be in danger whether you're cheered up or not. I might as well try. Nothing we can do until we get there."

"When did you become the voice of reason?"

"Would you believe that I'm the most level-headed of my crew?"

"No."

"Then I won't lie." He inched closer. "You know, I've always been this...hot head. Ever since I was a kid. I blame my dad. Why? Because I blame him for everything. But there have only been a few people to get me to cool it. Wane, the guys, Dusty. But no one else. Until I met this Star Tours flight attendant who drove me crazy. Really. She drove me nuts. But she also helped me answer a lot of questions I had about my life and somehow, that mellowed me out a little."

"She sounds great," Thalia said with a monotone voice.

"She is pretty great." He poked her cheek again. "She's a pretty great kisser, too." He poked again, trying to get her to smile this time. "Come on."

She batted his hand away but still cracked a bit of a grin.

There was a moment of serene silence as they stared at one another.

"Jeff said you had this stupid idea," Eddie whispered. "That you were gonna turn yourself in to save Wane."

"It'd be better that way," Thalia explained.

"It'd be more cowardly that way," Eddie scoffed. “I say, we go in there, blasters blazing, and we kill Steev and save Wane.”

“I don’t want to kill him.”

“Well, why not? I’m sure he deserves it. He’s been putting my uncle through hell, I’d at least like to give him a black eye.”

“A black eye, maybe. But nobody deserves to die.” She sighed and ran a hand over her lightsaber. “I guess that’s the attitude that made me undesirable to the Jedi Order.”

"Come on! I know you say you're not a Jedi, but I know you've got a lot more fight in you than that. What is this…pacifistic load of bantha shit?"

"I'm not going to let you lose the only family you have left because you think I've got more fight in me!"

"You don’t know him. He wouldn't accept freedom if it meant someone else was in danger. And, believe me, he's going through it, but he's hanging on. He's not giving up without a fight. So neither can you."

Her eyes hardened. "I'm not giving up. I'll put up a fight. Once you and Wane are safe."

"Once Wane is safe," Eddie insisted with a scoff. "And once your old buddy Steev has an attitude adjustment, loses that chip on his shoulder."

He felt his heart ache because the words that fell from his lips sounded so much like his uncle's.

Wane had that matter-of-fact, no-nonsense, right-down-to-business way about him; how many times had he given Eddie an attitude adjustment because he was being a little shit? It was probably why Eddie stopped visiting home as much. He didn't behave as well as Wane had taught him to as he gallivanted about the galaxy, smuggling anything and everything that would line his pockets. He'd do anything to avoid that talking-to, even if it meant not seeing his uncle in so long.

Kriff, that was practically a lifetime ago. There was so much he had to tell Wane; this was a hell of a way to do it.

Thalia reached out this time, sensing his emotions and his thoughts, and laid a hand over his heart.

"We'll save him," she said resolutely. "I promise."

Bracca, 10BBY

One of the worst things about Bracca was that it was a vast, rotting junkyard. Which meant that there were many places that the Inquisitors could keep Wane. Especially not when they wanted to lure Eddie and Thalia out into the open. But it also worked in their favor; Benny could hide the Mantis amongst the scrapped ships and the inquisitors wouldn’t be aware of their presence.

"If my ship gets scrapped," Benny grumbled as he stalked down the boarding ramp. "You're paying for it."

"We'll buy you a whole new ship," G'areth agreed, but Benny scoffed.

"You can't even buy yourselves a new ship."

Eddie and his friends had discussed all of the places that the Inquisitors and Wane could be as they'd come out of hyperspace. Bracca was home turf. Their families still lived there. They knew it like the back of their hand. But as they walked out into the wasteland of broken down starships, they realized that time and the Empire had eroded the world they once considered their playground.

Even the sky looked different. A vast and endless grey, full of hopelessness, as though they’d never see another sunny day again. Storm clouds hung, ready to unleash a tempest on the unsuspecting world below. There was also a dense fog—smog—that hung in the air. All of the exhaust of the ships that were brought there to die.

The crew of the Dragonborn all felt a collective sense of mourning that this was what had become of their home. Poisoned by the Empire that left it to rot, and by the Republic that let the decay begin in the first place.

D5-TN got uncharacteristically silent as he surveyed their surroundings. It was especially strange for him, having come from scrap heaps like this. He'd been found and rebuilt with the care of his friends; how many other droids had been left behind in these husks? Ships? Would that have been him if luck hadn't been on his side?

"It's okay." Jeff laid a hand on his dome, as if sensing the turmoil overloading Dusty's processor. "Don't think about it. We have a job to do."

Dustin beeped resolutely and, with one final swivel to survey the sea of metal surrounding him, rolled onwards.

Dustin hadn't been the only one with a heavy heart, though. Eddie was bogged down by worry. As they headed towards the Terrace, about an hour's walk from where they landed, he'd spent the time trying to recall everything he could remember from the Force visions. The room where Wane was being held. Any surroundings. Was there anything outside the window? Had there been a window?

He'd been so worried about what was happening to his uncle that he'd missed every other detail of his visions. He felt a bit of hatred burn deep inside of him, hatred and fear. It clouded his mind, and broke his ability to concentrate.

Fear for his uncle, hatred towards himself, fear for Thalia, hatred towards Steev. Hatred towards the Empire. That's what really deserved his hatred, and all the hatred in the Galaxy.

"You're projecting," Thalia whispered as she quickened her stride to fall into step beside him. She slipped her hand into his and squeezed. "Hate leads to suffering. The Dark Side of the Force is driven by those impulsive, reactionary emotions and if you're not careful, it'll lead to your downfall."

"We don't have time for me to meditate the darkness away, sweetheart," Eddie sassed.

"I'm not telling you to banish the dark, I'm just telling you to be careful not to let it pull you into a spiral."

Eddie's brows shot upwards.

"If it wasn't for the darkness, we wouldn't be able to appreciate just how bright the light shines," she said with a sense of finality. She squeezed his hand again and shared her strength, her heart, her hope with him.

Yes. Hope. Light. Why hadn't he thought of that before?

Just like he could feel her, he would be able to feel Wane here, shining bright in the dank hopelessness of this planet. It might take a little while, but it would work. He was sure.

He closed his eyes and started with Thalia.

He felt her unique signature in the force there beside him. Calm and resonant and connected to him. From there, he branched out to the rest of their crew; he'd felt them all before, tested his abilities by identifying the little differences they all had. Even D5-TN had a spark about him. The little sparks traveling amidst his circuits were a different sign of life in the Force. Eddie was astounded by it.

He continued onwards, sensing each soul that lingered in the dark shadows of Bracca, the little pinpricks of inner starlight that created a vast sky behind his eyes. Galaxies formed, nebulous clusters; luminous beings in the darkness. It was beautiful. He'd never thought of his silly little home planet this way before. He knew better now.

He basked in the feeling, until he came across a singularity. A black hole, devoid of all light.

The Inquisitors.

Just like Thalia had said, the darkness had pulled them so deep, so far from the light that they were lost to it.

But there, beside them...one shining beacon.

Wane.

Eddie's eyes shot open.

"I know where they are."

The Guild Supervisor's office sat on a platform high above the main scrapyard, overlooking the day-to-day operations as the looming silhouettes of decommissioned Star Destroyers stretched far into the horizon.

The only way to get there was by train, which they caught right as the afternoon shift ended. The work-weary scrappers sent cautious glances as they boarded, but they knew better than to ask questions. Eddie was almost grateful that there was an increased Imperial presence here, with so many strangers coming and going. It was another point in their favor as they tried to keep the element of surprise on their side.

D5-TN let out a low whistle as they all huddled together in a corner to avoid suspicion; didn't the Jedi wear cloaks to keep hidden? The Inquisitors and their dark troopers would be much more surprised if they had hoods.

"I don't think that's what their cloaks were for, bud," Thalia chuckled, earning a series of mournful beeps.

"We can just throw a tarp over you though and call it good enough." Dayv held his hand up for someone to high-five him for the joke, but yelped as Dustin's scomplink extended and sent a shock straight into the meat of his thigh.

"Hey," Hop scolded them gruffly. "Cut that out. We need to keep our wits about us. No more jokes, no in-fighting. We go in, we take care of those Imperial Bastards, we get your uncle, and then we get the hell off this damn planet."

Despite voluntarily joining their mission, Eddie knew he was getting nervous to be so far from his daughter.

One by one, scrappers filed out of the car, until their ragtag group were the only passengers left. As the train looped back towards the main worksite, there was a tense silence, fate looming just beyond the durasteel walls of the train.

It would be alright. They would save Wane. They would survive.

The train pulled up to its destination and they all got out. As soon as their heels were on solid ground, Eddie and Thalia's perception shifted with the nearby dark presence in the Force. Eddie realized that this was different than the fear of the simple presence of the Empire on Coruscant, and suddenly understood what Thalia felt when she'd recoiled at the arrival of the Inquisitors.

The Dark Side did not just instill fear; it was fear.

Fear and anger and passion and intuition and power; it was as heavy and roiling as the storm clouds that rumbled overhead. The feeling was so complex and paralyzing, but they didn't get a chance to get lost in the depths of it as blaster fire began peppering them from the path up ahead.

A handful of stormtroopers and Inquisitorium Dark Troopers lined the winding pathway up to the Supervisors office. As the train door slid shut behind them and it departed for its next destination, their group found themselves needing to engage in the fight instead of retreating.

Thalia took a defensive stance at the head of the group, her lightsaber ignited as she deflected bolts left and right. There was no other cover for them, no other place to go but ahead. Eddie was about to draw his own lightsaber and join her, but she was nimble on her feet and quick to anticipate. Each bolt fired at them ricocheted back towards the troopers in rapid succession.

Instead, Eddie joined the others on the offensive, choosing to pull his own blaster from its holster. He took calculated shots at their assailants, instead of the veritable salvo of opposing fire that Benny and Dayv, quick-draws that they were with their combined six hands, unleashed. They all worked as a team, until their path was clear.

"Let's go," Thalia barked, out of breath, as the last trooper dropped to the ground. The blade of her lightsaber retracted with a hiss as she turned back to them. "I'm sure there are more up ahead. And they have the high ground. We'll need to be careful."

"You be careful, kid," Hop huffed as he strode forward. He laid a hand on her shoulder for a second. "Why don't you let the pros handle the bucket heads? You save your strength for the rescue."

The Nikto gestured for Benny and the guys to fall in behind him as he continued up the ramp, and Thalia hung back until Eddie and D5-TN brought up the rear of the group.

"Hop's right," Eddie stated nervously as he took her in. Her shoulders heaved and hands shook. He'd been in such awe of the skill she'd shown during their lightsaber training that he hadn't really realized that her practice, let alone her knowledge, was limited. "You need to take it easy."

