#i love the idea of all the mercs being gossips

[sturnsdarling]

'Chris likes girls who don't like him back'

Late night streaming with your best friends turns to a conversation about the boys' type, and Chris gets called out

vibe check: flirty fluffy fun, 3/4 of my favourite f words

1.4k words

A/N: i had this idea literally straight away after what Matt said about Chris' type.........the idea of being Chris' best friend that he openly fancies but you're 'not interested' makes MY TOES CURL BRO LIKE ARE YOU KIDDING anyway I hope you love this. PART TWO IS INCOMING…

love and cigs, merc

"Matt he's right there what the fuck are you doing?!" you scream down the mic, nearly throwing your controller across the room as you jolt back in your chair.

You watch as Matt gets sniped in the head from the back, laughing as he wails on this desk, making the whole stream glitch and nearly crash. Chris is laughing along with you, trying not to make it obvious that he's watching you, and not Matt.

"Matt, bro you need to fuckin' up your game, y/n/n is actually carrying us right now." Chris says as Matt picks his chair up off the floor and sits back down in a huff.

"I always carry when I come on with you boys" you smirk, looking at the tiny square of Chris on your screen.

"yeah because you're a little sweat" Matt chuckles.

The boys had been streaming everyday for over a week now and, after some convincing, they managed to get you to join in on one of their games. At first you were apprehensive, obviously, but they explained that they were trying to diversify their platform and find a more mature audience so, actually interacting with girls on the internet was their first step.

You and the boys had been friends for forever, you met them through Nick in elementary school and had basically all been inseparable ever since, you'd been in some earlier videos but the fans back then made it very difficult to just exist around them so, you took it upon yourself to only exist in their real life, not their online one.

Cut to right now, you're nearly two hours deep in fortnite trios with the boys on stream, everyone was super excited to see you when they announced that they'd be joining and, other than a couple comments that you all ignored, it was going really well.

"Matt, someone asked what our types are" Chris laughed, reading the chat.

"I'm not answering that" Matt dead panned, screwing his face up at the camera

"I can answer it for you both, for sure" you chuckle, "chat do you want me to answer it?"

"yes, yes, yes, yes, omg yes" Chris was reeling off the answers in chat, "everyone wants y/n/n to answer, Matt should we let her?" Chris asked.

Matt rolled his eyes with a smile, "g'head, y/n/n, expose us" He chuckled.

"okay, so" you said, in your best girly gossip voice, "Matt likes nerdy, reader, soft girls" you begin to explain, your train of thought is interrupted by Chris erupting into laughter.

"dude she's so right! you love a girl that looks like she's always buried in a book" Chris wails.

"what are you guys even saying?" Matt complains, the smile etched across his face giving his tone a lot less power.

"you definitely want a girl who will go on a hike with you or some shit, Matt" You say, enjoying this whole interaction a bit too much.

Chris was keeled over in laughter, loving finally being able to talk about this kind of stuff on the internet without everyone going insane.

"I dunno why you're laughing so much, Chris, you're next" Matt states, Chris shrugs in reply.

"i don't give a fuck, call me out y/n/n, gimme the best you got" Chris sits back in his chair, arms folded over his chest.

"hmmmm" you say, exaggerating your thinking, "what is the famous Christopher Sturniolos type" you rub your chin, pretending to be thinking deeply.

A knowing smirk is spread wide across Chris' face as he stares at your face on his screen, tongue prodding the side of his cheek.

"I know Chris' type" Matt adds, a menacing smile on his face.

"g'head matt, you take this one" you gesture to the boy on your screen.

"Chris likes girls who don't like him back" Matts brows raise in accusation towards Chris.

You try and hide the smile forming on your face, attempting to look as focused on the game as possible as your tongue prods at your teeth. Neither of the boys say anything, both of them cheesing, Matt in a teasing and knowing kind of way and Chris more so in a 'I cant say what I wanna say' kind of way.

"damn, Matt, you just called me the fuck out" Chris shakes his head, looking to the tiny version of you on his screen.

You're still quiet, trying to fight the smile on your face and look as focused as possible, you catch Chris looking as if he's looking at you on his screen and shake your head with a chuckle.

"what you grinnin' at, kid?" Chris smirks.

You raise your brows, shaking your head with a downwards smile, "no, nothin', nothin" you say, returning your focus back to the game.

All of the viewers watched the interaction and were blowing up the chat with comments about how Chris definitely likes you, saying things like 'did you guys see that?!', and 'think they're slick look at how they're both smiling!!!!!'. Chris was reading the comments and trying to hide the red blush crawling its way onto his cheeks, Matt was relishing in the fact that Chris was so obviously nervous, and you were just trying not to react.

"Chris, dude, you better wipe that smile off your face, chat's onto you" Matt pokes the bear.

"chat ain't onto shit, Matt, shut the fuck up" Chris says, trying to be serious but unable to push his smile down.

"you know i'm right though, you do like girls who don't want you" Matt pushed on with his joke.

"Matt, shut your fuckin' mouth, dude" Chris rolled his eyes and shook his head, his smile still prevalent.

You couldn't help but laugh, still pretending to not care about the situation unfolding. In hindsight, it probably made it all the more obvious that you knew exactly what Matt was referring to.

"you're awful quiet, y/n/n, you got nothing to say on Chris' type?" Matt extends his joke over to you and your attention is immediately on him.

"nah, you hit the nail on the head, I think" you shrug, stretching back in your chair and adjusting your headset.

"oh really?" Chris replies, brows raised in accusation.

"mhm" you nod, faux innocently.

Chris kisses his teeth, nodding and trying to hide the smile on his face once again.

"yeah, chat, Matts right, I like pretty girls, who don't like me back" Chris says, subtly turning his attention to you and then back to chat.

You roll your eyes with a smile, leaning forward once more to lock into the game.

"you're ridiculous, Chris" Matt chuckles into the mic, watching you shift in your seat, trying not to blush.

The rest of the game went off without a hitch, you guys went on to win multiple times and all the viewers eventually stopped trying to get the conversation back to Chris' obvious crush on you. You played until the early hours of the morning, joking and laughing with the boys' just like old times and relishing in the fact that you were finally able to be a part of their online presence again. When it hit around three a.m you told them you had to sign off, explaining that you had to be up early for college that morning.

"guys, I gotta go, but I'll text you when I wake up" you said, pulling off your headset, and brushing your hair back with your hand.

"alright, y/n/n, thanks for helping us bury kids, its always a treat" Matt grinned at you, shooting you his token boyish smile.

"you know I live to humble kids on fort, Matt" You shrugged, putting on your best boyish persona, earning a laugh from Matt

"okay seriously, I gotta go, bye chat!" you smile, "bye boys" you go to switch off your computer but you're stopped by Chris booming voice.

"bye, beautiful" he says, a cheesy grin on his face.

your eyes roll to the back of your head as an uncontrollable smile finds your lips, "bye, Chris" you reply, switching off your computer.

The whole chat erupts with people losing their minds over Chris calling you beautiful, the boys say nothing, Matt just shakes his head, laughing at the chat as he watches Chris, grinning with pride and completely unashamed of his very obvious crush on you.

taglist: @sturniozalt@mattslolita@shaquilles-0atmeal@blahbel668@sleepysturniolo@le4hsblog @sarosfilms @joemamaaa42069 @2muchofaslvt @seluky10

[simp999]

I saw you wanted medic request so i have one. Could you write about a reader who can communicate and understand Archimedes, and the two love to gossip together. But when asked, they act like they have no idea what your talking about, but they specifically love talking about medic since they know the most about him. So the reader learns all these stupid little things about him that they find adorable, much to medics dismay, when they find out all his secrets. But ofc they keep it to themselves <3

Medic x Reader who understands his birds

Wc: 320

Theme: Fluff

Type of fic: Headcannons + Drabble

Masterlist

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

♡Lots of gossiping, of course

♡Medic being suspicious as to how you’re getting all this information

♡Him also being suspicious as to how you always seem to know what his birds want

♡ALSO being suspicious about how affectionate they are with you and how you always seem to have Archimedes on your shoulder ever since you moved into the base as a merc

♡You taking care of his birds while he’s gone

♡Him fully trusting you <3

♡He was nervous at first when he decided to start spending time with you off the battlefield because he’d already grown to like you, but if his birds didn’t then that simply wouldn’t work between you two. His bird need to like his S/O

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Hun, you snort when you laugh?”

“What? No- what makes you think that? Have I?‘

“Ah, no reason.”

He hung up his labcoat on the back of his chair as he eyed you suspiciously.

“...Sometimes.”

You stifled a giggle at his response, side-eyeing the dove on your shoulder. 

“Are you shy about it, darling?”

“No!...no…”

He reluctantly mumbled a small yes under his breath, making you laugh a bit harder. He was too cute. 

“Nothing to be embarrassed about, my dear.‘

“How did you know?”

“Ah, just curious, Love.”

Medic grabbed his vest as he headed out for the next battle, offering you a questioning glance before leaving.

“Got any other secrets for me?”

Archimedes jumped onto your finger as you held it out, your other arm crossed. You leaned in closer as f you two were gossiping.

“Oh, he has moles and birthmarks across his back? Well that one I was sure to find out with time!~”

Archimedes gently pecks at you as if he was some kid poking fun at his parents for kissing in from of him. 

“Okay okay, sorry, sweet thing. Would you like another treat?”

.

.

.

Apr.7.24

[resident-idiot-simp]

Things that are cannon in every thing I write even if it isn't stated.

The void crew are around

Blade has practically adopted Remy as his fledgling

Wade and Logan will eat prices of each other during sex

Wade is always offering to pay for Vanessa to live without working. She always declines and yells at him. (This will not deter him)

Laura and Vanessa are besties and Laura sees her as a maternal figure. They go out to breakfast every Saturday.

Vanessa and Logan are best friends who will gossip like no one else

Logan and Laura love each other so much you have no idea they have the best father daughter relationship

Wade is the smartest fuck in the room at all times

Laura and Wade make each other so much worse their chaos gets amplified by 10 times when left alone together

Logan is constantly fighting himself from adopting any child in his vicinity

Vanessa and Wade are gossiping like teenagers about their respective partner to one another

Logan and Wade will always be mercs

Sabertooth is still a weird disgusting freak

Logan and Wade are co-anchor beings and their power has got slightly amplified after the time ripper

Sometimes Logan will have 4th wall breaking abilities again because of the time ripper (in my heart this is always true though it doesn't mean I'll write it 😔)

Vanessa and Al just know Wade isn't insane and he's on to something with his forth wall breaking. He just knows too much and they aren't stupid

Al has a 6th scenes for all their shenanigans and when they are being disgustingly adorable

Logan and Wade will go out into a forest and hunt one another sometimes

That is all I can think of right now I'll probably add to this later.

[originalcharactersexyman]

Hiya! Howdy! Id love to toss my goofy silly mailman tf2 oc in the ring if there were slots left! His names Brodie :> Heres his toyhouse

Meet YOUR 10th Class Merc. The Courier. His name is Brodie 

From New York! Go Yankees!

Around 32-34

6"1

Lets take alook into the past: For a lot of his life he has committed ,,, so much fraud. So much. All of it. Mail fraud tax fraud voter fraud healthcare fraud identity fraud. Even credit card fraud when credit cards came out in 1966.  Frauding it up ever since he was a kid delivering newspapers and snooping in neighbor's mail. 

Eventually his fraudulent lifestyle catches up to him and lands him in prison when he suddenly became the inheritor of a minuscule fraction of Australium. And a certain group of individuals did not take too kindly to some rando getting his hands on the  insanely precious resource.  In order for the Australium to be ‘misplaced’, Brodie had to die. And die he did. Not long after being incarcerated, he was hanged for his many, many crimes. A bit of overkill, really, but it was apparently the only way. Plus a lot of the guards and inmates kept finding themselves in varying degrees of debt so two birds one stone. Miss Pauling herself attends the hanging to make sure Brodie does die and sure enough he is pronounced dead. As dead as it gets. 

Well. Mostly.

