#i messed up one of the panels and switched it around. if you notice good job if you didn't then just ignore this | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

hellobunny044 · 2 years ago

Text

Panels. | Series

panel. in manga art, panels refers to the frame that wraps around one moment in time.

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an original Haikyu AU pairing Udai Tenma (the o little giant

warning!!: containing some manga content.

word count: 6318

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Panel - 4

Udai knew that being a mangaka was a tough job, but he never imagined it would be this messy. He was neck-deep in deadlines, pages, and ink blots, with barely enough time to get a decent night’s sleep, let alone a weekend off. Yet, he continued to pour his heart and soul into his manga series, determined to make it a success.

This morning, he woke up to the blaring sound of his phone, a call from his dearest editor, Akaashi Keiji.

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“Good morning, Udai-san.”

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“Morning, Akaashi-san.” Yawning, Udai immediately closed his mouth with his palm then trailed over the wall to read the clock whilst listening to his editor’s kind reminder of his deadline approaching fast at the end of this month.

—————————————————————

“I’m calling to remind you about the deadline. It’s coming at the end of this week. Please start taking it seriously, Udai-san.”

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“Understood, Akaashi-san. There is no slacking off this time.”

When Udai said there is no slacking off, he meant everything about it.

This morning when he woke up, Udai was asleep clutching to the paper of his work for the next volume of Zombie Knight Zomb’ish. He didn’t need Akaashi Keiji to keep reminding him of the deadline he already set his own alarm on.

He is really working hard this time.

—————————————————————

“Please be real about it this time.”

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Udai sighed.

“Should we switch to facetime, Akaashi-san?”

—————————————————————

“I would prefer it this way. Then, don’t forget to have a proper breakfast, Udai-san. You’ll finish the manga earlier if you eat a proper meal.”

—————————————————————

Bowing to the air, Udai replied, “Thank you so much for your hard work of being so considerate about my condition, Akaashi-san. Have a great day ahead!”

The call ended with Udai yawning once again, tossing his phone to the side where there was a pile of paper almost covering the ground where he remembered he was sleeping so comfortably last night.

He took a deep breath and looked around his room. The walls were plastered with sketches, storyboards, and reference images. His desk was cluttered with pens, papers, and empty cups of coffee. His tablets are still on. A stray sock lay on the floor, and the curtains were drawn shut, casting the room in a pale, eerie light.

Udai slowly got out of his bed, stretched his arms, and headed to the bathroom. He splashed water on his face and looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was a mess, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, trying to tame the wild strands.

As he walked out of his apartment, he noticed that the sun had barely risen, and the streets were still relatively empty. He decided to head to the convenience store anyway. The early morning air was refreshing, and he felt a sense of calm wash over him.

As he walked, he saw a group of high schoolers, laughing and chatting as they headed to school.

Udai smiled, remembering his own high school days. Back then, he never could have imagined that he would become a mangaka, let alone a successful one. He had always loved drawing, but he had never considered it a viable career option.

As he approached the convenience store, he saw a small dog tied to a post. The dog was wagging its tail and looking up at him with big, soulful eyes. Udai crouched down and stroked its head, and the dog licked his hand.

The dog barked, and Udai chuckled.

He bought some instant breakfast and headed back to his apartment, feeling a sense of contentment. He had almost successfully completed another volume, and he was proud of his work.

Miyagi Prefecture, Nine years ago

Eight o’clock in the morning meant it’s the time for morning practice for all sports club members including volleyball.

About half an hour before morning practice began, the first year club members had arrived early, ahead of the second and third year senpais. Only then, fifteen minutes before the scheduled morning practice, did the senpais join in, filling the club room to change and get ready for the morning practice session.

As with most sports club rooms, a deafening noise greeted the opening of the door: a serious and jocular chatter of the first years, a few second years being silly by throwing some clothes at each other, some affectionate callings and amused laughter that echoed like a thunderbolt in the morning, the melodious humming that outshone the coolest diva in the world, and a few other performances.

Crowded.

Crowded, contrary to the ideal atmosphere some people want to start their day with, Udai was one of them.

Rather than distinguishing himself with the title ace attached to every cell in his body, or perhaps on an invisible neon plaque attached to his head, Udai chose to join in with a greeting that was uttered casually under his breath when he opened the door. His reasoning was simple: that he did not want to ruin the atmosphere with his presence, or rather that he did not want to disturb his own inner tranquility by blending into the noise in the club room.

The greetings that passed by him since he entered the club room to get ready, were replied in a nonchalant tone as he walked towards his locker.

“Good morning, Udai-kun!”

The only person who consistently greeted him in a friendly manner was Tsukishima Akiteru. A third-year club member with a tall, lanky build—far towering over Udai—his speed and spike performance were fairly consistent as one of Karasuno’s wing spiker, but he had never been a starting player like Udai.

There can only be six people on the court. When the game was on, and the ball was in the air, it was a rule that there had to be sacrifices to keep the players at six. For a long time, it has been an absolute rule that those who were to fill six spot om the court are the stronger, are the ones who are able to bear the weight of the responsibility of keeping the ball in play.

In this case, Tsukishima Akiteru might not have been one of those six for quite some time, but Udai was one of them, so that was enough.

Bowing his head slightly to the blonde senpai, Udai replied, “Good morning, Tsukishima-san.”

After changing into more proper clothes for the training session, Udai who was about to join the gymnasium with the others, was again prevented by Tsukishima with something she said.

“You didn’t eat curry-flavored pork buns anymore, did you?”

Udai stopped, peeking over his shoulder.

Tsukishima chuckled. His hand behind his head scratched awkwardly even though it wasn’t itchy at all. “Ah, sorry. I think I’m being slightly too impertinent here.”

At times when Udai gave unreadable expressions like this, Tsukishima, or anyone else, would always feel that Udai was a big guy.

“I was just joking, Udai-kun.” Tsukishima Akiteru immediately followed up his words. Both hands were raised sufficiently in front of his chest, his lips curled into a friendly smile.

It’s not that Udai would care so much about that either.

“Oh. I see.” Udai replied casually but politely. “I still ate curry flavored pork bun yesterday after practice, though.”

“Hee? Really?” Tsukishima gave a surprised expression.

“After all, it was delicious, wasn’t it?”

“Well... you’re right about that. But…”

Studying Tsukishima Akiteru’s expression, Udai immediately answered the obvious concern on his senpai’s face by saying, “About the the other day, I didn’t really go to the bathroom.”

Tsukishima Akiteru paused, blinking innocently at his underclassman who said everything oh-so-casually.

“I just needed an excuse to leave practice for some reason and saying something like that as an excuse was the best choice.”

Half-stammering, also shocked at the innocence and bluntness of his underclassman, Tsukishima Akiteru immediately warned, “Oi, Udai-kun. Keep your voice down. If Kawada-kun hears you, he’ll scold you for lying.”

“And?”

Tsukishima Akiteru was dumbfounded, “Huh?”

“It can't be helped, right? It happened.”

Logically, Udai had a clear point to make. Tsukishima Akiteru also knew that Kawada might inherited their coach’s strict nature, however, he was not someone who would strip away his own discretion to scold some underclassmen for lying.

Udai watched the change in Tsukishima Akiteru’s expression that had just been sighing like a man in pain, brightened up with a smile curling his lips.

“Udai-kun, you see, if I look closer about it, I think you do have a feel of a big guy sometimes.”

Udai frowned, not understanding the difficult term Tsukishima Akiteru used in his response. His head tilted as he asked, “What does that mean, Tsukishima-san?”

Tsukishima Akiteru smiled, “It’s nothing. What it means is that our ace always looks energetic and reliable even when no one is watching.”

Udai did not expect a friendly pat on his shoulder.

“You sound and look exactly like the ace!”

“Is that how you see me, Tsukishima-san?”

Tsukishima Akiteru laughed at Udai Tenma’s unnecessary question.

“What’s with that, Udai-kun? I obviously see you as the ace because that’s how everyone sees you, because you’re the ace. And apparently, our ace is always in his prime every morning.”

Udai always worked on that, to be in three times better shape than the others every day in order to last longer in the court.

“Hee? I see.”

Udai didn’t know that he would smile until he actually did. But he had no regrets when he said, “Well then, I’m glad to know that. I worked hard for that anyway.”

It was the first time Tsukishima or anyone else who might have witnessed the conversation had seen Udai Tenma smile other than in a match when he scored a point with a beautiful block out of their opponent.

“Oi, did you see that? Udai-san is smiling!”

“As I thought, the ace is scarry!”

“He makes a big impression when he smiles.”

“It’s obvious that you don’t want to see him smiling like that in front of you.”

“He’s untouchable. You know... it’s like that... he has these giant iron walls around him and Tsukishima-san is the only one willing to climb up there just to maintain a good communication with him.”

“Same goes to Kawada-san.”

“Yes, it’s true that our captain is always like that. But that’s the captain’s job, right? To always embrace all the club members equally. If you look closer, Udai-san doesn’t actually have a good relationship with anyone in the club, right? He’s quite a loner.”

Udai was indeed plagued by many misfortunes, one of which was his inability to connect with his surroundings. His habit of trusting himself had turned out to have grown into a flaw on the other side where that confidence had made him move away from something called connected.

He had no friends. Not even one. Not in the club, not in class, not in the neighborhood or anywhere else.

Unlike how some people would come in pairs as a package with various connections, or how they would come in groups, Udai had no one he could call a partner in this sport. Not with another wing spiker, not with any of the available setters, let alone a libero.

As you can see, Udai stands alone and proud, doing it all by himself. He guided, carried, and embraced himself without worrying what his surroundings said about him.

However, that was what made him stronger.

“But that’s cool... he was able to survive and stand at the top with only himself.”

Where weak people go to seek support by surrounding themselves with stronger people to build confidence, Udai faithfully accompanies himself, embracing and holding tight to all his weaknesses.

Up until now, he had always felt that he was enough on his own. Udai had not yet reached the point where he would need someone, and he was sure that he would always be like that in any case.

“Has everyone gathered?” Kawada, the team captain stood with his waist girded in front of everyone, ready to lead the morning training session.

His gaze traveled throughout the crowd to check all the faces of his members, making sure that no one was missing.

“Counting starts!”

At their captain’s mark, all members counted from the higher year to the lower.

“All present.” The vice captain said after making sure everyone had arrived and was not late.

Kawada turned to Udai, studied him for a while and called out to him, “What about you?”

Udai returned the question casually in tone but formally, “What?”

“Are you joining the run?”

Udai didn’t miss the innuendo in his captain’s serious question, but chose to let it slide away and answered calmly, “I am.”

Kawada then turned after leading the rest of the team to line up neatly and start the morning practice session by running some lap.

********************************************************

Usually after the morning training session, Udai would either go to class to attend or skip class if he was not in the mood to listen to the teacher’s boring, sleepy explanations.

As for academics, Udai had a pretty good academic report even being an athlete, but not so good as to earn a title like top student. At the very least, it was enough for a future beyond volleyball. In short, he was not too smart, but also not too intoxicated with volleyball to the point of falling behind in his studies.

However, one thing:

Drawing.

On those occasions when Udai felt that being in class was too boring, he would seclude himself somewhere where the teachers wouldn’t find him, and pass the time by watching volleyball matches or drawing.

This time, he was sure that class would be boring: Japanese literature was not his favorite subject. It was nothing new that Udai almost always got red marks in that subject. It’s not that he cared.

So, here he was, in a spot at the end of the corridor near the dump, spending his time drawing after watching the latest volleyball match he had never seen.

What he drew was something he had remembered from the match he had watched in a small doodle on the blank side of his small notebook.

Udai was almost used to the quiet atmosphere that accompanied him finishing his drawing, as usual, when something interrupted him. Not just interrupting, but also stopping what he was doing.

“Oh? So, Udai senpai is also good at drawing?”

Udai’s shoulders straightened in surprise at a voice that he was not expecting.

Realizing that he was being watched, Udai turned in the direction from which the voice came to greet whoever was there. There she was, a girl who instead of a karasuno uniform blazer, wore a matching black fitted cardigan. Brown hair that he remembered blew loosely one day, was now in a makeshift curly ponytail.

Where did she come from?

Sasaki Tsubasa, the girl who had been a presence that Udai had never expected at a time like this, was standing while looking at him with friendliness in her eyes. A polite but friendly smile was rolled up for him.

With Udai’s lack of skill about how to greet an acquaintance, he just stared at her.

Sasaki Tsubasa thought that Udai might not remember her, so she took the initiative to do something that might make him remember. Immediately, she took out her phone from her pocket and showed it to Udai.

Right. The phone was the thing that connected them.

“This.” Hope flashed in Sasaki Tsubasa’s eyes, that hopefully with what she did, Udai would remember something about her.

I know you.

But looking closely, their phones really do look exactly the same. For a moment, Udai was tempted to assume that what she was holding was his phone.

Udai remembered her.

“But I’ve installed a charm for mine.”

Sasaki Tsubasa moved her cell phone to reveal the white charm she had put on her phone to distinguish it. It wasn’t just Sasaki Tsubasa who did something about it. Udai also, on an initiative, put a number 10 sticker on his phone.

It was nothing, though. Udai just ran out of ideas for something more serious than a sticker of his jersey number.

Udai remembered it. There was no way he would forget such an embarrassing accident about their switched phone overnight.

I knew you. The question is, what was she doing there at this hour. Did she skip class too?

“Once again, thank you for the other day, Senpai.”

Oh, I’ve had enough of that thank you.

Sasaki Tsubasa smiled at Udai, “At that time, I was positive about losing my phone. But it turns out you kept it.”

“No, I didn’t. I did not keep it.” Didn’t I tell you exactly the same thing back then?

Sasaki Tsubasa only smiled at Udai’s answer.

Slightly, her eyes returned to peering at what Udai was drawing.

“What are you drawing?”

Udai knew he was being childish by immediately closing his notebook, let alone about saying things like it’s none of your business, in response to her question, but did all of it anyway.

“Oh? You came all the way here to draw,” Sasaki Tsubasa nodded. “It must be some very important drawing, I suppose!”

Studying the look in Udai’s eyes, Sasaki Tsubasa immediately corrected herself, “Ah, none of my business. My bad. I’m sorry.”

Udai frowned, but immediately sighed after seeing Sasaki Tsubasa smiling awkwardly.

“You’re a first year, aren’t you?” Udai asked as he put his notebook back into his bag.

“I am.”

“Then why are you here?” Closing his bag, Udai turned back to Sasaki Tsubasa.

“Hm?”

“What are you doing here?”

“Hm? I’m here for—”

“Are you skipping class?”

Sasaki Tsubasa’s face was innocent, the blink of her eyes showed her disagreement with what Udai was accusing her of.

“Ehh?”

“You are?”

“I,” Sasaki Tsubasa’s hand pointed behind her, “instead of cutting class, I came here to take out the trash.”

Sasaki Tsubasa closed with, “Besides, it’s break time now, Senpai.” She showed a small watch she was wearing and pointed to the clock that read ten o’clock, “here, look.”

Udai felt stupid.

What exactly was he doing?

“Instead of that, what are you doing here, Senpai?”

