#easy to transport! easy to use! easy to load! what's not to love

[sifloopboning]

everybody was very niceys so u get a bonus kingedfrin "hug" HERE <3

[xxgoblin-dumplingxx]

This is the freebie of all freebies. Write whatever you want whenever you want how often you want. Save this in your inbox or post it, I do not mind either way. I always love to see what you write, doesnt really matter what :)

You look the man in front of you up and down and don't bother to keep your lip from curling, "No."

"Come on baby," he purred, stepping closer, reaching out to straighten your jacket, forcing contact. He screams of lust. Of the need to dominate and control. He sees what a lot of men see when they look at you.

A fragile little doll. A breakable little girl. A lost little lamb. Someone who just needs a daddy. A protector. Easy prey.

"Touch me," you warn, "and you'll forget to sit before you take a shit." You don't bother to specify whether or not it'll be because you'll mindfuck him until he bashes his head against a wall to make it stop or because Batman, Nightwing, or any number of the other heroes in the vicinity right now will curb stomp him until he's a blithering idiot.

His eyes are lifeless. Like a puppet's. And when his hand closes around your wrist his skin is hot and dry. It feels like crepe paper left in the sun and he reeks of burnt sugar. Target. Suspect.

So before you carry out your promise, you ping Cass. Trusting her to alert Bruce. You might not QUITE be able to mindfuck him into oblivion but NO ONE was ever going to prey on you again. And as he pull you close to his chest, it was immensely satisfying to make him piss his pants in the alley, writhing in wordless unhinged terror as you skipped your new black velvet boots neatly out of the puddle.

"Hn."

"Interesting way to make new friends, Changeling," Clark observed, surveying the scene. Trying not to react to the fact that you look a little too pleased with yourself.

"I did tell him not to touch me," you inform them, watching dispassionately as his sobs turned to vomiting.

"Can you let up before he aspirates things into his lungs," Bruce sighed. At least it was focused rage. And at least he'd probably cooperate as long as they didn't leave him alone in a room with you. That was... something.

And while you don't reply, at least not verbally, he can tell that you comply. Mostly because the man stops writhing and starts gibbering. "Shut up," Batman said rolling his eyes, watching Clark grab him by the back of his coat. "Just tell us what we wanna know or we'll let her do it again. Harder."

"Okay, Okay, Jesus," he protested, "I didn't know I thought she was kidding!" He looked at you and your lip curled reflexively making him flinch. "Everyone always said you were just a joke."

"Let's go," Superman said, "This drug is gonna kill-"

"Anything you wanna know! Just don't let her do it, please!" he pleaded, letting himself be lead away.

"What did you say to him?" Bruce asked, watching Clark load him into a transport where Jason and Dick were loading some others that had been rounded up.

"That if he touched me he'd forget to sit when he took a shit. Granted, I didn't say how."

"Vulgar."

"What was I supposed to do? Scream?"

"Just don't make anyone else piss themselves," Bruce sighed.

"Then don't let Stephanie pick the outfits. She dressed us like sexworkers not nuns and people keep taking liberties. It's gross."

"Point." Bruce admitted. "Point taken." He pinched the bridge of his nose and not for the first time, he just wanted all of you to be little again. You were 19 now. Still a kid. But he wondered if he'd ever stop seeing you as a little girl in his head. Because as Cass took you to the next location and he went to help Stephanie, it took an absurd amount of self-control not to call after you to put on a jacket or something.

[comfortingevanbuckley]

I'm Taken

8x03 Missing Scene | PG | 1k

ao3 link

What if Buck was flirted with when he returned the motorbike to the guy at the call?

Note: No infidelity here, just Buck being flirted with and turning into a cute, blushing mess.

As much as Buck loved the parts of his job that involved saving lives, there was only one part of it that he despised the most. That was the cleanup portion of it all. Yes, of course, there were other moving parts involved which meant he didn’t have to worry about it since that was the job of other transportation companies.

However, there was one job he had to do and Buck really wondered what he did to deserve this. He knew it couldn’t be punishment over the Gerrard situation. Chimney practically threw him a party! He had to hunt down the guy whose motorbike he borrowed. Yes, he borrowed it, even if he didn’t exactly request it so he could clear the highway for a freaking airplane.

“We won’t leave without you, Buck, and Brad did tell us that the crowd of people should still be back there.” Hen said as she finished loading another passenger into the ambulance.

Buck grabbed the helmet from the bike and set off to find the guy. Luckily it was pretty easy since he at least remembered the guy had a thick set of hair and was wearing a bike jacket. Now that Buck wasn’t running on adrenaline, he thought to himself, “Huh, he was kind of cute actually.”

It wasn’t brand new, anymore at least, for Buck to finally realize what it meant to think a guy was hot. His boyfriend still teased him about it, but all Buck could see was the sexy guy he got to come home to. Technically, he was only going over to Tommy’s to see him, but he barely spent any time at the loft anymore. It was a little embarrassing when Eddie came over for beers and Buck’s refrigerator was empty for the first time in what felt like years.

It didn’t take long for Buck to find the crowd of drivers, many who looked perturbed, but most of them in awe of the plane they could barely make out in the distance. The guy who owned the bike was right there and he hopped off, taking the helmet off in the process.

“Hey, man. Thanks again for letting me borrow this. It was a huge help.”

The guy took the helmet back and Buck noticed his eyes moving up and down his body. It made him blush as he realized what was going on. Oh.

“No problem, glad I could help LA’s finest. So is everyone on the plane okay?” He had a smirk on his face as he looked at Buck.

Buck glanced behind him, “Yeah, just some injuries, but overall, it’s better than the alternative.” He knew he shouldn’t say more, especially since the pilot of the plane was gone and he didn’t need to have her loved ones find out from a random person filming him. 

“That was pretty badass of you, even if you did take my bike.”

Buck laughed, scratching his chin with an embarrassed smile. “Hey, it was just to make sure no one was in the plane’s path.”

“Our hero.” The guy was still staring at Buck in a way that made his stomach flip and he had no idea what to think about.

Instead, he ducked his head and blushed, glancing up. “Uh, well, anyway, thanks again. Here’s your keys and hopefully they will have the road cleared up soon so you all can head home.”

“Hey, I didn’t catch your name. I should at least know the name of the guy who commandeered my bike.”

“Uh, Buck, the name’s Buck.” He held his hand out to shake the guy’s hand.

“Hey, Buck. I’m Sean.” It took a second for Buck to get his hand back since Sean seemed to determined to keep shaking it.

“Nice to meet you,” Buck nodded and turned to leave when Sean spoke up.

“Maybe we could meet up for coffee?”

At any other time, Buck would have taken up the guy on the offer. He was cute, he had to admit. But his heart was back in a little yellow house, waiting for him to come home. “I’m so sorry, I’m flattered, but I’m spoken for. I have a boyfriend.” The flutter in his stomach made him feel warm inside saying the word out loud.

Sean groaned, “All the gorgeous ones are taken.”

Buck let out a nervous laugh, “Thank you. Be safe tonight, okay?” He said this to the group, who were now smirking at him. 

He turned to head back to his team, just feeling his phone ring in his pocket. Looking down, he smiled to see Tommy’s name. “Hey baby,” he said as he answered the phone.

“Hey. I just turned on the news. Are you at that emergency right now?”

“Indeed I am. It was Athena’s flight actually.”

Tommy was quiet for a moment. “I turn off my phone for one day!”

Buck laughed, “You missed a lot.” He said as he began the long mile walk back towards the team. Maybe Eddie would take pity on him and grab an ambulance for him.

“I see first responders, but not you. Where are you?”

“Trekking back, actually. Had to go a mile down the freeway to track down the guy whose motorbike I borrowed to clear the highway.”

“You-I have got to hear this!”

“Are you sure? Cause as it turns out I am exactly his type and he flirted with me.” Buck didn’t want to hide that from Tommy. This relationship was important to him and while he knew he didn’t flirt back, he did not want Tommy to ever worry.

Tommy chuckled, “Baby, I have eyes, I understand why he would. But you know what the important thing is?”

“What’s that?” It melted Buck’s heart that he could easily tell Tommy someone flirted with him and he just brushed past it. 

“That you’re coming back to me.”

Buck smiled goofily, “I am all yours.” It was all he wanted actually. “Being with you is all I ever need.”

“And I hope you know I trust you, Evan.”

“I do,” Buck looked down at his feet, trying to stop blushing so that the team didn’t notice once he got back to them. “I can’t wait to see you. This has been a long shift.”

“I’ll be right here waiting.”

“Good.” They hadn’t reached the big I love you stage, but Buck was pretty sure that he felt it.

[have-you-seen-my-sanity]

Need more creep pervy poe 🙏🙏🙏🫡😭😭🫠🫠

Distractions

Requested by: Anonyy. :)

A/N: Imagine if the reader would casually climb up the ladder to his cockpit, looking inside and seeing the messy business Poe's doing💀

Dark!Yandere!Poe Dameron x Reader

Quick summary: Poe's obsessed with you and found a new and flawless way to relieve his pent up desires while watching you doing your daily work.

Dead dove do not eat - you'll get exactly what's in the tags!

Tags: Poe being a perv and a creep, male masturbation, possessive Poe, mature themes, dirty thoughts, dark themes, stalking.

You are always so cute, precious and adorable in his eyes. Poe had his eyes on you since the first day. He loved watching you at briefings, he made sure to always make eye contact with you when he was explaining something. He loved seeing you paying attention to him.

Poe soon found himself day dreaming about you, he found you irresistible even. He even asked Leia to assign you to maintain his X-Wing, only to have excuses to be close to you.

Poe even found a way to relieve his pent up desires almost right infront of you - it was easy, he only had to sit in the cockpit of his X-Wing, it gave him more than enough cover to deal with himself. The only thing that would be a problem is someone calling out for him or making him climb out of the cockpit. He didn't wanted the whole base seeing him walk around with a raging hard-on after all.

His new way of unloading went surprisingly perfect. He pretended to look at his datapad whenever he saw someone looking at him while his eyes were always locked on you.

One day was like his luckiest day - almost the whole base were on transports and loading supplies into the Raddus Cruiser. Only maintenance crew and some few members stayed behind to keep the base running. You were left too, obediently continuing your tasks.

Poe sent BB-8 to help the others so he could do his business in peace. He climbed into his cockpit and looked out for you. Once he had his eyes on you, his hand unzipped his flight suit and got his semi-hard cock out

"Mm, honey, if you could see the things you always do to me...so beautiful."

He gave himself a few strokes and concentrateted on filthy thoughts of you. He watched you kneeling down to fix a sidepanel on another X-Wing. The view was perfect for him, he loved the way your uniform hugged you perfectly - tightly.

The grip around his cock tightened, he imagined what it would be to finally have you all for himself, no other man would even dare to look at you when he is around.

"Look at you presenting yourself to me like that...as if you know what I'm doing, like you're just teasing me until I finally snap and take what's mine..."

Poe's eyes roll back in pleasure, his mind completely clouded with you. The tip of his cock is already leaking a generous amount of pre cum, he uses it to spread it around his shaft, to slicken himself and imagining his fist being your hole, your wet, leaking hole as he takes you.

He looked back to you and saw you approaching, but you didn't seem to notice him. You walked around his X-Wing to seek advice from another Resistance member. He saw a male member walking with you back towards your workplace, helping you. Seeing you working with another man made his blood boil, but that didn't stop him from stroking himself.

"I would have gladly helped you out, sweetie, but you don't know how I feel about you yet - so I guess you're forgiven for now."

Once the male left, Poe leaned back again and let his thoughts be consumed by you. In a twisted way he thought about what the possibility would be of you climbing up the ladder on his X-Wing and look inside the cockpit - seeing him stroking his cock. How he would love seeing your expression.

His pace increased, he saw you laying on your back and go under the X-Wing to fix something underneath. Your legs were slightly spread for balance, but it only fueled Poe's nearly insatiable hunger for you even more.

"Fuuck... you're so naughty... my naughtly little thing... I swear if you keep doing things like that I will drag you away and you have to call in sick for tomorrow because you won't be able to walk around like you do now..."

He leaned his head back against the seat and began to stroke himself faster, adding stimulation by tightening and un-tightening his fist. He reached into the pocket of his suit and got some tissue out for his imminent orgasm.

The orgasm hit him like a blaster bolt as he groaned deeply and unloaded himself onto the tissue, swiftly cleaning himself up.

After a while he noticed you walking out of view and he took advantage of it, opening the cockpit and quickly making his way down. Poe heard something and looked up in the sky to see the Resistance members coming back. He knew it would take time for them to fully settle everything back into the base and he intented to make use of that time.

Poe walked towards the direction you went into, throwing the used tissue into a nearby trash bin.

Meanwhile you were at the Astromech section of the hangar, preparing an Astromech to be checked. Suddenly Poe approached the entrance

"Oh, hey, Commander." You greeted him innocently.

"Hey there. Listen, I need you to get me the red Astromech over there, he's just deactivated and he has a special modification needed for unloading some heavy equipment." Poe lied efficiently his tone was laced with the hoarsness of his earlier doings.

"Sure thing." you nodded, turning around and walking towards the red Astromech as instructed.

You kneeled down on one knee, reaching out to activate the droid but it didn't activate. Suddenly you heard heavy steps behind you and a presence crouching down behind you

"There let me help you." It was Poe's voice, he grabbed your wrist and brought it back to your side.

"Poe what are you doing?" Your breathing increased, feeling adrenaline coursing through you.

"I wanna tell you something. Come here." Poe suddenly grabbed you by your arms and pulled you back up and lead you to the workbench, placing your wrists on the rough surface, making you bend slightly.

Poe leaned in close, his breath was hot against your ear "You're quite the distraction, you know that?"

"The hell do you mean?"

Poe chuckled, "Hmm, you know exactly what I mean. You belong to me now - infact you already did since day one. You just had no idea. But once we are alone I will tell you everything." you felt the grin against your skin as his lips trailed down your neck, making goosebumps rise up.

Poe kissed your neck softly, sucking on the skin to make sure to give you hickeys and mark you. He grazed his teeth over your skin, making you whimper slightly as he slowly ground himself against you.

