#i also remember watching the ezra reveal for the first time

[queerstudiesnatural]

"do you remember where you were when x historical event happened" but it's do you remember where you were when you first saw the toby is A reveal

[daughterofthequeen]

The Last Moments of Solace

Pairings: Ezra Bridger x reader

Request: I saw that your request are open and I was hoping that you could write an Ezra Bridger (season 4) x reader?? Maybe fluff and smutty?? Maybe reader can be also a Jedi of his age? For the plot…mhhh…maybe something based on episode 6 (season 4) or episode 17 (season 3)?

Warnings: Suggestive content cus I don’t write smut yet, yet, fluff, kissing, groans, moans, the overuse of comma’s

A/N: I’ve been wanting to write lately, and I’m so excited to start. And this request just reopened my Ezra hyper-fixation. And I’ve been wanting to write my first series too, I just haven’t figure out which one of the characters I’m currently invested in, to do it on first. You just made the choice harder Anon, you’re no help😫!!! (nahhh I’m just kidding I love you for this, I forgot how much I loved my first Star Wars crush🥰🧡) Ezra had 11 year old me giggling and kicking my feet every Monday night before I had to go to bed 🤭. So I chose episode 6 of season 4 but I couldn’t find a way how to incorporate the reader into the show that I liked so, it’s taking place in episode 7 so technically it’s still based on episode 6. This is my first time doing suggestive too btw and I’m very nervous so cut me some slack pleassse🧡

Y/N POV

How did we get here?!

This was only meant to be a recon mission. But no, Sabine just had to get the data recorder and the hyperdrive. Which is good use for the rebellion, but it still doesn’t stop me from wanting a easy day. Next thing I know there’s cats, Thrawn, a wolf, troopers, me and Ezra falling over crates, then us jumping into the newly designed TIE that Sabine hijacked. Which was a nice touch may I add. Well it was, until we found out it had a kill switch that we barley got out of alive. And that lead to us on top of a nice loth wolf, that only me and Ezra could remember since Sabine fainted and didn’t wake back up until we got back to the hideout. Yeah, it was a lot.

The Next Day

Currently me, Ezra, Zeb, and Jai were collecting the hyperdrive, well trying to anyway we couldn’t find where we left it.

“Hurry up.” Ezra told Zeb after he lifted up his mask to his scout trooper uniform. Identical to the ones Jai and I were wearing.

“Where’s the hyperdrive?” Zeb asked looking around the rocks.

“Over here somewhere.” Ezra replied. “Jai keep watch.”

“Over here somewhere? All these rocks look the same!” Zeb whispered frustratedly

“It was dark and we just crashed, we didn’t have time to make a map!” I whispered just as frustrated, sassily putting my hand on my hip. Suddenly we heard the meowing of a white loth cat, like the one from last night sitting on top of a rock.

“Hey, when in doubt follow the loth-cat.” Ezra said while smirking, causing me to lightly chuckle.

“You’re kidding right?” Zeb asked hesitantly as we walked towards it. “You and your loth-cats.” Zeb told Ezra as they moved the rock revealing the hyperdrive. As they started moving the hyperdrive, a small empire ship flew over us towards the crash sight, and I got a strong feeling that we had to hurry, to speed up the pace I grabbed a hold of the back of the hyperdrive to help them move it onto the trailer.

“Uh, Ezra, we have to problem.” Jai called while he was looking into his binoculars.

“What is that?” I asked while walking up beside Jai.

“I don’t know, and I don’t think I want to know.” Jai responded.

Ezra turned to Zeb. “We’ll draw them away, you get the hyperdrive out of here.” He said as me, him, and Jai, closed our helmets and started walking towards the weird bounty hunter looking guy who was using all four of his limbs to run.

“Just let me blast it.” Jai said anxiously, on the left side of Ezra while I was on the right.

“It’s ok, I can get us out of this.” Ezra said in an unsure tone.

“You don’t sound too confident about that blue.” I said also feeling his unease.

Ezra let out a breathily chuckle at the nostalgic nickname that he remembers you giving him back when you both first met.

“Yeah well, I know you have my back no matter what.” He said. Hearing his smirk under his helmet, I can’t help but smirk too.

“No doubt.” He has no idea how right he is, I would do anything for him. But our small moment was cut short when the assassin made it to us, sniffing?

“LS-3226, LS-3227, and LS-3228, reporting. We’ve checked out this area and found nothing. Should we continue our search?” Ezra once again sounds unsure, but this time it’s understandable given this guy is up close sniffing his armor. Jai slowly raises his blaster, ready to shoot but I try to discreetly raise my hand to tell him to wait so, he wouldn’t blow our cover.

“No.” Is all the bounty hunter said before turning the opposite direction then quickly turning back around swinging at Ezra to catch him off guard, but Ezra was able to dodge and punch him instead until the hunter was able to trap Ezra with his legs, and that’s when me and Jai let loose with our blasters. Though the hunter was extremely fast as he dodged and our stray bullets were landing all around Ezra.

“Don’t shoot me, shoot him! Blast it!”

“I’m trying, I’m trying!” “What do you think we’re trying to do blue?!” I yelled back and the hunter was quickly running towards us and quickly dodging our shots so, I lifted up my helmet and force pushed him into a boulder as soon as he made a jump for Jai.

“Jedi.” The bounty hunter stated as Governor Pryce made it use and recognized or faces immediately.

“It’s Bridger and (L/n), blast them!” Pryce ordered.

As shots were coming towards us, me and Ezra took out our lightsabers and started blocking blast. Then the three of us jumped on our speeders.

“How many of them are back there?” Ezra asked then I turned around to check. “More than enough! Let’s try to loose them in there” I replied pointing to the sea of rocks, as I seen the bounty hunter coming towards us with a disrupter and I quickly took out my lightsaber and blocked him.

“Can’t this thing go faster?” I said already tired of this assassin guy.

“Hold him there. Just hold him there!” I looked to see why, just in time to see Jai in front of us going in between two rocks and understood Ezra’s idea. The hunter caught on and turned off from us to keep from crashing. That’s when the troopers behind started firing, but Ezra was able to dodge them. I seen a overhead we were speeding towards and took out a bomb and threw it. Causing the large rock to explode and block the troopers. But the hunter was moving to fast to stop so he sped up making it over the piles of rocks and I took my shot hitting the speeders engine causing it to explode and the assassin jumped off just in time to grasp onto a rock before he could fall, and glared at us. I smirked, then looked forward to see Ezra do his signature two-fingered salute and we sped off to the campsite.

We made it back skidding to a stop and seen Kanan walking towards us. “Good job, looks like our hyperdrive problem is solved.” Kanan said as we got off the speeders.

“Yeeeah well, you know how one problem usually leads to another?” Ezra asked Kanan

“Yeeah?” Kanan question in an annoyed tone knowing where Ezra was going with that question.

“We have another, and its small, creepy, and very dangerous!” I explained dramatically as we started walking towards everyone else.

————————————————————

Jai, Ezra, and I went to change back into our regular clothes, while everyone else was discussing the plan. Just as I was finished fixing my shirt, I felt two arms wrap around me and a nice sensation on my neck. I smiled knowing it was Ezra due to the affection and me sensing him as he was walking towards me. I sighed in relief, finally able to let my muscles release their tension even if it’s only for a minute. I closed my eyes and rested all of my weight into him taking a deep breath, lazily looking over my shoulder as he moved up from kissing my neck to my cheek. I giggled lightly and turned my body slightly to meet my lips with his and the deep soft groan he let out drove me crazy. I ran my fingers through his short soft hair, causing him to groan again, this time a lot stronger, precisely why I did it. I moved my hands down to rest them on top of his, that had started massaging my hips bringing out a soft moan from me. I released his lips and opened my eyes to see his lips chasing after mine to reconnect them. I leaned back still trying to catch my breath, but eventually I gave back in as he knew I would.

“You okay?” He asked while our lips were still pressed together continuously trying claim each others, I almost didn’t hear him.

“Mhm.” Is all I could reply back, but I knew better, when it came to my well-being mumbled answers are never accepted, especially after a mission but with his soft lips intertwined with mine I couldn’t focus. He pulled away causing me to whine and turn around completely wrapping my arms around his neck to pull him back down to me, but he wasn’t having it.

“(Y/n)” was all he said, I opened my eyes and responded back with a sigh.

“I’m fine, Ezra.” He frowned as if he didn’t believe me. “I promise.” I reassured him bringing my hands up to his face gently rubbing the permanent scar on his left cheek. He sighed and leaned into my touch, then leaned back down to capture my lips again. His hands started moving under my shirt, thumbs starting to rub my stomach. Enjoying the sensational buzz it was bringing me, I reached down to the waist of his pants to start unbuttoning them, until we heard someone clearing their throat and we jumped apart from each other. It was Hera. A strong heat immediately went to my cheeks, as I hurriedly fixed my shirt and smiled like everything was normal, awkwardly seeing Ezra out the corner of my eye quickly rebutting and zipping his pants back up before quickly turning around with the same smile.

“Hera! Heyyyy! What’s up?!” I say trying to act casual, but that was way out the window. I could tell with her with the way she was standing. Arms crossed with her hip poking out to the side with a small smirk on her face. I looked up at Ezra to see him turning red as he looked up somewhere over Hera that I couldn’t pinpoint.

“I came to check on you guys, and to see if you wanted to see how Sabine was coming along with the hyperdrive, but I can see you two are already preoccupied.” Hera stated

“Oh no, we weren’t doing anything important, come on let’s go.” I said trying to move pass the awkward moment missing the way Ezra head swung to me with a offended frown on his face.

We made it to the ship Sabine was working on. “How’s it going?” Hera called out.

“Well it wasn’t easy but I got it patched in. Still I give it a 50/50 chance of working.” Sabine explained.

“I’ll have to live with 50/50.” Hera responded back, when I felt Ezra’s dread and turned towards him and seen what he was looking at.

“Oh no.” He whispered. “We’re out of time!”

We quickly finished packing up a speeder-car with the supplies to send with Jai, to our allies.

“We’ll hold off the Empire until you’re clear, we’ll signal rendezvous coordinates later.” Ryder tells Jai

“And if we don’t hear from you?” Jai asked worriedly

“You will.” Ezra reassured him.

“Alright Bridger, good luck.” Jai said then sped off.

We all got ready to defend Hera for her take off, lining up behind some empty crates. I looked over to Sabine after seeing her move out the corner of my eye, seeing her looking at something behind us. I turned to see Hera and Kanan kissing. I smirked still a little shocked. “It’s about time.” I said as we all got ready to defend ourselves.

“We won’t stand long against those tanks.” Zeb stated

“We have that transport and a bike.” Ryder explained until the transport was blown up.

“How many can we get on a bike?” Zeb asked and I playfully rolled my eyes at the question. Until I hear a wolf howling and felt Ezra nudge my arm.

“There! That’s our way out.” He told everyone as continued to stare at the wolf that helped us last night.

“Loth-wolves?” Ryder questioned

“Look they helped us before, we should follow them.” Ezra told Ryder still a little unsure.

“Are you serious?”

“Do you know the way out?!” Ezra asked the wolf who immediately started running in a opposite direction after his question.

“Come on.” Ezra said grabbing my wrist and running to catch up with the wolves.

“Kanan?” Sabine asked worriedly.

“Seems like the best idea we got, let’s go.” He replied breathlessly

“This is good, when it gets strange like this, it’s a good thing.” Zeb reassured Ryder.

“How have you people stayed alive so long?!” Ryder yelled following everyone else.

We all were running after the wolves. Well Ezra was, we were following him.

“Ezra wait up!” Zeb called out which he ignored

“Ezra!” Sabine yelled this time.

“I don’t want to lose them, come on!” Ezra finally replied starting to run after them again, but stopped suddenly seeing the wolves all laying down, lowly growling as everyone else caught up.

“Hold it, stay back.” Ezra warned

“Why have they stopped?” Kanan asked

“I don’t know.” Ezra replied as he started walking towards the white wolf who seemed to be the leader of the three.

“Ezra, wait!” I whispered trying to reach for him but he dodged me.

He walked up to the white wolf slightly crouched and carefully talking to it.

“There is a way out of here, isn’t there?”

“You wanted us to follow you, didn’t you?”

“What are you waiting for?” All these questions Ezra was asking and the only reply the wolf gave was looking up at Kanan. Which made me uncomfortable.

“Kanan? Kanan it’s looking-”

“-At me I know.” He cut Ezra off and walked up to the white wolf. “What does it want?” He asked, that’s when the wolves got up and walked into a cave.

“I guess they were waiting for you.” I said as I walked up to them.

We all walked down into the cave, Sabine turned on her flag light looking at cave drawings.

“There are images here of people, people following a wolf.”

“I guess we’re not the first ones.” Zeb said

“Hold on. Shut your light off.” Ezra told Sabine. We were in complete darkness all we could see was the wolves eyes and listening to the wolves still lowly growling.

“What now, Ezra?” Kanan asked

“I’m not sure.”

“There wasn’t a picture of wolves eating those people was there?” Zeb whispered to Sabine.

All of a sudden the cave started shaking, dust and rocks falling, proving the cave wasn’t going to last long. The wolves looked up growling louder.

“The Empire’s bombing the mountains.” Ryder stated

“We’ve gotta get out of here!” Ezra stated turning seeing the white wolf tail in his face, and looking up to see the wolf nod.

“Everyone join hands.” Grabbing a hold of the wolf tail.

“Ezra?” I said unsure.

“Just do it!”

“The cave is going to collapse.” Zeb stated.

“There’s no way out of here.” Ryder said

“That we know of.” Kanan said trying to reassure everyone.

As we walked deeper into the cave a bright blue glowing light started to appear similar to hyperspace when we walked into it. Next thing I know, we’re all waking up in a cave, but it’s a totally different one.

“Where in blazes are we?” Zeb asked shocked

“Let’s find out.” Ezra said walking outside, the rest of us following.

Sabine came up with a data pad. “Uh, you’re not going to believe this. We were in the northern hemisphere, now we’re in the southern hemisphere. Somehow we’ve moved halfway across the planet.”

“Huh.” I said seeing the wolves go back into the cave with Kanan, so me and Ezra followed.

“Kanan?” I called out making sure he was ok.

“Look around, tell me what you guys see.” Kanan told us.

“This place reminds me of the Jedi temple here on Lothal.” Ezra stated as I walked to the pictures on the walls.

“The walls are telling a story. There are people coming down from the sky, I think they might be Jedi.” I told Kanan.

“There’s a message here for us.” Kanan said.

“What, because we’re Jedi?” I asked confused.

“Dume.” The wolf said.

“What does that mean? The wolf said it before.” Ezra asked.

Kanan took off his mask, shock on his face.

“Dume is my name. Caleb Dume is the name I was born with.” Kanan told us placing his hand in the wolf’s head.

“How does the wolf know that?” I asked even more confused than before.

“It has a deep connection to the force, to the energy of this planet.”

“Don’t all living things?” Ezra asked.

“This is different. More focused. Like it has a purpose.”

“And we’re apart of it?” I said starting understand in a way.

“I’m getting the feeling building the TIE defender isn’t the worst thing the Empire is doing here. There’s something else, something more sinister.” Kanan stated worriedly.

“Dume.” The wolf said while backing up into the shadow disappearing. And as the sunlight made its way further into the cave revealing that nothing was there but a wall with a picture on it, and a crack through the middle of it.

“So? All the paths are coming together, right?” Era asked

“Yeah, I’m just not sure if we’re going to like where they lead.”

“Do we ever?” I said sarcastically causing Kanan to scoff in amusement .

“No and yes.”

“I wonder if Hera made it.” Ezra said worriedly causing me to wonder as well.

“I know she did.” Kanan reassured us, he then placed his hands on our shoulders and walked outside with everyone else, and we followed.

————————————————————

A/N:

Sorry this took me so long anon. I wasn’t sure if I liked this or not. I’ve edited this too many times, but you’ve waited long enough. Just let me if you like it and if not, I’ll try to edit it to how you like. Thank you for requesting anon! I hope enjoy!

[jessicas-pi]

DIRECTOR'S CUT ON COMMIT TO THE BIT but only like the first two chapters i am so far behind 😭

girl I wish I had been as productive as you think i've been 😭 there's only two chapters so far-

(But, hey, good news! Chapter three is verging ever closer to probably being done! And it's only taken me about... eight months... hahaha *dies on the inside*)

Anyway, i'll do what I did with the other ask and just go through it and talk about stuff!

Okay, so this fic was originally called "The Con" because it involved winning a lot more bets via subterfuge and holding hands. That changed and so I renamed it!

