#luckily he accepted ''i'd prefer not to say''

[ash-rigby]

classmate who means well but has no idea I’m nonbinary: hey, what’s *name that I go by in school that’s a neutral short form of my birth name* short for?

me:

[takeachillpillshawty]

I realized I haven't posted this but here it is.

[Ignihyde Dorm]

Magnus Orpheus

Grade\Class: Junior \ Class E (No. 1)

Birthday: February 14 (Aquarius)

Age: 19

Height: 185cm

Dominate hand: left

Homeland: Shaft lands

Club: Film research club

Best subject: Flight

Hobbies: foraging

Pet peeves: loud parties

Favorite food: Pomegranate seeds

Least Favorite food: any alcoholic beverages

Talent: Lock picking

Magnus is a young man that carries himself with a stoic manner, despite being the Vice Housewarden of Ignihyde he strives to help his dorm mates live a healthy life outside of technology even if it means dragging the Housewarden by the hair for a meeting.

Background: Magnus was always a hard working man, though he has a bad habit of putting others first before him, whether it be out of love or pity. Due to his parents 'spending habits' Magnus went into the work force at the young age of 16, helping pay the bills and also fund his parents lifestyle. Parties upon parties leaving the house a mess in the morning for him to clean, but the love Magnus have for his parents was stronger than his hatred of their 'bad habits'.

Unfortunately his parents would go in dept with the S.T.Y.X. for unknown reasons, the panic and fear in there eyes was enough to twist Magnus' heart. He decided to take on their dept resulting in him working for S.T.Y.X. specifically as the upcoming director's assistant, Idia Shroud. Magnus didn't get along with Idia at first, but slowly he accepted that this was his life now. He attended NRC along with him to ensure his safety.

Relationships with other Characters:

Riddle- Magnus sees himself in Riddle, how he used to bend backward for his parents happiness and not his own. He tries to encourage Riddle to enjoy what's left of his life here in NRC and make happy memories to look back on.

Kalim- Despite wanting his dorm mates to be more social, Magnus is a hypocrite when it comes to taking his own advice. Just because he looks extroverted doesn't mean he is, unfortunately he can't say no to Kalim, especially with those big ole eyes. Whenever he's at one of his parties he tend to be away from the crowd and near a food bar or anywhere devoid of people. Parties like this reminds him of the same ones his parents used to throw but less violent and noisy. All in all, he prefers not to socialize.

Vil- Magnus usually goes to Vil whenever it came to make up.

Idia- He doesn't hate Idia despite his initial attitude towards him, but wished he met him under different circumstances.

Trivia:

° Magnus' unique magic is 'Phantom Phenomena' inspired by Meg's soul traveling down the underworld. Magnus has the ability to turn into a ghost like apparition, able to phase through walls and disappear. This first manifested as an out of body experience when he was a child but managed to fully control it during his second year at NRC.

° Magnus' birthday is on Valentine's day.

° Magnus' last name 'Orpheus' is taken from Orpheus, the man who traveled the underworld to save his beloved from death only to loose her again. This can also describe what Meg went through.

° Due to his unique magic Magnus is almost always cold, no matter how hot the weather is, and the cool temperature in Ignihyde is not helpful. Luckily he received a scarf and gloves as birthday gifts from Riddle.

° it's hinted that Magnus' parents are heavy gamblers.

° Magnus was accepted at RSA, his dream school... but had to decline as he was already registered along with Idia to NRC.

° When asked what would he do if the dept to S.T.Y.X. lifted from him, Magnus stated "I'd cut my parents out of my life and Start a new one."

[wanderlust-in-my-soul]

My weekly roundup CW 21

I try to write down my thoughts after watching stuff to create a little weekly ranking in relation to the previous week on my, most of the times, quiet sundays (and because I love lists!). These are just my personal opinions and preferences based on the feeling I got watching the episodes.

And yes, this will contain spoilers!