As his soul prepares for judgment in hell,  Brodie decides “I am absolutely not ready to be dead yet.” Soo he convinces Satan “hey you guys got the wrong guy. I’m blah blah blah, here’s my ID and credentials n whatnot. Here’s who you’re actually looking for” (a lie obviously) but Satan’s like “Oh shit. Um wow- this, like, never happens. Lemme…fix that real quick.” (This is intentionally left vague and about how much hell tell ya about it with changing details each time)

Back in his body, Brodie sits up, completely nakey, save for the body blanket, and startles Miss Pauling who instinctively has a gun to his face. Quickly thinking, Brodie strikes a deal; “Hey hey! Don't Shoot. Uh, listen.  Technically, I was pronounced dead.  Obviously you can keep whatever I was supposed to inherit, I won't even give it another thought but just lemme go - please?”  Sure enough, Miss P agrees, except now Brodie has to…start over again.  Which isn’t a big *deal*, but it’ll take him a minute to get back on his feet since his last identity is supposed to be cold turkey. 

Though, this gives Miss P an idea.  “Hey, do you want a job?”

So he’s back, babyyy. Brodie is a new man (who legally doesn't exist) and is recruited by Mann Co to be the teams smuggler mailman and a merc when violence is needed!!  Someones gotta deliver the mercs all their niche needs and all that, ya know? Someone who ain't afraid to get their hands dirty or have fingerprints or the same teeth they did before or leave any paper trail!  Someone who isn't afraid to break into the next city over's local zoo and get some baboon uteri and hearts for medic, or do a 24 hr trip to Australia for Saxton hale pain tonic for sniper (so they avoid import fees), wine for spy, copious amounts of Tom Jones merch for scout, crates upon very weighty crates of ammo for Heavy, etc etc. Even just snacks from each mercs country (that Courier def sneaks bites from but dont tell anyone shhhh). Or just the pizza the mercs ordered in town.

Need something delivered? Brodie is your Courier! (He has to as his contract states, lest he break it and is 'super killed'.  No its not explained what that means but Brodie don't intend to find out.)

--

He's a bit of a goofy guy.  Quick witted when it comes to fraud but would ask Alexa what 4 x 12 is. His undying passion is committing petty crimes and scams and changing people's legal last names to something like "Scrotum". He's very *very* nosy and will read the merc's mail before he even gets it to them. He's got gossip to share. He loves snacks and has an awful diet consisting of gas station foods. Caffeinated soda and donuts are go-to's, especially on the road. His fav mode of transportation is on his motorcycle.

WOOF thats a long one lol Thank you sm for ur consideration !

WELCOME ABOARD!

Seats Taken: 22/24 (TWO LEFT)

[itsblasttothepast]

I love the rumours mill, it can be annoying but look at how funny it is from a perspective of someone who isn't emotionally invested in this:

Checo saying over and over again that he is staying and that he knows his contract BUT everyone (media, mainly British media) are sure he is out - I guess more fans listen to the journalists (who do not at all have a history of fueling fire just for clicks) more and apparently everyone knows better than Sergio what he talked about with the team;

Horner is saying that they are the ones making decisions (changing his mind every week isn't a good management strategy but oh well) and they know what to do which I would say is a lie since he is still drooling over the idea of bringing Daniel back and he is constantly switching front going from saying Sergio is their best option to saying he will be the downfall of the team (I'm still bitter about "we helped him as much as we can");

Helmut is in higher state of delusion and thinks everyone wants to be in his team, he probably named all the drivers on the grid, now he is chasing after Oscar (or well in his imagination Mark, who knows how the team works and was burned by it, is the one wanting the seat for his driver), he said something about Fernando, Franco, Liam, Lando at one point even Charles I think and this is just getting crazier with every week;

The way they all overlook Yuki is borderline tragicomic because I have no idea what he would have to do to be noticed and considered as a candidate (I know he has the RBR test at the end of the year but we all know it means nothing);

It's all talks and gossip and no facts, even if RBR contacted Franco I doubt Williams (who is connected to Merc) would want to give him away this easily, not when he is performing so well and managed to make fans fall in love with him after only a few races, the kid is a goldmine that needs to stay in F1;

I decided not to believe anything until we have some real answers because this is a soap opera happening in real life and well, at least this season no one can say they aren't entertained because somehow Checo managed to make a lot of people angry by doing his job and somehow his seat IS the main event of the season (by the way, isn't it funny how it takes the attention away from the WDC fight?).

All right, we shall declare this silly season officially in business, right?

Exactly, all the rumors are so wild, that it looks like Jumanji. You never know when a Rhino will come and trample you.

However, there's something weird going on that we can't factor in our game: Horner and Marko are INSANE! Checo says he knows his contract, and unfortunately many claim that he had also an ironclad contract in Racing Point and he was still booted from there.

But that's not true. Yeah, he had a contract for two years, but it wasn't exactly ironclad, I imagine he learned from his mistakes and made sure that if he was going to be fired, at least he was going to be protected, so in this round of the game, I have these two theories:

Checo has a clause in his contract where he stipulates that if he's fired, they have to find him another team (and not the junior one) to race.

Checo has a clause that if he's booted, they have to pay him enough money to actually fund his own team and do whatever he wants.

Helmut woke up today being all hateful again, so not surprise there. It's surprising when he's supportive with Checo, now is like our normal schedule. My guess for who will be the next pilot who, according to him, came to talk to him to accept him in RBR will be... LANCE STROLL!

Yuki being overlooked is the joke of the season, honestly, it feels like a Mike Wazowski thing, he's in the cover, but not really, Liam, Franco, Oscar, Charles, Fernando... they all sounds like options for RBR louder than poor Yuki (also if he's having the RBR test in the RB20... yikes).

Nothing is official, and until it is, people can bark all they want. Today Checo seemed pretty annoyed with the fact that everyone was asking him about Brazil being his last race, but what I loved the most was one reporter who kept asking this and Checo said:

Checo: I'm certain I'll be here. Reporter: Marko said that nobody is assured and they will see. Checo: Well, I can tell you I'm sure, that's all.

Or something like that, it was in spanish, but the point is he even implied that Marko was wrong. I love that Sergio is now telling things as they are and not being coy and play nice.

Checo should get an award just for being in the mouths of everyone this year.

[softspeirs]

Okay, so here's a thought, or a prompt, if you like - I imagine it's a little lonely, being one of the only nurses at Thorpe Abbotts. Does Grace find herself looking for some female friends in the Red Cross hut, too?

A/N: Thank you for asking after Grace, Merc! Feeling inspired by the book I'm listening to right now - The Keeper of Hidden Books by Madeline Martin.

The Red Cross hut is a five minute walk from Grace's usual lodgings in the women's quarters with the other nurses, and as she gets closer, she smiles when she hears the soft strains of music on a record player.

Nerves still twist up inside her - she hasn't been able to socialize as much as she might have liked, and she has an embarrassing grade-school feeling in the pit of her stomach. What if they don't like me? What if I say something wrong?

Still, she speaks to Helen and Tatty semi-regularly, and when they told her about their little lending library, she knew she had to check it out when she had a few spare minutes.

When she arrives, the two women are there, heads bent close together as they talk, and it instantly makes Grace feel like she's intruding.

"I don't mean to interrupt--" she says softly, getting their attention.

"Oh!" Helen is the first to look up. "Grace, hi! We were wondering if you were still coming by."

"Got stuck listening to a lecture about the importance of personal hygiene..." Grace makes a face. The girls laugh.

"Here--" Helen leads her over to a battered bookcase in the corner of the room. It's stuffed with paperbacks in varying conditions, and a few hardcovers too.

"Most of these people brought over themselves, and some we've picked up in town when we've had a bit of extra money."

Grace beams at the girls. She can't remember the last time she got to curl up and enjoy a good book. She still doubts she'll have much time for reading, but for those sleepless nights, it'll be a godsend.

"This is wonderful." Her gaze skips across titles, falling on a beautiful watercolor spine. Riders of the Purple Sage sticks in her mind, her thoughts filling with images of the American west and cowboys and robbers.

"Helen's been trying to get through Gone with the Wind for four months--"

"Hey!"

"-- And it's our only copy, so we have to take turns, but you're welcome to it when she's done. I read it before her. We could... we could talk about it afterwards!"

Grace can barely hold in her excitement. "A book club?"

"A base book club." Helen says. "If we can scrounge up some food from the mess, we can try to meet at least once a month, unless we have to share one copy of something."

"Or," Tatty adds, thoughtful, "We could all read separate things, and then meet to share our thoughts. That way someone can recommend something to someone else."

Grace is nodding, already thinking of a few other nurses she knows would enjoy this too. The idea of having regular meetings with other women makes her giddy. She feels like she's seventeen again, gossiping with the girls at school.

Just then, a knock at the door interrupts them. If it was another woman, they wouldn't knock, so Helen smooths her hair before going over to greet whoever it is.

"Ma'am," a man Grace doesn't recognize says, before being welcomed in. He's got a small box in his hands, and when he gets closer, Grace sucks in a sharp inhale. "Thought these could go to better use here. They weren't in any footlockers in particular, but they've been gathering dust..."

Tatty and Helen look equally stricken. It never occurred to Grace that half the books on this shelf were likely those of fallen airmen who either loaned them to someone or who left them somewhere, never to be retrieved.

"We-- we can't take these. Their families--"

The man frowns. "They don't have names inside. We have no idea who they belonged to, and I don't think they'd want their books."

Grace disagrees, though she doesn't say it out loud. Books, especially well-loved books, can be just as sentimental as any personal belonging. She thinks of her copy of The Great Gatsby, the spine lined and cracked with overuse, how she can almost smell her father's pipe tobacco stuck in the pages.

"We'll take them." Tatty says firmly. She looks at the other girls, "If they're not going to have homes, we might as well be the home for them."

Helen is miles away, Grace can tell by her expression. She remembers a conversation in the early morning, Helen trying her hardest to put on a brave face and pretend she wasn't grieving a man she had barely gotten the chance to know.

"We should get the other girls involved," Grace says suddenly. "I think they'd like the chance to get their minds off things. I know a few nurses who probably have books to share, too."

Helen comes back to the present, a small smile growing on her face. "That's a good idea. Some of our girls probably do, too."

"Perfect," Tatty says smiling, clapping her hands together once, the matter settled.

Grace leaves that evening feeling melancholy, but also excited at the prospect of getting to know these girls better. They've all been here over a year now, and they've each been through so much in their own ways. If they can get together once a month or more to get lost in worlds of adventure, of romance, of anything that will take them away from all this, Grace is happy they'll do it together.

A/N: Fun book fact from LitHub: "... by the time Fitzgerald died in 1940, the book had sold fewer than 25,000 copies. Now it sells 500,000 copies a year, if mostly to disgruntled students. It was WWII that rescued Gatsby from obscurity. The US government developed a program to send cheap paperback books to soldiers, and of the 1,227 titles chosen, one of them was The Great Gatsby."

[sillyandquiteawkward]

Do Kellogg and Father ever fight over Bayley's affection? I imagine Kellogg would try to show off his strength and hands-on skills, because while he can be a snarky, petty asshole as much as the other two, he knows his smarts aren't really the kind Bayley's into for like staying up all night talking. I think it'd be funny if Kellogg, just to spite his boss, became the perfect old-fashioned gentleman towards Bayley. What, if anything, would Bayley fear Father doing to him or Kellogg as a result of the competition? Would he like being fought over knowing part of it is the merc trying to one-up Father? What would J and CC think? Do the Institute citizens take notice of the relationship drama?

i think the concept of bayley getting fought over by shaun whos into it genuinely and kellogg whos mostly into it to fuck with his boss is really fucking funny. kellogg and bayley have an advantage being surface dwellers together, plus the idea that kellogg would be playing his cards right to win favor (but hes also a killing merc which isnt really bayleys Thing), while shaun wants bayley to bend to him.

i think bayley is overconfident enough to not realize theyre fighting each other more than over him, that hes kind of being used as a tool. hed like the attention regardless. and its not like shaun doesnt give off jealous vibes, but mix the competition with their personal history....

its not like he was killed bc he was winning the bayley war. but it was just part of a little victory for shaun. bayley thinks its a bit scary <- guy who just got reminded he could be killed whenever.

i think there are rumors and discussions about father bringing in a pet wastelander, but i think when it comes to kellogg there might be less gossip, due to kellogg just being kellogg. talking about the direction is just a bit juicier.

cc thinks the love triangle is really funny and picked up that shaun and kellogg are like glaring daggers at each other behind bayleys back. he wont say anything unless itd fuck with bayley or give him some sort of edge over father. he doesnt really wanna mess too much with kellogg, but hed try to suss out the relationship. he could try to be friends with kellogg.

j is def the "why does the director of the institute/the institutes mercenary call you babygirl" and i think in general is a bit too preoccupied with the situation of being stuck in the institute to clock and gush about his boss's messy love life.