Oh yeah! And so, this fic was partly inspired by the song Summer Nights from Grease, where the guys and girls are enthusiastically listening to completely different stories of the same event. I flipped it around so they had completely different reactions to the same story and Sabine and Ezra were very UNenthusiastic and that was what the scenes with their friends were based on!

Aylan (the vostress kid) definitely heard some obitine stories from his dad and finds the parallels very amusing.

I know i've said it a few times before, but it always delights me to mention that the three Togruta sisters (Chisica, Am-lee, and Khenna) are based on me and my sisters.

OHHH fun fact! Originally the conversation where they split up the profits from the bet and the conversation where Sabine brought up fake-dating were two different conversations! The first one was as-is in the fic, but the other one happened like a week later when Sabine was hanging out in a tree coral with some of the girls and watching Ezra doing lightsaber forms and maybe drawing him shirtless a little bit and they hype her up to "ask him out again" and she goes over and interrupts him and they end up having the fake-dating idea conversation while he's not wearing a shirt and she's blatantly checking him out (and at one point actually half-reaches-out to touch his abs before she catches herself) and he's just "????" the whole time. It was funny, but I decided it was too early in the (fake) relationship for her to be so obvious about it, and I needed Fenn Rau to overhear the conversation and that was easier if they were on the Ghost, so I combined the scenes.

Oh also! Originally, both Vinn AND Tarik were gonna get kicked out of the friend group for being nasty but then I decided to make Tarik less nasty and give him a redemption arc.

ok, reading on, la de da...

The post-stargazing scene! So, I had to keep dialing things back because my shippy writer brain was moving their relationship ahead WAY faster than it was supposed to go. For example, in this scene, originally, they were going to share Sabine's bunk and definitely not cuddle or anything, it won't be weird at all, but again--just too soon. I made up for it with excessive cuddles in the end of the chapter & in chapter 2.

KATKA CAMEO!! Ok so for those who don't know---katka is an OC from my Teenage Rebellion AU. She's Gar Saxon's niece but she's utter sweetness (with a slight twist of crazy) and totally on board to stick it to the Empire. In the TRAU, she also has a massive raging crush on Ezra (albeit an Inquisitor iteration of him), so when I needed a random character to be envious of Sabine here, I figured I'd reuse her lol.

Oh yeah! Another condensed scene! Where she tells him about the Mandalorian ways of saying "I love you" and where she asks him to fake marry her used to be two different scenes! Like with the other one, I added the second one to the first. I went through a few versions of the fake-marriage-proposal, including one where Aylan came along with Ezra to Mandalore and was the one to suggest they tie the knot, apparently unaware it's all fake (but actually 100% aware it's all fake because his psychometry revealed it)

not to brag or anything but "Ezra did not regret fake-marrying into money" is one of my favorite lines i've ever written.

(btw, I still crack up when I remember that in your comment on chapter 1, you called Ezra a repressed victorian maiden for panicking over being able to see sabine's arms and legs. and I think everyone should know that You Are Right, Ezra Is A Repressed Victorian Maiden.)

OK ON TO CHAPTER 2!

i had so much fun with this chapter because they're both full to bursting with love for each other and neither of them will admit it until the last possible moment. I think that might actually be why Chapter 3 is taking so long--they're not hiding their feelings anymore so there's no more poetic internal monologues about how much they adore each other lol

Ah yeah on the topic of repressed feelings--the line "Kanan is fairly sure it’ll take at least five years and possibly a child for Sabine to admit that she’s actually in love with her husband" was supposed to actually be what happened. Sabine and Ezra were going to go on pretending the marriage was fake for years and finally one night when they were cuddled up, Sabine blurted out that she was in love with him and he was like "Yeah. I know." and she was like "wait what?? how did you know?? I was so subtle about my feelings!!" and he was like "Sabine, you kissed me good-night ten minutes ago. you're constantly calling me extremely romantic pet names in mando'a. we have two children and only one of them is adopted. your feelings are about as subtle as a paint bomb to the face." and she was just like "....oh." and then that was the end of the story! BUUUUT then I decided to do a love confession during the Lothal arc, and that led to the... surprise... at the end of chapter 2, which led to there needing to be a THIRD chapter!

OH HAHA OK MORE FUNNY STUFF. So the part with sabine's nightmare that leads to the "two besties chilling in a bathtub...?" scene was ALSO split up into two different events! I've been thinking about doing some edits of both chapters of CttB because I didn't really stop to edit either of them before posting (and a good chunk of chapter 2 was literally written the day before I posted it), which I mention because I was considering reverting the two scenes back to their original versions because the og tub scene was pretty funny. It's hard to describe in brief words, but basically... yeah it's too hard to describe, just take my word for it, it was pretty funny. (it involved Ezra singing along to We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together with a shampoo bottle for a microphone and Tristan playing a petty revenge prank that goes sideways.)

The cut between Ezra worrying about Sabine being upset about his feelings for her and thinking "what would she think if she knew??", and sabine's pov opening with "Sabine can't stop thinking about kissing his stupid face" never fails to make me snicker.

Oh hey I just got to the thrawn pov and that reminds me. at one point I was thinking about having a scene including Ezra and Thrawn's conversation aboard the Chimaera and thrawn REAAAALLLY pushes his buttons about Sabine, using the information that he figured out about their marriage. Actually, if I do that edit, I might write that scene.

Poor Hera--she keeps unintentionally being responsible for all of the sabezra relationship development lol.

OOH SOMETHING ELSE! So, originally, the love confession was WAY different. First of all, it wasn't in their room--it was in one of the caves. Sabine still went looking for Ezra, but she found him by following a Loth-wolf. And he actually confessed his feelings first! In this version, he was afraid he was going to die and impulsively blurted out that he loved her. Then he got nervous and started rambling a little and she shut him up with a kiss. But I changed it--I wanted her to be the one to take the leap and 'fess up, and if I set it in her room, I could have the funny Ketsu scene afterwards.

And then True Love's Kiss woke someone else up! (aka kanan got yoinked out of his comatose state by telepathic TMI)

oh yeah and to anyone wondering, that "another dawn breaks" line from the Kanera scene was ABSOLUTELY a reference to A New Dawn.

Oh and that Ketsu scene---that was actually a scene I saved and reused after cutting it from a different WIP of mine! There were two variations--the one I ended up using, and one where she accidentally interrupts the very first kiss and they're both like "OH COME ON!" because they've been waiting for this moment FOREVER and like ten seconds in, it gets interrupted, and Ezra decides that, darn it, he's been waiting for this for so long, he's not going to wait any longer! and he just pulls Sabine right back into the kiss and uses the Force to shut the door in Ketsu's face. I did this version so that I could include dialogue!

I'm just now realizing that I actually skipped over the entirety of Family Reunion and Farewell, I went straight from Jedi Night to Happy-Ever-After. But in my defense, plot-relevant episodes don't matter much when it comes to crack fix-it fics.

And... I think that's all my thoughts I have on this! Thank you for the ask!! :)

*roll end credits*

[ineffablebardwrites]

Good Omens Fic Masterlist

Aziraphale/Crowley (Ineffable Husbands)

The Ties That Bind

Not too long after time began, Aziraphale learned how to braid hair.

Not too long after that, Crowley's hair became his favorite thing to braid.

Little Talks

Crowley wakes in the middle of the night to the feeling of being watched.

A brief investigation leads him to the kitchen where God is waiting for him.

Things Unseen

Aziraphale honestly didn't think his time in Hell had affected him that much.

He was wrong.

Flash Flood

Aziraphale Fell on a Sunday afternoon.

The rain started shortly after.

Wait For Me (I Will)

After his Fall from Heaven, Crowley wants nothing more than to return to Aziraphale's side.

Their reunion doesn't go quite the way he'd imagined.

The Principles of Protection

Aziraphale reveals what it really means to be a Principality.

Crowley ends up witnessing it firsthand.

Out of Time

Crowley knew that falling in love with a vampire would have consequences.

He didn't think bleeding out in an alley would be one of them.

A Song of Selkies

All Aziraphale wanted was to go home.

Crowley doesn't understand why he can't.

Things My Heart Used to Know

Aziraphale always felt like Crowley reminded him of someone.

He's just not sure who that someone is.

Journey to the Past

Anthony Crowley is searching for the lost heir to the throne of Eden, Prince Aziraphale.

Enter Ezra, a young man with no memory of who he is or where he comes from, but bears a strong resemblance to the missing prince.

Spring Flowers, Autumn Leaves

Aziraphale, Lord of the Underworld, was used to waiting for Crowley to come home.

However, he wasn't used to Crowley being late.

--

A Hades/Persephone AU

Make A Wish

In the aftermath of Aziraphale's choice, Crowley finds comfort in a star shower and the hope brought on by a human's tall tale.

If You Hadn't Found Me (I Would Have Found You)

Aziraphale Fell, renowned cellist and musical prodigy, yearns for more than the hand he's been dealt.

Anthony Crowley, lead singer for the band The Fallen, is trying to find a new sound.

The two meet under unusual circumstances and somehow manage to find everything they'd been looking for.

Trials of the Serpent King Trilogy

The Fallen Prince

Ezra Fell had read The Trials of the Serpent King numerous times throughout his lifetime. He could quote nearly every line by heart and owned multiple versions of the entire series, including a recently obtained first edition of The Fallen Prince.

Upon opening the cover, Ezra finds himself within the pages of the book and traveling alongside Anthony J. Crowley, the exiled king of Eden, while he marches the path towards the redemption of his throne.

The Road to Eden

In the aftermath of The Fallen Prince, Ezra Fell continues his journey alongside Anthony Crowley as they make their way towards the Kingdom of Eden.

But the journey back is filled with perils and with a traitor lurking in their midst, Ezra's task of keeping Crowley alive has suddenly become a lot more difficult than before.

Salvation of the King

Following the events of The Road to Eden, Anthony Crowley and his company find themselves reeling from an unexpected betrayal, but continue to push toward their goal of reclaiming the throne which is now well within their reach.

However, their journey, while being so close to ending, is still far from over and Ezra Fell will find himself not only fighting for Crowley, but also fighting to remain in the world he now calls home.

Ineffable Wives

To Noise Making (Sing)

There had been a time when Aziraphale had loved singing.

Crowley isn't sure why she ever stopped.

Heart of Ice

The legend of the Snow Queen told a sorrowful tale of a woman whose heart turned to ice upon the loss of her beloved.

The Snow Queen herself has little memory of this person.

Antonia Crowley is intent on helping her remember.

Rhythm of the Night

Aziraphale and Crowley explore the evolution of fashion at the Moulin Rouge.

or

Aziraphale dresses up and Crowley loses her mind.

Ineffable Spouses

Through the Centuries

In order to assist Aziraphale with an assignment, Crowley suggests they pretend to be married.

When the end draws closer, Aziraphale is surprised to find she doesn't want it to end.

Love Is A Song (That Never Ends)

Upon their Creation, every angel was given half of a song.

The other half was given to their soulmate.

--

In which Aziraphale and Crowley are soulmates connected by a single song and how they slowly come back together following the Fall.

A Quiet Place

Once upon a time, a silent angel and an outspoken demon met on a wall.

Over time, they manage to find some common ground.

Ineffable Bureaucracy (Gabriel/Beelzebub)

It's Quiet Uptown

Gabriel hadn't always been this way.

In fact, he used to be very different.

Then again, after the Fall, no one was really the same.

---

Prequel to Things My Heart Used to Know

[duckduckhjonk]

Omg look I am posting my writing again(shock)

Sorry this took so long, writers block is a bitch

Mystery of the Cyclone Chapter 5

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Word count: 1,548

Penny Lamb kind of liked being forgotten. It definitely beat how it used to be. Staring eyes stabbing into her back as she walked by, snickerings that only halted when she grew near, ceaseless name calling and slurs the author isn't allowed to say. It all faded eventually as everyone forgot who she was.

Of course there were still a few who did remember her. Mainly and rather strangely was this boy in choir who would greet her by name every single day. Then again, he'd greet everyone by name every single day. There were also the bullies who remembered to pick on her but that too had died down by Senior Year.

All of this to say, senior year was great for the most forgettable girl in town. At least until the Cyclone happened. All that attention had gone straight back to being on her. People would stop her and ask her about it, how it felt, if she was scared. Rumors swirled that someone saw her lose her head.

She could only laugh at that and awkwardly move to her next class, trying not to give anything away about what happened with Karnak or the warehouse or the fact she actually did lose her head. While the choir made light of the situation, there was still grieving Penny did for Jane Doe and nearly losing her entire sense of self that night.

~~

Penny was the last to leave the choir room at the end of the day usually. She lived in the boarding house attached to the school so she never had far to walk. She spent most of that time doing mostly homework or reading so she didn't have to worry about it when she got back to the boarding house.

Penny valued her free time, so she tried to have as much of it as possible. Not that there was much to do at the boarding house other than sneak out and cause trouble around the neighborhood or find something for her and Ezra to do.

As the final bell tolled, Penny shut her book and finally started heading towards the boarding house. As quickly as her walk began, just as she expected it to, it ended. She pushed the door open, walking past most of the other boarding house kids and staff and into her shared room with her brother.

"Honey, I'm home!" She called jokingly.

"Ah, I've been expecting you..." Came a low, faux gravely voice from a dark corner. The figure swiveled around in the rolley chair and revealed himself to be Penny's brother, Ezra. He motioned a dramatic petting of a cat upon a tiger plush Penny had kept since she was a toddler.

The two soon bursted out into a fit of laughter. It lasted for several minutes only starting to fade after a staff member came through the door to check up on them. Once it did, though, the siblings found themselves comfortable spots within their shared room and began to discuss their mostly uneventful day.

"Some kids asked me about you today," Ezra said.

"What'd they ask?" Penny asked, growing concerned that what happened to her might cause Ezra to be effected.

Ezra shrugged, seemingly not caring much about it, "they were talking about watching you dying or something ridiculous like that. I don't get it really. You're not dead so why would they be saying stuff like that."

Penny shrugged as well.

"Anyways, I made like fifty bucks today, you wanna grab something to eat?" Ezra offered, shaking a bag of obviously criminally obtained money.

"I thought we weren't allowed to sell anymore?" Penny asked, visibly concerned about this more pressing matter.

"I got myself a dealer," Ezra explained, "c'mon, were in good hands, I'll treat us to a nice dinner then we could bribe the guard to loan us the game cube for the night."

Penny felt unsure about this. She, for one, very much wanted to give up all that drug selling stuff. She had friends, right? The kids in the choir! They were her friends. She worried Ezra wasn't doing so great. He was put into band, a much more... How do you put it? Concerning environment as compared to choir.

"Are you sure you want to keep doing all of that?" Penny asked bluntly, her eyebrows raising.

Ezra just nodded, silently, awkwardly. His gaze flicked away from Penny's for a few moments. The air between the two felt stiff. In fact, everything did. It was a familiar stiffness for Penny. One she could only associate with Jane Doe. A tingling, near burning sensation bubbled up within her neck.

By then, Ezra had already gone off to figure out some place to eat. He was always good at that. For some reason, Penny found herself still unable to move. The ticking of a faint and distant clock loomed ever in the background. Everything was dim. Everything felt wrong. Like she wasn't supposed to be there. Like something was coming to right the apparent wrong of her own existence.

"Penny? You alright?" Ezra snapped his fingers in front of her face, quickly breaking this trance.

"Hm? Oh, yeah," Penny replied monotonely, "I'm fine."

"Weird, you got in that trance and it looked like you were some kinda zombie," Ezra elongated the last words of the sentence as he shook Penny by her shoulders. It was a moment of jest and Penny went along with it, flailing her head back and forth with his motions.

Although, as she went to fling her head back, she felt the world around her start to spin and the wind around her pick up. It was a falling feeling. It was only after the thump of hitting the ground did she realise what had happened. As she turned to look up at her now headless body, she nearly let out a gut wretching scream.

Ezra was frozen in fear as well. His hands had yet to be removed from Penny's now headless body. Despite this, she was fine. Everything felt relatively as normal as being headless could be. Nothing hurt aside from the place where she hit her head upon falling. There wasn't blood spraying everywhere. It was silent. It was still.

Penny could move her body while like that. Although it was much more difficult. She fumbled it around, attempting to grab her head and reattach it. Ezra was of no help in this endeavor. He was still completely frozen and tears had begun to spill down his cheeks. She felt bad for causing all of this. She never meant to. Does anyone intentionally lose their head?

Eventually she managed to get to a position where she could actually grab her head and get it onto her neck. It reattached with a slight click sound, like the sound your joints make when you crack your knuckles. Penny tapped gently on Ezra's shoulder, eliciting him to flinch.

He moved his lips, stumbling breathy sounds came out as he attempted to form words. He waved his arms around frantically, mimicking what he just saw. It only stopped when Penny went in to embrace him. His arms resting firmly around his sister.

"Are you okay?" Penny asked.