"I'll be okay," she assured him.

"You said it yourself, you weren't meant to be a soldier."

"And I'm not trying to be. But I'll protect them. Protect you. If and when I can. I've got your back, and I know you have mine too."

"Still, you need to be careful."

"You're acting like I'm walking headfirst into my own demise," she scoffed. "I am careful. I didn't survive this long just to get shot by a lucky stormtrooper."

However, she listened from that point on and took it easier. She didn’t immediately jump to the front as she had done before; thankfully, there was more cover the further they went, and only one or two shots necessitated lightsaber interference.

Eddie was even able to get his turn to play hero; he traded his blaster for his saber on instinct alone to prevent a sizzling bolt from hitting Jeff. He wondered at the feeling, his connection with the Force coursing through him as the bolt was deflected straight into a trooper’s chestplate. His friends all cheered for them too, with what little time they had to spare for the celebration.

"It's amazing how well we all work together," Jeff laughed. "We could be a little rebel crew for good, give up the smuggling life, and fight the Empire."

But Benny was quick to grumble, "Oh no, no. This is the only time I cross my line in the sand; it's supply runs and non-combat rescue missions only."

"Come on Ben," Thalia cut in. "I've brought you to worse places than this. You like adventure."

"Didn't you tell me once that Jedi don't seek adventures? You wanna fight the Empire full time? I'll let these guys have my ship and spend my retirement slinging hash on Bogano."

The last words were forced out in a grunt as they rounded a corner and found, not only the final squadron of troopers, but the entrance to the Supervisor's Office. Benny shouted "you see what I mean?" before engaging them.

There were more troopers there than there had been along the way, guarding the final stretch to the Inquisitors, to Wane.

Eddie could feel him, right there, on the other side of that door.

If he thought about it, he could see the wry smile and the crinkles at the corners of his uncle's eyes when they'd finally spot each other, after so long. He could feel the pride Wane would have at knowing Eddie came to rescue him.

And so, despite the crossfire and his friends shouting his name, he made a run for it.

Lightsaber swinging in one hand, blaster firing in the other.

The force would protect him.

Right?

If Eddie hadn't believed it to be a trap before, he was certainly sure it was now.

In hindsight running in here like that was a stupid move, but he'd never really been that good at impulse control.

As the pneumatic double doors of the office shut behind him, his weapons were pulled from his grasp, and he found himself standing there, trapped and unarmed. Face to face with the two Imperial Inquisitors, their glowing red blades illuminating their faces.

"Eddie Moonsun, in the flesh." Steev—Second Brother—greeted, voice hollow.

Although Thalia had refrained from referring to him by name, Eddie had always kept the younger version of the man in mind. Steev: a jovial and caring friend, a Jedi Padawan simply led astray. Even during the visions where he tortured Wane, he’d always been Steev. Now, however, standing before him was the Second Brother in the flesh.

With his helmet still removed, he was stiff. Jaw clenched, and dead behind the eyes. In fact, his eyes looked sunken and red-rimmed, and he was gaunt. A walking dead man. It was a harsh and sudden dissonance, and Eddie recoiled at the sight of him, felt his signature in the force sucking, draining all the light in the room.

Thalia's words about the Dark Side consuming you echoed in his head.

"Right on time," the female inquisitor said with a tight smile, pulling Eddie's attention away from her counterpart. And as terrible as Second Brother looked and felt, she was the more startling of the two. Tall and lithe with red skin that seemed to glow along with her lightsaber, like she was made of that same burning plasma. If Steev felt like exhaustion, she felt like anger. She burned, like a dwarf star fighting as it collapsed in on itself . "Thought you'd never make it."

He looked beyond them, then, to Wane, restrained in a high back chair. If only to spare himself from feeling the terrible darkness they exuded.

Physically, Wane was unharmed, but Eddie knew that his uncle was good at hiding any pain or illness to keep him from worrying. If he reached out through the force, just enough...yes, he could feel the lingering pain and fear within.

Eddie ground his teeth, but tried to keep his cool, as he finally spoke. ”See, I thought we were being fashionably late. Stopped to get a quick sandwich at the Terrace, but the Grill was closed. Sorry Wane, no Tip Yip wrap for you."

Despite the wrinkle in his brow, Wane couldn't help but crack a small smile at Eddie's antics.

See? He was fine. Nothing to worry about.

"I will be taking my Uncle home, though. Old man probably missed his bedtime. So if you could so kindly release him," he continued. "I'll even let you keep my knick knacks. Bartering is pretty common on Bracca, seeing as the Empire doesn't pay that well. Oh, and if you could let your boss know that; a formal complaint."

He choked on the last words.

No, not from emotion; he actually choked on them. He felt phantom fingers constrict around his windpipe as they tipped his head upward, and pulled him until he was practically standing on his toes.

The female inquisitor raised her free hand as he was lifted upwards and she grit her teeth at the effort of using the force. "Silence."

Eddie, not one to be told what to do, still tried to force words out in defiance but his throat got tighter, uncomfortably so. Tight enough to cause spots to appear in his vision.

Well, what a pathetic way to die. He'd spent all this time training and he wouldn't even die in a lightsaber battle. That would've been pretty wizard.

"Thirteenth Sister," Steev hissed at her, but she didn't listen. His tone got sharp. "Iskat. Stop."

The invisible grip was released, and Eddie dropped to his knees, coughing on the great gulps of air that he greedily sucked in. He held a hand to his throat, trying to feel for any physical effects of the Force choke, and looked up to see the two inquisitors growling at each other.

"We need him alive."

"We can go out there and get her. Kill this old man and their friends, kill them both, and be done with this."

"Stand down Iskat. This is my mission. My victory."

"This is your weakness, Steev."

The pneumatic doors behind Eddie suddenly opened with the cacophony of blaster fire from the skirmish outside, and in ran Thalia with impeccable timing. She, unlike Eddie, had only one weapon poised to attack: a blaster, surprisingly.

She fired one pointed shot at the two inquisitors, a fury of sizzling blue light—a stun shot—that Steev was able to dodge, but it sent a shocked Iskat to the ground, unconscious.

”Huh,” Thalia said breathlessly. “Didn’t expect that to work.”

Eddie looked up at her, about to open his mouth to say something snarky, but he didn’t get a chance. Thalia let out a yelp and dropped the blaster. In a flash, her lightsaber was drawn and ignited as a burning red blade swiped downwards.

The two sabers clashed together just inches from Eddie’s face, forcing him to drop to the ground and scramble backwards to avoid having his skull sliced in half.

The atmosphere in the room changed; if Steev had felt dead before, he was alight with anger now. Had he adopted Iskat’s rage as she had been knocked out? Or had his feelings simply been dormant until the sight of Thalia stoked them to an inferno.

"I've been waiting a long time for this," he sneered at her.

"I can't say the same," she replied through gritted teeth.

She pushed forward, knocking him slightly off balance, but he recovered quickly, taking several wild slashes towards her, each slash and thrust of his saber powerful and unforgiving and meant to maim. To kill. But she was quick and purposeful with each block and parry. Economical in her movements to keep herself from getting tired too quickly.

Eddie was temporarily distracted by the blinding flashes of red and blue, and the concussions in Force that reverberated with each strike; this fight was not just physical, it was emotional too. Steev's hatred for Thalia, and Thalia's forgiveness towards herself and towards Steev.

But which one would be strong enough to win out over the other?

However, he quickly remembered the reason they were here. His eyes slid past the two former members of the Jedi Order to his uncle; he didn't hesitate to get to his feet and make his way across the office to the older man.

"Hey Uncle Wane," he greeted, slightly out of breath. "Good to see you."

"What the hell is going on here, son?" Wane muttered.

"I think it's pretty self explanatory, no?" he asked, blindly gesturing behind him and wincing at the sound of the lightsabers clashing again. "But let's get you out of here and I'll explain the rest later, alright?"

He stared at the binders around Wane's wrists and closed his eyes; he sensed the mechanisms within them, and with a wave of his hand, they came undone. 

"Hah," he chuckled and opened his eyes. "Wizard, I'm glad that worked."

"Wha...how did you...Eddric," Wane stumbled over his words.

"I can explain later, let's get you out of here."

He helped Wane to his feet; the older man was a little weak, limping slightly, but was able to stand and walk on his own. 

When Eddie looked back towards Thalia and Steev, though, he grimaced. With thoughts of his uncle's escape momentarily forgotten, he watched the way Thalia maneuvered herself and Steev around. Although Steev was on the offensive, she was purposefully shifting and stepping in such a way, manipulating their fight so his attention wouldn't turn to Eddie and Wane.

To the untrained eye it was just to protect them, but it didn't take much for him to sense her intention; she was accepting this fight was hers and hers alone. Eddie and Wane were just bystanders and she wasn't going to let them become collateral damage.

He could tell it was starting to take its toll on her; even though she was trying to save her energy, she was getting tired, physically and mentally, as she kept splitting her attention between her adversary and them. She wasn't able to get her own strikes in at all, and Eddie didn’t need force abilities or gut feelings to know that if something didn’t change, she would lose this fight.

"There's not a back door to this place is there?" he asked Wane.

"Pretty sure there is," Wane nodded.

"Will you forgive me if I do something really stupid?"

"As long as you don't get yourself killed."

"Ehhh, can't promise that."

Wane sighed for a moment then put his hand on Eddie's shoulder. "I'll always forgive you, and I'll always support your decisions."

"Then you get yourself out of here so you don't watch me make some bad ones."

Wane clapped his hand on Eddie's shoulder twice, then limped towards the back of the office, through a set of pneumatic doors, then another, before they slid shut behind him.

Eddie closed his eyes again, this time to center himself, before he reached out and called his lightsaber into his hand. He blinked and the green blade ignited with a roar.

"Hey, laser face!" Eddie shouted, distracting Steev just enough for Thalia to push his lightsaber away and get a swift, hard, left hook in. Her fist connected with Steev's cheek, sending him stumbling into the center of the room. "Ouch. That was a cheap shot, sweetheart."

"I thought you were setting me up for it," Thalia replied breathlessly and shrugged. She spun her lightsaber and shifted into a more offensive stance.

"Shut up!" Steev shouted and stood, ramrod straight. He shook with rage, and his voice got dangerously low. "Shut. Up."

"Oh, come on," Eddie scoffed at him. "What are you so grumpy about? Not only do you have the opportunity to kill your arch-nemesis here..." He gestured to Thalia. "But you can cross another force sensitive bastard off your list too. This is like Life Day and Boonta Eve all at once. Why don't you calm down, Big Boy?"

Steev was thrown by the name for a moment, but had the audacity to growl at him.