[bobathirstaccount]

The Purveyor

Boba x fem!reader, some angst but happy ending, smut, throne stuff happens

***

Boba,

I am writing this because —

I don’t know how to say this, but —

You are so important —

I love you.

You stared at your lame attempt at a love note. Maybe in person would be easier, if this was any indication. How could you not find the words to express something so important? You were tired of living pretending like nothing was going on.

Every week he would come into your store for supplies. He was a regular to the point you had his order ready before he even arrived. Yet he would spend time there, lingering, talking to you. He knew the gossip of your inner circle like he was one of them. Why you were so open, you had no idea.

You didn’t know when you had started to have feelings for the strange scarred man who came from the desert. But now that the spark had been lit, you couldn’t control the flame. It licked up and out of your heart, slowly consuming you. You felt like you were going to internally combust.

You opened your shop early. Sometimes he came early in the day, and you were expecting him today. It was the last day of the month, and he always came in the last few days of the month. You wondered about his schedule.

He didn’t show. The next day you again opened early, figuring something had delayed him. But still his familiar silhouette did not fill your doorway. You sighed and scraped some dirt off your counter. Other customers flitted in and out, and you assisted them. But always in the back of your mind was — Where is your Boba?

Weeks passed. You were crazy with worry. Had something happened in the desert? Was he okay? These were all questions you had no right to the answer. But still you wondered just the same, your heart starting to hurt in a different way. Had he moved on? It would be strange to say goodbye to your victuals supplier. But yet. Your heart held on.

****

Months had passed. You still thought of Boba, but you no longer expected him. He was gone. You gulped down a sob as you thought about this behind your counter. What were you supposed to do with these feelings now?

The door chirped and a slim, dangerous looking woman entered. She did not look around, but instead made eye contact with you and approached. You were apprehensive. “Are you the shop owner?” She questioned.

You stared at her. Who was asking? “Who are you?” You asked instead.

“Fennec Shand.”

You blinked; you had heard of a Fennec Shand, but she was a famous merc. You noticed the rifle slung over her shoulder. That was not unusual, but it still made you uneasy.

“The Fennec Shand?”

“Yes.”


“What are you doing here?” You were incredulous.

“I serve the new master of Jabba’s Palace.”

“Oh.” You didn’t know why that would bring her here.

“I’ve been sent to find you to bring to an audience with him.”

Your mouth dropped open. Sure you were a supplier of goods for the entire area, but you weren’t so big you could handle supplying Jabba’s old palace. “My supply chain isn’t big enough to support the palace. I can give you a few names.”

“It’s not about supplies.”

You stared at her in confusion. “What else can I offer?”

”I’m not sure you’d believe me if I told you. Will you come with me?”

You considered. Today was slow. You could close up several hours early. But did you want to? Your adventurous streak answered for you, “Let me close up. It’ll be a few minutes.” She nodded and leaned against the counter to wait.

***

“Ok, ready.” You had grabbed a small blaster when you went to fetch your jacket. It wasn’t really good for anything but a close range shot, but it made you feel better to have it.

“No weapons,” Shand eyed you.

You thought about protesting, but instead set the blaster on the counter. “Let’s go.”

You held on for dear life as Fennec piloted a speeder to the palace. You never put yours into fourth gear when you drove, so this speed was terrifying for you. You squeezed her tightly, not caring if she judged you for being scared.

When you arrived she took you through a secret entrance. The door seemed to melt into existence when she waved her hand over a hidden sensor. She stepped inside, and you followed, more than a bit nervous.

Once inside, you looked around. You were in a corridor. Fennec was already walking away. You jogged to catch up. “What now?”

“I’m taking you to see Fett.”


“The new master?”

”Yes.”

You thought about what you had to offer and came up blank again. Asking questions was pointless, plus the moment of truth was almost upon you anyway. Suddenly Shand stopped at the top of a flight of stairs. You almost fell down them being in such deep thought. She grabbed the fabric of your jacket to steady you. You inhaled, startled.

“He’s waiting.” She indicated down the stairs.

You looked down them. They seemed to stretch forever. You took your first step down, then another. Finally building up a bit of courage, you upped the pace and walked down into the room. You immediately noticed the large throne in the center of it. And on the throne was a Mandalorian. You had heard of his people, but never seen one. You looked at him curiously as you approached. You forgot to be afraid.

Suddenly you remembered to be scared, and your pace faltered. You stopped short several feet, unsure. His helmet had been following you as you walked across the room. Now it stopped. You swallowed nervously, feeling like you were being inspected. Then a voice said, “Thank you for coming.”

You were surprised at this, so you only nodded and stared back.

“I wanted to know,” he lifted his hands to his helmet, and started to remove it. You watched, shocked. “If you would stay here with me,” the voice continued, becoming human at the end.

You blinked rapidly. Your brain recognized the voice and the face, but it was impossible for your consciousness to accept. You stared, mouth open. Finally you managed, “Boba?”

The corners of his mouth turned up slightly, and he stepped off his throne. “Yes. It’s complicated.”

You warily took him in in this new setting. “What happened?”

“I don’t know where to start.”

“Start with you stopping coming to see me.”

He expounded, telling you how he met another Mandalorian, made a deal to get his armor back, and how he then fought beside this Mandalorian along with Fennec until he was able to rescue his son. Then he’d stopped off here to take over. It was a confusing story.

”Wait, so you found the kid?”

”Yes, but then he lost him. But it was a happy ending. I guess.”

You stared. “What?”

“Let’s just say, I got my armor back. And now I am the master of this palace.” He spread his arms wide to indicate.

You still stared. “Who are you?”

“Boba Fett.” Your eyes lit up in recognition. Just as with Shand, you had heard of the famous bounty hunter. “But you’re dead?”

“Am I?”


You took a step towards him. Then another. Finally you were so close you could touch him. He reached out to adjust your hair. You blinked, surprised at the tenderness. Memories of conversations you had had with Boba (Fett) flitted through your mind. You couldn’t tell up from down. You started to cry, a little. A leather clad hand wiped the tears away.

You looked down. “I waited for you to come back.”

“I know.”

You looked up at him, expectantly.

“I was waiting to come to you. When it was... appropriate.”

Appropriate? You had spent weeks going crazy! You scoffed, “I spent weeks wondering! I thought you were dead!”

He quirked an eyebrow mischievously. “Now I am dead twice?”

You were annoyed, “What do you want anyway?”

He looked at you, pausing. “You.”

You dared to make eye contact. He was watching you intently. “Me?” You squeaked. You started to cry in earnest. He tentatively took you into his arms. “Did you really think I came to your store for the gossip? Or supplies? There were closer suppliers.”

You sniffled and wrapped your arms around his neck. “I thought it was because I had the best prices.”

He laughed. It was low, gravely, “You did give me good deals... but you were what I wanted when I walked into your establishment. I had seen you already.”

You got hot. He wrapped an arm around you. Suddenly he scooped you into a kiss. It was gentle, chaste. But he soon deepened it. You were overwhelmed. You were getting exactly what you wanted, just not how you expected it. You held on to him and kissed back feverishly. When the two of you came up for air, you made eye contact.

“Will you stay here with me?”

You thought about your life, your store, your friends. The palace. Shand. You came to a realization.

“I told you I was waiting for you this whole time.” You looked up at him, and carefully ran a hand over his scarred cheek. He allowed it, looking at you softly.

“So you are home?”

“Yes, I’m home.”

He settled his arms around your waist, and kissed you again. You felt heat pooling in your nether regions. You cupped his face in both hands and kissed him back. When you finally broke apart you were both breathing hard. You started to push him backward. He furrowed his brow in confusion, but let you push him up the stair and down into his throne. You took off your coat and pulled your dress over your head. You straddled him. He hmmmd in pleasure and grabbed your hips possessively. You ran your hands over his cuirass, down to his stomach. He shifted, groaning.

You ground into him and licked his throat up to his chin. He bit your lip softly. You looked at him and smiled, then slid down his body until you were on your knees in front of him. You placed yourself between his already spread legs and inched up to his groin, feeling his erection. You freed him from his pants and zealously took him in your mouth as far as you could. He moaned and wrapped one of his hands around your neck. You worked his shaft with your hand and licked the tip before gagging yourself on him. He hummed and his hand tightened. You decided you liked doing that and so did it again, until he was thrusting up into you. You let him take over, holding your head in place. He stopped suddenly and pulled out. You sniffled back your tears and looked up, confused. “I want to feel your pussy,” he panted.

Your pussy jumped at the words. You were already wet from your activities. He pulled you up by your arm pits and swapped places with you so you were on all fours on the throne and he was standing behind you. He slid your panties down to your kneels and entered you without warning. The stretch and slight burn was delicious. You gave a breathy moan and your eyes widened. He stopped when he bottomed out. “You feel so good,” he rubbed your hips, then squeezed them again. You moaned a response as he started to move in you. He worked his way up to a punishing pace, and had you arching your back and calling his name. He reached around and found your clit. You came when you felt the soft leather rubbing circles over it. You let out some unladylike noises and he hnnd in response, becoming erratic in his strokes. You managed to moan out, “Baby I want you to cum in me.” He didn’t argue, but he did slightly pick up the pace, almost smashing your face into the back of the throne. You grinned and pushed back into him, your pussy still sending shockwaves throughout your body. He stiffened behind you and you could feel him cumming in you. He paused for a moment and then pulled out, pulling you up and into his lap as he turned and sat down. You wrapped your arms around his neck as he held you in a tight embrace.

“I wasn’t really expecting to get lucky this fast,” Boba said, tone neutral.

You laughed, “How come?”

”.... I thought you’d be angry for longer.”

You smiled, “Happy to surprise you.”

He rested his chin on the top of your head. After a moment he said, “You should probably get dressed; this room is open.” You looked at your dress; it was so far. “In a minute,” you snuggled into him. His cold armor pressed against your hot skin as he held you.

Finally you begrudgingly got up and dressed. You slid your jacket back on and sat back down in his lap. You kicked your feet up so they were on the seat of the throne and snuggled into Boba as he wrapped his arms around you. You put your head on his shoulder and sighed contentedly.


Fennec walked in. She took one look and turned on her heel and disappeared. You laughed. He squeezed you. “She’ll not let me live that down.” You smiled. “We’ll have to give her something to really tease you about sometime.”

“What do you have in mind?”

You grinned and looked up at him.

[spanishskulduggery]

Do you know of any fossil words in Spanish, words that used to be common but fell out of use and are now only preserved in idioms? I tried looking on Google but all the results were English-only examples

I'll try and think of some others but here are the ones that come to mind; and I’m not sure all of these will be what you’re looking for.

si fuere menester = "in the event of" el menester used to be fairly common especially in the Medieval period, where it was another word for "need" or "necessity". Today you only see menester in si fuere menester which is an unusual construction as it is, since fuere is the future subjunctive - which is an obsolete tense - and so it literally means "should it be necessary". This expression only now shows up in contracts and legal contexts normally as "in the event of"

donde fueres haz lo que vieres = "when in Rome... (do as the Romans do)" Again, this is future subjunctive; literally "wherever you go, do what you see".. but in a more obtuse future subjunctive way "wherever you should happen to go, do whatever you may happen to see"

la urdimbre y trama = "warp and weft" The idea of this is related to "weaving", and though this phrase is rather antiquated or particular, it occasionally shows up as something like la urdimbre y trama de la sociedad or something where that's "the fabric of society". It's not the way you say that so much now [el tejido or la tela are more common], but urdir "to warp" was related to working a loom. You still do use tramar but it's not often that you see it related to weaving anymore... tramar is "to plot" or "to hatch a scheme", but you can see how "weaving" would go into "plotting"

so pena de = "under pain of" You don't often see so used in Spanish today, since it's a more direct link to Latin and Italian. And today la pena rarely means "pain" in the physical sense, it usually means "sorrow" or "anguish"... but again in legal cases, so pena de muerte is "under pain/penalty of death"

a diestra y siniestra = "all over the place" This expression literally means "to the right and left". The word diestro/a is still "right-handed" (also means "skillful" or "dexterous"), but siniestro/a used to mean "left-handed"... the idea that the left hand was more evil and "sinister", and "under-handed". In older contexts, siniestro/a means "left-handed", but in modern contexts you say zurdo/a for "left-handed"

al tuntún = "impromptu", "improvise", "on the fly", "by ear" This expression is derived from Latin, ad vultum tuum which is literally "to your face" in Latin. You never see tuntún anymore unless something is done al tuntún but it might be more regional; it just means you're making it up as you go

dormir como un ceporro = "to sleep like a log" Most people today say dormir como un tronco which is the same idea; el ceporro is a variation but it's extremely unusual to see it. Most people will use tronco if they have to

tuerto/a = one-eyed I'm actually not sure if people use tuerto/a still, since there are other ways to say "blind in one eye" or "one-eyed". In older Spanish, tuerto could show up as a "grievance", but in the expression en el reino de ciegos el tuerto es rey is still used sometimes, literally "in the kingdom of blind people, the one-eyed man is the king"

