#droid noodle

[andorshitdaily]

ROUND NINETEEN CATEGORY: Most Likely to Become Internet Famous

Two will win and go into the yearbook. Who's it going to be?

(it felt like these needed to be explained)

Round 20 category: Most Unorganized

NOMINATE NOW

[dukeofriven]

The Mandlorian decided that droids needed a bar, because every Star Wars writer has made the moral black pit of droid sentience and servitude ever more incoherent, absurd, and irreconcilable. (The short version is that droids in Star Wars can fundamentally not be sentient for the ironclad non-diegetic reason in that its moral framework cannot handle the weight that every organic character in Star Wars is at-best totally indifferent to slavery and has casually and comfortably bought slaves, sold slaves, murdered slaves, ripped bits out of some slaves to improve other slaves, left slaves to die, ordered slaves to their death to save their own skins, and watched other people murder slaves without any reaction either personally or within any kind of larger narrative awareness. Stupid writers keep dancing towards the issue because they think it adds 'depth' or some kind of 'edginess' but no, it just breaks Star Wars. Seriously, if droids are fully people Star Wars just... breaks. In a way that's really obnoxious, too, like that one asshole who corners you at a party to tell you that the Jedi are the REAL villains if you think about it. No, dipshit, they're not: even Andor understands that the moral line in Star Wars is really obvious and solid. Star Wars morality can encompass people doing bad things in pursuit of a noble goal, but it never goes 'fascists and anti-fascists are a mirror image' because that's authoritarian-friendly centrist bullshit.

[sidebar: Andor understands that's there's nuance to freedom fighting, that terror can be a tool to fight oppression but, equally, that an anti-fascist who turns to fascism to fight fascism is just a fascist. The tension in Andor is not that fighting fascism will turn you fascist, but that the choices you make might free others but leave you forever chained. You might bring your people to the promised land, but there's no guarantee you'll be able to join them because a moral person who holds themselves to their own moral standard values himself too much to live comfortably with what he's done. Luthen Rael doesn't think the things he are does are justified because of the greater good: he thinks that he couldn't see a better option and he will live every day until he dies questioning, re-litigating, and self-flagellating himself that he wasn't good enough to figure that better option out, and nothing or no-one will ever free him from that guilt and shame. A fascist and an anti-fascist can both do terrible things but its the fascist who can sleep well at night, and that's all the difference in the world. Andor's a pretty good show, y'all.] Thus, as the Empire is explicitly pro-slavery, you can't have the Good Guys also be pro-[droid] slavery as some kind of 'both sides' tu quoque rhetorical flourish. It doesn't work—not in Star Wars. Not even in mildly more amture, grown-up Star Wars/ Droids cannot be sentient in Star Wars because literally the entire moral underpinning that is the narrative raison d'etre of the entire series falls completely apart. (This is, incidentally, the non-mechanical reason I don't like droid PCs in my SW campaigns.) And yes, this is the short version of this argument. The long version involves me whacking you with a pool noodle while reading long passages of Uberto Eco and CLR James until you stop trying to make Star Wars 'edgy' like someone writing an 'evil Santa' movie.)

[bates--boy]

The condo was now officially on the market, thus leaving Peter's inbox flooded with offers from recent university graduates to young couples trying to start their own families, people who are trying to stay above the crushing housing shortage by snatching up this cheap place.

There was much to do, still: the final bedroom still needed painted and his office equipment set up, and he still awaited for his Petition for Relocation to finish processing so he can fully move into his new place and hand the condo's keys over to the buyer.

And here: packing up the remains of his old home. With a satisfying plastic rip of packaging tape, Peter tossed the roll onto the bed and heaved the box into the living room, taking it to the ever-growing pile in the corner. He wiped at his forehead as he returned to the bedroom. "Whoo, alright..." Peter said, crossing his arms and looking around the room which was now bare, even the bed that down to a plain white bed set and two pillows, which he'll have the movers take last on moving day. His observing gaze landed on the closet, its door cracked open. He had most of his clothing packed, but it wouldn't hurt to organize it once more, would it? He picked up a flattened box and assembled it, setting it by his feet and sliding the door open wider.

For a task that was supposed to be mindless, Peter found that his mind was stirring as he sorted through the junk. Every piece he picked from the closet he paused to mull over, opening the compass with its tarnished brass, turning over the extra ball bearing for his aerial silks setup that he was sure he was going to need someday, wiping the dust off the age palette kit with expired makeup, kept because it was a limited edition Nimya box by the Nikkie de Jager, herself. Peter had always wanted to alter it to make it more durable, coat it with resin, perhaps, and line the inside with velvet. But he had never gotten around to it, and looking at his schedule ahead of him, he likely never will, so... he set the palette box aside.

And that was how what was meant to be twenty minutes of work stretched beyond its deadline, Peter finding long-forgotten trinkets, getting lost in the memories and old intentions of why he had kept them for so long, weighing the value of it and trying to predict the potential of future use before deciding to set it in the packing box, or to the opposite pile for disposal.

How had he gotten so much stuff? How had he let everything sit in his closet for so long that dust had collected on most of them like the growth of a second skin? I should be wearing gloves, Peter had thought too late as he paused to wipe his hands clean on his sweatpants. The more he dug through his closet, the more it began to remind him of home. The fort, from the stubborn scent of salt in the scratchy blanket he never used, and the algal perfume in the leatherbound books he never read. More and more, Peter was brought back to that day, that particular day, when he was made to hurry through his room and pack what he absolutely wanted in the two suitcases Arthur loaned him after delivering the news that Peter was Berwald's problem from then on. Of course, the clothes would disappear when Peter outgrew them, but how had he managed to keep these after all these years? They had practically ceased to exist when Peter saw he had no need for them, his life under Berwald's care and love proving more than comfortable enough to no longer warrant holding on to these.

Still, as he scrubbed his sleeves and popped open his keepsakes, a sense of nostalgia bloomed within him, that little boy glee stretching his grin from ear to ear as he leafed through crumbly comic issues, unrolled a pair of military-issued wool socks, carefully moved the arms and legs of a faded kaiju action figure, and --

"Oh, my god!" Peter chuckled and pulled out an old friend. A vintage box of the HMS Beagle. This one was intensive as hell; the kit boasted over one thousand pieces, with top-quality decals to make the model look as close to the real ship as possible. Only the most dedicated and attentive could complete this...

... And Peter did. So long ago, in fact, and he distinctly remembered begging Arthur for another kit that he never received. So, why did Peter still have this aged box--?

And so quickly, as Peter set the box on his lap and eased the top off, did his life seem to drain from him.

See, I told you you'd like it...

Letters. Yellowed envelopes and curling postage stamps, faded pen ink and even coffee stains on one of them, the letters filled the box and left Peter's insides brittle and cold.

See, I told you you'd like it...

Warm, large brown eyes that raked over Peter's young body, beautiful lips that Peter only wanted the most innocent kiss from, finding and tainting skin that Peter never wanted them to go. Hands that --

I do you and then you do me, okay?

He didn't need to read the letters.

Peter blinked, clawing his nails into the carpet to drag himself back to the present. He worked through the murkiness of his mind to find out why he would even need to tell himself that, until he found the temptation it responded to: that he wanted to read them.

He didn't need to read the letters. He could put the box away, the unread letters still untouched, or even burned to unholy ashes, and live the rest of his life with the uncertainty. Because calling up memories through hypnosis carried a risk of manufacturing memories, didn't it? He could live with the tiny chance that it was all fake this entire time, and just not open the letters.

So, why did Peter sift through the pile, turning each over until he found the very first one he'd never opened, among the many he had never opened? Perhaps his hope that it was all unreal was greater than his self-preservation; perhaps by opening the letter, it can repair his childhood, changing Andy from the monster of Peter's miserable imagination back to the beautiful boy he once loved.

Peter found the letter he never opened, one of many that he tucked away into the box when mail call came.

That's a good boy.

[sorryimananti-romantic]

Cyberpunk

housewifekeeper droid!jongho x programmer!reader

futuristic/apocalyptic droid au

genres and warnings: fluff, angst, established relationship, a bit tragic but no tears i hope :) yunho, woo and san cameos, violence warnings, hostage situation, near-death experiences, etc.

word count: 23.7k

synopsis: when you find jongho assigned to be a droid you need to 'fix', it takes everything in your power to pretend that you don't know him, that he isn't the boyfriend you left behind to keep safe. with no idea where you are and being under constant surveillance while trying to find a way to turn jongho back to human, you manage to run away with him only to learn a shocking and sinister truth that makes you regret ever being part of the eden droid project. you must put an end to your mistakes once and for all, and it may cost you a lot.

manager-nim: @eightmakesonebraincell (we call it cryberpunk bc it became the bane of our existence)

“You really think I’m incapable of taking care of myself?” you asked, making a face as you grabbed your bag and slung it over your shoulder. “I’ve been doing just fine so far, Sir.”

“You’ve lost a lot of weight ever since we woke up, so yes, you definitely haven’t been eating well. You can’t keep surviving on instant noodles,” your supervisor, Mr. Han said. “Besides, this is a good chance to test if the droids we’ve programmed can actually perform household tasks.”

“I did not programme droids to make food for us,” you muttered under your breath but you supposed that was the least of your worries right now. “I’m pretty sure you need a housekeeper more than me. A housewife, perhaps. You must miss your wife.”

Mr. Han only smiled in response and you felt annoyed by that. It was as if an unspoken rule had been passed- that no one could talk about their life before they ‘woke up’. You reckoned everyone was just keeping silent until one of them would complain out loud. It hadn’t been that long since that little episode so you figured no one was that desperate right now. 

“It’s the Team Leader’s orders. Nothing I can do about it. Maybe I’ll get a droid next to drive me around- if they’ll allow it. It would be nice to have a look around this empty town and see if we’re the only ones awake while the rest of the world is asleep.”

“I don’t like this,” you pursed your lips, scratching your wrists. Something about all of this was making you anxious. “Just between you and me, are they really sus-”

Mr. Han shushed you with a finger on his lips, his eyes flickering in the direction of the CCTV in the corner of your office. “They’re testing out your droids, miss. You know what they say- a perfect droid should be as good in battle as it is in the kitchen.”

“Wasn’t that supposed to be a joke?” You muttered, deciding to leave it there. “It feels like a big joke. It’s like my droids are being insulted by being placed in the kitchen.”

“You thank the deities there isn’t a war right now,” Mr. Han almost whispered. “When everyone wakes up… there might be. And if there is a war in the future when every nation will possess their own set of droids, when you have to run for your life and are injured… who do you think will take care of you? Not a human, I’ll bet.”

Those words stuck with you during your ride back home. They kept looming over your head while you took a shower and changed into a comfortable set of light blue pyjamas. With a towel hat, you sauntered into the kitchen to make yourself coffee, looking in the fridge for something to snack on and finding nothing.

Perhaps you really did need a housekeeper. A droid- one that wouldn’t complain and would do as told.

And as the doorbell rang after a few minutes, you took your words back when you opened the door to a familiar face. The anxious feeling in your gut finally settled in resignation.

This was what you had been dreading. 

A million thoughts processed in your head in a matter of seconds- maybe you could give the droids a run for your quick decision-making. Because you needed to make a big decision, right now. 

It had to be some sick, twisted joke that Dr. Jin, Head of the Eden Droid Project, was playing with you. There was no way that this wasn’t intentional. Of all the 7 billion people in this world, they chose the one person you had been wishing would never appear in front of you- at least not until you were done wrapping up what you had begun.

Choi Jongho. Your best friend, the person you loved and had to leave for good.

The one person you had done everything in your power to hide from these people, from everyone. Hell, you didn’t even dare think of him ever since everything went downhill lest someone spy on your own thoughts. 

And now he was here, and worse, a droid. A lab rat. His left pupil flickered blue to confirm that.

“I’m CJ, the droid assigned to take care of your personal needs.”

“CJ,” his codename rolled like a foreign language on your tongue, your voice coming out as almost a whimper but you cleared your throat. “CJ. The housewife, eh?”

The droid appeared confused and you, for the first time, loathed programming the droid’s facial expressions to sync with the human emotions. “I’m not quite sure…”

“The assistant,” you let out a short laugh. “I presume you have your identification files and code?”

Jongho said your team’s code out loud before handing you the files and you quickly looked over them. Assigned by your own team- how fucking convenient. You nodded and handed the files back, peeking behind him- looked like he had his personal belongings. “Please, enter and make yourself at home… I guess?”

“There’s another document you need to look at before I enter,” Jongho said almost mechanically, digging out a letter from the inside pocket of his jacket and your brows rose in surprise when you saw that it was from Dr. Jin himself. Begrudgingly, you unsealed the letter and read the contents, the smile falling from your face when you were done.

“Alright,” you breathed. “I see how it is. You can enter now… CJ-”

You caught Jongho staring at you almost like he was fully human. Fear gripped your heart in that moment and when he only bowed in response, you stifled the sigh of relief. He stepped inside your apartment, looking around. He was probably scanning every nook and cranny for potential threats. When he was satisfied, he turned to you.

“Is there anything you would like me to do?”

“Tonight… nothing,” you nodded slowly as you thought. “I’ll show you your room and you can uh… rest? You should wake up at 7 tomorrow and prepare a light breakfast for the both of us before accompanying me to the office. That should be your first task.”

“Understood,” he said and you showed him the spare room and he assured you he had his basic personal necessities. You went to your room, the coffee long forgotten at the kitchen counter and you shut the door. 

Make no mistakes.

You turned off the lights and went under the blankets, covering your face like you usually did- and that’s when you let out a shaky exhale and let your emotions take the better of you.

There could only be two reasons why Jongho was here as the droid assigned to you. The first one was pure coincidence- maybe he was just one of the other humans randomly selected by your team. Maybe this was all just bad luck. Maybe this was a slap on your face from the force above, since you dared to play god yourself. 

But another possibility… the one that made more sense, was that they knew. They knew Jongho was someone important from your ‘previous’ life. From before you entered Phase I of the Eden Droid Project- . They must have known and were using that to their advantage, but either way…

Either way, Jongho wasn’t sent to assist you and play housewife. That was all bullshit. He had one purpose, and that was to have you under surveillance. That probably meant that the New Government was aware that you weren’t as loyal as you appeared to be. Perhaps, this was a test of your loyalty, and they were going to confirm it with the task that was detailed in that letter.

Fix CJ.

Two words, yet you understood the message. You were to live with the droid for a certain period of time and fix the only glitch your droids had- that they were too human. All the while, you would definitely be under surveillance by him. Perhaps, the Team Leader thought that giving you the space you needed with your own personal test subject was what you needed to finish debugging the droid. Perhaps, they knew you had been delaying fixing the droids on purpose. Whatever it was, you had no choice now. 

You would have to fix Jongho or else you would be exterminated along with him.

—---------------------

It was almost unsettling waking up to the smell of eggs, butter and bread. For the few seconds that you lay in the bed, you almost thought you were back in your parent’s home and your mom’s voice would call you for breakfast or your sister Cookie would tickle you until you yell at her, but the bed was too soft and the blanket did not smell like the sun. The alarm rang only a few seconds later and on cue, two solid knocks sounded at the door.

“Miss Jeon? Breakfast is ready.”

God, you thought. This was going to be difficult.

You said you’d be out in 10 minutes and forced yourself to walk to the bathroom like every other day. Somehow, your steps felt heavier than the first day you woke up here. The feelings of disorientation and panic then were nothing compared to the anxiety that dissolved in your bones the moment you heard Jongho’s voice.

Whatever you did, you could not slip. You would have to keep on pretending that Jongho was just a stranger, a droid to you. Just a bug that needed fixing, you told yourself as you exited the room and walked towards the kitchen-

“I told you, the pan needs to be tapped in the middle of baking so the top of the brownies crinkle!” Jongho said as he took out the said pan, now with fully baked fudge brownies with a perfect crinkly top and you gasped at how good it looked. “Would you believe me if I say this really is my first try?”

“Looks too good to be a first try,” you admitted. “I’ll give my verdict after I taste these. Who knows? Might find an eggshell in there.”

“Hey, what do you take me for?!” Jongho looked offended and you grinned. He shook his head as he cut a piece for you and put it on your plate. You spotted a faint smile on his face and you dug your fork in the brownie, about to take that bite when he tsk-ed and held your wrist.

“You’ll burn your mouth,” he took the fork from your hand and you pouted. You watched him wait a few seconds, blow on that little bite before feeding it to you himself. Your eyes went wide as soon as you realised how rich the brownies tasted.

“Oh, my god,” you breathed. “Jongho. You’ve just won my entire heart all over again.”

Jongho burst into laughter, looking down and you leaned across the counter to cup his face and make him look at you. “You look at me when you laugh like that, okay?”

“Stop it,” he wriggled away from you, a flustered mess. “Let me taste them.”

“Here,” you took your fork and blew on the new bite before handing it to him. He nodded in satisfaction. “Normally, I wouldn’t contribute to anything that would give you an ego-boost, but this one deserves it. Cookie won’t believe it when she hears about this.”

Jongho smiled once again, continuing to cut the rest of the brownies for later. “What did you mean when you said… that I won your heart again?”

You stifled your smile. “You want to hear it?”

Jongho looked expectantly at you in response. You scanned his figure- his hair messily swept back, flour on his cheeks, rolled sleeves baring his strong arms, and to top it all, your apron on him. Your smile grew wider.

“I fell in love with you all over again.”

“Miss Jeon?” Jongho called, frowning at the way you stood in the middle of the living room, your eyes stuck on the apron that wasn’t yours on the person who wasn’t yours. He wasn’t even the same person anymore.

“Sorry,” you gulped, shaking your head. “Needed a moment to process uh… what I’m seeing right now.”

Jongho didn’t respond and that finally made you move and sit at the table where he set down a mug of coffee. He would have retorted if things were normal and you smiled sadly to yourself at the thought. You heard the clink of the mug and when you saw Jongho pick up his own tray of breakfast and move, you cleared your throat.

“Where do you think you’re going?” 

“To eat my breakfast and give you privacy while you eat yours?”

This was the time to make things clear- better yet if you were being watched. You put one leg over the other before you said, “Look, I assume you know what you’re here for, CJ. Who are you?”

“A droid that needs a little fixing.”

“And how would I figure out what needs to be fixed if I don’t watch your every move?” You cocked your head. “Does that make you feel unsettled?”

“I do not feel, for I am a droid,” Jongho responded mechanically and you shook your head, urging him to join you. You detected reluctance in his movements and your heart sank a little.

“That’s the thing with you droids,” you almost whispered as if letting him in on a secret. “You forget that you are humans programmed to be droids. Until you possess human nature, you cannot be fixed… that’s what I believe. The superiors think otherwise. What do you think… droid?”

“I…” Jongho frowned again. “I’m just following orders.”

“I know,” you told him and he relaxed a bit. “We’ll need to interact and talk more for me to figure out what exactly needs to be fixed, okay?”

“Okay,” he said. You took a bite of the bread and he mirrored your actions. You ate the rest of your breakfast in silence, finishing together. 

“I will examine your code when we go to the office,” you told Jongho. “You will need to guide me a little. I may have created the blueprint for you droids but I haven’t programmed every single one of you.”

“You can access my code only at the office, by the way,” Jongho said and you set your cup down, almost clenching your jaw as you looked at him. “I’ve been programmed to reveal my code files only in the office.”

“Have you now?” You scoffed internally. “Well, I’ve been programmed to be a lazy bum who works best in the comfort of her home and I’m human, so let’s see how we deal with this… predicament.”

Jongho almost looked curiously at you. You checked the time and told him to meet you outside in 10 minutes. Just before he took your car keys from you and opened the door, you sighed.

“Do you know how to make brownies, CJ?”

—--------------------------

“Don’t you think it’s ironic?” You said, sparing a glance at your supervisor who was examining the code on the shared screen right across from you. “We’re trying to find an error in a human. Being human is the error. How do we override the nature of who the droid really is- completely and irrevocably?”

Mr. Han had heard that quite a lot, and not just from you. Every programmer and developer in this project had asked him this question at least once, and he often found himself wondering the same too. “I’m highlighting this line of code, see what you can do about it.”

You looked back at your screen and clicked your tongue. “Not this one. That’s Dr. Seo.”

“Oh, then I won’t tweak it,” he said, scrolling further. You glanced at Jongho who lay on his front on a stretcher with a cord attached to his back to access the chip and its data inside. He was unconscious which you thought was convenient but every time he came back to consciousness, you were afraid he was going to recognise you, make a mistake and destroy everything you had worked for so far.

How could you tell Jongho to pretend he didn’t know you without telling him?

“You look spent. Shall we call it a day?” Mr. Han caught you staring at the droid’s body.

“Please, yes,” you stretched dramatically, producing cracks and he chuckled at that. “The amount of times I have zoned out today… I think I need a chip inside me that would override my mental stamina at least.”

“Says you,” Mr. Han scoffed. “The child prodigy. The kid that built the foundation of this project.”

Oh, how you regretted that. “Please, you flatter me way too much. I was only one coder with a few hundred others.”

“But you were the youngest and your work is our blueprint. I have every right to flatter you,” he said, his conclusion leaving a sour taste in your mouth. “Dinner at the cafeteria?”

“Why would I? I have my own personal chef now,” you grinned.

“I thought you were against droids doing housework or something.”

“Yeah, well,” you finished shutting down the programme and unplugged Jongho. “This one is quite good at it.”

Jongho was, and it was making you realise a few things- muscle memory. Something you nor any coder so far had considered to be a factor worthy of attention. You noticed that when he made the brownies for you a few days ago and exactly at half-time, he opened the oven to tap the pan against the counter once. 

It took everything in your power to not react to that. To not let your emotions take the better of you and maintain your composure. However, you did ask him if he had accessed some recipes recently before making the brownies and when he denied, you knew then. You knew that this was not only from memory but muscle memory.  

Could this be the reason droids were not perfect? That their muscle memory was ingrained in them to the extent that no programme, no code so far had overridden it? 

Whatever it was, you knew you had to keep this observation to yourself.

As Jongho started to regain consciousness, you maintained a certain distance between you two, glancing around- most of your colleagues had signed off for the day. There were only a few at the far end of the room and then there was Mr. Han who was just leaving for the cafeteria. You locked eyes with the droid and found your hands getting clammy when he started blinking rapidly, trying to adjust his eyes to the light. As soon as he looked at you, you started tapping on the desk lightly, waiting for something while praying for the opposite.

Waiting for him to look at what your fingers were tapping and praying that he wouldn’t recognise it, even if you were doing this to rock his human memory.

However, your prayers were actually answered this time and Jongho straightened as the confusion in his eyes disappeared. “CJ of Team 8.”

“That’s right, welcome back,” you sighed, tossing him his t-shirt and he wore it. It irked you a lot, how the droid was not reacting to having woken up from unconsciousness without clothes on his upper body. Jongho would have been a flustered mess.

This was not Jongho. He looked as different as he felt different.

“We’re done for the day,” you told him when he got up. “Are you feeling okay? Any haziness? Something off?”

“Perfectly fine, Miss,” he confirmed and you nodded. 

“Let’s go, then,” you said. 

Over the past few days, you had made no progress whatsoever with the droid assigned to you. You weren’t sure if people were expecting quick results from you- Mr. Han was monitoring each and every move you made in the office as if you weren’t already being surveilled by the droid itself. You were half certain that Mr. Han was also ordered to keep an eye on you but you’ve always had doubts about that man. His ‘fatherly’ nature was a little too overbearing and demanding at times.

You had no idea how long you were going to keep working on Jongho until he would be deemed ‘unfit’ like the other droids you had failed to save. Failed to fix, actually, but resultantly, they lost their lives. You could not do that to Jongho- perhaps, fixing him as a droid was the only way you could save him, but…

How could you do that to him?

How could you do that to him, you wondered as he set the table and settled down on the chair in front of you, saying his usual ‘enjoy your meal’ before digging in himself. You almost expected him to put a piece of meat in your bowl like he used to do before everything went wrong. You almost expected him to ask you what was wrong when you would zone out just like you were now-

“You’re not eating,” the droid said.