"H-hey, Poe, you know the others are back, right?" You asked, hoping he would stop.

Poe snorted "Yeah. That's why I'm taking you with me now so we can be alone."

Poe pulled back and dragged you with him towards his quarters to finally confess his obsession about you and make sure you will belong only to him from now on.

[allwaswell16]

All the One Direction fics I read and enjoyed in June 2024. You can listen to my podcast to hear me talk about each of these fics as well as an overview of what was posted on ao3 including the fics on this month’s fic roundup [ @1dmonthlyficroundup ] which you can find here! Please let the writers know if you liked the fics by leaving kudos and comments! Happy reading!

Fanfictional Podcast #63 |  ko-fi | fic recs

- Louis/Harry -

💜 Eight Cakes and Two Eulogies (Make a Happy Marriage) by yesllliam

(M, 135k, friends to lovers) The only problem is, after his last disastrous relationship, seven years ago, he has little desire to get intimate with another woman, let alone marry one. Of course, Harry, his famous actor of a best friend, always likes to pip in that he is free to marry him and while Louis loves him to pieces, the joke is getting a bit old now.

💜 I'm Praying (that you don't burn out or fade away) by @lululawrence

(NR, 74k, soulmates) Harry and Louis are literal stars who have known they were soulmates from their creation eons ago, however when Louis came to Earth to start the next phase of their fated future, he forgot everything. Even Harry.

💜 Scarred by @allwaswell16

(E, 23k, omegaverse) When Harry inadvertently rejects him as his soulmate, Harry has no idea he's doomed Louis to a slow, painful death. Pride doesn't keep Louis from telling Harry the truth. But love does.

💜 Lost But Won by @2tiedships2

(NR, 16k, omegaverse) When Harry loses his passport after a weekend trip to see Niall, the inconvenience of being stranded in America becomes a little more bearable after meeting Louis. Or a lot more bearable.

💜 Safe place to hide us away by @lunarheslwt

(T, 12k, omegaverse) weighed down by everyday stress, alpha Harry takes up nesting in secret. It takes a load of missing clothes and unravelling lies for him to realise that his omega would love and accept him no matter what.

💜 Beep the Horn by kikikryslee / @flamboyantommo

(T, 6k, love confessions) the one where Harry dresses as Miley Cyrus for Halloween, and Louis is the tiniest bit in love with him.

💜 Take My Hand, Dumbass by LadyLondonderry / @londonfoginacup

(G, 5k, roommates) There's only alpha dorms at university, and Louis Tomlinson, omega, refuses to pay the exorbitant fees to live off campus. So, four years pretending to be an alpha it is! That'll be easy.

💜 Missed Chances by @harryanthus-annuus

(E, 5k, omegaverse) they get drunk on some expensive wine. Things escalate from there.

💜 Puppy (Baby, I'm Pawfect for You) by @yoursolosong

(E, 5k, roommates) The one where they rescue a stray puppy together.

💜 Louis and the no good, very bad day by @haztobegood

(E, 4k, soulmates) Louis collapses back into the bed with a groan. Just when he thought his day couldn’t get any worse, there’s a fucking goose stuck on his balcony.

💜 Switching the positions for you by 28sunflowers / @vintageumbroshirt

(E, 4k, omega Louis) the omegaverse AU where they decide to try a completely new position in bed

💜 Come On and Rescue Me by @kingsofeverything

(E, 3k, silver fox Louis) Louis only intends to watch his hot neighbor’s Instagram live, but he winds up with his hand down his pants.

💜 Timeless by babyhoneyhslt / @babyhoneyheslt

(G, 3k, omegaverse) After visiting an antiques shop, Harry gets transported through time, and discovers that he and Louis are Timeless.

💜 I'll Still Feel the Same Around You by @crinkle-eyed-boo

(E, 2k, established relationship) Louis finds the cure for his insomnia in the form of his husband.

💜 call me any, anytime by @disgruntledkittenface

(E, 2k, girl direction) Harry’s plans for the night are interrupted by an unexpected FaceTime call.

💜 Feelin' So Good Right Now by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf

(E, 1k, Vampire Diaries au) Louis, a just-turned vampire, enjoys his enhanced touch sensation.

💜 Remember Me (When I'm With You) by liberty_barnes / @liberty-barnes

(T, 1k, memory loss) the one where Louis was cast out and Harry just wants him to be happy

💜 cause you're a sky full of stars by @femstyles

(G, 1k, uni) A film student on campus randomly stops Harry and asks him to participate in her assignment. Little does he know that agreeing also means putting his heart on the line.

💜 Don’t Embarrass Me, Motherfucker by @allwaswell16

(T, 1k, parrot) Harry comes home from work to find Louis and their parrot are up to something. A Darcy the Parrot time stamp Part 2 of That's How I Know

- Rare Pairs -

💜 You Only Fall In Love Twice by @beanno28

(E, 57k, Harry/Louis/Zayn) Louis meets popstar Harry Styles while he is working at a festival and they hit it off right away. When he is introduced to Harry’s boyfriend, Zayn, Louis is invited to learn about their world of Polyamory.

💜 Third Time Lucky by @beanno28

(E, 31k, Harry/Louis/Zayn) Louis sat back, his back resting on the cushion of the sofa. Harry and Zayn were quick to lay their heads on Louis’ chest so Louis could wrap an arm around each of them. Part 2 of You Only Fall In Love Twice

💜 It's You by @allwaswell16

(T, 2k, Louis/Louis) Five times alpha Louis talks to omega Lou and one time he admits he wants more from his omega clone

💜 The Tiniest Moves by @allwaswell16

(T, 1k, Louis/Nick Grimshaw) Coffee shop owner Nick Grimshaw may or may not have come to work on his day off in the hopes that fresh-off-his-world-tour Louis Tomlinson might stop by.

💜 A Meeting of Minds (and other things too) by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13

(T, 1k, Zayn/Liam) Zayn's fed up, Liam's a bartender, and maybe they'll both get what they need.

[writeforfandoms]

Born for Greatness 3

Find the series masterlist

The aftermath of being attacked, and some familiar faces from a previous assignment. 

AKA I couldn’t resist sneaking a couple more people into this fic. :D 

Warnings: Swearing, mild possessive behavior, mention of bruises and head injury, more world building. 

Eventual John Price x f!reader

Word count: 2.8k

By the time Gaz knocked on your door, you were ready. Still sore as hell, but ready.

“Morning,” you murmured, picking up both bags.

“You alright?” Gaz looked you over quickly. “Didn’t see you at dinner.”

“I was nauseous,” you told him truthfully. “Didn’t want to risk it. I’m fine, sleep helped.” Sleep had also helped the bruises form, but. You weren’t going to tell him that. 

“Still.” His jaw clenched for a moment. “You’re a guest and you were injured.”

“Already told off your Alpha for this,” you huffed. “You are not to blame for this. I didn’t expect any violence, and things escalated quickly. It happens. Definitely not the worst I’ve been hurt on the job.”

The look Gaz shot you very clearly said that was not as reassuring as you hoped. But he nodded once, either accepting that or at least not fighting you on it, and walked you out to the air strip. There was a small military plane there waiting for the pack, and you stifled a sigh. Lovely. 

“Here, I’ll load these for you.” Gaz took your bags and whisked them away before you had a chance to protest. 

Leaving you standing off to the side watching the bustle, unsure what to do with yourself.

This time, Price approached you from the front, rather than sneaking up on you. You were grateful for that - you didn’t think your head would thank you for any jump-scares today. 

“Feelin’ alright?” he asked, doing the same visual sweep Gaz had. 

“Better,” you agreed with an easy smile. “I have to admit I’m not used to protocol with military transport, so you’ll have to tell me if there’s anywhere I shouldn’t sit.” 

“Doesn’t matter,” Price said with a low, amused rumble. “Sit anywhere.” 

You nodded and hid a wince at the throb of pain that inspired. Right. No more moving your head today. The flight was definitely going to be super good for your head.

Not.

Somehow, it took no time to get everyone on board, and you picked a spot where you hoped you’d be out of the way. 

So of course Soap dropped down next to you with an easy grin, soothingly warm in the chilly interior of the plane. 

“Didja bring a book?” he asked, pulling his phone out. 

“Yup.” But you had no idea if you’d be able to focus on it, not with the way your head felt. 

“Good. Won’t be too long in the air, but long enough to get bored.” 

“Not everyone has the attention span of a pup,” Gaz called, teasing. 

“Oi! Rich comin’ from you.” 

Price sighed and looked up as if asking for patience, and you stifled laughter under your hand. “Soap, make sure she’s in tight.” 

“Rog.” Soap paused before he touched you though.

“You’re good,” you murmured, granting him a pleased smile. 

He returned the smile easily before he checked that you were securely in your seat and gave his Alpha a thumbs up. 

After that, it wasn’t long until the plane was in the air, and you leaned back, closing your eyes. Your head ached and you were still tired. 

“Alright there?” Soap leaned in close to ask you, his hand touching yours briefly.

“Head hurts,” you admitted, though you hated to do it. 

He hummed, and one gentle hand tipped your head forward carefully. “Got a bit of a goose egg there.”

“From yesterday,” you agreed, keeping your eyes closed. “I’m fine, it just hurts.”

“Be better to rest your head on me than on the plane,” he offered easily, already gently guiding your head down to his shoulder.

“You don’t mind?” you checked, not fighting him. You did shift in your seat to make it easier to lean on him, his warmth comforting. 

“Not a bit.” His hand left your skin slowly, as if making sure you weren’t going to move. You weren’t even tempted - his shoulder was definitely more comfortable than the plane, and you sighed slowly before relaxing fully. 

Gentle nudging was pulling you from the warm comfortable space you’d made for yourself, and you groaned your protest. “Few more minutes,” you mumbled, barely lucid. 

“We’re landing,” Soap said, humor clear in his voice. “Gotta get up now.”

You cracked open one eye and huffed, displeased. But you sat up carefully. Your head definitely hurt less now, which was good, and you felt less tired. You blinked a few times, carefully not looking at his packmates. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”

“You needed it.” His smile was easy and he patted your knee. “‘Sides, can’t get bored while you’re asleep. Figure you had the right idea there.”

You laughed quietly and stretched your shoulders. “You make a good pillow.”

Interestingly, that caused him to blush a little, cheeks going pink. Aw. That was adorable. 

You did wince when the plane set down, but quickly smoothed out your expression again. Soap hopped up and offered you a hand up, which you took. Gaz had already stolen one of your bags and you grabbed the other, which ended up being the blanket. Aka the lighter bag. 

You stepped out of the plane into sunshine and moved out of the way, looking around. This… looked familiar. Very familiar, actually.

“Oh.” You blinked as you turned towards the barracks, shading your eyes. If you were right… Yes, that window was the pack room, and the curtains twitched. You couldn’t hide your grin.

“Oh what?” Price asked, coming to a halt next to you. 

“I’ve been here before,” you said. “For this pack.”

The door to the barracks burst open and a giant stepped out. Easily inches taller even than Ghost, König was quite distinctive. 

And then he was barreling towards you.

Seeing the potential disaster before it happened, you jogged a half dozen steps forward so you wouldn’t be right next to the Alpha when König got to you.

And then you were swept up into a tight hug, literally lifted off your feet as König rumbled at you. 

“Hi, big guy,” you said, laughing a little, patting the top of his head over his hood. “Where’s your Alpha?”

“Waiting.” He squeezed you so carefully, always aware of his strength. “I could not wait.” 

“It’s good to see you too.” You stiffened at the low growl behind you. Oh shit. Right. The other pack. “Put me down, please.”

König frowned at you, you could tell, but he set you down. You patted his arm and then took a step back, holding up one hand to ask him to wait. 

“Alpha Price,” you said, turning to find the other three clustered behind their Alpha. Closing ranks. Well, this was off to a great start. “This is König, of the local pack. I worked here before, thus the enthusiastic greeting.” 

König grumbled behind you, a distinct noise demanding your attention. You flapped your hand at him. 

“Alpha Horangi will undoubtedly be here momentarily.” You finally spared a glance back at König, one eyebrow raised.

König very innocently pointed off to the side, and you sighed. 

“Horangi, please, for the love of me, don’t do this to me today.” 

“You are no fun.” Horangi slunk out of nowhere, mask and sunglasses in place. 

You sighed and looked up at the sky. You couldn’t murder Horangi, he’d murder you first. 

Horangi stopped a couple feet away from you, head tipped as he surveyed the other pack. For a long moment there was tense silence. 

Then Horangi stuck out one hand. “Be welcome on my territory,” he rumbled, the greeting traditional. 

Price took his hand, shaking firmly. “We appreciate the welcome.” 

“This way.” Horangi led the way to the barracks. König grumbled again and reached for you, and you swatted his hands. 

“No,” you said sternly. “My head hurts.” 

“You are injured?” Instantly you had a very concerned shifter leaning down over you, protective and worried.

“I’m fine,” you insisted, shooing him ahead of you. “I swear to you we will catch up later, but I have to help them first.” 

König narrowed his eyes a little, displeased, but nodded once. He looked behind you to the current pack with a soft rumble before he turned, jogging after Horangi to catch up with his Alpha. 

“There are days,” you said to no one in particular, “that I wonder about my sanity.”

“Aye, me too,” Soap agreed, fingers light on your elbow. “Head still bothering you?” 

“Some.” You grimaced. 

“I’ll check once we’re inside.” Price’s voice left no room for argument, and you were too tired anyway. 

“Sorry,” you murmured carefully. “I honestly did not expect König to react like that.” 

Price shook his head. “Not your fault,” he murmured back. He glanced back at you over his shoulder, a quick flash of teeth betraying his amusement. “Didn’t you just berate me about this?” 

You laughed, leaning a little into Soap. “More or less,” you agreed. The sunlight was quickly becoming too much, making you grateful when you stepped into the barracks. König had vanished, but Horangi had waited. 

He didn’t say a word, just silently turned down a corridor, going to the very end and pushing open a door. 

“This should be sufficient for your pack,” Horangi offered, stepping out of the way. But his gaze snagged on you, which you only knew because of the smirk you could hear in his voice. “Your room is still open from last time.” 