Udai was almost surprised by the question, never expecting that it would be back, nor ever expecting that he would be able to stand for more than five minutes to interact with anyone other than the volleyball club members.

Sasaki Tsubasa paused to study Udai’s expression for a moment, then threw out the question, “Don’t tell me… you’re the one cutting class here, Senpai! Are you?”

“N-no.”

Wait a minute— of all the things Udai couldn’t understand about this, why did he have to stammer? So what if he got caught? So what if he cut class time?

Sasaki Tsubasa who saw Udai’s reaction, changed her expression, as surprised as he was by the unexpected reaction. She did not expect to see a Senpai being intimidated enough by a joke to stammer. Besides, she also still couldn’t equate this person, the same person she met at the gate when he returned her phone, with the volleyball club member who gave her the wrong cell phone the other day.

Were they really the same person? Were those two the same Udai Tenma that was now standing before her?

“O-oh. W-well, then.”

Udai still had time to glance at Sasaki Tsubasa before he walked away, not missing how something flushed in her eyes as she flinched slightly, as if about to say something that he will never get a chance to hear.

********************************************************

A week on, today the boys volleyball club hosted some guests from Date Tech High School for a scheduled practice match.

Like any other day, the volleyball team stayed on track with morning practice and back to class until the practice match began.

“Oi, Udai!”

Just before Udai left the classroom, one of his classmates intercepted him.

“Today, the volleyball team hosted some guests from Date Tech, is that right?”

“That’s right.” He answered casually.

“Hee... so you’re playing against all of them?”

“That’s right.”

“With those big guys?”

“Yes.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“You? Against those big guys? Being this small? Are you kidding me?”

“I hope I am kidding you.” Udai didn’t flinch, still casually parrying his classmate.

“W-well, then… will the gymnasium be open to the public?”

“Yes, it will.”

“Then... I’ll go watch. We’ll go. I’ll watch how you’ll play against those big guys of Date Tech. No problem, right? Or are you scared?”

“No.”

Udai walked away after saying that. He did not believe in others, but he believed in himself that he would play as usual regardless of whoever or how many people came to watch him. After all, this time, he would just work hard as usual to maintain his position as a starting player, and his honor as an ace, the ace.

The scheduled practice match began with the familiar faces of the Date Tech High School boys' volleyball team.

The school, famous for their 'Iron Wall', has one of the highest block rates in the entire prefecture, if not the whole of Japan.

Today, their blockers vowed to stop every Karasuno’s wing spiker in the aerial battle, and Udai was certainly no exception. Being the ace means carrying the burden of being marked by blockers, the burden of having to perform as the main scoring machine of a lineup of wing spikers, and also, bearing the weight of every toss at some crucial times. In a matchup against a high-blocking team like Date Tech High School, every point weighs differently, and Udai knows it.

Udai knew that the iron wall across the net was his biggest obstacle, and he knew that he didn’t have an effective weapon to fight with them. He knew that from any perspective, he was at a disadvantage of being much smaller than his tall and bulky opponents, but his coach, Ukai Ikkei’s words saved him before he could drown himself in self-destruction.

“Volleyball is a sport where you never look down. It’s a sport where you always keep your heads up, and look forward to a way to fight.”

The practice match began with a briefing by each coach of the teams.

“Oi, ace!”

One of Karasuno’s starting players from the second year lineup called out. Udai turned without saying anything, waiting for what the other boy was going to say.

His smile grew when he saw Udai, the boy who is a 187 cm middle blocker. “As always, we have high hopes for you. Please don’t disappoint our expectations.”

“Hey, don’t make him feel burdened with his role by saying such things!” The Libero, a pale-haired boy from the third-year lineup said. He turned to Udai, “Don’t worry about it too much. Udai, you just need to play as usual. Don’t worry about the block, I’ll be right behind for a follow when you go up for a spike.”

“As expected of our handsome libero, Tokito-san!” One of the first-year starting players chimed in, a wing spiker like Udai.

“But really, Date Tech will forever be a troublesome opponent for our ace. I’m just concerned about the spikers, especially the ace. That’s why I gave him encouragement to get him a little more excited.”

“Hell, yeah. You sure it wasn’t pressure, though, Sakuma?”

“Hee? Of course not, Tokito-san. It’s a form of motivation— well... unless our ace is scared,” the middle blocker, Sakuma, turned to Udai. With a smirk, he asked, “Don’t tell me, are you scared, ace?”

Udai curled up a smile, not realizing until he saw the starting players were a little taken aback by what they were witnessing.

“Breaking through three-men blocks is the ace’s role, and something I’ve done many times. There’s no way I’m scared.”

The starting players were stunned by Udai’s statement. His last sentence brought a blizzard of coldness that sent shivers down to their spines.

“I didn’t expect anything about being scared when dealing with three-men blocks even if they are Date Tech. I’m going to play and score points for the team.”

In Udai’s eyes, confidence sparkled like a burning fire. Right now, there was nothing scarier than staring into his eyes.

The middle blocker, Sakuma, grinned, “Heeh… you’re fine, aren’t you?”

Udai smiled back at Sakuma, “Of course. You’d better say you’re fine against a 190cm wing spiker, too.”

Sakuma childishly replied while exclaiming, “Oi! Ain’t no way I’ll be losing to a first year!”

Udai chuckled, one of the rare things that never failed to surprise the club members. However, for the team members, seeing Udai Tenma this relaxed before a match was more or less a threat.

His laughter could be briefly interpreted as a warning: I’m in my prime condition to score points for the team, so everyone better be on top of their game.

For the first years, it was a blessing. Because they got to see Udai Tenma, the ace, at the top of his game in the match.

Before long, the captain rejoined and announced that they would receive the ball first.

“Karasuno!!! Fight!!!” — and the practice match began.

True to his word, Udai did his job as the ace by breaking through the famous Date Tech three-men block and winning the aerial battle by scoring a block-out from Date Tech or launching attacks between the hands of the blockers.

Today, more than usual, Udai could see across the net more clearly. His concentration did not fade even though he was laughing or chatting casually with his team mates until the match ended.

The practice match with Date Tech High School ended in a 2-0 victory for Karasuno. Udai earned two service aces with spike serves and scored many points through block outs, as well as a straight spike to close out the final set point.

After the practice match ended, the gymnasium was kind of crowded. It wasn’t that Udai didn’t realize that his classmates had actually come to watch his match, he just didn’t care that they did.

“Oi! Udai deme!”

A familiar voice called out from the second floor, Udai turned his head and saw his classmates lined up there.

“What the hell was that!? You can really jump high and take on those big guys!”

For a moment, the world stopped and focused on what Udai’s classmate was saying.

“Are you really that good at volleyball? You should have said it sooner!”

Sakuma, the middle blocker, replied on behalf of Udai, “And what of it? Did he surprise you guys?”

Udai glanced at Sakuma without saying anything.

“Hell, yeah! He’s so fucking great that I’m close to dying for being so surprised!”

That half-cursed sentence made Sakuma and the rest of the volleyball team laugh.

“Did you see that? That’s our left’s power.”

Udai didn’t feel that Sakuma should say that given that this was just a practice match. But anyway, they still won this one straight 2-0 against Date Tech High School.

“Oi, Udai!”

Udai turned back to his classmate, this time answering, “What?” But in a lower voice.

“You fought the tall guys from Date Tech and made them look like nothing, what are you, a giant?”

“Giant?” Udai frowned.

It didn't make sense. With a body this small? A giant?

“He’s too small to be called a giant!” The captain, Kawada, answered that one.

Udai turned to the captain, agreeing with his words.

“Leave it alone! Isn’t that great? Having more than enough strength to take on three tall guys from Date Tech... he looks like a giant!”

Udai turned back to his classmate.

“Then what of it, giant-power-in-a-small-body?”

“Kawada-san, that’s too long.”

“Kawada, you really suck at making up some nicknames.”

“Ano na omaera, I’ve tried my fucking best here.”

“That’s not bad.”

Their coach, Ukai Ikkei’s voice distracted Udai and the others. The middle-aged man rolled a crooked smile as he looked at Udai, “Giant power in a small body... just like you.”

Udai had nothing good to say except a small mutter of — “Thank you…” under his breath.

“I know!”

Their attention was again diverted by Udai’s classmate who called out from the second floor.

“Little Giant! Udai Tenma is a Little Giant!”

Udai gasped, startled by the strange sensation he felt inside himself after his classmate gave him an unfamiliar nickname but... seemed to be connected to something inside him.

Behind him, Ukai Ikkei, the coach, laughed, savoring each word in a pleasant tone. “Little Giant, huh? Not bad.”

The Little Giant was born on that day. One afternoon in the gymnasium of Karasuno High School. He was born from the perfect embodiment of a massive force of a giant in the relatively small body of a boy called Udai Tenma.

Before Udai could properly register everything, the people in the gymnasium that day, starting with all the club members, and anyone who listened to his classmate’s ridiculous declaration, began to recognize him as The Little Giant of Karasuno.

“The Little Giant... oi, oi, oi, that name is pretty cool, isn’t it?”

Udai ignored the commotion going on behind him, spreading his gaze to the second floor, about to return to his classmates, but what he caught instead was the familiar face of Sasaki Tsubasa who immediately straightened up when he saw her.

Her eyes sparkled when their eyes came in contact, making Udai frown, and almost tilting his head. Then again, Sasaki Tsubasa showed her phone and waved at him.

Should I wave my hand too?

It had been a week since they last saw each other and Tsubasa had accidentally caught him cutting class and drawing in the back corridor, making a total of two weeks since the switched phone incident. Udai almost questioned how he could meet her here again if he didn’t remember that the gymnasium would be open to the public for any practice matches with other schools.

Although it seemed like things were starting to connect for them since the switched phone incident, Udai had no time to think about anything when the captain’s voice echoed out ordering them to gather and send their guest off.

********************************************************

Tokyo, present day

In his little studio filled with stacks of papers, Udai was transfixed when he rediscovered the notebook he had hidden from Akaashi that night, drowning in memories of the past that flooded his head, leaving his deadline to be met in two days.

Before he knew it, he had taken himself way too far down the memory lane in his head from each sheet of the notebook that contained his scribbles and drawings on high school days. And before he knew it, he had neglected his work for quite some time.

Oh, Sasaki Tsubasa and her influence in his life was indeed huge. However, it was forced to end when his phone rang.

The deafening ring of his cell phone made Udai jump in surprise, finally realizing that he had let his guard down.

The word Akaashi Keiji on his phone screen made him immediately rush to take the call, quickly turning on the tab and starting to outline something he should have been doing.

“Oh? Akaashi-san, moshi moshi! It’s Udai here.”

———————————————————————

“Good afternoon, Udai-san. I’m calling to make sure that you’re staying on track with the new volume.”

————————————————————————

“O-oh! Of course I’m working on that. Very hard. Really hard.”

Udai laughed, trying to sound confident to trick Akaashi. But laughing was the wrong choice, because his laughter had become way too awkward to be believable. Then he’s busted.

————————————————————————

“This time, how many hours did you abandon your tab to daydream about someone else’s script that could have been better if you had written it, Udai-san?”

————————————————————————

It was indeed one of Udai’s bad habits that Akaashi was very familiar with. This time, however, although Akaashi was right about Udai neglecting his work on the tab to daydream, it was not about any script.

But still, half of it, Akaashi guessed it perfectly.

Udai shuddered in horror, unconsciously saying under his breath to Akaashi on the other end of the line. “What the hell? Is he a shaman?”

When Akaashi sighed, Udai immediately covered his mouth, accidentally nudging the tab.

————————————————————————

“I can hear you very clearly, Udai-san.”

————————————————————————

“Alright alright, my bad.” Udai said in a tone that sounded like he was wincing.

Then he stopped, frozen.

————————————————————————

“Which part of it?”

————————————————————————

When Udai realized, he seemed to have accidentally closed the window of his unsaved work. His entire work on the last part of the latest volume of his manga is gone. In shock, his voice caught in his throat. His mouth gaped: desperation welled up in his eyes.

What a beautiful day to mess things up yet he did.

He is doomed.

————————————————————————

“Udai-san? Are you still there?”

————————————————————————

Udai immediately end the call just when Akaashi was calling out, ignoring him completely. Why would he care when he just created for himself, another mess?

Oh, What a beautiful misfortune!

Udai sat formally, very quietly behind his desk.

Placing the pen on the table, his hands met his head slowly. His eyes resignedly stared at the blank screen of his tab. A second later, Udai yelled while pulling his hair as he cursed himself with all kinds of words calling out to his own stupidity.

Another of Udai Tenma’s weaknesses was that he would drag on little things like this.

About thirty minutes after that, Akaashi came to check on him at the apartment, afraid that something had happened to the artist.

Akaashi was relieved when Udai was still there to open the door, as it meant nothing dangerous happened to him. But seeing how lethargic Udai looked, completely lackluster, almost lost, with a mumbling mouth, Akaashi’s strong hunch told him that something bad’s happening.

“Udai-san? What’s wrong?” Akaashi frowned, briefly peeking inside Udai’s apartment.

Udai immediately put on a resigned face in front of Akaashi.

Once again, Akaashi asked, this time looking more concerned. “What’s going on?”

“Akaashi-san....” Udai called out to the editor languidly, his expression pitiable.

“What am I gonna do about this?”

“About what— what is going on, Udai-san?”

“What am I gonna do about this?”

Akaashi sighed, “First of all, please explain your situation—”

“What am I gonna do about this?” Udai’s voice is getting more and more pitiable, louder.

“Please understand that I won’t be able to comprehend anything, let alone know what to do to help if you don’t explain the whole situation properly—”

“What am I gonna do about this?” Udai sounded even more pleading.

Akaashi almost lost his temper, “Can you stop that and get to the point, please?”

Udai jumped in before Akaashi even got to the end of his sentence, “I lost the final draft for the latest volume of Zomb'ish!”

It took Akaashi three seconds longer to digest what he had just heard. “Everything?”

“Everything—”

“Everything!?” Akaashi exclaimed.

Udai swore that it was the loudest he had ever heard of Akaashi Keiji.

Udai quickly shook his head, “No. Not everything. Not the whole thing. Just the ending. Really, I’m actually fine.”

“How can you say you’re fine after losing the manuscript for the final part of the latest volume of your manga?”

“Iya— I mean—”

“Did someone hack your computer?”

“Hack my computer? No—”

Akaashi took out his phone, “I’ll call someone to handle that.”

“No, no. Akaashi-san,” Udai quickly hold Akaashi’s hand. “My computer is fine. My tab is fine. All of it— all of them are fine. Nothing was hacked and needs to be dealt with. I just accidentally closed the unsaved draft’s window.”

There was silence. Udai and Akaashi locked gazes.

Akaashi pulled his hand from Udai and adjusted his glasses. “So…”

Udai screwed up. He knew. And for sure, his Mr. Perfectionist Editor would not tolerate anything about it.

“I swear I didn’t mean to do anything about what’s happening. Humans make mistakes sometimes, Akaashi-san.”

“And you lost the draft of the final part of the new volume of your manga.”

“Right.” Udai nodded in agreement. Akaashi had a point.

“Your deadline comes in two days.”