"Your head just fell off... How are you okay?" Ezra replied.

"I... I have no idea."

~~

After that, the two siblings managed to sneak off to get some dinner and actually managed to have a good time. The place they chose was a local spot, not too far from the school. Everyone in town knew it as the place with the best burgers, but the Lamb siblings knew it as their special dinner spot for those special occasions.

The servers there knew them by name, and the Lamb siblings knew the servers by name. The two kids were the most regular of the regulars. Even when they lacked any money, the duo were always there, finding some way to order their favourite food. Often it would result in them working behind the counter just for a meal or even to the point of stealing from other customers.

This night was different, though. No stealing or working. They had money to pay. Although neither sibling was particularly jovial, both were thankful.

"The usual for you two?" The server asked.

"Yes please," Penny replied.

The server nodded and within moments she was gone. This left the two kids alone at their table.

"Are you going to tell the choir kids about what happened?" Ezra asked.

Penny nodded slowly, "most likely. They were involved, they deserve to know."

Penny ran a finger across her neck. A large gap had formed where a scar had originally been. It didn't hurt, it didn't feel like anything. It just felt normal. Something had to be done about it. Clearly it wasn't normal. But why? Why so sudden? Why after all this time since the Cyclone?

"Here you are," the server said, interrupting Penny's thoughts, "you alright? That scar bothering you?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, it is," Penny replied rather bluntly.

"Here." The server took the scarf she had on and wrapped it around Penny, "It won't do much, but if you're worried about covering it, that scarf should work. You can keep it."

"Oh..." Penny wasn't sure how to respond, "thanks."

[nostalgiqueajamais]

Pretty Little Liars. Thoughts.

For some reason, I never remember the chronological order of events in Pretty Little Liars and some scenes are just gaps in my memory. And then I watch it, and it all comes back to me. And then I forget again. It's probably the twists and turns the series took in revealing A. I feel like soooo many people were A at different points in the series. So, I decided to watch it again for the 5th time, I think.

The first time I watched it, I was about 15 or 16 years old. Back then, Spencer was my favorite because she was the smart one. I also liked Hanna mostly because my sister liked her. Aria was ok. I remember thinking that she always looked petrified and I couldn't stand Emily because she was always doing things that got herself and the people around her in trouble.

8 years later, let's see how my thoughts differ.

My first impression is that Spencer is an awful sister. She gets together with her sister's boyfriends all the time. If either of my sisters did that to me, I would never forgive them. She has a complex against her older sister which I understand because her parents appear to favor her sister. They criticize her constantly and their approval depends on her achievements. More so her Dad than her Mom. I felt bad for her a bit because she worked so hard to get the barn house which she was promised and then her sister comes and they give it to her. It makes sense that her sister would get it because they're a couple but her parents could have handled it better. They could have talked to her first. "Hey, we know you worked really hard, and you deserve it but they're a couple. Let's give it to her while she visits and then you can have it." Of course, if that happened, there wouldn't be a plot. But that's no reason to kiss her sister's boyfriend. I also found her to be quite obnoxious. She's so convinced that Toby was A. I get that they're all paranoid because they're being stalked and blackmailed. But the way she talked about Toby was unbearable. And it's kinda funny because she pulls a 180 and ends up with him. I kinda ship Spencer with Alex (Santiago not Drake) more than with Toby. I like that she could admit that she was wrong about Toby. But her tendency to rush to judgement is quite annoying to watch. I felt bad for her again when she went off on meds. The rest of the liars just blamed her and put everything on her when she was trying to get to the bottom of things. And then they just turned their backs on her collectively.

Aria is like the Pisces of the group. She kind of does her own thing. She's in a bubble of romance which is where her drama is centered and she doesn't get into the friend drama as much as the other three. But when she does, she gets really cold and harsh. I kind of like her character; she's very caring towards her mom and her brother. She's loyal to Ezra. She's not super annoying. Again, there wouldn't be a plot if this were the case, but I just wish she made better love choices. I feel like she kind of flies under the radar compared to the other three. Most of her drama revolves around and kind of highlights two other characters which are Ezra and her Dad, both of whom I hate! I feel like she got with Ezra because of father issues. Firstly, her Dad sucks. He sucks. He cheats with a student no less. And when he finds out that his daughter trashed his office pretending to be his mistress, he has the audacity to get angry. She was young and he was right to discipline her but it's his fault. And accusing his wife, whom he cheated on of walking out on him. Umm is she supposed to stay? I rate him fourth on the list of annoying af characters. He's surpassed by the three A's who are psychos. And Ezra. Ezra, Ezra, Ezra; it's bad enough getting together with a high school student (which is not hot unless you are the high school student or a perv), he's also deceptive; writing that book, and he, the adult, gets mad at Aria because he thinks that she spilled and has the audacity to say, "I thought you could handle this." And he ignores her constantly. He's like that toxic, emotionally unavailable ex that breadcrumbs you with the added zinger of being a pervy older teacher. The only reason it might get overlooked is because most of the series is explored through the lens of four teenagers, and because Ian Harding plays him. Put any other actor who's not pretty in his place, there's nothing charming about his character, aside from him defusing a situation at school but that's it.

Hanna is the former fat girl turned it girl. She has a complex with being formerly fat, and maybe feelings of inadequacy which she links to being fat due to being bullied for it by Allison. Again, she also has father issues but it's actually explored compared to Aria. She was the most interesting to watch. She's blunt, tells it like it is, and so avoidant. The last part was the main reason it was so hard to watch her. She constantly shuts down during conversations. I kind of related to her in that sense but it's so annoying. I can see why because both of her parents are exactly the same way. Her mom is a lot like Emily in the sense that she does the most outrageously stupid things and tries to cover it up. She constantly shuts down when Hanna tries to ask her and then, there's her Dad. I hate her Dad too. He left them and then came back with his new family just to rub it in their faces. And then he expects Hanna, the daughter he left, to treat his new stepdaughter nicely. And is quick to jump to conclusions and HE gets mad at her and ices her out. Worst Dad of the year award. I change my mind. At least Aria's dad stayed to take care of the kids. He takes the cake. Hanna's mom getting dressed when he was about to take Hanna out to dinner was sad and hard to watch. But she is pretty badass in the sense that she's determined to raise Hanna on her own and does everything she can to protect her. I respect that about her. But Aria's mom is the best followed by Spencer's mom. I feel like Hanna needs therapy, they all do, but she needs it to communicate better.

Emily - the one thing I remember about Emily is the constant worried expression on her face. I don't remember any other expression other than that one. She got her mom suspended by stealing a key. She gets drunk (justified because she was mourning Maya plus she was roofied) and then finds herself standing over a grave with a shovel. When Spencer tells her to burn everything, she's like "everything?" And I'm like "yes b. What do you think?" She constantly dismisses Spencer, very emotional and just so helpless. And I cannot believe that she got with Paige who not only was a mean bully but actually tried to drown her. WTF. The one person that always had her heart was the awful Allison. But she still went after Paige because she was the "safer" choice I guess. I find her a lot less annoying than when I was 15 but I still find her irritating.

Allison. I need a break because I get into describing her. That's it for now.

[bluestar22x]

I finally subscribed to Disney+ in July 2022 and watched The Mandalorian the very same day. Binged the first 2 seasons and TBOBF episodes 5 to 7 over the course of 2 days. Loved it so much (I love guys being dads <3). And when Din’s face was revealed during episode 8 I was curious and looked up who Din’s actor was. Okay, Pedro Pascal. Never remembered him but apparently he guest starred in some of my past shows (The Mentalist, Nikita). I shrugged and moved on. lol

Then I found out via tumblr that he would play Joel in The Last of Us show. And it just happened that at the end of May/start of June I had watched a no commentary play through of the TLOU game (and the best parts of game 2) after seeing gifs of the game on my tumblr feed. I had already fallen hopelessly in love with game Joel before I saw Din. 2 dads in as many months. I was unsure of Pedro playing Joel at first (I was used to game Joel's voice/face) but the first TLOU show trailer sold me. I was giddy.

Waiting for the show to come out, I was impatient, and bored so I watched Prospect because my best friend suggested it (she already liked Pedro before me). She sold it to me by saying it was another father like role. I ended up liking Ezra (though Din was by far my #1 still at this point).

Then I watched Narcos. Again a suggestion from my friend. Didn’t care for the plot much but Steve and Javier - YES. I was shooked after seeing episode 2. If you know, you know. lol

I’m fuzzy after that. I know I watched a few clips on youtube from Game of Thrones (Oberyn’s speech to Tyrion about not seeing him as a monster was A+) and I rewatched bits of The Mentalist, Nikita, other random shows, etc. Can’t remember if I watched Triple Frontier before or after TLOU show but I did get to that one eventually too. Oh and I watched The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (Javi G is cute) and then We Can Be Heroes as well, just for Pedro. It was worth it, imo. Marcus Moreno is a favorite. His personality - I could picture marrying him most out of all the characters if I’m being honest. ha

Then The Last Of Us aired and I was lost. Combining my favorite game character with my now favorite actor? I spent nearly every spare moment for 9 weeks straight thinking about show Joel and taking in some Pedro interviews. Joel's my favorite Pedro character.

Season 3 of The Mandalorian disappointed me in the middle of it, but it ended well. Hopefully Season 4 focuses more on Din and Grogu again and fixes its pacing/plot.

I’ve seen most of his characters but not all. (I did recently watch The Great Wall, Equalizer 2, and The Bubble though - I was bored. lol). I regret watching Oberyn, Whiskey, and Dave York dying for reasons (Oberyn’s is downright traumatizing and Whiskey’s was just mean imo - he literally just told them he lost his family and the main characters showed no remorse killing him like that - who’s the real monsters here?). Time to ban that from happening to anymore of his characters while the writers strike is going on. Grrrr...

With the TLOU and Mando shows done for now, I currently live on fanfics - mainly Joel Miller ones. I like Joel and Ellie bonding/fluff/angst, Jackson fics - with little brother/uncle Tommy - and Joel/OC smut. I’ve also read occasionally for other characters (Javier Pena, Marcus Pike, even Dieter now). Ginger’s/Ren’s The Crush fanfic was actually the first Pedro character fanfic I read - back before TLOU aired. I am into a lot of fics right now, but Short Days Long Nights is one of my top favs. I check for updates often franny. I wasn’t sure I’d like the concept as I usually don’t like TLOU fics that take place before season 1′s canon events, but you freakin sold me. I’m in love with your fic. It’s like a mature fairly tale. I want to live in that cabin. I’m scared something bad will happen.

Anyway, while I find Pedro really sweet and handsome, what really drew me in most is his acting skills (his subtitle facial expressions and eye acting) and the dad roles. lol I love so many of his characters though, dad or no dad. All his characters feel so different. The difference in vibes between them all is crazy. Are there any that truly feel like the same person? Certainly the characters he’s most known for all feel very different.

Come tell me your Pedro fandom origin story — how did you get here? 😍❤️

[erodasfishtacos]

~ MLB Curious Gazes ~

prompt: four different situations where people have run into or hung out with MLB!H - told from their perspective.

word: 6k +

warnings: language, mentions of sexual content

If you enjoyed this please - reblog, like, recommend, comment, and inbox me to chat about it!

please consider donating to my kofi - my work is FREE and it is a great way to show support!

enjoy!

-=-=-=-=-=-

The Doctor’s Office

Aubrey couldn’t believe her eyes as she sat in her uncomfortable, too small chair in the empty waiting room at the OBGYN office in the early hours of the morning. 

She was sitting alone with her baby boy sitting in his carrier on the floor - it was his nine month checkup and it was taking forever to be seen.

The woman was sitting, scrolling on her phone when out of her peripheral she saw an extremely - like extremely handsome man step into the area with a carrier.

Aubrey was a married woman but holy shit this guy was hot- without even trying is the thing. 

He had on a New York Yankees Nike hoodie and a pair of Nike athletic shorts with some calf length Blake Nike socks and trainers.

In the carrier was a fresh little baby, couldn’t be older than three months who was bundled up with a sunflower headband on.

The man was multitasking with a curly haired toddler on his other hip as he finds a seat a little bit down from Aubrey on the opposite side.

His wife was standing up at the check-in and of course it made sense that she was absolutely beautiful as well even though Aubrey could relate to how tired she looked.

The woman still had a small bit of her pregnancy bump left signifying that the baby was indeed very very new to the world.

She keeps glancing over at the man, he looks so familiar but she would remember if she had even met someone that handsome.

Then the context clues hit her, his hoodie, his toddler son was also in a little Yankees hoodie that matched his fathers and Aubrey googled quickly.

Her eyes flitted throughout the recent articles.

Styles’ Alleged $65 Million Dollar Bonus

Hot Head Harry Styles - how he managed to start three bench clearing brawls in one game!

Breaking Records and Bats - Styles manages to break his own record in the same season followed by breaking a bat in celebration

Holy shit.

She could help but watch them - this was much more interesting than reading a magazine.

Aubrey didn’t follow baseball but Harry had turned celebrity status and was this well known cocky dickhead to the media - women and men loved and drooled over him for his looks and his skills.

Right now, he sat down with his two babies - the boy looked exactly like Harry, it was quite unbelievable from the curly locks to mossy green eyes that was copy and paste.

Harry was currently tucking an applesauce pouch between his lips and guiding the boy's small hands to hold it for himself.

“Good job,  ,” He murmurs in the dead quiet waiting room as he tucks him further into the crook of his arm.

Harry looks up to his wife who joins them, she is a bit in awe when Aubrey sees him palm a bit at her bloated belly and whisper, “Y’look gorgeous today, mama.”

Aubrey couldn’t help but frown, she wished her husband did that.

YN sits down, leaning her head on his shoulder - Aubrey didn’t know her but she seems tired - of course she was a new mother.

The silence is broken when a nurse comes out and with an apologetic face says, “I’m sorry, we are running really behind today. It might be another thirty minutes,” before shutting the door again.

Harry kisses his wife’s forehead before wrapping his unoccupied arm around her shoulder, a flashing gold band on his ring finger.

Aubrey zones off for a little when her son wakes up, rocking the carrier a few times before he settles again.

She’s brought back to the couple when she hears a sniffle comes from Harry’s wife and his face turned towards hers, hand rubbing her shoulder reassuringly.

“Mama, she’s so healthy. There’s nothin’ to worry about, did a perfect job growing her in y’belly. I know these check-ups make you anxious but nothin’ is gonna be wrong,” He soothes, a near whisper because of how quiet the room is and he didn’t want to disrupt.

“I just don’t know if she’s been getting enough milk, it’s so hard to tell,” YN replies sadly, like she’s disappointed in herself.

“Y’kidding me? She’s our chunkiest baby - look at those little rolls. She’s on y’tits more than any of the boys including me,” He jokes softly, obviously trying to make her feel better.

It seems to work a little bit because she lets out a light giggle with a roll of her eyes, “No one is on them more than you.”

Harry shrugs unashamed before replying seriously, “Everything will be okay. She’s perfect and healthy.”

The curly haired little boy gets a bit squirmy with the wait after he finished his pouch, asking to be set down which his father does.

Harry is watching him carefully, his nervous but still adventurous little two and a half year old, as he toddles around the waiting room.

When he spots Aubrey and her carrier, he wanders over looking up her with wide curious eyes, he points at her son and squeaks, “Baby?”

Ever the diligent father, Harry is up and next to his son, Aubrey is a bit starstruck if she’s honest when he talks to her.

“M’sorry, he’s a curious little one,” Harry smiles at her, going to pick Ezra back up to guide him away from bothering her.

Aubrey waves her hand though, lifting the visor to show the sleeping baby, “Yeah, he’s a baby. That’s Dominic.”

The boy gazes at the baby before lisping, “Bry!”

Aubrey isn’t sure what he means but his father clarifies, “You’re right, Dominic is a baby just like your little sister Briar.”

“Okay,” Ezra shrugs and goes back to his mom to inform him of what he just discovered before crawling up and cuddling into her chest.

Harry nods, “Thanks for indulging him.”

“No pro-problem,” She stutters like an idiot and Harry smiles a bit like he knows but doesn’t say anything else before going back to his family.

A few minutes later when a high-pitched cry resounds through the room, Harry is carefully cradling his daughter who Aubrey notes looks nothing like him but like her mother even though her features were still so little.

“Shush, darlin’,” Harry coos with a soft drawl, leaning in to kiss at the newborn’s button nose.

Briar roots at her father’s chest, smacking her plump lips, and squeaking in frustration when she doesn’t find a nipple. It makes Harry chuckle before he glances at his wife and his smile falters a bit, “Sweetheart, did y’bring a bottle?”