“Ah.” Well. That was… somewhat problematic. “I’ll–”

“She’ll stay with us.” Price stopped behind you - you could feel the warmth of him bleeding through your clothes, sending a shiver up your spine.

Horangi tensed, just a little, hands twitching at his sides. But he nodded, curt and silent, and strode away again. 

“I can handle him,” you said on a sigh, looking back at Price. 

Price just grunted, his hand gentle but firm around your elbow as he led you into the room.

Well. Suite of rooms, really. Clearly this was meant for either visitors or someone higher up, because the sitting room area was decent, with a kitchenette. Through an open doorway you could see a bathroom, and you guessed the other two were bedrooms. 

Price deposited you in a chair, and you eased back carefully. Your bruises were reasserting themselves now - just what you needed on top of your head aching. Big fingers tipped your head down, just a little too close to the bump, and you hissed. Price froze for a heartbeat before he continued, much more carefully. 

“Might have a concussion,” he murmured, hand sliding down to cup the nape of your neck, soothing you. 

“Only a mild one.” You closed your eyes with a little sigh. 

Price rumbled a displeased noise, but his hand didn’t move. “You didn’t mention the concussion yesterday.”

“I was keeping an eye on it,” you grumbled back. “I know what a bad concussion feels like.” 

He huffed, and a moment later his free hand was tugging up your sleeve to check your arm where Keyes had grabbed you. That had bruised, and you didn't need to see it again, so you just stayed put. 

"It's not bad," Gaz murmured, though he sounded upset. Probably still unhappy that you'd been hurt in the first place. 

"It's fine," you assured him with a sigh. "Just bruising, it'll heal." 

Price let your sleeve fall back into place, though he kept his other hand on the back of your neck. "You'll be able to rest while we're gone." 

"When do you have to go?" You leaned back a little into his hand. It was soothing, that was all. 

"Briefing in an hour, not sure when wheels up is." Price leaned closer to you, not quite looming or hovering but some other third thing. 

"Got it." You snorted softly. "Turns out you don't need me here anyway, this base is well trained." 

Price merely hummed. "You'll stay here while we're briefing, so I don't have to find you." 

"You could ask a question, you know," you grumbled, finally tipping your head back to glower at him. "I might even say yes." 

Price huffed while Soap and Gaz snickered quietly. "Please." It was flat, absolutely no question to it. 

"I'll think about it." You smirked.

Price shook his head, though he couldn't entirely hide his amusement. He released you, and you blinked at the flash of disappointment before forcing your gaze away. 

You stayed quiet while they did whatever they did to get ready, mostly quiet. 

But you were surprised when Soap and then Gaz grabbed you in one-armed hugs before they left. 

You weren't sure if those were meant as comfort, claiming, or both. Whatever the intention, they left you warm and skittish and a little anxious. 

It was your job to get personal. To understand their needs and anticipate them. With some packs it was simpler than others. 

And, sure, there had been some packs before where you maybe could have stayed, could have deepened the bonds and made it work… 

But that niggling anxiety wouldn't let you. Because they'd get tired of you eventually. 

People always did. 

Breathing a little unsteady, you shook yourself out. Clearly this mild concussion was just messing with you, and you just needed to walk it off. 

But you did leave a note for the pack telling them you'd gone on a walk, at least. 

The base was the same as the last time you'd seen it, still bustling with activity. But this time most of the soldiers already knew you, nodded to you in recognition. 

You weren’t entirely sure how long you'd been wandering when Horangi fell into step next to you, easy as anything. 

"So that's your new pack." 

"You say that like any of the packs I work with are mine and not just work." 

Horangi hummed quietly, keeping pace with you. "Not a great showing for them, bringing you here injured." 

"It's sometimes part of the job," you reminded him. "Not like I left here completely unscathed, either." 

Horangi shrugged. "König is happy to see you." 

You slanted a look at him, amused. "I'm happy to see him, too." That went for both of them, but you were used to Horangi hiding his own emotions behind the bigger man. 

"Should be three days or so," Horangi told you, and you blinked, caught off guard. "If all goes well." 

"When do things ever go well?" You asked, mostly habitually. 

His chuckle was low and rough, not unlike the chuffing of his other form. "Good question." 

You laughed quietly, shaking your head, but you did finally start to head back toward the barracks. "Leaving tonight or tomorrow?"

"Tonight. Timeline got pushed." Horangi shrugged. "You'll be on your own after dinner." 

Something, some soft part of you, ached at being left alone again. You hid it well - that little part of you had refused to die, but you refused to acknowledge it. "Got it." 

Horangi nudged you ahead, and when you blinked back at him, he merely motioned for you to keep going. You shrugged but kept walking, figuring he wanted some alone time or something. 

Then you spotted Price standing outside the barracks, arms crossed.

“I didn’t mean to be out for that long,” you said as you approached, eyeing him carefully.

Price shrugged once. “Wheels up after dinner,” he said, pulling open the door and waiting for you to enter. “You’ll sit and eat with us?” 

At least he managed to make it a question this time. “Sure,” you agreed after a moment of thought. Actually, food sounded good. 

Price nodded and opened the door to the suite again, ushering you in first. You side-eyed him, unsure where this was coming from, but you didn’t object. 

The rest of the pack was working quietly to get packed up, moving around each other easily. You stayed out of the way, jotting down things you could do over the next few days to keep yourself busy. 

Gaz nudged you when the others were done. “Ready to go eat?”

“Sure.” You tucked your phone away again, surprised when Gaz stuck next to you. The pack even sat you between them at dinner. Why, you couldn’t say for certain. It was mostly endearing. 

And you tried not to think too much of it when Gaz and Soap grabbed you for hugs again before they took off. Ghost nodded once to you, following the two sergeants, and Price paused in front of you. For a moment, you thought he’d say something, but he ended up just patting your shoulder and leaving. 

Leaving you confused and staring after them.

[trainsinanime]

Trains in Anime - Arcane Season 2

As you may have heard, the second season of Arcane is out. Arcane is a complex and amazing show about love and loss, about power and class, about friends and family, about playing god and being god. It’s amazing, it’s beautiful, it’s heartbreaking, it’s an ad for a game you should never ever play, it sets the benchmark for what animation can be and do in this decade and beyond.

But most importantly, it has trains. Let's talk about them.

Prison Train

Apart from a few new angles on the funicular we already know from season 1 and some mine carts, there are two interesting train-like thingies in this season. The first one appears in episode 4 and is used to bring prisoners and main characters to the prison island. And it's weird.

Individual train cars run on two parallel lines of… something, with an overhead line ostensibly providing electric power (there are sparks from it). The running lines are not directly supported by anything, they run between pillars in the sea, and there, they're placed on some roller structures.

The main thing that gets me about this is structural. Are these ropes or steel beams? Either way, why don't they bend?

It's easy to say this is wrong and just move on, but it's more interesting to think of ways this system can make sense.

Personally, I choose to interpret it as a variation of the Aerobus design.

Picture: Rowema AG, CC-BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Aerobes is a classic gadgetbahn, a thing where an inventor said, "trains are boring, let's do a new thing that's exactly the same but proprietary, untested and less practical". In this case, it was a Swiss aerial cable car designer who came up with it. The design is that the train cars run on either two parallel steel beams or cables that are above it, and that are themselves suspended in the air. The resulting thing doesn't look too different from e.g. the Wuppertal Schwebebahn or similar systems (not that there are many), but with a much lighter infrastructure based mostly on steel ropes. Two commercial lines were built in the 1970s, one in Québec that lasted surprisingly long, one in Mannheim, Germany, for an exhibition, and that was where it stopped.

With the weird roller thing, I'm choosing to interpret this prison transport system as a similar thing. In this case the carrying rails/ropes are underneath the vehicle, but that doesn't change much. The vehicle is probably self-propelled and the rollers are just there to deal with heat expansion. I'll assume it's some magic steel so the wires don't move perceptibly as the vehicles pass over it. The vehicles themselves are only run singly, never as trains, presumably to avoid overloading the system.

There are two vehicles, one with a ramp, one with doors that open outwards. It's possible that this represents the totality of that system. Somewhat unusually for a prison train, the system is fully automated and can be used easily by escaped prisoners and by bloodthirsty alchemical monsters trying to break in. It looks cool though.

Intermodal transport

The other rail thing I want to talk comes at the end of the show, episode 9, and here Netflix really screws me over. It was basically impossible to take screenshots, even though it worked just fine for episode 4. They ended up crazy blurry, of the wrong moment, whatever. I've been making use of Fancaps.net, whose collection is exhaustive, but sadly they tend to focus more on important character moments and cool stuff and less on rail infrastructure. So please excuse the wall of text.

At that point in the show a big invasion is happening, and our heroes are trying to defend themselves. One of the means they have is an innovative form of multimodal container transport. The shipping container is brought to the loading station by rail. From there, it is lifted by magic, through a magic gate… and then fired at high speed at the enemies. Fun!

The shipping container and the flat car are both designed to be a bit fantastical, not a direct copy of our modern world, and I can respect that, even though I don't know how these angle brackets are actually supposed to hold the container in place.

But then… look at that truck. Or bogie. I'd give you a better angle but Netflix insisted on making it blurry. Hell, I'll give it to you anyway.

Ignore the foreground, that's just characters frantically trying to save someone's life. What's important is the railroad truck. And as you can sort of see, that's clearly a Y25!

Okay, back up a bit, let me explain. So most rail vehicles have four axles. To go around corners easily, these are not directly attached to the main body. Instead two axles in the front and two in the back are attached to a special frame that can swivel and pivot; the truck or bogie. I think one of these terms may be British and the other North American, but as someone who is neither, I don't actually know, as far as I can tell both are in use.

As the part that holds and guides the axles, provides most of the suspension, takes all of the shocks that the suspension can't, holds braking equipment and propulsion equipment, the bogie of a train is super important. There is a lot of research and development in that area, with designs being constantly refined and improved.

Except when it comes to freight cars. For freight cars, there are two bogies: The French one, used in Europe (excluding the former Soviet Union, probably Finland, and for the UK it's difficult), and the American one, used everywhere else.

This division isn't quite accurate, but it's accurate enough. It's not a law by any means, people keep inventing new trucks for freight cars all the time. But they rarely get sold much. The standard designs are good enough, they get produced in large numbers for cheap, and since they're so standardised, if you use them, you can skip a significant number of steps the approvals process that otherwise come with inventing a new type of rail vehicle.

I am somewhat lying here, in that both the French and the American design are actually large families with many different types, and I assume in particular American rail fans will be angry when I say all their bogies look the same to me… but I'm correct anyway, sorry.

I don't have any good pictures of the American style, so have one from a model railroad car instead:

These are known as Bettendorf-style or sometimes "three piece bogie", their central part is that they have two side frames that hold the axle ends, and one central bolster connecting them. The springs are between the side parts, the bolster isn't directly fixed to them. Rides well on rough tracks, which is why you'll sometimes, rarely, see them on maintenance of way equipment in Europe (although generally beefier versions of the same design. Same in the US).

In contrast, the French version is the Y25.

It also consists of one bolster and two side frames. However, it also usually has additional relatively weak parts at the front and end. The bolster is fixed to the side frames, but it's designed to flex in itself. The springs are between the side frames and the wheel bearings. A characteristic part for the standard type is the "belly" between the wheels, and the hole in there.

Arcane is made by Fortiche, Fortiche are French, and thus their rail car gets a Y25. They spaced it up a little, and in the course removed the suspension and brakes and added a plate over the hole where the central bolster attaches, but it's still clearly a Y25 type bogie.

The rest of the track is a bit weird. The train car doesn't have flanges, instead it runs in grooves in the ground. It's also unclear how it's moved there; it seems to be some kind of winch (you need to turn a handle really hard or push the train car with superpowers). Most importantly, it's unclear why someone built a container delivery railway to the top of the city's tallest tower in the first place. But I am absolutely delighted by the Y25 freight car bogie there.

If you are interested in the wide world of freight car bogies, and you speak German, I strongly recommend Drehgestelle.de, a delightfully old-fashioned website by a single guy who really cares very much. He charts the history of the Y25, the Bettendorf bogie, the earlier Diamond bogie, the German counterpart to the Y25 that used to be popular until it got outlawed, and all the various weird other things that have been tried.

All in all, a good show, I can recommend it.

[petitelepus]

Hey if it’s alright could I request a follow up to the Kyojuro, Sanemi, and Giyuu ask where they’re transported to the readers (who’s in college) apartment in the modern world? How would they adjust to everything and what would be the things they’d like the most?

PART 1 - PART 2

It took a moment, but Kyojuro, Sanemi, and Giyu were getting used to your modern world. They each got their own rooms since you had some extra ones and you had taken out shopping for new clothes and stuff they would like.

As you lived together, you learned about each other.

Kyojuro loved good food. Sweet, salty, hot, cold, savory, he loved everything. Since he had so much free time, he picked up cooking and baking as a hobby.

He was amazed by all the different food cultures around the modern world, and excited to try all the recipes he could find! He is also actually a pretty good cook also and he certainly has a a lot of passion! That doesn't stop you guys from ordering tons of food every week.

Sanemi was frustrated by the peace in your world, but then he found cat cafes and he was impressed by how you people cared for pets like that. You suggested that he could volunteer at the local animal shelter and he had scoffed, thinking that it was stupid...

Yet he still goes there, and the other volunteers there taught him how to care for animals, like cutting dogs' and cats' claws or bathing them. You told him that if he wanted, you could maybe get a dog for you guys. He told you he will think about it.

Giyu himself took a liking to photography. It started with him looking through different photos on the internet, admiring them and you suggested that he could try it himself. So you lent him your camera you had gotten as a Christmas present and taught him how to use it and he was hooked.

He would wake up early to take photos of sunrise, stay late to take photos during the night, and also take photos in between. His pictures were actually really good, and you taught him how to post them on the internet he has a nice amount of followers who always praise his pictures.

Despite the calm and peaceful world you all lived in, the three young men enjoyed exercising also, such as running, doing push-ups, and more. You felt like they would enjoy a gym membership, however, Kyojuro, Sanemi, and Giyu assure you that they didn't need a gym back then in their time and world, and they wouldn't need one now either.