“You know, Akaashi-san, In a situation like this—”

“All you have to do is get inside and start working on it all over again.” Akaashi cut him off quickly. His last words was a nightmare. “I’ll be here to make sure you don’t dwell like the world is falling apart. Let’s get to work, Udai-san.”

Akaashi walked away leaving Udai at the entrance and fit himself to some slippers on the entrance.

Udai the followed not long after, walking languidly while staring at Akaashi’s back, “This isn’t what I expected at all.”

When Akaashi turned, Udai straightened up and stopped.

“But publishing new volumes on time is what your fans expected from you, Udai-san.”

Akaashi had a very good point right there.

Udai stood up straight and formal, both hands clasped in front of his body, as he said, “Understood, sir.”

Akaashi sighed, “Let’s get to work, Udai-san.”

“Yes, sir.”

—

next chapter coming soon.

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the-firebird69 · 6 months ago

Text

We're going to start by changing the panels and we can make the 928 it's an older version it's similar to the 911 now he says 911 nuts and 928 he messed up yeah he did bad it's really bad so you like that one and we're going to change the panels it's very inexpensive and I think I'm going to do his tire trick so the front panel would match the front tire and rim as it is and the rear you get a new tire same rim and people like the idea

Hera

We're having trouble getting anything done and it would work and it would be close it would look just like one and yeah the rims are not massively special in the Porsche but this looks like a good Porsche rim it's a great idea it's so stupid that people don't do it and leaving the tire and Friends awesome it doesn't perform as well but you can put a performance tire on same size and it's going to be intense this is a great idea

Niel adamiak

We didn't waste his education and is doing good but these ideas are awesome and to start with those two cars is a good idea they're older and the sedans these days work pretty good and people need them they are doing the parting out and it's pretty big it's going to get huge there's tons of people dying and they're taking all the cars and why not if there's the parts right there huge factory so set up like you said it works so smooth you would not believe it it is awesome and if he makes his beer company it's going to be fun this is a drag the guy said it too what's the difference between him and him is this guy is an ass these hours he makes life miserable this guy's dangerous helps with the last stuff makes it a game and he's not miserable he talks about funny stuff and that guy's always an a****** trying to harm us it's a big difference and we hate that guy Sean and we're going to talk we're going to dump him this guy's stupid Dan your assholes okay they live to be assholes and I kind of do that a lot too

Preston

He's always up to it it's time to turn it up it's ridiculous I can't let this idiot s*** head do anything and they keep having to do stuff it's a nightmare. But this is fun I want to get in on this it says good we need someone to actually design the panels the panel materials important he says it's got to be out of like the some kind of plastic something you can adhere to metal that's kind of tough but not real tough and we have it and it's got to be foam in the middle or like a foamy panel we know how to do that nowadays we used to know and it doesn't come off it really doesn't it's nice but then he says we could do replacement panels with fiberglass to start and then we can switch to the metal melting the plants might not work and we can test it the plants we test in the wind tunnel and they might come off or other things so we're going to try and do that

Bill

We like to eliminate things that are not possible and if we don't we just sit there and stare at it I noticed that cuz I heard you say test it and we want to go ahead and do it and yeah changing panels is more efficient it's cheaper and doesn't slow the car to make it faster which it does get faster so we get that but really people zoom around too much that's not way to save gas so we're going to look at it

Trump

It's kind of like an a****** but really it's true they zoom around get in trouble but still they probably still would and think they're invincible but that's what people need

Mac daddy

Olympus permission to print granted

They actually do need that we do have them not them damn it

Trump

We're going to go ahead and do this I remember what this was like

Bja

0 notes

ducknotinarow · 6 months ago

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[CharlieRhodes] "If I said you were the only handsome person in the room, would you believe me?"

| 💜💜💜 --- 'I love you' Sentence Starters;

It was odd once Rhodes let the tears fall, he felt numb after, then he just felt scared? There was more tears though after that? But Rhodes was pretty sure it was all still just fear that he was holding on to at the time. Now? Now Rhodes was just kind of mad? Eh more like pissy if anything. Rhodes wondered if there were more things like the grief cycle? He didn't think you could have one when you hadn't lost anything. Though Rhodes felt like he was likely to lose something. He was still hiding out at the Evans-Alder home it been at least three days now. Still no sign his Mom knew about anything that had happened. Rhodes hadn't even received a call or so much as a text from his Dad either. Him mom? Made sense she wasn't made aware of what was going on. Dad was still covering for his absence from school was his guess at the time.

Which just made he more mad at his Dad. Why could he cover for why he was away but didn't bother to check on him? His Dad didn't even ask him once if he was okay hell he didn't even know where he was! He had met Buddy and their Dad away from his Dad's place. Shouldn't his Dad be worried? Rhodes wouldn't be shocked at all if Karine somehow had involvement on this part as well.

Because of course his Dad just went along with just anything she said.

Rhodes shoved his phone back into his pocket and rested his head to the little control panel of the alley they were assigned when they came out to bowl. It was a good idea for Rhodes to get some air and be out and about but he wasn't feeling like himself. Normally he be the one at the counter getting them set up and grabbing their shoes even. Mostly so he could be funny with the names for the score board. Rhodes wasn't really feeling up to it so he just made way to the alley first and took his seat. Well Charlie and Buddy dealt with the rest, Buddy even offering to grab snacks.

For once Rhodes didn't complain about the thought of overly greasy fries or nachos or even wings at a bowling alley. Charlie was the first to their lane Rhode reaching over to take his pair of shoes. "Thanks" he huffed a bit before he went about switching his shoes for the bowling ones. Normally Rhodes filled in the silence between him and Charlie, able to chat away with easy around the big guy but right now he didn't really have the sprit in him to be well to be Rhodes.

He could hear the chatter behind them because of it though, the group near them seemed to take notice of Charlie. No surprise Charlie was a giant after all. And it wasn't the first time he been mistaken for being the wrong age either. But Rhodes couldn't help but tune into the chatter the moment he knew they were talking about Charlie. With the mess he was dealing with Buddy and Charlie had been his saving grace, just doing anything they could to show Rhodes he had them he guessed. That's just who they were after all, two welling meaning birds who would go out of their way for someone..someone like Rhodes.

An off comment about poor kid with their lame Dad as they comment on the blue hair color got Rhodes feathers to bristle right away. Maybe he was still holding on to some rage from his and Karine fight a few days ago, so he might been looking for an outlet. Or maybe? He was just mad in general? Anther stage of his current grief like cycle perhaps even?

Rhodes had moved even before he realized it himself, striding over to the lane near by purposely even sitting down in the center of the group.

"Eh you got one thing right there, his dye job is well done I should know I did it." Rhodes boasted a bit "Oh than again maybe two things, he is very Daddy~" Rhodes chimed a bit seeming to lower his voice down to whisper on to the little group. Before he spoke on further. "Big daddy C as I like to come him you know when were alone." Rhodes was really just aiming to shut them up and it seemed to be working. If it weren't for the fact Rhodes was winning here by lacking shame in his statements. Didn't matter if it wasn't true they didn't need to know that. "I know hard to see that but don't worry I'm man enough to handle him and trust me I handle him well." Rhodes suggested with a very obsession hand jerk motion. Seeming to hit their limit the small group decided to get up and leave only one making a comment switching it around from. Charlie seeming like some lame ass adult trying to look young to Rhodes looking like he got his hair cut with a lawn mower.

Rhodes felt over his choppy hair style slightly puffing his cheeks over the remark. As they left and Charlie came to join Rhodes, Rhodes eyes shifting over towards him. "Oh sorry I know you hate when I call you that, and ya know all the big talk. They were just pissing me off." Rhodes admitted before he went back to looking at his hair. "think it helped though I only now care about my hair, I can't believe I came out in public like this? Let alone let my boyfriends see me as this mess? Damn I'm really not my hot stuff self am I?" Rhodes stated he really did feel better blowing off some of his emotions. Even if it was at a near innocent third party. Looking at the wreck that was his hair, it was gross and dry too forget the bad cut he really hadn't been following his hair care. He didn't have his oils and microfiber towel with him either! uh and the blue stripe was fade into a grow grey color!

It was like a slow realization hitting Rhodes at the time grey eyes growing wide. "I can't believe I look like this!" He covered his face and turned over to slightly hide. "How low have I fallen to make other see this mess!" He slightly whined a twinge of the old Rhodes coming through. As he dramatically whined.

"If I said you were the only handsome person in the room, would you believe me?"

Rhodes peer out from his hand hearing Charlie ask "Nah" Rhodes chuckles a bit before looking to Charlie "Cause you're here too." He admits before sitting back up seeming to be over his current appearance. "But seriously if I don't get this fixed I will fucking die and you and Buds will have to break up with my god flawed unattractive corpse."

#muse| rhodes hill #madamkezzie #aflockoffeathers #[ so much more than a band -aflockoffeathers]#'i love you' sentence starters #meme answers #meme reply #ic reply #stay queued #((Rhodes already makes sure charile aint got no pickles buts hell also stand up for them no matter what he just also having a bad time uwu)#((also Charile you know he wont say sorry about the daddy comment uwu))#((also hes not doing okay so hes being extra Rhodes u-u))

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kaijukat-art · 2 years ago

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Hello! I was wondering if you could a small tutorial on how you render your pieces?? They’re all super pretty btw!! I love your art :D!!

Ahh thank you sm!! <3 0: i’m not very good at explaining my process, and it changes depending on what I’m drawing as well, but I’ll try my best to explain it!

imma use the choso panel redraw since it’s a pretty simple portrait (done in Procreate, but most of this can be applied to CSP too)

once i’ve got a decently refined sketch, i fill in a basic starting skin colour for the character. i start some shading once i have a basic idea of where i want lighting. colour-wise, i usually go a bit darker & warmer for the first pass. (i use a brush that’s a basic airbrush settings but i replace the shape source with a reuleaux triangle) besides where shadows will fall, ill also focus on making the colour more dense on the ears, fingers, around the eyes, and sometimes the blush area. (also let it be known i use Liquify a lot, and constantly flip my canvas. as you render you’ll often start noticing lil adjustments that need to be done)

ill build up passes of colour, going darker & more saturated as i do. as the colours darken, they’ll be in the more receded/hidden areas of the face (like under brows, under chin, inner ear, unless the lighting calls for otherwise) in this case though, he’s also kinda beat up, so i added more colour under the eyes/on the cheekbones to add to the bruise vibes

for the nose/brow/shoulder highlights, i made a new layer & set it to Add. it’s a handy way to get a highlight colour and brighten your hot spots for lighting. this is usually when ill mess with the sketch/linework, sometimes i switch the layer mode to Multiply if i know i want to fully paint over it. in this case i think i just Alpha Locked the layer and painted in the hair/eyeliner since i wanted them darker. once the linework is thoroughly fukt with, i make a new layer and start painting over. usually involves a lot of colour picking & making some adjustments, playing around with levels of colour. I also swap between the reuleaux and a funky dense rectangle thing for rendering, sometimes little sketch pens for smaller details too.

(technically the blue-tinge reflective lighting wasn’t very accurate for the bg/scene colour i chose, but i got carried away and didn’t wanna change it lol)

hair rendering is fun sometimesssss. i make a new layer, choose a slightly brighter colour, and messily block in where i want the highlights. idk how else to explain it besides like, think about using H-adjacent shapes when you’re erasing/refining the highlights. for the last step, i make a new layer, set it to Add, and paint inside the highlights for the sharper look.

When it’s getting to a place i kinda like, (added some blood/cuts on this one before moving on) ill usually start messing with some overlay effects. this usually involves picking a random colour, filling in a new layer, and seeing how it lays over the piece. depending on the vibe im going for it can change a lot, but i find myself usually liking Exclusion & Subtract a lot. (sometimes ill throw a Noise + Overlay layer on top as well, but didn’t for this piece)

i hope that makes some sense??😭 im sorry if anything isn’t clear, i can try my best to answer specifics if needed.

it’s not my most thoroughly rendered portrait but it’s one i got a decent amount of wip screenshots for.. my style in general is still a wip, and i change it up a bit every time. i encourage experimentation always!!! it’s helped me a lot. i’ll see about making a more thorough tutorial for a properly rendered piece soon too!

#my art #rendering #procreate #art tutorial #i guess???#kai talks

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queen-of-my-goofball-army · 4 years ago

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Undiagnosed Autism-spectrum disorder in The Michells Vs The Machines

I'm sure that more well educated people have put two and two together in this film but I really, really want to put my own spin on it from my experience. For me, as an aspie, film is one of my biggest interests. I love studying and more than anything I love watching and rewatching films. My latest favorite movie was one that I just watched last night for my family movie night, The Michells Vs The Machines. I also went 17 years of my life asking myself the same question that both Rick and his daughter ask each other, what is wrong with him/her?

Well, I'll tell you, in my firmly undiagnosed autistic opinion for far too long, that this family is full of people with undiagnosed autism spectrum disorder. When I was watching it with my parents my mom made the comment that "the dad was a jerk" and maybe "he just didn't love his daughter enough to let her be her own person." I thought that was so not seeing the bigger picture even though it was only fifteen minutes into the film. I have felt like Katie so much with my own dad. My dad is a computer nerd and a physics major for those of you that don't talk to me very often. That means in laminas terms that he's extremely smart. Way smarter than I will ever be in my entire life. Both of my parents are insanely smart in their own rights. My mom is a CPA accountant. But that isn't what I wanted to talk about here. I want to discuss the effect of undiagnosed autism and what it can do to a whole family when they all have it and just don't know that they do. This will probably go on for quite some time so you may stop here or read below the cut because this also has the probablity of getting super, duper personal.

We'll start with Katie! To me, Katie is one of the most relatable characters that I have ever come across. She's a film nerd, which alone has made her supremely relatable as somebody who is thinking about going into a degree in film studies. I am more of a critic of film than somebody who wants to make her own film but nonetheless, there were SO many little moments that I related to. The first thing that I personally noticed and related to was the stimming technique that Katie has. She chews on her hoodie strings. As somebody who has chewed on the drawstrings of hoodies far too often long before I was officially put into the Aspergers box. Aspies are also known to stick with one "special interest" for the rest of their lives if it's one that is wide enough and varied enough to make it applicable. For Katie, that's film. For me that's animation. I appreciated that little detail of most of her dialogue being references to other films because as a lover of films and movies in general I could go for days on just fumes and movie references that nobody else understands. The little things from her hair being perpetually messy (same that's a whole ass mood like I just learned over quarantine how to tye my own hair back), only having one earring in her ear at all times, the way that she dresses and draws on her own hands, this was just me when I was first in high school. I was one of the few people that wore shorts underneath all my skirts/dresses. Everyone who knew about looked at me like I had grown a third eyeball.

Aaron, the younger brother, also just oozes spectrum lil buddy out of his every pore from his being. I do think that they should have picked somebody capable of doing a bit of a younger sounding voice (I know what they were going for, but like Ben Schwartz has become a huge deal in both voice acting and live action before switching mediums.) His special interest is actually quite a common one, he loves dinosaurs. I've met a bunch of people on the spectrum that are fascinated by dinos and what they meant for the world as well as the universe as a whole. To me, there was one scene specifically that was the scene where Katie was lightly teasing him when they were going to the half assed dinosaur extravaganza. For me, this was SO relatable because both of my parents will mess with me about my interests most of the time it's when we go to Disneyland, they'll tell me that we actually aren't going to land of magic but to Timbuckto (hopefully one day they'll say some place else just to switch things up.) I related so hard to Aaron's protesting and whining in this scene since that is always my reaction to doing something that I want to do but get told that I can't do that thing.