Aubrey watches his wife shake her head, she is facing away from her so she can’t see her expression but gauging Harry’s it seems that she may be upset, “No, I completely forgot. I didn’t bring my nursing blanket either - I’m going to have to go the bathroom. M’being such a bad mom.”

The observer feels a pang in her chest, she can definitely relate to not always feeling like she is a good mother because of little mistakes she makes like forgetting diapers, buying the wrong formula, forgetting to bring a pacifier.

“Hey,” Harry’s voice is firm, “Y’not going to talk like that when s’the farthest thing from the truth. S’okay, we have four babies, we’re both goin’ t’forget things sometimes, okay? Here, let me help you.”

Aubrey wishes she had a husband who was as empowering, supportive of his wife.

He hands the whimpering baby over to his wife, he’s then tugging off his hoodie. Aubrey tries but fails to divert her eyes when his shirt rides up revealing  a glimpse of his taut abdomen and a light dusting of hair leading into his shorts, obscene tattoos covering his hipbones .

Harry maneuvers the hoodie over his wife’s shoulder, helping her tug down her loose shirt and nursing bra, and guiding his newborn to his wife’s breast until she latches and starts suckling hungrily.

“There y’go mama,” He whispers encouragingly before tugging Ezra back onto his lap to rock him a bit as he’s getting whiny - ready for a nap soon and not liking being in an unfamiliar place for too long.

-

Aubrey is buckling Dominic into his carseat when she spots the other family exiting the office. 

Harry’s wife looks much more relaxed, a smile on her face, and her arm tucked around her husband’s narrow hip, they’re parked close to each other, and Aubrey climbs into her small sedan - blasting the aircon.

She watches the parents strapp their kids into a massive, tinted and brand new cadillac escalade that was no doubt over a hundred thousand dollar car but who could expect them to be driving around a mid-level minivan?

After the kids are secured and they close the doors, Harry presses his wife up against it with his arm resting over her shoulder against the window. He is whispering to her, their mouths close before he ducks down to connect their lips.

His hand comes back to her deflating baby bump like he did in the doctor’s office, hand massaging the skin with adoration that was visible even to Aubrey as she sat in her car watching them.

Later on in the week, as she sits on her couch, a video pops up on her timeline. It’s a sports report she was about to skip until the name caught her attention. 

The sports reporter stated, “Harry Styles was fined an alleged sixty thousand dollars at last night’s game after getting into a verbal altercation when the second base man purposely tripped him.”

It flashes to the man she just saw in the doctor’s office in a form-fitting Yankee’s blue and white striped uniform with a helmet on as he ran at an impressive speed from first to second, stumbling when the baseman put out his foot.

Harry recovers quickly enough to touch the base to be considered safe. 

After that though, he’s pushing himself up and brushing off the dirt, then he’s charging towards the man who fucked up the play. 

He has no fear as he gets in the man’s face, veins on his neck standing out as he shouts. They don’t play the audio but you could tell Harry was cussing this man up and down.

It flashed back to the reporter speaking to another, “Nearly every team in the league reports that Styles is an absolute nightmare to play against from his skill to his downright arrogant and cocky attitude. He’s not someone I’d find myself wanting to hang around.”

“I agree with you there, Tucker. He has a right to be proud with all of his broken records and achievements but being a bit humble would do this man so good. I feel sorry for his wife and kids. He probably just spends all day bragging about himself.”

Aubrey clicks off the video, if only everyone in the world just saw the Harry Styles she saw just a few days ago - well they’d all change their minds on what kind of person he is. Especially what kind of husband and father.

--

The Charity Event

It was a charity event at Madison Square Garden in Time Square. 

It was for all Major League Baseball teams who had qualified for the playoffs and of course, The New York Yankees were there.

There were tables filling the whole stadium, extravagant in white linen tablecloths, multiple bars, and it was black tie dress code. 

It was a private event and it was not open to the public but after the dinner there would be awards given out and that would be broadcasted.

Nicole was there with her husband, Trent, the left outfielder with an average batting score. He wasn’t the most popular on the team by far - well everyone got outshined by Styles. 

She couldn’t help but be a little bitter that Harry had gotten a $60 million dollar bonus (the biggest bonus ever gifted but also the Yankees were not taking any chances at losing their star and their ultimate money-maker). Trent got a measly bonus of $100,000 which was nothing in baseball terms. 

The wives and girlfriends of the Yankees players did not like YN one bit. It really wasn’t fair because she was always lovely, kind, and friendly. It didn’t matter because they were all spurred on by jealousy of what she had.

Nicole couldn’t help by gaze at Harry as they sat at the same circle table towards the podium where the awards would be presented after dinner. He was in a sharp all black suit with a small team logo pin of the lapel.

She couldn’t deny how stunning YN looked in an absolutely stunning dress. It was a one-shoulder with sparkling black stripes against a tan background, it fit like a glove and accentuated her stunning legs with a high slit. ***

It blew Nicole’s basic black Gucci dress out of the water which made her even more infuriated at the woman. She knew she was being irrational and if she hated her so much, why couldn’t see stop staring at the couple?

Nicole could get away with it by looking past them at other tables but to be quite honest, the two were much too wrapped up in each other to be aware of any of their surroundings or people watching them.

Trent was off bullshitting with all the other players while the Styles’ sat at the table and Harry waited for people to approach him - like the cocky asshole that he was. He would give them a minute of his time before becoming visibly bored and returning his attention back to his wife.

As the appetizers arrived, Trent finally sat down with a grunt, giving his wife literally no attention as he dug into the salad like a slob. 

Across the table, Harry looked down at his plate, picked out all the tomatoes and stabbed them with his fork. He then brought his hand over to his wife who giggled and let him feed her the three little tomatoes for his salad.

“Don’t like tomatoes, Styles?” Henry, third-baseman, jokes as he watches him feed his wife without any shame.

“I love ‘em, m’missus just really like the little grape ones,” Harry shrugs casually - like that didn’t just sound like the most whipped thing that he could say.

Trent probably couldn’t even guess Nicole’s favorite color - let alone know something so minuscule like YN like the little tomatoes that come on house salads. 

Throughout the whole dinner, it was quite disgusting how infatuated these two were with each other - Harry had at least one hand on her body at one time - her thigh, shoulder, even cupping her neck in a way that was almost too intimate for the setting.

At one point, Harry notices that YN is a bit quiet - sipping on her glass of water and he pulls back from the conversation, murmuring, “Y’alright, mama?”

Nicole bites her lip hard at the cute pet name, feeling even more dislike towards YN - why couldn’t she have had someone like Harry?

“D’you think the babies are okay? Ezra’s been so anxious lately,” YN replies quietly, there were no phones allowed at the event and had to be left at home or at the door.

Harry kisses her temple, “Y’know Ezzie is good with m’mum, doesn’t get as anxious as he used to at sleepovers. Y’know East and Cash are probably on a sugar high.”

YN nods, agreeing and Harry jumps right back into the conversation but she notices that he keeps looking over at his wife to check on her.

Trent accidentally knocks her elbow hard and just grunts out a bland, “Sorry.”

The topic changed to traveling for games. Ellie, another wife of a player who was nice to YN were chatting about how stressful it is.

“I know, loading all three boys up is rough when we do decide to travel to games with H,” YN says to Ellie, a small smile on her face.

“Ugh, I know. Lily and Parker are the worst flyers! They usually end up throwing up or not being able to nap at all,” Ellie groans about her two little ones she has back at home.

YN let’s out a laugh that just irked Nicole to not end.

“It's going to be even harder when we have more kids,” YN laments like she’s bothered.

“Oh? More kids?” Ellie squeaks with excitement, clapping her hands together.

Nicole reaches a breaking point, jumping into the chat,“Really? More kids? Don’t you think you should focus on the ones you have? Or do you think because your husband makes an unfair amount of money, you can just have as many as you want? Hire nannies and act like you take care of them?”

Before YN frowns, about to respond when Harry interjects with a booming, displeased voice, “First off, why don’t y’mind your own fuckin’ business. My wife and I can ‘ave any many kids as we want, last time I checked.”

He continues with tense posture, all of his previous calmness disappears, “Second off, don’t take it out on my wife tha’ your husband got a shit bonus, we all know tha’ why y’pissy. And don’t act like y’dont have a nanny for your one kid while we don’t nor ever will have one.”

Nicole sneers, “You’re a cocky bastard.”

Harry smiles in faux charm, “Of course I am, dear. I’ve got a fucking beautiful wife, three healthy babies, the most records broken in history, and the fattest bank account in this room.”

“Alright, alright,” Trent interrupts and it doesn’t go unnoticed that he doesn’t defend his wife. Instead he shoots Harry an apologetic look for his wife’s behaviors.

Harry just scoffs at the couple, rudely rolling his eyes, and tugging his wife in for a kiss that’s a bit too intense but he can’t help himself, smiles against her lips when his wife pinches his thigh playfully.

He says (not quietly at all), “All these women are jealous of you, hm? S’cause you’re so beautiful and such a fuckin’ catch.”

Nicole feel a sharp pang in her chest at the indirect comment - fucking asshole.

Deep down, Nicole is unfavorably realizing that somehow YN has it all - a loving husband, who is seemingly head over heels four her, three well-behaved children, and everything she could ever want - sitting on Harry’s $600 million dollar net worth, on top of being gorgeous.

She didn’t have that. Trent and her were on the rocks constantly, has definitely cheated on her, their kid is a literal nightmare, and they’re both so reckless with money they have no savings.

It made her jealous to see Harry whispering in YN ear to make her giggle- lips brushing her ear, his hand splayed across her bumcheek while they waited for drinks at the bar, she even hears them murmur ‘I love yous’ at least twice.

Then the lights dim, spotlight on a podium in the front of the room, an older man in a crisp navy suit taking the stage.

“It is an honor for me to announce ‘Player of the Year.’ The decision by the board of Major League Baseball wasn’t a hard one. The statistics and records broke continuously by the man has led us to only one option.”

Everyone watches all the other players in room deflate a bit because they realize the award is going to Harry yet again.

 “He is again breaking a record tonight, he is the first player to earn this achievement four years in a row. The duality of this man when it comes to pitching a curveball or hitting a homer is truly remarkable.”

It makes all the players even more irritated than they already are when they look over at Harry who’s sitting back, manspreading, hand on the back of his wife’s neck gently, and a cocky, unbothered grin.

Like this award wasn’t the biggest accomplishment he could earn.

One of the players from an opposing team at a different table mutters to one of his teammates, “Fucking arrogant asshole. The only thing this award does is feed his gigantic ego.” 

“Such a douchebag,” The other agrees, jealousy tinges his voice.

“I’ve most likely made it obvious who the the recipient is this year. The New York Yankees pitcher with the most strikeouts to date and top-scoring hitter - Mr. Harry Styles!”

The crowd erupts in applause, whistles, and a standing ovation because despite his unsavory demeanor - no one could deny he was a legend.

Before he gets up, Nicole watches as he cups his wife’s cheek - locking her lips in a kiss before she has to give him a playful shove when he tries to slip some tongue.

When Harry gets up to the stage, he shakes the hand of the announcer and takes the award from him, setting it on the podium.

“Fourth year in a row has a nice ring to it,” Harry gives the crowd a dazzling white smile that have his dimples digging into his cheek.

The crowd whistles and coos.

Nicole notices YN getting teary-eyed as she watches her husband accept the award.

“I want t’thank a few people tonight. I want t’thank m’wife and the mama of my babies - YN. She’s supported me from when I was in college with no other career path but baseball, unsure of if I’d fail or not, she stuck through it.”

She can sense everyone’s eyes dart over to YN who is still staring up at her husband - who is giving her a gleaming smile right back.

“We’ve been through some really hard obstacles in our first years as a couple but she’s the reason for all this - the fact that she always believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

The audience is respectful, quiet as he publicly tells a story of his deep love for his wife.

“I want t’thank m’three babies. Easton, Cash, and Ezra. They inspire me to be a better better man and a good role model - even though I think y’all agree they won’t be if they watch too much how I play when I’m out in the field.”

The crowd erupts in laughter at Harry poking fun at his own antics that he’s most famous for. He goes on to thank the team, coaches, Nike, everyone on the professional side of career.

When he’s done, everyone stands back up to congratulate him, patting him on the back as he returns to his seat.

Nicole watches as Harry sits back down, chuckling as he swipes a tear off his wife’s cheek, “Why y’crying, mama?”  

“I’m just so proud of you. Everything you do for me and our babies. The best husband, best daddy. My heart is just full,” She murmurs, clearly not meant for others to hear but Nicole was eavesdropping.

Harry’s eyes darken with something Nicole can’t identify but does notice his hand creeping a bit further up her thigh.

He leans into whisper something into her ear before she sees his lightly nip at her lobe before pulling back to join into the conversation.

-

After the lights come back up, Trent abandons her to go shoot the shit with other guys.

When she trails off to the bathroom, down a long hallway from the main area - she hears a rustling from behind a door labeled with a plaque that says ‘executive meeting room’.

Nicole pauses confused, all these offices and other rooms were strictly off limits during events obviously. She was confused to hear someone in a room that was not supposed to be in use.

Then she realizes it’s not just someone - it’s two people.

“S’good, sweetheart. Give it t’me so good.”

And she knows right then and there all she needs to know about who’s in that conference room and what they were doing.

“Be quiet, you’re being too loud,” YN scolds back, the walls were clearly thin because she could hear the exchange.

“Make y’cunt not feel like heaven then,” He remarks back, his voice slower and more soft than it would be in front of people.

God, Trent and her haven’t slept together in ages - let alone has spontaneous hookups or dirty talk like that ever.

When they all end up back at the table before the closing speech for the night, Nicole spots a nicely sized mark under Harry’s jaw that he’s wearing with pride.

YN had her lipstick wiped off and was much more clingy as the night rolled on which Harry seemed to thrive on.

As she and Trent are on their way home, Nicole speaks into their silence, “I don’t think our relationship is working.”

Not after she saw love and happiness at that event table tonight - she wanted that kind of love not settling for some cheating asshole.

-

The Little League Game

It was a cool autumn evening, it was an important game - if you could call it that for the little league team that Kayla had her son on.

The goal was to determine which team would move onto the playoffs, even though most of this was all in good fun because it was for eight-year-olds and it wasn’t serious.

Kayla couldn’t lie and say that she didn’t spend some of the time curiously gazing at the New York Yankees player who would come to watch his son play.

He wasn’t at every game due to his schedule but it seemed like he came to whatever ones he could with his wife and other three kids.

They had taken the bench on the bleachers right below her so she had an up close and personal view of the family when they’ve never sat this close before.

As the kids warmed up, Harry had his youngest son who looked to be about four sit next to him, squished between his dad and mom happily.

Their middle son was next to his mom on the other side, looking to be about six, and he was wriggling impatiently in his seat - eager to join the other kids in the jungle gym.

The baby girl who looked about a year and a half old didn’t look anything like her brothers - it was obvious that she was a spitting image of her mother (who was stunning).

She was curled up in her mom’s lap, asleep with her face squished against her mother’s chest - a pacifier suckling fiercely between her puffy lips.

“Mama, please,” The curly haired boy begs with greedy puppy dog eyes as he keeps glancing back to look at the other kids.

“You stay right where daddy and I can see you, yes?” YN murmurs, brushing back his unruly curls that where getting long, “And what are our rules?”

“Stay where you can see, don’t talk to strangers, and be nice to others,” He recites perfectly, Kayla was a bit blown away by his manners.

She watches baseball. It was hard to believe their children were so mild mannered when their father was the exact opposite - at least on the field.

Harry was rustling in the diaper bag for something as his son looked at him with wide, concerned eyes, “My baby, daddy.”

“I know, Ezzie. M’lookin’ f’your baby,” His father replies softly, the polar extreme of his normal brash, crude language that had a nasty tone like he couldn’t bother giving people the time of day.

“Daddy, please,” The youngest whines, his little hand grasping at his father’s tattooed wrist as he gets to his knees to help his dad look.

“Left inner pocket,” YN murmurs offhandedly as she makes sure Cash gets to the playground safely with his friends.

“Say ‘thanks mama’,” Harry coos to his son as he manages to tug out the baby doll and hand it to the awaiting little boy.

“Thanks mama,” He replies instantly with a gapped smile as he nuzzles right back into his father’s side as if he can’t get close enough.

“How are you feeling, Ezra?” His mother leans over to ask, keeping the baby close to her chest.

“M’happy, mama,” Ezra replies simply before starting to babble to himself as he plays with the babydoll.

Kayla watches Harry and YN swap a fond look at their son but she couldn’t help but wonder why they asked him that? He seemed fine so why did they feel the need to do that?

The game is going okay, Harry stands up to cheer and whistle when Easton hits a two-base hit but YN smacks his thigh and motions to their sleeping baby.