“How about we make a deal?” Eddie continued. “We call it even and you let us go. We pretend this never happened, you never have to see us again, and you can pretend that we’re dead. How does that sound?”

“What if you both give yourselves up,” Steev bit out a counter offer. “Neither of you have to die by my hand, but you’re left to the mercy of the Emperor.”

Eddie sucked a breath through his teeth. “That doesn’t sound like a deal.”

“You’re friends can go free, too.” Steev added.

“Unfortunately,” Thalia interjected. “We can’t accept it. I need to keep them safe, Steev. All of them.”

“Well, then I think you know exactly what your fate will be.” He spun his saber and stood at the ready.

Thalia's eyes shifted past Steev, directly at Eddie, and sent him a questioning glance that asked “was he ready for this?”

Time stilled as he questioned whether or not he was. 

He’d been working on his abilities, but had only trained with a lightsaber for one day. He could trust in the Force, but he was not a fighter. Not a Jedi. This was a real fight, with high stakes—life or death. But Thalia wasn’t any of those things either; despite the fact that she was certainly more knowledgeable in the Force than him, she was at a grave disadvantage here too. It didn’t matter how ready either of them were, they were here and needed to fight, needed to try.

He nodded to Thalia and then stood at the ready.

Thalia moved first. She feigned an attack, causing Steev to attempt to defend and that's when Eddie struck, hard and purposefully. Steev turned quickly, able to slash his saber upwards to deflect with ease. "You didn't think it was gonna be that easy, did you?" Steev taunted as he pushed Eddie away.

"Two against one," Eddie shrugged. "Seems like good odds."

Steev let out a bark of laughter. "Never tell me the odds." He rolled his shoulders back and then struck swiftly with an attack of his own that Eddie was barely able to dodge.

Steev was unforgiving with his strikes toward Eddie and Thalia. Every attempt they made at getting the upper hand against him was useless. They blocked, he struck harder. They struck, he parried. Over and over.

He didn't seem to tire either, his anger and determination fueled his actions. Every time his red saber clashed with one of theirs, a wave of hatred and anger and bloodlust reverberated down their blades and straight into them. Eventually, tired of the game of cat and mouse, he used the force, sending a shockwave outward that sent them tumbling to the ground. 

Seeing Eddie as the weak link between the two of them, he turned his attention to the smuggler and slashed downwards repeatedly, heavy and unforgiving. As Eddie held his saber overhead to defend himself, he felt his arm getting weaker, until he was disarmed altogether. He closed his eyes, resigned to this fate, as Steev lifted his saber over his head, ready for a killing blow. 

He grinned wickedly down at Eddie, before glancing over his shoulder to Thalia as she called out in shock.

"I don't know how you expected to teach this guy to be a Jedi," he jeered. "You only brought him here to die."

"He's strong in the force," Thalia said, desperately.

"His blood will be on your hands, just like the others."

"Strong in the light," she ignored him, and pushed herself back to her feet. "Unlike you."

Eddie was shocked that her distraction worked and Steev’s attention moved to her. She effectively let herself be cornered as he turned his back on Eddie.

"And how would you know?" Steev scoffed at her. "What would you know about the Force? About the light? You’re no one, nothing. You didn't even finish your training; the Jedi didn’t want you. Meanwhile, I've been practicing every day. I'm a master of the force. I'm the Grand Inquisitor's right hand."

"That just means you've gotten cocky," Thalia sneered. "I don't know what I should expect. You always thought you were better than the other Padawans."

"I was better than them," came the growled response. "I was stronger. I was powerful. I survived."

In the blink of an eye Thalia was on her feet. She reignited her saber and slashed it across Steev’s undefended chest, burning through his light armor. He yelped and stumbled backwards, holding his free hand to the singed graze across his sternum.

He looked up at Thalia, dumbfounded, then ground his teeth together and lunged for her.

Eddie watched, rendered immobile from shock, as they were back at it again. They practically danced around each other.  Strike, strike, turn, dodge, parry, strike. It would be exciting to witness if his damned heart wasn't lodged in his throat.

He cast himself forward through the Force, offering Thalia as much strength that he could offer.

But it wasn't enough.

Steev was driven by anger, by pain. Each blow was devastating. Not just emotionally; the beams of plasma sparked each time they crossed. His intention was to kill.

And Thalia was as good as she could be, but not as good as she needed to be to hold her own against him. She faltered once, just once. Let her guard down for a split second, out of exhaustion, but allowed Steev to return the blow that she dealt to him.

The red blade of his saber slashed across her abdomen. Burning, sparking, digging deep into her flesh.

Eddie screamed as she crumpled and fell backwards, hitting the floor with an oomph; he felt, through the channel he'd opened to send her his strength, how much agony she was in. He felt it burn across his midsection too, the phantom, stinging, throb. There was a loud ringing in his ears, his vision doubled; he screamed and tears dripped down his cheeks. He let his own head fall back and hit the ground as her signature in the force got fainter and fainter.

He breathed heavily as grief filled him; they'd made it this far, she'd made it this far. Only for Steev to cut her down in the name of revenge.

And now she was dead.

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind, than he felt that familiar spark of light within her. He could still feel the shallow rise and fall of her chest. It was weak, but it was there.

Beating along with the throbbing wound. He never thought he would be so grateful for pain before, because if he could feel her pain, it meant she was alive.

But her pain, her light, wasn’t the only thing he sensed.

It grew, across his sternum, a dull and shallow cut. Aching and heavy. And beneath that, in the hollow of his chest, right beside his own life force, he sensed another. It flickered, swirled with shadows and darkness; like a cloud-filled night, the shadows shifted and revealed a tiny spark of light that pulsed, unsure, through the Living Force that connected them all.

Steev.

At first, he thought it was impossible, but he lifted his head and watched as the Inquisitor visibly changed before him. The man's posture slumped, as he towered over Thalia's prone, injured form. The hand that held his lightsaber trembled; his whole body trembled, actually. At this distance, Eddie could barely tell what he whispered to himself, the low timbre of his voice reverberated across the room.

"She betrayed me," he muttered. "She deserves it."

There was a beat.

"It's justice. It's what's right."

Another beat.

"Do it. Do it."

Steev beat his free hand against the wound on his chest, causing his pain to flare. 

And Eddie felt it too. Pain. Fear. Strength. They pushed out the doubt that was slowly creeping into Steev’s being. Eddie let the swirl of emotions fill him, but then he felt an intense clarity overtake him. An intense anger. His own anger. All Second Brother had wanted was for Thalia to die; all he’d wanted was revenge. And now he couldn’t do it? Now he was doubting himself?

Eddie let himself sink into his anger as the darkness in Steev fought with the light, and what he saw caused him to spiral further.

The doubt sparked more within Steev. Remorse, uncertainty, and grief. There were flashes of images, memories of Steev doing one dark deed after another without hesitation at the Grand Inquisitor and Emperor’s will. They all culminated in this mission, this hunt. Outpost 86, then Coruscant, now Bracca; slowly but surely his humanity returned to him. And at the end of it all, there was a voice. A familiar voice—Wane—weary and breathless, telling Steev, “it’s alright, you don’t need to do this, son.” The words repeated themself before each bout of torture he was put through.

Even now, with Wane away and safe, the sentiment seemed to stick with Steev, as he battled the deep-seated anger within him.

Eddie knew that his uncle was a voice of reason; he’d been his voice of reason many times throughout the years. His uncle’s love and support had been the only thing that kept him tethered and prevented him from going off the deep-end so many times in this shit-hole of a galaxy.

But Steev had used Wane as a means to get him here. To get Thalia here. And now—after he’d tortured a poor old man, after he’d tried to kill Eddie, and as Thalia suffered at his hand—he was feeling some remorse?

No. Bad was bad, and a villain was a villain. There was no remorse, no redemption.

Eddie, who often found himself in many moral grey areas, wasn't about to watch this bastard change his mind with no repercussions. What was he going to do after he graciously spared them all? Betray the Empire altogether and kill the emperor single-handedly?

There was something deep and raw inside of Eddie that forced him to push himself upright, and get to his feet. Rage, distress, or a desperate need to get Thalia to safety? Maybe all three. He couldn't know for sure. But it told him to take advantage of the turmoil within Steev and to leave his lightsaber on the ground, it told him exactly where to step so his footsteps stayed silent, and it told him to launch himself the remaining distance until he landed on Steev's back, with his arms locked around the Inquisitor's neck.

Steev lurched forward and let out a shocked noise as Eddie taunted in his ear. "Didn't your Grand Inquisitor tell you never to turn your back on an enemy?"

The Inquisitor growled and bucked, lashed out with his lightsaber to try and slash at Eddie, but Eddie held steadfast. He tightened one arm around Steev's neck and wrapped the other around the flailing arm, wrenching it backwards until there was a sickening snap. Steev released the lightsaber and howled at the pain.

Refusing to give up, though, he took several steps backwards, each one propelled by the Force, until he could slam Eddie into the durasteel wall to try and release himself from the grapple.

Once. Twice. Each time his back struck the wall, Eddie felt like the air was forced from his lungs. He tightened his arm around Steev's neck and hissed.

Steev took several steps forward and then rammed himself back against the wall one last time; finally, Eddie released him and fell back limply.

Steev held his uninjured arm out and called his lightsaber back to him, and Eddie did the same, just in time for the red blade to clash with his green one. Sparks flew but both men held strong, neither willing to let up.

"You could've taken the kriffing deal," Eddie said through gritted teeth.

"I'd rather die," Steev grumbled.

Well, Eddie could make that happen if he really wanted.

On instinct, Eddie's leg shot out and the heel of his boot hit the instep of Steev's leg, causing him to falter. The Inquisitor stumbled backwards, letting Eddie stand tall and really take advantage of the upper hand.

On they went, lightsabers clashing. Their fight even took them out of the office, through the pneumatic doors, and onto the landing that overlooked the decaying junkyards below. Eddie’s friends were gone, as were the troopers, leaving the two of them alone to fight as the sky overhead unleashed a torrential rain.

Their boots slid on the slick concrete, but they both held their own.

Being the more injured of the two, Steev struggled and faltered, but Eddie was unskilled in the lightsaber. He could hear Steev’s thoughts echo loudly through the force. They repeated form and stance and attack sequences unknown to Eddie. He felt the prickle of doubt in the depths of his stomach more than once, but then he remembered Thalia's lessons. He remembered his own acceptance to learn these newfound abilities.

He only had his gut feelings, and his trust in the force. And that was all he needed.

With that trust, he reached a flow state. His lightsaber was an extension of himself, every move made on instinct. He was able to resist every time Steev used a trick or a special flourish of his blade to try and distract him. He was able to hold his own against a man who had been raised in the Jedi Order.