Linda is more of your traditional mom but I think that she's on the spectrum as well. Just a more... normalized version as opposed to her family. She's able to be a teacher, she's able to interact somewhat normally around her neighbors. If anything, she reminded me of my own mom. This independent, takes nobody's trash (especially not her husband's), strong minded, and amazing mother who is completely in control of everything. She knows the special interests of her children and is constantly thinking of what will make them happy. Whether it be taking a detour for something dinosaur related, reminding her daughter that her dad loves her no matter what, and even something as simple as watching something that her daughter made and put her heart and soul into. I can't tell you how many times my mom has watched something with me. She watched my first anime Soul Eater with me when I was 12 and ever since then has been trying to get me to watch other shows with her. She's a lot like Linda, your loving, but firm mother who just wants her family to work things out.

Whew boy. This one is going to be probably where I cry. Comparing my dad to Rick is... something that I did consistently when I was watching the film. He's the strong but silent type usually, unless your me and he's just this constant annoyance when I'm trying to do something. He could be seen as just a "Jerk" but I think that is the undiagnosed aspie talking. Rick and Katie just struggle so hard to see eye to eye because their special interests can't intersect to save their lives. This, this hurt me because so often I struggle to relate to my dad. Especially when he talks to me about computers or physics. Now I took physics but without having been in quarantine and having him as my live in tutor I would have failed, not gotten an A. This has resulted me in saying things that I don't mean in the heat of the moment when we do argue. It doesn't happen nearly as much as it used to back when I was in middle school but when it happened it was because of one thing. I lied. I used to lie a lot because I felt so unworthy of being his daughter because on my best days I am not technically smart. You want to know how many nations of the world there were in 1991 when the original Animaniacs was airing? You want to hear my Dot Warner impression? Did you ever wonder how to recognize a specific voice when your watching anime? Have you ever had to watch a panel of your favorite anime voice actor just to laugh at something? No, well I did. But ever since I have started taking a quarter off from community college I have realized something. I am not technically smart. I struggle at learning the rules for math. My dad can do this with his eyes closed but me, I struggle and look like a complete moron. It took years for my dad and I to see eye to eye. Sometimes I still wonder if I was the product of some laboratory experiment of what would happen if two intelligent people came together, fell in love, and expecting that the daughter was smart I was the reject. Watching this movie with my dad I saw so much of my relationship with him on the screen. Struggling to relate to one another, fighting and getting into arguments about petty things, and not being able to be in the same room as one another without heated words because I didn't get him.

The scene that I related to the most when it was in terms of how much Katie just doesn't understand her dad was after he was nabbed by the machines. When Aaron asked her why she said those things to their dad and her simple answer was "I don't know." This. This right here was when I saw me. So many times I've gotten into heated arguments with my dad when he has simply annoyed me at the wrong time and I've just blown up in his face. Then I regret my actions and not know how to apologize for losing my temper with him because "I don't know" just doesn't seem like a nearly acceptable answer. I felt this in my soul because it happened especially often before I was diagnosed.

When I was diagnosed, things started to get better with my dad and I. We haven't had a fight in nearly four years now. He watches cartoons with me now to try and relate to me, it's mostly Pinky and The Brain but it's more than I could have ever asked for. I love my dad so much, more than anything in the entire world. This movie is so, so good at telling a story about how a family of undiagnosed aspie's and people on the spectrum struggle to relate to one another because their special interests are different.

Special interests and family's are especially difficult and I applaud this movie so loud because of the way that it was able to treat the subject matter with integrity and honesty. I'm sorry if this analysis got a little bit long in the toof but thank you for sticking with me! I really hope that if you watched the film you loved my analysis.

#the mitchells vs the machines #aspergers #movie analysis #denki shut up #nobody cares about your emotional backstory #long post #this took me over an hour because I kept crying

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lady-djarin · 4 years ago

Text

across the galaxy

chapter i - don’t push your luck

din djarin x f!reader

warnings: none really, yet ;)

word count: 1,275

a/n: so this is very rough so if you’re interested please stick with me it will get better i promise

* ｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆　｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

“Hey can I get another round?” You had been on Jakku for what felt like forever looking for a job as a mechanic while working as a junk hauler. As the bartender slid you another small cup of glowing liquid there was a sudden change in the air. Patrons stilled in their seats and everything went silent except for the faint noise of music playing from the machine in the corner.

Your back was to the entrance but you gathered someone interesting entered the room. Before you could turn to look you felt a looming presence to your right and saw bright head-to-toe armor.

“Where can I find Darjeff?” Came the low modulated voice.

“Who’s asking?” the man behind the counter shot back.

“I am. I was told he’s the best with repairs around here.” His presence was very intimidating.

“Well someone gave you bad info.” You chimed in, “He bit the dust a few rotations ago.”

He looked to his left to find a young woman, maybe half his age staring into her glass. “Well do you know of anyone else who can repair a ship?” he shifted his weight to turn to you.

“Actually I do,” You downed the rest of your drink and stood up. “You’re looking at her.”

You didn’t know what exactly he required but you needed a better job, and fast. You would sell your left kidney if it meant getting off this Maker forsaken planet.

“Ok good, follow me.” You threw down credits for your stay at the bar and followed the large man out. Not until halfway out the building did you notice the small silver orb following him close by. He watched as she led him out of the cantina, her small frame becoming apparent when compared to his height. “Cute,” he thought.

“What’s this for?” You put your hand on it to examine it as you made our way to the docking bay.

“Don’t touch that.”

You kept in silence the rest of the way, he seemed like a man of few words and you didn’t want to push your luck. You didn’t know much about Mandalorians but did know of their reputation for being the most vicious warriors in the galaxy. The two of you made your way to the last part of the docking bay when he stopped in front of his ship.

“Is that what I think it is?” Your eyes widened as you ogled the ship before me. “Maker it is, it’s a Razor Crest right? Pre-Empire? Wow I mean it’s been blown to shit but it’s not bad!”

The metal man stayed silent while you examined the outside of the ship with his helmet tilted in curiosity. “I didn’t know these ships were widely known?”

“Oh they’re not, I think they have their charm though.” You circled the ship and assessed what damage you could from the outside. It had some blaster damage along one side that tore straight through to the hull of the ship. “What happened to this thing?” You finally asked.

“It’s a long story, look I have places to be so the quicker we can do this the better.”

“I’ll do my best the fastest I can tin man, but I’m going to need to look at the interior, the controls and all that.”

“Fine.” Once the ramp was lowered he showed you into the ship and up to the cockpit. It was a cramped little space with buttons, lights and switches everywhere. You sat in the pilot's chair to get a good look before he got the chance. You started to look at and take apart the necessary paneling while the Madalorian made an attempt to protest your process.

“Hey watch it, she’s an old ship.” The deep voice warned you.

“Don’t worry, I’m just looking at what’s going on internally, it looks like you took some heavy fire. A lot of systems here are messed up. The exterior damage is easy to repair with parts but this interior stuff might take me a while.”

After lots of careful consideration you sent the bounty hunter into the village to gather the parts you needed while you worked on the interior wires and programming in the cockpit. A while later the Mandalorian returned with the necessary parts and you got to work on the outside together.

“So are you going to tell me how this happened?” You broke the silence after an hour.

He huffed through the modulator. “I have people after me. They found me heading to another planet nearby and tried to take down my ship. I shot them down on the far side of the planet.”

“Wow, that sounds exciting,” You said flatly. “Why do you have people after you?”

He was silent for a while, a long while actually, until finally he turned to you and lifted his left arm to press various buttons on the panel there. The silver orb floats closer between you two and opens to reveal a small green frog looking creature with big wide eyes. A silent gasp escapes your lungs and you glance up at the small visor on his helmet and bend down to get a better look at the thing.

“A foundling?” You reached my hand out just as it did the same with a small coo. “Why would someone be after this?”

“He was a bounty that I refused to turn in, they want him back.” His helmet tilts down to look at the gremlin. You couldn’t see his face but you could tell he adored the little thing.

“A child? Who would do such a thing?” He watched you as you slowly picked up his little companion and he thanked the Maker you couldn’t see the small smile that tugged at his lips.

--------

It took almost a whole nother day for you two to get the ship in at least flyable condition again. The outside of the ship was repaired, quite an ugly sight but it worked non the less. You still wanted to do more work on the programming on the inside of the ship but the masked man was clearly ready to vacate this dusty planet, not that you could blame him.

“Hey kid, I gotta get going.” He reached out to give you a small bag filled with credits. You tried to refuse because you genuinely liked working on his ship and kind of liked his little gremlin of a child.

“One; don't call me ‘kid’, and two; I still have lots of work I can do to improve your ship.” you shot back.

“That’s great kid but I have to get going. I can't stay here any longer.”

The nickname surged more anger in your chest than you might have liked. “What if I come with, you might need a mechanic with you in the future, considering how many times you have destroyed this ship of yours. Plus I really need to get off this dust ball.”

The black visor tilted down to you, he was thinking over your offer and almost considering taking you with him, but he decided against it. A disappointing huff came from his helmet, “I’m sorry kid it's too dangerous, I can't risk it.”

“Well at the very least, if you're ever in the Outer Rim again, come find me.” you gave him a wink and a small grin as you turned on your heel and walked away. “See ya tin man!” you yelled and waved without turning to face him.

---------

It had been a few months since your encounter with the Mandalorian, still never getting his name.

Until today.

chapter ii

MAIN MASTERLIST

#din djarin #fanfic #din dijarin x reader #star wars #the mandalorian #din djarin smut #reader fanfiction

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blurby-in-the-wild · 2 years ago

Text

CHAPTER 2 BABYYY WOOHOOOOO

btw this is posted on ao3 too so if you wanna go check it out that’d mean a lot to me :)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/41409852/chapters/103844832#workskin

Chapter 2: You Nearly Have A Panic Attack Three Times

To-Do

•Fix that one arcade cabinet again

•Tune the Bastard™'s (Monty) guitar

•Clean Chica's mouth cavity, also make sure to bring pizza because she asked for some last time and promised she'd hold off on eating garbage if you got her some

•Fix the soda machine in the daycare entrance

It was going to be a rough day, if your to-do list was anything to go by.

That one arcade cabinet always needed some sort of fix, so you weren't too worried about it, it would just be tedious. Monty was, as the list proclaimed, a Bastard™, but again, nothing you couldn't stand to do. Chica was nice to listen to, despite having to clean garbage out of her every time you saw her. But the daycare? Did it really have to be the daycare?

Whatever, it's a problem for future you to deal with.

'Okay,' You think 'Easiest one first. Time to pay good ol' perpetually fucked up cabinet a visit.'

You make your way to the west arcade, mindful of the children running about, screaming their heads off about meeting the Glamrocks. You couldn't imagine why they'd want to meet them, save for Freddy, seeing as the others were self-absorbed in one way or another. Roxy was "A diva of the highest order," (Her words, not yours), Monty was a grade A prick, and Chica- okay she's actually pretty cool, but the fact you had to clean garbage out of her stomach cavity regularly said so much. She's nice to listen to though, so no judgement on your end.

You pass the threshold of the arcade and navigate your way to the perpetually broken arcade cabinet on instinct (or maybe your pattern recognition software has improved enough to give the illusion of instinct) and kneel next to the panel to access the wires.

It always felt odd, messing about with what was essentially robo-flesh, but you had gotten used to the pit in your stomach that formed whenever fixing these things, considering you were the only who actually got stuff done.

Immediately you noticed the problem, the wires had been connected to the wrong ports. Again. Now, you'd think that it would be simple enough, right? Except it wasn't, because someone had fucked up when manufacturing it and labelled the ports incorrectly, so now everytime anyone other than you tried to fix it, they only made it worse.

Still an easy fix, just tedious. Like clockwork, as soon as you connected the last wire, it switched on. You stood up from the kneeling position you were in and gazed at the display. Something about Chica and rainbows.

That had taken less time than you expected, however, and now you had the looming prospect of tuning Monty's precious 'Baby Bass' (Yes, he calls it that.) Which meant having to deal with the prick yourself. Yay.

You check fixing the arcade cabinet off the to-do list, muster up all your patience, and make your way to rockstar row. The crowd of children and exhausted adults has only thickened, to your dismay. You carefully navigate your way through the dense crowd and finally arrive at rockstar row.

Rockstar row had surprisingly few people running around, though that wasn't surprising considering there would be a performance soon. Which meant you needed to get this done quickly.

Gently easing the door to Monty's room open, you are greeted by a big, metallic hand roughly pulling you in.

"Where the FUCK have you been? My guitar has been out of tune since this morning," He pauses to poke a clawed digit into your chest (it hurt) "I have a show in fifteen minutes, so you better get your sorry metal ass to work, otherwise I'm gonna turn you into scrap."

Yep. Just as much a prick as usual.

You push past him, bumping shoulders (or your shoulder into his arm; the Glamrocks are pretty tall compared to you) and snatch up his guitar. You quickly locate the cord, flip up the port flap on your chest, and plug it in. From there, it's just running a retuning program- one you made yourself -and waiting.

Just for fun, you decide to stare Monty straight in the eyes while doing this. Because you are fuelled by spite and battery acid. He shifts uncomfortably and looks anywhere but you. You continue to blankly stare at him. He continues to look uncomfortable. Serves him right for being such a dickhead.

…

Ding!

The noise causes Monty to jump about a foot into the air and it takes all your willpower not to double over with silent laughter. You unplug the guitar from your chest and he immediately snatches it up and strums a chord "Sounds good enough," He grunts, "Now get outta my room."

The whole process took maybe 10 minutes, so you happily oblige, but still catch him muttering something about having a headache. Which is bullshit, because animatronics can't get headaches, so he's just being dramatic. Typical.

Well. You wish that had taken longer, however much a hell it would have been still preferable to visiting the daycare.

'I'll be fine, totally cool, I'll just be in and out, unless he sees me, or he needs to be worked on last minute, or-‘

RED ALERT! GLAMROCK FREDDY HAS EXPERIENCED A MALFUNCTION ON STAGE. IMMEDIATE MAINTENANCE REQUIRED. PROCEED TO PARTS AND SERVICES AT ONCE.

The mechanical voice blared in your head, echoing in your gears and shaking you out of the spiral you were in, forcing your feet to stomp their way to parts and services. You're happy for the distraction, and the fact you didn't have to move your own feet, however creepy it may be that management can just force you to do things.

At the door, apparently waiting for you, is Freddy's handler, wringing their hands nervously. They light up once they see you, and you run a quick scan of their employee profile.

Prefered Name: Raccoon Kinsley

Pronouns: They/Them

Status: Handler

Height: 6'4

Note: Seems very invested in the safety of their charge. Has anxiety. In a committed relationship with Roxy's handler.

You give them a once over, noting the baby blue hair done up in double buns and freckles that litter their face and shoulders. They have heart-shaped sunglasses. You think that says enough about them.