(el) haba = bean [technically haba is feminine] Not common to see el haba used much anymore except in certain contexts, and it's the root of la habichuela "bean". In Spain, sometimes haba is "idiot" so if you see el tonto del haba it's like "the biggest idiot that ever lived"

Vuestra Merced = "Your Lordship/Ladyship" This is the original form of it, but it eventually turned into usted "you" used for polite things. The title was Vuestra Merced and it was how you addressed someone without knowing their title, so it became very polite. In older Spanish you'd abbreviate it as Vd. which eventually became Ud. as the abbreviation for usted. Keep in mind that at a certain point in time, Spanish wrote the U sound as a V, and it followed more of the Latin pronunciation where the V had a softer U/W sound at times. Outside of Spain and works set in older time periods, you're unlikely to use vuestro/a - it even became informal plural "you all" in Spain - but you rarely ever see merced used. Chances are you're only going to see it was vuestra in front of it. But just know that vos has a very different meaning today than it did in the Middle Ages

meter/sembrar cizaña = "to sow discord" You're never going to see cizaña used in any other context unless you happen upon some botanical book. The literal translation is "darnel" which is sometimes called "false wheat"; basically la cizaña looks like trigo "wheat", and it grows close to wheat but it often has a fungus that's poisonous so you need to separate it. The idea behind it is that if you're deliberately planting cizaña you're actively trying to poison someone or make things worse

la celestina = "a go-between, a mediator" This word comes directly from La Celestina a novel written in Spain's Golden Age by Fernando de Rojas. In it there's a woman named Celestina who sets up meetings between women living in convents (who weren't always nuns) and men; acting as a go-between and chaperone for love affairs basically. The term was also la alcahueta but became celestina after the character in the book. Certain characters in literature are considered celestinas like the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet; basically the girl/woman can't risk her reputation so she has her maid or chaperone working to arrange things, and they're often the catalyst for things going wrong. In other contexts, celestina or una alcahueta is a "pimp" or "madame", or sometimes "a gossip"

pardo/a = brown, brownish-gray Today you’re only really going to see pardo/a used with animals. Specifically, el oso pardo is a “grizzly bear”, and pardo/a can be used with horses as “dun”. I don’t know if “grizzly bear” counts as an expression but anyway. In older Spanish pardo/a was another word for “brown” when it came to people too. Today, if you’re describing hair color as “brown/brunette” you’re using castaño which is literally “chestnut”, either castaño claro “light brown” or castaño oscuro “dark brown”. When it comes to things that are brown, the typical word is now marrón or sometimes you see it as color café which is “coffee-colored”

ser un caco = to be a thief Not commonly used as ladrón, ladrona “thief”, but un caco literally means “a Cacus”. Basically, Cacus was a mythological figure who stole some cattle and Hercules killed him. In some places people use un caco to mean “thief” as a euphemism

la Parca = the Grim Reaper Orginally, las Parcas were the Parcae in Roman (originally Greek) mythology. They were the sisters of fate who would measure someone’s life and eventually cut the thread. Today, it’s just one Parca and it’s typically a male figure, skeletal, with a scythe as the “Grim Reaper”, rather than it being a woman with scissors. That’s because during the Plague, people thought of Death as being a skeletal figure that held a scythe, the symbol for “reaping” wheat that was ripe.

manjar de los dioses = “nectar of the gods” / a delicacy el manjar is used in some places in certain contexts but it originally came from Italian as “food” or something “to eat”. Today, manjar is usually a “snack”, or in some cases it’s dulce de leche, but most of the Spanish-speaking world doesn’t use manjar so much. It is sometimes “delicacy”, but in older contexts it was code for “ambrosia”, the thing that the Greek gods couldn’t get enough of. The world manjar still feels very antiquated to me, but when it’s used it’s some kind of good food or eating a lot of food

valer un potosí = “to be worth a fortune” un potosí is pretty antiquated, but it came from the city Potosí in Bolivia which was famous for its silver mines that the conquistadores exploited. There are still some places that will use potosí as “something of great value”, though it’s not so common anymore unless you’re talking about the actual city.

moros y cristianos = “beans and rice” Usually it’s black beans and white rice, though this is literally “Moors and Christians”. You still use cristiano/a today but typically you only use moro/a in a historical sense

Also there’s the expression más sordo/a que una tapia where it means someone is really hard of hearing; literally “as deaf as a garden wall”, but I’ve never seen people use tapia ...only a muro or a cerca as “wall” or “fence”. The idea of tapiar is related to “mortar” and “masonry”

There are also some expressions related to metal and older words for it. For example, saturnino/a is an older word for “gloomy”, though it now refers to “lead-poisoning”. Saturn was linked to “moodiness” in alchemical society, and the symbol for Saturn was the older symbol for “lead”. 

This is similar to how áureo/a is “gold” but also linked to the “sun” because the Sun and gold are linked.

Another is el azogue which is the older word for mercury so it’d be “quicksilver”. You may see azogarse in some texts where it means “to be fidgetty” and it’s related both to mercury-poisoning, and probably to the idea of Mercury/Hermes being the messenger god so always on the move. 

There is also hidalgo/a which doesn’t have quite the same meaning it did originally. Today, hidalgo/a is sort of like “having noble blood”. It literally means “son of something/someone”, where originally in Spain hidalgos were the children of nobles - specifically, it tended to refer to the children of nobles who weren’t the firstborn male. Firstborn sons often got about 2/3 of the money and were expected to run the estates. The second or third or fourth children were usually on their own. It became a running joke that the firstborn became the lord, and the others would either join the army or the clergy. In Cervantes’s time, hidalgos could be among the poorest of society, even poorer than slaves in some cases. They were still “noble” in terms of blood though, and hidalgos couldn’t be tortured by the Inquisition because of it. So they were afforded certain rights, but usually tended to be poor or lower than you’d expect a noble to be. Today it just means “of nobility”, but in Cervantes’s time a hidalgo was the symbol of Spain under the Holy Roman Empire - wealthy and noble and glorious in theory, much poorer in reality.

I'd also add the phrases levar ancla "to raise anchor" or "anchors aweigh/away", where levar is rarely used today aside from nautical terms. Similarly, izar la bandera is "to hoist the flag"... not a lot of chances to use izar if it's not related to "flags" or la vela "a sail"

I also would say errar is less common today in Spanish. It's still used, but you normally say cometer un error "to make a mistake". Still, errar es humano, perdonar es divino "to err is human, to forgive divine". Also errar is weirdly irregular at times, it turns into yerro as present tense yo

And I’m also going to include when la manzana means a “city block”. Today manzana is not rare, it means “apple”. But manzana as a “city block” was originally mansana where it meant a “collection of manses/houses arranged in a block on a grid”. So there’s that. If you ever see manzana used for blocks in a city, it’s technically a separate word

Also depending on context el mar “sea” will be la mar with the feminine article. That’s usually more particular, usually meaning “open water” or deeper waters like alta mar “high seas”. The more poetic or open the water is, the more likely it is to be feminine, and so la mar isn’t quite so antiquated but it’s a little special

[dream-a-little-bigger-x]

Life in Quarantine (Part 1) | Owen Patrick Joyner

Summary: A series about being stuck in quarantine with your best friend Owen and trying not to lose your mind over being stuck inside all day every day. 

Pairing: Owen x reader

Warnings: Fluff, minor swearing, lots of singing

Songs used: Don’t Let Go by En Vouque/ Washington on Your Side from Hamilton/ More than Words by Little Mix / Not a Pop Song by Little Mix  -- All credits go to owners of these songs

A/N: I know nothing about songwriting and none of this will probably ever happened in real life, but it just worked for the story, alright? Alright. Enjoy! 

Words: 3,372

Part 1: Not A Pop Song

Norman, Oklahoma. My home town. The place where I was born and raised. The place where I learned how to live and love. Where I learned what heartbreak is. Where I met and lost friends. The town all my most valued memories reside. 

It’s also where I met my best friend, Owen. Our mothers were, and still are, college besties. So, us becoming friends was kind of inevitable. We went through everything together. Kindergarten, Elementary, Middle School and High School. Wherever you saw me, you saw Owen and vice versa. A lot of people often thought we were a couple, but that’s been off the table since day one. In Elementary School, Owen and I made a pact with five different rules to seal our friendship forever. The list only grew as we got older. But here’s the gist: 

1. If one is teased or bullied, the other takes revenge 2. Always sing and dance together whenever one asks, even if you don’t want to 3. Always share cookies 4. Always play together at recess 5. Always sit together at lunch

Then the additions from Middle and High School: 

6. We will never, ever, ever date each other or each other’s siblings 7. Ethan, Evan and Emmy are off limits too 8. Crushes too 9. Always go to Broadway shows together 10. Never lie even if you wanna do it for the right reasons. There is no right reason.  11. Always support each other’s dreams and successes 12. Always hate each other’s exes 13. Always share ice cream 14. Never share our secrets with other 15. Always go to parties together

That last one was added by Owen in senior year of High School when I didn’t want to go to a party since it was my exes party and we’re supposed to hate each other’s exes. But, since he’s been in LA for most of senior year to pursue his acting career, I really couldn’t say no. Him going off to Los Angeles for months, sometimes even longer, started in eighth grade when he landed the role of Crispo Powers in a Nickelodeon show called ‘100 things to do before High School’, which I religiously watched, of course.  Rule 9 tells you to. After High School, the two of us split ways. I headed off to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music to major in songwriting as it’s always been a dream of mine to become a songwriter, while Owen went to LA to further pursue his career in acting. We’ve tried to keep in contact, but daily calls turned into weekly calls turned into monthly calls. Five months in, we just try to at least check in with each other every now and then, which is what works best for our busy schedule. Then December 2018 came and changed my life entirely for the better. The representative of Syco and Columbia records said he was in need of fresh blood to co-write songs with none other than Little Mix on their next album.  They held a competition at Berklee College, and long story short, I won! Yay me. To say I was nervous to write with a girl group I’ve been a fan of since the very beginning is an understatement. But they were so nice to work with. We’d take turns flying to each other’s countries and wrote about five songs together of which only two made it onto the actual album. None of it made much sense to me at the time, it all just seemed like one big dream. Owen was pretty excited about it too. He knew how big a fan I was of the girls. Even though he wasn’t a big fan himself, he still listened to the album, mostly to listen to the songs I’d written. Over FaceTime, we even played a game called ‘Guess what song I’ve written’, and he’d gotten one right. The girls even gave you a full-time job as co-writer on more projects of theirs and even recommended you to other artists. This meant you had to quit college and become a full-time freelance songwriter. Thanks to Little Mix, though, you’ve gotten the nicest people to hire you. Since then, you’ve worked with artists like Meghan Trainor, Bea Miller, Isabella Merced -- who you could gossip with about Owen from her time working with him -- and even Harry Styles. The fifteen-year-old inside you didn’t know what to do with herself when that collaboration happened. But working with all those people also meant I had to move again. This time to Los Angeles. When I told Owen the good news, he immediately suggested you move in with him. It’s the thing you guys said you would do once you got older; get an apartment together. So, it was the only logical move. “Welcome to your new casa!” He said dramatically when leading me into the apartment. The tall white walls and large windows illuminated the entire place with a welcoming feeling. “Let me show you to your room, so you can drop off your excessive luggage and then I’ll give you the tour of the entire space.” I raise an eyebrow at his words. “Bro, I have excessive luggage because I just moved from Boston to freaking LA!” I exclaim, followed by an amused chuckle as I try to push him, but fail since he’s much stronger. From that moment on, I knew moving in with Owen would be the best and worst idea I ever had. 