He looks at her sheepishly before sitting back down, kissing her cheek in apology, and peeking down into the fleece blanket to watch his daughter sleep for a moment.

Then it seems like Easton starts to lose momentum after he pitches two home-runs, his face pinched in disappointment as the other team scores but Harry is attempting to keep him motivated with encouraging shouts.

Easton struggles from then on, he strikes out for his final three turns, doesn’t catch two pop-ups, and his pitches start to get a little shaky. It’s obvious in his facial expression he’s getting upset because he’s breathing heavier like he’s trying not to cry.

Kayla feels a sense of dread for the little boy, his father who’s the best baseball player in modern day history is watching his son not do well during an important game.

 Because of what she knows of him from his temper and attitude on the field - she worries that he’s one of those father’s who will hound their kid for doing poorly.

“Oh, c’mon East,” Harry murmurs softly when his son stumbles over a ground ball before another kid picks it up and throws it in - their son smacking his glove down against the ground in frustration.

“He’s getting himself worked up,” YN notes as she watches her oldest kick his cleats in the dirt with a quivering bottom lip.

“I know,” Harry replies to his wife, “Wish he wouldn’t, he’s gettin’ upset out there, I can tell.”

“Sad?” Ezra squeaks, clambering onto his father’s lap and stating, “Hold me, daddy.”

Harry obliges easily, gathering up his small son before his attention is directed back onto the game - it was down to the last few minutes and unfortunately Easton pitched a ball that resulted in a home run for the other team.

“Fuck,” Harry mutters, running a hand through his messy locks before he’s setting Ezra back down on the bleachers, “I’m going to go talk to him. Do you want to meet back home?”

YN nods, leaning down to tuck the baby into the double stroller before buckling Ezra in as well, “I’m going to go get Cash and head out. Why don’t you take him out for some ice cream? I love you.”

“I love you too, mama,” He replies, kissing her softly before kissing both of his kids foreheads and stepping down the bleachers - ignoring all the adults who are staring at him with a starstruck expression as he heads to the dugout.

It cleared out fast, nobody sticking around after the loss that ended with them not continuing on to the championship, and Easton was sat on the bench - he was stoic and there was a hard, angry expression on his face that reminded Kayla of what she saw Harry look like when he played.

As she gathers up her son and makes sure he’s got all of his equipment, Kayla stands and chats to a few of the moms before she’s heading to her car - which happened to be parked next to a sleek Masserati crossover, who would let their muddy kid go in there? Rich people, she guesses.***

Kayla pops the trunk to her van with her key as they get closer, she notices that Harry also has his up and Easton is sitting on the tailgate with his eyes looking down at the pavement. She tries not to appear as nosey or eavesdropping as she tucks her items into the back.

“Sweetheart, s’okay. Y’did so so good tonight,” Harry assures his pouty son, he squats down to start to untie his son’s nike cleats but continues to make eye contact with him. 

“No, I didn’t, Daddy!” Easton whines, tears finally starting to bubble over the surface as he begins to sob with a shuddering chest, “I gave up home runs and then I missed ground balls!”

“Whoa, bubby,” Harry simpers after he tugs off the shoes and throws them carelessly into the back before standing up, “Y’did amazing, are you kiddin’? You did three innings of strikeouts, hit two of y’own homeruns. Y’played like a professional, way better than daddy.”

Kayla’s heart aches a bit when she sees Harry sit down next to him before hugging him harshly into his side, thumbing at the tears that are running down his son’s sweaty cheeks with soft reassurances.

“Daddy, are you mad I didn’t win?” Easton asks shakily, keeping his head buried into his father’s side and his small hand clutching into the fabric of his hoodie.

Harry chuckles lowly, “Daddy would never be mad at you f’anythin’, definitely not a baseball game. Remember what mama and I said? If at any point y’want to stop playin’, just let us know and we can find something else, yeah? Just like how Ezzie does art classes.”

Easton seems to calm down after a few moments of Harry rocking him and reassuring him of what an amazing son he is.

As Kayla drove away that night, her perspective on the all-star baseball player definitely changed. It was refreshing to see someone to not hold their child to an unreasonable expectation just like she thought Harry would.

--

The Campfire

Austin was the shortstop on the baseball team, he’d brought along his girlfriend, Chelsea, to the frat party to celebrate another win.

Everyone was in whispers that Harry was bringing his new girlfriend but nobody knew who she actually was because it was just a rumor.

It was surprising because Harry wasn’t a relationship kind-of man. He wasn’t into hookups much - always said he needed to focus on baseball.

Many of his teammates were envious of how many girls were constantly coming up to Harry at parties to flirt and try to get a dance in but he had always rejected them.

Harry had never showed interest in any of these girls at the parties, never seen him disappear upstairs with one or really entertain a conversation over a beer like they’d expect.

Chelsea pokes his shoulder and nods towards the entrance when Harry walks in with his arm around YN’s shoulder.

Most were in a little shock because they seemed like such an unlikely couple - YN had written some scathing articles about him and it was no secret he hadn’t been a fan of her.

“Holy shit, Harry’s dating YN?” Chelsea whispers to Austin as the group of party-goers cheer and whistle at the allstars appearance.

“Guess so,” Austin replies with a shrug, tugging Chelsea into the kitchen for a drink.

Later on that night, there’s a bonfire on one side of the backyard and a volleyball net on the other where a group was gathering to play.

Austin and Chelsea are on the opposing team of Harry and YN - she can’t help but watch them with curiosity because of what a surprise it is that they’re dating.

Even Austin has been watching because Harry’s acting in a way that he’s never seen throughout his time on the team with him.

Harry is just all over YN which was confusing how he went from not being remotely interested in the college girls to being a lovestruck puppy.

When she throws the ball up to serve, Harry reaches over and pinches her bum which makes her squeak and accidentally drop the ball which has him cackling as she glares at him.

As they change positions, he crowds up behind her, and massages her hips, leaning down to murmuring something in her ear.

She blushes wildly before smacking him off which has him laughing hard and kissing the back of her head before taking his position.

After Harry jumps and spikes the ball hard, earning them the winning point, YN turns around and wraps her arms around him to hug him tightly.

Harry wraps his arms around her shoulders, returning the hug before pulling back to kiss her lips in a soft peck.

Chelsea elbows Austin, “Who’s that and what did they do with Harry?”

Austin shakes his head, “I really don’t fucking know.”

The group migrates over to the fire as they might become cooler and the stars are high up in the sky, the fire flickering orange and yellow crackles of sparks.

Harry plops into a chair, pulling YN right onto his lap, and she wriggles until she’s comfortable. Chelsea notices him tap her thigh as if telling her to cut it out, too much motion right on his crotch.

Jake, one of his teammates, says in a teasing tone, “YN, I’m surprised to see you around these parts . I clearly remember a strongly worded article about how stupid frat parties are.”

YN takes it in stride, smiling as she replies, “And this party just proves my point.”

The group laughs easily, they enjoy YN’s sharp wit and comebacks as they get to know her. Austin can’t help but to notice how quiet Harry is.

Normally, he’s the life of the party, loud and making his presence known to everyone but not tonight. He has his chin propped on her shoulder and she’s cuddled back into his chest.

Austin can’t make out what Harry is saying but he’s constantly whispering in her ear and accentuating each time with a squeeze to her thighs.

“Are you guys official?” One of the teammates asked bluntly, a few beers deep by this point in the night.

Harry replies instantly, a possessive squeeze, “She’s mine and off the market, s’don’t even think about it.”

“Well I don’t think it matters because she’s turned down the whole baseball team by this point. I think everyone tried to ask her out at least once,” Steve jokes as the others agree.

“Tha’s m’girl,” Harry murmurs to her before teasing his friends,“Who’d want to go out with any you? You’re all dickheads.”

Everyone continues to joke around, it’s nearing midnight and that’s right about when Harry gets in his prime - like the party just started.

But not tonight.

YN’s eyes start to flutter shut as everyone banters and drinks around the fire, obviously not used to these late night parties.

“I better get this one t’bed,” Harry states after a few minutes, thumbing at YN’s cheekbone as she tries to stay awake.

“I’m okay,” She mumbles weakly, head still heavy against his shoulder.

“You’re coming back though, right?” Kyle asks expectantly, brows furrowed.

Harry shakes his head, “Nah, m’in for the night when she is.”

All the players look at him with a bit of a dumbfounded look, Steve shooting out, “Who knew you’d be so pussy whipped, Styles?”

Chelsea’s eyebrows raise at the crude comment, waiting with bated breath as Harry’s jaw clenches as it seems like he’s biting his tongue.

“Goodnight,” Harry says in a tone Austin has never heard before - agitated and almost…offended.

When Austin and Chelsea are sneaking up to his room for a late night hook-up, she overhears Harry and YN in his bedroom.

At first, she thinks they’re in an actual argument but as she listens to them - it’s not the kind of arguement she thought it was.

“You’re always the little spoon,” YN groans from behind the closed door.

Harry squawks, affronted before huffing back at her, “S’my favorite, please spoon me, darling?”

“You’re so fucking spoiled,” YN giggles as Chelsea assumes they move into a position where Harry’s the little spoon.

“Mm, I like feelin’ y’tits against my back, s’nice,” Harry hums with a boyish tone.

Chelsea doesn’t even realize she’s smiling until Austin drags her from her stupor. 

All she knew was that Harry Styles really really fancied that school reporter.

-=-=-=-=-=-

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[americxn]

Hi, I have a request 🤗

Colin Zabel and reader like she’s suspect of a crime but they have a night together before and They are shocked when found each other again.

She’s younger than him, I don’t know if you already watched Pretty Little Liars but if you did. It’s like when Aria meet Ezra

❤️



Suspect (Colin x Reader)

a/n: i watched pll ageees ago and can’t really remember anything about it so I’m sorry if this isn’t what you wanted. also, once again, I have no clue about any judicial processes or anything like that so lets just use our imagination and pretend that this is accurate.

wordcount: 1.7k warnings: slight mention of anxiety

Your stomach had long since been reduced to a tight knot of deep-rooted nerves, your skin tight dress doing nothing to quell the almost nauseating apprehension that had your mouth completely dry and your fingers trembling. You swallowed in a vain attempt to rehydrate your mouth as your taxi pulled up in front of the newly opened restaurant in the main quarter of town. Checking your phone, you swiped onto Colin’s name, checking for the fifth time that hour that you had the right place and time. You paid, stalling slightly by wishing the driver a pleasant night before stepping into the cool air, the street lamps bright overhead. The warmth of the restaurant was welcome on your bare legs as you stepped through the front door, the smile of the waiting on staff situated by the small front desk even warmer as they asked if you had a reservation. You nodded, clearing your throat and giving Colin’s name, unsure as to whether he was already here or not. He was, and your nerves were dulled just a fraction as he spotted you being lead to the table, his smile the warmest of them all as he stood and brought you into a tight embrace.

He pulled out your chair for you, coaxing a small smile to your face, before maneuvering around the table and falling into his own seat across from you. You glanced at him, a furry of butterflies replacing the sickening nerves that had graced your stomach mere moments before, the undeniable attractiveness of his kind features a pleasant surprise; for your first time meeting, you were unsure how true to reality the pictures on his tinder profile would be and here he was, proving that your initial attraction to his pictures was more than justified.  “Hi.” He said simply, his eyes alight with excitement as he beheld you in slight disbelief; he had honestly not expected you to show, and your presence was both relieving and enthralling as he took in your face, half shadowed in the dim light of the quiet corner of the restaurant you had been allocated. “Hi.” You responded, offering him a warm smile before introducing yourself, delving into the conversation to combat the awkwardness that threatened to stunt your meeting. Colin indulged in your conversation too, the small space between you warming, the flowing exchange being interrupted only when a waitress came to ask for your food and drink orders. The service was quick, and soon you were completely at ease in Colin’s presence, the two of you musing about the high quality of the food and stealing sips of each others wine. “So, you said that you did detective work?” You questioned when your previous topic of conversation ran dry. “Yeah,” he began, taking a deep drink of his wine before indulging in your question. “I have a big case starting tomorrow, I’m a little nervous.” He admitted with a vulnerable smile. “Why?” You question, cocking your head slightly and taking a bite of your food. He paused, a mouthful of food poised on his fork as he carefully considered your question. “Well, we only have one suspect. And I usually specialise in homicide or missing person cases. I probably shouldn’t be telling you this but it’s a very complex, on running fraud case.” You paused, swallowing your food and flicking you eyes down at you partly cleared plate, your earlier nerves returning with twice as much vigour. “Oh right.” You nodded, your confidence and tone wavering. He regarded you with interest at your sudden evident change in demeanor, his tongue working within the confines of his closed mouth to clear the food from his teeth. You cleared your throat, attempting to shift the change in mood and topic of conversation with it. Colin’s brow creased gently as you kept your gaze averted from his, bringing another mouthful of food up to your lips as he surveyed you. He allowed you to change the conversation, the two of you relaxing as the previous amiable exchange returned, the two of you clearing your plates and finishing off your shared bottle of wine, talking and laughing softly together. Your mood fell once more when your plates were cleared, your shoulders curving inwards; you knew what had to happen next. After what Colin had just revealed to you, and the actions to which you had stooped to in the past year, you knew what you had to do when he offered you a lopsided smile, his accompanying words painfully tempting: “I’m not ready to leave yet. Dessert?” You exhaled slowly, your smile turning sad. Reaching into your clutch, Colin’s dark eyes fell dull as you pulled out a twenty dollar bill, chucking it on the table and thanking him before standing to leave. “Wait!” Colin exclaimed, a slight pleading tone entering his voice. He lurched to his feet, reaching out and taking hold of your wrist. You turned, the dejected look on his face cracking your heart in two. “I’m sorry,” he blurted, “I didn’t realise that you weren’t having a good time.” “No.” You said hurriedly, your head shaking fervently. “No. Colin, I’ve had an amazing night.” You admitted, Colin’s eyes flashing with hope. The next words were horribly painful to form, your eyes having to drop to the floor in order to let the words out. “I just don’t see this working.” You admitted to his feet, pulling your wrist gently from his grasp. “Thank you. I’m sorry.” The words were whispered, your eyes flicking to his as you offered him a parting smile before turning, forcing the tears that formed in your eyes to remain hidden as you pulled out your phone to book a taxi back home. Colin watched you go, utterly confused as his eyes remained trained on your back until you disappeared out the front door, his arm falling to hang limp at his side. 

For the second time that week, your stomach was infested with nerves, your chest tight and leg bouncing in the empty waiting room, your carefully crafted alibi swirling around and around in your head. Your fingers shook as you ran them over your face, every muscle in your body tightening to the point of pain when you heard a door open and close down the hallway, the sound echoing through the quiet of the empty corridor to your ears. Exhaling deeply, you fortified your mind, reminding yourself what was about to happen and how you were going to deal with it.  “Y/n?” Your head jerked up in the direction of the voice. The kindly receptionist that had directed you to the waiting room twenty minutes earlier offered you an easy smile, beckoning you. “He’s ready for you now.” You nodded, swallowing and wincing when the dry walls of your throat rubbed together. You stood and took the directions the reception provided you with to the door at the bottom of the short hallway to the right, installing feigned confidence in your steps and trying to shake the anxious anticipation racking your body. You knocked on the door before pushing it open and stepping inside, your gaze dropping to the small table at the centre of the room, a neat stack of papers sitting before a painfully familiar man. The two of you froze in unison, the dread swirling in your gut only worsening as Colin’s mouth formed a thin line, his elbows braced on the edge of the table and his hands clasped together beneath his chin. Your mouth parted with the icy surprise that doused the entirety of your being. “Come in.” He motioned to the seat opposite him, his tone tense and his eyes weary as they tracked your journey from the door to the chair he indicated to with a nod of his head. You perched on the chair, averting your gaze to instead stare at the hands you had clasped together in your lap. “It all made sense when I read your file this morning.” Was all he said, not allowing any indication to how he felt about having to question you enter his tone, blocking out the memory of how you had left him at the restaurant with no warning and becoming completely professional. “I just have a few questions for you to answer and then you can leave.” At your silence, your eyes transfixed on your lap, he continued: “But based on the amount of evidence we have gathered against you, I don’t think that this will be our last meeting. And not in the way that I had hoped.” Remaining utterly silent, you nodded shallowly in acknowledgement of his tensely spoken words. “Do you submit to this questioning, yes or no?” He continued on a lengthy sigh. You rose your chin to look at him, muttering a reluctant “yes” and glancing back down at the clean surface of the table before you as you awaited his first question.  Your alibi was weak and Colin had torn through it in a matter of minutes, an utterly irritable demeanour settling over him as the questioning commenced, your responses becoming weaker and weaker until you finally gave in, asking Colin to repeat his previous questions and offering him the truthful answers.  By the end of your questioning, you sat low in your chair, your eyes settling on anything but the man sat before you, feeling completely and utterly dejected as the sound of Colin’s pen scribbling on various thin sheets of paper filled the small room. You forced your humiliated, guilt-fuelled tears to remain hidden within your tear ducts, your teeth clamping down hard on your lower lip when it threatened to quiver of its own accord. “Okay.” Colin sighed after several minutes of uncomfortable silence and meeting your teary eyes, his own gaze weary. “I need you to come with me for processing and then we’ll take it from there.” You didn’t bother asking what he meant but stood when he pushed himself to his feet and trailed him out of the door, not even able to watch Colin’s back as he lead you down the corridor, bracing yourself for whatever was to come next.

taglist: @kitwalker02 @three-eyed-snail @forevercountess @kitwalkerangel @milly-louise @thecountessesglove @undeadcortez @kitwalker64 @samsassinparvismagna @xmaximoffic @divineruler @liandav @tatesweaterweather @evanmybeloved @tatelangdonsupremacist @ikkleroniekins @ananad1 @shlutnutt

[egregiousderp]

For people watching rebels for the first time, being left with Chopper, who has the highest kill count in the show, arguably is a lot more dangerous than leaving Jacen on a peaceful planet somewhere, or even having him just simply on the ship. (This is also not the FIRST time people have left force sensitive children with Chopper, but my point still stands. In a contest between who’s a more homicidal babysitter if you stand IG-11 and C1-10P side by side, Chopper’s definitely the one who tazes the other guy in the knee unprovoked.)