But since your parents were loaded, they happily gave their sweet daughter, who studied so hard in college, some extra cash since you rarely asked anything from them.

So you took the three men to this local gym that was open 24/7 so you guys could go there whenever you wanted.

They were stunned by all the different gym machines and you spent extra money for a private trainer who showed you guys how to use the machines.

The men were impressed by the machines, but what thrilled them most was the fact that they could control the weights and hardness level of the machines.

Sanemi loves pushing himself to the extreme and usually starts a competition against Kyojuro and Giyu about how he can lift more than they can.

Spoiler alert, they all lift just about the same weights.

Giyu takes it easy and focuses on flexibility rather than brute strength, which may annoy Sanemi.

Kyojuro, bless his heart, is in good shape, but he does have a small tummy from all the foods and desserts he gobbles up.

Life was so nice and colorful with them and they actually brought you so much joy and all the company you could wish for. It was maybe a little selfish, but you wished they could stay with you forever.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Any recommendations for longer-than-one-shot games that feature player characters managing a tension between two (or more) of their characteristics?

I love a Lasers & Feelings hack, but they're definitely not geared for campaigns!

THEME: Character Tension!!!

Hello friend! I couldn’t think of many games that used the same kind of tension present in Lasers and Feelings, but Honey Heist hits a lot of the same key notes I think - that of pulling your characters closer and closer to one end or the other. So I looked for games that give you tools to alter your chances of success - at the cost of pulling you towards one sort of ending or another. These endings shouldn’t be something you can hit in only one game, but is likely to happen over the course of a short campaign.

Ares Ascendant, by Dan Brown.

Colonizing Mars is more than an exercise of grit and technology and science. It’s politics and economics, too. It’s forming a new social, political, and economic framework in which humanity can thrive, all within a hostile environment. Human achievement won’t be marked by getting to Mars. It will be marked by humanity’s ability to stay there. 

In Ares Ascendant, players assume the roles of Earth’s best and brightest, the group who will establish the first Martian colony. They won’t start entirely from scratch, as their transport ship is loaded with supplies, and unmanned vessels have been dropping equipment over the last several years. Despite the head start, however, the group will be responsible for getting things ready for more colonists. 

Ares Ascendant uses the PARAGON system, replacing the Glory/Pathos meters with a Renown/Fatigue dichotomy instead. Your characters are trying to develop the first Martian colony, which is both a high-profile and a taxing job. When you do the best out of your companions on an action, you gain Renown, which basically acts as a measure of how many people will remember what you contributed to the mission.

If you want to increase your chances of success on any given roll, you can spend a point of Fatigue to push yourself and add an extra dice from one of your character’s Domains. If you fill up your Fatigue track, you mark a point of Reputation. When you fill your Reputation track, your story is over, and your Renown will determine how well-known you are. All in all, how hard will you push yourself, and will you lose your chance at making history if you try too hard to succeed on your own?

Ash Island, by Brian Binh.

Ash Island is a roleplaying game of pain, darkness, despair, and hope for a GM and one or more players, set in a fog-shrouded New England town on a small island dominated by an evil force that manifests the characters' own inner demons to torment them. 

You take the role of anchorites, unfortunate souls bound to the dark spirit of the island by the unique suffering of their own personal sins or trauma. You answered the island's siren call and find yourself trapped in a ghost town full of dangerous monsters. Unarmed and alone, you must use your talents to explore, arm yourself, and find a way to escape. Of course, you can't just run away. There's something else you have to do first…

Ash Island is built on the Ruled by Night SRD, which uses two pools of resources called Shadow and Flame. I’m not entirely sure if these pools retain the same name in this hack, but the way they work should stay the same. You can accumulate Shadow through successfully stealthing from one point to another, while you accumulate Flame when you must resort to (loud and flashy) violence. A higher Flame pool requires you to spend more Shadow in order to have a success, and you can only reduce your Flame after you’ve taken care of another penalty called Suspicion. These two pools should pull your characters between a way out that is difficult but keeps you safe, or a way out that is easy but draws more and more danger your way.

Part-Time Gods, by Third Eye Games.

The gods of today are shadows of what the old gods possessed. Their power has been heavily diminished, and many choose to live a regular, mortal life, revealing themselves as gods only when absolutely necessary. They have a mortal life, a job (or career if they’re lucky), friends, family, and everything that comes with being human, and they work hard to protect these things from harm. On the other side of the coin, they also have a Dominion to command and oversee, a deific Territory to defend from intruders, secret societies to which they owe allegiances (called Theologies), and other gods in their pantheon to try to get along with. This becomes their life, the balancing of the mortal and the divine, the normal and the supernatural, the mundane and the strange.

Part-Time Gods Second Edition (PTG2E) is the latest iteration of an amazing setting about gods and the people, groups, and places in their lives that keep them tied to their humanity.

In Part-Time Gods, your character has to balance how much of their time they spend on their godly duties, and how much of their time they spend on their mundane jobs and relationships. When you create your character, you’ll take options that give you either more free time or more money, and both of these resources are needed to help manage your responsibilities. This game does a really good job of exemplifying the balancing act of your characters’ lives in it’s rules - although it also requires a bit of bookkeeping in order to keep track of all of your responsibilities. Out of all of the games listed here, I think PTG is the most suited for a very long campaign.

Cthulhu Deep Green, by Dissonance.

Building upon the groundwork set out in Cthulhu Dark by Graham Walmsley, Cthulhu Deep Green contains a modified rules set for playing as Agents of The Conspiracy: a shadowy government agency tasked with concealing evidence of the supernatural.

Cthulu Deep Green has a fairly simplistic ruleset, with one character resource called Stress that you will mark every time you roll. In CDG, you will often find yourself rolling with something called a Dark Dice, which will add to your Stress level if it is the highest-rolled result out of your entire pool. Adding a Dark Dice might be required if you want a chance to success, or to re-try for something better, but take too much and you’ll burn out. I’m not entirely sure how fast the Stress accumulation happens in this game - I think if your play group is roleplay heavy, you might be able to play this game over quite a few sessions before your characters get completely burned out.

Those of Us Who Know Better, by C.J.Linton.

Those of Us Who Know Better is a tabletop roleplaying game about transgender superheroes whose powers come at a price. Civilians by day, in community every other Thursday evening, and heroes by night, the players use their powers to problem solve and offer protection and support around town. These powers must be used sparingly, however, because every use of a superpower demands a specific and costly remuneration.

The tension that exists in this game lies in the consequences of using your powers. When you create your superhero, you choose a superpower and a consequence. You can use the superpower, but immediately after you must do something else, as well as take a (temporary) hit to one of your stat modifiers. As a result, your stats will increase and decrease as you play.

Games I've Talked About Before

Apocalypse Keys is all about fighting the Harbinger inside you; you have the potential to both save the world and end it - will your companions save you from your doom, or drag you closer to it?

The Empire Undying uses the same number-between-two-stats as Lasers and Feelings, but I think it's designed for a longer run-time than just a one-shot, and not just because you're using a larger number range (2-9 instead of 2-5).

[drafthorsemath]

Antidote (TBB Tech x afab Reader)

Tech x AFAB Reader (use of she/her pronouns), but all of the Batch included

Word Count: Five words over 3.3k

Warnings: Sex pollen but not the usual trope (no sex and an alternative is found), suggestive sexual language and situations but nothing acted upon, restraining for safety, some strong language, frank description of biological processes, creative use of a tampon, some feelings of shame but they are addressed, NSFW, younglings begone

A/N: I can’t read sex pollen fics. I tried. It wasn’t my thing, but then I got an idea and @staycalmandhugaclone encouraged me so here we are. This is not a call out or meant to be negative toward any sex pollen fics. This is just a different take.

Also on AO3.

You met the Batch on Pabu and in the months since, found yourself spending more and more time with them. This was especially true of Tech. You found his thirst for knowledge and direct nature easy to understand and get along with. Though, you were doing more than getting along. You weren’t sure how to tell him, but you had fallen for him.  His brothers all noticed, but he seemed not to. What you didn’t know was that he simply didn’t know how to bring up his feelings just yet.

The boys had decided to visit a nearby planet and since there didn’t seem to be any danger, no one had any objections to you coming along.  You hadn’t been on a ship since you first traveled to Pabu and you loved watching as you flew through hyperspace. Tech landed just outside of a city and you all headed toward the market. Hunter and Echo went in search of supplies while Wrecker, Tech, and Crosshair all helped buy food to bring back to Pabu. You were particularly interested in the local fruits and vegetables that didn’t grow on the island you called home.

“I think this is enough,” you said, putting down the last crate next to the pile.

“Is it,” Wrecker asked. “I could eat all this in a couple days.”

“Yes, but we’re just getting what we can,” Crosshair responded. He didn’t want to make more than one trip back to the ship.

“Well, we can carry more,” Wrecker retorted. “At least I can.”

Crosshair gave him a half-hearted glare but helped purchase a few more crates.  Wrecker easily carried most of the load.

You turned around to look for Tech.  He was busy scanning some kind of contraption that caught his eye one booth over.

“Ready to go, Tech?”

“In just a moment,” he replied.

Wrecker and Crosshair walked ahead, catching up with Hunter and Echo who were waiting near the edge of town with some ship parts.  You knew a moment for Tech could mean anything from a few seconds to much longer than that but wanted to stay with him.

He put the item down and walked with you. “The wiring on this new style datapad results in faster computations. I want to see if I can rewire my own and achieve similar results.”

“That didn’t look like any datapad I’ve ever seen,” you replied.

“Ah, the outside is only meant to grab your attention. It is a new model. The inside is what interests me.”

You smiled at that.  Tech offered to carry the crate you still had, and you kindly accepted.

Once back at the ship, Wrecker took the crate from Tech. It was decided you all would spend the night on the ship and head back the next day.  Tech cleared his bunk so you would have a place to sleep, insisting he could sleep in a chair.  While you felt it was incredibly nice of him, you also couldn’t help but wonder what it might be like to share a bunk with him.  The thought left your mind as he asked if you wanted to come with him to document some of the local flora.  After dinner, the others stayed around the campfire while you and Tech walked over a few hills and to the edge of a forest.  He excitedly took pictures and samples, telling you about each plant and its properties.

“This one has several medicinal uses,” he said, handing you a pink flower. You smiled at it and then back at Tech.  You gathered several and put them in their own storage bag for transport.  Multiple species of flowers were packed before you looked a little further into the woods.

“Tech! Come see!”

He walked over and immediately noticed the large teal blooms that opened as you walked by.

“Fascinating,” he said. He took a picture and noticed that as he got closer to you, the flowers seemed to open even further. He scanned them, looking for any known properties. His face dropped as soon as the results showed up.

“We need to go, mesh’la!”

“What? Why?” You sneezed.

“It may be too late.” He took your hand and briskly walked you out of the woods. Your face suddenly felt hot and your throat burned.

“Tech, I don’t feel well.”

“We must get back to the ship,” he said nearly panicking. “I believe those flowers create an aphrodisiac that specifically affects females of several species.”

No sooner had he said that, and your limbs felt like jelly and you fell against him.  Something wasn’t right. You could swear you felt all your blood rushing to your groin and let out a moan. You tried to run, but felt a great weight on your ankles. Tech lifted you like you weighed nothing and ran toward the Marauder. Hunter stood as he saw his brother carrying your body. Preparing for the worst, the boys all stood up asking what was wrong and following Tech on to the ship.

“A large flower opened, spreading pollen,” Tech stated. “I believe it is an aphrodisiac and it has already started to work.”

He sat you down, scanned you, and confirmed your symptoms. The others stood behind him, looking rather helpless. He sighed and gave you a rundown of what to expect. Very brief fever followed by extremely high libido and high energy until satisfied.

Crosshair looked from you to Tech and asked, “Isn’t there a way she can take care of this on her own? You know? Manually?”

“Negative,” replied Tech. “Based on the information available, orgasm does not help in mitigating the symptoms. It appears this particular pollen only effects females and it does not wear off until either sexual intercourse with a male is completed or her hormones shift with her next menstrual cycle.”

“Next period?!” You really started panicking. “I can’t feel that way for that long!” You wanted to cry and yet you could feel that you had to fight to remain yourself even now. You knew it would only get worse. “Look I… Tech I…” You searched for words, feeling overwhelmed. This was not how you wanted to have this conversation, but it seemed like you had better get it over with. “Tech, I have feelings for you. I really like you, but I don’t want to have sex with you or anyone right now, for that matter and I’m afraid of what I might say or do in the next however long.”

Tech quickly processed the information and couldn’t help but smile. “I believe the feeling is mutual,” he said, still kneeling in front of you. “I promise no one will do anything you would not want done in your healthy state of mind. You have my word.”

“That’s great,” chimed Echo, “And I’m really glad for you two, but how are we going to fix this without waiting?”

“I have an idea,” Tech replied.

No sooner had he said that and the fever hit. You felt like you were on fire and cold as ice at the same time. Wrecker stepped toward you to hold your hand. “It’s gonna be okay,” he said. “If anyone can solve this, it’s Tech.”

You tried to nod. Your whole body shook with fever, but within a few minutes the fever was gone. You knew that you weren’t yourself, but there was no way to stop it. You looked at all five men greedily and started to take your shirt off.

“I want Tech first,” you said with a smirk.

“Now now,” Wrecker said, still next to you and taking your hand away from your shirt. “None of that.”

You tried to stand up and looked at each member of the squad. You giggled to yourself that you just thought about the word “member.” They would do nicely, but you would give anything for Tech to throw you onto his bunk and fuck you through the bottom of the ship. You walked closer to him and he adjusted his googles.

“I know this is not you,” he said.

It quickly became clear that you were going to be quite a handful.  Tech did research as fast as possible, finding flowers that reacted similarly.  Wrecker held you in his lap with his arms wrapped around you after you tried to jump on Hunter as he walked past to assist Tech. He was also trying to keep you from acting out your latest threat of walking up to Tech and sitting in his lap naked. You made several comments about each of the men, but would not stop talking about how much you wanted Tech.

“We know,” Crosshair said, sitting next to Wrecker.