And speaking of ‘worsts’. From March 2020, the two of us were stuck at home together due to the outbreak of the coronavirus. Just when I was supposed to start working with Little Mix on their new album. I would’ve been in London now, but instead, I’m stuck in LA with my best friend who doesn’t have a job at the moment since he’d just finished filming a new Netflix show called Julie and The Phantoms. What I heard from it this far, it sounds pretty amazing. I even went to Vancouver with Owen for a few weeks. It was a fun trip and gave me some new inspiration for some songs. “Hey, Nugget,” Owen says as he walks into the room we call our studio where I’m working. “I’m kinda in the middle of something, Ace. Can it wait?” I know I shouldn’t work out my frustration on my best friend, but it kind of fell out of my mouth before I could stop myself. “Sorry, Nugget, I’m kinda bored…” I sigh exasperatedly and bob my head to signal his permission to come in. “What are you working on?” he asks as he sits down on the armrest of the armchair I’m sitting on. “This Little Mix song I can’t seem to make work,” I reply and point to the notebook in front of me. “I’ve got a few good lyrics, but the melody seems impossible.” Owen takes the notebook from me and closes it before getting up. “Time for a little break,” he says and goes to sit behind his drum kit. “Guess what song I’m playing,” he then says and starts with the cymbals, then hi-hats and when a beat finally floats through the room, my brain starts to work. This is a game we’ve been playing every time I’m in need of a break or just for fun. We’d take turns in playing a part of a song on our respective instruments and the other has to guess which song it is by singing along. “What’s it gonna be? Cuz I can’t pretend Don’t you wanna be More than friends Hold me tight and don’t let go Don’t let go Have the right to lose control Don’t let go” A smile appears on Owen’s as I get the first song right. He always underestimates my love for girl bands from the 80’s and 90’s. Though, I think he might’ve given me this one because I’m so frustrated from working on that song. “Your turn,” he then says after having hit a couple more toms and cymbals. I think about it for a moment, and then start plucking the sixth string to create a more bassy sound. Owen stares at the guitar for a moment trying to figure out what song I’m playing. Then, his eyes widen as he recognizes the sound. “It must be nice, it must be nice To have Washington on your side It must be nice, it must be nice To have Washington on your side” I let out a loud whoop in excitement, choking the strings to stop the sound. “I still can’t do that rap though!” he actually sounds disappointed in himself. “Washington isn’t gon’ listen to disciplined dissidents This is the difference This kid is out!” I proudly yell out, earning impressed applause from my best friend. The smile on his face warms me up inside. Owen has always had the most beautiful smile, in my opinion. He has one of those smiles that could just instantly make you happy. No matter how bad a day you had. “Very impressive, Nugget,” he replies with a smirk that sends shivers down my spine. Ever since I moved in, he’s gotten more and more flirty with me. I’m not sure if it’s just a change in his personality that he’s acquired in Los Angeles or if it’s something else, but it’s there. Not that I mind. Something has shifted in me too since we moved in together. It’s even gotten me thinking about removing rule number 6 from our pact. “Your turn, Ace,” I quickly change the subject, just so I don’t have to think about him like that too much. Our dynamic as best friends is too good to ruin it all. Twenty years of that is a long time to just throw away like that. “Alright, an easy one,” he says and simply starts stomping the bass pedal to activate his bass drum.  It’s a slow, almost menacing thump that sounds very familiar. A little too familiar. “Oh, I need you more than words can say Oh, You saved me in ways I can’t explain Always been there for me, now I’ll do the same Oh, I need you more than words can say” It’s one of the two songs on Little Mix’s last album that I helped write. The song that means most to me since I wrote it with Owen in mind. It was a period of time where all I wanted was to see Owen and be able to talk to him and just spend time with him like we used to before his whole acting adventure. I think he’ll stop after the chorus, but instead, he picks up his drum sticks and starts playing the rest of the song on his drum kit. Deciding it could be a fun jam session, I start playing the chords on my guitar as well whilst continuing with the lyrics. “Won't forget, won't forget Won't forget when he broke my heart How you helped me through You turned, you turned, you turned a disaster into a dream Gave me the power, made my life brand new When the world try to break us, we found magic And we grew stronger, though every line, line, line Every night, every night, every night I strain and sing the truth Now, now they know that they gonna be alright, alright” The memories of when I wrote this song start slipping through my mind. I remember how alone I felt, even in a room with a dozen other people. I remember how much I missed Owen. “I find peace in every story you told I think of you, I'll never be alone It's true, true, true You know I do, do, do” My eyes lock with Owen for a moment. He shoots me a comforting smile that makes me feel right at home. And I don’t mean here. I mean home as in Norman, Oklahoma. “Oh, I need you more than words can say Oh, you save me in ways that I can't explain Always been there for me, now I'll do the same Oh, I need you more than words can say Oh, I need you more than words can say” We both stop playing and just look at each other for a while. I’ve never told Owen I wrote this song for him, but at the same time, I think he might already know. That doesn’t take away the urge to tell him though. “I wrote that about you when I missed you,” I blurt out without properly thinking about it. “Really?” he asks while coming out from behind his kit. Combing his long, blonde hair back, he makes his way over to me and grabs the guitar from my lap. “Yeah, I thought you’d know?” He chuckles, shaking his head whilst tickling the strings. I’d taught him a couple of songs on the guitar since we started living together. “You write with a lot of people, Nugget. Could’ve just been their words as well....” He isn’t wrong about that. Maybe it was a lot less obvious than I thought it was. “So, what are the guidelines for this one?” he questions. I grab my notebook again and open it on the page I was working on before he fluttered into the studio. “They didn’t want another pop song. Kind of more like a ‘fuck you’ to Simon Cowell for treating them so badly and telling them what to do and what to wear and whatnot,” I explain, showing the few lines I have already. Some of them Jade had sent me, others were Perrie’s, a couple were mine. “What are most pop songs about?” Owen queries. I know he’s trying to help me, but he’s kind of making me nervous with the constant strumming of the guitar. “Songs about falling in love, or drinks and drugs…” I sum up at the top of my mind, “Or heartbreak…” Owen nods his head whilst continuing to play the same few chords over and over again. I focus on the melody for a moment as my creative juices start to work again. “This ain’t another pop song ‘bout falling in love Or a party song ‘bout drinks and drugs No more singing songs ‘bout breaking my heart And my lonely nights dancin’ in the dark” I look up at Owen for validation. Nodding his head encouragingly, he keeps playing the same few chords but a little louder this time to support the flow of my lyrics. “If I’m a guilty pleasure I want this life forever I’ll take it all ‘cause anything is better Than another pop song ‘bout falling in love But if you wanna sing along say ‘I don’t give a fuck!’” Owen starts jumping around excitedly, and I can’t help but laugh at his adorableness. He used to get this excited whenever I sent him a demo of the songs I was working on. “Let’s record a demo!” he exclaims and, after handing me my guitar back, moves towards the recording equipment. “Let’s start with some guitar,” he says and that’s how our recording starts. First, the guitar, then Owen records some drums, and then I get behind the mic to sing the song all by myself. I can just imagine how amazing this’ll sound with the girls’ voices instead of mine. “No broken bottles Or glitter on the floor form the night before Ain’t no boy troubles If that’s what you came here for then you should know” I lapse back into the chorus one last time before we finish recording and put everything together. We listen to it a couple more times before sending it over to Little Mix and their management. Awaiting their answer, we head into the kitchen to make some dinner together. It only takes about half an hour before I get a call from Jade. “This song is epic!” she shouts into my ear before I can even say hello. “Exactly what we needed, Y/N, thank you so much!” I’ve grown accustomed to her thick Geordie accent, though it was hard to understand in the beginning. “Thanks, Jade! Owen helped me out a little,” I reply, looking up at Owen himself who shoots me a wink that sends a rush of heat from my head all the way to my toes. The girls all know about Owen. I’d told them about my best friend and how supportive he was, and they always teased me saying I was so in love with this guy. Which I didn’t realize at the time and always denied. Rule 6 clearly states no dating each other. “Give him a big snog as a thanks then!” Jade jokes, and I can even hear the others in the background. “I’m on Zoom with the girls at the moment. They say hi!” “Hi back!” I can’t stop the giggle from escaping from my lips. “I gotta go, Jade. Thanks for getting back to me about the song. I can’t wait to hear you guys singing it!” Jade snickers on the other side of the line. All while I’m watching Owen make some pasta at the stove. There’s something so attractive about him in the kitchen, I’m not sure what it is. Fuck, Jade is right. I am very much in love with my best friend and there’s nothing I’m going to be able to do about it. Stupid pact we made in the first grade. “We’ll call you later to discuss some more arrangements and stuff. Bye, Y/N!” “Bye, Jade! Bye girls!” I say loudly, knowing I’m probably on speaker phone anyway. “Bye, Y/N!” the girls chorus. I hang up the phone and look at Owen for a few seconds before bursting out into an excited cheer, dancing my way towards him. “They loved it! They loved it! They loved it!” I shout loudly, and cup Owen’s face in my hands before pressing my lips to his in an outburst of elation. I’m surprising yourself at first, but then melt into the familiarity of his embrace as his arms snake around my waist whilst kissing me back. He’s actually kissing me back. “And that’s rule number 6 out the door…” Owen mumbles when he pulls away. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have,” I mumble and step away from him, or at least try to. His arms tighten around my waist, restricting me from taking another step. “I’ve been thinking about talking to you about that stupid rule, Nugget. I’ve hated it ever since we were 16.” My eyes widen at his confession. Since we were sixteen? SIXTEEN? That’s four years ago. That’s even long before I realized I felt more for him than just a platonic love. “16? Why didn’t you say anything?!” Owen chuckles, retracting his arms from around my waist and instead tucking a strand of hair behind my ear before placing his hand on my cheek. “You were pretty enamoured with Ryan, remember?” My heart breaks at the mention of the prick’s name. Ryan was my very first heartbreak and the worst at that. Owen was in LA at the time, but when he heard the news, he almost immediately flew back to Norman Oklahoma to comfort me and eat ice cream together. “Besides, I was constantly on the move from LA to Norman, it wouldn’t have been fair to you…” “You’re the sweetest human being alive, Owen Patrick Joyner,” I tell him with a smile tugging at my lips, but then turn serious again as I flick his forehead. He lets out an ‘ow’ and shoots me a confused glare. “And the stupidest! I’ve been in love with you since I don’t know when, but I never realized until now! The girls from Little Mix even knew but I was too oblivious or stubborn to see it myself. If you’d told me, I probably would’ve realized sooner!” “Well… I told you now?” he tries, the cheesiest smile on his face that makes me roll my eyes. “I love you, Ace,” I whisper, “And not the platonic kind this time.” “I love you too, Nugget.” He leans down again after that, reconnecting our lips into a passionate kiss. The first of many. This ought to be a very interesting quarantine together.

Taglist: @hannahhistorian92 @marinettepotterandplagg @thequirkybookaholic @bookdealer5 @tenaciousperfectionunknown @hemmingsness @iainttakingshitfromnobody @ifilwtmfc @angryknightstatesmantrash @kiss-themoongoodbye @rudysbay @thedarkqueenofavalon​ @caitsymichelle13​ @calamitykaty @wiselight @kcd15​

Lemme know if you wanna be on my taglist! 

[cora-the-dramatic]

BNHA_WAXQUIRK_OC

[semi-coerent ramblings]

The Candle Wax Hero: Soybean(name under revision lmao)

Name: Hirose Kaoru(First name means fragrance)

Appearance:??

Parents:??

Quirk: Wax, can make wax constructs, like the wax-wax devil fruit. Is low-key about her powers, makes people think that she can make and most a shed or small house when she can totally make concrete-strong apartments out of wax. Keys, rapped fire sharp wax projecticles, wax armour, wax prison, etc. When she overuses her quirk her hair catches fire, she gets a fever, a headache, desidrated, and all around exhausted but unable to sleep.

Personality:??

Dream: To be an average gal pal hero, who absolutely does not know ANY weird shit at all, no sirr. (She wants to help people, but also wants to live happily, and boringly.)

-----000-----

-Has her own agency.

-Is not low-key, but not flashy either

-Very oblivious to people's admiration, but when she notices fells flattered and happy.

-doesn't check out other heroes or the rankings very often. Normally only watches the top 15, and *maybe* top50 heroes.