To any onlooker, he should've been cut down from the beginning.

A skilled force-user, a Jedi-turned-Inquisitor. Versus a...nothing, a scrapper kid from this wasteland of a planet.

To Eddie, though, it meant only one thing: The Force wanted him to prevail.

It made him feel powerful. He would be victorious. The hero of this story.

Filled with a newfound determination, he pulled his shoulders back and pushed forward. He struck once, twice, and a third time. He gave Steev a run for his money. Didn't give him a chance to recover. Pushed him back further and further, until Steev's boots slid against the edge of the platform.

The Inquisitor faltered at the feeling of nothingness beneath the edge of his heels; it threw him off so much that he lost his grip on his lightsaber and it flew from his hand, down to the worksite below.

Disarmed, he held his uninjured arm ahead of him, poised to use the Force to hold Eddie back, as the other was tucked close to his body.

He looked weak. Pathetic. Tired.

“You don’t need to do this,” Steev tried reasoning, using the words that echoed in his head against his opponent, instead of simply letting them haunt him alone.

Eddie gnashed his teeth together and scoffed.

“Is that what you told yourself before you tortured my uncle?” He gestured back towards the entrance of the office. “Is that what you said when you were debating whether to kill Thalia or not?”

Steev huffed a weak laugh and hung his head, then glanced up at him with dark eyes. “Kill me, then. Strike me down, since you think you’re better than I am. Since she clearly taught you that blood shed by someone basking in the light is justified.” He waited for Eddie to make a move, but when no strike came, he shouted. “Do it! Kill me! I’m already dead!”

Steev curled the fingers of his outstretched hand, and Eddie was dragged forward, close enough that his lightsaber grazed the side of Steev’s throat.

“Do it,” Steev hissed again.

Eddie was about to.

He could've ended this once and for all, if pulled his saber across Steev's throat, they could make a getaway. Continue the work Thalia had started alongside the Hidden Path or simply hide on Bogano until the Empire toppled, as Empires were prone to do.

They'd be safe.

So why couldn't he get himself to push the blade just a few more inches and end Steev’s life?

Because you're a good man, Eddie Moonsun.

Thalia had said that to him the first time they had met. Before they'd known anything about each other, before they'd taken this ridiculous journey together. She saw the good in him, saw the light. She believed in him.

She'd gotten him to believe in himself, too.

If he struck Steev down like he wanted to, like Steev himself wanted him to, then he became just as bad as Steev was. Doing what he wanted, instead of doing what was right.

"When to move," Eddie muttered. He lowered his lightsaber and deactivated it with a satisfying shhk. "And when to stay still. I can't kill you. Like you said, you're already dead."

He took several steps back and watched as Steev slumped further. He turned his back towards the Inquisitor to go check on Thalia, missing the way Steev's head snapped up. He charged towards Eddie.

And Steev was quick, but Eddie was quicker.

He dodged the blow Steev tried to land on him, and was able to activate his lightsaber quickly enough to slash across Steev's back, cutting through muscle from the side of his torso, up and across, to his already-injured shoulder.

Steev flailed and stumbled forward, skidding across the durasteel to the opposite edge of the platform, then over it.

"No!"

The pneumatic doors opened, revealing Thalia, who ran to the edge of the platform, and practically jumped over the side after her former friend. Eddie, stunned, faltered for a moment, before running after her; he threw his lightsaber to the side and then lept to try and keep her from sliding too far.

She cried out, both at the feeling of being crushed by Eddie's weight atop her and at the friction against her injuries. But she was still able to throw both of her hands out. Using all of her might and strength in the force, she held Steev's unconscious form aloft, dangling over the worksite far below.

"What are you doing?!" Eddie shouted at her.

"I can't...we can't..." She huffed at the exertion, voice weak. "We can't let him die. Eddie, help me."  She looked over her shoulder at him. "Please."

He felt rage build up in his chest.

He’d already tried to let Steev go free once, spared his life out on the ledge, and the idiot had tried to backstab him. He deserved what he got.

"Why should I?" Eddie shouted, teeth gritting in anger. "He hurt you, almost killed you. Could have killed my uncle and my friends. Our friends. Just like he killed your friends, and, I'm sure, countless others since then. He attacked me, tried to kill me, and I defended myself. He wants to die. He deserves to die."

“No one deserves to die!” She fought. “I told you that before! Listen to yourself!”

“You should listen to yourself, Thalia," Eddie strained. "He tried to kill you, and has been wanting revenge for half your life. And you want to...what? Give him another chance? So he can try and kill you again?"

"He could've," she whimpered. "But he didn't. There's good in him. Just like there's good in you, in all of us. You were already going to spare him. If you let him die now, you become just as bad as he became. Help me Eddie. Please.

"I can't lose you to the darkness like I lost him. I can't lose you too."

His eyes shut at the desperation, the strain, in her voice, and those words echoed in his ears.

She couldn't lose him? Well, he couldn't lose her either. They'd both already lost so much. Their homes, their lives, their purpose. But they'd found new ones, found each other. They'd come so far.

She'd trusted him, believed in him, even when he was being a bantha-brained, scruffy, foolish scoundrel.

Even when he'd been a stranger.

He’d trusted her too, even when he didn’t want to.

Why shouldn't he trust her now?

He pushed himself forward, shifting his body until his head rested against her shoulder, and he could stretch his arm out alongside hers. His fingers caressed the back of her hand softly, then he held his own hand out, ready to help her lift this impossible burden.

And it was an impossible burden.

As Eddie reached out and felt the familiarity of Thalia's strength in the Force, he sensed the sheer weight of Steev's body—his soul—that hung over the precipice. Singularities, black holes...they held an unimaginable mass; it was impossible to know just how deep and dark they were. Although he'd seen Steev's darkness waning, it still pulled him under.

He could feel it pull Thalia down, too, as she got weaker.

So he envisioned his own strength, his own light, and lent it to her, to help anchor hers; together they moved, like the rising twin suns back on Bogano. He imagined their hands scooping beneath Steev, and together, he and Thalia hauled him upwards.

And the higher they lifted him, the lighter he got, until he floated right beside them.

Then they all collapsed in a lifeless heap.

Hyperspace, 10BBY

Almost everyone aboard the Mantis was on edge at the addition of an Imperial Inquisitor aboard, even though he was unarmed, unconscious, and fully submerged in the bacta tank down in the medbay.

Benny and Bob trusted Thalia implicitly. Even Hoppor didn't object.

"As long as El stays safe," he grumbled. "I'll be keeping my eye on him. Not in the business of taking risks."

For most of the trip back to Bogano, he sat in an uncomfortable chair in front of the Bacta tank, watching for any unexpected movement with his blaster rifle across his lap.

The crew of the Dragonborn made their objections known, though, bothering Thalia every chance they got.

"What if he has a tracker on him?" Jeff questioned. "The Empire is gonna follow us and we'll be toast."

"We just got our families safe." G'areth gestured to the group of elderly parents and handful of siblings who were huddled in the galley with bowls of porridge and cups of caf, courtesy of Benny and his constant need to feed everyone.

"He doesn't have a tracker on him," Thalia insisted. "And they're not going to find us. We're safe. I have a gut feeling; just trust me."

"You're starting to sound like Ed." Dayv let out a sardonic chuckle and then looked to their captain. "What do you think about all this?"

Eddie stood off to the side, arms crossed over his chest; he was still conflicted about the whole thing. Once he got back to the ship and made sure Wane was alright, he began to feel a creeping sense of guilt. Sure, he didn't let Steev die, but he hadn't exactly acted in any way that Wane would've been proud of either.

Shit, it didn't even matter if Wane would've been proud of it; he wasn't proud of himself. He would go to whatever lengths necessary to protect his family and friends, but he'd gone too far. It had all gone to his head, the sense of fulfillment and the power.

"Does it matter what I think?" he grumbled and turned away from the others, feigning disinterest.

Dayv scoffed. "Yeah, it does!"

"You're the one who dragged his body onboard," G'areth pointed out. "Both of them! Thalia was practically dead on her feet! I'm gonna assume that you didn't do that to her. Ergo—"

"Oh, ergo? Big words, G'ar," Eddie mocked. He pushed himself off the wall and approached his friend, stepping as close as he could, until their noses practically touched. "You think I decided to bring Mr. Bright Suns onboard? Think again, moof milker. And if I was in the business of bringing dangerous people on board, I would've hauled the other Inquisitor in here too. Two-for-one sale on Imperial prisoners."

"There were two of them?!"

Everyone started clamoring over one another, trying to get their thoughts and opinions in. They debated how safe they really were, if they needed to find a new planet to escape to altogether. Jeff even shouted something about ejecting Steev from the airlock. They shifted their attention between Thalia, who held steadfast and silent, and Eddie, who snarked and sassed his way through the barrage of questions and comments.

A sharp whistle brought them all to silence.

Everyone's head snapped towards Wane, who sat otherwise unassumingly with a steaming cup of caf in his hands. He even took a long slurp before sighing. "We all deserve to know what the hell is going on and have our safety ensured. Our lives were all just upended, after all. But my nephew and Miss Trieste here just risked their lives to save me." He looked to G'areth, Jeff, and Dayv's families. "Hell, all of your kids did. So I reckon they're not exactly thinking about the long-term just yet."

There was a collective muttering in agreement.

"I'm not too keen on having an Imperial agent on board this ship," Wane continued. "But...well, believe me, that man and his associate had me tied up for days. They might've done awful things to me, but I still saw living beings there. They could've killed me when I didn't give them information, but they didn't. He's a living, breathing man with pain...and regret.

"So instead of resorting to mob violence—" He shot Jeff a pointed glare. "—let's focus on healing him up, understanding who he is and why he did what he did. Then we can decide whether he's a threat or not."

Everyone spoke over one another, in support and agreement. In apology. Then they finished their breakfast and dispersed around the ship to various makeshift bunks.

"How're you feeling, old man?" he asked.

"I'm doing alright," Wane nodded as he lifted his cup to his lips. "Confused. Overwhelmed. But alright."

"Good." Eddie nodded. "Good."

They both avoided the inevitable discussion that awaited them.

Why the Empire had been looking for Eddie, why they'd gotten Wane involved, and how Eddie had suddenly shown up with a lightsaber and abilities he hadn't had before.

It was a weighty discussion and they'd barely had a chance to talk since they'd been on the Mantis. The last time they'd seen each other—the last time they'd even talked via holocall—felt like several lifetimes ago. He was barely the same person he was last year, and he hadn't seen Wane in the flesh in 5? Maybe more?

He knew they needed more time than just a few scant minutes of privacy aboard a crowded ship.