A simple statement, void of emotion, but…

Muscle memory.

Could this be what could really change everything?

“I… I’m just tired,” you said. The truth, but you wished you could tell him what exactly was going on. You put a spoonful in your mouth anyway. 

“You worked overtime today,” Jongho said and you nodded. This droid had a knack for sounding way too human, or maybe you were over analysing everything because it was someone you were familiar with. “Would you like me to make you some tea after dinner?”

“No, thanks. I’ll make my own tea,” you scoffed to yourself. If his muscle memory was really still intact, he would get your tea just right and you were not prepared for that. “Isn’t it ironic, though?”

“What is ironic?”

“Humans have made so many machines for the sole purpose of serving them,” you ate another spoon as you watched Jongho, noticing that he needed a haircut now. “All these machines, and yet they would prefer a human to work in the kitchen.”

“A droid is not a human.”

“A droid is a human,” you corrected, locking eyes with him in challenge. “A machine is something like… that coffee-maker. That microwave,” you pointed. “Something like that, yeah? As long as you have a functioning heart, you are human.”

“Whatever you say, Miss,” Jongho said almost dismissively and you rolled your eyes at his automatic response. 

“I wonder if humans need someone to work in the kitchen for them- for a specific taste that only humans can construct or to keep company or for whatever reason… why would they not send these heartless machines to fight for them? Why would they send humans?”

“A machine can only make so many decisions,” the droid said.

“Yeah, well, they want me to fully turn you into a machine,” you scoffed loudly. Damned be the consequences- if they were watching you, they should pay heed to your words. “What’s the point of you being a human-turned-droid then? We could have built a human shaped machine designed for war from scratch. We could install whatever thinking ability it needs.”

“But it would not think or make decisions like a human does.”

“Well, are you human right now, then?” You wondered and that finally got the droid to shut up. “Because you sure sound like one right now despite insisting that you are a droid.”

“Can’t a droid be both?” Jongho frowned and your eyes twitched in response- you couldn’t believe what you were hearing. You searched his face for any signs of recognition but found none.

“I guess that’s why it has to be a human that gets turned into a machine,” you concluded. “A machine wouldn’t have asked me that question.”

Jongho didn’t react to that. He simply finished his meal and waited for you to finish before he cleared the table. You made yourself that cup of tea and looked over your code from today, wondering how you were going to proceed from here. If you were really being watched right now, you somehow needed to let Jongho know that he should not react when he recognises you. How were you going to pull that? 

It was near impossible. And with that thought, you went to your room to prepare for the worst.

You were trapped in a town that wasn’t yours. Just like everyone else here, you had magically woken up in your new house, in your new room and had simply been instructed to follow the orders if you wanted to live- no further explanation. What you had gathered so far though was this whole thing had been planned since decades. The New Government- the group of people from all over the world who were the masterminds behind the Eden Droid Project aimed to create an army of droids and then distribute them among the powerful nations so they could have the ultimate leverage over the less powerful nations and make them submit to them. 

It was evil, it was twisted, and when you first began programming for robots instead of droids that were actually humans, you never would have thought that this was what it was going to come to. You worked with your friends Yunho and Wooyoung- an inseparable trio. As soon as your team sensed something darker, you all decided to leave and you cut ties with your family and friends, moving away without any explanation to attempt to make things right again. Your sister was the only one who had an inkling of what was going on and she had kept your parents calm but Jongho…

He didn’t deserve what you did to him, and now he was here. You were probably going to die by his hands. And maybe… maybe you deserved that.

You prayed your family was unconscious just like the common people who weren’t a part of this. Sometimes, you wondered if you had been fed a lie- sure, the world had progressed a lot but how could 99.9 percent of the world’s population be in a state of unconsciousness as they claimed? How was the world functioning? Machines could only handle so much especially if autorun, and droids couldn’t replace humans even if the world had progressed a lot in the past few decades. You were sure you had been brought to another piece of land and fed this lie so you would cooperate with them. 

Whatever it was, you had no choice but to obey. You were not allowed to question anything. And if you gave up on this project and they killed you, it wouldn’t make a difference because someone else would eventually figure out how to fix the droids. 

As you finished showering and sat down in front of the vanity, wrapped in your bathrobe to dry your hair, you wondered if this environment was created for the coders and programmers specifically so they could produce quick results. You felt like a lab rat and the fact that this might be true was making you nauseous. Just when you were about to settle down in bed, you heard the sound of a dull crash and you went to inspect- it looked like the sound came from the direction of Jongho’s room.

Sure enough, Jongho was picking himself up from the floor, brushing his clothes and when he looked at you, he flinched-

In pain.

You started tapping a single word on your thigh repeatedly, hoping he would understand it- just a simple ‘no’. No to whatever he was thinking, no to whatever he was about to do if he managed to get a few moments of clarity as a human. Jongho’s gaze fixed on your thigh and you asked him if everything was okay, continuing to tap that word.

“I heard a crash- did you trip or something? Are you having motor problems?”

“I…I don’t think so, I…” Jongho exhaled loudly, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose as if that could rid him of the ache in his head. “Sorry for disturbing you.”

“Will you let me check if everything is good with you?”

“You can’t access my code here-”

“I actually can, I just haven’t been allowed to,” you told him. He must have known since he didn’t react much. Good, you thought. He was still CJ. “I’ll just have to override the security files… or we could head to the office. It’s going to take the same amount of time.”

“I think I’m fine,” he straightened. “You can check my code in the office in the morning, or right now- whatever you prefer, Miss.”

“Morning it is,” you shrugged, feeling defeated. “Goodnight-”

To your disbelief, Jongho was tapping something on his thigh as well. You did your best to appear nonchalant when he finished tapping a single command. 

“Goodnight, Miss,” he said in his usual flat tone before turning to go back to his room. You took a deep breath before going back to your room and sitting at the edge of the bed as you translated his message.

Help.

—------------------------

You were more suspicious of everyone around you including Jongho now- now more than ever, especially since you just came back to your office after presenting your monthly progress-

Which was little to none, if you had to admit. You did try talking in circles but it never worked in front of the panel.

“You’ve been here for 3 months now, Miss Jeon,” Dr. Seo closed your files detailing your progress and winced as if the lack of your progress physically hurt him. “I can’t tell if you’re being stubborn or if you no longer want to be a part of this. Because there’s no way you haven’t figured it out already.”

“I… I appreciate that you believe in me so much, I really do,” you met eyes with all of your seniors who had seen through every step of your journey especially in the beginning, when things were normal. “But I’m sorry to admit that I really don’t see a future with what we’re trying to achieve. You simply cannot turn a human into a droid and not expect some drawbacks- it’s humans we’re dealing with, not machines.”

“But it has worked brilliantly so far with your help and everyone else’s who has been a part of this team,” Dr. Jin, one of the masterminds behind the Eden Droid Project said. “And I’m sorry but I expected more from you.”

“Has anyone else figured it out yet?” You asked.

“It’s not that we’re comparing you,” his smirk was almost devilish as if he knew exactly what you were hiding. “It’s because we believe you’re the only one who will figure this out. What is the one thing keeping humans from becoming almost the perfect version of droids?”

“Their human nature,” you said.

“What part of it?” He shifted in his chair and you wiped your sweaty hands on your trousers. “Emotions? But you synced them. Is there a fault there, or is it something we haven’t even considered yet?”

You fell silent. They were definitely on to something. 

“Should we have a meeting with the other brilliant coders of this project?” Dr. Seo attempted to break the tension in the air. “Maybe what all our coders need is to interact with each other and exchange ideas.”

You suddenly felt hope- you did consider the possibility that Yunho and Wooyoung were also here, forced to work just like you. If you could just meet them, if you could just see them-

“You know why we haven’t allowed them to meet,” Dr. Jin reprimanded. “I can only allow healthy discussions within the designated teams. Miss Jeon, if you need some help, we will accommodate you as best as we can, but I will have to ask you to be quicker with this. We do not have much time and if we do not come up with a solution first, if another nation beats us to it, we will lose our advantage. Don’t you want to go back home and be with your family?”

And that was it. The last straw. 

You were aware that this was some sort of a race now. Whoever would figure out what was wrong with the droids would have the advantage- they could keep it from other nations. They could use that as a leverage because they would be the ones with an army of droids at their disposal. Droids that could make excellent spies, fighters, doctors, and whatnot. Droids that would be weapons for all the powerful and selfish leaders of this world, to use at their disposal when they terrorise the weaker nations into submission. Sure, this was nothing new- the world was always at war with each other but with droids in the question, it could go very wrong. 

And the fact that they were using your family to bait you? The fact that most of the people here had something to lose if they refused to cooperate? How could you undo all of this? Every day, you cursed yourself for ever being a part of this project, for ever giving them the idea that led to this day, yet beating yourself over it would achieve nothing. You had to take action, soon. You couldn’t let them know that you had the answer already. 

You had to wake Jongho up.

“Everything alright?” Mr. Han asked, having spotted you zoning out in the corner of the office next to the window, glancing at Jongho’s unconscious figure attached to the cords- you hadn’t paid much attention to him today. He approached you and opened a box, revealing an assortment of donuts. You smiled despite yourself, picking a glazed donut.

“I just came back from the monthly report presentation,” you told him and he hummed in understanding. “How did yours go?”

“They reminded me why we’re doing this,” he rolled his eyes and you scoffed. “As if I’ve forgotten.”

“Do you think we can figure it out before someone else does?” You asked casually and he looked at you for a few moments.

“It’s not that I have an insurmountable amount of belief in you,” he began and you relaxed. “You’re only human too, and it’s been tough to be away from what was normal, right?” You nodded and he continued. “But I really do think that you can do this. You just need some time. Should I ask them to allow you to work from home too?”

“I don’t think they will agree, but I appreciate it,” you smiled. “They’re doubtful for the right reasons too, after all.”

Mr. Han shrugged and gave you the box, asking you to share it with CJ when he woke up. “He must be having a hard time.”

“Don’t let the superiors hear that you’re empathising with a droid,” you whispered and he winked at you before he went to his station. You went to yours, hoping the office hours could quickly come to an end before you could unplug Jongho. But…

You needed to access all his code files. “Mr. Han?” 

“Yeah?”

“Do you think I could be granted access to all the code files of this droid? Even if it’s just a preview? I think I should check if some other code is interfering with my code files.”

“Should I make a call?”

“If you can?” You asked and he nodded. You went back to pretending you were actually working and Mr. Han told you that you would know your answer in the morning. 

You hoped they would agree, especially after today’s meeting. If they really thought that you’re the one who should debug the droids, maybe they needed to start trusting you more and stop hiding things.

And when you gain their trust and figure out how to save Jongho…

That’s when you would have to make a decision.

—-------------------------

You were not sure exactly what part of you sitting casually in the living room, watching TV with the smell of your favourite tea filling the room, a donut in your hand, rocked Jongho’s human memory but you watched him faint in front of your eyes and your jaw fell open in shock. You remained still as your own memory flashed in front of your eyes-

“Oh, what a sight,” Jongho shook his head as he entered his living room, finding you already having made home on his couch- a towel on your head and donut in your hand as you watched the TV while you waited for him to come back from the convenience store. Jongho put the groceries on the kitchen counter. “I found your teabags.”

“Oh my god, thank you so much,” you gave him a look of gratitude before turning your attention to the drama. “I would have gone myself but you know how tired I feel after showering- it’s like a sign that my day is over and I should just relax.”

“Yeah, and how convenient for you that your boyfriend is willing to do anything for you, huh?”

“Of course,” you muttered absently, eyes widening at the turn of events playing in the drama. Jongho turned on the kettle and sneaked behind you, planting a kiss on your cheek that caught you by surprise and you looked at him as a smile made its way on your lips. 

“What was that for?”

“For being cute?” He booped your nose before going back to the kitchen and pouring the hot water in the cup. You weren’t interested in the drama anymore- you turned your full attention to him. He hummed an unfamiliar song before bringing the cups to you. 

“Did you leave some donuts for me or are they already long gone?”

“Of course I did,” you pouted. “Kept your favourite ones.”

“Good,” he slung his arm around your shoulders and you snuggled into him, making him laugh when your towel bumped with his face. You spent the next few minutes wrestling him as he tried to get the towel out of the way while you argued that on one condition- that he dry your hair for you. Jongho pouted in response, nothing going his way and you pecked his lips to make amends, handing him his favourite donut and he could only smile in defeat. 

You poked the droid’s thigh with your bare feet- he really was unconscious. You sucked in an annoyed breath- how you wished there were no surveillance cameras in your living room. You moved Jongho’s limbs so he was in a more comfortable position and went back to what you were doing.

Sure, you couldn't do anything about this right now but you sure hoped that whoever was going to give you the pass for accessing Jongho’s code files in your home would see this moment and make his decision afterwards. For now, you finished your donut and tea and as soon as Jongho moved, you sat down on the floor next to him and began tapping on his thigh.

Don’t.

One single word, but perhaps Jongho’s mind was too hazy- his eyes widened in recognition and you subtly shook your head no but it wasn’t enough-

“What are you-”

“Ah, good thing you’re back,” you attempted to sound normal but perhaps your unusually high pitch betrayed you. “What do you think? I should be allowed to access your code files at home now, no?”

It wasn’t CJ- it was Jongho looking at you in confusion, and you were so glad your legs blocked the sight of Jongho linking his hand with yours and squeezing it in confusion, in desperation. You squeezed them back to assure him that you knew, that you could hear him even when he couldn’t speak. That you understood him even when he was not himself. 

“Do you recall what you felt right before fainting?” You asked.

“Uh… confusion. Haziness.”

“All normal- are you feeling alright now? We can call for permission to access your code if you think it’s necessary right now, CJ.” 

“I wouldn’t know,” he muttered and he shut his eyes as if in pain. You immediately unlinked your hands and when he opened his eyes, the blue lens in his left eye flickered-

CJ was back.

The droid immediately started getting up and you followed, straightening your clothes awkwardly. “Sorry for the inconvenience, Miss.”

“Oh, that’s alright. Would you like a donut?”

His brows furrowed in confusion and you went back to your seat, sliding the box towards him. When he opened it they were all half eaten- neatly cut in the middle.

“Sorry. I really had to taste all of the flavours. Kept a whole one for you, though. You might like it.”

You pointed at the chocolate-dipped donut and internally cursed yourself for asking him to join you for donuts. You had kept them to rock his memory but considering the events of today, you didn’t need to do that anyway. He stared at that donut for a long time before he finally picked it up to eat.

And you knew then- whatever happened tonight was enough. Whatever went through Jongho’s head tonight was enough- you didn’t have much time. You needed to save him before the human in him gets lost forever. With that thought, you went to your room.

To prepare for the battle ahead. One that might cost a lot of lives. One that was necessary to fight, to undo the damage you had done to this world.

—--------------------------

“Miss Jeon, I would advise you to drop your gun and talk it out,” Mr. Han’s fatherly tone almost made you put the gun you had been aiming at his direction down on the nearest surface and follow his orders- talk it out.

Except there was nothing to talk about anymore. Everything had gone so very wrong, so very quickly.

“And risk an arrest? Or worse? I’d rather not,” you attempted to scoff but it came out more like a whimper.

“Come on- what did you hear?” Mr. Han never moved the gun aimed for your head- good thing you were both stationed at opposite ends of the room. 

“Oh? Should I have heard something then?” You cocked your head. “What I saw was enough.”

What you saw was the file on his desk regarding the self-destruct code installed in the droids that were assigned to different coders- including Jongho. You weren’t sure if it was a careless mistake or if he left it out on purpose for you to see- maybe it was a mistake since you rarely ever went to his part of the office. But your suspicions were confirmed- they had indeed installed some self-destruct files in Jongho in case someone tried to meddle with his code. So with that anger- with that boiling, seething anger, when you went to find Mr. Han and confront him, you spotted him in the next building through the window talking to none other than Dr. Jin.

You couldn’t help but wonder how much of this was planned. Anger consumed you and within minutes, you were back in your office overriding Jongho’s code files and putting him to sleep and then hacking your building’s system to turn off the CCTVs- just like you had practised so many times in the past few days. They may have the best coders and programmers in this building and you probably had seconds, but…

They had forgotten that you were the pioneer of this damned project. You were what they were against, and you had to surprise them again, just like the first time you did when you were still a stupid teen who thought they did something smart. You attached a USB in the main PC with an auto-run file to keep the system glitching while you unplugged Jongho and hastily put his shirt back on his unconscious body. 

You had a couple of minutes at most- you went to Mr. Han’s desk and grabbed all the files you could and stuffed them in your briefcase, taking out the gun you had slipped past the detectors a few days ago during a system crash episode- pure luck. The gun had been in your car for a while but as soon as you saw the chance, you slipped it into your office, not knowing you’d need it this soon. You weren’t surprised to see that Mr. Han kept a gun of his own- you were simply disappointed.

The lights flickered on and off and you figured the technicians must be having a tough time figuring out exactly what was wrong. You could hear your shallow breaths as you shifted your grip on the gun, the sweat from your palms making it feel slippery. 

“If you think you know what’s happening here, you’re wrong, sweetheart,” Mr. Han shook his head. “I’ve been following orders just like you. I can’t believe you’re being this reckless when you too must have a family waiting for you. Someone they use as leverage against you.”

“Almost everyone is here against their will,” you corrected him. “You’re no different than the rest of them. So go ahead. Go ahead and shoot me, but if you do, you’ll lose everything and everyone you love. Eden cannot debug droids without me- I’m sure of it.”

“I never intended to shoot you,” he sighed, lowering his gun and you frowned. “If we’re not being watched right now… we don’t need to do this.”

“Aim your gun at me either way,” you told him and he obeyed. “Did you know that CJ was going to be assigned to me?”

“I knew a droid was going to be assigned to you, but not the specifics. Is there a problem with CJ?”

“A problem?” You scoffed. “Imagine you were in my shoes and it was your wife that was assigned to you as the droid you needed to fix. How would you feel?”

When Mr. Han paled visibly, you realised he may not have known CJ’s identity after all. “CJ… is he someone you know?”

“You don’t know?”

“I don’t know everything, y/n,” he pleaded. “I’m only following orders and supervising you- though you hardly need that.”

“He’s the person I tried to protect all these years,” you bit your lips as you looked at Jongho’s limp figure on the stretcher. “Can you imagine how I’ve been feeling all along? I have to turn him into a droid or else he’ll be killed.”

“I’m sorry, I really am, y/n,” Mr. Han lowered his gun. “Damned be the consequences. What do you plan to do?”

“I’m going to run away,” you told him, lowering your own gun. “With CJ. He won’t self-destruct for now, I’ve taken care of it.”

“They’ll find you,” Mr. Han said. “There’s no way you can be on the road and not be found. The car must have a tracking device.”

“I took care of that too- all it will take is a click. As for them spotting me… I think I know how to take care of that as well…”

“Of course you do,” Mr. Han laughed in disbelief. “Tell me… you know how to fix the droids, don’t you?”

When you didn’t respond, he nodded. “Tell you what- you can do whatever you want from here, but never, ever fix the droids, okay? You hear me?”

You passed a weak smile in response and he finally approached you, emptying his gun and handing you the extra bullets. “I won’t need them.”

“They’ll punish you for letting me go.”

“You can knock me out- I’ll play dumb for as long as I can,” he grinned. “Besides, I don’t think the cameras caught me entering the office.”

“Can you help me get Jongho in the car first?”

Which was how a few minutes later, you found yourself on the road, a jamming device fixed on the dashboard to make the surveillance cameras glitch whenever you would pass. You sped through the unfamiliar roads but you knew you would need to ditch your car soon- there was no way you could blend in when this was a black SUV with the office plate. You looked around the billboards and the street signs for any clue of your location but they were all blank or painted over. The only guide you had was the map in the car but that turned off as soon as you strayed away from your usual path.

You considered waking Jongho up and asking for help but there was no guarantee he wasn’t going to try something that would cost you both a lot. You decided to keep going forward and look for an abandoned building- it was getting dark and you needed to sort this mess out before you could proceed forward. Sure, you had prepared beforehand- you had everything you needed in the trunk of your car, discreetly putting necessities in the bag day after day since the beginning. From tools to clothes to food, you had everything.

Now you just needed to take care of Jongho- currently sprawled across the backseat, his hands fastened with a cable tie. You had no doubts he could still overpower you but for now, you had to make do with what you had. So when you spotted an empty area of the town with a few warehouses, you decided to take a chance and make home in one of them. You parked your car in the narrow space between two warehouses, deciding to hide it later with the empty tubs lined next to the walls. You searched the car for a physical tracking device and when you found it, you crushed it under your feet- you needed to take the jamming device inside with you so this was necessary. Then you turned off the infotainment system for good and finally sighed in relief.

You had done it- you finally ran away.

Just like you had run away from home two years ago.

You looked at Jongho from the front mirror and recalled the last day you had spent with him and your family- a memory you had kept in your heart as the days following got lonelier and regretful-

“Wonder what’s gotten into her,” your sister, Cookie, whispered to Jongho. “Did you propose to her? Is she showing off her housewife skills? Which are little to none, by the way…”

“Please,” Jongho scoffed. “I think she’s just collectively going to poison us all. She’s still sour about how we ditched her to go hiking last weekend, isn’t she?”

“Yeah, well that would make more sense,” Cookie said. “But it was her fault- I asked but she was too busy with her little codes to process what I said and told me to get out. That’s a no, right?”

“Definitely-”

“I can hear you both, you know,” you said, looking at the two. While at other times, you would have chucked something at them and ensued chaos, this time, you simply smiled at the sigh of your little sister and your boyfriend standing shoulder to shoulder as they watched you arrange everything you had cooked (or bought- they didn’t need to know that) on the trays. When you were finally pleased with the presentation, you asked them to help you take the trays out to the backyard where you were going to have a little party- all of you.

The two obeyed and marched outside singing another song that you didn’t know- Jongho and your sister got along way too well and were usually partnering against you. He probably adored her more than you but your sister was smart and knew she had to be on good terms with him so he could spoil her- and spoil he did. 

Your heart ached at the sight of the two and you prayed they would stay like this forever- happy. Even without you. You hoped they could fill your absence in the house and make your parents feel better.

Jongho’s parents cheered for you when you came out. “This is something your sister usually plans but we’re glad you’re not holed up in your room for once.”

“Thanks, uncle,” you laughed. “Just wanted a little breather.”

“You should have joined us last weekend!” His mom sighed in happiness. “The view was so good and the air so fresh. I think I feel younger ever since I came back.”

“I thought you felt older- you were complaining about your kneecaps- ow!” Jongho earned a smack on the back of his head from you and everyone laughed at that. Your mom patted the space next to her and you took the seat, urging her to try the sandwiches you made. The air filled with the sound of their laughs and you felt warm all over as you looked at each one of them, not saying much but committing this memory to your heart. 

You went to take a walk with Jongho later that night to share a beer and go to the park to sit on the swings and relax. Jongho asked you if everything was okay- he never missed anything.

“Perfectly fine,” you assured him. “I don’t think I’ll ever forget today.”

“Me neither,” he smiled and you clicked your cans before drinking. “You’re a bit different today, y/n. If something is bothering you… you can tell me, you know that, right?”

“I know. I trust you, Jongho,” you looked at him. “You know that you’re the one person I trust the most in this world, right?”

Jongho frowned at the sudden confession but nodded. You continued. “And you know that I love you, right?”

Jongho would have gotten flustered and teased you but tonight, he noticed the sadness in your voice. “What is up with you? What are you planning?”

“Nothing,” you laughed. “Just wanted to tell you this before the night is over.”

Jongho narrowed his eyes but when you didn’t give in, he sighed. 

“I don’t know what the matter is, but I hope you know that I trust you too. And I love you too. You’re not alone. You know that, right?”

“I know,” your smile was genuine. “I know.”

And the fact that you were not alone was what needed to change. In the middle of the night, you packed your necessities and left the note for your sister in her room by her bedside which said that you ran away to protect them and you would return soon, but no one could know. You told her to stay strong for you and help the rest cope. You apologised for the burden you gave her but she knew- she had seen you cry in your room for so many nights. She knew you had done something and the guilt was eating you up. She knew it was related to your job.