From a meta perspective it’s definitely safer to have Jacen on the Ghost than hand him off to Luke, who’s probably working on his Jedi Academy now. (Which would also imply a sticky end for Jacen because he would either become a knight of Ren or. Oh. Yeah. Die. Slightly earlier.)

Jacen being famously named after a character who does in fact become a Sith Lord in old canon, while his sister, Jaina gets mentored by a Mandalorian was kind of a huge sharp breath in for everyone who remembered even when he was revealed. Especially when Sabine got the darksaber.

Hera also knew Ahsoka as Fulcrum before anyone else in the team and probably…knew her past given her protectiveness of the information that Kanan was a Jedi.

So…Hera knows or has known two lapsed Jedi with very complicated feelings about their religion.

Keeping Jacen close and not passing him off to someone to train is a definite choice and is probably more what’s going on here.

So what I’m getting is Hera doesn’t want her son to be a Jedi. And she’s being confronted day by day with the possibility he will be one.

Hell, Jacen even has the same haircut as early Ezra. And all the lead-up at present for a Reverse Jaina and Jacen with Sabine…who’s…made her choices.

Filoni’s been very up front about mining EU for content what with use of Thrawn and the Jedi Temple Connection points. He’s quoted chapter and verse out of the Jedi Path source material from like…early 2000s on Twitter I think at least once defending the Wolfgates thing.

He knows what he wants to do with Jacen, and I wish most of the possibilities weren’t particularly dark given new canon.

Hera Syndulla now gets to join Din Djarin in the "Irresponsible Parent Who Intentionally Brings Their Child Into an Active Warzone Despite Alternatives Existing" Club.

[hops-hunny]

im back!! well not totally back, but i have a treat for you ;)

idk if you are comfortable with sex tapes, if youre not you can ignore this

it's about nev with the hot popular person who everybody wants :)

okay so, the reader and neville are dating in secret, but the reader wants neville to tell people that theyre dating, and as neville expected, no one believed him

neville is sad and the reader wants to cheer him up, so, why not have sex with him right? it's the best way to cheer someone up

but the reader wants to spice things up with the idea of recording a sex tape

nev is like "sure! why not?" cause he LOVES that kind of thing

they record the sex tape, they watch it, and they watch it again, and again, and they love it, and they do it again...

a few days later the tape was """""accidentaly""""" leaked

and everyone watch it, and they are SO FUCKING SURPRISED due to the fact that not only neville is dating the hottest person in school, but also cause in the tape, he is fucking them into oblivion, and people never thought about neville being a dom and rough during sex, actualy people didnt even imagined that neville had sex SHDISKDJJS

now sweet neville is happy and can hug and kiss his fit s/o in the hallway with confidence cause now, everybody knows he has a hot s/o and a massive dick

thank u for your atention <3

idk if this has anything to do with exhibition, but if it does, hope you liked it cause i know you have a kink for that

~🌻

PRONOUNS: SHE/HER

erkkr 🌻 anon, you remembered one of my kinks? pls that's so cute ily <3 also I didn't know which pronouns you wanted so if you want I can probably go back and change it if these aren't to your liking!

"I know you're upset Nev, but this was your idea in the first place darling." (Y/n) said, straddling the boy as they stroked his cheek. She placed a peck on his lips, pulling away to look into his hazel eyes.

"I-I know but I didn't think that would include me having to watch blokes flirt with you and be able to do nothing about it!" He huffed out, wrapping his arms around his girlfriend's waist. (Y/n) stood up in front of him, a flirty look present on her face.

"Well," she started as she began to unbutton her shirt, dropping then thin white material to reveal her bra, "There is something you can do about it." his face flushed as he motioned her over, pulling her panties down before stuffing them in his back pocket. Gripping her waist with one hand, he used his other to flip up her skirt, revealing her slick covered folds.

"Yeah? What would that be pretty girl, having me mark you up? Leave bites and bruises all over this pretty little body of yours?" The boy ran his thick digits along her messy cunt, chuckling as she whimpered, nodding and urging him to go further. "Use your words, bunny."

"P-please touch me Nev. Want you to mark me and make me yours.." she felt her eyes roll to the back of her head as his thick fingers curved inside of her, letting out a sigh as he began to pump them in and out. The girl climbed into his lap, resting her head on his shoulder as he began to speed up his pace, tips brushing against the spongy surface of her cervix. Her eyes landed on her phone across the room, still positioned on the tripod from a photoshoot she had of herself earlier. "W-wait, I wanna try something...."

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

(Y/n) was completely confused. Ever since she had made her way from her room this morning, eyes followed her every move. That wasn't the uncommon part, no that happened quite a bit. The uncommon part was the unusual whispers that came with them. She felt relieved when her friends approached her, same treatment as they usually gave her.

"Ya know (Y/n), I should've known you'd go for someone like Longbottom. I mean I never saw the appeal but after seeing that little tape of yours, I can see why!" Sasha giggled, nudging her friend along with Sophie on the girl's other side. (Y/n) felt herself grow dizzy.

"T-tape?!" she squeaked, watching as Sophie pulled her phone out, handing it over to the girl. (Y/n) watched herself on the screen with wide eyes.

Tossled hair, puffy lips, and thick mascara tears running down her face, she watched as Neville lifted her up flush against his chest, tightening the grip he had around it. He smirked into the camera, pulling out of her as he rubbed his monster of a cock along her folds, light reflecting off the piercing in the tip. His dick was a sight, long and thick, inches upon inches covered with a mix of their juices.

(Y/n) let out a series of whimpers, crying and whining from the loss of him inside of her, causing him to turn her head to look at him some. He pecked her lips before turning her messy face to look at the camera. He looked down at her, eyes filled with lust and admiration.

"Tell the camera who's you are, pet or daddy's not putting it back in." He stated, continuing to rub and slap his cock along her folds. She whimpered, blabbering something incoherent which caused him to cackle. "Oh come on, puppy, daddy knows you can do better than that."

"Y-yours Nev! Daddy's whore." she cried out, letting out a series of yesses as he slid back into her at full force. "G-good, feels so good! Neville's good girl, all yours." he released his firm grip on her face, patting it gently as he tightened his hand around her throat more, continuing to fuck her as he admired his work in the reflection of the phone screen.

"I-I've seen enough! Here, take it back." she shrieked, handing the phone back to her friend trying to ignore the heat in her cheek and the pooling in her panties (which she was lucky Neville hadn't taken already). "Let's go, I've gotta find him!"

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

Neville had been enjoying the attention he had been receiving all day. How could he not? All those poor, jealous, lovesick boys envious of him? Some of the most well known boys in the castle, begging him for even a word of what his baby's cunt feels like. He'd never tell them though, he had so snarkly replied to each one of them with something along the lines of 'you've got a hand, I'm sure you can use your imagination'. However one thing was obvious: he'd never miss the opportunity to brag about it to the boys.

"I just, I'm in shock! You're fucking (L/n)?!" Ron exclaimed, standing up from the ratty couch as he ran his fingers through his hair. Neville chuckled, smirking some as he examined his friends' jealous expressions.

"Well I'm not just fucking her, she's my bird." he shrugged, as if it wasn't the most shocking thing they'd heard in a while.

"Yeah, yeah that's nice. Not to be rude but," Harry cleared his throat as he pushed his glasses up his nose. "You have sex? Was she your first time?"

"(Y/n)? God no. I was hers however." he turned his attention back to his phone screen, which everyone's eyes was currently on. Since most, if not all the castle had seen it, what was the problem with watching it with the boys?

"I'm not surprised Neville has sex, he's my boy!" Seamus exclaimed, patting the boy in question's back way too hard. "I'm more so surprised that he's a beast of a man, like look at that!"

Neville spit in the girl's mouth, hooking his fingers on the inside of her mouth. He used his leverage on it to hold her up, stretching her mouth back as he continued to pound her. (Y/n) let out multiple screams and moans, tears continuing to poor down her face.

"God she's so pretty like that." Neville sighed, leaning back as he looked at the ceiling. However, something caught his attention out the corner of his eye. He smiled as a familiar set of beautiful (s/c) legs made their way over to him. Seamus quickly turned off the screen, all of them freezing up as the girl and her posse stopped in front of them.

"Wow, I-"

"You're, you're..."

"I-I..."

"Hi petal, you alright?" He asked, hovering above the girl as he stroked her cheek. She nodded some before pouting.

"Yeah, I would be better if half the school hadn't seen my tits before the time I even woke up! How'd you manage to leak it anyways?" she whispered, hiding her face in his chest to avoid the horny gazes of his friends.

"To be fair, I thought I hit your name not all contacts!" he lied, causing her to look up. She looked at his ears before gasping looking back up at him again as she punched his shoulder.

"Neville Longbottom, you leaked it on purpose?! Don't even lie again, your ears always get red when you lie!" she huffed out, turning away from him. "I wouldn't have had a problem with releasing it if you had just asked. I will admit though, it is kinda nice not having to hide and sneak around anymore."

"I'm still not over the fact that he has a piercing.....and thigh tattoo!" Dean finally spoke up, catching everyone's attention. It grew silent for a bit before they all began to laugh.

"Well there's a lot you don't know about me."

"I think it's better that way after this. I don't know how much more Neville I wanna get to know."

TAGSLIST: @princesslaiahg @elemental-of-magic @pink-hufflepuff @nevillelongbottomlover @ezra-my-beloved @vayeya11 @beewitchedlou @redpanda-poetry @nevillelongbottomsgirlfriend @De4d-s0up

[wondersofdreaming]

Show Night

Characters: Henry Cavill x female reader

Word count: 1.446

Warnings: Pure fluff. Competitiveness. Blurting. Hidden relationship. A little teasing. Embarassment. 

Author’s note: This is a prequel to Game Night

Thank you @radaofrivia​ for your inspiration, motivation and for guiding me <3

Go read her stories here: Rada’s Masterlist

Divider by @firefly-graphics​

I do not own any characters in this short story, except the reader who is a figment of my imagination.

MASTERLIST

Feedback is appreciated.

“Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, we have a very special treat for all of you. We have the entire Justice League here with us. Please give a warm welcome to Gal Gadot, Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Ray Fisher and Ezra Miller.”

The entire audience clapped. There were whistling, some were screaming at the top of their lungs. You were cheering just as loud. Watching your handsome boyfriend walk out and wave to everyone. A relaxed smile spread on his lips when his eyes landed on you.

You were at the Graham Norton show. Sitting on the front row. No one knew who you were except the man who owned your body, heart, and soul, and now also Graham Norton and his crew. The producers had wanted you to stay backstage, but you had been adamant on wanting to sit in the audience and watching the show live. They had relented in the end if you promised not to cause a ruckus, which you had sworn.

Graham starts asking questions about the Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and at some point the engagement ring for Amy Adams’ character ‘Lois Lane’ comes into the conversation.

“Did you in fact choose that ring yourself, Henry?” Graham asked and motioned to the monitor behind him, showing a closeup of the ring.

“I didn’t. I actually have no clue where it comes from,” Henry chuckled, his eyes searching for you. You could see he was a little nervous, as he was fiddling with the hem of his suit jacket. You put your hand on your chest and crossed your fingers.

It was your secret sign for him. A sign of your devotion to him, as you had promised to always be there for him. The idea came to you while watching your favourite anime show ‘Fairy Tail’.

“If you ever become nervous or need a reminder, then look towards me or the camera if I am not there. I will you show you this sign,” you had crossed your fingers over your heart, “Even if you can’t see me, no matter how far away you may be, I will always be watching over you.”(1)

It had been a day where Henry had had a long day filled with interviews right at the beginning of your relationship. He hadn’t wanted to ask you to come, which was the reason why you hadn’t attended, thinking he wanted to work in peace. He proceeded to come home and went directly for your lap, falling asleep in 0.2 seconds, and you had asked him to bring you with him to work, as you, an author, could work anywhere.

“… I think it is about time he finds himself a girlfriend, a woman to spend his life with,” Jason’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts. You looked up to see Henry squirming more than before. His jaw was tense as he was forcing a laugh. You felt his pain and wished you could sit next to him and squeeze his hand in yours.

“I have a lot of single friends, Supes. Say the word and I’ll introduce you,” Jason smacked Henry’s thighs with the biggest grin on his bearded face. It may have sounded like a joke to the audience but Henry knew that Jason wasn’t teasing.

“I don’t think my girlfriend will like that you’re playing matchmaker, brother,” Henry smiled. All the actors’ faces fell, even Jason was gobsmacked as his jaw dropped to the floor.

Then Henry noticed what he had just said. His head turned towards you with a look of utter shock. He had just blurted out that he wasn’t single anymore, without having consulted you. Your heart was racing, your secret had been revealed. In some way, it felt like a heavy stone having been lifted from your shoulders.

You didn’t know whether to scold him for not asking you to make your relationship public or to laugh at the horror he was sporting on that handsome face of his. You opted for the second choice, the people around you followed suit and started laughing and cheering.

“Well, you heard it here first, ladies and gentlemen, Henry Cavill is officially off the market,” Graham announced to the camera. “Now, Henry, you have to tell us how you two met.”

“We… eh… met through mutual friends. They were having a game night, and we ended up being paired together for charades,” Henry smiled at the memory. Looking at you, making you fall even more in love with him. Jason and the others noticed where Henry was looking and started shouting for you to join the group.

“Oh yes, please she must join us for the next part of the fun,” Graham pleaded.

Ray and Ezra both stood and went to stand at the edge of the stage. Each man gallantly offered a hand, which you took and was led towards the sofa. Jason moved to make space for you and was wearing a big grin, his eyes shining with glee.

After the rounds of introduction and you told what your occupation was, Graham went to introduce the little quiz game he had conjured. You were each given a button that made a sound. Yours sounded like a pig snorting, while Henry’s was a howling wolf.

“So, the winner gets to take home whatever is underneath this piece of cloth,” Graham said after he had told you the rules. He motioned to the covered box next to him.

“Everyone ready?” he asked. All the actors and yourself said yes. Henry was leaning a little forward, to be ready to push his button.

“First question: Who are the original members of the Justice League?”

You pushed your button faster than anyone, while Henry pushed his so hard it nearly flew off the table.

“Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Batman, The Flash, Superman and Green Lantern,” you told Graham. (2)

“Go girly,” Gal cheered for you. She leaned forward and raised her hand for a high five, which you returned.

“Correct! Question number two: What is the Green Lantern oath?”

*Oink oink*

Again you were the fastest. Everyone watched as Henry let out an annoyed huff, but his face showed nothing but absolute happiness.

“In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight.

Let those who worship evil’s might Beware my power, Green Lantern’s light. (3)” You quoted.

You felt the other actors starring at you. Jason gave you a side hug and told you that Henry had found not only a beautiful woman but also an impressive one and that he was damn lucky to have you. You had smiled back and felt yourself being pulled back towards Henry’s side. He held a protective arm around you the remaining of the show.

“Seriously, Cavill. Don’t want to compete with your girl?” Jason asked teasingly.

“I’ll gladly just lean back and let her have her time in the light. Besides, I’m already winning because she’s with me,” Henry smiled proudly at you. You heard the entire audience all go ‘awwwwwwwww’, so did the actors and Jason went between you and Henry to hug both of you.

“Third question: In what year was the first Justice League comic book published?”