You turned your head toward Crosshair and smiled like an idiot. “Jealous,” you asked him.

“I didn’t say that,” he replied in annoyance.

“It’s okay if you are,” you countered in a sing-song voice.

Your body then decided that since you were sitting on a man’s lap, you might as well start thrusting your hips.

“Nope,” Wrecker said, lifting you off his lap. He was strong, but you were giving him a run for his money with how much you were squirming.

“We’ll sit with her awhile,” Hunter offered, dragging Echo with him. “Crosshair too.”

“What? Why me?”

“Because you’ve only sat next to Wrecker. I think we’ll all have to take some limbs or something.” Wrecker sat you down on the bunk and Hunter held you back before you could lunge at Tech. You nearly yoinked him halfway across the Marauder. Hunter managed to sit you back down with Echo holding one arm, Hunter the other, and Crosshair sitting on the floor hugging your legs.

“This is ridiculous,” you giggled. “Just let me fuck your brother. Just once.”

Hunter sighed. He knew you were going to be upset later. Tech had already discovered that there is no lapse in memory for this particular drug, so you would remember every moment of this.  He hoped you would find solace in the fact that they all knew this wasn’t really you. 

They were all getting tired and while Wrecker wanted to help Tech, he knew there was little he could do, so he tried sleeping until it was his turn to hold you again. Tech worked furiously through the night. He grimaced when you hit the next stage and complained you felt throbbing.  You had gone from flirty to begging for someone to put your out of your misery “with as much cock as possible.” When that didn’t work you cried. He knew it must be painful by this point. He couldn’t stand to hear you cry.  Your body was simply reacting to a drug. He felt guilty for not knowing this plant was in the vicinity, but it had never been documented on this side of the planet before. How could he have known?

In the middle of the night, Wrecker woke to stay with you while Hunter, Echo, and Crosshair tried to get some sleep. You made a lot of noise, but they tried. Wrecker had to admit that he didn’t do any more than doze. They were all worried for you, but being in war and under stress, they had learned to sleep when they can and then get up and do their part when it was time. They got what sleep they could.

You wailed when Wrecker held you, trying to scramble away to get to one of the men. He just kept apologizing and telling you he was keeping you safe. You managed to turn in his lap and wrap your legs around his waist.

He sighed. “I know you don’t want that. Not really.” You started crying again and all you could seem to feel was your pulse between your legs and a chemical drive that would not go away.

At the front of the ship, Tech started to make some progress.  He smiled to himself when he found a research article on this species of plant. He needed one of the pink flowers you’d collected earlier along with two drugs from the med kit.

Hunter hadn’t done much more than close his eyes, but he sensed the med kit being opened and went to try to help his brother.

“Will you restart the campfire,” Tech asked.

“Sure. What progress have you made?”

“We are not able to create or obtain the hormones needed to trigger her menstrual cycle and end this using that method. However, it is theorized that the reason sexual intercourse causes the pollen to cease its effect is because of the presence of semen in the vagina. Specifically, one protein found in seminal fluid. Now, obviously that is not an option for us, but it appears a similar form of this protein can be synthesized using the pollen of some flowers we collected. While not ideal, there are some items in the med kit that can help this chemical process.”

“Great, but how do we get it in her,” Hunter asked.

“We don’t,” answered Crosshair, now standing behind them. “Put whatever you make on a tampon and ask her to do it herself.”

“Would that work,” Echo asked, joining them.

“I believe it is the least invasive option,” Tech replied.

They all nodded. Hunter went outside to start the campfire.  Tech sterilized some equipment and joined him.  It seemed simple enough. He only needed part of the flower and then the heated wound disinfectant along with bacta gel would cause the protein to be isolated. Hunter dug a tampon out of the emergency supplies.

Echo and Crosshair helped Wrecker who held your legs, while the other two sat on either side of you. You were tired, but still acting ravenous. Your method had gone even further in the direction of complaining about how you were hurting, and you just wanted all this to be over. 

“It doesn’t have to be Tech,” you declared. “I’ll take any of you. Please!”  You then melted in Echo’s arm and looked at him with stars in your eyes. “Changed your mind yet? Any of you?”

He simply shook his head, trying to show he cared, and held on so you couldn’t pounce on anyone.  You turned to Crosshair on your other side. He held your arm and tried to help keep you still as best he could. You quickly moved to try to bite his neck and he pulled away. “No thank you,” he said. “I’m saving that for someone special.”

You were trying so hard to fight the drug coursing through your system, but it was a losing battle. After what felt like ages, Tech seemed satisfied with the concoction. There wasn’t much of it, but once it was cool enough he dipped the end of the tampon in the gel and walked back onto the ship. The boys let go enough for you to walk toward him. Your flirty symptoms appeared again, and you wanted Tech so badly. You looked up and down his body with no shame. He really took your breath away.

Tech found your glances made him nervous, but simply cleared his throat.  Just as he was about to explain why he was holding a tampon, you started sniffing the air.

“That smell,” you said.

The men all looked at each other. “Can you smell it,” Hunter asked. “The protein?”

“Whatever it is, I want to sit on it,” you replied with a grin. You homed in on the tampon.

Tech cleared his throat again and explained, “I have created what we hope will reverse the effect of the drug, but you need to insert this yourself.”

Crosshair and Echo were still each holding your arms, but not too tightly. You seemed to calm and they let go. You took the tampon and went to take your pants off, but everyone stopped you. Tech opened the refresher door and you walked in. He closed it and everyone sighed.

“I hope this works,” said Echo. “All I smell is floral bacta gel.”

In the ‘fresher you regarded the tampon with a little suspicion, but your body seemed to be on autopilot. You placed the tampon and immediately the ache started going away. You took slower breaths. You washed your hands and realized your nerves had been on fire for hours.  You looked at yourself in the mirror and felt the heat in your face start to drain. Instead, you realized all that you had said and done, or tried to do. All kinds of emotions flooded your system. You were sure that Hunter could sense the change in you from the other side of the door, so you made no effort to report what was going on. You weren’t sure you wanted to see or talk to any of them yet. You were covered in sweat from all your activity and wanted a shower.  You stripped off your clothes and briefly stood under the water. Just enough to clear away the feeling on your skin.  When you got out, you noticed someone had left you the spare clothes you’d brought, and you slowly put them on. After a few more minutes of staring blankly into the mirror and letting the antidote work, you finally reappeared.

“I’m sorry,” you said quietly. “I didn’t mean all that.”

“We know,” Wrecker said, pulling you into a hug.

“Glad you feel better,” Hunter said.

“Been thinking we might all get some shut eye before we leave,” Echo suggested.  Crosshair nodded with a little smile on his face. For the first time all night, he popped a toothpick in his mouth.

You nodded, thanking them for helping you.

“Especially you, Tech.”

He wasn’t sure what to do. Should he hug you? Hold you? Keep his distance?

“Here,” he said. “If you find you need more to counter the drug, I will put this in a safe place.” He showed you a container with the small puddle of gel he had made using the flowers. You smiled at him.

“How did you figure it out?”

He walked you to the cockpit after closing up the ship as the sun rose. He sat you down, noticing how physically weak you looked. Sitting across from you, he told you about his research and how he found a way to mimic the protein structure that seemed to shut down the drug.  You smiled. Of course Tech would figure it out.

“I’m sorry again,” you said.

“Cyar’ika, you have nothing to be sorry for,” he said, reaching for your hand. He gave it a soft squeeze and smiled at you. “None of this was your fault.”

You returned the smile and sat back, looking like you might fall asleep.

“Let me help you to bed,” he offered. You took his arm, needing it to steady yourself. Your legs felt like jelly for a whole different reason this time.

You got into bed. In his bunk. The others were already sleeping. Tech sat on the end of the bed, but looked conflicted. When he originally offered to sleep in the pilot’s seat, he didn’t know all of this would happen.

“Tech? Can you stay? Is that okay?”

He nodded, but suddenly seemed a bit nervous. He had never shared a bed with anyone like this. What he said earlier was true. He had feelings for you and knew you had feelings for him. He wanted you to feel safe, so if you wanted him close, he felt it would be alright now, although he wasn’t sure what he was doing as he laid down.

“How would you like me to, uh…”

“Like this,” you replied, taking his hand and laying it across your middle. Not too close or tight, but just there. “But however feels right. I trust you.”

He softly smiled and relaxed. “Goodnight mesh’la.”

[mercurygray]

Introducing an OC prompt. Cordelia + 20. As someone whose name precedes them, please?

There were a couple of directions I could have gone with this, but I was re-watching the party scene for Dye today and decided to do something a little different, and, hopefully, funny.

They had only been in England for a matter of minutes, and Nash was already being Nash.

"God, I think I could listen to her voice all day," the pilot was saying with a million watt grin on his lips. "Why yes, I will do whatever you say, baby."

"You're just saying that 'cause it was a long flight, Herb," Speas offered with a roll of his eyes, hefting his equipment bag down from the belly of the plane. "Get a square meal in you and I'm sure you'll be saying something different."

Everyone else in the plane sighed or rolled their eyes. For as long as any of them had known him, Nash was out for two things, and two things only - being the best at gunnery practice, and getting a girl to like him. The first was something that could (and had) been done with long hours of practice - and the second, too, took practice, as well, though it helped that Herb also had a wide and easy smile and blue eyes it was easy to get lost in. It did not help his friends that this usually also got him in to trouble. Still, it seemed like a record, even for him - falling in love with a girl without even having seen her first.

The ground crew was already swarming over the plane like an army of efficient ants, green and grease-stained in their flight suits, following the lead of a curly-haired fellow in a knitted watch cap. "Welcome to England, gentleman. Your transport's waiting, if you want to load up. Take all your gear with you - barracks is that way, too." He paused. "Get you fellows something, while you're waiting? It's a long haul from Greenland."

"Whoever you got directing us in from the tower," Nash said with a smile, glancing across the field at the squat concrete block where the woman herself was doubtless sitting. "She got a name?"

The mechanic raised his eyebrows, still busy with his clipboard, and checked his watch. "Morning shift is still on, so that's Callaway, but I'm 'fraid you'll have to keep looking, Lieutenant. She's seeing someone." He looked up at Nash and guessed, correctly, that he was undeterred. "Big fellow - kind of a jealous type."

Nash only grinned, climbing up into the back of the truck and adjusting the angle of his cap to its usual rakish slant. "That's only 'cause she hasn't seen me yet."

"Now come on, Nash, we only just got here," Pappy complained aloud, having very much heard 'big' and jealous' and knowing from past experience what that might mean. "Can't you keep it together until we've at least met everyone?"

There were, it seemed, plenty of women on base - the Clubmobile women with their mobile canteen and coffee urns, smiling and waving from the window of their truck, the local women who worked in the kitchen, on their way home after the lunch shift, the land girls shifting a group of wayward cows, and the WACs of the typing pool and the intelligence room, headed up by a captain named Brennan who greeted them all with the CO when they got off the truck. But Nash, it seemed, would not be deterred - he still had his eyes on his prize, and he meant to get her, it seemed, come hell or high water.

There was a party this evening, they'd been informed - a celebration for Captain Glenn Dye, who'd finished his twenty five mission tour and was headed home with all due pomp and circumstance. "Is everyone going to be there, ma'am?" Nash asked Brennan, when she gave them the news. "Just seems like a good way to meet people, is all."

Brennan gave him a searching look, her answer given with caution as she tried to figure out his true intention for the question. "I'm sure it'll be well attended, Lieutenant. Captain Dye's well liked."

Nash nodded, and said no more, and Brennan turned them over to a couple of orderlies to make sure they made it to their barracks and had time for a change of clothes and a shave before the party got started.

"I'm telling you, Herb, if you so much as think -"

But Nash was no longer listening, either to Pappy or to reason, and the only thing for it was to let him leave for the officer's club alone, and hope that all the shouting had finished by the time they got there.

----

Bucky still didn't know what to think about the party.

Twenty five missions was a hell of a thing, and Glenn deserved the noise, no matter what else Bucky might have thought about the guy. (The matter of Lil still stung, a little, though that had all worked itself out in the end.) But it seemed…to be tempting fate, somehow, to have put up the streamers and gotten the beer on ice before the plane had even made it back to base, and he'd found himself, all afternoon, trying to touch wood or his Saint Christopher medal, or the thin wafer of Cord's lucky silver dollar, praying that everyone made it home in one piece. He liked the silver dollar - he didn't think he would, but she'd tucked into his pocket after Regensburg and would not take back for all the urging in the world. He'd told her he had all the luck he needed, but there was still something comfortable about the coin under his thumb, and the woman's face, with its crown and streaming hair, sometimes reminded him of Cord, blazing in her glory.

Buck was at 21 missions, and he himself at 17. Would there be parties then, when they finished? Or was it only because Glenn had been the first and, so far, the only? (And there was the question, too, of even making it at all - but he liked their odds. If there were two forts left in sky, it'll be me and it'll be you, Buck.

"So, which one's Callaway?"

Bucky turned in his seat to survey the newcomer, a pilot maybe four or five years younger than himself who must have just come in this afternoon. His uniform had the unmistakable air of having recently been stateside. "Who's asking?"

"Just a fellow who wants to get to know her better," the man offered, looking around the room with hope in his eyes. "Girl with a voice like that's got to be a looker."

Bucky quickly realized what was going on here and settled himself on to his bar stool, pushing his glass a little further away. If someone was going to make a move on his girl, that was something he wanted to be sober for - if only to make sure all the punches landed where they should. "Most everyone knows Callaway. You must be new here."

"Herbert Nash - just got in this afternoon."

"Well, a word to the wise, Lieutenant - you're gonna want to keep moving," Bucky said, calmly. "She's spoken for."

Nash grinned. "A lady's allowed to change her mind, isn't she?"

Bucky sized the fellow up and decided he liked his odds where changing minds was concerned. Cord had just walked in with some of the other WACs, Mae and Phoebe, and had only just caught his eye across the room. (No streaming Lady Liberty hair today - she was 1A in every aspect, and he loved her for it.) "Fair enough. Here, I'll introduce you." He waved and gestured her over, rising from his seat as he did so. "Lieutenant Callaway," he said, slowing her up a bit as she realized he was making an introduction. "This is Lieutenant Herbert Nash, who just came in today on one of our replacement crews."