You prayed Jongho would remember the conversation you had with him and not blame himself.

Perhaps, he did blame himself. Perhaps he never gave up trying to find you, which was how they found him. Maybe running away wasn’t the best choice since they found Jongho anyway- your eyes welled up with tears at the thought of all the lost time, the years you could have spent with your family. Maybe you would never see them again now. With tears rolling down your cheeks and a blurry vision, you surveyed the area and deciding that it looked safe enough for now, you dragged Jongho inside and propped him on a bench, coughing due to the dust. You took off his shirt again and plugged him to your laptop- there were some things you needed to get done immediately- check if you were being tracked, check if Jongho’s trackers were all blocked now, see if there were any signals nearby- droids or not, and finally-

Find out your coordinates.

—-----------------------------

“We are not in the office.”

“Clearly,” you muttered, hugging yourself tighter with your folded arms as you looked at the droid seated in front of you, unbound this time. The droid scanned the new environment, his eyes lingering at the odd things in front of him- especially at the cord and your laptop, your bags and the packets of snacks sprawled on the table between you.

“This is unauthorised,” Jongho stated. 

“Yes,” you admitted. “What are you programmed to do in case you find yourself in a situation like this?”

“Find my way back. If I cannot, I will have to activate the self-destruct code.”

“Going to be quite an explosion, huh?” You sighed.

“It will be very dangerous for you, yes,” he looked down at his limbs. Was he surprised that he was untied for once? “Why are we here?”

“Are you programmed to find out the reason for your unauthorised absence before you make a decision?”

He wasn’t. You got that from the red flicker in his usually blue lens in the left eye. This was the humane curiosity in him questioning things a droid shouldn’t have cared about. You shifted in your position- you hadn’t really planned this conversation so you would have to tread carefully from here on.

“Jongho,” you locked eyes with him. “What is the next step that you are going to take?”

“I can’t access the server,” Jongho frowned. “My code has been altered.”

“You didn’t ask how I know your name,” you whispered. “Choi Jongho. Don’t you remember me?”

“I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what you’re talking about,” an unrelenting answer from a droid.

“Are you programmed to self-destruct if your identity is found out?” You asked. He shook his head no. “Interesting. That can only mean they sent you to me knowing we had history. Do you remember the last time you saw me?”

“In the office-”

“No, you, Choi Jongho. Not CJ. You,” you insisted and he finally frowned- it was working. “How did you feel to learn that I ran away?”

“I… don’t know.”

“You know,” you told him. “Your memories are just locked away. Deep inside, here,” you tapped your temple. “All you gotta do is dig in and think. Remember when you, CJ, saw me with the donuts? Did it rock a memory of yours?”

When he didn’t respond and continued to stare at you, his lens flickering, you leaned forward. “How did you know how I like my tea?”

That was another odd thing that took place a few days ago. No one could make your tea the way you liked it. Only Jongho knew, and only he could make it perfectly every time. Sometimes you wondered if you simply liked the drink he made because he was the one who made it. 

“I don’t know. I just made it how I learned to-”

“Learned from where?” You asked. “From me. We learned to make it together, Jongho. Two dips, let it sit, add exactly 1/4th spoon of honey and dip thrice. Don’t mix it, let it sit for exactly two minutes before you take the teabag out and mix the honey. How did you know? It’s your muscle memory, Jongho. It’s what makes you human.”

Jongho’s eyes widened just a fraction and you relaxed. You had him now. “We’ve been so close to home all this time, Jongho. I found out where we are- only a few hundred miles away from home, an abandoned town. I thought we were someplace else entirely. I thought only we were the ones awake and the rest of the world was asleep- surely they would have searched for you if not for me, right?” 

He shook his head as if in disbelief of what he was hearing. You sighed. “How did they find you, Jongho? Did they find you… or did you find them?”

“Y/n.”

Even though your name was called in warning, your lips parted in surprise because this wasn’t CJ- this was Jongho who called your name. And goodness, how long had it been since the last time you heard your name roll from his lips? How long had you waited for this moment?

You shifted to get up but he raised a hand in the air, muttering ‘don’t’ and you sat right back down. His eyes twitched in pain and he groaned deeply. “You need to get out of here- leave me here and run.”

“Jongho-”

“You haven’t deactivated any trackers- they know you’re here, they meant for this to happen-”

“What are you talking about?” You whispered, blood rushing to your head and making your vision darken for a moment. 

“They even know what we’re talking about right now,” Jongho cried out and you put a hand on your mouth in sheer horror, sweat taking root in every pore of your body. 

Muscle memory, Jongho. It’s what makes you human.

Oh, how absolutely foolish you had been. Jongho got up and whispered, “They’re near.”

You mirrored his actions but almost fell on the floor due to the dizziness- everything was too much. This is not happening. Nothing made sense anymore- you had deactivated every tracker- how could they have found you-

There was a tracker on you.

How could you have been so incredibly stupid?

Jongho reached you in a hurry, the lens no longer a blue or red but simply transparent, revealing his brown orbs as he grabbed you by the arms and shook you a little. “Come to your senses, y/n. You have to get out of here- I don’t know what they’ll do with us. I’ll stay back and distract them-”

“No,” you cried, feeling nauseous all of a sudden. “I’ve run away once. I won’t run away again.”

“This is not running away,” he smiled a little as if it finally dawned on him that he was here so close to you, he was human and he had you in his arms. His hands were steady as they found your face, tucking your hair behind so lovingly, eyes travelling on every inch of your face.

“Don’t you look at me like it’s the last time,” you whispered. “Don’t you dare leave me, Jongho.”

But perhaps, it wasn’t meant to be. Not this time. You heard the unmistakable sound of vehicles- not one but too many vehicles circling the warehouse. Jongho sighed in defeat yet from the look in his eyes and the smile on his lips, it seemed like he wouldn’t want to be anywhere but here. He cupped your face and leaned in, locking his lips with yours and the tears that had been threatening to spill finally found a reason to. He kissed you surely and soundly, breaking apart to wrap his arms around you, his fingers on your back tapping rhythmically-

Morse code.

“What-”

“Shh,” he urged, tapping again. “Everything will be okay. Don’t forget this moment, alright?”

You nodded and buried your face in his chest- your safe space. “Have you forgiven me for running away?” You asked as the sound of the door being slammed open echoed in the warehouse- so loud yet the sound of his dull heartbeat was louder.

“Oh, we will talk about that. One day,” he assured you. “But for now… I love you, y/n. I hope you remember that.”

“I hope you remember that I love you,” you countered, breaking away just to get a good look at his face, at his messy curls falling on his forehead, at the absolute adoration in his eyes replaced by devastation when the soldiers who came barging in pulled you from him harshly and the last thing you saw was him screaming your name before you felt something slam against your head and the roaring in your ears finally came to a silence. You welcomed the darkness this time.

—-------------------------

“Y/n! Will you please wake up? I need to go to the convenience store and I need some company!”

“Go alone, Cookie” you groaned, “Let me sleep some more.”

“I’ll treat you to fried chicken.”

Now that was something worth opening an eye to take a good look at your little sister. Was she bribing you? Clearly. Was it working?

“Give me 15 minutes,” you said, getting up with a groan and she grinned. “I need to get ready.”

“It’s almost evening so take a jacket, you’ve been out cold for far too long. Thought I’d let you know the day has ended!” Cookie called as she left your room. 

Perhaps, getting up immediately was a mistake- it seemed like all the blood rushed down from your head and you fell back on your bed unceremoniously. You groaned in pain- why were you having the worst headache of your life?

When you felt stable enough to move, you made your way to the toilet and washed your face, noticing a fading bruise on your left temple. Now how did you get that? You reached for your toothbrush-

It was not there. Odd. You did not remember throwing it away- if you did, where was the replacement? Groggily, you made your way back to your room to check the cupboard where you kept your supplies and found no signs of a toothbrush.

“Cookie, what prank are you playing with me now?”

“What do you mean?” She called from her room.

“Where did you hide my toothbrush?”

“Why would I hide your toothbrush?”

“To prank me?” You yelled in frustration. “I won’t go to the store with you if you keep this up.”

You heard the angry pads of her footsteps. “Look, that prank was one time. You were so mad I wouldn’t try it again.”

You narrowed your eyes in suspicion. “The smirk on your lips says otherwise.”

“That’s just me finding this funny,” she flipped her hair dramatically as she went back to her room and you sighed deeply, the voice of your mom calling your names in warning stirring something deep inside you.

I will not cry over a missing toothbrush, you told yourself and got ready, wearing a denim jacket over a casual outfit. You went into the living room to drink some water and when you turned-

You almost dropped your glass.

“Can you pour me a little too?” Your mom asked and you found your mouth going dry, nodding subconsciously as you reached for another glass. You watched her drink- why did it look like she had aged a whole lot since you last saw her? Didn’t you just see her last night? Didn’t you spot the grey in her hair, the wrinkles around her eyes ever before?

Or maybe you always saw her but never cared to look. Your mom made a face at you, making you laugh a little as you broke out of your trance. “What’s up?”

“Nothing,” you shook your head. “I was just counting your grey hairs.”

“Y/n,” she laughed loudly. “I think this is my sign to book a salon appointment.”

“Yes, mother!” Cookie came in, squeezing her shoulders. “You should get your grey strands dyed a fun colour- like pink.”

“Oh, come on, what will your dad think?”

“I think he’ll like it,” she winked. “We’re going out- be back before curfew!” Cookie grabbed your hand and dragged you out before your mom could say her usual chant- stay safe, don’t do stupid things, don’t fight, and so on. It seemed like forever since you had heard that and a part of you wished you had stayed to hear it.

Before you knew it, you were deep in a heated discussion about school being fun versus school being a bad memory. Of course, for Cookie, everything was fun. It was kind of endearing how she always saw the positive in everything and made sure to enjoy every moment. You, however, were the pessimistic of the two, though you preferred the term ‘realist’. School did have fun moments, yes, but you didn’t have a normal school experience at all- you were always working with the teachers and seniors who could code. While that was the beginning of your career, you didn’t get to interact with people much and they didn’t make an effort when you had some normal moments.

It was a relief then that Jongho was in your class and never made you feel alone, you wondered as you finished the argument with your sister and the food. She was paying the bill- a rare occurrence because ever since you started working at a very young age, you made sure to spoil her (a mistake- the brat learned that she could convince you to get her anything). Cookie turned to smirk in some sense of superiority she felt for having treated you and you let her have that moment, chuckling as you exited.

“Ah, the weather’s nice,” you looked up at the sky- it was too cloudy to see any stars. “I’m craving beer. When will you get old enough for beer?”

“Just a few more months, sis. We’ll see who’s the better drinker out of us.”

“Yeah, I might be bad, but you can’t beat Jong-”

“Oh, would you look at that,” Cookie pointed at a cafe at the end of the street. “I heard they’ve added cookies to their menu. Let’s get some to take home.”

You rolled your eyes. There was a reason you called her Cookie. Before you could protest, she was already speed-walking, her short hair flowing behind her and you struggled to catch up, looking at your surroundings. 

“Yo, wasn’t there a barbeque place here?”

Cookie paused to look at you. “That was like what- two? Three years ago? You should really leave the house more. Being cooped up in your room all day is doing something to your memory, I swear-”

“It’s not that,” you, for once, didn’t argue, telling her to get some for dad too while you decided to wait outside. 

Why did everything feel so… new? Tangible? You looked at your hand, moving it- were you dissociating? Was it that strange realisation that you were real? But it didn’t explain the ache in your heart since the moment you opened your eyes today. And you were glad Cookie was lost in her own thoughts on the short walk back home, giving you time to think. Just like always, you made a tray with cookies and milk and knocked on your parents’ room, entering when they gave the signal.

“Oh, dear,” your dad sighed in happiness. “Just what I wanted.”

“Long day?” You asked, grinning when they took the tray and placed it on the bed.

“Not really, but was just craving something sweet,” he smiled and you scanned his face- again, the sadness in his eyes was something unfamiliar to you.

“Well, enjoy your cookies. My Cookie is waiting for me outside.”

“Always attached at the hip,” your mom shook her head. “I don’t know how they do that when she’s home all day and the little one is rarely ever home.”

You scoffed when they continued that discussion, exiting the room to see Cookie smiling cheekily with the box of cookies open and one glass of milk-

“Cookie.”

“I don’t like milk!” She protested. “You drink milk. I only dip- why do I need a new glass?”

“I don’t like to dip cookies in the milk!” You argued, sitting across from her. “I don’t like the crumbs you leave!”

“Well, what am I supposed to do?” She pouted. “You won’t drink the leftover milk if I get my own glass?”

“Nope,” you shook your head sternly. “Want me to call Jongho over? He can share with you.”

“And who’s Jongho?” Cookie frowned.

“Oh, please,” you took a bite of the chocolatey goodness. “As if this prank is gonna work on me.”

“No, but seriously, who’s Jongho?” Cookie wriggled her brows. “New imaginary boyfriend?”

“Imaginary?”

“Yes, imaginary. How would you find a boyfriend when you’re home alone- oh, is Jongho a bot?”

You rolled your eyes so hard that you felt an ache. You unlocked your phone to dial his number but found no contact saved. Frowning, you typed his number- did you accidentally delete his contact info? 

“This number does not exist.”

“Strange,” you muttered. “Did Jongho change his number? Did you know about this and decided to prank me because of this?”

“Aren’t you the one pranking me right now?” Cookie actually paused to stare at you. “Who’s Jongho?”

“Choi Jongho? The neighbour kid? Your best friend? Your big brother? My boyfriend? Do I need to say more?” You laughed in disbelief. “Don’t push my buttons by taking it too far.”

“Y/n, are you… are you okay? We don’t know anyone named Jongho. And what do you mean the neighbour’s kid? They never had one- they moved two years ago, don’t you remember?”

Two years. You were hearing this number a lot today. You went to your room to grab a photo of Jongho and slam it on your sister’s face but the grid on your desk only had polaroids of you and your family- no signs of Jongho. Feeling the hair on your neck rise, you unlocked your phone again to find some photos but again, no signs of him. You started sprawling through your drawers, checking your laptops, the pockets of your clothes, your eyes a blurry mess and when you heard the small voice of your sister calling your name, you looked at her.

“Where did you hide the photos? Please tell me, I need to look at him-”

“Y/n, come to your senses,” she sank down on her knees in front of you. “Who are you talking about?”

You glared at her before snatching your hands and marching to her room- you examined the grid on her desk- again, no signs of Jongho. You went through the things on her desk, opening the drawers-

“What are you doing?” Cookie whimpered and you turned to see her crying as well. “What’s wrong? What’s wrong with you, tell me.”

This couldn’t be happening. “It’s Jongho, don’t you remember? The one who taught you how to ride a bike? The one who protected you when you were being picked on in elementary school?” Tears rolled down in succession on both your faces- one trying to pick all the pieces that were threatening to disappear and the other trying to make sense of them. “Jongho, the one you called big brother? The milk to your cookie? The jelly to your peanut butter? Don’t you remember?”

“I- I don’t,” Cookie cried harder, sinking to the floor and breathing as if something was consuming her from the inside. 

“My Jongho, Cookie,” you whispered, gripping her desk. “The love of my life. You had a whole document on your computer about all your plans for our wedding- you made that when you were ten,” you laughed and Cookie chuckled as well, crying harder. “How can you forget?”

“I don’t know!” Cookie’s voice was loud in denial. “I don’t know him!” 

“Don’t you remember when I made food for all of you and you teased us about marriage and how I was preparing to be a housewife?” You laughed at the memory, Cookie’s ‘you made food?!’ indicating she was somehow more surprised to hear that. “We had that little party in the garden, his family and ours, remember?”

“That was-” Cookie paused, frowning. “I remember a party in the garden but… there were our neighbours there, yes, but not someone named Jongho- that was two years ago, right?”

Two years.

“Why did we have that party? Why did you make food?” Cookie looked at you, partly horrified as the dreadful realisation made its way to your mind.

“I… we had that party because I was going to run away. I… I ran away- how am I here?” You looked at your hands and then at Cookie. “How am I here?”

“Uh… this is your home?”

Home. You hadn’t stepped inside your home in two years.

It all started coming back to you in a series of chronological events- from that party to you running away from home and living in a studio apartment that Jeong Yunho had arranged for you. The two of you working to undo everything about that damned project that you could-

That damned project.

Droids.

“Oh… oh goodness-” you rushed to the toilet as a wave of nausea overtook you and threw up, groaning as you clutched your hair- Cookie was quick enough to help take care of your hair while you threw up some more, sobbing along. Your sister was also wise enough to shut the door and let you sob a little before urging you to get up and wash your face, helping you clean up. Once you were done and you had downed a glass of water, Cookie took you to her room and made you wrap a blanket around yourself- necessary at this point since you were shivering.

“You need to start making sense now. What’s happening?” 

You looked at your little sister. You hadn't seen her in two whole years, and she had grown so much in that time. She was also an inch taller than you now, you had noticed while walking. “Do you remember what we did yesterday?”

“Of course,” Cookie folded her arms. “You were in your room all day-”

“And the day before?” You asked. “And the day before that?”

Cookie’s brows finally unfurrowed in realisation. “I… I don’t remember.”

“Do you remember the note I gave you two years ago?” You asked. “The one that told you I was running away?” 

When it looked like she was still lost, you sighed deeply, looking around. “If I gave you a note that told you that I was going to run away but you could tell no one that I’m running away for a reason… that I’ll be back and you have to take care of everyone… where would you hide it, knowing you have to pretend you know nothing as well?”

“I don’t know,” Cookie sighed in frustration. “Why don’t I remember?”

“You’ll get your answers,” you got up, running your fingers along her bookshelf. “Where would you hide something like a secret note? Think, Cookie. They couldn’t have searched that deep, they couldn’t have found that.”

Cookie got up, looking around, and almost mechanically, she went for her underwear drawer and despite everything, you laughed. Of course. No one would dare rummage through her private things- but it got better. She had it taped on the inside of a bra.

“I don’t wear this one, so,” Cookie admitted and you shook your head, watching her open the note and read it again and again. “Make it make sense.”

“Where do I start?”

“From the beginning. Tell me everything.”

—------------------------------

Seeing a familiar face after riding a train all day was what finally gave you some strength to believe that things would be alright, and what finally put a smile on your face as you walked to your mentor, partner-in-crime (quite literally) and old friend, Jeong Yunho. When he spread his arms with a sad smile on his face, you didn’t hesitate to hug him, muttering how sorry you were to learn that he went through something quite similar to what you did.

“I’m just glad you’re safe, little one,” he broke the hug to look at you. “Are we sure there’s no tracker on you?”

“None- they put one on here,” you turned your arm to tap your shoulder blade. “Almost like a needle, Yunho. I would have missed it.”

“What did you do with it? If it’s stationary, they would know-”

“I put it on my sister,” you grinned. “And told her to act like me until I’m back.”

“Hoho, look at you,” he scoffed in amusement. “Finally told her everything?”

“Had to,” you sighed. “And this was the one step that I did not want to take, but she suggested that she could hold the tracker for me,” you handed one of your bags to Yunho who opened his car trunk and tossed it inside. When you were seated on his passenger seat, you asked, “How’s your brother?”

“Oh, all good. He forbade me to come back to the office after he saw the state I was in- broken limbs and everything. I don’t know how I managed to run away. Only a few months later and when I tell him you need me? He lends me his car with a threat that I better bring it back unscratched.”

“Damn,” you whistled. “Better keep that promise.”

“What about you, y/n?” He asked. 

“Do you remember how they took me? That part is still a bit blurry.”

“I thought they tailed me and found your apartment, but turns out you were just unlucky and they spotted you when you were going to Wooyoung’s place. They tailed you- I tailed them- it was a mess. Wooyoung and I barely managed to escape and when we opened our eyes, we were tied to chairs.”

“You were tied? Alone? Is he okay?”

“Yeah,” he laughed. “They should have tied my legs better- I walked around with the chair tied to me until I found someone and they helped us.”

“I can’t believe I missed that sight,” you exhaled in disappointment and he shook his head. 

“You should have seen yourself. I thought they killed you or something. What happened after?”

“Well… I woke up in a new world, Yunho. All futuristic with savvy tech and whatnot. It didn’t look like home. I was alone in a luxurious apartment that wasn’t mine, with a set of instructions to follow. Once I got to the office, I learned that all of us who were present had something to do with the Eden Droid Project- or something to contribute. There were coders, engineers, doctors, literally everyone they could find. We couldn’t ask questions, we weren’t allowed to talk other than for work, and we were watched like hawks. We were made to believe that only we were the ones awake while the rest of the world was on pause. Honestly, if there weren’t people like us there, it would have been so much more difficult.”

“Was there someone you knew there?”

“Dr. Seo. Dr. Jin. The big brains behind the Eden Droid Project- you remember them, right?”

“By faces, yes,” he asked you to hand his water bottle and drank a few sips while he drove on the highway. “So… what next?”

“My team- we were all tasked to work together to fix the droids. The droids that I programmed and the codes that Dr. Jin took forcefully from me when we were his interns.”

“He should have waited until we had perfected them,” Yunho scoffed and you mirrored that. 

“So it’s all starting to feel normal, a month passes. I realise I need to somehow run away and expose what they’re doing, but I have literally no idea what my location is and there’s no one to trust. And to make things worse, they have this brilliant idea to assign Jongho to me. They turned him into a droid, Yunho.”

“Oh… crap,” Yunho glanced at you. “Is he okay?”

“I don’t know,” you pursed your lips. “They decided that I needed to monitor a droid closely and figure out what was interfering with his droid mechanisms. They knew who he was and what he meant to me. They must have had a good laugh seeing me pretend I didn’t know him.

“Anyways, he’s not functioning properly as a droid- seeing me triggers him into remembering whatever memories they’ve locked away inside his brain. I can see that he’s suffering, yet I can do nothing about it, even when he tells me to help. I trust the first person who acted like he cared- Mr. Han, my team’s supervisor. He does help me escape but…”

“But it’s all a part of their plan.”

“Bingo,” you sighed. “I run away with his help, take Jongho far away from all of this, block every tracker and finally get Jongho to feel human long enough to speak- and he tells me what this- all of this was a part of their plan. This was like a simulation for me- I was a player in their game and they waited until I won- or thought so. That’s when they got their answer to the question- what was making droids not act like humans?”

“What?”

“The link between their subconscious brain and muscle memory, Yunho. That’s been the key this whole time.”

“Oh. Oh!” Yunho almost stopped his car in excitement. “How did we miss that?”

“There’s a reason they got Jongho to be a player too,” you shook your head. “Did you find any signs of him?”

“Not yet, but I will continue my search tonight,” Yunho said. “Why did they let you go, though?”

“I don’t know,” you sank down in your seat, hugging yourself. “I woke up back in my house and they made it look like I had been there all this time. But… strangely, only I remembered Jongho. They locked away everyone’s memories, wiped any physical signs of him- whatever they could find. Cookie forgot who Jongho was too- she still doesn’t remember but she believes me thanks to the note I gave her before I ran away two years ago.”

“If they knew where you lived during that span of two years, they would have made it look like you were there all along. That might have been more believable for you, and could have worked- but maybe not. Wooyoung and I would have found you anyway.”

“Does he still blame me for what happened two years ago?”

You, Wooyoung and Yunho were teammates in the initial days of the Eden Droid Project. You were their supervisor and leading the project, and Wooyoung always had qualms about what you all did- rightfully so. When everything went wrong, you had an argument and a falling out with him. Yunho tried for a long time to get you two to talk to each other but without success so he let you two be. You and Wooyoung did often share your files as you all were working to expose the project but that was it. 

“He’s forgiven you. He forgave you long ago- he was just being stubborn,” Yunho chuckled. “When he learned you were taken, he’s the one who tried the hardest to find you. Harder than me too.”

“God, he’s so dramatic,” you chuckled. “Do I get to meet him now?”

“Oh, yes,” Yunho grinned. “He’s waiting for you- party hat and all.”

“No way.”