-When she is interviewed she goes on long ramblings about what she's doing to help the community, why it's important, why other heroes should do it, and how civilians can help. When confronted with any prejudice she completely derails the show, extolling about the difficulties of mutation-types, villainous quirks, weak quirks and the quirkless. The reporters that thought she was timid or just a pretty face are barreled over by her oblivious essay-reading talks, minimizing or completely eliminating the chance for gossip, publicity or drama. Because of it she becomes a meme and internet celebrity, as well as a small idol for the victimized and villainized people; also because she's completely hilarious, as well as posting her essays, articles, and funding online(only eventually noticing that they get money). Unfortunately she only goes there to use it as a public journal as well as an awareness platform.

-she absolutely does not notice when she gets to the top 200.

-She does not have a lot of official merc, but they're all practical and come for all body types and mutations, being all types of quirk-prof and coming quite cheap. It ends up being used as a cheap, durable, affordable clothing by all.

-She volunteers stuff, what most would do to public service punishment, chatting with people, discussing stuff, helping around the community. Playing with kids, volunteering in hospitals, picking up trash, cleaning trash heaps with her quirk(compresion), occasionally cleaning the streets and helping around in general, Making support beans and just helping around in general. Not being flashily like that.

-she influences others to do more too. To do more community service, to have their own honest vloggings and posts. To volunteer and help.

-she gets a minor rival(?) who tries to out-do her by doing all the community service, Kaoru instead thanks them, said she admires them and obliviously one-ups them by opening like, a school or something, idk

-Uses a mask? Maybe? Either that or she's always been recognized.

-helps out with underground stuff when she can

-Is publicly disappointed in both the commission and Endeavour.

-Publicly says she doesn't like all might, or rather, what he represents.

-loves boba tea.

-has a side job of selling candles. Bethey big and artistic, small and compact, they're all pretty.

-Secrets keep being dumped on her lap, she doesn't like this.

-She believes she's succeeding in being lowkey. She is ABSOLUTELY not.

-She does not attend the annual gala  for top 200. Everybody is surprised. She's invited by the top interviewers, and ends up rambling about how she kinda wishes she could have gone and its moments like these that she wishes she were a top 200. Everybody kinda stalls at that. And realizes that she is, in fact, not kidding. They make her look it up online and her face is meme-worthy.

-interviewer: why didn't you go to the gala

 Her: i'm not a top200, but i wish

 Interviewer: you are, in fact, a top200

 Her:???what?????

-Is invited to do presentations at school

-is publicly suspicious of the commission.

-post{ uh, does anybody think Hawks is an overworked baby or is it just me??? #givethismanahug #getsomesleephawks #mycomissionsensesaretingling #newfannammeforhawks:babybird}

-post{congratulations again to endeavour for completely analihating a villain that had three broken ribs, a concussion, malnutrition and was having a flashback due to accidental misuse of quirk after being assaulted by a hero using exercise force for stealing groceries! Great job, buddy! #flamingtrash}

-post{...i'm halfway tempted to sue UA for this shit. @LordExplosionmurder if you want some lawyer contacts just hit me up. #whyisthisbabychainedup??? #unnecessary #unjust}

-private text{ Soybean: Hey! It's pro hero Soybean, I'm wondering if you're okay after the shit you went through at the festival? If i can help in any way or if you just want to chat, hit me up!}

-post{actual serious essay about why ua action was bad after info gathering. Hoping they change ways and policies, and that this never happens again.}

-post{everyone that thinks those 1-A kids need therapy say aye! #omg #therapy #lookatallthesetraumatisedbabies Comments: Soybean: AYE! *fixed*}

-post{ i never feel as gay as i do as when i see Miruku destroy villain ass #powerfull #beautiful #shelooksatmeandillDIE}

-agency growns.

------0000------

Story outline{ imma be following cliche movie shit that i hate. Imma use the flashbacksies}

Chp1: ��Dramatic inner monologue on a roof. Is a hero, achieved all she wanted in life, has her own agency. Hears a sound and goes to fight villain, she accesses the situation, form a climax/tension->

•flashback/past, The day she knew she would become a hero.

•(?)interceding flashes of past and present of her determination to be a hero(beat the villains ass ayyy, ends with a flash of the future(?)

Chp2: •Description of her day, painfully detailed, as boring as possible, end in cheerful note about how she loves how boring it is, and how for her its not boring at all. Description includes how her agency works, how it interacts with nearby agencies, what the status is for the neighbourhoods in general, how the crime rate is, compares it to other crime rates for other villains and hero's areas. Talk about her small number of employees and how she found them, briefly. Talk about where she sleeps, if its in an apartment, if it's in the office, where both are located and about the neighbours. Talk about the neighbours, about their clothes and their voices and how she feels about them, all in that satisfied this-is-normal-and-i-love-it kind of way. Talk about if she has a pet, about her apartment, touch briefly about something that reminds her of hero school, continue describing her apartment and the things there. Move on to what she's gonna eat, from where, what fast food and groceries, about how she thinks about food and who or if she shares her meals with. Have her have an idea for the community in general and head to bed.

•Flashback that surrounds the item that made her remember something. It needs to be something that makes her bittersweet. Like how her school was full of assholes, and that her teacher didn't like her because she was either too quiet or too loud, how she poked at too many sore spots and was bullied for it. Talk about a grand event similar to the sports festival at UA, and how a teacher -just tease, maybe don't even properly name- encouraged her to be better, and made her actually put up a fight, despite considering herself a coward at the time, and ended up getting 3rd place. Finish with her hurt, in pain but staring her bullies and the people who defeated her(maybe someone with something similar to pain quirk) down(also bullies?).

Chp3: •Describe in painful detail about her day to day school life. Her first year or second. Describe the building, if its dorm system or home-to-school system, describe what she sees on her way there, and the people she talks to. Talk about her bullies and the victims, and the people who watch, talk about the other classes and someone she admires at school, who she wishes she would talk to if she only had the courage. Talk about the teachers, how they interact, talk about her favorite teacher and how he helps her so much and how he takes care of her.

[tf2hcs]

the other mercs reacting to heavy and medic being together maybe???

Soldier: soldier doesn’t really get it at first. it took him about 3 years to realize he was dating demoman, so you can’t be surprised. when he figures out that they’re “dating dating, not friend dating” (his words) he’s very excited for them, and for the team as a whole. there are two gay couples on base now!

Scout: scout is happy for them, but he’s a little grossed out by the idea of medic dating anyone. you never want to know your doctor gets it. he makes a lot of jokes about it, partially out of love and partially to soften the blow of having walked in on them more than once, doing what he would call… romantic surgery?

Demo: demo is surprised. he didn’t realize that medic and heavy had a thing for each other, but a lot of things start to make sense once they tell him, namely all the weirdly-yearning eye contact they have during surgery. like soldier, he’s happy for them, and very excited to have another couple on base! he’s the first to suggest a double date.

Spy: he’s homophobic

that was a joke. i have literally no idea i think he just doesn’t care. scout is like “lol did you hear heavy and medic are dating??” and spy’s like “ah… every day ze same soup, just reheated”

Sniper: “haha, no shıt?” is his initial response. he cares about heavy and medic, and he’s happy for them, but to him this is mostly gossip. not that he doesn’t like having the scoop.

Engineer: oh my god! these b/tches gay! good for them! good for them! engineer is really happy for both of them. he knows heavy can be kind of reserved, so he’s delighted to see that he can connect with medic enough to have a relationship with him. he thinks they’re a great match :)

Pyro: i think pyro has a good relationship with medic. i can talk about this in another post if you guys want, but i think medic feels sort of maternal about them. they’re very excited to hear that medic has found someone!! they want to be the flower girl at the wedding.

BONUS

Miss Pauling: holy f/uck. medic? like... medic medic? she didn’t realize medic was into heavy, she thought that was just how he acted when he wanted to harvest someone’s organs. she thinks it’s really fun and cute once she sees them together, but her initial reaction (to hearing the gossip from scout) is total shock.

[silver-wield]

1/3 tbh, when I played remake, the whole A behavior thing flew right over my head. I was blinded by the hype and didn't linger much on stuff. But after reading about it, I'm hit with an aha moment and I'm starting to wonder: did SE not think things through when they made her act that way? Did the deeper implications of her behavior fly over their heads just like mine? I'm leaning toward mayyybe because I've always thought they wanted A to be beloved by players.

2/3 Doing things the way they did in remake seems to have had the opposite effect. I think they were going for cute/lively/quirky, but it backfired. Especially since they changed things from the original: eg. floors squeaking vs. random objects, Cloud not being in a particular hurry or opposed to the break in OG (to be fair, it felt like he didn’t even get a say in the latter), etc. I wonder if this was done on purpose or if it’s just something they didn’t calculate properly.

3/3 Either way, I’m so glad they didn’t make Tifa treat him like that. This gives me a whole new appreciation for her. A did improve later on, but I can see why her initial behavior might’ve left a bad taste in people’s mouth despite that.

So, you think the devs put all these compilation references in the game, reworked several OG scenes, switched who said what lines, included a shit ton of metaphor and symbolism, while also introducing new concepts, knew implicitly that having Aerith say those lines in her resolution could be interpreted as arrogant - and literally said so in an interview - was deliberate and them being super clever, but they didn’t see/understand that having Aerith treat Cloud like shit could be taken as abusive relationship coding? Seriously? 

It’s deliberate. 

Of course it’s deliberate. I mean, it’s literally in OG, too, just not as in your face. Aerith stops Cloud leaving her house when she hears his footsteps on the squeaky floorboards. She shoves him back in the bedroom. He’s trying to leave. Did people not understand that? 

Cloud is absolutely in a hurry to get back. He argued with Aerith the moment he got her to her house. “Quit acting like you know me! That wasn’t the deal.” Lots of upset/angry faces about the whole thing. What’s he gonna do? Threaten her to show him the way home? He’s got no choice but to wait until she decides she’s had enough of bossing him around. The moment he tries fighting her on it she brings up to her mother the fact she offered a date as payment. And he already got called a weirdo for it by Reno. He’s a professional. He spent the day before busting his ass building a rep in sector 7 that Aerith could destroy in seconds if she spreads it around that he takes dates for jobs. And Cloud hates gossip. He’s private. He doesn’t know this girl. He is literally stuck with no options. He tolerates her, but he’s not happy during that one bit. The only time he smiles is at the scared man who appreciated his skills, but then insulted him, so that feeling of accomplishment died a quick death, and then once at Miss Folia when she described how fulfilling it is having a found family. And she didn’t even pay him after all that. 

All of this is deliberate. 

It’s a game. Do...people not understand this is all coded on purpose? It doesn’t just show up on the shelves and in the PS store without people actually creating it. 

Nojima writes the scenario, gives it to Nomura and Kitase and they add their own ideas and scene suggestions, make some changes, then give it back to him. He edits and writes some more and it’s a whole collaborative process until the final script is done. Then a secondary team adds npcs and other filler dialogue to help world build. But it’s all gotta be approved first. Nobody “slips stuff in” without anyone noticing. All of those metaphors and symbolism aren’t by accident. All of those cloti references and compilation nods aren’t because Nojima wrote those too and he’s got one style of writing. 

Ofc Tifa didn’t treat Cloud like that because she’s got respect for him. As a person, as a merc, as a friend and later as a lover. She is literally created to be his ideal woman. Nomura said that. It’s not fan lore. It’s from the mouth of the creator himself. Tifa is Cloud’s ideal woman. That means more than just in looks. Her personality is his ideal too. And that means everything she says and does is part of what makes Cloud love her. The flaws, the strengths, all of it. Cloud loves her as a whole person.

[initiatingtheheadcanons]

Mercs as (Your) Modern Siblings (Pt. 1)

I had this idea for days now so here it goes! Platonic mercs ftw!

Offense || Defense || Support

[ Scout ]

Your annoying little brother™. Tough as nails on the outside but cares for you greatly.

Always pulls pranks even if it’s not April Fools and enjoys it so. Though he will beat the crap of anyone who dares to bully you even if it gets both of you in trouble.

Cheers you up when you have a bad day and always suggest to play video games with him.

Whether you like it or not, he will drag you outside to play baseball with him on weekends even if you’re not good at it.

A type of sibling that will support you in any competition (sports, spelling bees, etc.) and his voice is loudest among the crowd.

[ Soldier ]

A rude, older sibling and crazy as hell even your parents questioned his... weird behavior though they don’t mind that much.

Will fight to the death to those who gossip or taunts you, no one messes with you but him.

He’s in-between of fun and crazy when you do play with him.