Wane, though, seemed to get over his hesitation, and he finally asked, "How did you become a fugitive from the Empire, son? I thought I taught you better than that."

"You do know that the guys and I were smuggling before this, right? You didn't think we were gonna get into trouble?" He snorted nervously, but straightened under his uncle's stern gaze.

"I taught you to lie low. Even when the Republic was still in power."

"I know."

"Suddenly imperial agents with red lightsabers are showing up to ask me about your whereabouts. Felt like when superintendent Hig-Gins comm'd to tell me you and the boys had skipped classes at the Institute."

The older man cracked a wry smile and then took another sip of caf, lessening Eddie's worries about being in trouble.

"Why aren't you mad?" he asked his uncle. "W-why did you do that whole show of...of tolerance with the others? He and the other Inquisitor tortured you for days."

Wane sighed. "Lots of people have done me wrong over the years, Ed. And I used to be hot-headed about it. Just like you. But I came to the realization that they might be feeling some kind of hurt. Or loss. Or misguidedness. And that I should offer them the grace that they were incapable of showing me."

Eddie hummed thoughtfully, but Wane continued. "It's why I welcomed your dad home every single time he came back to Bracca. It's why I made sure that you saw the best he had to give you. You didn't deserve to see a father that was broken beyond repair. And he didn't deserve to have a son who hated him."

"But I did hate him," Eddie argued. "I do."

"Do you?" Wane sniffed. "You used to smile brighter than the suns when he came home. Or do you just pity him now that you know better?"

Eddie sat back in his seat and kept his mouth shut. He knew his feelings, his anger. But he also knew that Wane was right.

"Same goes for that man down in the medbay." Wane gestured towards the hall. "The Empire is just a big machine and he was part of it. But then he took his helmet off and he was a human. I wouldn't have ever given you up, Ed, but I saw the pain in his eyes every time he tried to get a word out of me. That wasn't a man who wanted to hurt me. It was a man who had no other choice."

Eddie thought about the hate emanating off Steev during that confrontation with Thalia. How was that no other choice? Eddie might've hurt people before. Smuggling was a tough job, the galaxy a hard place. But he'd never been angry enough to intentionally kill someone; to hurt them, to end their life.

Not until he'd seen Steev hurt Thalia and Wane.

He shook that dark feeling away and reminded himself that they were alive, they were safe.

"And if he killed me?" he snapped at his uncle. "What then? Would he still be a man with no other choice? A man in pain? Could you forgive him then?"

Wane's gaze hardened. "I might not forgive him. But if he had remorse? Regret? It has to count for something."

There was a moment of silence as Eddie let those words simmer.

"Does it?" he finally asked softly.

"It does."

"Hmmm..."

There was a lot he needed to think about.

Bogano, 10BBY

To say that a hero's welcome waited for them when they returned to Bogano would be an understatement.

Their friends were all ready and waiting as the Stranger Mantis touched down at the edge of camp. Benny and Bob waved to them from the cockpit and then Benny joked that they must've unloaded every crate and box in Eno Cordova's old workshop to make some of the decorations that littered the camp.

There were garlands made with old cables, nuts, bolts, and spare parts. Tarps of various colors covered their makeshift mess tables. They'd even thought of music; Hop's favorite band—Blootopian Blues—came from a loudspeaker that Jonathan had sliced a datapad into.

At first, Joyce tried to wrangle them all to keep them safe as a group of unfamiliar faces were the first to exit the ship. But before long, the crew of the Dragonborn joined and eagerly and excitedly introduced their family members.

Jeff had a younger brother around Na'ancee and Jonathan's age, G'areth's mother quickly struck up a conversation with Joyce, and Dayv's grandfather happened to have a pocket full of candies that he excitedly shared with all of the younglings.

"Poppa, were those really a necessity?" Dayv scolded the elderly man as he handed out the sweets. They'd been told to pack light.

"Guess you boys are going to have to smuggle some more Tapasi Taffy for old Poppa, huh?"

"Sarcasm runs in the family," Hoppor joked before hurrying to find El in the crowd.

Bob took charge and led the newcomers to their new living spaces; Joyce and the kids had done a good job setting up extra tents, but it seemed that they would need to get more supplies. Especially if Bogano was going to become more of a permanent home for them all.

"What about credits?" Wane questioned as he was corralled into his new living quarters. It was the same tent that Eddie and his friends lived in; another bed was set up for him beside Eddie's.

"What about the credits, he asks." Bob snorted and clapped a hand on Wane's shoulder. "Mr. Moonsun, you're on an undiscovered planet with a Force-wielding outlaw, her group of youngling students, your smuggler son and his smuggler friends, having just escaped a kidnapping from Imperial Inquisitors hoping to kill you all. And you're wondering ‘what about credits?’"

"Fair point." Wane nodded and settled down to unpack his things.

Benny, although tired, promised a feast for them all. 

“And then someone else can make breakfast in the morning,” he said with a laugh. “I take my caf with extra cream, and if anyone wants to make me some blue milk porridge with dried fruit? I wouldn’t say no.”

G’areth saluted him and agreed.

In all the commotion, there was one face pointedly missing.

Eddie looked for Thalia everywhere; he thought that her solitude aboard the Mantis would end once they arrived. The kids all wanted to see her, wanted to hear about the adventure from both of them, and he thought she should be around when he broke the news about their unexpected guest to everyone in camp.

It wasn’t until he’d checked her quarters that he realized that she must still be aboard the Mantis.

He snuck into the medbay as quietly as he could; there was no other place that she could be. Actually, he’d thought to look back in the bunkroom, but had been lured down by the binary conversation going back and forth between BD-1 and D5-TN.

He stood and watched as Thalia sat in the chair, and held BD-1 in her lap. Meanwhile, D5-TN was in front of the Bacta tank, nervously rolling back and forth. The two droids questioned how long the man inside would stay there, and Dustin was concerned that any time in the tank was too much.

"I know you've never seen one of those before, but he's fine, Dusty. He's not gonna drown," Thalia finally intervened with a soft chuckle.

"Yeah, but are we planning to keep him in there forever?" Eddie finally piped up, causing Thalia's head to snap in his direction. "We could put him in a circus out in Wild Space. See the great, pickled Inquisitor."

She cracked what was probably the first smile he'd seen since they'd departed Bracca.

"How's he, uh, doing?" he asked.

"Healing." She shrugged. "Slowly."

"Maybe kolto is the superior substance after all." She rolled her eyes at him. "There’s a whole party going on outside, and you’re still hanging out in here. I don’t think that old Steev’s better at conversation than we are. ‘Specially not in the state he’s in now."

He let out a soft laugh, but sobered up when she didn’t respond.

“How are you?” he asked. “What’s going on? I thought we solved this funk thing before we got to Bracca. Is your stomach still hurting? I can get you another stimpack.” She'd refused any medical attention when they'd gotten back to the Mantis, instead focusing on getting her former friend stable. Eventually, Bob sat her down and gave her stimpack after stimpack and then finally a sedative so she could sleep.

"I...I don't know how I am," she whispered. Eddie knew that she was referring to more than just the lightsaber wound.

BD-1 looked up and whistled softly, then looked over at D5-TN and honked. She loosened her grip and the small explorer droid hopped to the ground, then the two droids departed from the medbay, leaving Eddie and Thalia alone.

Alone…with Steev.

"I feel like I'm at some kind of a crossroads now," she continued. "I stand by my decision not to let him die, to bring him with us. But after that? What do we do? Do we leave him in bacta forever, just like you said? Until what? We overthrow the Emperor?"

"Is that our next goal?" Eddie joked.

"Until it's safe to let him..." She paused and searched for the words. "Let him heal from what the Dark Side has done to him. With the Empire in power, I don't know if that can happen. The Inquisitors, they'll always...he’ll always…"

She trailed off with a hum, lips pursed.

Eddie waited for her to keep talking, and when she stayed silent, he took a few steps forward, until he was in front of the bacta tank.

Steev floated inside, unconscious and hooked up to a breathing mask and other devices that read out his vitals. He looked serene, as though he was sleeping instead of sedated and unconscious. His hair moved ambiently through the fluid, and the dark circles around his eyes had seemed to clear up. His body, however, looked bloated, distorted from the curved transparisteel of the tank. Along with the lightsaber wounds from the duel that looked like they were in the early stages of knitting itself back together, there were other scars that littered his body amidst freckles and moles.

A ligature mark around his neck, blaster wounds on his arms and legs, the look of what was possibly an old, healed bite wound along his side.

Had he gotten those as a Padawan during the Clone Wars? Or as a part of the Inquisitorious? Had his surrender to the Dark Side of the Force spared him from further pain? Or only caused him more? Eddie thought about the sparks of light he felt buried beneath the darkness in Steev's heart. Then he thought about what Wane had said to him, how remorse and regret had to count for something. A villain, someone who had truly given themselves to the Dark Side, could never feel those things. But somehow, Steev had.

“Do it! Kill me!" Steev had said at the end of their fight. "I’m already dead!”

Hopeless. Lost. Confused. Eddie had been those things at one point or another in his life, but he’d overcome it. He had one thing that Steev didn’t seem to have: friends. And Thalia. She was more than a friend. She was the person who was responsible for half of his troubles in this endeavor, but was also the one who helped him transcend them. Even when he’d felt his own anger settling in and pulling him to a dark place, she’d helped him back to the path to finding what was right.

"I don't know what to do," she whispered and Eddie turned and looked at her in shock. The person who’d seen him grow and change the most in the past few weeks was now lost herself. Well, he couldn’t have that.

"See, now I think that's a bunch of bantha shit," he scoffed and took a few steps back to her. He knelt before her and took her hands in his. "Because I heard you spout off a whole plan just then."

She frowned at him. "Did you?"

"You bet your boots."

"Would you care to elaborate on this plan you think I said?"

"You said that you would heal him, heal what the Dark Side has done?" Thalia nodded. "Then that's what we'll do."

"How?"

"We'll figure it out, one step at a time. Together."

"It's not that easy, Eddie." She tried to pull her hands away from him but he held on. "There's too much to be done. More missions for the Hidden Path, lessons in the Force—lessons that you haven't even completed yourself, by the way—not to mention simply surviving. There’s no time!"

"Well it's a good thing you're not going into it alone now, huh?" He squeezed her fingers lightly, and let himself channel the calm that he always felt from her. He let it flow freely towards her, felt it surround her and fill her up. Until she was a little calmer, a little brighter. "Steev is an Inquisitor, and even with the whole of the Empire at his back, he’s still alone. To deal with his anger, to deal with his troubles. Shit, even when he was part of the Jedi Order. I remember thinking that it was so cool to be a Padawan and have a Jedi Master teaching me things. But what did you say? Jedi don’t form attachments. So outside of the one person Steev was meant to trust, he had no one. He had you, right? But even you—”

“Let him down,” Thalia scoffed.