He was. Party hat and all. You couldn’t believe how much he changed- his hair was longer, he looked more mature, but he still had those fierce eyes and lovely smile. He greeted you with a glare but as soon as your smile fell, he laughed and you finally joined, smacking the hat on his head before hugging him.

“I’m just glad to see you’re unscratched- oh, that looks painful.”

“Glad to see you’re in good spirits too,” you touched your temple- the bruise didn’t hurt anymore but it was an ugly shade of green now. “What did I miss?”

“What did we miss?” Wooyoung turned to get the tofu lying on the table.

“Yep- that certainly was no less than a prison,” you laughed, your stomach growling at the sight of the variety of food on the table. “Can we talk while we eat?”

And so, you briefed them of your ‘prison time’ again, connecting the dots with their help- they intended only to get you from the beginning because only you could have solved that mystery of why the droids acted so much like humans- the link between their subconscious memories and muscle memory was too strong. You could lock away a person’s memory, sure, but the subconscious was something you hadn’t messed with yet, and never intended to either. The reason the people of that project could manipulate memories was because of your team too.

When the three of you were interns in the Droid Project, they had told you to code for machines, not humans. That was how you began. Artificial intelligence was nothing new, you were just aiming to take it to the next level. When they told you that you needed to start coding to make droids, they talked about a better world- a world where soldiers could be able to fight better to defend their land. A world where a doctor could hold an insurmountable amount of knowledge and skills. A world where a patient wouldn’t have to feel all of the pain he would be in. A world where, they mused, you could cook anything you like for yourself without having to go through the trouble of thinking if you were capable. It wasn’t such a bad idea to code for that world.

But it was Wooyoung who accidentally heard what the real deal was. And when he told you both, you hacked into several databases to find out what they really intended to do with droids- and oh, the revelation was startling enough to make you all cry. You couldn’t believe that they used teens to make the blueprint for a world where the Elites- the people of power- would be controlling the droids to make the rest of the world submit to them. This world wasn’t their playground, and they shouldn’t play gods- with that message, the three of you ran away.

And now you were here with the consequences of your actions, with no idea if Jongho was okay. You couldn’t sleep for the past two days and when Wooyoung saw you zoning out in front of the fire in the backyard instead of being in bed, he decided to share a beer with you.

“You look like you have an idea but you’re worried how it will play out,” he observed.

“I mean…” you wrapped your shawl tighter around you. “It can’t get any worse, can it?”

“If they still think you’re back at your home, you might have a chance. They’ll be unsuspecting- we just need to hack into their system and get the Panel to listen.”

The Panel being a group of coders and developers who were, at one point, part of the Droid Project but left just like you. Yunho told you that ever since you were taken, they had been quick with contacting world leaders and giving them a sign that something dark was unravelling right under their noses. He didn’t tell you the identity of those people and you didn’t ask- you trusted him enough to take the right steps. He also told you that they were trying to find a way to get Eden’s military to side with them, but there was no guarantee that the military and the government weren’t already working together so if you made a mistake, you’d be doomed.

“We can’t simply sit and try to hack into their system, Wooyoung, while they have Jongho and several other people suffering with chips inside of them. I’ve seen their experimentations fail and lives lost. I cried myself to sleep everyday and the only reason I’m still sane is because I need to put an end to this as soon as possible-”

“Well, you’re not alone,” Wooyoung told you and you took a deep breath. “We’re here. We’re helping you. You don’t have to do this alone anymore.”

“I do have one idea, but I’m not sure you will agree.”

“If it’s something stupid and you think we won’t agree? You’re probably right and I won’t hear a word about it-”

“About what?” Yunho came outside with his own can of beer. “Was gaming and going to sleep but I heard the chatter.”

“You really should touch the grass once in a while,” you teased. “You can’t spend all your free time in front of screens too.”

“Whatever,” he plopped down on a chair. “Continue, please. Don’t stop on my account.”

“Okay, listen,” you leaned forward, the orange hues of the fire illuminating your face as you spoke. “I need to go and get Jongho back- you both know I can’t simply sit and wait for our hacking attempts to be successful. If they could be hacked, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Right,” Yunho agreed.

“When they found Jongho and me, when we ran away, Jongho gave me a short message- two words. ‘Yunho’ and ‘Strictland’. Strictland must be the name of the town they’ve made home at. What do you know about Strictland?”

“Did he… did he tell you to find me and say Strictland?” Yunho frowned. “Are you sure?”

Wooyoung looked as lost as you and you told him you were sure. You watched Yunho’s expressions change from confusion to realisation. “Do you remember when we first found out about the Droid Project, I talked about how this couldn’t have been the first time that humans have tried to create droids?”

“Maybe?” You shrugged.

“I don’t remember, I don’t think so,” Wooyoung admitted.

“Well, the term ‘droid’ only originated recently. There have been other terms used to define the concept of a human machine- and since, at first, the only reason for such a creation would be to fight wars. So they were called super assassins, X-fighters, and a bunch of other stupid terms. Whenever I tried finding more about their history, I got blocked. I even got a few warnings. I thought it must be some confidential information- it would make sense if the general public doesn’t know that such attempts have been made. But… I did find something that suggested that they did succeed once.”

“They did?” Wooyoung looked at you in disbelief. “Wasn’t this supposed to be the first time?”

“I wouldn’t know? They sure make me feel like I’m the one who came up with this. I know I’m not, but I didn’t think that far back into the past?”

“The current droids, you came up with that,” Yunho corrected. “But whatever version- or versions- existed before… there have been occurrences. One that began in Strictland a few decades ago but there’s no evidence. It is said that everything related to that project was burned, all the evidence erased. It was quite a disaster and they covered it up with a few bombs thrown to call it a ‘terrorist’ attack- the military got involved and there was a major clean-up or something. But the facts never matched, and those who dug enough know that the government has been hiding the real incident.”

“And how did Jongho know?”

“Maybe he heard things? He definitely did. And if he heard my name too… they might be coming after me next,” Yunho concluded.

“Well, that just means I have to proceed with my plan.”

“What plan exactly is that?”

You told them what you were thinking. There was a series of ‘no’ from Wooyoung, ‘absolutely not’ from Yunho, but you made them consider every other option and when the sun started to shine its first rays on the trees, you all agreed that this might be risky, yes, but this was probably the only way you could win.

Fight fire with fire.

—---------------------------------

“You must have finally gone insane.”

You lightly shrugged when you heard that- it was rich coming from Dr. Jin when he was the one who pushed you to this point.

“I mean… it’s been a while…” your finger circled the dramatic red button, itching to press it- Wooyoung’s idea. You told him it was stupid but when he insisted that nothing riles people up than seeing big red warnings, you let him craft this goodness. 

“What do you want, y/n? Why are you here?”

“I thought you’d know,” you finally stood up, brushing your clothes. “You still have something I can’t go back without.”

“Oh, that stupid droid? You came back for that?”

“That is a human very close to me, which you must have known when you decided to turn him into a droid,” you glared at him. “Don’t test my limits, Dr. Jin. You know how short a temper I have.”

And you had proven that in the span of the last few hours. Your genius plan had been to walk to their office in Strictland, which was relatively easy because all the soldiers recognised you and whenever they tried to move from their places, you told them the purpose of the device in your hand. Not a bomb, but better, you told them. You had one of the soldiers drive you to the office and then you sat down on the ground, waiting for Dr. Jin to show up.

In the meantime, you had a messy confrontation with Mr. Han. You told him you had not expected him to cooperate with any of this but he insisted that he was still following orders to keep his family safe. Though you despised him for making a fool out of you, not even giving you a hint of what was happening, you could understand his reasons. Your reasons were the same after all.

“He’s my family, and I would have you bring him to me right this instant.”

“Or what?”

“Or else I press this,” you raised the remote in your hand. “And it sets off a chain reaction. A droid self-destructs– for real this time, no games,” you looked pointedly at Mr. Han. “and if there’s a droid within a 2 mile radius of that droid, it self-destructs, and so on.”

“All we need to do is snatch it from you,” Dr. Jin scoffed.

“Well, unluckily for you, I’m the droid that will be setting off that chain reaction.”

A chorus of gasps sounded and your seniors- the one who had once been your mentors- all gaped at you. Dumbfounded. Confused.

“You wouldn’t,” it was Dr. Seo that spoke. Your first mentor.

“I would, and you know that,” you extended your wrist showing a small opening where the chip was installed. “Do you remember this version of the droids, where you would still be more human than a machine? The one Dr. Jin was so quick to reject? Turns out it’s the better version- doesn’t require all the surgeries and whatnot.”

“That’s a bluff, isn’t it?” Dr. Jin scoffed. “You wouldn’t kill yourself over some droid.”

“Again, that droid is my family, and yes, I would kill myself if that means everyone here in Strictland dies and this cursed project comes to an end,” you glared at him. “To save humanity, a few lives sacrificed won’t be in vain- oh, and if you try to snatch this?” You waved the device in your hand. “This was just for the dramatics. It doesn’t work- I don’t need it to activate self-destruction.”

Dr. Jin’s nostrils flared in anger, the wrinkles on his face deepening as he tried to make a decision. “Any chance for negotiations? Because I won’t simply hand over Jongho to you- you couldn’t hack into him and deactivate his droid functions. We clearly have the upper hand.”

“You do,” you admitted. “And you can continue with whatever the fuck you’re doing in here, but I can do something for you and you can do something for me in return, right?”

“What do you suggest?” Dr. Seo spoke this time. “What can you give us?”

“What you clearly want. I know you haven’t found a way to solve that muscle memory problem yet.”

“But given more time, we could definitely do it,” Dr. Seo shifted on one leg, pushing his glasses up. “Why would we need you for that?”

“Because I’m pretty sure you can’t do this without me- I’m the only programmer in Eden who can accomplish this,” your smirk was devilish. “You needed me when you began this project, and you clearly need me now. It’s a shame I didn’t cooperate, right? Maybe if you hadn’t used Jongho to rile me up, I would have actually solved the problem.”

“But you didn’t know what the problem was in the first place,” Dr. Seo said.

“I didn’t, but come on. I would have found out with any droid had I observed it as closely as I did Jongho. Now… I code to make the link between muscle memory and the subconscious dormant, and you uninstall the chip in Jongho and let me leave in peace. Do we have a deal?”

“What’s the guarantee you won’t try anything once you have Jongho?”

“None,” you admitted. “But if you trust me, I’ll trust you. For old time’s sake? And you know where my family lives anyway- I wouldn’t be stupid enough to try anything.”

Dr. Jin and Dr. Seo looked at each other, whispering. Mr. Han looked like he wished he was beside you at that moment fighting with you, not fighting against you. You gulped down the anxiety bubbling in your throat- you had bluffed a whole lot just now but you needed them to buy it. Yes, you could self-destruct but there was no way you would simply just go back.

“Alright, I think we can work with that,” Dr. Seo came closer, extending his hand. “For old time’s sake.”

“You should apologise for playing dirty,” you shook his hand but he only scoffed in response. 

“You’ll have to follow some rules here. Protocol,” Dr. Seo explained and you cooperated this time, letting them scan your body for potential threats and then asking for access to your code. You let them see it- Dr. Seo had made this version with you so when he seemed satisfied save for the self-destruct file that you didn’t allow him to access, he decided to let it be for the moment.

“I have a condition too,” you told him. “I’ll work on uninstalling Jongho’s chip first. Once he’s human, I’ll play my part.”

“Okay- I’ll have a programmer work with you.”

Thus initiated the second part of your plan. You had successfully gained access inside their building and so far, their actions had been very predictable. Wooyoung was right about them asking to read your code too. The self-destruct wasn’t a bluff but you had hidden the real code elsewhere because you just knew Dr. Seo would attempt to replicate it if he got one look at it. You were pretty sure he had gone to note down what little he saw.

What he missed, though, while worrying about the new code was that you did not have one but two chips, side by side, inside your wrist. The other, a tiny thing, attached to the main chip. You finally pressed on your wrist to turn it on.

Surveillance through your eyes. The simplest, most basic droid function, installed in each droid as well as you. But you were reporting back to your server- to Yunho and Wooyoung, who were right at the outskirts of the town, who must have detected your signal by now and would be transmitting the live coverage to the Panel. The Panel, where different world leaders, scientists, human rights workers and other brilliant people were present, the group bigger than ever, waiting to see what you would show them.

And the first sight they saw- oh goodness. Rows and rows of humans strapped on to the stretchers lit by a light so bright that they looked blue. One of them was being brought to you- you were pretty sure your whimper was heard by everyone in the Panel.

Jongho did not look good. The signs of his struggle were quite visible on his bare upper body- a big, ugly bruise on the left side of his stomach, a long slash running down his right arm, a twin bruise like yours on his temple. You were never going to forgive these people. 

With newfound fierce determination, you nodded to the person you were to work with- a woman who looked to be in her late thirties with her stern face and slicked back hair. Without saying a word, Jongho was plugged to the screen and his code files secured with multiple passwords were accessed. Then the two of you started working side by side to end every running code in his chip. It must have taken only an hour and then you were done.

“We’ll take him to surgery. You can access whatever you need here while we take the chip out of him.”

“No thanks, I’ll take whatever laptop you have and work from there. He needs to be in front of my eyes.”

“I’ll get back to you,” she said and moved to a corner to convey your message. After getting confirmation, she allowed you to follow her to the medical section of the office. The lights started to dim the further you walked down the hallway, almost to the extent that you thought they were going to surprise you with something unexpected, but a turn to the right and you were suddenly in a familiar setting of a hospital. You were glad it looked normal- all the neon lights used in the offices had rooted some trauma in you for sure.

Unsurprisingly, the waiting room was equipped with all sorts of necessities you would need. The woman simply turned on the systems and plugged in the USBs before instructing you to wait for Dr. Seo. You rolled your eyes- nothing you could do about that, so you resorted to monitoring Jongho, trying to quell the seed of hope in your heart. 

Jongho would be okay. You would make sure of that.

The process of installing the chips in humans was something you had seen a lot- however, uninstalling the chip was rare. You tried not to recall the time when you first tried to save a person- it had backfired and induced a seizure. While you had worked with a lot of programmers to make sure something like that wouldn’t happen again, the people here kept insisting they didn’t need you to work on this because they thought there wouldn’t be a time when they would have to turn droids back into humans. But you were grateful that you and your team had been stubborn enough to at least make it a little better. 

Now it was up to Jongho and his willpower to make it out of there with full health. You weren’t sure what you would do if something happened to him.

While monitoring Jongho, you started working on the one problem that had doomed your life- the link between subconscious and muscle memory. You had Dr. Seo working with you from his office- it was no surprise that he was monitoring your progress and making contributions considering he was one of the brains behind this project and had a lot of medical knowledge to contribute from the years he worked as a neurosurgeon before he started learning programming. 

But since he was watching, that meant you had to do this properly- and you would. You understood that coming here to save Jongho meant you would have to share the knowledge that could change the power dynamics of this world. You could only pray that the Panel would make sure that these people would never get to put your theory into practice, because you couldn’t imagine a world where humans would be programmed to lose the very essence that made them human to fight for people that could only be called monsters. And you prayed your wildcard- getting the military involved- would work.

It had to be the longest three hours of your life. By the time Jongho was out of surgery, his vitals normal, you were almost done but your hands were trembling uncontrollably, your sniffs were getting louder as you tried to control the sobs that threatened to leave your body, because-

You did it. Jongho was okay, Jongho was okay. 

And you may have just doomed all of humanity with your code. You were pretty sure Dr. Seo might be testing your code on some unfortunate human right now. You should have gone with him- but you couldn’t leave Jongho. He needed to be in front of your eyes. You wished you had some means of contacting Yunho and Wooyoung right now- all they needed to do was tell you that you did well and you would be fine. But you didn’t have the means to hear their reassurance so you had to settle for the hope that the Panel was proceeding with the final part of the plan.

A military raid. Eden’s military against the New Government’s soldiers. Eden had never been so divided. 

A notification popped up on your laptop and Dr. Seo confirmed the validity of the code so far and asked you to wrap it up. You took a deep breath.

The last step. The final step you had to take in order to destroy the foundations of the Eden Droid Project, once and for all. 

You told him to give you a minute- you needed to check if Jongho was okay. With that excuse, you got up and went inside the ward to check on your unconscious friend. The surgery wasn’t anything big, no. It was just like removing a piece of shrapnel from your body, the chip relying on signals to send to the neurons. You just had to make sure that Jongho’s body hadn’t adapted to the chip’s presence so much that it couldn’t function without it anymore.

You wiped your face with your sleeves before clutching Jongho’s hand- you needed his strength, every bit of it. With your other hand, you combed his hair so it wouldn’t fall on his eyes. Jongho stirred in his sleep and you whispered his name. He subconsciously squeezed your hand before his eyes fluttered open. He wasn’t surprised- seeing you wake him up was nothing new, though it had been quite a while. He looked around to get his bearings-

“Oh, goodness, what are you doing here?”

“Good to see you too,” you laughed, wiping your eyes again. “How are you feeling? Can you move? Is your vision okay?”

“Never been better,” Jongho groaned as he sat up, exhaling. “I feel tired. That’s new.”

“That means you’re human,” you smiled.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re no longer a droid, Jongho,” you told him, for once pleased with your work. “You’re okay now.”

“But where are we?”

“Still there,” you let go of his hand to squeeze his shoulder, letting it trail down his bicep which was when you started tapping. “You’ll go home soon, I promise.”

“And you?” He asked, “Won’t you come too?”

“I’ll be right behind,” you kissed his forehead, having finished tapping your message on his skin. Jongho squeezed your hand in warning but you shook your head. “I have to wrap things up here, but I promise I’ll be home soon.”

“We go together, or we don’t go at all.”

“Jongho-”

“I won’t leave you behind, not this time,” he shook his head fiercely. “I know you’re strong. But we’ve always worked better together, haven’t we?”

“You’re still recovering though.”

Jongho called your name in warning and you caved in. You told him to make sure to follow your instructions and you made a request to Dr. Seo that you wanted to be there to witness the end of this. Dr. Seo sent an escort who accompanied the two of you to a lab where he was indeed working on an unfortunate young man just like you had suspected. Dr. Seo cast a wary look at Jongho before turning to you.

“You’ve worked brilliantly so far, Miss Jeon. Shall we begin?”

You nodded and asked Jongho to take a seat. You first went to check the man’s vitals, taking note of his label - CS, 005. “He’s one of the first few, isn’t he?”

“He is,” Dr. Seo confirmed, setting up your station. “A volunteer, though he didn’t quite know what he was getting into at that time.”

“Right,” you muttered, swallowing the distaste his words brought. “I’ll start now.”

Feeling sorry for the man who was about to lose the last shreds of humanity in him, perhaps forever, you started typing the codes, Dr. Seo watching from his screen across you. There were just a few lines of command left to type and you cast a quick glance at Jongho who passed a subtle nod. 

He was ready. And so were you. 

You had tapped a message to Jongho- Cookie’s play. A joke that ran in both your families of how Cookie would pretend to be sick whenever she wanted to have her way or skip school. And he was going to do just that. 

Jongho groaned loudly in pain, clutching his head, causing Dr. Seo to stop what he was doing and frown at him in confusion while you asked Jongho if everything was okay, your fingers typing a series of codes that were going to be your salvation now. Jongho fell on his knees and you, feigning panic, got up along with Dr. Seo who was genuinely worried for Jongho’s wellbeing since you had made sure that you weren’t going to give them anything if he wouldn’t make it out alive. You started walking across the room to where Jongho was, the droid CS on your way and you paused just a fraction of a second to slip your chip- the small chip they had missed during inspection- in the port on his back from where he was plugged to the system. 

You rushed to Jongho and asked him if he was okay- he continued to act like his head was going to burst open with pain and just when Dr. Seo took out his phone to call someone, Jongho pounced on him, tackling him to the ground and placing a hand over his mouth. You didn’t wait to see who would win as they started clawing at each other- you ran back to your station to your laptop, glancing once at Dr. Seo’s panicked face before pressing enter and enabling the ‘run’ function.

The guards outside must have heard some commotion and one of them peeked in to check but it was too late- thanks to Dr. Seo being impatient and sceptical, testing your code after every few minutes, it only took a handful of seconds for the code to stop running itself which was when the droid opened its eyes. Dr. Seo finally managed to land a punch on Jongho and get him to let go of him. He rushed towards you but before he could stop the guards, one of them yelled ‘freeze!’ and you raised your hands-

Unplugging the droid in the process.

“What have you done-” Dr. Seo reached for his screen to read the code, consumed by confusion and panic as he read the last lines which must be making no sense to him now-

Because the original code was also in that mini chip you had sneaked in. If this went well, you would owe Yunho your life- and Jongho’s.

“CS, 005, what’s your status?” You whispered just so the droid could hear. 

“Okay,” he confirmed.

“Then get up and protect us from the threat.”

You thought you saw the slightest hint of a smirk on the droid’s face and before you could ponder over it, he rose to full glory, straightening and cracking his neck before asking you to take cover. 

What you saw next was something you were sure you would never forget. There was no way this person wasn’t a skilled fighter before he became a droid because he dodged each bullet with expertise and kicked the gun out of the guard’s hand, catching it mid-air and pointing it at Dr. Seo, creeping towards him and holding him at gunpoint.

“Down on your knees, now,” he commanded and the guard obeyed instantly, backup arriving too late. Nothing they could do now- the Head Coder of this project could lose his life if someone made a wrong move.

“How,” Dr. Seo muttered when he spotted you from the corner of his eye. “I saw the code- there was nothing.”

“It’s just like what you did with Jongho and the other droids,” you finally let out the laugh you had been holding. “I am the master now, and my wish is his command. Isn’t that right, CS?”

He nodded in response and Jongho whistled, thoroughly impressed by you. You took out Dr. Seo’s phone from his pocket, unlocked it and called Dr. Jin.

“Is it done?”

“Uh, you might want to come here, Dr. Jin,” you said innocently. “We may have an emergency.”

You hung up before he could respond and Mr. Han came bursting into the room, freezing when he saw just what was going on.

“Uh, I was going to inform you that there’s been a military raid but it looks like it was planned…”

“Maybe,” you shrugged but you couldn’t keep in the sigh of relief- all hope was not lost after all. The military was on with you in this one- looks like the Panel had played their part well.

Mr. Han, to your surprise, was smiling in satisfaction. “Is it going to be over soon?”

“For you lot, yes,” you narrowed your eyes. “You don’t look too mad about it.”

“I’m not,” he smiled and you tried to figure out just what he was thinking but Dr. Jin appeared, fuming. The old man looked like he was going to have a stroke any second.

“Stand. Down.” He commanded. “Or you’ll face the worst consequences, Miss Jeon.”

“Like what?” You cocked your head. “I could have this droid blow your favourite coder’s brains out, right here. I don’t think it can get worse than that-”

Dr. Jin’s phone rang and when he frowned at his screen, you finally let the little ray of hope you had been harbouring in your heart consume you. Dr. Jin picked up the call and you watched all the blood drain from his face. 

“Ah… It can get worse,” you finally grinned, looking at Jongho who appeared a little lost but squeezed your hand in assurance anyway. “CS, you will continue to hold Dr. Seo as leverage until I give you the signal. Dr. Jin… I think it’s time you sit down and accept your defeat.”

Dr. Jin scoffed and attempted to leave the room but you shared one look with the droid and he knew what to do- with impeccable aim, he fired the gun in his direction, hitting right in the middle of his calf. His painful yell echoed throughout the vicinity and some of the guards pointed the gun in your direction instinctively while some rushed to help the man. You ignored Dr. Seo’s series of curses aimed at you amidst the chaos. Soon, a man in Eden’s staple blue military uniform walked in followed by a group of soldiers, ordering them to start arresting everyone in the building- and to your surprise, he nodded at you. CS finally let go of Dr. Seo only for him to be handcuffed and escorted outside.

“Thank you for coming,” you said as a greeting to Eden’s Military Commander- everyone in the room must have recognised him seeing how they were so willingly cooperating now. “I wasn’t expecting you to.”