Cord offered her hand to shake, leaning on a lifetime of practice meeting new airmen at Wright-Patterson but still glancing at Bucky to wonder, silently, just what this was about. "Very nice to meet you, Lieutenant."

"Has anyone told you you've got a lovely voice?" No sooner had their hands touched then the younger man had turned on the charm, the full effect of his baby blue eyes coming in to full focus on Cord.

"The Lieutenant's just saying he was hoping he might have a chance at a date," Bucky announced, after he'd let Nash feel like he'd gotten a hit in.

The dime dropped behind Cord's eyes, and her smile curved up a fraction. "Did you tell him I'm seeing someone?" she asked patiently, glancing at Nash with an apology in her smile.

"I tried," Bucky offered, with a shrug.

"So, just who is this fellow you're seeing?" Nash asked, looking ready to bat his eye lashes and go straight for the fences, a fellow who was used to winning. But not today.

"Major John Egan," Cord said, trying to restrain a smile as she reached over and patted Bucky's chest for emphasis. "Whom you've just met."

Nash's mental calculus all suddenly totaled up, and he took one look at the broad-shouldered man in front of him and mumbled something about a drink or friends or both and beat a quick retreat to the other side of the room, finally having realized the obvious stupidity in trying to steal his new squadron commander's girlfriend.

It was too good, watching him leave - though when he turned to look at Cord, she looked a little disappointed in him. "That was mean, Bucky. He's new."

"Fellow's got to have a little fun once in a while," he cajoled, putting his arms around her waist to pull her a little closer. "Gotta show the new guys what's what."

"Are you trying to make someone jealous?"

"…No." But the pause said everything it needed to. He pulled her in a little closer, their noses almost touching and his knees pressing in on her legs. "Don't girls like to get fought over, or something?" Because I'll tell everyone you're mine until the stars go out - and fight someone for you, too, if I have to. A fellow's got to have something to come home to - that's what gets him to twenty five. That and silver dollars and St. Christophers.

"Oh, get over here." She pulled him in to kiss him, her hand gentle on the belt of his jacket, and he did not say no, merely accepted her ministrations with all the pleasure they intended.

"Quit rubbing it in, John."

"Rubbing what in?" Bucky asked with a grin, knowing full well what Gale meant when he said it - rubbing in having a girl who was here in England to be held and kissed and shown off to advantage. But his arm remained around Cord's waist, one more good luck charm he shouldn't have gambled with and would not like to be without.

[shutupheathersorryheatherr]

“What hair product I think each svt member is”

Summery: a holiday fic that has absolutely nothing to do with the holidays! Wanted to try my hand at writing something a bit different and thought this was a good idea to start. Not really comedy but amusing none the less! (idk if what I wrote makes sense hopefully yall are picking up what I’m putting down) approximately: ten minute read

A/n: THIS IS NOT MY ORIGINAL IDEA! (In a way it is buuuutttt still) I can’t find the author who wrote the “what piece of furniture svt are” or something to that effect so they’re the ones who gave me the idea so if yall find them please tag them unless I do first!

warningz/info: mentions of pain, mentions of chocolate, I think what, three curse words? y'all let me know if I should start keeping them to a minimum or remove them entirely because I know some people are uncomfortable with them! I feel like the spacing between paragraphs is weird in this fic but oh well. no idea how this is gonna go over and im scared that I tagged it with "x reader". plus I dont know if anyone would read/enjoy it but I had loads of fun writing it! as always, if you did like it, please leave some love like comments and or reblogs!

~this is simply a piece of fiction. My imagination onto “paper. This is in no way is mean to be taken as an actual and real representation of anyone.~

•••••••••••••••••••

>Seungcheol<

gel. Sticks to you like glue once you find each other (romantic music starts playing in the hair care isle when you pick up your favorite gel) everyone has their preferred brand/ look they worship. Thicc. Either smells putrid and chemical like or good enough to transport you to a magical land of chocolate, pink grass and purple clouds

>Jeonghan<

he is a Bobby pin. And I will provide no further explanation on this except that he holds you together but will stab you lmao

>Shua<

an Afro pick/ hair pick. Its what everyone’s looking for: that little somen’ somen’. That little poof we all desire. Also scalp massages :)

>Jun<

wide tooth comb. My fellow thick haired/ curly haired people will know about this one 😭 this shit can be mean to your scalp tugging on your hair and UGH helps you greatly and is a necessity but damn… that’s all I gotta say

>Hoshi<

Refresher product/ moisture product. wakes you up in the morning. Gives you a reason to NOT look like you just rolled outta bed even though you did. For most this is one ofthe holy grails in life. What would I do without it? Makes us all smile even at 4:00 am because oh my god I look better after I slapped this in. Just all around a day-brightener

>Wonwoo<

curl cream. Grounding. Has many different looks n stuff

>Woozi<

a rat tail comb. Everyone should have one. Versatile, used for many different things. Good for every sort of job and is a natural to be honest and is small but mighty lol

>DK<

a satin/ silk bonnet. And no, not one of those that most  moms wear with the lace trim. Those end up at the foot of your bed by the morning. The ones with the thick elastic. I choose this cause it goes by many different names, just like him lol just has that comfy homey feel to it

>Mingyu<

hair mask. Made at home with some questionable ingredients. Seriously sometimes I don’t think he’s real lol 

>Hao<

a denman brush. It sounds to helpful and great. And it is great!…. When you figure out how to use it. Hard to figure out but once you get the hang of it you’ll never go back (another thing my fellow curly haired babes will understand)

>Seungkwan<

co wash. A little something extra, a boost of energy, if you will. a well kept secret but also a well known fact 

>Vernon<

hair tie. Easy to loose but also easy to find. especially in places where youd think: “why the fuck would it end up here?” Like idk man, but you should definitely check the dark corner collecting lint— that’s where they always are

>Dino<

leave in conditioner because with use over time it makes your hair (you) healthier

~End~

a/n: annnnnnnnddddd thats it! hope y'all enjoyed this disaster of a fic lmao if you liked it, please leave some love like comments or reblogging!

stay safe, y'all!

2023 ©️copyright for shutupheathersorryheatherr do NOT repost, steal, or translate my work even if you give me credit

taglist: @itz-yerin

[starlightrows]

14 — Reunion

Hiding In Plain Sight

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Pairing: Commander Wolffe x reader

Word Count: 5.5k

Warnings: Oral (fem receiving), p in v sex, Wolffe letting someone else be in charge for once

Summary: You’re reunited with your team, and more importantly reunited with Wolffe!

The months you’ve been gone seem to stretch on and on without end. Day in and day out you are treating patients that are terminally ill from the toxic gasses they breathed in while fleeing Atraken. It’s long hours, emotionally and physically draining. But you keep yourself going, because somewhere out there in the universe, Wolffe loves you and is working his hardest to get you back.

You don’t get the chance to talk to him often, mostly just the occasional check in messages and quick responses. You’ve tried com calling him before when you get off your shifts, but you keep falling asleep during them. Wolffe actually loves those, because at least he can hear the sounds of your gentle breathing after you fall asleep and know that you are resting peacefully. It’s the only way he gets to feel close to you.

One afternoon, after what you think is five standard months, you receive a com notification. You, along with many of your colleagues that were reassigned from high ranking battle battalions, are being sent back to your original squad placements to rejoin the war effort. When you read the message you feel a little weak in the knees and have to sit down to read the message again. It’s true, you’re being sent back! You haven’t heard from Wolffe in a couple days and you have no idea if he’s been given this information yet. You decide not to tell him, it’ll be a great surprise!

You feel a bit anxious as you prepare to leave the medical frigate you’ve been living on. You don’t really have anything here that belongs to you, not even the bunk you’ve been sleeping on was technically yours with the rotating shifts of the medical personnel on this base. So you board a shuttle with nothing but the clothes on your back and a small duffle of your second set of uniform clothing, just the way you had come.

Your orders are to rejoin the 104th on General Plo’s ship, which has officially been named The Radiant, before their next deployment. Part of you hopes that this will be an easy mission, the last five months have kept you busy but you haven’t exactly been doing the same level of physical training you were used to with the team. Either way, from what Wolffe has told you, you’ll be able to run circles around the rookie that’s been holding your spot on the team. Still you have a bit of tightness in your chest and a pit in your stomach as your transport gets closer and closer to the rendezvous point.

When your transport docks you are quickly off loaded with a few others on board and the shuttle takes off once more to deliver more medical personnel to their respective squadrons. Even though The Radiant is just a ship, just like all of the other Venator class star destroyers in the Republic’s fleet, it feels like coming home. You walk with a giddy confidence towards the officers quarters, it’s evening time on the galactic standard clock, the squad should be having down time. You bypass the corridor to reach your old quarters and head straight for Wolffe’s door. Your heart is pounding as you stand at the door, with your bag slung over your shoulder. You knock on the door and wait for a response.

You don’t hear anything on the other side of the door for a long moment. You think maybe he is already asleep, or he is in his office working, could be that he is with the lads or in the shower. Just before you decide that he’s not there and turn to leave, the door slides open.

There is a moment of confusion, an extra second to process that it is you that is standing in front of him. Then the grin spreads across his face and he steps forward into you, snatching you into a tight hug. You drop your bag on the floor and wrap your arms around him. His embrace is nearly crushing you, it’s so firm. After a moment he chuckles and pulls away to look at you

“You couldn’t have com’d ahead and let us know you’re coming?” He chuckles

“And miss this?” You grin “You should see your face, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a genuine smile from you commander”

He chuckles and shakes his head “I missed you Doc”. He wants to kiss you so badly, but there are other officers and servicemen milling about in the area. Everyone knows that you’ve been gone, a hug with a surprise return in one thing, a kiss would definitely draw unwanted attention. Your welcome back kiss will have to wait.

You know this without him having to say it, you step back out of his arms and scoop up your bag. “Come on, I’m going to drop off my duffle. Assemble the team and help me surprise them too”

“I’ll have them meet in the training room, I’ll com the general as well. I’m sure he would be happy to know you’ve returned” he nods. You nod as well and head off down the hall towards your quarters. Wolffe can’t help but watch, he can’t remember ever being this happy or surprised in his entire life.

Your quarters are exactly the way you left them, you drop off your bag and quickly rinse your face with a washcloth. Long hours of travel have left you looking a little dull and sallow. You clean yourself up as quickly and as best you can and go to the training room. You stand by the entrance, just out of sight of the men whose voices you can hear inside. Wolffe is talking to them, spinning some lie as to why they are all there. You peek your head around the corner and see they all have their backs to you, including the general. You move as quietly as you can so they don’t hear you come in. You stand behind Slush, just out of his view while he’s paying attention to Wolffe.

“Now, does anyone have any questions?” Wolffe asks, looking directly at you.

“Yeah, I wasn’t listening at all. Can you repeat the whole thing again?” You call out.

Every head in the room whips around to look at you. Suddenly they are mobbing you in hugs and laughter, shaking you by the shoulders and shouting at you in pure childlike excitement.

“I wasn’t going to admit it, but I really missed you guys” you smile with a small shake of your head. The group had moved from standing around to now sitting on the sparring mats in the training room.

“I think I can speak for all of us” General Plo says “You were dearly missed”

“Thank you General” you nod “Get into any trouble while I was away?”

“Cinder got to do a demonstration for the chancellor and some high ranking admirals” Comet says

“Well, it wasn’t supposed to be a demonstration” Cinder says sheepishly “We were supposed to be transporting the new ion cannons and it just so happened that we needed to use them”

“Ha! Sounds like I missed a party” you chuckle

“It would have been a party if Doctor Kill-Joy hadn’t butt in” Jag rolls his eyes

“Yeah… Wolffe mentioned the new guy is a bit, difficult” you say as delicately as possible

“Difficult is an understatement” Sinker says bitterly “He’s got no discipline, no respect for the chain of command, and seems to have no concept of seniority rules”

“Not to mention he is the slowest and weakest so called soldier I’ve ever seen” Boost says “Seriously, I don’t think he passed basic training for civilian soldiers”

“He can’t be that bad. Everyone has to pass basic training to get put on assignment” you probe, seeing if you can get them to give examples

“Oh just you wait, Doc” Slush shakes his head “5 minutes and you’ll be filling out transfer orders”

“Unfortunately” Wolffe cuts in “He’s on permanent assignment with us. Transfer orders will take months, if we’re lucky”

“Really? But we’ve got Doc back, we don’t need him anymore!” Boost complains

“We’ll figure it out you guys” you say “Whether he stays or goes, at least we’re all back together”

“You’re right, here’s to you Doc. The war wasn’t the same without you”

The evening goes on, you telling them about what actually happened on Atraken, where you were stationed, what sorts of injuries and diseases you had been treating. And them telling you about the rest of their stay on Denarian Prime, other planets they’ve visited while on deployment in that last five months, trouble they’ve found themselves in and the ways they got themselves out of it.

They have you laughing into the early hours of the morning, eventually Wolffe has to put a lid on it.

“Alright lads, we still have training in the morning. She’s here to stay, we can keep swapping stories tomorrow”

As much as you’re enjoying getting to spend time with your team again, you’re grateful for Wolffe shutting it down for the evening. You’re exhausted and very much looking forward to getting some sleep.

Wolffe walks back with you to the split in the hallway between where his room is and where yours is. He hesitates at the junction, wanting to hug you or kiss you so badly. But he knows he can’t get away with a kiss, the hug from earlier was already testing a boundary with the GAR rules. There’s a couple servicemen hanging around the area, and even if they’re not specifically paying attention to you guys, they’re still too much of a crowd.

“See you in the morning captain” he looks into your eyes, hoping you know the conflict he’s feeling right now.

“Sleep well commander” you do, you definitely do.

Even though you don’t get to spend your first night back sleeping next to Wolffe, you do sleep well for the first time in months. The bed in your quarters is still standard issue but is far more comfortable than the bunk cot you shared with countless other medics on the medical frigate.

The following morning you wake up feeling a bit better having finally gotten some real rest. You join the lads in the mess hall for breakfast but don’t join them for morning training.