But first, the perfect appearance this week:

☼ 1. The Day I Loved You (Ep 9)

I just started the series this week and I should have waited until it was completely released. Now I'm sitting here having to wait for it to continue. I am in love with the series. And episode 9 was…rough. When reality catches up with you, it usually does so with a sledgehammer. Nikko may have already accepted the idea of being in a wheelchair at some point in the past, even embraced the idea, but when reality hits you, you still feel hopeless, desperate and pissed off for a moment. I thought Justin and Eli's rapprochement was particularly well done. Justin is just a wonderful friend and knows that Eli makes Nikko happy and nothing else he wishes for his best friend. Even if it hurts to be just the best friend. I can't wait for the last episode! I guess it will leave me in more tears than this week's episode.

The most painful moment this week:

↓ 2. Love Mate (Ep 7+8 Final)

The finale in this sweet first-I-stalk-you-then-you-love-me-series has come. It hurts to say goodbye to them, but I'm all the happier with the ending. Of course the ex played a role again. Of course grumpy-guy had to retreat into himself once more to realize that the ex is just an asshole and shouldn't rule grumpy-guy's life. And luckily sunshine-guy didn't give up, but went to grumpy-guy and showed him that he's not alone and that he won't leave his side just because things got a little difficult. And then he walks down the stairs in that suit and I'm about as ecstatic as grumpy-guy! Yeah, he definitely should have put that suit on earlier! The two are only sweet together and I have them quite firmly in my heart!

Most mesmerised boy this week:

↓ 3. La Pluie (Ep 5)

Okay, the slow burn is back, which is fine. The first meeting with the father, however, I would have imagined a little later in the story and not on the second date…Nevertheless, the episode was very entertaining! I mean, Saengtai's bitchface towards his work colleague, the fact that the jacket so absolutely did not protect from the rain or even when Patts bursts into the room while Saengtai is naked, were all very exhilarating moments that enrich the series so much. What I don't understand is the whole interaction between Saengtai and Lomfon. Well, Lomfon has a crush on Saengtai, but why does Saengtai act like he's also head over heels in love and can't get a sound out when they see each other? I'm so confused.

Best bitchface of the week:

☼ 4. Be My Favorite (Ep 1)

Most valid question this week:

That was a ride. I liked Kris' somewhat stiff manner in Sotus, but here…wow! He's a bit of a comedian. In all seriousness, I thought the first episode was promising and I think that's what surprises me the most. The pairing would probably be one of the last I'd think of when talking about chemistry, but they do their thing well. And even though I can't see them falling for each other yet, because Kawi is after all very much in love with the woman Pisaeng will later marry in the other reality, I'm still excited. And yes, I could laugh heartily several times. The two have a really good, comedic chemistry.

Dumbest hero of the week:

↑ 5. Step by Step (Ep 6)

Pat is starting to understand that he likes Jeng after all. A little bit of progress is allowed in episode 6, but the episode was also really sweet. So many opportunities to flirt and if either of them would have had more courage, there would have been moments for kisses, but I think Jeng understands that Pat is a bit insecure and just needs more time. Nevertheless, this week was again a feast for the eyes, with all the loving looks from Jeng. The good guy got it so bad! I wish Pat wouldn't give Put another chance, but considering the history of the two and the fact that Pat is a people pleaser, it makes it really easy for Put to find the right words and wrap Pat around his finger. I'm not accusing him of anything bad here, and if he really wants to change, good for him…but I'm still Team Jeng….

And the best costume choice goes to, no for real...what is that?

☼ 6. The Luminous Solution (Ep 1)

There's so much going on here. Two storylines that run side by side and they're both good. This week we first got to know everyone and their problems. We have the couple that has been together for what feels like forever and their flame is slowly dying and a little more communication could work wonders here. At the moment I have the feeling that our doctor doesn't really want to be at home, while Thana is longing for more togetherness with his partner, especially since he just lost his job and his mother needs his help. And then we get to meet Mai and Ryou, and we're already set up for Enemies to Lovers, and for Ryou's best friend to have a crush on him and cause extra tension. And then of course the cafe that can grant wishes, but at a price and the whole time I was wondering why in the hell's name, doesn't she tell him the terms beforehand? That is already so a bit unfair….