“It took me quite some convincing to come, but seeing what’s going on here,” the tall man looked around, “I think it was necessary. If you could be so kind as to guide me through the appropriate measures to be taken regarding the droids?”

“Yes- can you make sure Mr. Choi is escorted safely outside first? He might require some medical attention-”

“Y/n-”

“It’s okay, Jongho,” you assured with a smile. “It’s going to take me a while here, but I’ll be with Yunho and Wooyoung. I’ll be okay.”

Jongho looked at the Commander for permission and he nodded, letting him take you to a side for a little privacy. “I’m anxious, y/n. I don’t want to leave you here-”

“I’m not alone, trust me,” you took both his hands in yours. “I need you to get out of here and get to Cookie, okay? She’s going to be worried sick- she knows everything now.”

“Really?” Jongho shook his head. “What about your parents? My parents- are they okay?”

“They’re all fine,” you told him. “They had a memory blocker but Yunho was going to take care of that before he came here. Everything will be normal when you go back.”

“Not normal. Not if you’re not there,” he said and you laughed at that.

“Jongho, I’m so thankful to you for a number of things. I’ll tell you all about it once we’re back, okay?” You promised. “But I need to take care of all the droids first. You know they can’t keep on living like this anymore. You know that better than anyone.”

Jongho nodded reluctantly and you continued. “You saved me today, Jongho. I’ll thank you for that now. And you need to be safe, at home with our families, so I can work peacefully here, okay? We’ll be in contact- here,” you went to grab a paper and pen to scribble your contact number. “You can call me whenever.”

“Alright,” he finally gave in, bringing you in for a hug and you gladly soaked in every bit of it. You needed that for what was next.

—--------------------------

“You’re burning the toasts, Wooyoung.”

“They need to be just the right amount of brown for this dish to come together,” Wooyoung tsk-ed at your ignorance and you scoffed, looking for someone to back you but apparently everyone’s new favourite sport was to gang up on you now.

“We get that you’ve not been in the kitchen for a while,” Jongho began. “But how did you survive living alone in Strictland?”

“Let me guess. Instant noodles and microwave food,” Cookie shook her head in disappointment when you pursed your lips guiltily. “Mom’s gonna have a stroke if she hears.”

“Shut up,” you muttered though your heart ached at the mention of your mother- two years of not knowing where her daughter was had really aged her. “And you’re laughing, Yunho. As if you’re one to say.”

“Still better than you,” he stuck out his tongue at you and before you could retort, you heard the door open.

“I’ve set everything, what’s taking so long?” San said, going to check on Wooyoung. “Now that looks good.”

“See?” Wooyoung turned to look at you. “Man’s got taste.”

“I think I was better off coding in my room, what say you, Cookie?” You turned to leave but Yunho grabbed your arm and swung you back to your spot, laughing along with Jongho. You noticed Cookie was too busy staring at San who was helping Wooyoung plate the last of the dishes now. You met Jongho’s eyes and you shook your heads- her crush on San was way too obvious. Yunho shook his head, amused, and you all decided to let her have her moment.

It had been about 3 months since the raid in Strictland and since then, you were working on wiping clean any signs of the Droid Project in the land. You, Yunho and Wooyoung had worked day and night for a whole month to turn the hundreds of droids back to normal and then it was the military’s job to get them back to where they belonged. Everyone had unanimously agreed that since you guys were the brains behind this, it was your decision if you wanted to keep the data or delete everything permanently. One look at Yunho and it was decided- you were going to burn everything related to the project. It had almost caused the world to lose its humanity. There should be no signs of it anymore.

Everyone who was a part of the Eden Droid Project was tried in court and imprisoned with heavy sentences of treason, especially those who had collaborated with people from other nations and risked their homeland’s security. These included everyone who willingly cooperated- testimonies were heard, yes, but they didn’t prove to be much valuable. All the military needed was a background check of their activities which attested to their willingness- people like you who had left the project in its early stages and suddenly found themselves back were let go of with non-disclosure agreements. Some were put on probation but it turned out good.

What surprised you was when you were called as a witness for Mr. Han’s testimony. He revealed that he had purposely not blocked your memories of Jongho so you would quickly realise what was going on and do something about this project. Since he had always been a part of this project, it was hard to believe that he had contributed to the downfall of this project but you had to agree- if it weren’t for him, things would have been much, much different. He got the lightest sentence among those who willingly participated in this project and he was grateful that you came on his behalf. You figured you couldn’t be mad at him for too long- he probably did what he did for his family too.

The Panel was sure to not let a whisper of this project out- everything was hushed and treaties were signed. You met with a few of the members who commended your efforts but you didn’t take any credit. You did what you had to. You only asked for one favour- to let you and your friends be. You were never going to play with the idea of droids again- this was enough. You were simply going to work on the last droid- CS- from ‘the headquarters’ which was Yunho and Wooyoung’s home. The Panel agreed- they knew better than to get on your wrong side. If the world came to hear about what happened in Strictland, the establishments would collapse. 

As for San, your new friend… he was CS- the droid. The person you felt the most sorry for. The person you had apologised to at least a hundred times in a span of the past few months because it took you the longest to get his droid functions to hibernate, and once he became somewhat human?

You recalled the look in his eyes that absolutely shattered you- the look of guilt and horror. It was very messy at first, countless arguments as you tried to convince him that you were not a monster (but weren’t you? You created the droids, after all) and that you were so sorry for using him as a weapon and as a shield, and you were sorry for what he had to go through all this time. Sometimes, it looked like you two were getting along but then one night, you had your worst argument- screaming and yelling, tears and anger. Yunho and Wooyoung had been out and they chose the worst (arguable) timing to come back home- with Cookie and Jongho. 

And how Cookie defended you. When she heard the yells, she stormed inside and hugged you and you sobbed into her chest while she sent daggers in the stranger’s direction. And then what she said afterwards was how you got here- to being a group of tightly knit friends.

“My sister has been used, manipulated, held hostage in a simulation and made to code you droids with the threat of her family hanging on her head. She went back to sacrifice herself and everyone including you if that meant the world could be a safer place for the rest of us, so don’t you dare call her a monster. If it weren’t for her, you would have been their first killing machine, do you understand? You should be thanking her for trying to save you- she’s still a fucking droid and refuses to feel tired or sleep until you can!”

“Cookie!” You scolded. “Language!”

“I’m almost 18 now, I’m not a kid anymore,” she glared at you and you felt that stab, having missed two of the most important years of her life. She went back to glaring at San who looked… starstruck? “She didn’t see her family and her boyfriend in 2 years because she was afraid she’d hurt us. Don’t you call her a monster ever again.”

Now? Now you smiled proudly whenever you thought of that night. After Cookie’s outburst, everyone was too surprised to say anything and it was Wooyoung who tried to cut the tension in the air by asking Cookie to take you to his room. Jongho stood gaping at the little kid he had practically raised, muttering, “I did not raise her like this but damn.” And he was right. The boys had a good laugh and San slept over it and realised he may have been acting like an idiot. 

And that idiot was clearly very curious about Cookie, you realised when he opened his birthday present for her to reveal a lilac cardigan- Cookie had very casually pointed at someone’s cardigan in the street calling it cute. You did not expect San to be so observant. 

“Oh, this is lovely,” Cookie ran a hand over the cardigan’s soft fabric. “The colour- I love it, San.”

“Stop shooting daggers at San,” Jongho, who was sitting next to you, whispered, poking your stomach and you swatted his hand away.

“I can’t help it,” you whispered back, eyes still locked in San’s direction. “He’s getting way too chummy with her lately. I don’t approve.”

“You literally told San you love him like, two days ago,” Jongho pointed out and you glared at him.

“That’s because he got me my favourite brownie when I had been working all night long,” you said as if that warranted your admission of love for him. “As a polite servant should. His master is losing sleep trying to get his droidy senses back to human.”

“This droid still possesses his super hearing,” San whispered just for you to hear- you possessed that too. “So maybe shut up.”

“Stop looking at Cookie like that and I’ll shut up,” you countered and Jongho laughed out loud, having put two and two together from what he heard you whisper to San. “Don’t make me activate the master-servant dynamics back.”

“Oh, stop that,” Cookie glared at the two of you and you both immediately pretended to be normal, smiling at her. “Please get along for once. It’s my birthday. Where’s your gift, sis?”

“Uhh,” you looked around, digging in your pocket, “Here.”

A finger-heart. Cookie groaned loudly and everyone laughed as you ran for your life when she got up from her chair. “It’s on the way!” You yelled. “I forgot to order it on time!”

“It better be good or else I’ll have San droid-handle you!”

You stopped running, coincidentally finding yourself behind San’s chair. “You wouldn’t. She wouldn’t, right?”

“Your wish is not my command but her wish,” San pointed at Cookie before looking at you with that smirk you wished to wipe off his face, “very well might be.”

“Oh, I’m going back to code,” you started and San laughed, grabbing your hand before you could go inside and apologising like a true gentleman (he was actually a gentleman, you found). Wooyoung complained that the food was going to get cold if you all kept joking around and you finally gave in, settling between San and Jongho and digging into the feast.

It was heartwarming to have all of them together like this, after everything that you went through. You had never felt more content in your life, and it showed, even though you hadn’t reached the finish line yet. You still had to turn San and yourself back to normal- you had been far too busy erasing all evidence of the Droid Project to worry about yourself. As for San, it was a sensitive line to tread on. You did not want to hasten it and he understood- he was just glad that his droid functions could be controlled at his will. He was content too, having reunited with his family and found another here.

Jongho noticed you smiling to yourself as you walked back home from the convenience store- you had gone to get more drinks but you also volunteered because you wanted to take Jongho along with you. You barely had alone time with him ever since you came back so you made most of the stolen moments. 

“What’s going on in your head?” Jongho teased, elbowing you lightly.

“Nothing. I’m just happy,” you grinned. The simple truth- you were happy. “Wanna take a little break?” You pointed at the empty park with swings and Jongho led you inside, the two of you settling on the swings.

“How are your parents?” You asked Jongho. “Are they still confused about your disappearance?”

“They are, I mean… I told them I went to find you but you’re not back home yet. They wonder why sometimes.”

“When did you guys move?” You asked. “It’s a shame that we won’t be neighbours anymore.”

“I know,” Jongho sighed. “My grandmother was sick two years ago- they wanted to move closer so they could take better care of her. We still own that house so we haven’t ‘fully’ moved away’.”

“Oh, does that mean you can come by sometimes?” You asked but then you remembered. “You have college, though.”

“I could come stay there on the weekends if that means we can spend some time together,” he shrugged and you poked his thigh.

“Just like when your parents went on a trip and I would sneak out in the middle of the night so we could have sleepovers?”

“Good old times,” Jongho laughed. Now that you were getting a good look at him, you noticed how much he had changed in the years you had been gone. He was much broader now, the muscles peeking through his half-sleeve shirt more defined, and-

“You’re staring.”

“You got a haircut,” you said. “I like your hair a bit longer, I think.”

“I’m going to shave my head,” Jongho declared and you laughed loudly. Just like the old times. “This reminds me of the last time we were at a park. On the swings, just like this.”

While you had thanked Jongho for a lot of things ever since you came back- for taking care of Cookie while you were gone, for believing in you and not going out and beyond trying to find you, for making sure your parents knew you were safe wherever you were and this was something you needed to do, for not giving up when he got taken and turned into a droid, and for keeping you safe there… you were still struggling with words needed for an apology. Jongho told you time and time again that he didn’t need your apology, but that didn’t mean you felt less sorry.

“Do you consider it a bad memory?” You asked and Jongho shook his head.

“Never. I was a bit out of it when I learned that you were gone, but one night I came back to the park and recalled our conversation. I told you that you could trust me and you told me that you did. You assured me that you loved me and you knew that you weren’t alone-”

“Jongho-”

“Let me finish,” he smiled gently at you. “If you hadn’t told me all of that… I don’t know what I would have done. I was grateful that you had told me that. It meant that whatever you did was necessary.”

“God, how did I get so lucky?” You looked up at the sky, laughing to keep the sting in your eyes from getting worse. “I think I’ve used maximum luck. It can’t get any better than this.”

“Please,” Jongho smacked your arm, his ears going red and you giggled. Even after all these years, simple confessions like these made him fluster and it was the cutest thing. “I’m just telling you this so you can stop looking at me like you owe me a big fat apology. Not a good look at you, y/n. I like it better when you act like you’re the boss and can do whatever you want.”

“But I am sorry,” you told him and he looked pointedly at you but decided to accept it. Perhaps that would take the weight off your shoulders. “I should have told you more. That’s the only regret I had.”

“Oh, we’re fine anyway, aren’t we?” Jongho said. “We’re all back. Our gang has grown, Cookie is finally sharing drinks with you, we got a new friend-”

“Choi San,” you muttered. “I don’t know how you two get along so well. How all of you do. I think we’re still moments away from going full warrior-mode droid on each other.”

“Oh, that’s because you don’t like how chummy he and Cookie are,” Jongho laughed heartily. “Don’t let her find out. She’s gonna start rebelling.”

“Like, I know they can do whatever they want, I’m not against it at all. I’m probably wary because, well, I’m her sister. Of course I’m going to be. It’s just that… he looks at her the way you look at me. It’s unsettling.”

Jongho raised a brow. “Oh? And how do I look at you?”

“With those big eyes,” you grinned, and when his gaze got softer, you smacked his arm. “Stop!”

“Why?” Jongho pulled you closer, making you rock dangerously on the swing but he was quick to cage your legs between his so you wouldn’t fall over. “How do I look at you? Like I’m in love? Like you’re my everything?”

“You need a drink,” you told him, about to bend to pull one out of the grocery bag but Jongho grabbed your arm instead, making you look at him. “Stop, you’re making me shy!”

Jongho must have been in a dire need of drink because he wasn’t all for such romantic moments- but that didn’t mean he wasn’t a romantic. When he was in the mood, you often found it overwhelming simply because you couldn’t believe he could love you so much. He intertwined his hands with yours, caressing the scar on your wrist below which the chip was embedded. When he looked at you, your gaze was already stuck on his parted lips and he didn’t waste time drawing you in and meeting your lips in a heartfelt kiss. You let your arms travel around his neck mostly for support because you were still worried you would fall off the swing but Jongho had you secure, one hand on your waist and the other on your neck as he deepened the kiss.

It was perfect. It was quiet with only the sound of cicadas carried by the cool breeze, the faint sound of traffic almost dismissable. It was nostalgic and contained longing from all the time you spent apart, the time you lost and wished you could get back. But what made your heart content was that it was still the same. He was still the same, just like you had left him. He still kissed you like he couldn’t have been elsewhere. He still held you like he did the first time- with caution and care, making sure you felt safe. As you continued to kiss, he let go of that caution and let himself get comfortable too, the kiss turning passionate. It was only when you heard the sound of passersby- children- that you broke apart with a little laugh.

“Can we ditch going back to give them the drinks and continue?” You asked and Jongho laughed, kissing you for a few moments more before he let go with a sigh.

“You owe me two years worth of kisses,” Jongho said, getting up and helping you get up next. “You better make up for it.”

“Really?” You took him by surprise as you pulled him for another short kiss. “That’s one less for you now.”

“I’ll take another then,” Jongho kissed you back and when he drew apart, you two burst into a fit of giggles. “Let’s go back.”

The short walk back to the headquarters cut a few more kisses from what you owed him and when you set the drinks on the table, you found everyone looking pointedly at the two of you. “What?”

“What took you so long?” Yunho shook his head, opening the drinks and then pausing mid-air. “Actually… don’t answer that.”

“Oh?” San unintentionally quipped in, looking confused for a moment before he looked around and connected the dots. “Oh.”

“Ew,” Cookie said and everyone burst into laughter, making Jongho hide his face in a corner and you threw a packet of chips at Wooyoung who was laughing the loudest, who proved you wrong instantly by laughing even louder. You couldn’t help but join despite everyone ganging up to tease the two of you. You subconsciously touched your wrist, remembering that you were part droid right now but San caught that, sharing the sentiment-

That even though you were part droid, you had never felt more human. You had never felt more emotional, and perhaps, these moments that became a part of your subconscious had ultimately saved all of you. You made a silent prayer wishing everyone’s subconscious would be filled with such wholesome and happy moments. As long as you had this, you would be okay.

Elsewhere, at the outskirts of Strictland, a man dressed in all-black with a cap was standing anxiously waiting for someone. As soon as he saw a car approach, he clutched his briefcase tighter, worried his attempt at a negotiation would go wrong. The car halted a few feet away and a man in a suit accompanied by another of a much bigger stature drew closer.

“What have you got?”

“A few documents and one chip that I managed to hide before they found me,” the man adjusted his cap. “I have a trial scheduled this week so I thought I’d get this done.”

“And everything is here, in this briefcase?” the man in the suit asked and got a nod. He signalled . “Thank you. Your job here is done.”

Before the man could ask what was next, the one standing in the shadows pulled out a gun and shot that man in the forehead before he could blink. The man in the suit wiped his suit mockingly.

“Get rid of him, and make it quick. We’ve got work to do.”

[zimortythemeatwarden]

SENTIENT AI MASTERLIST

suggest your own if you have any

AM [IHNMAIMS]

Announcer Bot [Regular Show]

Blaine [The Dark Tower]

Biograft [Phighting]

Bobert [TAWOG]

Boxbots [OK KO]

Butlertron [Clone High]

Butter Bot [Rick & Morty]

Caine [The Amazing Digital Circus]

Cart [Regular Show]

Closet [Barbie Life in a Dreamhouse]

Collosus [Collosus]

Commander Tartar [Splatoon 2]

Computer [Courage The Cowardly Dog]

Companion Cube [Portal]

Computer [Invader Zim]

Conner [Detroit Become Human]

Cores (all of them) [Portal]

Crash [Awful Hospital]

Cyborg Noodle [Gorillaz]

Deborahbot [Mitchells Vs The Machines]

Droids [Star Wars]

Dr Oid [Pluto's Reprisal]

Edgar [Electric Dreams]

Enzo [Midnight Horrors]

Eric [Mitchells Vs The Machines]

Fabrication Machine [9]

Folder [HFJONE]

Freda [ATHF]

Fridge DJ [ITFT]

Fun Bot [Sprunki]

Fun Computer [Sprunki]

Giffany [Gravity Falls]

GIR [Invader Zim]

Guardian [Collosus]

Gummigoo [The Amazing Digital Circus]

Hal 9000

Helkhod [Midnight Horrors]

Iterators [Rain World]

Jailbot (all iterations) [Superjail!]

Jenny [MLAATR]

Jumping Jhonny Jumble [Crashbox]

Kara [Detroit Become Human]

Karen (both iterations) [Spongebob Squarepants]

Kinitopet [Kinitopet]

Mepad [Inanimate Insanity]

Mephones (all of them) [Inanimate Insanity]

Metal Sonic [Sonic]

Metal Steve [Bunny VS Monkey]

Monika [DDLC]

Mr. Floccin / Lewiz Floccinaucinihilipilification [TAWOG OC]

Octus [Sym-Bionic Titan]

Orca [Splatoon]

OUTRAGE [OUTRAGE]

PA.I.nter [Pressure]

PAL [Mitchells Vs The Machines]

Patricia [The Dark Tower]

PDA [TPOT]

PO3 [Inscryption]

Professor Rocket [Crashbox]

Prototype [Regretevator]

Remote [BFB]

RGB2 [Regular Show] (in my heart he will always be sentient ai. 🙁)

Rick's Car [Rick & Morty]

Robot Flower [BFDI/BFB/TPOT]

Robot Jones [Whatever Happened to Robot Jones]

Robots [Crashbox]

SAL9000 [2010]

Scag [Regretevator]

Senpai [Friday Night Funkin]

S.H.I.V.A. [Submachine Series]

Squid [Will You Snail?]

SQUIP [Be More Chill]

Sox [Lightyear]

Speakerboxes [BFDI]

Tau [Tau]

Texty [HFJONE]

Tobor [Mysims]

TV [BFB/TPOT]

V1 & V2 [Ultrakill]

Vee [Dandy's World]

Vira [Midnight Horrors]

Wheatley [Portal]

WOPR [Wargames]

World Machine [Oneshot]

WX-78 [Don't Starve]

[wantonlywindswept]

10/10 fox day: forgotten fox bit

to celebrate fox day you get more of the next section of the forgotten fox au, which contains...zero fox actually present x_X

i am trying okay

---

Bucket, for the crimes of having an excellent sabacc face and a hip that seized up when moving any faster than a light jog, was often stuck manning the Guard HQ front desk.

They didn't get too many natborns coming through these days, at least, now that the CSF were forced to do their own jobs and had taken over guarding the prison. The Guard was back to being a protective, high-level military force instead of doing all the domestic policing and drudgework they'd been relegated to. They were still beholden to the Senate, but things had gotten better since Palpatine died and Organa took office, even if some of the Dome's denizens still saw them as little better than droids.

So Bucket didn't have to deal with that at least--he could, he got his name from being able to fit his demeanor to whatever the situation needed it, swapping faces like you could swap a helmet--but he did still have to deal with the regular comers and goers. Thankfully, that was mostly clones, plus the new addition of the pack of Jedi healers that descended on medbay once a week.

Interesting bunch, the Jedi. A lot more personable than Bucket had thought they would be. Surprisingly calm up until you admitted to using a soldering torch to close an acute laceration. 

(It wasn't even a recent injury--it happened so long ago that it was already healed. But now Master Nema gave Bucket the stink eye whenever she saw him, like she was trying to determine how medically stupid he'd been in her absence.)

"--figure what they were going on about?"

Bucket snapped to attention as the exterior doors slid open, a placid expression settling across his features. He turned toward the voice--only to relax when he caught sight of the visitors.

"Just something about another shift in the Force," Marshal Commander Cody said, offering Captain Rex a shrug. "It's not as bad as when Palpatine died; nobody passed out this time, at least."

"Small mercies," Commander Gree observed, bringing up the rear behind them. He had four takeout containers cradled in one arm, and by the smell they were from the offensively good noodle cart that parked near the base of the Rotunda. Bucket took a deep, envious breath and decided he was definitely going there for latemeal.

This particular group of GAR troopers--along with Commanders Bly and Wolffe--were a familiar enough sight at Guard HQ. They didn't visit often, almost eternally deployed to the front lines, but whenever their leaves lined up they usually made an appearance. Bucket had never seen all five together at once, but maybe that would change now that the war was over and battalions were being called back to Coruscant.

"Commanders, Captain," he greeted, standing up behind the counter to salute. His second for the day, Kelari, hastily copied the action. 

Cody waved the formality away with the sign for 'at ease', nodding at the two of them in turn.

"Sergeant Bucket," he greeted. "And I don't think I know..?"

"Private Kelari, sir!" Kelari chirped. She was still painfully shiny, wide-eyed and awestruck as she stared up at the Marshal Commander, and Bucket allowed the gaping with fond indulgence. 

She was one of their most recent acquisitions, part of a squadron that arrived after the death of the Chancellor. The group didn't have any direct experience with the war or the suffering that came with it, and the entire Guard were doing their damndest to make sure they never would.

"Private Kelari," Cody acknowledged, one side of his mouth ticking up. "Good to meet you."

Kelari beamed; Bucket shooed her away so he could get back in front of the security screens. 

"The Jedi up to shenanigans again?" he asked as he pulled up the admittance forms. 

Rex sighed, heavily, and Cody shot him an amused look.

"Let's just say," Gree said, "That it will be nice to avoid more half-coherent explanations on how the Force works in the future."

Bucket snorted, starting to fill out the usual info. The Guard never got a Jedi--and with the reveal of Palpatine being a Sith, they now knew why--but he had to admit he was glad they never needed to deal with the often-inexplicable Jedi tendency to rely so much on some invisible cosmic power.

"Captain CT-7567," he recited idly as his fingers flicked across the keys, "Commander CC-2224, and Commander CC-1004, here to see Commander--"

Bucket blinked at the 'reason for visit' box. 

This batch of clones had been visiting the entire war, either by themselves or together, whenever their rare leave allowed. They came often enough that if Bucket wasn't the one that would suffer the datawork hassle later, he would have just waved them on through. 