“Kept your distance,” Eddie corrected. “In your memory of the Jedi Temple, the biggest thing that stood out to me was how alone you were. Master Cordova? He wasn’t your master, he was your boss. And he wasn’t even there to protect you when the Order fell. None of the masters could save their apprentices. They couldn’t even save each other. It was every man for himself.

“Well, not anymore. I told you before we went to save Wane, you're not in it alone. You helped me, helped all of us." He glanced at Steev over his shoulder. "And I don't know entirely if he deserves it, but you'll help him, too. What did you tell me? Huh? A single spark of courage…” He frowned and tried to think back to the exact words she had said; he could only feel how good they’d made him feel. He wanted to share that feeling with her now, too. “Sorry, I can't remember.”

“Can ignite the fires of hope,” she recited as a smile grew on her lips. There was a warm feeling in his chest that grew at the sight of her smile. It was nice to provide her with the comfort she constantly gave him.

“You are that spark. We are that spark.” He continued and he thought back to his first instance of training to sense the living Force and felt the vast glowing nebula of light and life on the planet. He pushed that thought, that image through to Thalia, and he felt her squeeze his hand as she gasped. And then he helped her see the glowing bit of light in Steev, still shrouded, but not lost. “We will help him find the light again."

He opened his eyes in tandem with her, and she smiled and squeezed his hand tighter.

“When did you get to be so insightful?” she asked, letting out a watery laugh. “Seriously, you must have a really great teacher. You’re not the hotheaded, scruffy-looking smuggler I met back on Nar-Shaddaa.”

Eddie scoffed and tried to get up, tried to pry his hands from hers so he could walk away in fake outrage.

“Here I am, trying to make her feel better,” he narrated out into the empty ship. “And she calls me scruffy looking.”

She pushed herself out of the chair and swatted at him. He pulled her towards the entrance of the medbay so they could join the others for dinner, but she paused at the door to give one more look to Steev.

“He’ll be okay,” he promised.

“Yeah.” Thalia smiled and turned back to Eddie. “Yeah, he will be.”

They headed down the boarding ramp and into the festivities as their friends, new and old, greeted Thalia as well. The kids demanded stories, Robin asked questions about the supposed newcomer aboard and if they’d need any help tending to him–

“I’m a pretty good healer, actually.”

–and G’areth and Jeff eagerly tried to announce that they would be playing a set for the festivities.

“Hey!” Eddie barked at them. “Why am I the last to know about this set? We haven’t practiced in weeks!”

“Come on, son,” Wane squawked in a heckling voice. “You’re gonna tell me I taught you how to play that guitar, and you need to practice for a week just to play a few measly songs.”

“Didn’t know you were playing for the Emperor,” Erica teased along with the older man, earning a pat on her head.

Eddie grumbled a lighthearted threat at them both, before he gave in.

The celebration was lovely, and as the sky began to turn shades of pinks and oranges and purples, the exhaustion began to set in. And the realization that this was what they all had to look forward to, what they had to preserve in the coming days, weeks, years that were to come.

Togetherness. Community. Hope.

Thalia found Eddie at the edge of camp, smoking while leaning against the barrier wall, shortly after he and the guys finished playing for the crowd. She didn’t speak at first; she didn’t need to. He could feel the way her soul brightened the closer she got to him, and when she took his hand in hers, a gentle calm descended on them both. He discarded his death stick and pulled her into his embrace. 

After a few beats, she spoke, and he could hear the cheeky smile in her voice as she said, “so, lightsaber training? Bright and early tomorrow morning?”

He threw his head back and groaned.

“Seriously? After everything we went through?” She lightly punched against his side. He let out a drawn out, dramatic sigh and then agreed. “I guess a little practice wouldn’t hurt. Not if I have to save your ass again.”

“Excuse me? Again?” She laughed and pulled away to look him in the eye. She looked about ready to bicker with him, as was their form of flirting, but Eddie was quick to cup her cheek and catch her lips with his.

His kiss was full of challenge, promise, gratitude, and love, and she melted into it, accepting everything he had to give. And his heart soared as she gave it right back to him, tenfold.

Eddie Moonsun had only ever dreamed of the sky, and as soon as he’d been able to, he had soared as high as he could. He’d found adventure, danger, the will of the galaxy—the Force—and had gone further than he’d ever imagined. Now, though, in the aftermath of chaos, he found himself grounded. With Thalia’s lips against his and the faint sounds of their friends in the distance, he realized that this was better than anything he’d ever dreamed of. 

A home, his friends, a purpose, love, hope. They were the real dreams, the real adventures, and he found that he was content to savor it as long as he could.

Thalia pulled away and fell back into his arms, and they watched as the binary suns of Bogano set. Tomorrow would bring another day, another challenge. But they were ready for a bright and brilliant future that they’d create and protect. 

Together.

Eddie Moonsun, Thalia Trieste, Steev Toninghar, and all of their friends will return in By Any Other Name (Summer 2025) and Braver Than Most (Fall/Winter 2025).

Thank you again for reading! May the Force Be With You. Always.

[queercraftingchonk]

Rent free in my head: Shepard remembers Garrus mentioned he was interested in painting when he was younger and gets him the popular human VI Bob Ross (who is also popular among elcor) to teach him how to paint.

*Garrus labors over his beloved thannix cannons above his happy little trees*

*Shepard nearly spits her coffee seeing a mountain landscape with the Mako launching off a cliff with a red headed driver*

[theidiotwhowritesthings]

New Girl [01]

Pairing: Bucky Barnes x Reader

(slow burn, endgame, as in you’ll be seeing some short term pairings here and then as well)

MODERN DAY AU

Word count: 5,417

Warning: self-doubt, anxiety, hurt/comfort, cursing

Summary: Life threw you a curve ball when you walked in on  your long term boyfriend making out with someone who definitely wasn’t  you. Since living with him was no longer an option, you’ve ventured out  at the advice of a work friend and found the absolute perfect loft to  reside in. The only issue?

You suddenly have four very odd roommates.

[01]: REBOUND SEX

“Wow, I regret this.” Bucky bobbed his head once and turned to look at Peter who stood in the kitchen with him, “What the fuck did you do to us?”

“How is this my fault??” Peter scoffed.

Bucky narrowed his eyes, “Uh, I think your exact words were, ‘Come on, guys. Models will be crawling around the apartment. This will be an absolute dream.’” He pointed to the living room where you were slumped over on the couch watching the same movie you had put on a week and a half ago. “We have used tissues, a crying girl, and I now have the ability to quote Legally Blonde in my sleep.”

“There are less models than I thought there’d be.” Peter mumbled to himself.

Clint stepped out of his bedroom door, it sat by the kitchen, and clapped his hands, “Legally Blonde is a great movie. Excuse you.”

“Yeah, I agreed until about the 132nd hour of it.” Bucky said between clenched teeth. “We need to do something to stop this nonsense, and by we I mean you.” He turned to point at Peter. “You got us into this. You get us out.”

“What am I supposed to do?”

Bucky crossed his arms, “I don’t know. Crying girls aren’t my specialty.”

“And they’re mine??” Peter scoffed.

Clint shrugged, “We just assumed you make girls cry all the time. Plus, you’re like super tight with Gamora and Mantis, right? They’re girls.”

“What part of who Gamora is makes you think she cries at all?” Peter replied.

“Yeah, but Mantis seems like the type to tear up every other day at the least.” Bucky countered. Well, he wasn’t wrong. Mantis was empathetic to an extreme. He had just watched her cry at a commercial where a dog kept trying to hide a bone, but people kept digging it up. That didn’t mean he wanted this responsibility placed on him though.

Peter’s mouth fell open with a silent argument, but Bucky just glared at him and Clint’s attention was already focused in on the coffee pot. He grumbled under his breath and turned to stalk over to the living room couch where you were sprawled out sniffling.

“Heeeeey.” Peter dragged the word out as chirpily as he could.

You turned your face away from the screen to look at Peter who had just sat down by your feet. He gave you a sheepish smile and began to pat your ankle with his hand at an awkward pace. You assumed he was trying to bring you comfort, that’s probably what the whisper fight in the kitchen had been about, but it didn’t help.

“Hi.” You greeted before blowing your nose. Peter grimaced, but you just slowly sat up and pointed to the screen. “You wanna watch Legally Blonde with me?”

Peter shook his head, “No. No, I really don’t. I’d love to never see this movie ever again. Ever.“

“Sorry.” You deflated. “I know it’s annoying, but Legally Blonde is my breakup movie.”

“Right. I get that.” He paused. “Well, I really don’t actually because I don’t understand how this is your breakup movie.”

You stuck your lower lip out into a pout, “Elle Woods is a strong independent woman who needs no man.”

“Mhmm, okay.” Peter reached out for the remote and paused the TV, “Here’s the thing though. This isn’t going to make you feel better. What we need to do is go out and find you a rebound.”

You shook your head, “I don’t know if I’m ready for a rebound.”

“You’re so ready for a rebound. Sex with strangers fixes everything.”

“I don’t know…” You replied skeptically. For the past three years, you had only been with one guy. In fact, you had mentally already established that he would be the only guy you’d be with for the rest of your life. He had been your future. The thought of going out and trying to find someone new was… daunting. It also sounded a little impossible. Did you even remember how to flirt with a stranger? You grimaced, “I don’t even think I know how—”

“That’s what we’re for!” Peter gave you a broad grin, “You’re coming out with us tonight and we are going to find you someone new.”

“Really?”

Peter nodded and set his hand on your shoulder, “Absolutely. We are going to get you some good, after breakup sex.” He smirked. “Even if I have to knuckle down and get in there myself—”

“Jar!” Bucky and Clint yelled from the kitchen.

Peter cursed under his breath and moved to put money in the jar designed for him. His words hadn’t even fazed you, your time here had gotten you used to some of the things Peter said. He was a really good guy who sometimes slipped into a douchebag headspace. All the guys here were good guys. Clint was a disaster, you found him sitting on the dining room table at 2 AM once chugging coffee from the actual pot and he still used a flip phone for some odd reason, but he was also sweetheart that would sit on the couch with you at some odd time in the morning to watch your comfort movie. Sam seemed the more responsible one in the loft, when he wasn’t trying to one up or mock Bucky, and he reminded you of a caring older brother. Especially when he made you breakfast last week before the two of you left for work and talked to you about one of his worse breakups. Then there was Bucky. Bucky was… well, he was grumpy for lack of a more accurate word. He was kind of like a 100-year-old trapped inside a 26-year-old’s body. You hadn’t gotten to spend much time with him yet but you knew he meant well. He was protective of the loft group.