“You have no idea how behind I am on emails” you complain “I would genuinely rather run laps for the rest of the morning”

“Don’t worry about it Doc, we’ll see you later” Slush pats your shoulder.

You take your time finishing your breakfast and walking to your office. You still haven’t had the chance to have a proper reunion with Wolffe and it’s distracting you. You’ve been longing to be this physically close to him for months and now that you are within proximity to one another, there is always someone around or work to be done. Tonight, you assure yourself, opening the door to your office.

To your surprise, it is not empty as it should be. “Oh? Corporal, I didn’t expect to see you in my office. Was there something you needed assistance with?”

Doctor Roy Faragian sits behind your desk and suddenly looks flustered at your entrance into the room unannounced “Captain! What a surprise. I’m… this office is for the reserved for the lead medic assigned to the 104th battalion and — “

“Indeed it is” you cut him off “And as I am the assigned lead medic for this team, I believe that would make this my office. Is there something I can help you with, Corporal?”

“No… I… I suppose not” His face falls and whatever notion he had about usurping your position collapses when he sees you have no tolerance for his feeble attempts.

“If there’s nothing I can help you with then, I must ask you to find somewhere else to do your notes today, I have quite a few matters that require my attention” you open the door and stand aside, quite literally showing him the door with no room for question or argument.

“Yes sir….” He grumbles, collecting his data pad and shuffling out of the room. You close the door behind him and take a minute to appreciate this little office. You actually never liked this office… there’s bad memories tied to it. You choose not to focus on those memories and instead remind yourself that you had been yearning to return to it for the last several months.

As the hours tick by and you get more of your work done, you’re finding that you’re glad you didn’t participate in physical training this morning. Even though you woke up feeling refreshed this morning, you’re feeling fatigued and foggy now and it’s barely past midday. If you had to make a guess you would say that your body is acclimating to this change of pace or maybe you have the very beginning of a cold. Either way it’s not significant enough that it’s preventing you from completing your work and no way in hell will it prevent you from seeing Wolffe tonight.

The thought of seeing him tonight actually perks you up a bit and motivates you to continue on through your day. When the time finally comes you leave all of your work behind you in your office and head off to your own room. You com Wolffe on the way and let him know you’re ‘off duty’. When you reach your room you take off your boots and service jacket and sit down on the bed for a few minutes. Your energy seems to leach out of your body and into the mattress. You’re tempted to lay down and close your eyes for a few minutes, Wolffe hasn’t responded to your com yet.

You’ve all but made up your mind on taking that nap when you hear the lock turn and the door open. You stand from the bed quickly and open your arms. The door slides closed and locks behind him automatically, he closes the distance between you in two long strides and snatches you up in his arms. His lips are warm and familiar, it almost brings a tear to your eye how much you’d missed this. After a moment or two he breaks the kiss and rests his forehead on yours, eyes still closed, savoring this wish that has finally come true.

“It still doesn’t feel real yet” you laugh a little, moving your head away, only to place it right back on his shoulder. His hand drifts up to cradle the back of your head, rubbing gently with his thumb.

“Mmm” he hums “I hated watching you leave. And was miserable when you were gone”

You hum in agreement. The entire ordeal was miserable. But you don’t want to talk about that, you don’t even want to think about it. You want to be here in this moment with him. You smile against his shoulder, grinning with a girlish excitement “You love me”

He chuckles and grins a little too “Yeah, I’m sorry it took me so long to say it”

“No, it was good. It was what I needed to keep me going” you pat his back lightly and pull away so you can actually look at his face.

“That com call definitely helped keep me going” he smirked “Can I repay the favor?”

Even though you’re tired you have wanted this for months and you could think of no better way to relax and acclimate than getting back into this particular part of your routine. “I almost thought you had forgotten about that Commander” you tease

“Me? Forget you? Never” he grins, pushing your shoulders down so you’ll sit on the edge of the bed.

You don’t resist. You allow him to guide you to lay on your back. His frame seems so much bigger when he’s on top of you. Kissing you with the hunger of a man who's been starved these last five months. His hands are quick and skillful, getting your shirt and bra off in under a minute.

He kisses down your throat and in between your breasts.

“Mmm… missed these” he massages the swell of your breasts in both hands before shifting his attention to just one. His lips close over the soft peak of your nipple, giving it short, deliberate licks and delicate little sucks. It feels good, but stars you want more. You’ve been apart for so long.

Wolffe can feel you squirming beneath him. The subtle way you’re shifting your hips and squeezing your thighs. You’re getting impatient and needy. Another night, he might like to do this again and be mean about it. Go agonizingly slow and force you to be patient. But he doesn’t have the patience for that tonight, he’s been looking forward to this. Thinking about it day and night. Fantasizing about tasting you again.

He pulls away from your breasts and goes back up to kiss your lips. You feel his hands at the waistband of your work trousers, working to get the button and zipper undone. You lift your hips, helping him push the fabric down over your ass. He wastes no time and takes your panties down with it.

You raise yourself up a little, looking over your own chest and tummy to watch him. His eyes are glazed over with lust and desire, focused on his prize. His hands curl around your thighs, pulling you in close so he can drag his nose up your crease. His breath is warm and tickles the sensitive skin down there, it sends a shiver down your spine.

His tongue makes a tentative first pass. Pressing between your folds and traveling up slowly. He groans into you, and pulls you ever closer, his eyes fluttering closed. His tongue moves quicker, up and down your wet heat, purposefully avoiding your clit. Maybe he’s got more patience than he realized, he could still make you squirm and beg. He stays to his task, making long languid strokes, holding your thighs to keep you right where he wants you.

“Mmmgghh… Wolffe” your strangled moan comes at last “You’re doing this on purpose”

He chuckles darkly and flicks his eyes up to meet yours, but he does not answer in words. No he just keeps going, drawing nearer and nearer your aching bud, working you up. But even he wants you to have your satisfaction, he wants you to feel that flood of relief you gifted him.

His tongue draws a gentle circle around your clit, eliciting the sweetest moan from your lips. He can’t help but grin. He cricles and scrubs and devours your clit, pressing his whole face into you. Your sweet whimpers of pleasure mix with his own hungry and desperate groans.

“Wolffe” you whine suddenly, your hands flying to his head, holding him by the hair and shuddering with an orgasm. You haven’t cum in months, it burns so sweetly and leaves you feeling breathless and a little dizzy.

He slows his movements and pulls away gently, freeing himself from your grip. He can’t bear to look away from you. Eyes closed, breathing heavy, but relaxed. Here you are safe. He can keep you safe. Or so he tells himself. He climbs back over you and kisses your lips, letting you taste yourself on him. You kiss him back, keeping your eyes closed.

You didn’t expect to be so exhausted from just one orgasm, but you are. He lays beside you, caressing your face, down your jaw, your neck and collar bone.

He hadn’t noticed before, he hasn’t had time alone with you until now to notice. But he can see now, the slight creases at the corners in your eyes and darkened skin with it. You are fighting to stay awake. Truthfully he wished you could stay awake together all night, talking and fucking and making up for lost time. But he knows even if you won’t tell him, the last five months have taken a lot out of you. Tonight is only one night, you’re back now, there will be many more nights to come when you’ll be up to your usual enthusiasm. He did say he wanted to return the favor, and make this night for you, and the night is not over yet.

“On the first night after you left, we were still in that grand palace. I couldn’t sleep, not when I was so worried about you. I paced the halls and looked into every room. I tried to remember everything I saw so I could tell you about it” his voice is low, warm and soothing. He tells you about the paintings, the statues, the religious relics, the long halls and high ceilings, and the food. He describes every dish he had tasted while he was there, and the ones he did not because he just didn’t have the stomach for it. His voice seems to surround you, envelop you like a soft blanket, and carry you off to sleep.

You awake in the morning, naked and covered by a thin bed sheet. Wolffe lays on his back next to you, peacefully asleep. It’s early, earlier than you’d like to be awake. But you don’t want to sleep anymore. Last night you could hardly keep your eyes open, your body betrayed you when your heart wanted to ride him or let him ride you.

You move carefully so you don’t wake him until you’re ready. The sheet moves with you and you see that he’s elected to sleep naked too. Good, that will make this much easier. You swing your leg over him, and settle yourself over his hips. He stirs, wincing at being pulled from his sleep. He opens his eyes, adjusting to the darkness and making out the figure of your body above him.

His hands drift up to your hips, he gives them a gentle squeeze and massages your sides a bit. You don’t break this contented silence, you want him to be the first to let out a sound of pleasure or word of praise. You roll your hips gently, just grinding on his soft cock, warming him up a little.

It doesn’t take very long to get the reaction you wanted, all men give a morning salute whether they like it or not, and this soldier did not get a chance to cum last night. You plant your hands on either side of his head, allowing more leverage to move yourself on his cock. When he’s full hard and scheming, he lets go of one of your hips and guides himself to catch at your opening on your next pass. You smile down at him and indulge, sitting back and sinking down on his cock.

Finally he lets out a low groan of contentment, overjoyed to feel you around him again. You lean over and kiss his lips, moving yourself gently as you did so.

“Good morning” you whisper with a light giggle

“Mmm, feeling better this morning?” He groans, allowing you to play your little game.

“Much better” you kiss him again, rolling your hips a little more deliberately.

“Mmg good” he groans “Missed this, this perfect pussy” he gives your ass a little smack followed by a squeeze.

The smack surprises you a bit, causing you to make a little gasp. He loves to be in control, he loves to manhandle you a bit. And to be fair, you love that too, but not this time. This time you’re in charge. This time you’re getting him to be needy and desperate to cum. You’d love to get him to beg for it, but you’re not trying to be too greedy.

“Did you really remember all those things, just so you could tell me about them when we could be together again?” You keep your movements slow, bouncing on him just as slowly as he had went down on you last night.

“Yes” he groans. You move a little faster, grinding your hips against his and lean forward to kiss his neck.

“Did you know you loved me when I left?”

“Yes” he gasps “fuck… I‘ve loved you… ahhh… long time”

You’ve never gotten him this subdued, this open, this honest. It makes you feel confident and sexy that you’re keeping him under you and under your spell.

“How long commander?” You whisper in his ear, moaning a little when his cock catches in a particularly good spot that breaks your concentration

“Second shore leave. I…oh fuck” he stops mid sentence, his head tipped back in ecstasy as he feels your hand reaching between you, pressing your fingers at the base of his cock where your cunt just doens’t reach. “Wasn’t… strong enough”

You remember that shore leave. Coming off that horrible experience with Admiral Sarkany. He had been very attentive and loving on that trip. That’s when he knew that he realized he loved you. And just hadn’t been able to say until the war separated you. You realized you loved him when you were standing there in the moments before you were torn apart on Denarian Prime.

You move your hips even faster, fast enough that it makes an embarrassingly pornographoic sound. Wolffe can’t contain himself, his grip on your hips is bruising with how much he is using it to anchor him to reality. He grits out your name between clenched teeth “Not gonna last…”

“Tell me again” you whimper, maintaining your pace, you want him to cum. You want him to cum inside you. You want to feel it for the next several hours, the next several days if he can go hard enough. And you want to hear it from his own lips when he does.

“I love yo-ugggh” he barely managers to get our the last syllable before he cuts himself off with a moan as he finds his release. You slow your movements, still rocking on him a little to let him fully enjoy this release.

You stop your movements all together and kiss his lips “I love you”

———————

The next few days you feel more and more at home on The Radiant, things are starting to feel kind of normal again. Except for this doctor Faragian that always seems to be hovering around you when you’re working with patients or tutting over your notes. And while you are far more patient and willing to give grace than Wolffe and the lads, it really has only been three days and you’re ready to accidentally open an airlock with him in it.

You’re honestly grateful when mission orders come through, at least on a mission you can order him to do something useful and far away from you. The mission doesn’t sound too bad, just escorting an engineering team to do some maintenance on some deep space telemetry equipment on an outpost that’s a little too close to Separatist controlled space to allow them to work unguarded.

You feel a buzz of excitement climbing the short ladder up to the cockpit of the ship. It feels right, like coming home, that you’re meant to be here strapping yourself into the copilot’s seat. Slush goes through the preflight check with you and engages the engines, he looks over at you with a toothy grin and extends his fist out to you. You chuckle a little and tap your knuckles against his.

“It’s good to have you back Doc”

“I’m sure Jag is a little peeved I’m taking his preferred seat”

“Believe it or not, maybe three days before you got back he was saying that becoming a pilot wouldn’t be nearly as worth it if the cost was never getting to see you again” Slush gently guides the ship out of the hanger and away from The Radiant.

You make a face, “Liar”

“Yeah no, you’re absolutely right. The little shit is probably down there sulking as we speak” he grins “He did miss you though. We all did”

You shake your head with a laugh and let out a sigh “I missed you guys too. I worried that our pack would be smaller when I got back. If I ever got back” you admit. You would never say it to any of them, but you had watched hundreds of clones take their final breaths over the last few months. With all of them having nearly identical faces, you couldn’t help envisioning the faces of your friends beside them. Wolffe’s scar. Boost’s hair. Cricket’s chipped tooth. Cinder’s cheek and chin tattoos.

“You’re not getting rid of us that easily” Slush breaks the silence you had left when you trailed off in thought. “Besides we had the high and mighty Doctor Roy Faragian to stitch us up and kiss our boo boos”

“Wolffe told me about him while I was away. But seriously, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to keep my cool with him around. I have half a mind to write to command and inflict him on someone else” you roll your eyes and pull up the navigation while you chat.

“You’ve only been dealing with this for a few days. It’s been six months for us with no reprieve!”

You and Slush gossip and complain for the relatively short hyperspace jump to pick up the engineering team from another base. And continue gossiping on the longer jump to the Tuhbukka system where this outpost is located.

Tuhbukka seems to be a nice enough planet, a mix of ocean and land mass like many other planets you’ve visited. After landing near the base you disembark and meet the begin the trek out from the actual structure of the base. According to the engineering team the piece of equipment that needs maintenance is actually several miles out into the woods in a clearing that has better sky view access for the tasks it serves. You don’t really understand what a lot of their jargon means, but they are easy to work with and follow orders as directed. Which is more than you can say for your rookie.