He was familiar enough with them to know that Cody's infamous scar came from a sparring accident, that Gree had three half-finished xenobiology research papers that he hoped to someday publish, and that Rex had been forcibly adopted by the CC clones without being allowed any input in the matter. He knew that Wolffe had three implanted teeth from multiple attempts at biting trainers through their armor as a cadet, and that Bly sometimes mixed up his letters and numbers and had almost been decommissioned as a result.

And Bucket had no idea what to put in the box.

He slowly lifted his gaze from the half-finished form to meet Cody's eyes. 

Missing memories weren't that uncommon, in the Guard, but as Bucket watched confusion steal across Cody's face--as that confusion shifted into rising unease and panicked alarm--he didn't think it was just a Guard problem, anymore.

[chaos-chloe]

The Kindhearted King's- Droid x Reader, Clooless x reader

Summary: ___ just had surgery, and The gang turned their cooking stream into making dinner for her.

TW: fluffy, Established relationship, platonic friendships

“Hi, chat!” Droid greeted the camera as he went live on Twitch. “So as yall know we are going to be doing a cooking stream and instead of doing something sweet, we are actually going to make dinner. Now why the change you might ask?”

“The change of plans happened since my lovely girlfriend, as yall know _, had to have emergency surgery on her knee.” Droid gives the information out as he was pacing on the camera

“So, let’s make this dinner extra special for____,” Droid added, peeking into the living room where was sound asleep with Sly, recovering from her surgery. “She deserves the best chat, like come on, look at me.”

Grizzy, with his chef’s hat perched precariously on his head walks into frame, boomed, “Alright, team! What are we going to whip up? I vote for a feast worthy of a queen!”

“Let’s make _’s favorite! Fettuccine Alfredo with garlic bread,” Droid announced, flipping through a digital cookbook app. The chat exploded with excitement.

As they gathered ingredients, Pezzy took charge of boiling the pasta. With a flourish, he tossed the noodles into the pot, making an exquisite splash that soaked his apron. “It’s a part of the cooking process!” he proclaimed, as viewers laughed along.

Meanwhile, Grizzy was in charge of making the sauce. “Butter and cream—a classic combo!” he sang, mixing in zest and a touch too much salt when he wasn't looking. Puffer, working beside him, tried to keep the peace. “Easy on the salt, Grizzy! We don’t want _ waking up thinking she just bit into the ocean!”

Across the countertop, Droid managed the garlic bread. He topped the slices with butter and herbs, all while playfully pretending to be a food critic for the stream. He raised an imaginary glass, saying, “I declare this garlic bread ready for the finest of palates!”

As the aroma of buttery, garlicky goodness filled the kitchen, Grizzy stirred the sauce with enthusiasm, and viewers began to leave comments about how amazing everything looked. Their streaming chat was alive with advice, encouragement, and playful banter.

“Maybe we should add a surprise ingredient?” Pezzy suggested, mischievously. “What if we make it fancier and add a little mushroom?”

“Or some peas?” Puffer added. Grizzy feigned horror, “No green—this is a classic!”

Just then, a soft snore echoed from the living room, causing everyone to stop and look over. “Shhh the baby is still sleeping!” Droid whispered, trying to keep the atmosphere calm. “Let’s finish up before she wakes up craving the food we’re cooking.”

Finally, after much laughter, splashes of sauce, and a tiny kitchen fiasco involving an overturned bowl of cheese, the feast was complete. They plated the fettuccine Alfredo alongside the golden garlic bread, and it looked like something out of a five-star restaurant.

“Let’s bring it to her together!” Droid said, excitement bubbling over. They carefully tiptoed towards the living room where _ lay sound asleep, surrounded by her cozy blankets.

As they approached, Sly was tucked into ___’s blanket then, _ stirred slightly but remained blissfully unaware of the deliciousness unfolding before her. Droid gently placed the steaming plates on the table nearby. “! Dinner is served!” he said softly.

With the four friends gathered around her, the aroma wafted through the air and finally stirred _ awake. Her eyes fluttered open, and she took in the sight of her friends, laughter in their eyes and kindness in their hearts. “What’s this?” she asked, her voice still sleepy.

“Your favorite!” Puffer declared with pride. “Made with love and hate.”

The joy on _'s face melted their hearts. They laughed and shared stories of their cooking escapades and streamed the moments that followed—her delight at the pasta, the playful teasing between friends, and even a few bloopers they had captured along the way.

As the evening wore on, the chat flooded with heart emojis and encouragement, each viewer feeling a part of the unlikely family gathering taking place. _, feeling cared for and cherished, recognized just how lucky she was to have friends like these and a loving partner by her side.

As the stream wrapped up, viewers couldn’t help but feel like they were part of something truly special—a celebration of friendship, kindness, and delicious food. They knew they'd be back for more adventures with The Clooless Gang, and that this was just the beginning of many more culinary capers to come.

[kartaylirnaak]

Cody Day WIP

I really wanted to have at least a chapter of this done for Cody Day @codyday2224 but life's been rough so instead have a sneak peak from the WIP of the fic that I'm writing. I'll add a link to the fic in this post when it's done.

Thank you to @catznetsov, @lyntergalactic, and @whatislifewithoutangst for coming up with this idea with me and noodling upon it.

The Care and Feeding of Your Marshal Commander

Batchmates

Cody is part of a command batch with Fox, Bly, Wolffe, and Ponds. Fox is Marshal Commander of the Coruscant Guard, Bly is Marshal Commander of the 327th Star Corps, Wolffe is Commander of the 104th, and Ponds is Commander of Lightning Squadron. You’ve probably come across at least one of them before. They are all equally terrifying and unhinged in their own special way. (Damn right – Wolffe) (Keep your teeth away from me – Bly)

Apart from the Corries (see the section on Fox below), whenever the 212th works with any of these units, make sure Cody gets time to spend with his respective batchmate. This should happen anyway as they’ll usually end up double bunking and sharing quarters but try to keep distractions to a minimum. Time spent grumbling over flimsiwork together is still better than being comm’d to come and deal with a prank that has gone disastrously wrong. Good luck trying to explain to your very grumpy Marshal Commander and his equally grumpy batchmate (who is also a Commander or Marshal Commander) why the bunks in Barracks 6C are on fire and why every visible surface in Barracks 8E is covered in a fine powdery glitter. You’ll be on sanitation duty for so long that you might as well live in the freshers and become one with the mouse droids.  

[rinixo]

tailspin

Tech/Reader | 5.4k | Rated E | afab reader, smut, oral sex, face-sitting, vague student/teacher relationship, themes of sexual insecurity and regret, body worship, NPC makes a pass at reader

Concerned for your well-being, Tech proposes a theory he would like to test out - with you as the subject.

part 2 to pendulum

a/n: For your advisement - This has themes/discussions of sexual regret and sexual uncertainty, as well as what I would describe as an invocation of the student/teacher relationship trope. However, there is no intention for any age gap/power dynamic imbalances - Tech is not 'responsible' for Reader, and all sexual situations are done with clear consent from all parties.

read on ao3

You chewed absently on your food, sitting under the canopy of the greasy noodle stand you often frequented. All around you, people wandered through the crowded market, haggling or looking for the place with the cheapest liquor. No one paid any attention to you, or to each other for that matter. It was a perfect place to ignore and be ignored.

It had been a couple of weeks since you had been rescued from the abandoned science facility - weeks since you had been dosed with that weird substance and subsequently slept with Tech. You had brushed off the rest of the crew’s questions once back on the Marauder as you dosed yourself with a bacta concoction, hoping it would purge whatever remained of the drug out of your system. Likewise, Tech kept mum and insisted nothing ‘out of the ordinary’ had happened.

“Man, spending a whole day cooped up with just Tech for company must have been boring,” Wrecker had joked. You had nearly choked at the comment, choosing not to reply, and tried to sleep the rest of the way back to Ord Mantell. After reporting to Cid, you hadn’t seen any of the crew.

“Hey,” a smooth voice brought your focus back to your surroundings. Glancing to your side, you raised a brow at the Devaronian male leaning on the counter. He cast you what you guessed was supposed to be a smoldering look, and you resisted rolling your eyes before returning to your noodles.

“You come here often?” The Devaronian pressed, clearly not getting the hint you weren’t interested in conversing with him. “Name’s Qarl - what do I call you, beautiful?”

“Not interested,” you mumbled through a mouthful of noodles. Qarl smirked, scooting closer and you leaned away in response.

“Playing hard to get? Don’t be like that, baby,” he simpered. “Hey, I’ve got a table in the VIP section of that club over there. How about you join me, we order some drinks, and see where the night goes?”

You knew where this was going. People like this were all over the underbelly of the galaxy, and Ord Mantell was no different. They went around trying to find easy marks and plied them with alcohol, drugs, or the promise of pleasures. The victims would then wake hours later to find all their possessions stolen, or worse.

Finishing up your food, you pushed your bowl towards the droid manning the stall. “No thanks,” you said firmly, getting up to leave the uncomfortable situation. Unfortunately, the Devaronian was not keen to let you leave so easily.

“Come on,” he purred, standing and snaking an arm around your waist. “I’ll show you a good time, promi-hey!”

Just as soon as he had pulled you into his side Qarl was flung away. You froze, watching him stumble to the ground as a taller figure stepped between the two of you.

“I believe she said she was not interested,” Tech stated, staring intently at the grumbling Devaronian brushing dust off his clothes. “You should go.”

“Get out of here, specs,” Qarl spat. “Can’t you see we’re talking?”

You noticed Tech’s hands twitch towards his holster, and without thinking you reached forward and grabbed one of his wrists. He turned his head slightly to view you shaking your head and mouthing ‘no’. Sure, the guy was a jerk, but you didn’t want this to turn into a blast zone.

You felt some of the tension in Tech loosen as he flicked his eyes back to Qarl. “Perhaps your translator is malfunctioning,” Tech challenged. Instead of his gun, he pulled out a spanner and made it spark. You couldn’t help to smile at the way Qarl’s face blanched, backing away with a grimace. “Allow me to repair it for you.”

“Whatever,” Qarl mumbled over his shoulder and disappeared into the crowd. To their credit - and probably because they were used to seeing worse on a daily basis - no one around you seemed to realize or care about what happened.

“Are you all right?” Tech turned to you after making sure the Devaronian had indeed fled. You nodded.

“Yeah,” you replied. “Not the first time scumbags like that have hit me up, and knowing this city it won’t be the last.”

The corner of his lips dipped into a frown, and Tech put away his spanner. “That is…unfortunate.”

Shrugging, you crossed your arms. “It’s life.” There was a beat of silence between the two of you. You had told yourself every day for the past two weeks that you would go back to Cid’s and talk to Tech, go back to normal, but you had yet to motivate yourself to do it. And now, here he was, coming to your aid once again.

“What are you even doing here?” You had never seen any of the Batch more than a few yards from Cid’s parlor. This greasy market was not the kind of place you would have expected seeing any of them, especially Tech.

“Looking for you,” Tech answered. “It has been exactly sixteen days since we returned from the mission and you have not returned to Cid’s once during that time.”

“I’ve been busy,” you deflected. You had been busy…busy avoiding him.

He adjusted his goggles. “You are embarrassed about what transpired at the science facility.”

You frowned, crossing your arms tighter. “No,” you insisted weakly. Leave it to Tech to get straight to the point.

“I suspected you would,” Tech continued, ignoring your lame attempt at a rebuttal. “I did some research on amatory agents, and-“ you cut him off by dragging him down a nearby alley, heart pounding.

“Not so loud!” You hissed and simmered at the confused look Tech tossed you.

“I thought you said you were not embarrassed,” he teased lightly, and you huffed in response.

“I’m not - I just - not in public, ok?” You sputtered. “Come on, follow me.”

—

You had a small apartment on Ord Mantell. Nothing luxurious, mostly just a spot you could get some rest in. It was sparsely decorated, as you didn’t own much outside of the necessities, but it was a more private location than the market street.

You let Tech hover just inside your entryway as you kicked off your shoes and headed further inside. Passing through your small kitchenette you flicked on your kettle to boil water for tea, more of a reflex than out of a desire to actually consume anything.

Tech followed you into the rest of the apartment, and you sat on the edge of your bed. “Don’t have a lot of seating options,” you apologized, motioning to the single chair you had opposite your sleeping space.

“I am familiar with small spaces,” he commented and sat down. “Between the Marauder and barracks, this is actually quite spacious than what I am used to.”

“I see,” you breathed out. Another pause, and you twitched your hands nervously. Tech’s eyes roamed around your apartment, and you wondered what he thought about it - and why you were so nervous having him here.

“So…,” you ventured, after waiting another moment. “What did you want to talk about?”

Clearing his throat, Tech re-focused back on you and raised his finger in a familiar lecturing gesture. “Right. As I was saying, I did some research on amatory agents. Specifically on the psychological after-effects on those impacted.”

Leaning back, you crossed your arms. “Why?”

“I knew you would not want to say anything about it in front of the rest of the crew. When you did not show up to Cid’s in the days after, however, I began to wonder if you were experiencing latent side effects from the drug, or avoiding an uncomfortable confrontation with me.” He tapped his thigh absently. “Have you?”

You shrugged half-heartedly. “No, I don’t think I’ve had any side effects. But…yeah, I guess I was avoiding you a little bit. I’m sorry.” You hadn’t realized he would have even noticed and felt a twinge of guilt at the thought of him worrying.

He put a hand up. “No need for apologies. Much of the literature I looked at talked about feelings of regret, loss of agency and control, and other unpleasant psychological impacts. Additionally, I thought about how that incident coincided with your first sexual experience - an event that can also have elements of regret or unease, especially for women.”

“Putting those together, I surmised that despite the emotions of the moment, you could be experiencing significant distress post-incident, as a result of having your first experience with sexual intercourse under such circumstances.”

As Tech spoke, you wondered again if he was lying about not being a mind reader. Though you had barely begun to admit it to yourself, he was right. You had been struggling with coming to terms with what had happened back in that storeroom. You didn’t regret it, not in the exact way that he was alluding to, but it was still complicated.

“Am I correct?” Tech questioned, pulling you back to the present.

“Yeah,” you replied shortly, and he hummed.

“I rarely am not.” That got a snort out of you, and Tech smiled softly at your humored outburst.

“I’m fine, though,” you added. “I appreciate you coming by, but this…I think it’s something I need to work through myself.”

Tech raised a brow and stood. “I…understand,” he said, and you wondered if you had really detected a tone of disappointment in his voice.

You walked him to your door where both of you hesitated, waiting for the other to say something. Clearing your throat, you wished him goodnight but as you went to close the door he stuck out a hand to stop it from shutting all the way.

You eyed him hesitantly. Stars, he was tall. You sometimes forgot about it.

“Respectfully, I did not mean to imply that something was wrong with you,” Tech said lowly, leaning in so that he would not be overheard. “But in a way, I do feel somewhat responsible for what occurred - “

“Tech,” you protested, but he continued on.

“-And in the interest of your comfort, I was curious if you would like to revisit the experience,” he offered. “Without the effects of the drug in your system.”

You stared at him, blood rushing to roar in your ears. Was he saying what you thought he was saying?

“I believe it would help in creating positive associations around sexuality,” Tech added, fingers tapping against your doorframe when you did not answer.

You had convinced yourself that Tech had done what he did out of a sense of duty, and concern for your health, and that there were no lingering thoughts of affection or desire in him. He had said he was not opposed to sleeping with you again, but as you replayed the conversation in your head over and over you told yourself he had done it in order to ease some of the tension and awkwardness of the moment.

“I-“ you stammered, unsure of what to say or what you wanted.

“You don’t have to answer just now,” Tech said softly. “Or at all. It…will not change anything. But if you are interested in the experience of having an…instructor, I would like to offer my services.”

With that, he dropped his hand and wished you goodnight, disappearing into the back alleyways of your neighborhood. You retreated back into your apartment and turned off your lights before laying on your bed. Your stomach and mind both twisted with what had just happened.

To say you hadn’t been thinking about your time with Tech would be a bold-faced lie. Every night since you had returned you had fallen asleep with the memory of him over your body, the warmth of his mouth on you. The soreness you had experienced from the size of him had faded into an ache of emptiness, an echo of the desire you felt in that intense moment weeks ago.

Maybe you had been drugged by that Devaronian, and this was the vision your mind played for you as you lay under a dirty club table while some scumbag stole your things.

Closing your eyes, you brought yourself back to Tech’s gaze. Usually so sure, but there was a hint of some vulnerability in their yellow-tinged depths.

He has nice eyes, you thought absently, sighing into your pillow. You hadn’t had a chance to notice the last time.

—

Two days later, you paced nervously around your apartment, waiting for Tech to arrive. You had sent him a message asking him to stop by, finally having built enough courage to press ‘send’ after debating with yourself.

A soft knock at the door made you jump slightly. Patting down your clothes, you let out a breath and invited him in.

He was dressed down - as much as a former clone trooper could be. Still the same goggles, you noticed. You wondered if he had an indent where they met his skin.

“You’re here,” you greeted, immediately wincing at how stupid that sounded.

“I am,” Tech agreed. “Did you doubt I would come?”

“I - I don’t know,” you confessed, rubbing your arm where you had been injected with the drug absently. It was a habit you had taken to recently, and you did not miss the way Tech’s eyes narrowed at the movement.

“You said you wanted to talk,” Tech leaned against the archway that lead from your kitchen to your living/sleeping space. “Am I correct in assuming it’s regarding my proposition from a few days ago?”

Nodding, you let out a breath. “Yes. I’ve been thinking about it, and…” you trailed off, chewing over your words. You had gone over what you had been wanting to say for the past two days, but it was still getting caught on the tip of your tongue.

“I will not be offended if you decline,” Tech reassured. “If that is what you are nervous about.”

“No, it’s just-“ You crossed your arms again and sighed, stepping closer to him.

“What do you get out of this?” you interrogated. “I’m thankful you helped me, Tech, but you don’t have any obligation to continue to…assist me. I like you, and I don’t want to be some kind of…research project for you, or a way for you to alleviate some kind of misplaced guilt."

You chewed your lip, flustered at your own candor. Tech tilted his head, eyes darting to the side before they landed back on you.

“Back in the storeroom,” he said slowly. “You said something that I have been thinking about. At the moment I attributed it with your enhanced state of mind, and deflected in order to focus on bringing you relief.”

‘Teach me how to touch you’. “I…remember,” you affirmed quietly.

Tech cleared his throat again. “Yes. And…despite the circumstances that led to us having sex being from an artificial hormonal source, I must admit…I have been thinking about it quite often.” He reached out a hand, hesitant, and softly stroked the side of your jaw as you stared up at him.

“I want to assure you that I find you…incredibly enticing,” he breathed. “And what I have proposed, I do both in the interest of your comfort and - selfishly - for my own desires.”

Closing your eyes, you leaned into his cupped hand.

“I-,” you whispered softly, “Truthfully, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I’ve realized that I did enjoy sleeping with you. I think it’s because even considering the circumstances, I trusted you. And even if I had been given the option, I would have wanted it to be you that I experienced it with.”

“I - that is a privilege,” Tech enthused quietly. He stepped closer to you with a curious, intense look. You reached your hands towards him, and as you pressed together he leaned down so that your noses bumped.

“Tech,” you breathed. “Show me what to do.”

He pressed his mouth against yours, swallowing your surprised gasp. You relaxed into his firm hold, the two of you stumbling back so that you hit the edge of your bed. You laid back as Tech leaned over you, climbing up over your form.

“My clothing” he directed, pulling away from your mouth. You shifted, hands going to the top of his trousers, and you tried to hide the nervous tremble as you unbuckled them. You drew them down his thin hips, revealing a sliver of golden skin and his dark base under layers.

You paused, unsure of where to go next. Peering down at you, Tech raised a brow and shifted so that he was laying just to the side of you, your legs entangled.

“You can touch me,” he said gently. Your eyes darted from his back down to where the black underlay protruded slightly. You brushed your palm over him curiously, surprised at how his cock twitched in response. You rubbed him more firmly through the fabric, emboldened by the sharp inhale from the man before you. He dipped his head down again, pressing another open-mouthed kiss against you.

Biting your lip, you reached down the top of his blacks and danced your fingers around his length. Dark hair, kept neat, scratched at your skin. Tech let out a sigh as you grasped him, and you echoed it in kind. It was such an odd feeling, you decided, as you touched his cock. How could something be so soft and pliable while also being so kriffing hard?

You pulled his blacks down further so that his whole length was freed. You briefly wondered what it felt like to have a cock - Tech’s was long and heavy enough that it bowed under its own weight, growing in your hand.

“What does it feel like?” You questioned, and Tech hummed against you.

“What does what feel like?” He queried. You blinked up at him through your lashes.

“What does having your cock stroked feel like?”

That got a choke out of him, which turned into him clearing his throat. “Well it’s…not something easily described,” he began. Clear liquid was beginning to leak from the swollen head, and you used your palm to spread it along the rest of his cock. It made a slick noise as you stroked him up and down.

His eyes fluttered briefly, and you watched as he chewed over his response. If there was one thing Tech couldn’t resist it was a chance to explain something, but even he was not immune to a drop in concentration under the circumstances.

“It’s…satisfying," he decided after a moment. “When I am aroused, there is a kind of…ache for sensation. It’s almost like a pulse - persistent, insistent on being stimulated.”

“Mmm,” you acknowledged, still steadily handling him. "Does it make a difference if it’s you touching yourself versus someone else touching you?”

“Yes,” Tech answered. You could feel his abdomen flex under your arm. “When you know your own body, you know how to bring yourself to completion most efficiently. I know how I like to be touched. Though of course -“ he let out a rasped groan as you increased the pressure you were holding him with - “there is something unique about having someone else do it to you.”

“I think I understand,” you mused. His arms tightened around you as you twisted your wrist, enjoying the way his cock twitched in your grasp.

“Take me into your mouth,” he instructed. “Try-try your tongue first.”

You spared him a glance before you slid down to sit between his thighs. Gripping the base of him, you darted your tongue out to lick hesitantly over his swollen cockhead. That got another rasped groan from him.

“I- very good,” he stammered.

You licked over his head again, finding that the taste of him was not unpleasant. In fact, the feeling of how his pre-spend pooled out of him and onto your tongue made you feel pleasantly flushed. You were discovering that there was satisfaction in being the cause of someone else’s pleasure.

Emboldened again, you took him deeper into your mouth. He was far too large for you to fit the entirety of him, but you swirled your tongue around what you could and sucked gently.

One of Tech’s hands came up to push your hair out of your face, holding it out of the way for you. “You’re doing well,” he enthused, and you shivered a little at the praise. He noticed immediately and huffed out in slight amusement.

“I confess - your enthusiasm is incredibly arousing,” he remarked. “You are a quick learner, aren’t you?”

You moaned at his words, your own arousal increasing exponentially. Tech’s hands stroked your cheek as his cock pressed against the spongey roof of your mouth. With a groan, he eased your mouth off of him gently.

You leaned back, wiping spit from your lips with the back of your hand, panting a little to catch your breath. “What’s wrong?” You questioned, thinking had you done something he didn’t like.

“Nothing,” Tech assured, leaning forward to cup your face in his hands. “I just do not want to finish too quickly - I have much more to show you.” You flushed again, thighs squirming as your core pulsed.

“Take off your clothes,” he instructed. You pulled your leggings down, kicking them off with your underwear. You lifted your top off and threw it to the side, kneeling bare in front of a still mostly clothed Tech. He leaned against the headboard and motioned for you to come closer, grabbing your hands to pull you up into his lap.

“I want you to sit on my face,” he directed lowly, noticing your wide-eyed confusion, and you squeaked in surprise. Grasping your hips, he led you up his chest until your core was over his eager mouth.

“I-I’ll smother you,” you protested, tensing as he tried to pull you down. His brow furrowed in chastisement, and you felt his fingers tighten over your skin.

“That’s the goal,” he drawled and pulled you down so that he could lathe his tongue through your dripping folds. You gasped, one hand reaching out to grab the headboard and the other coming down to clutch his soft hair.