You sunk in your seat and rolled the thought of going out around your head. The idea of finding someone new was terrifying, but you couldn’t sit on this couch and cry forever. Plus, the boys would be there to make sure you didn’t cave in on yourself. Peter had said so himself. Fortune favored the bold, right?

You shifted in the booth and tried to readjust the dress you had put on. It felt weird to be in something that wasn’t your pajamas or your work clothes. The bar was crowded, unsurprising on a Friday night, and the atmosphere was comfortable. You hadn’t really found a bar in the city that you liked enough to frequent, but this one was actually kind of nice. It was kind of a mess, not in a super great area of the city, and some would probably use the word ‘sketchy’ or ‘ancient’ or ‘weird, carpeted drinking hole in the wall’ to describe it, but you liked it. This was the bar where Bucky worked and somehow that made sense to you.

“You look great, stop fidgeting.” Peter said from beside you. Sam, on his other side, nodded in agreement and you gave the boys a small smile. It did kind of feel nice to clean up again. “Here comes Buck.”

You glanced over to see your roommate make his way toward the booth with drinks in his hands. Bucky wore jeans with a long sleeve t-shirt and a short sleeve one on top of that. His sleeves were rolled up though and he had a rag thrown over his shoulder casually. “Alright, here.” Bucky set the two beer bottles he was carrying in one hand onto the table in front of Peter and Sam then set a glass of wine in front of you. It was the same as the type you drank at home. “You coach her into finding a winner yet, Quill?”

“I don’t like your tone.” Peter replied then took a swig of his beer. Bucky chuckled once, shook his head, then wandered back to the bar. Peter turned to you, “Alright. Rules of the night. You will speak in short sentences, you will not mention anything about your ex, unless you’re talking about rebound sex, and you will be going home with a date at the very least or my name isn’t Star Lord.”

Sam narrowed his eyes and scoffed, “Your name isn’t Star Lord, dumbass.”

“Stage name, Sam. Jesus. How many times do I have to have this conversation with you people?”

“Okay.” You ignored the argument between them that you definitely had heard before and looked around the bar. There was a cute guy leaning against a pillar talking to some of his friends. He wasn’t half bad. “He’s kind of cute.”

Peter focused back on you, “Go get him, tiger.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that.”

“Go…talk to him?? Like where he can hear me?”

“Him hearing you is an important part yes.”

Your hand tightened around your glass. Sam cleared his throat and motioned to you with his bottle, “You don’t have to do this. As the self-appointed voice of reason, I think I’m supposed to suggest waiting until you’re ready.”

“Waiting ‘til you’re ready is for pussies.” Peter said.

“Jar.” Sam snapped his gaze to him.

“We aren’t even in the loft! There’s no bar jar!”

You didn’t want to wait. You wanted to be over your shitty ex-boyfriend and if this was how you had to do it then so be it. Without waiting, you threw back half the wine in your glass, Peter and Sam both made noises of surprise, then you stood up and pointed at them, “Rebound sex, bitches.”

Peter and Sam both chuckled and you whipped around to go talk to the cute guy. You could do this. You could do this. You were a fucking catch, and any guy would be lucky to have you. Obviously, your ex didn’t think that when he cheated on you. Apparently, you weren’t good enough for him—no! No, bad thoughts. Just flirty thoughts. You could do this damn it.

Could you do this??

Bucky poured another drink, delivered it, then moved to wipe the bar of any spills. When he looked back up, both Sam and Peter were sitting at the bar in front of him. Clint was at work tonight, which meant they had no idea where he was, but that was the norm for them. Peter leaned onto the bar and clasped his hands together.

“Bucky, I need you to get us into the Stark party.”

“How am I supposed to do that?” Bucky replied. Peter gave him a hard look and he rolled his eyes in response, “I am not calling my ex-girlfriend to get you into this dumb party—”

“We go every year! You can’t take this from me. The theme is wild wild west. Do you know how cute of an outlaw I make? We have to go.”

Bucky shook his head, “I am not calling Elektra.”

“Why?” Sam raised an eyebrow at him, “You call her drunk all the time.”

“I do not.” Bucky glared at him.

“You literally called her drunk three days ago.” Peter said. “Now please—”

Bucky shook his head again, “No. I’m not gonna do it.”

“I thought you loved me!”

“Well, like always, you were wrong.” Bucky replied dryly. He glanced around the bar, “Where is little miss rebound sex? Did you idiots leave her alone?”

“She’s fine. She’s picking up a dude right now.” Peter pointed behind him. Bucky leaned to the side to look past his giant head and spotted you leaning against the wall talking to some random guy. From the looks of it you were talking very, very fast, maybe not even breathing, and your hands were flying around as you told whatever story you were telling.Your hand caught the edge of his drink and it spilled back on the dude. Bucky grimaced, Sam flinched, and Peter groaned. “Okay. Maybe she’s not picking up a dude right now.”

Bucky pointed in your direction, “That was painful to watch. Go save her.”

“She’s a big girl. She’s just gotta…brush off the cobwebs. Get back in the groove.” Peter argued.

Sam took a big sip of his beer then set it down and stood, “I’ll go get her.”

“Thank you.” Bucky replied and went to serve another customer. When he came back, Peter was giving him a pleading look that bordered on pathetic and pitiful. “Quill, I said no.”

Peter grumbled, “I can’t believe you’d betray me like this.”

“—and I think it was going okay until I spilled his drink.” You said as Sam motioned for you to take what had been his seat. All three men shook their heads at you, and you groaned in defeat before setting your head down at the bar. God, you were so out of practice.

Peter and Sam said you needed a break and they peeled away to talk to some other friends while you moped at the bar. This was the place for it after all. Someone cleared their throat, and when you looked up Bucky was still in front of you. He had placed a new wine glass by your resting head. You took it with a small smile, “Thanks.” He nodded his head once. You took a long sip then spoke, “Well I guess at the end of the day, I just can’t hide my crazy enough to pick up a guy anymore.”

“I really don’t think you’re trying that hard to hide it, doll.” Bucky shook his head.

You chuckled, “I’ve just…never been good at this.” Sad thoughts began to creep in again. Doubts that you’d ever find someone to put up with for another three years. You took another big sip of your drink and motioned to Bucky, “Well, at least I’m not alone.” He raised an eyebrow at you and you continued. “Just a couple of dumped losers, huh?”

“I’m fine.” Bucky argued with a shake of his head. “It’s been six months.”

“Do you know why she dumped you?”

He shrugged, “Doesn’t matter. I don’t care. Didn’t make a difference.” Bucky grabbed a glass to clear with his rag and gave you a tight lipped, awkward smile, “All I knew was that I wanted to set her trash cans on fire afterwards so…”

“You don’t wonder, like, what you could’ve done differently?” You asked, leaning onto the bar, “Racking your brain at night, wondering what’s wrong with you.” Bucky gave you a skeptical look and you forced another chuckle. “You know what happens when you keep all your emotions bottled up inside like you do?”

Bucky hummed, “What?”

“You become old, and bitter, and sad, and a little weird.”

“Who says I’m not already all of that?” Bucky scoffed.

You pointed at him, “You can’t just pretend it didn’t happen, Barnes.”

Bucky stared at you for a moment, his jaw locked, then he leaned forward with another smile that wasn’t quite a smile, “You’re right. Maybe I should just be more like you. Watching weird movies on repeat and burning through twelve boxes of tissues and talking about it with anyone who stands too close to me.”

“Yes!” You nodded with a smile, “Exactly! Let it out!”

“I’m trying to be mean to you.” Bucky replied. “I’m very obviously not going to do that.”

“Why not??” You asked.

Bucky gave you a deadpanned look, “Because I have a penis.”

You stared back at him for a moment before speaking in a deep, mocking, grumpy tone, “’My name is Bucky Barnes and I have a penis, blah, blah, and I won’t talk about my feelings, blah, blah’,” Bucky’s lips twitched up in the corner to form a smirk, “’And I wanna set trash cans on fire or something, blah.’”

Bucky glanced away, steeling his features, then looked back to you, “Doll, I watched you spill a $30 glass of whiskey on a guy.”

“Jesus, it cost him $30?? Who pays that much for a drink??” You pressed. Bucky tilted his head slightly and you cleared your throat and straightened your back as you spoke with dignity, “I mean, maybe that’s just one of my moves, Barnes.”

Bucky nodded, “Mhmm.”

You gave him a bright grin, but the conversation was interrupted when someone suddenly sat beside you. It was a curly haired guy that you had seen speaking with Peter earlier in the night. One of his friends who was also in a band of some kind or another. He leaned on the bar with a smirk, “Hey.”

“Hi.” You replied nervously, your eyes darted to Bucky who gave you a nod. Encouraged you introduced yourself.

The guy asked if you wanted to find a booth and you rose eagerly and followed his lead. Bucky watched you walk across the bar toward a back booth. He wasn’t crazy about any of Peter’s band friends. They were all assholes, and he was a bit hesitant to let you walk away with one. You suddenly turned and shot him a thumb’s up while mouthing, ‘oh yeah’. When you turned back to the guy, Bucky chuckled to himself with a shake of his head.

To be honest, he was surprised to see how okay you seemed to be. It had been a couple weeks since your boyfriend cheated on you and yet here you were trying to get back on the horse. It had been six months since him and Elektra broke up and he was still drunk dialing her.

Bucky reached under the bar to grab his phone and shot off a brief text asking if Elektra could get them into the Stark party. She was one of the assistants that worked there, and she usually got them in every year.

Ten minutes later, Peter and Sam circled back around, and both were surprised to see you in the corner booth talking to a guy. Peter nodded, “Damn, that’s Jonny. Look at her go. What a pull.”

“Jonny is a tool.” Sam replied.

“Yeah, but rebound sex is rebound sex.” Peter replied. Sam opened his mouth to argue, but Peter whipped around to face Bucky, “One last time. I am begging—”

Bucky interrupted him, “I already texted Elektra. She got us in.” Sam’s eyes widened in surprise before narrowing skeptically. Peter on the other hand let out a squeal of excitement and then lunged his top half over the bar to hug him. Bucky hugged back briefly, but as Peter pulled back, he felt a kiss on his shoulder. Bucky motioned to him, “Did you just kiss me on the arm?”

“Yes.” Peter replied unashamedly. “You deserve it.”

A couple more minutes passed before you ran over while Jonny left. All eyes shot to you and you pumped your fist in excitement, “Guess who has a date!” The men cheered for you and you gave Peter and Sam high fives. “Yeah, I just spoke in short sentences, didn’t wave my arms around, and then I told him I want rebound sex—”

Bucky’s eyes widened, “You what??”