Again you were quick to push the button.

“Depending on whether you’re talking about the first time they appeared all together which was in The Brave and the Bold #28 (4) and published in 1959, while their very first own comic book series was published in late 1960.” (5)

Henry raised his eyebrows, clearly dazzled by your vast knowledge. 

“Correct again. Seems you know more about the Justice League than the Justice League itself,” Graham joked.

“I didn’t expect anything less from Superman’s girlfriend,” Ben said with an appreciative grin.

You felt Henry moving closer to you, hugging you tighter to his chest. It was the safest you had ever felt, and even though Henry hadn’t gotten one single point, he was still oozing happiness. Happy to have you by his side forever and ever.

“Here is what you’ve won,” Graham handed you the box and removed the cloth. Inside was Funko Pop figurines of every Justice League member.

After the show, you made sure that every single actor signed their respective figure, and you had pictures taken with them to remember the evening.

At home, you arranged the figures with how they look on the poster you had hung on the wall of your office.

“Another win for the team,” you said out loud. Henry walked in and hugged you from behind. He wrapped those big arms around your middle and whispered seductively in your ear:

“I’m the real winner here.”

1. This is a line from Fairy Tail episode 48 by Makarov Dreyar. I changed it a bit to fit the context.

2. Source https://ew.com/books/brief-history-of-the-justice-league-in-all-its-incarnations/ 

3. Source https://greenlantern.fandom.com/wiki/Lantern_Oaths_(Disambiguation) 

4. Source https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/The_Brave_and_the_Bold_Vol_1_28

5. Source https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Justice_League_of_America_Vol_1_1 

[insomniamamma]

Late Bloomers: Ezra x F! Reader w/Cee

A/n: Set in the "Liminal" AU in which Ezra becomes his niece, Cee's legal guardian after a car accident kills his brother, Damon, and costs him his arm. Set sometime between "Ferris  Wheels Are For Old People" and "Surf City Goodness." Reader is Ezra's neighbor. Established relationship (sort of, IDK how to tag what they are). For @autumnleaves1991-blog​ and @clydesducktape​ Writer Wednesday.

Warnings: Not a whole lot. Kissing. Touching. A little spicier than I usually go, which isn't saying whole lot. A little language.  Cee, as usual, needs her own warning. Set during the pandemic shut down. Mentions of covid. Also, I feel like 'The Apple' needs it's own warning. I'll link the trailer at the end.

           "You sure you don't want to come with us, Birdie?" Cee sits at their scarred kitchen table, her laptop, textbooks and a pile of papers around her. She frowns.           "I gotta study," she says, "Ms Stewart is really serious about this quiz. She's not grading on a curve this time." Ezra narrows his eyes.           "You have never spent a Saturday night studying in your life," he says. Cee frowns up at him.           "You've never been in Ms. Stewart's physics class," says Cee, "She's a hard ass. Anyway, I'm still pulling an 'A' in her class, but I don't want to fuck up my average."           "Jesus, Cee," Ezra mutters, and you have to smile. She rolls her eyes.           "I know, I know--"           "Don't say 'fuck' at school," they say in unison.           "They're doing double features all summer," says Cee, "I can miss one. I've seen all these movies anyway." She smirks, "I want to hear what you think of 'The Apple.'" Ezra rummages around for his keys and Cee drops you the most exaggerated wink you've ever seen in your life.           "Have fun, guys," she says.

         Covid has nuked most of the things you used to do for fun, restaurants and shows, hell, even the libraries are closed. The only business in town that's thriving is the Star-City Drive In. There haven't been any big studio releases in a while, so they've been doing Fright Night Fridays and Sci-Fi Saturdays. Tonight's double feature is Flash Gordon and The Apple.          "They've got this weird way of operating the concession stand now," says Ezra, "Cause of the pandemic. You've gotta text them your order and I guess they bring it out to you--" Ezra's gotten pretty good at working his phone one-handed, but you can see the frustration clouding his face.          "Let me," you say, loading the menu onto your phone, "Let's get a big popcorn and share it. You okay with the fake butter?"          "Of course I'm okay with the fake butter, what kind of monster do you take me for?"          "How about candy?" You ask, scrolling through, "It's the usual suspects."          "Sno-caps," he says, "How about you?"          "I'm thinking Milk Duds," you say.          "Now that is an excellent way to lose a filling, Sunshine."          "Popcorn and Milk Duds together? Worth the risk," you say and text your order off to the concession stand. It's not quite dark yet, a reel of movie trivia that no one cares about shines ghost pale on the screen. Ez has got the radio tuned to pick up the sound, but there's not much to listen to yet so it's turned down low, background noise with the cicadas and birdsong. The big screen backs up against a farmer's field run wild and a dark stand of trees.          "Switch places with me," says Ezra, and gets out of the truck. He comes around to your side and opens the door for you.          "Why?"          "Indulge me," says Ezra, so you do as he asks and settle in to the driver's side. Ezra's truck has bench seats with vinyl that creaks and cushions that hiss slightly as you move around. There's a tap at the window and you hook your mask over your ears and crank it down, popcorn and candy and you already payed with your phone, but press some rumpled bills into their gloved hands.          "Why'd you want to switch places?" You ask around a mouthful of popcorn.          "Shhh," says Ezra, "The movie's starting."

         Flash Gordon is just as fun as you remember it being, majestic in its absurdity, a big love letter to all the terrible pulp sci-fi movies that came before, the two of you watch and snark and laugh and sing "Aaa-ahhh" whenever someone says Flash's name. We owe it to Queen, you say, and Ezra smiles big the way he does when something's caught him off guard, the way that crinkles his eyes and reveals his dimples, indeed we do. We owe it to Freddie Mercury.          At some point his arm finds it's way around your shoulders and you lean into him.          "So this is why you wanted to switch spots," you murmur. He raises his prosthetic arm, flickering movie light shining on the double hook at the end.          "Can't exactly get handsy with Mr. Claw, now can I?" He grins, "These hooks might be a little chilly."          "And pokey," you say, demonstrating with a dig to his ribs. The end credits are rolling.          "You ever seen this next movie?"          "The Apple?" He says, "No. Some sort of cult-movie thing. Cee made me promise not to IMDB it. She said I should go in with an open mind."          "Oh boy," you laugh.          "Right? Cee's tastes are all over the place. I suspect this will be either amazing  or terrible on a scale that recalibrates our internal gauge of what terrible is."          "You know she set us up, right?"          "Yeah," says Ezra, "Little Bird fancies herself quite the matchmaker."          "She winked at me." Ezra dimples.          "Did she now?"          "She looked like a cartoon," you laugh, "About as subtle as a ton of bricks." Ezra brays laughter and leans against you, squeezes you closer to him at the same time. He is beautiful when he laughs, all dimples and teeth eyes screwed shut in mirth and you take this opportunity to press a kiss against that tender place on his jaw where his beard refuses to grow. Ezra freezes, you feel his body go rigid against yours, and your first thought is to apologize, to pull back, and then he reaches for you, his broad, calloused palm cradling your face, drawing you to him, presses his lips to yours, a soft, reverent kiss that he does not fully withdraw from, his hand now resting on the nape of your neck, forehead pressed to yours, somehow more intimate than a kiss, this closeness, breathing each others exhalations, leaning against each other.          "Cee's not wrong," you say, "We're good together."          "We are, aren't we?" He gives your nape a gentle squeeze, and lets you go. The opening titles of The Apple flicker on screen and the music starts up.

         "Oh, Ezra, what the fuck did we just watch?"          "I don't know if 'watch' is the right word, Sunshine, we did not 'watch' The Apple. The Apple happened to us."          "I don't think I've ever understood Stockholm syndrome until now."          "I have been assaulted," says Ezra, "My civil rights have been violated."          "It's like..." You trail off, "It's like if someone took '1984', 'A Star Is Born' and 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show' and put them in a blender. I'm pretty sure this movie violates the Geneva conventions." Ezra laughs and so do you, leaning in to each other, giggles that become kisses, soft at first, but increasingly hungry, laced with need, your arms twine around his shoulders, his hand lingers at your side, toying with the hem of your shirt.          "S'okay, Ez," you say as he nips at your jaw and then your neck, gentle graze of teeth that makes you shiver, "You can touch me." He kisses you deep, his tongue fever-hot against yours, hand sliding up the soft slope of your belly, cupping your breast, and you arch into his touch--          Tap Tap Tap. And there's a bright light shining through the passenger's side window.          "Oh shit," says Ezra. You frantically yank your shirt back down, heat creeping up your neck, your cheeks, your earlobes flaming.          "Movie's over guys," says the shadowed figure behind the flashlight's glare, "Take it someplace else." You open the door to switch places back with Ezra, the overhead light shows him red faced and horrified.          "I'm sorry, I just--"          "Get us out of here, Ez."

         You stare out into the dark past the window, half-moon shining over fields and trees like a lazy eye. You snort laughter.          "What's so funny?"          "We got caught," you say, "We got caught necking at the drive-in like a couple of teenagers."          "You're laughing because we got caught?"          "I'm laughing because I've never made out with anyone at a drive-in, even when I was a teenager, and I'm laughing cause we got caught. After watching that trash-fire of a movie. We got caught making out over the end credits of 'The Apple'. I feel like we deserve some kind of award." You rest your hand on Ezra's leg, can just pick his smile in the dim lights from the dash. Ezra chuckles.          "I never made out with anyone at the drive in before tonight either," says Ezra.          "Bullshit," you say, and give him a good-natured poke.          "It's true," he says, "For one, I didn't have access to a car. I would've had to borrow Ma's car, and there was no way that was ever going to happen. Also, I was not what the girls back then referred to as 'dating material'. Skinny as a rake with a mouthful of braces and an obvious birthmark? I was like a puppy trying to grow into it's ears and feet, a late bloomer if you will." You move your hand higher up along his thigh and give him a squeeze.          "Better late than never."          "Indeed."

Flash Gordon Trailer

The Apple Trailer

[hobbitkiller]

This is going to sound glib, but the show is called “Ahsoka,” and it’s amazing we got as much Sabine as we did. Something we have to remember is that this show isn’t just for us. One of the main reasons it exists is to bring these characters to the more mainstream audience, many of whom will never watch Rebels or Clone Wars. Ahsoka was an in to the series because she was introduced in Mando and has the connection to Anakin. This show was not the place to go super in depth about Sabine.

Would it have benefitted from maybe one more conversation about her motives? Absolutely, and that I blame on mystery box narrative thinking—everything has to be a reveal instead of just explained straight. We have to reveal what is going on with Sabine and Ahsoka instead of just explaining it up front—that, I agree, is problematic, particularly when you only have eight episodes. This means these reveals, many of which end up underwhelming, either get pushed to later seasons or rushed through for time. I still don’t think it made Sabine out of character or ruined her, it just meant the story was not as well told as it could have been.

Now that Sabine’s been established, we can hopefully dedicate more time to that period.

I see the take about Sabine being super powerful now around and she isn’t. She did one Force pull and one Force push helped by Ezra first using a Force jump. Pretty basic stuff. Also, Sabine is a genius, so it stands to reason she’d be able to quickly adapt the Force once she unlocked it.

As for Chirrut, I can’t say for sure. Maybe it was because he never trained directly under a Jedi. Maybe his reverence for the Jedi actually blocked him—he thought they were better than him and so he could never do what they could. Maybe he has even less midichlorians than Sabine. Obviously, these weren’t the backstory when the movie came out, but, since Star Wars loves to create explanations for things after the fact, I feel like any of those could be reasonable.

I have yet to see someone use evidence from Rebels to explain why Sabine becoming a Jedi goes against her character. The most I’ve seen is “She was great without being a Jedi” and “Why does everyone have to be a Jedi?” While both of these might be reasons her becoming a Jedi turns some off from what they originally liked about the character, neither of them are evidence this goes against her character arc.

I get folks who don’t like it. My initial reaction to the idea was negative, but then I really grew to like it. I just don’t think you can argue that it goes against what has been established about her character or the Force.

[msfilmdiary]

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012)

Starring: Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller, Mae Whitman, Nina Dobrev, Paul Rudd, Johnny Simmons, Kate Walsh, Dylan McDermott, Nicholas Braun, and Melanie Lynskey

Screenplay by Stephen Chbosky 

Directed by Stephen Chbosky 

Cinematography by Andrew Dunn

I do not own any of the photos posted. 

SPOILERS AHEAD 

First of all, I want to say that I love this book. I read it once about every couple of months, and I find something new in it every time I read it. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower is a coming-of-age film written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. The film is told, like the book, in a series of letters written by Charlie to an unknown recipient. These letters include his triumphs and tribulations of his freshman year of high school. The films depict his mental struggles and his journey with his friends, Sam and Patrick. 

After meeting the well-rounded seniors Sam and Patrick at a football game, they invite him to a party. At said party, Charlie accidentally consumes a weed brownie and tells Sam that his best friend committed suicide. He also walks in on Patrick and the school’s quarterback Brad, kissing, to which Patrick tells Charlie that Brad is closed. Both Sam and Patrick then drive Charlie home and experience the infamous tunnel scene, which is possibly one of the most memorable scenes in the film. 

As the film progresses, Charlie slowly develops feelings for Sam and tells her on multiple occasions. Sam, however, has a boyfriend in college named Craig. Charlie later confesses to Sam that he’d never been kissed, and Sam tells him that his first kiss should be with someone who loves him, and ultimately ends up kissing him.

Charlie later begins a relationship with Sam’s friend Mary Elizabeth after the Rocky Horror Picture Show, while still having obvious feelings for Sam. At a party, Charlie is dared to kiss the prettiest girl in the room by Patrick, to which he ends up kissing Sam instead of Mary Elizabeth, upsetting them both. Patrick advises Charlie to distance himself from everyone for a little while, and he ends up in isolation and deep depression. 

When Charlie returns to school, he notices that Brad shows up with bruises on his face after being caught having sex with Patrick by his father. He claims he was jumped, and begins to distance himself from Patrick, calling him a f*ggot. Patrick punches him, and Brad’s friends begin beating on him until Charlie intervenes and blacks out. After recovering, he finds that Brad’s friends are incapacitated, while his hands are bruised from fighting. Sam and Patrick express gratitude towards Charlie, seemingly forgiving him for past events. However, after blacking out, Charlie’s mental state begins to worsen and worsen. 

TW: sexual assault 

Patrick then kisses Charlie and immediately apologizes. Sam is accepted into Pennsylvania State University, and breaks up with her Craig after learning of his faithfulness. The night before she leaves for college, her and Charlie confide in each other, and he experiences flashbacks of his Aunt Helen, his aunt who died in a car crash when he was seven. After Sam leaves for college the next morning, Charlie’s mental state deteriorates, and his flashbacks become more and more apparent. He blames himself for his aunt’s death, and is later committed to a mental hospital where it is revealed that she sexually abused him. 

The film ends with Sam, Patrick and Charlie revisiting the tunnel where Sam has revealed she has found the perfect tunnel song–“Heroes” by David Bowie. Sam kisses Charlie, and he stands up on the back of the truck, acknowledging that he feels alive with the statement “We are infinite.” 

As someone who's both read The Perks of Being a Wallflower and seen the film, it’s difficult to separate the materials into their own entities, despite being the same story. The casting is near perfection, as I couldn’t imagine anyone besides Emma Watson playing Sam and Ezra Miller playing Patrick. They both deliver a stellar performance, as did Paul Rudd with Mr. Anderson, and Mae Whitman as Mary Elizabeth. 

The film allows Emma Watson to shed her ten year Harry Potter skin, in a role that I don’t think could’ve been more perfect for her. It allows Ezra Miller some dimension when compared to his character in We Need To Talk About Kevin. 

I want to talk about Sam and the “manic pixie dream girl” stereotype that is often placed on her, mostly because I don’t think she fits any of the characteristics. I recently wrote an essay about strong female characters being overtaken by this craize of the “manic pixie dream girl,” to which I discussed her character, and how I think that she is not solely there for Charlie’s gain and fixation (as many characters with manic pixie dream girl syndrome are.) I think her character separation from Charlie is more prevalent in the book, as I believe that her character on paper is more determined to be seen as separate from the people around her. She isn’t there solely to fix Charlie, or anyone around her for that matter. She has dreams and ambitions, and her own goals away from Charlie. She grows as a character, but not at Charlie’s, or any other male character's expense. She is her own person, or character, rather it be. 