Has a thing with raccoons and eagles and your parents find that concerning he might get rabies from the former (thankfully he didn’t)

Just don’t call America stupid, everyone (yes even you) learned that the hard way. He also excels in American History but fails the rest of the subjects.

[ Pyro ]

Pyro is a type of younger sibling that’s unusually quiet but knows very well if you’re happy or not.

Will more likely give their signature intense glare to those who bully you and will hesitantly initiate a fight to protect you from being harassed.

Very cheerful around the topics of cutesy things and tries things like manicure and braiding your hair. Loves to cheer you up with their drawings when you’re down.

Loves lighting up candles or ANYTHING that’s flammable with their lighter they carry around all the time. They just make sure they don’t burn your family’s house or anyone’s houses in the matter.

Pyro excels in art and chemistry subjects, they are glad to help you with those if you’re having a hard time.

[theemmataylor]

Austentacious || Emma and Deadpool

Part four, for you. The more I read back through this, the happier it makes me. You are the best. And I love this damn story. -- @violent-nobility

"Your brother did me no disservice. One of the gentlemen, whoever it was a that I had to dance with partially though the dance your brother and I shared, he merely insinuated that I might know the Duke better, more intimately, than we are. It's not... I mean, perhaps I should be more scandalized by how quickly they assumed things, but what else is the country good for if not to spread gossip."

Emma looked down at the gloved hand over hers and remembered again that this wasn't her real life, as much as she could get used to it. Somewhere there was Cecelia and Eli, even Oscar. Her Oscar (though the one she'd met here might be the next best thing.) Still, she couldn't let her heart warm too much at the idea that she'd caught someone's attention.

"I..." Wade. "I promised my cousin... He has hunting to do, or something. I promised him tonight before the ball that I would not keep him in the country past tonight. I cannot go back on my word." Though she hated the idea of leaving. Who knew how long she'd be allowed in this time, how long she'd have to get to know the awkward and cold man who seemed to actually take an interest in her? She wanted to stay a fortnight -- wanted to court him, perhaps.

"But you should know your brother is not quite as bad in social situations as you might give him credit for. He was incredibly kind to me, and I feel... thankful for having been allowed to meet him."

--

Sebastian barely had a moment to keep up with each new thing Wade was talking about. Regardless, the sniper enjoyed watching him come off the high of a fight. That was always the best part -- watching those who really got into it ride the high as long as they could once the fight was done.

"You think I would die on you? You think I spent all that time becoming the best shot just to let myself get hit by a bus, or to let my boss shoot me in the back to prove a point? It took you long enough to find me, Wade. I'm not going anywhere. And, honestly, there is nobody I would rather spend my days with, whether you are... like this, or if you insist on wearing that ostentatious red suit. I'm here. And I'm quite content to be so.

The merc with the million-mile-a-minute motor-mouth turned to stare at Seb, speechless. His jaw dropped and he looked like he was about to say something, but instead he just nodded once and looked ahead, touched by the reality of the moment suddenly. As they prowled around the perimeter of the house, Wade was uncharacteristically quiet. It wasn't until they got back to their starting point that he turned back to the sniper and stepped close.

Wade pressed a very soft kiss to Sebastian's ear, then another to his neck, his jaw, and then one to his lips.

"Real things are nice sometimes," he said, then touched his forehead to Seb's. "We should.. probably go check inside the place?"

-

Daphne tried to cover up her unexpected sadness, and for the most part, it worked. "Of course, we wouldn't want to keep you and your cousin from any plans you might have made together," she said. Glancing over, she saw Marcus walk back in then, his expression back to the one she knew so well -- the stone mask, the one that had only briefly been lifted during this party. Aureliano and Emma both seemed to possess some sort of magical claim to her brother's heart, and she only wished she could keep them in his life longer. Daphne had never known Marcus to give any woman attention beyond what was strictly polite, and now...

Well, at least Emma had entered his life at all. It was worth it to see a single beam of sunlight pierce the rainclouds, even once.

She smiled to Marcus when she caught his eye and he walked over to them.

"Brother, dearest, Emma will be leaving us tomorrow it seems."

Marcus gave a small nod and looked at Emma. "Wherever you go from here, I hope that your journeys will please you -- Emma." Her name was uttered just a bit more softly than the rest of the sentence, just enough to be noticed.

Always one to keep silent, Sebastian followed at Wade's left flank, always covering him, waiting for some weird new horror to pop out. Sebastian hadn't been a real part of a team in a decade or more, and he wasn't really sure whether or not he and Wade were the standard definition of a team, but Sebastian would cover him, protect him, at all costs.

Back in the maze, the tiger was surprised by the gentle touches, and he stood there awkwardly while being kissed -- not because he didn't enjoy it, but the thought of wrapping an arm around Wade and returning the sentiment wasn't something that just came to him second nature. Still, he managed to catch his doppelgänger by the hand, smiling.

"I'm not sure this is what normal people would consider real. The bunny corpses are gone, if you noticed." In there places were little charred spots on the ground. "But being with you is... nice. I'm not good at this. But I want you to know that whatever other sodding make believe happens tonight..." Sebastian rolled his eyes at himself and licked his lips. "I'm glad you consider me the thing that's real."

-

"I... honestly hadn't expected to have such a good time. I didn't expect to make friends. But Wade... well, there are few people in the world who haven't..." nope. Too heavy for party talk. "Anyway. He deserves for me to keep my word to him."

Emma found herself falling in love with the way her name sounded coming from his mouth. "Thank you. My cousin, I believe, found an old acquaintance, so I am not sure as to the new layout of his plans. But should I end up staying in the country... I do hope to be able to boast of more time in the company of the lot of you." She smiled at Oscar, and then when she looked at the Duke again, her eyes softened. "You've made my time here worth every second."

Oscar lit up at the praise; if he'd had a tail, it would have been wagging. His eyes were practically gleaming and he wanted to whimper with happiness that he had been included in anything to do with making Emma happy. There was no reason that he should be so pleased by this, he knew, but in a way, it felt like he had been waiting for her all his life, waiting just to help her in some small way. Blushing, he looked down and kicked the ground once, unable to actually say anything.

As for Marcus -- he had always wanted to laugh at the idea of falling in love in an instant. Now, though, all of his past opinions seemed entirely foolish; how could he ever have laughed at his own fate? And why was he such a fool as to fall for a woman he knew absolutely nothing about?

"I look forward to being allowed the privilege of getting to know you, Emma," Marcus said. "Whether you stay or whether you go. I understand needing to honor an agreement and could not expect anything less from a person of character, but only hope that you will write, on occasion, if only to let us know how your -- adventuring with your cousins goes."

"Your cousins," Daphne, who didn't remember if she was still in the scene or not but decided to be, said with a sigh, fanning herself. If only she were still single...

-

Wade looked at Sebastian for a moment, then gave a small smile before he shrugged. "Let's get back inside. Check it out. Start locking any unnecessarily open doors and windows. That seem okay? And check on my new boo and her boobies."

"What exactly are you anticipating to be caught by? And if we're to fight more, you need something better than a candlestick. Plus... the girl you're with... maybe if we're to fight, maybe tagging along isn't in her best interest. At least in the manor she can shut herself away, but if we take to the country roads, and then are ambushed..."

To put it simply, the only person Sebastian really cared about protecting was the one who didn't need his protection. She didn't belong in this fight. So they could stay at the manor until they figured out the point of this world, or they could leave her behind in search of answers.

"Did I hear you agree to dance with her tonight?"

-

Emma didn't argue about Sebastian, regardless of the fact that one had an American accent and one an English, they looked too similar for people to not assume there was a close relation.

"You are very kind," she said to the Duke, her hands folded together so that she could nervously fidget with her fingers. "I think I should very much enjoy at least a written correspondence with the pair of you."

Looking at Oscar, Emma placed a gentle hand to his shoulder, smiling when the music changed. "Would it be too forward of me if I asked you to share this dance with me? You've been so wonderful to me this evening."

"I have two left. Feet. I mean. I'm. I'd love to. Please. But I'm terrible at dancing?" Oscar looked up and met her eyes, eager and worried at once.

-

"Fuck! Yeah! Yeah, I did." Wade bounced. "So we gotta go back in there, or at least I do. And.. Thanos, Thanos, I think he's basically all-powerful, he can control reality and time and perception, so it's possible none of this is even real. I don't know -- let's just -- I don't wanna leave her. I said I wouldn't. Let's check out the house, I can dance with her, and then look around for some nice, big stabby-stabbers to abscond with?"

"That's okay, Oscar. I'm certain the Duke, here, will ascertain as to my lack of knowledge about the dances and how clumsy I am. And so perhaps I should apologize in advance, if you agree to dance with me."

-

Sebastian followed without question. "Do whatever it is you feel you must. I am here for you, it seems, as this world holds no other allure for me. I am utterly at your disposal."

As they neared the house, again, the sniper made sure neither of them had blood or weapons showing before approaching the lighted porch. "Go spend time with her. I'm going to smoke."

"Be safe. Stay vigilant. Yanno, if I lost you or something, that might be kind of devastating. So. Don't devastate me, Seb." He looked to be sure nobody was watching, then gave him a quick kiss before heading back inside -- just in time to see that sweet puppy boy go out onto the dance floor with Emma and proceed to trip over his own feet repeatedly.

Okay. Shit. That was pretty endearing.

Wade hung out near a wall and watched her with Oscar, a smile on his face -- and Oscar panicked and panicked but loved every minute of being allowed Emma's attention, although his cheeks were scarlet and he had never been quite so embarrassed before in his life.

"I'm sorry," he kept saying, at every mistake.

They didn't do a whole lot of actual dancing, but Emma enjoyed the hell out of Oscar's company, and when the song was over, she pulled him into a tight hug, letting him go soon after, apologizing for her own impropriety. "I hope you'll allow me another dance sometime in the future."

Her next move was to scan the room to see if she could spot the Duke, but her eyes landed on Wade instead, his red jacket standing out amongst the crowd. Emma smiled and moved toward him. "How was it?" She asked with a smirk. "The hunting bad guys, I mean. Not the painfully obvious sex you had." She gestured to her own head to hint at his sex hair. "Have you come to escort me away already? I'm not ready to leave yet, I'll admit."

"Oh shit, shit shit, shit." He tried to fix his hair, then turned to her. "Can you make it look less just-fucked? The painfully obvious sex was great, though, thank you for asking -- wait, you didn't -- oh yeah, monsters! Yeah there was a horde of shadow rabbits, it was pretty crazy, but we took care of them. Tip tip hoorah cheerio? I don't know British." He looked out at the crowd and smirked, then looked back at Emma. "That hottie keeps trying so hard not to look over here. What'd you do, bury a fishing hook in his balls and reel him in?"

Stretching to comb fingers through his hair, she paused in her actions when he mentioned the staring. Perhaps it should say something about her that she didn't even ask for more details about the bunnies.

"I'm sure I do not know what would give him reason to stare, particularly if it is who I believe you are referring. I've caused him nothing but one hassle after another tonight."

"Pretty sure he's doing that thing where you try not to watch your girl interact with another guy because she can interact with whoever she wants to, but holy shit it hurts because she's not interacting with you and all you want is for her to be close. Ohh, ohp, now he's turned away entirely -- didn't look easy. Damn, Emma. I mean, shit, if I wasn't madly in love with Seb I'd be into you too, you've got the sweetest little booberinos, but daaamn. He's into you. As he damn well better be. I kinda thought you'd go for the pirate, who wouldn't? Is there a difference between a duke and a baron or count or whatever the fuck rank of pirate-boy's counts in this country? Ha, counts."

"Wade, don't talk about my boobs in public. Pretty sure people here already think I'm a harlot." Despite their playful banter, Emma pulled her hand away. She didn't know why it mattered, it wasn't as if she had a lifetime to spend here. She wouldn't get to marry anybody.

Still, she didn't want the Duke to think her cousin was also her betrothed.

"I don't know anything about rankings, honestly. They do not matter to me." She looked over her shoulder for Marcus. "But I'd like if he didn't think you and I were a potential item. You understand?"

"Absolutely." Wade stepped back and held a hand to his chest. "And may I just say, you are the single most revolting woman I've ever beheld. I mean. Ew. Wow. To think, we share blood! My God. The very thought!" He winked, bounced in place once, then tried to stop smiling (and failed). "Does this mean I don't get to dance with you?"