“—and then he asked me out!” You jumped in place. “Tomorrow is date night!”

Peter shook his head and yanked your forward into a hug, “I’m so proud of you. Our little girl is all grown up.”

Jonny wasn’t your soulmate by any means, but a date was a date. This was a very good step in the right direction and you were beyond excited to move your thoughts away from your ex.

The loft was silent as five people sat in the living room staring at one another. Well, more accurately four men were staring at one gorgeous, red headed model. Natasha Romanoff sat in a recliner facing the couch while her best friend’s new roommates sat across from her staring—no, gawking.

She crossed her legs, “Do the shoes fit?”

From your in the back she heard a loud thud then you yelled back that you were alright. Natasha turned her attention back to the men in front of her. The one named Clint gave her a small nod, “You a model or something?”

“Yes.” She replied slowly. “Mostly print right now so…”

Peter, sitting between Bucky and Sam, sat forward, “You said it was Natasha?” She didn’t reply. He smirked and Bucky began to roll his eyes before words even left the blond’s mouth. “Tell me, what are your hopes and dreams?” Natasha narrowed her eyes at him. He shifted in his seat, “Are you—Are you warm? It’s a little—”

“Don’t.” Bucky said firmly, but Peter was already shrugging out of his shirt. “I said—”

Peter threw the shirt behind him, “I’m a little warm right now.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him, “Please put your shirt back on. Don’t make me laugh at you.”

“Can i get you a drink? Coffee? Water? Some tea?” Peter questioned. Sam and Bucky were both just staring at him now while Clint just continued to gawk at her in stunned silence. Peter nodded, “Some tea bag action.”

Sam nodded, “There it is. Douchebag.”

“Got it.” Bucky reached over to grab the jar and slapped it into Peter’s chest making him yelp in pain while trying to dig out dollar bill from his jeans.

Natasha just watched the interaction and wondered what exactly you had gotten yourself into. The red head uncrossed her legs and leaned forward slightly, with a smile she knew was more menacing than charming, “Listen to me. That girl back there is my best friend. The greatest person to walk this planet. An angel.” She laced her fingers together while Bucky took the, now one dollar heavier, jar and placed it back on the shelf. “If you guys let anything happen to her, if you hurt her, I am going to come here and crazy murder you.”

The men all bobbed their heads in agreement. Sam respected the loyalty, Bucky was a little fearful because the woman definitely had eyes that screamed, ‘I’ve killed someone before’, Clint fell a little more in love, and Peter… well, Peter.

“I’m gonna be honest with you.” Their resident idiot started again. “I did not hear a word you said because I can kind of see your party hats right now through that dress.”

Bucky sighed, “There we go.” He leaned over to grab the jar and gave it back to Peter. “Just hold onto that until she leaves, yeah?”

Natasha called out for you and stood to seek you out. She distinctly heard Sam question why Peter was talking this way while she walked out. When she opened the first door on the right in the hallway she came face to face with you lying sprawled out on the floor wearing pajamas and her heels.

You sat up partially to see Natasha standing in the door staring at you quizzically. You gave her a tight smile, “Nat! I fell and I can’t get up. I think I live here now.”

“Okay, let’s go.” Natasha walked over and helped you sit up. “You okay?”

“No.” You groaned and buried your face into your hands, “I can’t go on a date. What if it’s horrible?? What if I have nothing to talk about??”

Natasha reached forward to grip your chin, “Then you go to the bathroom, you call me, and  I show up to rescue you.”

“Maybe I just shouldn’t go.” You mumbled. The excitement from last night had simmered as you sobered up and all day today your nerves just grew and grew and grew.

“Babe, you got hurt.” Natasha replied. “That doesn’t mean you stop trying.”

Natasha was right. She was always right. From the moment you met her in the 7th grade, you knew she was right. The red head been there for you through thick and thin and you had been there for her. It took several days to convince her not to actually murder your ex-boyfriend because you didn’t want to have to hang out with her in jail instead of your favorite coffee place.

She looped her arm through yours and dragged you into your closet to change. Fifteen minutes later, you were all dolled up and feeling confident. Your friend had a very good way of turning your mess into something special. Natasha was gorgeous, and an amazing model, but you always felt like her talents were wasted. She’d make such a good stylist or designer. You turned to her and gave her a tight lip smile, “Thanks, Nat. You’re the best.”

“I know.” She replied with a quick hug. “Now go knock your date dead and if he hurts you—”

“You’ll knock him dead. I know, I know.” You laughed.

Stark parties were known for being loud, crowded, and wild. The billionaire knew how to throw them that was for damn sure. For someone like Peter who thrived on huge crowds and large music, it was paradise. For someone like Bucky who liked day drinking in an uncrowded bar, this was kind of a nightmare. Still, his friends enjoyed it and he could usually have a good time as long as his friends did. Maybe he could be a little more like you and find a rebound himself.

The theme tonight was ‘Wild, Wild West’. Bucky wore his normal clothes, Sam wore his normal clothes, but with a cowboy hat, Clint had a bundle of rope wrapped around his torso which made him look more like a rock climber than a cowboy, and Peter was decked out in full outlaw costume.

“Oh, there she is. Go get us in.” Peter slapped his chest and Bucky shot him a glare.

Like Peter had said, his ex-girlfriend stood outside the doors by the line waiting for them. She looked great tonight. Elektra hadn’t dressed in costume. Instead she had on a tight, red mini dress with her dark hair pulled up into a long ponytail. Bucky swallowed the nervous lump in his throat and wandered over. His friends stayed a few steps back.

“El.” He greeted awkwardly. “Hey.”

“Bucky.” She beamed. “It’s nice to see you. I was happy to get a text from you while you were sober rather than a 3 AM drunk dial.”

Bucky waved off her words, “Drunk dial? No. You must be getting pranked or something. That wasn’t me.”

“I have caller ID, Buck.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, “Anyways, so the party?”

“Let me go talk to the bouncer and I’ll get you guys in.” She gave him a soft look, “Then maybe me and you can catch up?”

The logical side of him said that was a bad idea, but every single other side was thrilled. He nodded and watched her walk over to the bouncer. As he turned around to let the others know what was going on, some of Peter’s asshole buddies wandered up. The two loud men greeted them, and Bucky suddenly recognized one of them.

“You’re Jonny.”

“That’s me! What up, my man—”

Bucky demanded to know where you were. The others stiffened while all eyes shot to the curly haired man. “Did your date already end or did you bring her?”

Jonny shook his head, cowboy hat nearly falling off, “Who?”

Sam snapped your name at the man, then added, “The girl from last night.”

“Ohhh, yeah.” He laughed, “Look, I was just looking for a hook up. She was texting me all day long. Constantly. I didn’t want nothing to do with that.”

Clint crossed his arms, “And you told her this?”

“No. Why would I?”

“So, she’s just at the restaurant alone waiting for you?!” Sam cried out.

Jonny shrugged and Bucky had to physically resist the urge to punch the man. God, this was awful. Your had been so excited for the date. Your friend had gotten you all dressed up and now you were alone somewhere being stood up. Bucky shook his head, “Come on, guys. We gotta go.”

“But—But the party?” Peter motioned behind him.

“Pete.” Clint said. The outlaw of a man nodded once in agreement. Bucky glanced over his shoulder, spotting Elektra still talking to the bouncer, then sighed. You needed them and they didn’t leave a roommate behind.

You sat at the table, eating your third basket of bread, and wondering if your water glass was deep enough to drown yourself in. This was probably one of the more pathetic moments of your life. Stood up by a guy who played tambourine in whatever band he was in. Jonny hadn’t been your type, but a rebound was just about getting back on the bike, right? Well, you had jumped onto the bike only to immediately ride out into traffic and get hit by a semi.

The waitress began to make her way back to you and you couldn’t help but sink in your seat a little. Maybe she wouldn’t see you. The woman stopped in front of you and picked up the empty bread basket with a frown, “Ma’am, I’m sorry, but I’m gonna have to ask you to give up the table now.”

“Can I get…one more bread basket?” You mumbled.

“No.”

You nodded in understanding and went to grab your purse. Before you could stand from your chair though, you heard yelling at the front and suddenly four familiar faces ran into the upscale restaurant. Sam was in a cowboy hat, Clint was carrying rope around his chest, and Peter was literally dressed like a space cowboy of some kind. Bucky looked like Bucky though. The four of them ran over to your table yelling that they were here and you laughed.

“We’re here. Sorry we’re late.” Bucky said to the waitress.

“You’re her date? All of you?”

Sam nodded, “Yes. We are her boyfriends.”

“One isn’t enough for her.” Clint shrugged. “We’re sister wives, but the male version.”

“Brother husbands?” Peter supplied.

You chuckled, but you could feel your eyes watering at the sight of them. Bucky leaned his hands on the chair in front of you and shook his head, “Doll, that guy was an asshole.” The other guys nodded and chimed in agreement. “He’s missing out.”

“You guys skipped your party to come and see me?”

“Course.” Bucky answered. “We care about you. We like you.”

Sam nodded and sat down at the chair to your left, “You’re family. Whether you like it or not.”

“I do like it.” You said, holding back tears. “I like it a lot.”

Peter dropped down into the chair on your right, “Besides, it’s Stark. He’ll always throw another party. It’s kind of what the guy is known for.”

Clint pulled a chair away from a table beside you, ignoring the glares from the couple sitting there, and brought it to the table to sit while Bucky took the chair he had his hands on. The guys picked up menus and began to look them over and you felt your chest swell in happiness. You didn’t think it was possible to be so happy considering how sad you had been just moments before. You liked these guys, and knowing they liked you enough to take care of you like this just made you so soft.

Bucky caught your eye, and he gave you a smile. Not a tense one, not an awkward one or a half grimace like you had seen, he gave you a real smile that made his entire face brighten. The kind that up until now you only saw the guys pull out of him. It made you feel like you belonged, “We got your back, doll.”

“Hey, guys.” Clint said slowly and looked up from his menu, “Yeah, I can only afford the tap water here.”

Sam flipped his menu over and his eyes widened, “Jesus, that’s excessive for a salad.”

You nodded, “It’s stupid expensive. That’s why I’ve only eaten the bread.”

“Alright,” Bucky tossed the menu onto the table, “Pizza at the loft?”

There was a chorus of agreements and everyone rose from the table. You stood and when Sam held one arm out to you, you didn’t hesitate to fold into his side for a hug. The boys walked you out of the restaurant while Clint told some story about his odd job yesterday and while the others laughed at his expense all you could do was bask in the warmth they radiated. You always thought the best part of the loft was the open floor plan, but as it turns out, the best part was the adopted family you accidentally fell into.