"Oh, thank god you're here! I sent out the alert as soon as I could, but I'm not authorized to enter parts and services, so they just took him in there and- " You let them continue to ramble, seeing as it seemed to calm them down, and pressed your hand against the electric lock.

It pops open and you are met with the realization you haven't actually worked on Freddy before. Guess management didn't think you were capable until now. Which is sad, considering you're technically a senior mechanic. And the only one who got shit done, but that's neither here nor there.

You enter the protective cylinder and Raccoon sprints up to it, pressing their hands against the reinforced glass "Freddy! Are you okay? I was so worried when I saw what happened!" You walk over to the mechanical operating table and immediately assess the physical damage, and grab the tablet (It's technically called a 'Faz-pad', which is just hilarious) to run the regular diagnostics.

The physical damage- a few scratches from falling down, but that was it. Those would need to be buffed out, but that wasn't your job.

“I’m okay, Raccoon. There is no need to worry. It was just a breach of my firewall,” You looked at him incredulously, “Luckily, my systems managed to isolate it for now.” You let out a metaphorical sigh of relief. If it was still running through his systems, he could have shut down at any moment, making it impossible to do anything to help. And as much as you dislike the other Glamrocks (Aside from Chica) Freddy had only ever been nice to you, despite being under the assumption you weren't… Aware.

He turns to you, “I just need an antivirus run,” He leans in towards you, whispering “And please do it quickly, my servers are fighting to keep it at bay. I did not want to frighten Raccoon by mentioning this to them.” You nod and pull up the homemade antivirus program you saved for serious situations (And whenever you detected a virus in your own system) and quickly ran it.

It quickly found the isolated intruder, but there was just one teensy tiny problem. It was the beefiest fucking virus you'd ever had the displeasure of dealing with. No wonder Freddy's servers couldn't do shit against it.

It was going to take a while to fix this. And the awkward silence in the room was already thick enough to cut with a knife. You glance down at the antivirus program and check the estimated time left.

Estimated Wait Time: 50 Minutes

Well, fuck.

Raccoon is basically on the verge of tears at this point, and the silence is near deafening, so you stride over to the door and let them in. They mutter a small "Thank you" and shuffle past you to make small talk with Freddy, hopefully better than you could, but your hopes weren't high.

"What is the estimated time?" You glance up at Freddy, still laid across the operating table, and tap the screen of the Faz-Pad. He makes a noise like if he were choking, and Raccoon plops themself onto the floor. "Well, if we're gonna be here that long, I'm gonna get Lilith to come here cuz I wanna annoy her."

"Would that not mean Roxy needs to visit as well?" Freddy turns to them, though he was still strapped to the table, so it looked pretty uncomfortable "Yeah, but Roxy will be fine. Besides, all the performances that were scheduled for later were canceled."

Freddy's ears folded back at that. Raccoon didn't seem to notice. He seems deep in thought, the kind of thought where you tear yourself to bits over something. You know that feeling. You pause for a moment, debating whether or not to do anything. You pat his shoulder and turn away again.

'I hope to Faz-god I didn't just overstep, oh god that was so awkward I shouldn't have done that what was I-'

And you are knocked out of your spiral, again, by somebody knocking on the protective cylinder. Jeez, can't anyone have a mental breakdown around here?

You run a scan of the person as Raccoon lets them in.

Prefered Name: Lilith Graham

Pronouns: She/Her

Status: Handler

Height: 5'5

Note: In a committed relationship with Freddy's handler. Seems to be friends with DJ Music Man.

She has red hair. Her and Raccoon are matching in that, you suppose. Red and blue couples are always cute, and these two are no different, already wrapped around each other on the floor, Raccoon trying to fit into Liliths lap.

You look away, feeling weird about watching them do that (and another reason, but you don't want to unpack that right now) and notice Roxy, standing next to Freddy and chatting away.

You can't help but feel out of place.

Estimated Wait Time: 43 minutes

You don't think you can take this much longer. 'I'll be fine. I'll just pull something up to distract me…' You log into your Youtube account (Don't ask; it took bribing the S.T.A.F.F. bots to get, and they kinda freaked you out) and connect it to your head so only you hear it.

Eventually you land on just watching an engineering video; something about robot-dogs- but you're much more interested in the conversation Roxy and Freddy are having.

"I don't know, it just feels like he's trying to be seen as an asshole." You think that's a bit rich coming from Roxy, but that's neither here nor there, "Language, Roxanne!" Lilith calls out from her position in Raccoons lap. Her hair is now braided, little paper mache flowers littered throughout. You look away. "I think that's a strong way to put it, Roxy, though he can be rude sometimes, I will admit."

"Sometimes? Freddy, he is constantly rude, except to kids. Even then, sometimes." Roxy deadpans at him.

'Oooh drama…' Maybe this wasn't going to be that bad. Eavesdropping being a favorite hobby of yours and all. "I will say he's gotten worse lately- more aggressive, that is." Freddy says, and while you haven't noticed a difference, Roxy nods in agreement "Finally, I thought you'd never notice." She checks her nails, something she only did when she was feeling particularly victorious over someone, and Freddy looks to be in thought. "You should probably talk to him about it, it could be bad for his image…" Lilith chimes in. You don't look at her.

Roxy chuffs at that, as if she hadn't considered that "Ah, maybe… but I don't really want to deal with him if he blows up on us. Maybe we could convince Alex to help?" At this point, you've completely tuned out of the conversation. You didn't want to deal with the interpersonal drama, nor the bubbling feeling of longing you felt when you so much as glanced in the direction of the local happy couple.

Nope, you were going to fill the aching hole in your chest with long-form video essays. Repression all the way, baby! (Does the Pizzaplex offer therapy?)

You click on a video about speedrunning. It distracts you long enough that when the telltale ping of confirmation for the completion of the antivirus run through Freddy's systems sounds, you flinch. Freddy notices. You notice him notice you. He tilts his head, and you worry for a moment.

No one really knows of your… Awareness, so it's a slightly frightening prospect to finally be seen again instead of being ignored.

(Sunny knows. Coward.)

You wonder if he would tell anyone. If you two would be friends. You've been staring at each other for a good few seconds now. You lift up the tablet and tap it, showing it to be complete. He nods, and you get up.

Lilith perks up, "Is it done? We've been in here for-everrrr…" You nod without looking at her and undo the bindings on Freddy.

She hops off of her partners lap, stretches, and checks her phone "Holy canoli, it's already noon! C'mon, we gotta get to El Chips before Alex!" She pulls Raccoon to their feet, an impressive feat for someone a whole head smaller than them, and Raccoon calls out, "Freddy, I give you express authority to do whatever, but try to conserve power please! And also don't go anywhere too crowded-" The rest is cut off by the door closing behind them.

"Those two are adorable. I'm more adorable, of course, but they come close." Roxy turns to leave, "But Lilith will probably get lost, so I better follow them, just in case." And with that, she's gone.

Which leaves you and Freddy. Alone. Great. Just wonderful.

'Is he suspicious? Does he know? What if he reports me, what if they wipe my memory? Will he-'

He's suddenly up, off the table. He puts a large metallic paw on your shoulder, and it feels nice. It's comforting, nothing like the way Monty had touched it.

"Thank you for knocking me out of my own head. I- I needed that." You look up at him, more than a bit shocked that he didn't threaten to have you scrapped, wiped, something malicious.

But no. There's nothing hateful behind his eyes, just gratitude. You nod at him. He smiles. You wish you could do it back.

He walks out of the protective cylinder, leaving behind a little seedling of hope in your metallic chest that maybe people can be good and nice sometimes.

It feels nice.

(I still need to clean out Chica.)

(I think I'm gonna stay here a little while, instead.)

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pareidoliaonthemove · 2 years ago

Text

Coda to "Move and Your Dead"

Found this in one of my old notebooks, that I use to amuse myself when doing the waiting part of the ‘hurry up and wait’ that the entirety of my actual job description.

Kinda vaguely remember where I was going with this, and have my usual vague intentions of finishing it. I also have at least five note/sketch books bulging with notations and half sketched out designs for jewellery and embroidery ideas – inspiration is easy, motivation is hard; so I’m experimenting with outsourcing my motivation. If you read it and like it, and would like to see updates, or even gasp finished, feel free – actually, no please hassle me.

As the title says, this is a coda to Thunderbird Original Series Episode “Move and Your Dead”. My personal interpretations will crop up – first one here being Alan Is A Brat.

Jeff Tracy entered the lounge to find it in uproar, a split second hesitation to get the lay of the land – Scott yelling at Alan; Alan yelling at the room in general with Tin-Tin hanging off his arm, trying to get him to calm down; Gordon examining a canvas on Virgil’s easel with a look of confusion on his face; and Virgil … standing apart, behind Scott and still wearing the ridiculous paint smock and beret that Gordon forced him to wear after losing a bet, and clutching a paintbrush, his expression caught between worry and … satisfaction.

“That is enough!”

It gave him some satisfaction to see them all jump, not having noticed him enter the room. As he crossed the room to regain his desk, they all moved out of his path, Tin-Tin finally succeeding in dragging Alan away from his desk.

Movement from the row of portraits caught his eye. “John?” If a rescue had been delayed due to their bickering …

“There’s no rescue, father,” John assured him. “I’ve just got an alert for a jam in Thunderbird Three’s alternate access.”

Jeff’s glance automatically turned to the unassuming patch of floor – the panel was sitting slightly lower than the rest of the floor. Was it vibrating?

“Alan was fooling around with the buttons,” Scott snapped, his deadly glare still focused on Alan. “Virg was wearing that ridiculous smock,” it switched briefly to Gordon, “and the fabric caught in part of the mechanism. It damn near dragged him in!”

Jeff was at Virgil’s side in a heartbeat, already having seen the torn fabric, and he wasted no time tearing it further to examine Virgil’s arm. “You’re alright,” he sighed, closing his eyes as his right hand cupped the back and side of Virgil’s neck under the jawline.

Feeling Virgil tense under the almost-embrace, Jeff opened his eyes and carefully stepped back, ignoring the line of paint on his stomach where he had brushed against the paintbrush. “The, uh, smock is ruined,” he offered awkwardly.

“You’ve, uh, fulfilled the forfeit, Virg,” Gordon offered coming forward, a slash of paint also adoring his shirt. “I’ll get rid of it for you, yeah?” he offered eagerly.

“And the beret.” It wasn’t a question.

Gordon’s head bobbed and he hurriedly helped Virgil divest himself of the hated clothes, before scurrying to the far side of the room with them bundled in his arms.

Jeff returned to his desk, Scot was still vibrating with anger as he glared at Alan, who’s habitual frown was scoured deeper into his face, and appeared completely unrepentant.

“Alan,” Jeff began – irritation mounting as Alan took his sweet time acknowledging that he was being spoken to – “why did you activate the access? Especially knowing Virgil was wearing such loose fitting clothes?”

The scowl transformed into a pout, and Jeff’s heart sank. This was going to be yet another case of Alan lashing out because something bruised his ego.

When Alan didn’t answer, only pouted and scuffed at the floor, Jeff prompted. “Well, Alan?”

Alan flushed red, and the self-righteous indignation flared to the surface. “They were making fun of me, Father! Going on and on about how that hideous mess of a painting was a ‘good likeness’ of me! And he,” a finger stabbed at Virgil, “deliberately messed about so I had to stand there, holding the trophy, for ages!”

#thunderbirds #thunderbirds 1965 #thunderbirds fanfiction #fic fragment #move and your dead

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piratesfromspace · 4 years ago

Text

The Mechanic (Anakin/Reader)

Anakin Skywalker/Reader, Obi-Wan is also here

Word count: 1.8k

Warnings: Smut 18+, mechanical arm, Anakin is a little shit, dom/sub undertones, humiliation kink if you squint.

AFAB reader but gender-neutral pronouns MASTERLIST

“A… mechanic??”

“Yes, that’s what I am. A mechanic. The best in town. Isn’t it what you’re looking for?”

Obi-Wan scrunches his nose and turns to the poor clone trooper who had introduced you.

“Are you serious?” he asks in a whisper.

“Do you know how hard it is to find a biomechanics surgeon around here, General? That’s the best I could find.” the trooper seems really tired you notice.

Kenobi brings his hand on his chin, silently thinking for a few seconds.

“I guess they’ll do.”

---

And that’s how you’re recruited for a very special task. When you’re led to their temporary base just outside of town, you thought you were going to be asked to repair a secret-weapon, or some military speeder. Oh Maker were you wrong.

You’re pushed inside of a medical ship, and instead of a speeder, you find yourself face to face with another jedi. He’s sitting on a table, his jedi robe badly torned, already pushed down and bunched on his hips, leaving his muscular torso entirely bare. You would have noticed his perfectly drawn abs if you weren’t distracted by his right arm. From his elbow down, it is entirely made of gold and black metal, with armored panels mimicking the size of his other regular arm, complete with what look like delicate fingers. A mechno-arm. You’ve never seen one quite like it. It must cost a small fortune, and it is definitely custom. But it’s also definitely wrecked.

“So, you’re the biomechanics expert?”

“Mechanic. Just a mechanic. But I know a thing or two about cybernetics.”

“Great.” He says with a cynical tone before making a pause, eyeing you down shamelessly for a tad too long, as you cross your arms and raise an eyebrow at his poor manners. He smirks at your reaction, and cocks his chin up before continuing.

“Well, anyway, I’ll guide you, I know what’s going on with my arm, I just need a helping hand.”

He says that with a lot more confidence than what you would expect from someone his young age, almost condescending - but you can’t really be mad at him, considering the guy has the Force and looks like this. You would be insufferable as well.

Sometimes life is unfair, you think, too bad he chose to become a warrior monk, because you wouldn’t mind tinkering with more than his arm.

You take a deep breath, and just get on with it, starting to work on his prosthetic, following his instructions. Even if he hasn’t all the correct vocabulary, the man actually knows what’s wrong with his arm, and you’re a little bit annoyed at the fact he was right. You would have gladly taught him a lesson, making his cocksure smirk and patronizing tone go away just for a second. Nonetheless, you listen to what he explains, and after a while, you realize you’re just executing his directions without second guessing him, lulled by his warm voice, scrunched over his mechanical arm, your face just inches away from his very human skin.

After an hour, you’re done, and his fingers are back to life, the mechanism slightly buzzing while he lifts his hand to his face, watching with an honest smile as his movements resume. You’re watching as well, mesmerized by the way his metal fingers move with such great finesse. It’s almost surreal when you know the inhumane strength he could deploy thanks to the alloy ligaments, a deadly threat just lying under golden fingertips.

Your gaze switches to his face, and you allow yourself to stare a little. He’s young but the toll of war is already showing, the kindness of his eyes hidden behind a steely veil, a scar running way too close from his right eye. His hair is a mess, long light-brownish locks with a few blond strands. His innocence is long gone, replaced by a mix of fierce resolve and cocky attitude. He’s handsome, you won’t lie to yourself. And his toned body matches his pretty face. Even the mechanical arm adds to his charm. You’re sure some would be repulsed by it, but you’re definitely not. You can’t stop wondering what it’s like for him when he touches something, when he touches someone. And you can’t stop wondering what it’s like to be touched by those fingers, to feel the smooth golden steel on your skin. Would it be warm? Or cold?