Let’s talk about the soundtrack, which I think truly brought The Perks of Being a Wallflower to life from paper to screen. From my perspective, many of those who watch the film now associate certain songs with certain scenes, like “Come on Eileen” with Sam and Patrick dancing, or “Heroes” with the tunnel scene. For one, I think that replacing Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” for David Bowie’s “Heroes'' made the tunnel scene absolutely magical, more than the book could ever do. I think the tunnel scene made the movie stand out, while the tunnel scene in the book was what I remember being as words on paper. I couldn’t see the scene in my head, whereas the film depicted a version that I believe to be more memorable than the film as a whole itself. Other notable mentions I would like to include would be the song “Could it Be Another Change?” and “Teen Age Riot,” which I think were perfect selections for the feel of the film.  

I would categorize this film as a teenage classic (I know, big words) mostly because I think so many teenagers relate to it. It’s funny and charming, but also at times it allows the viewer to think and reflect about what’s happening around them. The film allows a break from reality, but not a complete severe that doesn’t allow one to stay grounded. I also, for another pointer, think the soundtrack is phenomenal. 

That being said, do I think that the film is better than the book? No. A hundred times no. Do I detest the film? No. I don’t. I think it’s a extraordinary adaptation, and I think that it’s so extraordinary because it’s written and directed by Chbosky himself. He created real characters, both on paper and on screen, that allowed many of the viewers to see themselves in the film. He allowed the viewers to (forgive me) feel infinite. Which, in turn, is all anyone truly wants, to feel completely and utterly infinite. 

Overall rating: 8/10

[pretchatta]

swoon june day 9: fairy tales

loosely based on the greek myth of orpheus and eurydice

rating: general (warning for character death); kanan jarrus/hera syndulla; 3.5k words

---

There once lived a man who was blessed by the gods, and his name was Kanan.

Kanan was one of the Kasminauts, the fabled heroes who travelled with Janus to retrieve the Golden Flight. His skill with a blade was considerable and helped the group out of many a tight corner over the course of their quest, but it was his silver tongue that proved to be his most valuable asset.

Kanan’s divine gift had been bestowed upon him by Depa, goddess of the spoken word, and his was the gift of storytelling. When Kanan began a tale, all would stop in their tracks to listen. Men would pause in their work; beasts of the forest both great and timid would emerge from their dens; even the trees would inch closer to hear him. It was his way with words that allowed the Kasminauts to pass the Golden Flight’s devaronian guard, Jondo, as well as surmount countless other obstacles on their journey.

When their quest came to an end and the heroes returned home, Kanan decided to settle down. He found a cottage at the edge of a forest and he made it his home. Now this forest was not an ordinary forest, for it was inhabited by a clan of twi’lek nymphs, and it was during a walk along the forest’s border that Kanan’s ears caught the sound of the loveliest voice he’d ever heard. Enraptured, he sought out its source, and that was how he met Hera.

Hera was the daughter of Cham, the leader of the forest twi’lek. Her beauty and grace were indescribable, and Kanan fell in love with her the moment he laid eyes on her. From that day he would come to the forest every morning to tell Hera one of his many magical tales, hoping to win her affections. What he didn’t know was that Hera already returned his feelings; she had heard of Kanan and his silver tongue, but wanted to see how far he would go for her.

The first tale he told was of an ancient order of noble warriors. His words painted pictures of elegant figures in flowing robes protecting the weak and caring for the needy. In his attempt to impress Hera he made it his best performance to date. So inspiring were his words that the forest itself felt inclined to grow. The trees pushed their roots further than they’d expanded in years and new saplings shot up in every direction, increasing the area the forest protected.

Kanan’s second tale was a tragedy, one of betrayal and loss and hardship. He made this one even better than his last, delving into his deepest reserves of emotion as he told it. So moving were his words that the ground itself wept. A new stream sprang from the forest floor, feeding the forest’s new growth, and the trees grew lusher than ever.

His third tale was of new beginnings, describing friendships forged and purpose found. His voice soared with his most powerful story yet and carried through the whole forest, uplifting every beast and being who heard it. That night there was much celebrating, with everyone who lived in those woods rejoicing in the life they had and the ones they shared it with, and by the following morning the forest’s population was inexplicably larger.

Hera, seeing her home revitalised and strengthened by Kanan’s tales, held no doubts in her mind of his devotion. She revealed her heart to him and they were married in a beautiful ceremony by the stream. The wedding was well-attended, with music and dancing from her people, drinking and laughter from the Kasminauts, and a special performance from Chopper, a bird that Hera had once nursed to health and who had stayed with her ever since. Kanan and Hera moved into the cottage at the edge of the forest, and they were blissfully happy together.

But it was not to last.

They were not the only ones who lived by the forest, and a man by the name of Azmorigan also desired Hera. His covetous feelings drove him to pursue her relentlessly, but never within sight of Kanan. One day, he waited for Hera to take her daily walk outside of the cottage and snuck up behind her. Hera, having been raised in the forest and knowing its sounds like her own heartbeat, heard Azmorigan approaching. She fled before he could touch her, but in her haste to escape, she did not watch her step. Her foot fell on the back of a ysalamiri lizard and it bit her ankle. The lizard’s lifeforce-suppressing venom seeped into her blood, and Hera fell to the ground.

Azmorigan fled, and it was evening before Kanan came to look for his wife. The man of such beautiful words was silent when he found her lifeless body. He was silent as he carried her back to the home they had shared, and the silence stretched for three days and three nights. Trees wilted, birdsong was half-hearted, and instruments would not hold their tune without Kanan’s words to lift spirits.

Finally, on the morning of the fourth day, Kanan re-emerged. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn on his voyage with the Kasminauts, with his sword strapped to his hip and a small travelling bag slung over his back. He said not a word as he departed for the hills.

Kanan’s journey was a long one. He travelled out of the forest and over the hills, through fields and between mountains until he reached the sea. He took a boat and sailed over the horizon and beyond, until he found land again. He crossed arid deserts, frozen tundra and lush jungle. He saw fishing villages, market towns and cities in the clouds, but he never stopped, and he never spoke.

Eventually, he reached the cliffs at the edge of the world. There he found a cave, an opening that descended into darkness, which he entered without hesitation. The tunnel took him deep underground and far away from the land of the living. He walked, his footsteps echoing off the stone walls, until he reached a gate. Standing before the gate was a fearsome sentinel, the honourable guardian Garazeb, his eyes wide and alert.

It was now that Kanan finally broke his silence.

“I wish to pass into the Land of the Dead,” he said softly.

“That is forbidden,” Garazeb growled, his deep voice like grinding rocks. “Only the dead may pass this gate. As long as I stand guard here, no living thing shall pass me, in or out.”

Kanan thought for a moment. “Very well. Then perhaps I could make your endless watch a little less dull. For I am Kanan, a storyteller of great renown.”

Garazeb did not respond, merely fixing Kanan with a stony stare, but he was not deterred.

Kanan began his tale. For the gate guardian who saw people from all walks of life pass him on their way to the Underworld, he recounted long marches to battle, legions of feet falling in step, their thunder echoing around them. He drew his sword to emphasize his words as he described endless repetitive days of marching, camping, marching, camping, always surrounded by the same faces. Garazeb’s eyes followed the blade as he swept it from side to side in an almost hypnotic fashion, drawing the same shapes over and over. Soon, the mighty guard’s eyelids began to droop. Kanan did not end his story until Garazeb finally slumped back against the wall, slid down to the ground and let out a deep, rumbling snore.

Silent once more, Kanan stepped over the sleeping sentinel and passed through the gate. He shivered as he felt the change in the air that signified he had done what no other living mortal had done: he had walked into the Land of the Dead, the World Between Worlds, the Underworld. Only his blessing from Depa protected him from Death’s icy embrace here.

The tunnel continued onwards, filled with chill, damp air, and Kanan with it. As he walked he became aware of a distant noise, a rushing, roaring sound that grew steadily louder as he proceeded. The tunnel turned a corner and Kanan emerged into an enormous cavern through the center of which thundered a wide river.

On the near shore, where the rocks were wet with spray, a man waited with a boat. Kanan approached him and spoke once more.

“I wish to cross the River of Souls.”

The man looked at Kanan. His face was young, but his eyes were old, and his expression was as cold as the waters of the river.

“I only ferry the dead over this river, and only in one direction.”

“Has anyone living ever asked you for passage?” Kanan challenged.

The man narrowed his eyes. “No. Garazeb does not allow them to pass the gate.”

“So why would you not take me across? I have made it this far, after all.”

“This river washes away all souls who are not worthy of eternal life in the fields beyond,” said the boatman. “If you attempt to cross and are not worthy, you too will be washed away into nothingness.”

“That is a risk I am willing to take.”

“Hm.” The boatman considered Kanan. “Then you will pay me for your passage. I ferry the dead for free because they have nothing, not even their lives, but this is not the case with you. What can you offer?”

After his long journey Kanan had only the barest of essentials, but he knew that what he needed he always carried with him.

“I have no money with me, but I am known for my skill with words,” he told the boatman. “I doubt you have much cause for joy down here; if I can make you smile, will that cover my trip?”

“I suppose it will. But I cannot remember the last time I smiled, and you will not be able to change that.”

“We shall see. Before I begin my story, might I have your name?” Kanan asked.

“I am Ezra, bridger of the River of Souls,” the boatman replied.

Kanan began yet another tale. For the man who had companions every day but not a single one who would stay with him, Kanan told a tale of families, of belonging, of love. His words brought warmth into the air that was chilled by the river’s spray, and light into the cavern that was out of reach of the sun. When he reached the part of the story where the father went back for his son, the corners of the boatman’s mouth twitched upwards.

When Kanan pointed it out, the boatman grumbled. “It was barely a smile. More of a spasm. Doesn’t count. But I’ll suppose I’ll allow you over. Keep telling the story though, it’s a long crossing.”

So Kanan did; he told of the father rescuing the son, and taking him home, and wrapping the boy in blankets and reassuring him that he was safe now, that nothing bad would ever happen to him, and that he was loved. By the time they reached the other shore, the boatman was smiling widely, and a few tears had run down his smooth cheeks.

“That is your second smile,” Kanan told him, “and I will want to make the return trip.”

“Fine,” Ezra agreed, still smiling. “You have earned it.”

There was no tunnel on the other side of the river, but great, rolling fields under a black sky. A road wound between them which Kanan started down. Dimly, he could see pale figures wandering aimlessly over the land. None of them drifted close enough for him to see their forms clearly and he did not deviate from his path forward to investigate. He was close to his goal now; he could feel it.

The road crested a small hill and there before him was his destination: a towering construction of smooth black stone that glinted with a mysterious light. The Palace of Malachor.

The road to the palace entrance was not empty, however. His way forward was blocked by a young woman in full armour. In the dim half-light of the Underworld the armour’s markings were greyscale swirls of shapes and patterns. A matching helmet was tucked under one of her arms.

She caught sight of him immediately.

“You are not dead,” she accused. “You do not belong here.”

“I seek an audience in the palace,” he told her.

“And I seek justice, as I did in life. I will not let you proceed until you are dead.”

Having come so far, Kanan would not let this stop him. Not when he was so close.

“So we will duel,” he said, “and if you win, I will die. But if I beat you, you will let me pass.”

She considered him for a moment before nodding. “Very well. I accept your terms.”

She fitted the helmet over her head and unsheathed the blade at her hip. It was even blacker than the land around them, so dark it seemed to absorb light. Kanan drew his own blade, and their duel began.

The warrior was strong, and quick with her blade, and Kanan soon realised he was outmatched in skill alone. So he began to talk as their blades clashed, and for someone so young who needed so much armour, he told a story of acceptance. He described a young girl forsaken by her family, forced to strike her own path before she was ready. He saw his words have an effect as the warrior’s blows faltered.

He continued, describing the comfort and safety the girl found in the arms of people who accepted her for who she was, and who loved her unconditionally. Her parry went wide and Kanan’s blade slipped past the warrior’s guard to press against her neck. The tear that had blurred her vision fell from under her helmet to splash on his blade. She yielded, and true to her word, allowed him to pass her.

It was not far, then, to his final destination. The doors of Malachor opened to his touch and he stepped into the throne room. Before him sat Maul, Lord of the Underworld, and it was he Kanan addressed.

“O Great Lord of the Dead, I have travelled vast distances to come here before you. My wife, Hera, the light of my life, was taken from me too soon and now she walks in the fields outside this very palace. I have come before you to humbly beg for her return.”

Maul regarded Kanan with utter indifference.

“And why should I do that?”

Kanan took a deep breath and opened his mouth. He told Maul a story, the tale of his long journey to the Underworld, the lands he had crossed and the sights he had seen. He told of how he had surmounted the obstacles from the gate guard to the boatman to the warrior of the fields. He told all of this with his most magical of gifts, but Maul was a god, and unmoved.

He did, however, recognise Kanan’s voice.

“I care not for the trials of mortals before their demise, but you have done me a service in the short life you have led so far. In your love for your wife, you told stories which grew a forest and the numbers of those who live in it. Many of them have, in turn, died, and their souls have come to me. In return for this act I will grant you the chance to see your wife again.”

For the first time since finding Hera in the woods, Kanan allowed himself to feel a spark of hope.

“She is indeed in the fields outside,” Maul continued. “Go to the doors and tell one of your famous stories; she will hear your voice and will come to you. If you then walk back to the land of the living she will follow, and I will make sure none will stop you. But be warned: if you are to see her complete her journey, you cannot look at her while she is still in the Underworld. Do not turn around until you are both standing under the sun once again, or you will never see her again.”

Kanan bowed deeply in gratitude and thanked the Lord of the Underworld before departing his presence to do as he suggested.

Kanan went to stand just outside of the palace doors, and he knew exactly which story to tell: the story of his life. It was one Hera would know well, because she knew him better than he knew himself. He began his telling, and the slightest brush of wind encouraged him to start walking.

As he crossed the fields, he passed the warrior again. It was as he was telling of his childhood and of the importance of family and standing together. Her helmet was tucked back under her arm and she nodded at him respectfully, the faintest of wistful smiles at her lips. She gave no acknowledgement of anyone following him.

He reached the river and the boatman, whose face was back to its stony mask. The man did not hesitate as Kanan approached, remembering their agreement and giving Kanan passage back to the other shore. During the crossing Kanan told of the heartbreak of having everything he knew ripped away from him, and the boatman nodded along mournfully as he steered the boat. Neither when he boarded nor disembarked did Kanan feel the boat respond to anyone else’s movements.

He was telling the legends of the Kasminauts when he came up to the gate. The guardian was awake again and watched him impassively as Kanan approached, recounting his adventures with his brothers. The honour guard gave no indication that anyone was following Kanan but made no move to stop him from leaving the Underworld.

It was as Kanan started the uphill climb through the final tunnel that he reached the best part of his story. This was the part where his travels ended and he met Hera. The most beautiful, perfect woman, who healed him and loved him and gave him everything he needed. His words echoed off the tunnel walls along with the sound of a single set of footsteps.

Kanan had no idea if Hera was following him. He knew, he trusted, that if she had heard him and been able, she would have come to him in the field and would have stayed with him since. But what if she hadn’t? What if Maul had tricked him? What if the warrior had blocked her way, or the boatman had denied her passage, or the guard had closed the gate on her?

He could see the brightness of daylight just ahead of him. If he returned to the overworld now, he would never be able to return. If she wasn’t behind him, he would lose her forever.

He had to know. He could not leave without her.

And so Kanan turned, and was overjoyed to see Hera’s wraith-like spirit only a short distance behind him. But her expression turned to dismay as he looked, and even as he opened his mouth in reassurance, a shadow fell over her.

Maul.

“I warned you not to look,” he spat, face twisted in anger, “and what have you done? Now, you will look no more!”

There was a flash of red, a blinding pain, and Kanan felt himself flung backwards and out of the tunnel. He landed on soft grass and felt the warmth of the sun on his face, though no light came through his eyes. He knew he was back in the mortal realm. He knew he could not return to the Underworld. He knew he had shattered his chance to retrieve Hera.

He cried out in pain and frustration and grief.

But then warm arms gripped him and pulled him into a solid embrace, and a voice spoke in his ear.

“Kanan?”

The most beautiful voice.

“Hera?”

He reached up to where the voice had come from, and his fingers traced an achingly familiar face. Tears tracked down her cheeks, but she was here, with him, alive again.

“Oh, Kanan, your eyes!” she cried. “He has ruined your eyes! How will you see?”

But Kanan smiled.

“I do not need my eyes to see you,” he told her.

And so they returned to their cottage at the edge of the forest, and to their happy life together. Though he was blind, Kanan could still tell his stories, and Hera still loved him deeply. The tale of how Kanan’s love for his wife had driven him to retrieve her from the depths of the Underworld was one he told to many generations of twi’lek in the forest, and it was even more popular than the legends of the Kasminauts.

He was still telling it when, well into old age, he recognised that his time had come. This time, Kanan and Hera travelled together into Death. They greeted the gate guard, the boatman and the warrior like old friends, and hand in hand they stepped into the fields, ready to spend eternity together.