“If we were going to have to hike eight miles in, why couldn’t we just land the ship closer to the equipment?” He complained loudly from the back of the line march.

Wolffe walked a little faster, trying to put as much distance between himself and Faragian as possible without ditching the squad. One of the engineers started explaining the situation to him again with a growing annoyance in his voice.

The terrain wasn’t difficult, but you still found yourself struggling to stay at pace with the lads. You chalked it up to being out of shape from not doing any physical training for six months. Still you refused to complain, fall behind or show any indication that you are not as strong as you used to be. Not that you had any doubt that the lads would shame you for it, but you didn’t want to have anything in common with the rookie or give him any excuse for his own inadequacy for field work.

Finally after hours of hiking the group made it to a large clearing. The woods just seemed to stop and leave a barren strip of land about a hundred yards from a pretty sheer cliff side and deep canyon below it. The telemetry equipment sat about twenty yards from the tree line and looked like a satellite dish or maybe a laser emitter. Either way you were here to do security, not deep space telemetry. Wolffe directed the team to start pitching tents, gather wood for a fire and start preparing food while the engineers got started assessing the equipment. It was already early evening and you had all had a long day of trekking and would be here a few days at least.

You decided to help pitch tents since you were still feeling pretty low energy from the long hike and general fatigue you haven’t been able to shake the last few days. Once all the tents are up, Cricket and Cinder have a fire going and you take the opportunity to sit around it with them and watch the sky darken over the cliff side. As the light from the sun ekes out and soft pinks fade to the black of night, you find yourself unable to tear your gaze from the stars.

You’ve spent a lot of time traveling in the galaxy, mostly because of the war. You’ve visited at least a hundred planets by this point, but you don't often have the chance to look up at the open sky and appreciate it. The whole team seemed to have settled into a quiet lul, either looking up at the stars with you or into the crackling campfire.

The rest of the mission was completely uneventful. Three days of rotating guard duty and essentially just camping with these engineers. Every night you got to sit around the campfire, chat with the lads, laugh and reminisce, and stare up at the sky. And you were grateful for it. It really isn’t much, but to you that time spent doing nothing was everything.

Tag List:

@maulslittlemeowmeow @lucyysthings @justanothersadperson93 @lackofhonor @paige6768 @thefact0rygirl @ttzamara @nekotaetae @jennrosefx @kashasenpai @littledragonlady @love-space-nerd

[legendary-pink-dot]

Home at Sunset

Pairing: Francisco "Catfish" Morales x reader (no gender specified, but female in my mind)

Rating: Mature. A couple references to sexual activity.

Word Count: 1.2K

Summary: Frankie and his aviators. Sunrise, sunset, and all the moments in between.

Notes: No use of "Y/N". No mention of Frankie's canon child. Angsty as hell; I am SO sorry, Frankie and Frankie's emotionally tortured and misunderstood lady.

A sunrise

Civil twilight gives rise to the first rays of sun. It's a sudden flash in the cockpit as they reach the end of the Andes mountain range and the start of the ocean, where their getaway boat awaits them. Frankie gently nudges the helicopter a shade higher, his touch confident but featherlight. So focused he forgets to put on his aviator sunglasses to protect his sight.

"Alright, baby, alright..." As snipers treat their weapons as a beloved and animate object, so too does Frankie with every aircraft he pilots, simultaneously guiding them and giving them exactly what they need.

One final ridge to clear and they'll have put this mission behind them. A mission that had gone wrong right from of the start, their team leader ignoring his instincts in favor of greed, and Frankie and his teammates making the mistake of not standing up to him. The result was having to do things other what they went there for, and running against time to leave with their stolen money and their lives.

"Come on now, come on..." he croons, just as sweetly as he did to you every night when he was home in happier times. A touch more elevation, *right there, just like that,* that's all it would take to get over the peak. She's close, so close, and he's almost there, he's got you...

**bang**

The gearbox blows and the helo suddenly drops, a plunging freefall that brings fearful shouts from his teammates. Frankie is the pilot you can trust, the calm in any storm. That's why he's always chosen. He furiously recalculates, readjusts, recalibrates on the fly, letting his years of experience and training take over.

In the few safe seconds he has left, he makes a controlled descent into the smoothest patch of jungle he can find, fatally spinning out but saving his team.

The loss of their transport hurts more than their cuts and bruises, but it's not the most pressing issue at the moment. Their landing site is remote and full of angry villagers, half fearful of the intrusion and half eager to claim the bags of stolen money that fell from the sky.

The slaughter that happens next is not his fault, yet he supposes it somehow is. The team silently loads the loot onto mules while Frankie packs away every poor decision that led to this moment, leaving the heaviest of baggage to deal with later as they make their slow and perilous trek towards home.

One early morning

"They trust me. They're putting their lives in my hands. It's my job to keep them safe."

It was Frankie's usual justification for going on private missions after retiring from the service, and he had used it again just hours before he was set to leave, both of you still agitated and arguing well into the early hours past midnight.

He takes that responsibility seriously -- too seriously you thought, wondering why he was willing to risk himself and his newfound peace of mind again for a team that didn't truly appreciate him. It was a rhetorical question and you knew it. "What about your responsibility to me? To us? You never come all the way back from these trips, and I hate seeing what it does to you."

Frankie had merely shrugged, raising his hands as if to say, "I have no choice." You knew he didn't, in a way. His loyalty to his teammates, his comrades, his friends ran deeper than you could ever hope to understand. It had helped fuel your love for him, but was also the source of your greatest pain, having to help Frankie put himself back together every time a piece of him was broken off.

"It's just recon," he'd promised. "It's safe. Easy money and no flying. I'll be home in 3 or 4 days." His voice had been calm but you heard the premonition of doubt floating below it. Never a good sign. A good pilot trusts their instincts, and Frankie was one of the best.

You had clung to each other that night, resigned to whatever fate the mission would decide to bring you, the risk always present of him not coming back and this moment being your last chance to savor him. You'd rocked against him, close and tight in his lap for an eternity, chasing a high that usually came easily but for once eluded you. A premonition twinned to Frankie's that you couldn't let go of, or for.

You'd woken a few hours later to discover he'd left while it was still pitch black outside. He hadn't waited for that pre-dawn time you usually love to languish in together, when he quietly slides thick and hot and sweet inside you, free but moored, both of you suspended in time and feeling like the world is holding its breath just for you. You'd slept in too late to catch the moment. You wondered when you'll be allowed to capture another.

An afternoon

It's been a full 5 days without any contact from Frankie, and none of the team's partners had heard anything either. That wasn't normal, but it had happened before. Going no-contact during a private mission was critical for your safety and theirs. You couldn't do anything but trust, hope, and wait.

As you finish your lunch, it's raining hard. You reach into the hallway closet for your umbrella, pausing beside the accessory rack and noticing for the first time since he left that he'd taken the wrong pair of aviator sunglasses with him. He was supposed to take his usual mission pair with the polarized lenses for high contrast, but had apparently taken his daily-wear mirrored chrome ones instead. "Just recon. No flying," he'd said. Right.

The same dread from that earlier promise returns and throttles you. You wish wherever Frankie is right now and whatever he's dealing with, that his vision is clear. It's the best you can hope for.

The sunset

Cars pass your house without stopping, a dog barks, kids are in the street playing out their last few minutes of dusky freedom. The golden hour passed long ago, and you've sat through 7 of them now without Frankie, sitting at your kitchen table paralyzed with fear and doubt. This is your 8th and you don't know how many more you can take.

You know the sound of Frankie's truck intimately: the purr of the well-tuned motor maintained by a dedicated mechanic, how the gravel in the driveway crunches differently than when underfoot the lighter wheels of your hatchback. You hear it now and wonder if it's a mirage. This announcement of his arrival is a sound you'd almost given up hoping for, and you let out the breath you didn't even realize you were holding.

You sprint to the door and fling it open. Most people would see a tired but normal Frankie walking up your driveway, but all you see is a shell, a ghostly being you recognize from the homecoming of previous missions. It's less of a soul and more of an enclosure for heavy burdens like relief, survivor's guilt, and personal recriminations. Your heart leaps and you forget every frustrated, hopeless word that was said the night before he left.

He drags himself up the flight of steps and falters. You see yourself reflected in his mirrored aviators, and you gently reach out to remove them so you can search his eyes for what you need to see.

Night closes in, the final tint of daylight fades, and Frankie falls into your arms and breaks.

[blocky-tides]

hermit may: day 31 - free space (31/31)

the universe loves with a hunger.

it loves its builders, miners, fighters, redstoners, explorers, griefers, pranksters; its creators and destroyers with a burning love.

so when the hermits disappears from its sight. the bright, burning, all-consuming star that they are goes out. the universe goes silent for a moment hung in time before it erupts in fury. the hermits are theirs to protect and now they are gone.

the hermits tend to use older, almost outdated methods for travel. end ships that sails through the void over the modern portal system. the end ship made it easy to transport whenever they inevitably bought more items than they could hold.

it was a routine monthly trip to MCC to see grian, false, ren, cub, pearl, and scar perform in the championship. most of the hermits were in the commons talking about the upcoming event or playing games. TCG was a popular choice.

The intercom flickered to life, "hold yourselves down everyone. i'm seeing a void-entity that the scanner is not picking up and it looks massive," xisuma's voice crackled through, "joe if you could come up to the bridge and help identity what type it is that would be grand."

murmurs broke out across the ship guessing at which type of void-entity xisuma saw. while they saw one or two every trip it was strange to come across one that xisuma needed help to identity.

obsidian, end stone, and metal screeched as something brushed along the side of the ship.

xisuma's voice echoed through the ship, panicked, "prepare for an emergency landing everyone. i will try to send for help but i don't think the signal is going through. that push scrambled most of our systems."

it was only with experience and luck that xisuma guided the mangled ship into a nearby server world with minimal damage.

<smajor> does anyone have any updates on the hermits? they were set to land 5 hours ago

<inthelittlewood> ren messaged something about a void-mob but they see those all the time

<smajor> i'll go get players to step in for them. wonder where they are this isn't like them to flake out like this

<17 messages - load more>

BREAKING NEWS: PLAYERS OF THE HERMITCRAFT SERVER WORLD DISCOVERED MISSING AFTER A TRIP TO REACH MCC

[se7ens-oc-heaven]

Jakob! (hopefully that's the correct spelling hdjdhdh)

Ok so did this and a bunch of others literally years ago, but for each one I had a question I'd stall on so then I just. Never actually posted. Any of these.

So I'm fixing that now! Context is this was a character ask prompt - might be the template was thanks to @iolitewyvern ? If so lmk so I can link it properly I lost the original post lmao

As for spelling, it can be! Jake's name spelling denotes if he's in the fantasy au setting or not. Jakob is fantasy, Jacob is not. So I answered these based on fantasy Jake!

(Best image I have, but it's normal Jake and also humanized lmfao. He's like. Sonic furry wolf so ykno. Picrew source)

Who are they?

Full name?  Jakob Alhers

Nicknames? Jake

Gender/pronouns? Male, he/him

Orientation? Demiromantic/arospec, gay

Age/Birthday? About 16, birthday is on a separate calendar than ours but is most likely in the local winter months of his home country.

Fun fact! Zodiac? ^^^^ (would most likely be Capricorn)

What’s their personality?

Major good traits? Cares deeply about others around him, dry sense of humor

Major flaws? Very prideful while also having zero value of self

Goals?  Living up to what is expected of him, as royalty and a deity

Fears? Hurting another with his own actions, losing someone important to him

Optimistic or pessimistic? Pessimistic

Introvert, extrovert, or ambivert? Introvert all the way

Empathetic or un-empathetic? Hmm... he can empathize if he's aware, but he struggles to pick up cues... so maybe that's more sympathetic?

Do they wait and plan or dive right in? Bit of both, he tries to plan but if he's panicked or upset enough he'll lose his cool and charge in

Do they go with the flow or forge their own path? He will not go with the flow. Out of spite even.

Relations to the world?

Who’s their family? His mother Allison, and his father Alher

Where are they from? (Gestures vaguely at northern fantasyland)

Where do they live now? (Gestures to same vague region)

Do they have a job? If so, what is it? Crown prince of his country

How are they with technology? He's in your very basic very generic fantasy au so uh. Not great if he ever saw any lmao

Connections to religion or spirituality? Well his dad is a literal god, does that count?

Powers or magic? He has strong ice magic that grows stronger with age.

Fun fact! Connections to the lore? He is in fact a demigod, son of Winter itself

Favorites?

Favorite season/weather? Summer, hot and sunny days

Favorite place? He hides in his room a lot, so it's hard to say.... Maybe his room lmao

Favorite food? Probably some sort of steak dish? Idk, something I'm not familiar with lol

Favorite clothes/accessories? He's limited for various reasons, but highly values sentimental accessories, such as his family crest brooch or jewelry made for him by Pandora

Favorite animal? He's a furry so this is a loaded question to answer lmao. Might not even be an animal as we know it.

Favorite/most frequently used mode of transportation? I think he prefers to walk places himself...? He doesn't usually travel lol

Favorite holiday? Doubt it'd be one we know of, although he doesn't strike me as big on social events like most holidays are

Hobbies? Sculpting, practicing swordfighting

Favorite thing about themself? He takes a lot of pride in his swordfighting skills, at least for a prince ;)

Relationships?

Best friends? Nerezza

Closest family member? He's close with both parents, but spends more bonding time with his mom overall

Partner/s? Pandora DeSales

Enemies? He considers the murderous Crow an enemy for constantly attacking his loved ones

What organizations/clubs/etc are they in? N/A

Fun fact! What are they like with their best friend or partner? With his partner Pandora, Jakob drops a lot of his composed and distant persona, he can be a bit childish but is also a lot more casual and easy to make laugh. He's also not afraid to play the sly prank or do other shit he knows he can get away with just to mess with him.

With Nerezza he isn't quite as open in the same way, but the two of them bond over being snarky royal spawn with little affinity for their title or the expectations that come with it. The sarcasm in the room tends to increase tenfold if you put these two together.