You’re pulled out of your daydreaming by a cough. Anakin is now looking at you, and his knowing gaze is making you doubt if he’s reading your mind. There are many rumors about the powers jedi can have, and you suddenly blush at the realization he might actually be.

“Well, thanks, it works fine again.” he says with a falsely natural tone. “But I think I need to run just a few tests, you know, to make sure the sensation is back. Would you like to help me? I warn you, it can be a bit… overwhelming.” He says that as his mechanical hand grazes at your naked forearm, his self-confident grin back on his face, and you can’t miss the sexual undertone of his proposition. The feeling sends chills in your whole body, the metal of his fingertips is definitely cold — at least, for now. You’re a bit taken aback because you weren’t expecting advances from a literal monk, but at the same time you know you’re too curious and too horny already to pass down such an invitation.

“And how can I help?” you ask not so innocently.

“Glad you ask.” he answers, as he hops down from the table, an even bigger grin on his face.

You don’t have the time to realize what’s going on, but he lifts you up and slams you down on the table before climbing back on top of you, resting on his knees, arms caging you.

He hushes you when you want to protest against his manhandling, but you can’t deny the fact it’s turning you on even more. He watches your face intently as his mechanical hand is caressing your cheek, then shifting lower on your throat. He squeezes gently, just to see how you would react, and he’s pleased to hear you gasp at the tiniest of pressure. It’s making you dizzy, the knowledge he could literally crush you if he wanted to, and you’re being amazed at the control he shows instead.

His hand doesn’t stay there for long though, and goes even lower, shortly groping your breast before sliding further down until it stops at the waistband of your pants. He waits a second here, scanning you for any form of approval, before resuming when you thrust your hips slightly up against his palm, letting him know you’re looking for more.

He loses no time, snaking his hand under your pants and in your panties, cupping your cunt. The metal of his fingers is warmer now, thanks to your own body heat, but the feeling is still foreign although not unpleasant. He parts your folds, tracing a finger from your entrance to your clit, spreading your wetness there. The pitiful whine that escapes your lips as he starts circling the bundle of nerves makes him chuckle. He’s visibly enjoying the way you react under his touch.

The smooth steel of his golden fingertips feels like heaven against your sensitive parts, and you already know you won’t last long. He rises a bit, sitting on his heels so he can use his left arm to pin you down, real fingers made of flesh cruelly biting in your hips to keep you in place for what’s coming next.

He stops his ministrations and coats two of his metallic fingers in your juices before sinking them slowly inside of you. You stop breathing as you watch his fingers disappear between your legs with awe. You feel every ridges and bumps of the mechanical knuckles as they slide in and out of you, and when his thumb finds your clit again, you’re glad he’s actually pinning you down, because it’s suddenly too much to handle. Your back arches and your head slams down against the unforgivable steel of the medical table. In other circumstances, you would complain, but you just can’t find a good reason to care right now.

Anakin keeps on moving his fingers, relentlessly bringing you closer to the edge. Your whines are now moans, and he gives you a mean look, mouthing a “shut up”. You almost forgot you were in the middle of a military base, and that anyone could enter the room you were in at any time now. You clamp your hand on your mouth, trying desperately to keep quiet as the bastard is slowing his pace but increasing the pressure of his touch, crooking the fingers inside of you to rub against that perfect spot that makes you see stars. It’s a matter of seconds before you come with a muffled whimper, eyes closed, hips rising up from the table. He doesn’t stop until you push his hand away as the pleasure-pain of overstimulation settles in.

“It looks all good, thanks for helping.” he says with a cocky little smile, while you try to catch your breath. He wipes his mechanical arm on your pants, like it’s just a random rag, and you’re too shocked by the sheer audacity of the man to think of a retort.

You barely have the time to get back on your feet, that the door of the room is sliding open, revealing a visibly displeased Obi-Wan.

“You’ done yet?”

You open your mouth to answer but Anakin is quicker.

“Yes, Master. We were just making sure the repair is efficient.”

He says that with his usual grin and while looking the older jedi dead in the eye. You wonder how he managed to do that when some of his fingers still smell like you. You’re also jealous of the fact his crumpled robe is making a decent job at hiding his hard-on, while the wet patch on your pants where Anakin wiped his fingers is all too visible.

“It seems your hand is working perfectly again, Anakin.”

The tone of Obi-Wan's voice is half-amused, half-annoyed when he says that, his eyes on you, rather than on his padawan. You wonder if he knows what just happened, causing your face to grow hot under his suspicious gaze.

“Just ask the trooper outside for your payment” he adds bluntly, before asking Anakin to follow him for a briefing where they’re both needed.

As they exit the room, the younger jedi turns to you.

“I know I can count on you if I ever need more repairs. I’ll make sure to request you, personally.”

Your face is getting even more red as you mumble a good-bye to the two warriors.

The paycheck was generous, but honestly? You would be lying to yourself if you would not admit you’d do it all over again for free.

#anakin imagine #anakin x reader #star wars fanfiction #anakin smut #anakin skywalker #anakin skywalker x reader #gender neutral imagine

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justthehiddleswrites · 4 years ago

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Room For Two | Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x Reader

Summary: After a long weekend at the Denver Comic-Con, you were just looking for a quiet evening. That plan is out the window when all the planes are grounded at the airport and Tom arrives at your door. With no other rooms available in the city, Tom asks to share your room for the night. Just one problem, there is only a king bed in the room.

Warnings: fluff

“Finally.“

The hotel door slammed behind you as you let a sigh go. The past three days had been a whirlwind of panels, interviews, and autographs. It was only through multiple cups of coffee you were still standing. The Denver Comic-Con was the latest stop in the unending promotional tour.

You throw your shoes off and flopped onto the king bed in your room. You contemplate what to do first, a hot shower or order food as you massage your sore feet. The growl from your stomach decided for you and you lean towards the nightstand to pick up the phone.

“Room Service,” a cheery male voice answered as you hit the auto dial button.

“Hi, can I get the grass-fed burger, Caesar salad, and the Caprese pizza, please?”

“Charged to Room 1415?”

“Yes, please.”

“It will be 30 to 40 minutes.”

“Thank you.”

You hung up the phone and allow your head to sink into the pillows. You seriously contemplated falling asleep right now and hope you wake up when room service knocks. But you decided to wash the layer of the day off your body.

As you head to the bathroom, you shed your clothes piece by piece, tossing them on the floor along your way. You make a mental note to make sure you pick it up before room service gets there. You flicked the shower water on and turned it up as hot as tolerable. Once the water warmed up, you stepped in and let the near scalding water pour over your body. The tension left your shoulders and neck and the grime of the day, both literal and figurative, washed away. You wanted to stay under that hot water for an eternity but after about ten minutes you turned the water off and stepped into a fluffy bathrobe. As you exited the bathroom, you got an insistent knock on the door.

“That can’t possible be room service,” you muttered as you look through the peephole.

Instead of your food, you see a lanky ginger-haired gentleman rocking from side to side in front of your door.

“Tom?” you questioned as you open the door.

Tom turned on that smile.

“I hope I am not interrupting your evening. Do you mind if I come in for a minute?”

“Yes, come on in,” you stepped aside to allow him entry to the room. You noticed he was carrying a small duffel bag with him. “I thought you were flying out tonight.”

He pivoted around to face you.

“Funny thing. They grounded the flights. Someone thought flying drones in the air space was a good idea. After four hours, they sent everyone away.”

“Didn’t that same thing happen at Heathrow in December?”

“The same thing. They are calling it a copycat.”

“I am so sorry. If I can help, just say the word,” you commented as you turn to let him out the door. Tom does not follow.

“Well, that is the other funny thing. Because of the comic-con and the big education convention, there is not a spare room in the entire city.”

“You’re kidding me?”

“I am serious. Not even my original room was available. I thought about sleeping at the airport when I remembered you were staying a few days…”

Your eyes widened, realizing what Tom was asking.

“You want to stay… HERE?!”

Tom looked at the ground, scuffling his feet on the carpet.

“If you don’t mind.”

You looked to the single king bed in the room. Tom followed your gaze and then both of your faces reddened.

“I could sleep in the chair.” Tom gestured towards the armchair in the corner.

It was at least half his size and looked uncomfortable.

“No, that is not fair… We can…”

A knock interrupted your thought.

“SHIT!” you hissed as you pulled the bathrobe around your body, “that is room service.”

Tom held up his hands.

“I will handle it. Why don’t you go into the bathroom and make yourself decent?”

He made the last remark with a slight smirk on his face as his eyes raked over your still robed body. You throw him a dirty look as you grabbed your pajamas and shut the bathroom door.

Tom thanked the person who brought the food as you pulled a comic book t-shirt and well-worn pajama pants.

“Were you expecting company?” Tom yelled through the bathroom door.

You remembered your hunger induced over ordering.

“Are you judging me?” you retorted as you opened the door, smiling.

“Nope. I have always appreciated people with a healthy appetite. I must admit I am famished myself. Airport food is not my favorite.”

You suppressed a giggle as Tom eyed the burger. You gestured for him to dig in. Tom dug into the burger without a second thought and moans of satisfaction escaped his lips.

“Enjoying yourself?” you mumbled as you shove a forkful of salad in your own mouth, “I also appreciate a man with a joy for food, even such a high esteemed actor as yourself.”

Tom rolled his eyes. This was an ongoing joke between you two throughout filming. You mention his fame and him shutting you down every time.

“Please. None of that tonight. I am far too hungry and weary to fight you off.”

“Fair enough.”

***

The two of you eat the rest of the food in relative silence. Tom regal the tale of his ill-fated trip to the Denver airport and you shared crazy fan stories from the con. After every morsel and you bellies were full, the matter of sleeping arrangements came up once.

“So…” Tom started, looking once again towards the bed. “I am taking the chair.”

Your face once again reddened. You screwed up your courage to be an adult rather a hormone raging teenager.

“No, that is silly. You are like twice the size of that chair and it looks uncomfortable,” you wrinkled your nose, “Plus it is not like you and I have never shared a bed before.”

Tom had been a perfect gentleman and did everything in his power to make you comfortable during your first ever love scene. At the end of the day, the scene had made the film a hit. After that, you harbored a crush on the dashing Tom Hiddleston.

“True. So sharing the bed.”

You swallowed and nodded your head as if solidify your decision.

“Yep,” you get up and move the empty dishes to the door, “do you need to use the shower? You are more than welcome to use any of my toiletries. I promise there is nothing too girly smelling in there.”

“Thank you.”

Tom headed into the bathroom, taking his bag with him and the shower started soon after. You attempted to contain the mess of clothes on the bed. Not that it mattered.

You shoved all the clothes into the drawers and when the water stopped, you jumped underneath the covers. Tom strolled out. His shaggy locks were wet, and he was wearing pajama bottoms with a plain white tee. You could smell your soap wafting off of him. It was intoxicating.

“I took the right side. Is okay?” you commented, while playing with the edge of the sheet.

Tom laughed. “It’s fine, it is your room and I am the interloper.”

Tom slid into the bed on the left side and adjusted the pillows behind him.

“Would you like to watch a movie or something?” you picked up the remote.

“No thanks, darling. I am tired from the day. I bet you must be too. This is your first comic-con circuit, right?”

“Yeah, I guess I am tired too,” you lied.

You leaned over and switched off the light and plunged the room into darkness. You settled yourself into a night of sleeping. You arranged the pillows behind your head and then took one of the extra pillows and tucked off to one side to lie on. You turned towards Tom’s side to see him propped up on an elbow, taking in your sleep ritual.

“What in earth are you doing, Y/N?”

“I am getting ready for bed. What are you doing?”

“Watching you getting ready for bed. Do you always hug a pillow while sleeping?”

You made out a hint of a smile on his face.

“It is not hugging, it is for support,” you huffed down and wrap your arms around the pillow.

“For emotional support?” Tom countered.

“No.” you said, “I thought you were tired.”

“I am. But I am not too tired to watch this ritual. It is adorable. If you need to snuggle something, I am available.”

You reached over and smacked Tom in the chest.

“You are incorrigible. I’m fine. Go.. to.. sleep, Tom.”

“Suit yourself.”

Your sleep was fitful that night, tossing and turning all night. Around midnight, you threw the pillow to the ground and the comforter off your feet. Tom breathed heavy next to you. Tempted to elbow him in the ribs and wake him, you decided against it.

***

You woke the next morning to something warm and solid pressed up against the entire back side of your body. You attempted to roll over, but you realized something pinned your legs to the mattress. Craning your neck around, you see Tom pressed up against your back and his legs intertwined with yours.

Tom’s body was radiating heat, and you snuggled close to his body. You could feel his breath on your neck and you sighed to yourself.

If this is a dream, I never want to wake up.

As you continued to sink into his body, you inadvertently ground your ass into Tom’s crotch. You feel his erection through his thin pajama pants. Not even the great Tom Hiddleston was immune to morning wood. A soft moan escaped Tom’s lips, and he reached around your waist, pulling you in closer. Tom’s chin nuzzled into the crook on your neck and his hot breath tickled your skin.

You tried to extract yourself from his grip but only turned yourself around and now you were face to face with a sleeping Tom. His long lashes threatened to touch his cheeks and you let a sigh out at the sight of him.

Damn, why does he have to be so handsome!

The change of position caused Tom to stir and you see his eyes flutter open. With sleepy eyes, Tom noticed the space, or lack thereof, between the two of you and smirked.

“Morning, darling.”

“Morning, Tom.”

“I see you abandoned your pillow and went for something more satisfying.”

You scoffed, attempting to pull away from his grip but not trying too hard.

“I woke up with you wrapped around me. Perhaps you have a crush on me,” you joked.

Tom looked you dead in the eye.

“Perhaps I do. Perhaps I have been hiding away a secret torch for you since you first walked onto set. And perhaps I fear you would not reciprocate my feelings.”

You lied there in disbelief. Was Tom confessing his affections towards you? You didn’t know how to react.

“Perhaps you are wrong.” you parroted him, “Perhaps I would reciprocate your feelings. Perhaps I have been hiding a secret crush for you since the day of that bedroom scene.”

You looked up at him, again attempting to wriggle away. This time with more effort. Tom yanked you forward until the two of you were chest to chest.

“Perhaps I will just kiss you and see what happens.”

You opened your mouth to come back with a snappy comment but Tom leaned in and his lips met yours.

The kiss was everything you had imagined, but better. A warmth flowed through your body and you snaked your arms around Tom’s neck and pulled him closer. The two of you parted, breathing heavy.

“Wow,” Tom smiled with pride, “your breath smells.”

Both of you burst out into laughing.

“Your breath isn’t minty fresh either, darling,” Tom placed a quick peck on your lips. “Let’s get up, get dressed, and head downstairs for breakfast, Y/N.”

“Okay but you get ready first. I am not ready to get up.”

“Fair enough.”

Tom bounded out of bed and rustled through his bag before finding clean clothes. Just as he reached the bathroom door, his phone buzzed.

“Do you mind checking that, darling?”

You nodded, and he disappeared into the bathroom.

You picked up the phone and saw a text from Luke.