"I've already told him that I have agreed to share a dance with you. I think. Unless you're too busy... what's the phrase? Screwing like rabbits with your doppelgänger. I'd hate to interrupt that."

"Whaaat? No, no, we were fighting rabbits. We screwed like -- wild beasts. Rabbits are known for being really quick, right? And if there's one thing that man knows? It's when to pull the trigger. Mmm! I could just eat him up! But uh -- everyone needs time to reload. So. Yes. Dancing. Dancing? Let's do the dancing, dear platonic cousin." He offered her his arm.

Rolling her eyes, Emma slipped her arm through Wade's letting him guide her out onto the floor.

"Let's." When they began their dance, Emma glanced across the room, past Wade, until she saw the Duke standing near his sister. "You'll forgive me, dear cousin, if I seem a little distracted tonight?"

"Oh yeah no, be distracted. You should totally do that thing where the hot chick in the period piece looks longingly across the room at the man of her dreams, while dancing with someone she really doesn't want to be dancing with. Do the thing."

As it turned out, Wade was an excellent dancer -- well, there were a lot of dances he was good at, and for once it was nice to get the chance to demonstrate that with his clothes on. Usually he did naked dancing, or mostly naked dancing, or getting naked dancing -- well, he used to. Before, you know, audience. Before the thing that turned him into a giant testicle with teeth.

"Sooo, fess up, what do you like about Broody McDarcy?"

"It's not that I don't want to dance with... wait. Are you calling me a clichè, Wade? It's not like I believe in love at first sight. And just because I'm fond of the quiet, brooding type. The damaged. Damn I'm a sucker for the damaged."

She smirked, and the grin only widened as the tempo picked up a little when Wade had to lift her by the waist and spin in one direction.

"It's a good thing you're strong, cousin. You barely broke a sweat with that lift."

"I might break a sweat trying to find ways to censor myself when you say things like that." He grinned. "Sooo, any idea how he's damaged? I mean everyone has a fucked up story somewhere in their past, right? What do you think his is?"

She smiled. "Is it weird that I don't care? It's not about watching the train wreck? But I. I want to be someone good for him. Or... I don't know. He's a Duke. I imagine there is pressure in some way from his family, expectations he doesn't feel like he matches up to.

"But when someone is damaged or perpetually sad or whatever, it's always so, so amazing when they smile."

"He's a duke, which seems to be a big deal considering everyone here goes white if he looks at all unhappy, and so yeah, I mean, maybe there's pressure. Either way, you notice nobody mentions hottie's parents? So they're dead. Or out of the picture. But probably dead, if he's got the title, right? So. Sad puppy duke McHotty Mcdamn you're going to have a good time touching that body... focus. Right. Yeah. So he's also a duke who's good friends with a Spanish count who somehow manages to be part of the English peerage as a baron, despite also having a most unsavory past. I think I smell a spy-yyyyy somewhere in this story."

She was laughing by the time he finished talking. "You have been outside with your own McHottie, how in the world do you know all of this?"

As the music shifted, and the dance seemed to change entirely, Emma looked past Wade once more, but Marcus was nowhere to be seen. A subtle pout showed itself on her expression with a small jutting out of her bottom lip.

"When I start being too obvious. Will you like, hit me? Or something? Like now." She met his eyes. "I'm sorry. You think he's a spy tho? Are there really spies in this century?"

"Do you not remember when I went around and left you for a while at the beginning of all of this? Dude, I am good at picking up on shit. Like, seriously good at it. Evil superhero, remember? And yeah, there's totally spies. There's a war with France right now, right? Fighting Napoleon and all that?" He flicked at his red jacket. "And wherever there's been a war, in the entire history of humanity, I'm pretty sure there've been spies. I mean, okay, so no, I don't have a legit reason to think he is --- it's just fishy. The mysteriously-absent Spaniard's an interesting kind of friend, right? I told you right off the bat that he's a pirate. But this crowd? Associating with a pirate? I don't knooow, I'd say there must have been some pretty serious service to England to get even the Count of Ampurias onto the Duke of Devonshire's arm.

"And I'm not gonna hit you, Jesus, woman. What do I look like, the abusive cousin?"

"Okay, fine, don't hit me. But just... don't let me be annoying with it. If I'm craning my head to try to find him, or..."

She sighed, shaking her head. "Tell me about your boy. The terrifying one standing in the only dark corner in the building. The one who has been watching you relentlessly. Speaking of spies or... assassins or something. He's is actually frightening."

"Frightening? Oh my god, yes, isn't he, though? He's terrifying. Could he be any hotter? I think he's -- I dunno, he seems kind of sad sometimes. Maybe I'm into the damaged ones, too. I'm not sure that people love Moran enough -- maybe he doesn't let them. Maybe they don't fight to get past his, uh, somewhat slightly kinda sorta prickly exterior. But either way... sometimes he seems lonely, and it fucks me up a little to think that what if, y'know, and this is probably stupid, I'm probably being an overdramatic dumbass reading way too much into it, but what if I'm the only person helping to ass-uage that loneliness? I mean I hope not, I want him t have all the love he can possibly get, but... I-dee-kay. It's a lot, sometimes. A good kind of a lot. I love the bastard."

"I would threaten him for you, but I think he'd..." her face scrunched into a frown. "You know what..."

Emma pulled from Wade's embrace and made her way over to Sebastian, who stood a little straighter when she approached him with such a determined expression.

"Listen," she grumbled quietly, making sure nobody was listening to her but him. "Wade... well, he's not really my cousin, but I'm assuming you know that. And I only just met him today. But what I do know about him is that he doesn't deserve some asshole boyfriend."

Sebastian's expression remained blank.

"I'm not telling you not to hurt him. I'm wagering he'd enjoy that. But open up a little. Let him in. Let him know that you care. Make him feel wanted. That's what he deserves. And he wants you. So don't screw it up, yeah."

Sebastian's lips pulled ever so slightly in the corner, hinting at a smile. "You're quite bold."

"I'm not. I'm scared shitless right now. And I don't cuss. Not normally. But... He's important. Don't forget that."

"You have my word, Lady Taylor."

She huffed, and nodded, and turned to find Wade.

Wade was standing exactly where she'd left him, looking like a completely lost, confused little kitten. It wasn't often that the deadliest man in the universe (well, sort of the deadliest, come on, let him live a little and get a nifty title like that!) would look like this -- only ever happened with matters of the heart, it seemed. And right now, he didn't know what had just happened -- at all.

It took him a moment, but he hurried over to the two of them. "What just... is everything... what?"

"Tell him," she demanded, getting an endeared roll of his eyes in return.

"You are important, Wade. You are important to me. And I know I'm an asshole, and I'm hard to read. People don't love me because I don't let them. I don't want to be loved because I don't think I deserve it. But you... I want you to love me. And I have this tiny, quiet, shy woman to deal with if I hurt you."

Emma beamed. "Damn right." She nodded once and looked at Wade, hoping she hadn't overstepped somehow. "I wish you two could kiss."

"We're not your Ken dolls, kid."

"The hell you aren't. And don't call me kid."

Emma looked at Wade. "I'm going to go find Oscar. Enjoy him while we're here. He loves you too." And she started to walk off.

"Um..." Wade turned and watched her go, then looked back at Sebastian, genuine fear in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I. Are... uh -- I should -- go. Um. Get. The stabby-stabbers."

Oh fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck.

He hadn't felt like he was actually going to be sick like this in years -- not since that whole dying of cancer thing. Abruptly, Wade turned and left the room, heading off to find a toilet where he could at least sit down on the floor and put his head in his hands, behind a door, and panic.

Sebastian watched him go, his brow creased, but when he met Emma's accusatory stare, and as she nodded after Wade.

Seb moved swiftly along the perimeter of the room. Luckily, Wade hadn't bothered locking the door, or the key for the lock wasn't present -- regardless, he slipped inside, turned off the light, and slid down the wall to sit beside Wade.

"What just happened? How did I mess up?"

[padawanchesha]

The Mandalorian Chapter 4 Discussion

Hitting this episode asap because I’m trying to write my Song/Mando fic and it starts in Sanctuary

This is odd but the krill and the water... goals

Omera deciding to jump into the water with Winta and putting the basket over them was a very smart move tbh

there is no reason for the music to be so good 

God I love that Baby Yoda has Some Idea of what Mando is saying to him but chooses to be that mischievous toddler instead

Every time Mando picks up Baby Yoda I gain +5 love points

HES JUST SITTING IN HIS LAP AND HES HOLDING HIM AND YODAS HOLDING HIS FINGER

 Mandos voice has me heart eyes

“ya little womp rat” yes yes dad mode

Hmm ok so, is Mando’s ship like obviously a gunship? Is it easy for someone to look at that and say “some soldier/merc is on that”?

the scenery in this episode is beautiful

Let the Baby play with the stick!

He’s using the dad finger! I love that within what, at most, is a few weeks Mando has become a father figure to the Child whether he admits it or not

“Yes hello dad it’s me”

HE JUST WADDLES HOW DOES HE KEPE UP WHY DOESNT MANDO PICK HIM UP NO ONE CARES ABOUT MY HEART

PROTECT HIM FROM THE MEAN LOTHCAT

he squeaked when mando picked him up im gonna cry

GOD SHE HITS HIM SO HARD HE SCORPIONS

THIS SCENE IS SO HOT

“Soup I have, beat up you were”

Can we talk about how Mando went from “im gonna kill you” to “my kid just saw us fight and clearly you must not be here for the kid so you want some soup on me”

Judging by everyone's reaction to Mando coming in, they all clearly know he’s dangerous based on his armor, but how do they know he’s guild unless they’ve heard of him? And it also leads to the question that people must’ve gossiped and if so how did said gossip travel out to the krill farmers

where are the SPOONS

at least the fact that he was a mandalorian got to the farmers, and they knew he was skilled enough to potentially help them

god mando changes his mind so quickly come on

cara is so hot please i’m gay

mando and cara are both so aware and paranoid, most likely from PTSD and years of running/fighting/surviving but it’s so fucking funny to me to see this kid try to sneak up and Mando whip around ready to square up with a child

he’s so stiff and awkward, even as Winta as introduced and non-threatening he’s still standing like he’s ready to grab his blaster. He doesn’t know how to respond to her gratitude so he just nods and there’s that flex of his left hand like he’s embarrassed almost like he regrets either what he did or how he responded

Mmm I like how Omera apparently learned from just that interaction that he doesn’t like being approached silently so she said knock knock while waiting outside beside the door, where he can’t see her but she also can’t see him and approach him without him knowing

every time Mando picks up the baby my heartaches

He is such a first-time parent it’s so obvious. Like Omera has to stop him because she probably knows how nervous he is, especially with it being a new area

I wonder just how many times Mando has been approached by someone like Omera, someone who notices and respects his culture and makes an effort to include him despite his helmet and all

After seeing the Mandalorian children, and Mando saying he hadn’t shown his face since he was a kid, it makes me wonder if the age of becoming a Mandalorian is like.. 13 and why they have to hide their face so young

Mando is..... extremely awkward. He knows how

Ah right the AT-ST

It’s very very interesting to see war machines from the perspective of people who aren’t Jedi’s or Sith.

Even as a force user those things are scary as hell right, but then you see it as someone with no training, or who’s seen it take down people first hand

Where did omera learn to shoot? That is my biggest question, because why does she know but no one else

Perhaps she’s not originally from the village?

Cara and Mando are super good at working together for knowing each other for all of a few days

CARA BUSTS THROYGH THE DOOR AND IM GAY

The AT-ST is filmed like the stuff of nightmares

Imagine if this had been one of the huge four legged machines

I love that they made the machine move as though it had a conscious despite being piloted by people

I also hate it

Very good work at getting down people

CARA IS SO FUCKING HOT

“Come to mama” yes ma’am

OMERA YELLING ORDERS

Omera/Cara please Star Wars

The baby’s second victim

Mando is incapable of leaning or standing without being sexy

Caras smirk she KNOWS

I wonder how many times Mando has listened to that kind of spiel it’s his religion

Can you hear his heart breaking at leaving the kid

“It’s very... nice here”

Do people not take his religion seriously or just not know it

pedros voice acting is god like

Idk how Cara found the bounty hunter but I’m eternally greatful

What if the child had been shot I *screaming cat emoji*

Mando and Cara are gay solidarity

Side note I love that the costume department gave the village pieces of blue clothing to show that they use their krill for a majority of things including dye