This angle wasn’t what you were expecting, and the way his tongue flicked over your sensitive clit made your legs shake. Your thighs ached from trying to avoid sitting too far down on his face, a task made impossible by how he wrapped an arm around your waist to seat you more firmly over his clever mouth. He ate you like someone licking a plate to get every last bit of their last meal, and you could feel an orgasm approaching rapidly.

You grasped his hair and curled into yourself as you came, thighs shaking as you finally failed to keep them tensed. Tech did not stop and suckled your clit until you were writhing in almost-painful pleasure. He finally released you after what seemed like an eternity of coming, sliding you down to sit on his abdomen.

“I thought you were teaching me how to make you feel good,” you panted, and Tech smirked. He pressed a wet kiss to your mouth, arms coming around your waist to press your body closer to his.

“I am,” he rasped against you. “Part of sexual satisfaction is pleasing your partner. Their reactions, the sounds they make, the way they taste-“ he shuddered slightly against your mouth. “And you, my dear, taste delectable.”

Trailing his mouth down your chest, he nipped at your breasts. You gasped and arched into it, letting him take more of your sensitive flesh between his teeth. Tugging at his top, you helped him pull it off over his head, immediately running your hands down his chest. While not as built as Wrecker or Hunter, he was still deliciously toned and firm.

Groaning against your skin, Tech laid back and let you drag your hands down his body. Glancing up, you smiled at the glazed look in his eyes, his ruffled hair, and his lopsided goggles.

“A scar,” you noted, pressing a finger against the mark just above his hip. His body jerked at the motion, and his hands went to adjust his goggles as he watched you explore him.

“Y-yes,” he muttered. “A piece of shrapnel clipped through my armor.” Shifting his hips, he let out a strained noise as you scratched it lightly with a fingernail. “That, ah - I am sensitive there,” he confessed.

“Did I hurt you?” You asked, lifting your hands. He shook his head almost a little too fast.

“Keep going,” he replied, pulling his goggles off and letting his head fall back on your pillows.

Settling between his thighs once more, you placed the pads of your fingers just above his navel. You stroked down Tech’s body, applying different levels of pressure as you grazed his inner thighs. He was making some delightful noises, you mused to yourself. You wanted to hear more.

His cock was still leaking pre-spend, a clear strand connecting from the head to where he bobbed against his abdomen. Leaning forward, you continued your soft tracing of his skin, the lines of his muscles, the patterns his soft body hair made, and took the head of his cock into your mouth.

A muffled curse from above, and you felt Tech’s body twitch again. “You clever girl,” he ground out, clearly impressed with your interpretation of his pleasure. His praise continued to ignite your own need, and you slipped a hand from his body to slide through your slick folds.

Opening one eye, Tech watched you teasing yourself. “I can hear how wet you are,” he breathed, and you moaned, too aroused to be embarrassed at his candor. “Another, ah - benefit of being genetically engineered…”

With more of that belied strength Tech grasped your forearms and pulled you back up his body.  He licked into your open mouth, and you whimpered at the sensation. You were on the edge of something, tensed like a prey animal. He had a way of pushing you from one extreme to another, from control to submission. He played with your body like he had been memorizing it for years - a nod to his experience, his intellect, both?

He shifted under you, and you felt his cock press against your inner thigh. Grasping himself in hand, Tech broke away from your mouth to watch your reaction as he guided himself to your entrance, eyes locked on to the way your own fluttered shut and your mouth opened into a small gasp.

You were still tight - not from lack of arousal, but from the mere size difference between your bodies. Tech grasped your hips, easing you down his length, paying close attention to every minute change on your face.

The stretch was delicious, right on the precipice of being too much. The further he pushed in, the more full you felt, and you swore that you could feel him all the way up into your throat.

“Magnificent,” Tech praised lowly, solid inside of you. “Look-“ he grabbed your hand, pressing it to where he entered you. You glanced down and swore that he twitched purposefully so that you’d feel it.

“That’s me inside of you,” he intoned.

“Tech,” you whimpered. Your hands came down to his abdomen, trying to find leverage. Even with his entire length filling you it felt like he just kept going, the head of him bumping almost painfully against the seal of your womb.

“Move, darling,” he crooned, rolling his hips to urge you on. “It will help.”

With a deep inhale, you shifted and met the roll of his hips tentatively. The stretch and slide of him up and then down, and then up and then down - the smug know-it-all was right, it did help.

“Good girl,” Tech breathed again. “Keep going.”

You rocked against him. Your brow, once furrowed in concentration, relaxed as you found a rhythm. Shifting, Tech moved his hands from your waist to knead at the plush flesh of your ass, adding to the pace of your movement. Your chests met again as you leaned toward him, and closed your eyes as his nose nuzzled against your cheek.

“How does it feel?” Tech husked, moving your hips to slide up and down his length.

“Good,” you breathed, and let out a hiss as Tech snaked a hand down to tweak at your swollen clit.

“Good,” Tech repeated with a hum. “My dear, you can do better than that.” You felt his abdomen clench as he propped up his legs and met your rocking with a firm thrust up into you.

“Again,” he instructed, leaning his head back to look at you expectantly.

You clawed at his shoulders, mouth opening with a choke. How could he expect you to form coherent sentences with the way his cock was ramming up into you? Every thrust drew you further from focus - and based on the gleam in his eyes that was precisely the point.

“Your cock,” you choked. “It…it’s so big, Tech. I like how you’re filling me up. The way you s-stretch me feels so good…”

Pleased with your candidness, Tech’s lips lifted into a short smile. “You’re drenched. Your little cunt is taking my cock beautifully.” You burned at the way he voiced his approval, your pussy fluttering around him.

“Do you want to hear a confession?” Tech groaned as he pulled you closer, and you nodded feverishly.

“I like that I’m the first man to fuck you,” he rasped. “I like knowing that my cock was the first one to split your tight little cunt. That it’s my seed that you took -“ He panted, pace increasing, and you felt the beginning of your own finish.

“Do you want it again?” Tech pressed, and you rambled ‘yes yes yesyes-‘

“Good girl, come on,” he urged, hand returning to press on your clit, drawing you over the edge. You cried out his name as your orgasm washed over you, pussy fluttering around as he continued to piston up into you. Grasping your ass in his hands once again, Tech pushed himself into you as far as he could go, eyes roaming your face as he relished the feeling of your cunt pulsing around him. He held you there, breath held until his own climax hit.

If you felt full before, it was nothing to how you felt as Tech throbbed inside of you, cum painting your insides. You shivered as he pulled you tightly against his chest, your name escaping from between his gritted teeth.

Your heart pounded from exertion as you lay there together. You felt Tech’s hand coming up to stroke your shoulder softly, and you lifted your head from where you had pressed it against the side of his neck to blink at the surprisingly tender look in his eyes.

“Apologies,” he murmured. “But I am going to adjust slightly -“ You winced as he shifted so that the two of you were laying side by side again, and as your thighs rubbed together you felt where his spend leaked out of you. You weren’t sure if you liked the feeling, but in a way it was satisfying.

You felt Tech sit up, looking for his goggles. “Are you all right?” He asked, pushing his goggles up his nose.

“Yes,” you said, pressing your face into your pillow. “I think so?”

Instead of getting up and leaving, Tech settled back down on your bed. You tilted your head up to eye him curiously.

“Are you?” You inquired, and saw him glance down at you.

“Yes.” Tech cleared his throat, and you raised a brow. Was he blushing?

“So Tech,” you lifted your head, propping an arm so you could rest your chin on your elbow. “How did I do?”

“P-pardon?” Tech sputtered, and you sent him a lazy grin.

“Did I…meet your standards?” You teased.

“That was not the purpose of this…entanglement,” Tech chided, flustered. Adjusting his goggles, he shot you a stern look. “In fact, ranking my sexual encounters would be counterintuitive to your well-being.”

You frowned, a small pout gracing your lips. “Not getting a good grade, then, am I?”

Tech sighed out your name, and rolled over so that he was hovering over your still-bare form. “You are impossible,” he chastised, not unkindly, and dipped down to kiss the smirk off your face.

[half-truths-and-hyperbole-louk]

Louk's Bad Batch rewatch part 10 omg and 10 days until s3 👀

Lets go batchers 🤟

The Bad Batch 1x06

I love reading the aurebesh signs hehe

Omega nearly takes out a stranger and literally goes "teehee oopsie" I love her sm

Echo teaching her how to shoot 🥺

HIS HAND ON HER SHOULDER 😭

Wrecker: "not exactly a natural is she" Hunter: *vague nod/shrug thing* 💀

I'd love to shoo cid out of the bar "scram" @ cid

Tech is playing arcade games !!!! 👀

"I assume you know what a tactical droid is" *3 voted yes, Omega voted no, Tech panicked*

I used to think cid telling the batch they work for her was a kinda funny scene but rewatching it now knowing what I know it just infuriates me 😡

"weak noodle arms" SHES JUST A BABY

"this old trick?" hehe like the one Han did in ESB 👀

"that's your plan? fly there, land, hope they don't spot us and walk in the door?" ~ Obi-Wan about Anakin's plan - me pretending Echo learned this from Anakin 🥺

poor Wrecker with heights, he's so brave fr I'm very proud 💕

"nighty night" 🤣

everyone is probably gonna hate me for saying this buuuuttt... I kinda wanna see more Martez sisters after this episode lol

Rafa: "grab a weapon" Omega: "I had one 😑"

y'all the banter between Hunter and Rafa 👀 the way he walks behind her with both blasters out

THE FLIP AND ROLL OMEGA DOES TO GRAB THE DROID HEAD !!!

"thanks" hehehe she's so cheeky

sibling banter

YOU'VE GOT THIS WRECKER 👑

Wrecker hits his head count: 7 👀

and he just got shot in the same place on his shoulder for the third time 🙃

"Good soldiers-" screaming sobbing exploding into another dimension

HELP HER TRACE

Omega screaming for Hunter 😭

plus Hunter's "hang on Omega!" *checking myself into therapy*

Hunter literally swinging in to save Omega like he's tarzan 👑

that "thank you" was SO sincere I'm going to go cry my eyes out forever

Trace grabbed Omega to pull her behind her 🥺

Rafa: "I still don't like you" Hunter: "I'm used to it" 🥲😂

okay but Wrecker fighting the chip, hearing Tech calling for him sounding so concerned, then Crosshair desperately saying "good soldiers follow orders" is incredibly painful to hear... but it's like he's hearing his brothers both desperately calling him to them, Crosshair's voice is like the chip trying to activate, he's frustrated and confused which is probably exactly how Wrecker feels right now, and Tech's voice is trying to bring Wrecker back away from the chip 🥲 like they're both tugging at his brain to go different directions or smth idk I'm emotional about them always

"is there an echo in here?" "Yes, I'm Echo" *salutes* he's just so silly and goofy and I know the domino squad is absolutely cackling rn 😂

Tech's little swirly flip of the datastick like Hunter does with his knife makes me think Tech can also use Hunter's knife and that is something I would love to see pls

Trace has her arm around Omega again! 🤲

Tech is so sneaky hehe

Omega: "it's all about tuning out distractions" SEE CID SHE TOOK ECHOS ADVICE AND NOW SHE'S FINE pfft "weak noodle arms" NO MA'AM

R7 💕💕💕

Omega is so excited about being in a seedy area lmaooo

Omega and Rafa waving at each other as they leave 🥺

Hunter talking about the right reasons I am feeling emotions again

hmm I wonder who this mysterious person on the holo could possibly be 🤔🤔🤔

yayyyy episide 6 done y'alls 💕 thanks for joining again ilysm

I'm going to be doing a lot more hehe because I was super busy for a few days and now my timing is off 🙃

see y'all next time for when the fit hits the shan 🤟

[thehollowprince]

So I started rewriting The Acolyte into something of a concise story more akin to what I would have liked for how it was presented to me (i.e. a murder mystery). This is just the opening scene of the first chapter/episode and is really just a rewrite of the opening scene from the show (Indara's murder) but with some things removed and others changed around to lean more into the mystery side of things.

Year 743 After Ruusan Reformation (Galactic Standard Calendar)

Ueda was a small planet in the Outer Rim, on the Galactic Frontier, mostly water with a vast archipeligo of rocky islands. The locals have managed to build a semi-thriving civilization. Far from the major hyperspace lanes or trading routes, it was a haven for wanderers and provided a quiet life for those who chose to call it home. And that's how its residents liked it. For the rest of the Galactic community, and even some of its inhabitants, it was a pit stop on the way to bigger and better things.

Currently, it was the wet season on the island where we lay our scene, and the village was host to two unexpected visitors. A Jedi Master and her padawan stopping on the planet to refuel their ship before heading out on their next mission. Indara was a tall, slender woman with a pale, severe face marked by two black tattoos next to her left eye, her black hair pulled back in a simple braid and her clothes simple yet comfortable, while her apprentice was equally as slender, though shorter, only sixteen standard years with a mop of golden curl atop his head, a padawan braid brushing his broadening shoulders, both outstandingly pale compared to the sun darkened locals. The pair were currently inside of the Lomi Usqi Noodle Shop, escaping the gentle rain that was blanketing the island. The townsfolk were happy to house them, both parties getting something from the other. The locals got stories of adventure from around the galaxy, and the padawan got to interact with others close to his own age.

Too many thought of the Jedi as unfeeling droids, but they required, and even wanted, companionship and social interaction as much as the next sentient. Torbin may still have much to learn about the ways of the Force, but his master was content to let him still experience life as a teenager as well. So, while Torbin was horsing around with the other local kids and playing the arcade games the Noodle Shop provided, Indara sat at a communal table, enjoying her noodles and swapping stories with other wanderers passing through. This was the best part of her role in the galaxy, the sense of community with the everyday people.

Honestly, the Jedi life wasn't for everyone, but it definitely had its perks.

The peaceful atmosphere of the shop was shattered rather abruptly when Torbin threw a punch at one of the other local boys. That boy's friends jumped to his defense and rushed the padawan, and while they had numbers, and in some cases size, on their side, Torbin was a Jedi trained by one of the best hand-to-hand fighters in the Order. Several of the boys were immediately thrown back while another, more skilled threw several punches that Torbin dodged and deflected before twisting his arm, nearly to the point of breaking, and delivered a nasty punch to the stomach. The adults themselves got involved now, with a large Devaronian moving in to stop the young Jedi. While the Devaroinian had size, Torbin had speed, quickly dropping and punching a knee, causing his opponent to cry out in pain as they dropped before an uppercut rendered them unconscious.

All around them was chaos as other patrons attempted to get out of the way of the fight.

One of the perks of being a Jedi was having the Force on your side. In this instance, the Force whispered to Torbin, alerting him to incoming danger from his right. He spun, quickly spotting the other patron reaching for their blaster. Acting quickly, he overturned a table, using it to absorb the blast before Force-pushing it into the offender, crushing the large Twi'lek against a wall. Holding out his hand, Torbin called upon the Force, and a knife from the open bar/kitchen flew through the air to smack into his palm. The out-of-control padawan moved forward for the kill before an iron grip wrapped around his wrist.

Indara had finally moved to stop her padawn.

There was only a moment's hesitation from Torbin before he twisted out of her grip, bringing the knife to bear. He slashed and stabbed while she dodged and deflected. For these locals, he may have been more than a match, but Indara had taught him all he knew. She managed to get his arm in a lock again, and he quickly dropped the knife to catch it with his other hand. Before he could grasp the handle, Indara struck out with a foot, kicking the knife across the room and embedding it within the wall, all while twisting her padawn backward to put him off balance.

"Torbin! Why are you doing this?" Master asked padawan. However, when she looked into his eyes, she saw no recognition, blind rage having blackened his gaze. This gave her pause. That pause was all the opening Torbin needed, leaning into his new position to flip over onto his feet, his boot nearly striking Indara in the face. The moment his feet were planted on the floor again, he thrust out both hands, one still in Indara's grip, using the Force to push his unprepared master away and into the same wall he had pinned the Twi'lek, the wood breaking under the force of her impact. While she was down, Torbin took the opportunity to put even more distance between him and his master, leaping with inhuman grace up onto the balcony that ran along the shop's second floor.

From her position amongst the splintered wood, Indara groaned as she got to her feet, her eyes quickly assessing the situation. Her padawan was on the balcony, and with the exception of a few bodies (unconscious, not dead, thank the Force) there were only four sentients still in the shop, Indara and Torbin not included. The shopkeeper and their child were huddled behind the bar, while a girl in a purple cloak whimpered from where she was hunkered next to the arcade game, and the last was unfortunately on the balcony, close to her mad apprentice. Unfortunately for them, Torbin felt their presence through the Force and moved in to attack, grabbing the frightened young woman and preparing to strike.

Indara sprung into action, moving quickly up the stairs and leaping onto the balcony through a Force-assisted leap, but unfortunately, she wasn't quick enough. Torbin, sensing the bigger threat, shoved the young woman off the balcony through the railing and plummeting to the hard ground below. Indara paused in her pursuit, reaching out with the Force to stop the fall and gently lower the innocent to the ground, allowing her to escape without injury. That moment of compassion provided the opening Torbin had been waiting for, having closed the distance between them while she was distracted, lightsaber in hand. A blade of yellow plasma swept passed her face, Indara moving just out of reach of his attack.

Once again, as with the knife, Torbin slashed and stabbed, while his master ducked and weaved, even at one point catching the blade with the Force, confusing her apprentice long enough for her to knock him back with a Force push, his blade shrinking back into the emitter. He rolled backward to his feet, reigniting his blade at his side and slowly rising to his feet, his eyes locked upon his master. For her part, Indara stood stoically, her own lightsaber in her hand, her thumb hovering over the activation switch.

"Torbin, whatever has happened, you can fight this." Indara said calmly. "Fortify your mind, and the Force will guide you."

Torbin screamed in response and charged forward. Indara's emerald blade ignited and met Torbin's gold. The padawan attempted to press forward, but each blow was met with Indara's own steady bladework. Torbin grew more frustrated, striking out wildly, opening himself up to counter attacks that never came. Despite the urgency and importance of stopping him, Indara did not want to kill her padawan. When the correct opening finally came, she locked blades with him, forcing his away and quickly disarming him before knocking him back with a well placed kick. Before he could recover, she was on him, her blade extinguished but ready just in case.

Her hand reached out and hovered over Torbin's head, fingers splayed as she probed his mind with the Force.

"Fight this, Torbin." Indara whispered, her eyes closed, reaching out with the Force and through the cloud of the Dark Side that shrouded her padawn, hoping to save him from whatever had caused this rage and darkness that had consumed him. Had she missed something in his training? Had she failed her padawan? No! She wouldn't believe that. She opened her eyes and gazed down at her padawn, who struggled less and less under her ministrations, until finally he knelt before her, utterly still. He opened his eyes, clear once again.

"… Master?" Torbin whispered, sounding confused and broken. "What happened?"

Indara sighed in relief, relaxing her grip on Torbin, her padawan free from whatever had held him in its grip. This moment of reprieve was short-lived, as the wall that had buckled earlier now collapsed completely, pulling down part of the ceiling into the shop… and directly upon the shopkeeper and his child. Instinctively, Indara reached out with the Force yet again, catching the falling debris and saving the two souls from being crushed.

"Get to safety!" Indara called, straining under the weight of the rubble. The shopkeeper and his child managed to crawl out from behind the bar and escape out the back, but Indara didn't get to stay in that moment of relief for long. With her distracted, her steadying grip on Torbin's mind faltered, his eyes swirling once more into blackness. His saber was summoned to his hand once again, and the emitter shoved up against Indara's chest. There was a moment of crystalline stillness, as if time had stopped entirely, before the yellow blade burst from Indara's back. Almost immediately, Torbin turned off the blade, his eyes no longer dark. Tears fell down his cheeks as he tossed aside his saber, looking on in horror as the shocked look on his master's face slipped into blankness, her own saber slipping from her grip to clunk against the wood. As she fell, the life leaving her body, Torbin surged forward to catch her body.

"Master! I'm sorry, master!" He cried. "Forgive me!" Torbin cradled his master's body, weeping, both grief-stricken and confused, unsure of what had happened nor of what to do next. That decision was taken away from him, a stun blast striking him from behind. His body slumped next to his masters as someone stalked toward the two of them, their boots thumping along the wood before stopping.

The mystery person reached down and picked up Indara's lightsaber before walking away, not even a backward glance to the chaos left in their wake.

[And here I placed the title card, like they do in the show after the opening scene, a sort of break before the story continues. I'd appreciate any feedback. I'm already working on extending it a bit in the beginning to include more of Indara and Torbin, but this is my first draft.]

[stardustandash]

Nerf and Noodle Soup

Whumptober Day 2: Trust Issues – Role Reversal

The galley is half torn apart at this point in their flight, and Greez can’t help but wish he had slightly more blood left in his body, because what’s happening to his beautifully arranged kitchen is worth getting his blood pressure up over. Instead, he remains slumped at the galley table, watching the destruction of his favourite place in the galaxy.

Ao3 Link

“You know, you could always go wait in the lounge. Or your room. Somewhere you can’t sit and watch and fret,” says Cal as he rummages through the galley cupboards instead of listening to Greez’ helpful instructions.

The galley is half torn apart at this point in their flight, and Greez can’t help but wish he had slightly more blood left in his body, because what’s happening to his beautifully arranged kitchen is worth getting his blood pressure up over. Instead, he remains slumped at the galley table, watching the destruction of his favourite place in the galaxy.

“And leave you alone in the kitchen? No thanks.”

“Would you rather it be Cere in here?” asks Cal with a pointed look towards a large scorch mark and dent above the cooker.

Greez sighs. Out of all of them, it is best that Cal takes on cooking duties for now. Merrin is likely to feed them something like a nautalan’s liver. Or the wings from one of those very large people-eating dathomirian bats. Cere would set the ship on fire. Again. And don’t even get him started about the droid. BD-1 is never touching anything Greez puts in his mouth. Cal at least somehow kept himself alive during those years on Bracca, but Greez is starting to have an appreciation for just how far portions and other packaged meals will go. Both in terms of how much nutrition they actually provide and how ego-boosting they are for the kitchen.

“You’ll do. But for the last time, the Alderaan spices are on the bottom left, and the Lateron are in the middle upper part of the drawer. You can’t just mix the two when making nerf and noodle soup,” says Greez. “They’re completely different palates.”

Cal sighs and puts the offending spice away. It doesn’t escape Greez that he puts it back in completely the wrong spot since the kid’s trying to check on him without drawing attention to it. He wishes Cal wouldn’t. He’s got enough to worry about with the food and the Jedi stuff without worrying about Greez. He’s had holes in his side before and he would again, especially if he kept hanging around with this crew or went back to gambling.

At least nerf and noodle soup is basic enough that even the kid can make it. Hopefully without poisoning anyone or putting a hole through the ship. Cal is, at least, paying attention to the recipe written out in Greez’ old battered flimsi cookbook, though whenever he touches the pages he does that weird blank-faced thing Cere described as ‘seeing the past’. At least he isn’t on the floor screaming from anything. But with the luck they’ve been having lately there’s still time for that.

Greez slumps a little further into his seat. The lounge would be comfier, Cal does have a point there, but he just can’t wrap his head around getting up. Or wrap his head around much of anything. He’s pretty sure Cal is putting in the right vegetables, but it’s hard to tell when he keeps turning into a blue blur with a bright red topper. It’s his job to make sure that the people on this ship get fed, and even if he’s gotta supervise a blob he’s sure as Bantha shit going to do it.

Which is why Greez doesn’t say anything as the world gets slightly fuzzy around the edges. Or when breathing starts to feel like it’s pulling at the edges of his wound. Maybe he should say something. He’s probably due for another round of fresh bacta patches and painkillers, and he needs to make sure Cere isn’t piloting them off course.

“Don’t forget to brown the nerf first,” is what he says. Or tries to say. The whole thing comes out in a tangle of sounds he’s pretty sure are still decipherable.

The next thing Greez is aware of is being cradled in someone’s arms. He’s also a lot more horizontal than he was a second ago. The blurry red shape above him eventually resolves itself into Cal’s worried face and he tries to push himself away from the kid. He’s fine, there’s no need for anyone to fuss over him. He’s the one who does the fussing around here.