Tom?! Where are you? You didn’t answer your phone last night. It took some persuading, but I got your suite back at the Hyatt. Please call me back. I hope you didn’t end up sleeping in the airport.

That little liar! Tom had manipulated you to spend the night. What a sneak! Your initial anger gave way to mischief and joy. If not for Tom’s little subterfuge, the two of you may have never gotten together. Still, you couldn’t let him get away with his little scheme scot-free.

You seated yourself at the edge of the bed, legs crossed and his phone in your hand. Tom came out in jeans and a shirt, a toothbrush in his mouth. He looked at you confused.

“Who was it?” he questioned, taking his toothbrush out of his mouth.

You smirked, “Oh just Luke.”

“What did he want, love,” he came over and placed a minty kiss on your forehead, “everything all right?”

“Yeah,” you wiped the remnants of toothpaste off your face, “he was just worried you slept in the airport, instead of your old suite in the hotel.”

Tom’s smile fell from his face.

“I can explain…”

You stood up and walked until you were toe to toe.

“Oh? And what is your explanation for lying about your sleeping arrangements?”

You suppressed a smirk and giggle and you can see Tom scrambling to come up with the right words.

“Well..” Tom held his hands up in defense and then sighed, shoulders slumping, “I couldn’t think of any other way to get you into bed with me.”

His blue eyes sparkled back you, hopeful. You let a Cheshire cat grin spread across your face and you pulled up onto your toes to place a kiss on his lips.

“You are lucky you are so charming, otherwise I might be more mad. Besides, we need to discuss this.” you waved your hands between the two of you.

“We are?”

“Yes. Now excuse me but I have to get dressed…”

Tom settled onto the bed as though you would strip off your pajamas right in front of him.

“… in the bathroom.”

Tom’s face fell.

“You wound me.”

“You lied.” “I promise I will never make that mistake again, darling.”

“Good, now call Luke back while I get dressed.”

You closed the door and got ready. Tom dialed in Luke’s number.

“I’m fine, Luke. I promise. No, I didn’t end sleeping in the airport; I stayed with a friend. No, a female friend. Yes it is her, if you must know. Yes, Luke. I understand. Oh by the way, I will spend a few days in Denver, clear my schedule.”

Tom could hear Luke grumbling through the conversation. He couldn’t resist send him into a tailspin before re-engaging in radio silence.

“Oh and Luke, if you hear any rumors about me, they are true. The photos too.”

With that, he turned his phone off. The next few days were for you and you alone.

#tom hiddleston fanfiction #tom hiddleston #tom hiddleston fanfic #tom hiddleston x reader #tom hiddleston fluff #tom hiddleston imagine

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the-firebird69 · 6 months ago

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The top of the hood is about an inch and 3/4 higher on the Challenger. But the engine is not that close to the hood it's like 5 inches away and you can drop it down like this and cool it with the intake that you don't even need I don't know why they always have that and the car here has to be lowered a little bit between the two you're going to lose four inches no it's going to come down only half an inch or so in the fairing has to be adjusted but this model is intense but what he's saying is to leave the tires and rims and suspension the wheelbase is close the Challenger is an inch longer it would not be noticeable to anyone and we can make a kit that you could make it meet engine or front engine and it would tear up the road and yes my idea. He loves the idea cuz he wants one of those cars for real and you'd want to mid engine and that's the thing would really kick some butt. I'll tell you what we have a lot of stuff to do but this is a great idea and we are going forwards with it. He's got a call and see doesn't think he needs to drive around in it he doesn't really but it is something that we find necessary and the Dodge Challenger is kind of a big dog and it goes really slow for having such a big motor it does really this car you see the gray one Dodge Challenger goes 0 to 60 and 3.9 seconds the quarter mile and 10 seconds the top speed is 210 some sedans are faster most of them are it's embarrassing is an embarrassing thing these days have some sedan sale by you we're screaming so you take the day Tomaso this last version is nice and you would remove the seats and the quarter panels and the top of the thing and leave the controls in the dashboard which only adds 20-30 lb from different ones it's not that bad and then you would drop on the new body and we make it bolt up. And we think one piece and his idea of shipping it assembled it's pretty good cuz he gives us both an odds of things you just bolted on but you take the existing seats out they weigh a billion pounds and we send high performance and two seats not for four and you would not have room for a seat because of how the new body is styled and they're both at all up and you put in the new high performance interior and exhaust kit you don't have to do the top ends but we would strongly recommend it because they're we burning exhaust stuff is on there so the exhaust kit and you would say hypothetically put the top end on and it would work in concert actually that's why you have to do it we would give you new rims and tires maybe a bit smaller than they stock if you modify the stock ones it would work but it might not look that good and he's concerned people would do that but they can put it on a wide body kit and that would fix them messing with it they make them still fit these things and we would make it so you put new tires and rims and you add a couple pieces to the suspension now you have to switch out a couple it's not a big deal are you will go off the road this has a straight axle in the back and it makes it an odd vehicle but it still works well enough hopefully and we tested them they work okay you don't want to go zooming around the back road the new performance will tell you why...

0 to 60 in 3 seconds, and the quarter mile in about 7 seconds, top speed 380 mph and that's using this model which has about seven hundred horsepower

-we think this is a good idea the top speed is probably a little bit higher maybe 4:20 but really this is an awesome design and it was our daughter and son and David and Carol and they made it and made a famous name and company out of nothing so it rules as the interiors really similar to The Challenger and you change a few things in a few covers and the seats would be de Tomaso and the accessories we give to redo it would be de tomaso and we're going to do a design review with both of them and they're going to help design it they said and that's good it'll be a real kit I don't know if you can say that. A lot of their children and in-law children really want it and he says you really want it and come and put it together and they said they're going to and they love it and it's going to be almost from scratch cuz you have to get the company going but they're elder brother and sister in law have done it. And they're going to help me and we're going to get it together

Frank Castle hardcastle

There's a lot of pressure is here and we know that it's a lot we have to get done this will help okay we need things like this

Duke Nukem Blockbuster and we need to get going we're doing a great job now I see a lot of people getting up to hell I'm usually overwhelmed and I do need a lot of assistance and I always need more but I see a lot which is great and we have tons and tons of other jobs my job is the topic the top echelon we always need help but if you want to start somewhere else we really do not recommend you do you get experience and strengths and areas we need this is a great place to start our son and daughter have come up with a whole bunch of these and it's for us to use and it helps immensely and he knows that people get it done you have a secretary that does their job you're going to get work done hes seen secretaries carry the whole office on Earth and if these guys but they do the job and they keep think together and they're telling people what to do it's kind of amusing but really to them that that's what they do even assigned to it we want to be aware of in our secretary of do the same thing and can make the whole thing work and we need you and we need you to get your guys going and Blockbusters helping out is he is he says and Hera

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sulphuryasecretcloset · 4 years ago

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What if... Part2

(Amazed and honoured at the reception of this one! So very happy y’all enjoyed this little AU that I was NOT going to write xD And thank you for the reblogs and comments, you wonderful people you! <3

For the record, I still blame you @phrenic-a and @mountevey And I see you encouraging them @novembermurray ! )

What if Dulsissia hadn’t died, what if she had grabbed Corin and fled? What if she met Davarax? What if...

Part 1

Part 2

She’s lost her mind. Dulsissa has thought this very thought many times during these last three months, but stars above; she really must have lost her mind now.

The Mandalorian, Davarax, is a complete stranger. She doesn’t know anything about him, only some fragments about his children that she has a feeling are real but might as well not be. And here she is holding her son’s hand and following this man to his ship, fully prepared to board it with him and go some place she has no idea where is to stay with a people she has no clue who are.

“This is your ship?” Corin asks with slight disbelief when they come to a halt in front of it.

Like Davarax’ armor, the ship has seen better days.

Embarrassed by her son’s words, Dulsissia gives Corin’s hand a warning squeeze and sends him a stern look that makes him shrink a little and shuffle his feet.

-Think it, don’t speak it, she’s told him countless times. His honesty will cost him one day.

Davarax snorts an amused laugh, saunters forward to reach out and place an affectionate hand to the ship’s hull. He pets it a couple of times like it’s a living creature. “She might not be the fanciest, but..” The helmet turns to look back at Corin. “I can promise you, Corin, you won’t find a better ship in the Galaxy. The Razor Crest is tough, fast and loyal. Treat her right and she’ll look after you.”

The disdain in Corin’s eyes is replaced with awe. “Really?” He whispers.

“Really.” Davarax confirms, giving the ship a final pat before lowering his arm to press a button on his vambrace. There is a click and a hum and the ship opens a side door, lowering a ramp for them to enter. “Let’s go.”

Dulsissia smiles a little as she follows Davarax inside and how Corin now is pulling eagerly at her hand to make her hurry up. A magical ship is irresistible to a little boy, while she tries hard to ignore the scorch marks she sees on the hull and the ominous weapons attached to it.

Inside, the ship is a lot roomier than she expected it to be. The cargo area makes for a great playground for Corin. The sleeping quarters are narrow, but she doesn’t require much space and Corin even less so. The cockpit is fascinating, she’s never been in one before.

And neither has Corin.

“Baby, no.” Dulsissia reaches out to pull Corin away when he walks right up to the control panel after Davarax has found his place in the pilot seat and watches with utmost amazement as he starts flipping switches and pushing buttons to bring the ship to life. “Come here. Don’t bother Davarax.”

“It’s okay.” Davarax reassures her. He glances over at the boy. “You want to help, young sir?”

Corin nods, too overwhelmed to talk.

“Flip that one.” Davarax points at a tiny switch and Corin instantly reaches out and flips it. “Good job. And now press that button.” He lifts the boy up so he can reach the button in the ceiling.

Dulsissia bites her lower lip to keep from getting too emotional as she watches her son eagerly obey instructions and soaking up every bit of encouragement and praise from the Mandalorian, starved for both after all the years his father gave him none. It hurts to watch how such simple kindness from a man stuns Corin but it is also so good to see her son this happy. Maybe she didn’t lose her mind when she decided to go with Darvarax, maybe it was the one good choice she’s made since deciding to leave Macero? She hopes.

“Okay, ad’ika.” Davarax says. “The Razor Crest is awake. Time for you to get in your seat.” He nudges Corin, who reluctantly wanders over to the one seat left after his mother claimed the one behind Davarax. He climbs, with a little difficulty, up on it, and settles. A tiny boy in a big seat.

Dulsissia moves over to buckle him in and frowns. He’s too small. It won’t keep him safe at all.

Without looking over at them, Davarax makes some final adjustments on his panel. “Next to the seat. On the left. There’s this box he can sit on. I use that when I bring Din or Barthor along.”

Dulsissia blinks. It’s not something she’d picture a mercenary to have on his ship. But a peek down the side does indeed reveal a box and once Corin is sitting on that, he gets a better view, to his delight, and the belts actually fit him instead of choking him, to her relief.

The ship takes off and sets course for the darkness above. Dulsissia is not sorry to leave this place.

Now all she has to worry about is what Nevarro is like and how the Mandalorians will react to Davarax bringing home a stray and her offspring. She wonders if the other Mandalorians are like Davarax, if she will get to meet his children and most important of all; will Corin like it there?

The journey to Nevarro will take two standard days. It’s strange how two days on a small ship with her husband or her friends would have driven her insane, but the hours on board the Razor Crest feel safe and almost enjoyable as Davarax’ patience with her son’s continued craving for his attention and praise.

Every time her boy butts into whatever the Mandalorian is doing, calls for him to look at what he is doing instead, Dulsissia feels a stab of dread, waiting to hear the sharp annoyance that would always follow his attempts to reach his father, but every time Davarax replies with mild amusement and eternal patience. He even brings Corin along to ‘help’ with some repairs in the cargo area and leaves her to just rest or whatever she feels like doing.

With there being no place for the man to run off with her child, it’s not like he’ll jump into space with him, and a growing trust in Davarax, Dulsissia ends up sitting in the cockpit like an idiot and having no clue what to do. It’s been almost five years since she didn’t spend every second of her day hovering over Corin.

After what feels like a small eternity of just sitting there, listening to the muffled voices from the cargo hold, Dulsissia notices her reflection in the transparisteel and slowly lifts a hand to her blond locks. Oh, she looks a mess. No wonder Davarax had decided she needed help; she looks like a wookiee.

When Davarax and Corin returns to the cockpit, she has eased the final hairpin into place and her sweet boy lights up at the sight of her. He runs over, places his hands on her knees and looks up at her with a smile so bright it makes her smile as well. “Wow. You look really pretty, mommy.”

Davarax ruffles Corin’s hair as he walks by him on the way to the pilot seat. “She always does, ad’ika.”

Her face burns for some reason. Dulsissia pulls Corin up to sit on her lap and she changes the topic. “What does that mean? You keep calling him that.”

“It’s from my language. Mando’a.” Davarax replies, fidgeting with something on the panel to see if the repairs were successful. “It’s what we call our youngsters.”

Smiling, oddly pleased with the answer, Dulsissia looks down and sees Corin has gotten oil on his face and starts the battle of wiping it away while he tries to squirm free.

It’s not just Corin who gets to learn new things. On the second day, while her boy sleeps, Dulsissia takes out the blade Davarax had given her and tests the weight and feel of it. Wearing a dress restricts the movement of her legs a bit, so she’ll need to have a good idea of how to use her arms. Make the most of what she can use.

She feels stupid, waving the blade around, pretending to stab an invisible opponent, but Dulsissia gets so into it that she’s entirely unprepared for a hand suddenly gripping her wrist.

Startled, she flinches and almost drops the knife.

“Not like that.” Davarax’ voice says from behind her. She hadn’t heard him approach.

His gloved hand slides over her pale one and helps her turn the blade so she holds it in a reverse grip instead.

“Like this. It will give you more options during an attack and more power. More power to do more damage. Plus,” Davarax steps closer and slides his other arm loosely around her waist in a slight mimicry of how those men had grabbed her, “you can do this.”

The hand on hers adds a little pressure and makes her lower her arm in a careful swing until the blade goes by her thigh and the tip comes to a halt against the front of his thigh.

“And when the blade is in, you twist.” His voice is so calm. And so close. If not for the helmet, she suspects she’d feel his words on her neck. “Understand?”

Dulsissia gives a quick little nod. Her eyes probably as big as Corin’s tend to get around this man.

“Good.” Davarax lets her go and circles to stand in front of her. “Now, if someone approaches you from the front, what you should do is-”

She still feels silly, waving the blade around and Davarax letting her practice on him when he could disarm her without even looking her way, but at the end of that first session; Dulsissia knows where to aim and how to do as much damage as possible.

Also, when the Mandalorian hands out praise, she can’t blame her son for wanting more because she realizes that she hasn’t heard too much of that in her own lifetime either and it feels really, really good to finally think she’s not hopeless at least.

When they land on Nevarro, Dulsissia can’t help but to feel nervous again. She picks up Corin, who allows it with a resigned sigh, and holds him close while following Davarax off the ship. The journey has been another respite before facing her difficult situation, but it’s over now.

Time to find out what will be next for her and her baby.

Davarax leads her through the dusty city, Dulsissia places a protective hand on Corin’s head and shields him from seeing leers and sneers sent their way, and they finally reach a door that brings them underground to the hidden Covert of the Mandalorians.