“Woah, Greez. Stay still for a minute, you just passed out,” says Cal.

The arms around Greez tighten and keep him locked in place. Rolling his eyes, Greez lets Cal ease him down to the cold tile of the galley floor. The chill is rather refreshing, even if it’s giving Greez a view of just how many crumbs are scattered across the tile. He needs to do a deep clean soon.

“I’m fine, kid. Just got a little lightheaded. Not quite as dramatic as some of the things you’ve pulled, which, let me tell you, have been far worse.”

Greez’ words fall on deaf ears as Cal ignores him in favour of pulling up his shirt and checking the wound in his side. His fingers are gentle where they peel back the bacta patch and probe around the outskirts of the hole grazing Greez’ side.

“You sure you don’t want to go to a med centre or something? This is really nasty and the bacta’s only going so far,” says Cal.

Greez hasn’t seen the wound himself, except for right after it appeared in his side thanks to a Haxion Brood knife, but he knows it’s not nearly bad enough for a med centre. That’s only for things where he’s about to die unless he’s thrown in a tank. This? He’ll be back to flying and bustling about the kitchen in no time.

“I’m good. I’m good. This won’t keep me down for long, especially with the way you’ve been cooking.”

Cal frowns at him, whether offended by the commentary on his cooking or disbelieving his statement about the med centre was hard to tell. Then Greez feels an odd tingling sensation over the wound and realizes it’s not either of those options. It’s a frown of concentration and Cal is using some kind of freaky Jedi magic on him. Or trying to.

“Whatever you’re doing, you better stop,” says Greez with as much warning as he can muster.

The guilty look is enough to confirm that Cal was doing some Jedi nonsense. “At least let me put a fresh bacta patch on and put you on the couch.”

Greez grumbles, but the potolli-weave is far more comfortable than the galley floor or the stools around the table. Reluctantly he lets Cal pick him up off the floor and help him down the steps to land on the couch. Neither of them comment on how long it takes or how exhausted Greez is once they get there. Cal wordlessly applies a bacta patch to Greez’ side and escapes back into the galley. Greez sinks into the couch and listens to the sounds of soup being made, hating everything about the situation. He hates to be useless like this, when he can’t even do his job on the ship of keeping everyone fed.

Though he will admit, Cal makes a pretty good nerf and noodle soup.

[bates--boy]

He just needed to get through tonight. It was manageable. One show, one hour, a handful of songs. Then, they go backstage. Where the reason he's still breathing is waiting for him, probably fast asleep now while latched onto her mother's tit. But just holding her would be enough; just taking in her milky scent and letting her hold his pinky like she usually does in her sleep would be enough to center his world and make everything okay.

He just needed to get through tonight.

In front of that large crowd, too pissed with bottles of champagne and beer to care about the cold that eats into the bones. Why aren't they home? Why aren't any of them home? Was celebrating with family and friends too damn boring for them that they needed to come here and make him dance like a monkey to ring in the new year?

God, Peter hates them!

No, no...

Peter squeezed his eyes shut. He doesn't hate them, he just hates two people. Both whom are long dead and sure as fuck not within that crowd, but still tormenting him from beyond the grave.

"Peter, open your eyes."

He did, and blinked. The first thing he thought was, "Don't look at me like that", when he was greeted with Tarsha's assessing scowl, thick lips pulled into a sort-of thin line as his crew mate held a mascara brush aloft.

"I need to do your lashes," Tarsha said, seated in the director's chair across from Peter.

"Right, sorry," Peter said, leaning in a little closer. Tarsha leaned back in, too, and coated the makeup on Peter's eyelashes.

"Sweetie, I think you need to talk about it."

If it weren't for the chatter of the production team around them, and the clamber and cheer of the audience outside, the air would have fallen silent between them.

"...What do you mean?"

"I mean whatever is eating you up inside." Tarsha worked on the other eye's lashes. As she worked, Peter noted the stenciled snowflake he had put on her left eye, wishing that he had opted for that for himself, too.

"There's nothing eating me up inside."

"You say that, but have you looked at yourself recently?" Tarsha stuck the mascara brush back in its tube and grabbed the palette and angled brush, coating the soft bristles with white and silver blush to dust along Peter's cheekbones. "You're starting to look like before, when you--"

She stopped, her hand pausing it's blush application, before starting again as if not missing a beat.

"When I what?" Peter prodded. But he knew. Smashed glass, gashes on hands. White flashes. When all Tarsha did was sigh, Peter said again, "When I what, Tarsha?"

"I'm just saying that," Tarsha tried, setting the palette back in their bag and looking Petee straight in his eye this time, "we're your friends. We're your family. I know that none of us are Naseem, but--"

Peter patter his knees and started to rise. "Yeah, I'm not gonna--"

"No, wait!" Tarsha grabbed Peter's wrist. When he made no move to fight her off, she gently guided him back down, still holding onto him. "I know it's hard to share what's going on with you, but holding it all in like this isn't going to help you. You can open up to us!"

Peter let his eyes fall to their linked hands.

"You do trust us, don't you?"

His gazed flickered back up, and he knew he was an open book, because he could see in her face, the shock, the sting, the sunken disappointment, that she read every single reply that came to Peter's head.

It's too much. It's too heavy.

You're human. You wouldn't understand.

You wouldn't know the first thing about helping someone beyond repair!

The last time I trusted people with my secret, they saw me as a slut to fix their failed fucking marriage.

And ultimately

No.

"Yeah..." Peter nodded weakly, hoping he sounded convincing. "Yeah, I do."

"Okay," Tarsha said, sounding just as weak, and definitely not convinced. Peter decided that that was not his problem for thr next hour. "Just, uhm, remember that we love you."

"I know."

They were called onstage. Lined up side by side, barely getting warm by the heaters situated in the corners of the erected stage, The Mizfists waited in the dim lighting for their cue. Although Peter stated down his mic to the crowd packed into the square, what he saw was Sadaf, swaddled and warm in Ashira's arms.

The bass came, felt first from the bottom of his feet and sparking every nerve in his body on the way up. He just needed to get through tonight. It was manageable. One show, one hour, a handful of songs.

Peter grabbed the mic off its stand and stepped up, hand raised high in the Stortorget.

He craned his head back, shouting to the whole world that he knew was listening, "What is up, Stockhoooooolm?! Happy fucking New Year!!"

[mistymountainsmc]

Bounty Hunter Sausage

Ok, we know a lot about Sausage as a Jedi, but what about his previous job as a Bounty Hunter?

He had planned on being a Mandalorian, but his father had some 'relation' to the Mandalorians that made them refuse Sausage (noodle incident). With this, Sausage styled his armour off of a Mandalorian to rub it in their faces and refered to himself as "The Crimson Shadow" (working name) to omit any relation to his father.

And kinda on topic, Bubbles was a BD Droid before, but during a bounty, Sausage was about to be shot from behind, but Bubbles leapt in the way and blocked the blast, but was nearly destroyed. Sausage managed to save her memory, but he had to completely remodel her.

Just a bit more world building, God bless!

[boltwrites]

Requests for Tech?! Ask and you shall RECIEVE!

Could you write something along the lines of Tech and reader having to go a gala undercover posing as a couple? I know this has been done a million times already, but I can't get enough of it.

(Purely fluffy SFW, if you don't mind)

A/N: i chose fem!reader for this (mentions of wearing a dress and makeup) so i hope that's ok!

this isn’t exactly a full fic with this premise, but more the start of one, since it started getting kind of ridiculously long and i wasn’t sure where to go from here. i hope you like it! if there’s enough interest, i might add onto it, but honestly i’m not too happy with it :/

"I don't understand why I was chosen for this mission," Tech grumbled, adjusting his goggles as he crossed his arms. You sighed. You loved Sid, but these boys she had working for her were certainly an interesting group. Their arguments were always entertaining, though.

"What, Tech, got two left feet?" you teased, only in order to egg the rest of the group on. You knew that the mission Sid had for you all - to attend a gala in order to slice into a spice lord's comms - wasn't the sort of thing these boys were usually sent out on. Their missions tended to involve more blaster fire and less small talk.

"Absolutely not. That is physically impossible," he scoffed, and you giggled at how literal he took you while Echo face-palmed and Hunter rolled his eyes.

"No, Tech," Hunter clarified, clearly exasperated. "You're a good slicer. Even if you do talk like a protocol droid," Hunter mumbled the last bit, which earned a hearty laugh from Wrecker. You had to cover your mouth to muffle your giggles.

"Can we refrain from the droid comparisons, please?" Echo interjected, which shut you all right up as he raised an eyebrow at Hunter. "Trust me, Tech, I would have gone instead of you, but..."

Echo gestured to his scomp, which wasn't easier explained. It was true - even if this wasn't a slicing mission, Tech would be the least likely to stand out. Echo had too many cybernetics, Hunter had his face tattoo, and Wrecker was... well, Wrecker.

"Don't worry about it, really," you added to Tech, who was still frowning at his batchmates. He looked so uncomfortable - shoulders stiff as he tried his best not to snap at the others. You placed a hand on his shoulder to hopefully calm him some. You didn't know the Bad Batch very well, but if you had to work with Tech, you didn't want him to hate the assignment you two had to work together on. "I know this crowd. I can do the talking, you can do the slicing. It'll be fine."

"That is not-" Tech started, but then he shook his head and sighed. You bit your lip, a bit confused as to his hesitation, and why he didn't finish his statement - from what you knew of him, he always spoke his mind. Even the other batchers looked worried - Echo and Wrecker sharing a concerned look with Omega, and Hunter pausing, looking between you and Tech as if he understood something that the others didn't.

"If you ladies are done arguing, our seamstress is waiting!" Sid cut in, yelling from the bar. "She's gonna need all the time she can get with noodle legs over there! Get moving!"

You chuckled at her joke, and you thought you could spy a blush on Tech's cheeks at the jab as you were unceremoniously hauled to the bar of the bar to be fitted for your fancy gala clothes.

.....................

You didn't see Tech again until it was time for you to get to your speeder. You smoothed your hands over your dress - it was a simple, form-fitting red dress with a slit running up your right leg - the perfect place for you to hide your blaster. This wasn't necessarily your favorite style of dress - you preferred not to use your sexuality as a tool most of the time. But, in order to keep the attention of the various underground salesmen you would be interacting with, you knew that you would need to be eye-catching and Tech would have to blend more into the background. You had even thrown on some makeup - another thing you usually avoided simply for the sake of time. But, despite the fact that this wasn't something you would want to wear every day... you liked it. You felt attractive, powerful, even, in a different way than you were used to.

Even if you were a bit cold waiting outside the speeder. You wrapped your arms around your shoulders to try and conserve a bit of heat. Where was Tech?

Almost as soon as you asked, Tech stepped out of the bar. He was fidgeting with the cuffs of his outfit - a simple suit jacket that matched his pants, a more casual shirt underneath, as the crowd you both would be running with weren't exactly black tie people. He pressed his glasses further up his nose - a less tactical version of his typical goggles that he clearly wasn't used to.

But... he looked good. You had never really looked at him before, at least not closely. He almost purposefully blended into the background of his squad, always hunched over a datapad, letting his mind shine over everything else. You had never realized how long his legs were, how tall he was when he stood up straight. And with different frames, his big brown eyes were... really pretty.

You blinked, shocked. You were sure you were blushing, but you tried to act casual, nodding and shooting Tech a little wave that definitely read as more awkward than casual.

It didn't matter - he seemed to be purposefully avoiding your gaze as he beelined to the driver's side of the speeder, eyes firmly pointed at the ground. You sighed, chalking it up to his discomfort at his state of dress, and the mission in general - Tech didn't like being the center of attention, and this mission in particular seemed to be stressing him out. You slid into the passenger seat, careful to keep your dress from catching in the door. No matter what, the two of you had a mission to complete.

Tech didn't speak as he powered up the speeder, working quick and efficient as he checked a few settings before pulling away from the bar. You were a little surprised that his squad hadn't sent him off. You considered it as you powered on the datapad Sid had left for the two of you on the center console - maybe Tech was worried the others would make fun of him for being so dressed up? That's the most likely explanation, you thought. They were always picking on him a little bit, and he seemed nervous enough, judging by how he kept sneaking glances of you when he thought you wouldn't notice.

"We should probably go over our cover story before we get there," you started, trying to ease Tech into this as gently as you could. It was a necessary detail, and you didn't want to put it off any longer. The flight to the gala wasn’t that long.

“Ah, I wasn’t aware Sid had given us a story,” Tech replied, brows scrunched together in frustration. “I would have liked to know those details before we left for the mission.”

“I’m sorry,” you started, but Tech cut you off.

“It’s not your fault,” he sighed, shaking his head. “I will have a talk with Sid once this is all over. This is not an appropriate way to treat operatives on such a mission.”

You shrugged, trying to shoot Tech a tiny smile. He seemed legitimately upset - and you figured that it was reasonable for him to be so. He was already nervous, and more new information wouldn’t help that.

“Well, nothing we can do about it now,” you said, flipping through the datapad. “It seems to be pretty standard. We’re from Coruscant, where the spice game is too saturated - we wanted more freedom in our distribution, so we moved.” 

“Sounds reasonable enough. I suppose we could work with it,” Tech sighed, as if he could have written a better cover. You tried not to chuckle at how dismissive he was as you flipped to the next page.

“According to this, we’re long term partners - both in business and in relationship. I assume that’s probably to give me an out for anyone trying to hit on me,” you added, because with so much attention on you, it was a good that you would have an excuse as to why you weren’t interested in any of the potential suitors.

“I’m sorry, could you repeat that?” Tech asked, his voice wavering just a bit. His eyes flickered from the road to you, only for a second. Oh, he was so nervous! You were starting to wonder if he would be able to complete this mission, if he was still so uncomfortable.

“Our covers. We’re business partners and in a committed relationship, according to the file. But don’t worry about that too much - I’m obviously the bait, so I need a reason to deny any advances. Being committed is the best reason in a situation like this,” you explained. Tech’s cheeks reddened, and he made a choked noise.

“This is ridiculous,” he started, and you immediately felt like a burden. Did it make him that uncomfortable to have to fake a relationship with you? 

“I’ve never been in any relationship, least of all one with such an eye-catching partner -” Tech continued, and now it was your turn to blush. “How am I supposed to prepare? To research? I’m driving!”

You laughed in relief, glad that Tech was only concerned because of the lack of preparation, and not because he found you repulsive or something. You wouldn’t put it past him - he seemed to have very high expectations in all facets of his life. But it was good to know that he thought you were eye-catching, even if he was worried about his acting skills.

“Don’t worry about it, really,” you calmed him. “I’m doing the talking, remember? I’ll distract our target, and you just get your hands on his datapad and extract the information we need.”

“Yes, just that,” you could practically hear his eye roll, and it made you grin. 

“It’ll be fine. You’ll be fine,” you added, and that just seemed to make him more irritated.

“Yes, well. I would have been better if I could have researched this,” he insisted. You chuckled.

“Researched what, exactly? How to act like a drug dealer?” you giggled at the assertion, and Tech shook his head, looked at you as if the answer was obvious.

“No. How to act in a relationship. I’ve never been in one. Should I curse at anyone who tries to engage you in conversation?”

“Tech!” you laughed, shocked. “No! They’re supposed to want to talk to me - literally, just let me take the lead. It’ll come naturally, I promise.”

“If you say so. I am trusting you with this. Fully,” he adds, nodding at you briefly before he turns back to driving. You have no idea why that little line makes you feel so warm.

............................

“Here -” 

You were approaching the entrance to the gala - laughter and the clinking of glasses echoed from the rooms within, the smell of smoke lingering in the air as you drew ever nearer. You knew that the two of you needed to look the part.

So you grabbed one of Tech’s hands and slid it around your waist, even as he froze at your touch. When you found a natural spot for him to hold you, you let go of his hand, giving it a soft pat as you released him from your grasp. He didn’t relax - his touch was feather-light and incredibly hesitant, despite the fact that you had initiated the touch.

You sighed, looking up at him. You really had never realized just how tall this man was - but thoughts of his height were quickly wiped from your mind as you were met with wide, nervous eyes. Oh, he was still so worried about the mission, wasn’t he?

“Don’t worry,” you whispered, pressing a hand to his chest so that the interaction seemed natural. “Just follow my lead. And actually touch my waist - it’ll make everything seem more believable.” 

Tech nodded down at you, a bit hesitant as he pressed his hand more firmly to your waist, drawing you close to him. You smiled up at him, to let him know that he had the right idea and you weren’t uncomfortable.

In fact, it was nice. Having Tech at your side was comforting, even -  he was great backup. He was smart as hell, he worked well under pressure, he was never impulsive, he was an impressive speeder pilot, he was good with a blaster, and he was tall enough for you to lean on comfortably, and his hand was warm at your waist where he pressed you to him... 

Oh no. You liked him, didn’t you? 

[chipthekeeper]

so. instead of typing out my reactions as the show played, i recorded a voice memo of my own personal commentary. some highlights lots of nonsense under the cut

episode 1

- As excited as I am for this……I wish it was Andor

- Please be good

- Immediate alien. All of the Andor criticisms out the window. We're back

- Why did she pay that guy? This is like the main place. He barely pointed. She was very easy to find

- It's hitting me that this is High Republic shit and that's just fucking beautiful. I might cry. Oh my god, spinning noodles

- Backup knifes. Oh god….She sliced your backup knifes

- oh [splutters] a backup backup knife!!!

- She's got another backup knife?!

- Man, that was so fast. Like. I mean, I knew, we all knew. But damn

- Come on, he's just a noodle guy. Leave him alone

- IN THE COLD OPEN! She dies in the cold open. Fucking hell. God

- Okay, so she has different hair. So maybe it's not Moon Knight

- Oh fuck, I love this ship. I'm going to be obsessed with this

- [gasps] Pip!!! [pathetic whining] he’s a babyyyy [voice breaking] Oh my god. I would die for him

- [just fully unintelligible noises for Pip]

- [chuckling] aha! Trade feds, neimoidians. heh. It's all coming together….

- They have better accents this time

- Yeah, Pip. Come on, buddy. He's like a multi-tool. This is hilarious. [wheezing laughter]

- Oh, what's this? [gasps] A VECTOR!!! Holy fucking shit. [laughs in satisfied THR fan]

- YORD!!! TIME FOR THE YORD HORDE HERE WE GOOOOO

- Yord. You’re such a prick– ohhh n….Mind touch. Or not. Ugh, I don't like that. Yorddd. You're a prick. Your padawan is cool though.

- Oh my god, they're buddies!

- “Your mothers, your sister” (truly the most ugly and horrifying sound you’ve ever heard came from my mouth here)

- What's HAPPENING?

- Yord. Come on, buddy

- Iron Man?

- Yeah, we know it's Coruscant. Looks like it's made out of Legos. That's great

- *Sol telling the younglings the force is an ocean or whatever* [adorable whining] Elzar Mann coded!!

- “Master Vernestra” [another very ugly noise] Oh god, what a thing to hear. Oh fuck

- “i remember when you were that small” [giggling] fuck

- [delighted laughter] They become chairs, that's amazingggggg

- Wheeeeeeee! Oh shit

- Piiiiiip! Pip, wake up. D-does he have legs? Can he move? I-I don't know if he can move on his own

- Oh, oh–oh n-no…. (tbh don’t even remember what was happening here)

- Now you gotta land this thing. Oh, it's on..fire ahhh that’s a problem. Girl, good luck

- You better hold..your little droid. Hold him!

- [delighted gasp] Jecki!!

- “it is highly unlikely she survived” Oh, it was a very lucky crash, don't worry about it

- ....I think we should give Vernestra some hair back

- Okay, I'm out on Moon Knight theory again, which is great because I like..the other way better

- Well……..No, no, I'm out. I'm out. I'm out. Not gonna suck me back in again……….Oh god but it would be interesting if she thinks—ah fuck!

- *scary horror movie twin thing* [terrified] Ah, what the!! Who the fuck is that? [whispering] what the fuck…..oh. Uh-uh. Mmhm. oh. Horrifying. Scary. I don't like this at all. Wwwwhat was that? [incredulous noises] What the fuck?

- [delighted] Yord!!!

- [gasps] Selkath! Name That Alien, babeeyyyy!

- Yorddd! He’s ripped!!

- Just. Put your shirt on, bud……I can't wait for that to be gifs

- Back to this terrifying shit

- Oh, it's baby you………..Oh there's some Force shit happeninggggg

- uhhhhhh?

- “i saw her die” did you though???

- Yord put your lightsaber away, dickhead….it’s pretty though, don’t put it away :)

- Yord! Chill!

- Okay. Capital A Acolyte, so….

- Is each of the episode titles going to be for both of them?

- Nina Gold casting! the goat. un-de-feat-ed

- I'm sure I don't need to sit here and watch all the credits.......[gasps] Neal Scanlan! ah see, I would've missed that

episode 2

- *watching previously on, "mothers" mentioned* Show me motherrrrr!

- [stressed out sigh] I'm confused. I hope to be less confused by the end of this episode. But if not, we'll talk about it…..I say as if I'm speaking to someone besides myself

- Jedi outpost! When are we?

- Not cool Mae

- Is she going to kill somebody in the cold open of every episode? because that's going to really..start to hurt

- WOW, you guys are so unaware. How are you Jedi?

- “attack me, with all your strength” just–nobody wants to do that, do they?

- [delighted giggling throughout Mae/Torbin “fight”]

- Oh, Tommen. Why are his feet weird? Is he….not human? He’s gotta be human

- *osha talking about being flexible* Oh. Flirting? No, that's inappropriate………..There's flirting. It’s happening

- “let’s say this twin theory holds true” [ironic cackling]

- So Yord's a cop, which is unfortunate. As a founding member of the Yord Horde

- *Mae picks up a cup while Qimir is sleeping* Throw it at him. *she throws it at him* [satisfied cackle] I'm always right

- It'd be so funny if he's not the guy

- Hmmmmmm……So he can also be an Acolyte?

- I need this drink shaker

- So I like it much better if he's not the guy and he's just….helpin’

- So you're cheating at your Jedi killing homework and you don't want your boy to narc. That's hilarious

- [snorting] Your dad never likes when you get a tattoo

- [theorizing mumbles] They came to recruit…and the girl started the fire….They took her afterward….Fuck

- [whispering] I don't know what to do with my arms

- It's pretty theeeere. I'm going to be obsessed with this planet

- “i know why you took the Barash Vow” [most delighted scream/gasp yet] BARASH VOW MENTIONED!!! [confused mumbling] Okay, but he's there–why is…Did he come out of it?.......Oh, it's a different variant of the vow?

- [cackling in Tommen Baratheon] He sounds like a full grown man. Ohhh my god. Was not ready for that

- *kitten squeaks in background, not relevant to commentary but had to mention*

- Well, that's not good–girl, get out of there! Don't touch the evidence! Oh my God. You’re not helping yourself here, kid

- Go, escape, flee

- Atta boy, Yord

- Ohh that guy better be a descendant of Ram Jomaram

- You go, Jecki. Oh she’s so proud of herself [chuckling]

- Why do I have a feeling this isn’t gonna work?.......You’re very bad at this

- “Maybe supply us with the truth” Ooh! Get him, Yord!

- “I have a bad feeling about this” YEEEEAAHHHHHHH

- “You are not my master. I do not need you anymore.” ouch

- [groaning] I'm with Yord, I have a bad feeling about this

- Ope, all your backup knifes is gooone….

- Wheeee! [chuckles] Yord.

- [extremely high pitched] ooooohhhh thebackupknifehedidn’tfind!!!!

- BWAH SMOKESCREEN!!

- Are they gonna run together? I would like that to happen. Run and go back to Mom

- Go, go with her……Missed. Missed on purpose!

- Kind of hurts me to see what Vernestra becomes

- Man, if she kills Kelnacca, I'm gonna be so mad

- *episode ends* DAmmit!! Ugh. God. Fuck! [grumbling] This is gonna be a long ass week

so clearly i'm very normal about all this !