It’s dark below and it takes a while for Dulsissia’s eyes to adjust so she doesn’t see them until she’s walking right by the other Mandalorians, who stand there, staring at her with emotionless t-visors.

Flinching with a startled sound, she jumps forward and nearly bumps into Davarax’ back.

“They won’t harm you.” Davarax says, not turning around or even slowing his walk. “You’re safe.”

Looking around as they walk, Dulsissia hopes he is right, because there are quite an amount of armored people there and they aren’t exactly rolling out a welcoming committee. “If you say so.”

In the depths of the tunnels, they approach what appears to be the seat of power, judging by the decorations and respectful behaviour of the ones there.

They have taken one step inside the room, it appears to some kind of a forge, when Davarax stops and Dulsissia follows his example. “Stay here.” He says. “Only speak when spoken to.”

She then watches in silence as he steps forward and walks over to kneel down in front of the forge where a Mandalorian in a golden armor and a fur cloak is working on something. Minutes pass and Dulsissia has to hoist Corin a couple of times as the boy really is getting heavy, but they all wait for what has to be the leader of the Mandalorians to finish whatever they are working on.

Finally the one in the golden helmet puts the hammer down, lingers and walks over to where Davarax is kneeling. “Did you complete your mission?”

Davarax reaches into the pocket of his belt, fishes out a handful of valuables and places them on the ground as an offering.

The leader looks at what he has brought, gives a thoughtful nod and then shifts her attention to Dulsissia. “And you have brought something else to the Covert as well.”

“They need a place to stay. Somewhere safe.”

“A foundling is always welcome.” The leader replies in a neutral voice. “This other one does not look like a warrior.”

“She has the makings of one.” Davarax counters in an equally neutral voice. “She will be my responsibility. Both of them.”

“Very well.” The leader says, but she does not sound pleased. “This is the way.”

“This is the way.” Davarax echoes. He gets up and walks out of the room, only pausing to give Dulsissia’s arm a light touch to signal her to follow him. She does.

Once they are at a certain distance from the room and the leader, Dulsissia hoists Corin, who she suspects is too scared by these new surroundings to say anything, and voices her thoughts. “She doesn’t want me here.”

Davarax does his little trademark huff of a laugh. “Don’t worry about it.”

Dulsissia sighs and hoists Corin a little again. Her arms are burning. She does not expect Davarax to come to an abrupt halt, forcing her to stop as well, and turn around to hold out his arms.

“Give him to me.”

Dulsissia clutches Corin a little closer and stares at him with surprise at his betrayal.

His helmet tilts a little and Davarax is the one to sigh. “Just until I can show you your room.”

She hesitates for several seconds. What convinces her is Corin pushing away from her and reaching out to him, and only then does Dulsissia hand her son over to the Mandalorian and awkwardly wraps her arms around herself instead.

Corin quickly settles on Davarax’ arm and looks around with bright, curious eyes from his new and taller perch.

The Mandalorian reaches out his free hand and gently touches by her shoulder. “Come.” He says, not unkindly. “Let me show you where you’ll stay.”

The door slides open. Stepping inside, Davarax following her with Corin, Dulsissia looks around and finds it small and modest but far cleaner and inviting than some of the inns she and her son have stayed at during these last weeks. There are no windows, but there is a light in the ceiling.

There are two beds, a rickety looking table and some hooks in the wall to hang clothing on.

“It’s not much, I know.” Davarax sounds a bit awkward. “But it will be yours.” Dulsissia looks over at him with a grateful smile. “It’s wonderful. Thank you.”

Davarax turns sideways and points at the door they can see across the hallway. “That’s me. If you need anything.” He puts Corin down on his own two feet and lets him run over to climb into the closest bed and start jumping on it.

“Corin, baby, no.” Dulsissia says, meeting the defiant look he sends her way with a stern look of her own and feels a smug sense of victory when the boy sits down with an annoyed huff. She can then turn her attention back to Davarax. “You have done so much for us already. How can I ever repay you?”

He seems surprised by her words and it takes a second before he shakes his head. “There is nothing to repay. You don’t owe me anything. Neither does your boy. I just want you two to be safe.”

Dulsissia has to turn away to hide her eyes flooding with tears. She’d given up on there being decent people in the Galaxy and then she had to stumble across the most noble of them all?

“I’ll, uh, give you some time to settle in. Get some rest.” Davarax mumbles, backing out of the room. “I’ll be back later. I’ll see if I can get you some spare clothes. I know there are some for Corin. And then I’ll show you two around. Sounds good?”

“Will you show me the training room?” Corin asks with badly hidden hope.

“Absolutely, young sir.” Davarax replies with a bow that has Corin giggle with delight.

When the door slides shut behind the Mandalorian, Dulsissia walks over to sit next to her sweet boy and combs her fingers through his thick, dark hair. “We are going to stay here for a while, baby. Okay?”

Corin nods eagerly and gives her another gap-toothed smile. “Yeah! Dav’rax gonna show me where he trains to fight bad guys. Maybe he can teach me too?”

“We’ll see.” Dulsissia replies, unwilling to make any promises on behalf of the man. While she’d prefer her son to never see battle in his lifetime, she’s not stupid. Once she chose to leave Seswenna, she condemned them both to an existence where they both will have to learn to defend themselves.

She and Corin explore the room, discover there is a barely visible door on the western wall that leads to what has to be the Galaxy’s tiniest refresher room, and they play-fight over who gets which bed, but in the end there isn’t all that much to do but wait for Davarax to return.

When there finally is a knock on the door, both Dulsissia and Corin eagerly jump to their feet and is equally pleased to see the now almost familiar Mandalorian. Dulsissia is fairly certain she’d be able to recognize his helmet and armor in a sea of others at this point.

Davarax holds out a small pile of clothes. “This will at least give you something to change into.”

Accepting the gift, Dulsissia manages another smile, despite once again feeling the bite of humiliation. She thinks about the gorgeous dresses she used to wear. The adorable outfits she had made for Corin. She’ll probably be the first Motti to ever use second-hand clothing… Then she snaps out of it and clutches the clothes close with a sense of appreciation instead. “Thank you.”

“And you, ad’ika, are you ready to check out your new home?” Davarax asks Corin.

“Yes, sir!” Corin replies, back straight and eagerness barely contained.

The Covert, as she understands it is called, is a complicated network of hallways and tunnels. It used to be the old sewers of Neverro, Davarax explains and Dulsissia tries not to shudder. At least Macero won’t think to look for them here.

The other Mandalorians are still staring quietly at her, but the ones Davarax introduces her to give her a polite nod at least. They don’t seem hostile, but they aren’t exactly brimming with hospitality either. Dulsissia suspects that maybe they don’t get too many visitors in their underground home.

She minds her manners, tries to not offend anyone and considering that none of them draw their frankly intimidating blasters says she might not be doing the worst job of it. Dulsissia used to be so very good at socializing. She was the queen of all the balls back on Seswenna. Now she’s only hoping not to offend.

“And I saved the best for last.” Davarax says with the excitement she usually hears from her son. He stops by a door, turns to face her and lets his hand over over the button to open. “My kids.”

Dulsissia has just enough time to feel both surprise and nervousness and then the door slides open.

Lined up in a neat row, clearly having been given firm instructions to be followed when Davarax brought her and her son, four children stand in the middle of what looks like a training room and stare at the new arrivals.

The one of the left has to be Paz. If she didn’t know any better, she’d think he was sixteen, not eleven. He’s a lot taller than the others, but lacks the lankiness that would usually follow such an early height growth. He has the powerful bones to carry the height, but a child’s face. Paz’ dark hair is cut entirely short except for the unruly spikes on top, his mouth is a thin, disapproving line and his big hands are clenched. Next to him, barely reaching his team-mate’s shoulder, is the one that has to be Barthor. He has curly, dark hair that is getting a bit long, scarecrow shoulders and sharp eyes that are locked on Dulsissia like he’s seeing her with a crosshair on her forehead. Next to him is definitely Raga. Like Barthor, she’s small and skinny, but she has the most amazing hair Dulsissia has ever seen. It is a wild mess, but the volume and the curls are stunning. Too bad the glare behind the mane warns her that she’ll get her fingers bit off if she so much as tries to touch it. And then, half hidden behind Raga, is the one Davarax keeps referring to as ‘little Din’. He’s not especially small for his age, but he appears to be a lot more timid than the others. He is very cute, though, with silky dark hair and soulful eyes.

Davarax walks over and starts introducing each child. Dulsissia is pleased to hear she’s guessed right about their identities and gives a brief curtsy. “Pleased to meet you. I am Dulsissia.”

Silence.

Davarax reaches out and pokes a finger at Paz’ head. “Hey.”

Paz’ nose twitches, like a hound about to bare its teeth, then he reluctantly steps forward until he stands in front of her and he reaches out a hand. “I’m honoured to meet you.”

Trying to hold back an amused smile and failing to a certain degree, Dulsissia takes his hand and he shakes hers with a stern look on his little face, trying so hard to act like an adult. She has to stop herself from hugging him. It’s so cute.

Barthor gives her a nod, which is good enough for her but gets an annoyed sigh from Davarax. Raga moves forward, Din following her like a tail, and she seems more interested in something behind Dulsissia.

What… Oh. Right.

Dulsissia reaches back and ushers Corin out from his hiding place. “This is Corin. Say hello Corin.”

“Hello.” He says in a tiny voice, looking from one to the other and probably feeling like prey. She doesn’t blame him. He hasn’t really played with other children before. Macero didn’t think it would be good for him to mix with others. And these ones are already being trained to be warriors.

Paz frowns and crossed his arms. “Are you going to take the Creed?”

Corin blinks. “I…”

“They are going to stay with us. That’s all you need to focus on, Paz.” Davarax replies.

“Is he going to train with us?” Barthor asks, his eyes still too sharp for someone so young.

“We haven’t decided that yet.” Davarax says and glances over at Dulsissia.

“He should play with us.” Raga says, her lip curling in something that could be a smile but is mostly a flash of teeth. When Corin shuffles to partially hide behind Dulsissia’s leg, Raga doesn’t move but her eyes move with him.

“He is going to play with you.” Davarax says and stalks forward until he’s standing next to Raga, towering over her. “And you’re all going to be nice to him. Understand?”

The girl scowls up at him. “I’m always nice.”

“No, you’re not.” Barthor scoffs.

Raga’s mess of a hair bounces as she snaps her gaze over at him and he shuffles over to partially hide behind the still stern-looking Paz.

“She’s going to be nice to my son,” Dulsissia says, her voice sweet and her eyes not, “because he has a mother who will have words with everyone who isn’t nice to him.”

Raga shifts her scowl over to Dulsissia, scans her, scowls harder, but when Dulsissia doesn’t give her an inch, she sighs and her little body relaxes. “Fiiiiine.”

And while all of this is happening, little Din silently watches Corin from his hiding place and Corin curiously looks back at him from his.

“I told them to behave.” Davarax grouses as he’s bringing her to where she can find food for herself and Corin.

Laughing, Dulsissia glances down at where her son is walking next to her, holding on to her hand and looking around with curiosity, not fear. “I think it went well.”

“No, you don’t understand.” Davarax sighs and there is actual sadness to the sound. “The others call them lost causes. Troublemakers. I know they are difficult, that their manners aren’t like Corin’s, but.. They are good kids. They really are. I wanted you to see that.”

Dulsissia reaches out and places her hand on his upper arm where there is no armor. And she speaks the truth. “I did see that.”

Davarax comes to an abrupt halt, she does the same, and despite the t-visor she can feel the look of surprise on his face.

“You… did?” There is a fragile hope in his voice that doesn’t match his rough exterior.

Dulsissia nods and smiles. “It’s like you said, Paz watches over the others like they were ‘his’ children. He did not hesitate to protect Barthor from Raga. Barthor, who would not let Raga lie and trick my son. Raga, who didn’t care that my son was an outsider and just saw him as someone to play with. And sweet little Din who despite his fear wanted so much to say hello. I think he and Corin will get along so well. And…” She hesitates, looks down at her son but finds him distracted by staring at something down the hallway and has no excuse not to say what else she saw. Dulsissia looks back up at Davarax, who is waiting for her to finish. “And I saw just how much those children love you.”

Davarax stares at her.

“You are the world, the entire Galaxy to them.” Dulsissia says, remembering the look of pure adoration and love in their eyes as he mildly chastised them for acting like tree monkeys in front of their visitors. She doubts he understands how important his role is to these children. How their happiness hangs on his words. How they will do anything for his approval. “My parents ruled our house with an iron fist. But these children? They don’t obey you because they have to or because they fear you. They do it because they love you. Because you see them.”

He shivers and the only reason she knows is because her hand is still on his arm.

“Dulcy, I…” Davarax reaches up and covers her hand with his.

“I know bad men, Davarax. I know monsters pretending to be men. But you?” Dulsissia looks over at how his hand is holding on to hers, so gently despite the strength she knows he must be capable of. “You are a good man. You are the kind of man I wish Corin had for a father.”

Davarax takes a step closer, is suddenly very close and the muscles in his arm tighten under her palm. “Is he the one you are running from?”

Dulsissia tenses up and looks down at her son. Corin is still caught up in whatever he’s staring at.

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.” Davarax says ever so softly. “I just want to help you.”

“I know.” Dulsissia whispers. She doesn’t want to say Macero’s name. It’s stupid, but she fears if she does; it might summon him. “That is what makes you a good man.”

A light touch to her chin and Davarax’ other hand lifts her face to look up at him and there is a slight smile in his voice when he speaks. “I’m not ‘that’ good.”

Dulsissia giggles. She hasn’t giggled in years. And her face flushes.

“I’m hungry.” Corin declares.

Davarax jumps back a step and Dulsissia jumps in place and they both look down at the little boy like guilty teenagers.

“I-I’m sorry, baby. We’ll get you something to eat now.” Dulsissia stammers, her face heating up even more.

“Food. Yes. This way.” Davarax clears his throat and gestures for them to follow him.

They enter the room where food is stored, Davarax shows them where the fires are so she can cook if she feels like it and basically where all the other necessities of the Covert are.

By the time the tour comes to an end by the door to their room, Corin is exhausted and Dulsissia knows she won’t struggle finding sleep either. Still, she’s almost a little reluctant to part ways with Davarax when he pauses outside their door.

“Will I see you tomorrow?” She asks.

“I was hoping that you might want to bring Corin by training.” Davarax says. “He can observe for a while. Maybe try some exercises. Training is the best way for the children to burn off their energy and learn skills as the city above is not safe for them.”

Dulsissia nods. “I will bring him.” She hesitates, knowing he must be tired of hearing her say it but still has to; “Thank you.”

Davarax shakes his head, reaches out and gingerly tucks a golden lock behind her ear. “No thanks required.” He backs up a step, nods and spins around to march over to his door. He keeps pressing the button to his room so the door opens and shuts twice before he can actually get inside.

Late at night, curled up on her side in her bed, looking over at the barely visible silhouette of her son’s back in the other bed, Dulsissia knows she made the best decision ever by coming here.

#the mandalorian his son and the storm trooper #Dulsissia Motti #Davarax #Baby Corin #Fearsome Four #Mandorin AU

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