↓ 7. My Story (Ep 7)

Phew…The episode was enervating. It was clear that Zeke does not make it to the performance, even if I have not understood to this day, what exactly was the school event and why they have always mixed cocktails with only alcohol and than danced at the end…What? Fifth's confession was very sweet and should actually show Zeke how important the whole shit is to him. Trust isn't one of those things that Fifth gives away freely and shit man, you lost that trust for now. Yeah, I'm sitting here being pissed at a fictional character for hurting another fictional character. But said other fictional character has conquered my heart and must be protected at all costs! And the end of the episode never happened…The birthday party takes place and after that is the end…

↓ 8. Our Dining Table (Ep 8)

Oh the embarrassment after the first kiss, even if it was only on the cheek. I knew it, that there was no lip contact. Anyway…I feel sorry for Minoru. I felt for him throughout the episode. And at the end, the idea of going back to how it was before…Nah, not happening! Even if they really wanted to. If there are feelings involved that go beyond friendship, it's hard to go back to the point before, when it was still unspoken. And further, I'm Minoru's father's biggest fan! The guy is empathetic and loving and non-judgmental and I love him!

→ 9. Naked Dining (Ep 7)

Okay, another week for Futa to slowly realize that he likes Mahiro. And also slowly admits it to himself. The story of the hot-pot master was a nice addition to the show. And honestly, the last scene of Futa lying in bed with the hot-pot master's words ringing in his ears and turning to Mahiro to just really look at him was very sweet. Not so cute was the preview…Honestly, what the fuck? I know there are five more episodes to come, but nope! I do not want!

↓ 10. The Promise (Ep 10 Final)

The Final. I think after the first 4 to 5 episodes I would have given the series 10/10 stars. Even after episode 7 it would have still been in a very good range. But then came episodes 9 and 10 and too much squeezed in drama at the end. It just made the series seem unrealistic, too contrived. It just killed the feeling that I had at the beginning. I can understand Phu though, because I am one of those people who always tries to please others and always says she is ok and everything is fine. And maybe that's also the reason why he annoyed me so much in the end. Because this quality in myself is so annoying. But instead of the two of them talking to each other, because Nan and his fears of loss, which is also way too real for me, Phu shuts his feelings away first and Nan jumps to conclusions in a huff. And that frustrates me. In the end it went well, but still it made for unnecessary drama that I didn't need. And what was that crap plane crash about? I thought for a moment that Nan would come in and yell "surprise", fortunately not. Yes, I was disappointed with the second half. Why did I continue watching? Because it was too good to drop.

↓ 11. Our Skyy 2

Puh…Nope…So the first episode was still totally ok. I also think that Cher's apartment is much more comfortable than Gun's apartment. Good decision to move there, who needs space when you have love. But seriously. Why not look for a new apartment together that you can make cozy together and where the gamer friend isn't squatting right next to the bed at the PC while the CEO partner is trying to sleep. Yes, the two are cute together, but phew…I didn't get the complete point of the second episode. So in general I did, but Cher as a boss didn't work at all. Even Gun was never like that as a boss…Well, I feared it last week and was confirmed. Certainly not the strongest episodes.

Honorable Mention

Sparks Camp Well, the show doesn't make the cut, but it gets an honorable mention. I mean, 10 queer guys trying to find their Spark here. Of course I'm going to watch it! And it's got everything, the nerdy, the athletic, the influencer, the introvert and the extrovert. The comments from the contestants are the best! It remains to be seen which contestants will spark and if drama will arise. Initial bonds have already been forged in a game that included oiling up.

Until then, see you next week!

[magnusmodig]

thematic headcanons / anonymous / no longer accepting !

╰┈➤ hc + 💌 for a romance-themed headcanon

||. I don't think that Thor ever saw someone like Jane coming. And by that I mean: I don't think Thor would have ever considered himself someone lucky enough to be able to marry for love over politics, much less actually manage to fall in love, and for that to matter in the first place. I'd imagine the state of Thor's future went largely, relatively, unspoken amongst the family. A mutual understanding across all parties that, when it came to Thor, some things were just a given.

He was the crown heir, meaning by all legal rites, including Asgard's approval, the crown WILL fall to Thor once Odin dies, or the crown is passed on.

He will have to marry, and (based on Odin's nitpicking) preferably the royal line would stay within the Asgardian species or branch out minimally within the Vanir, their sister species.

He will have to have an heir of his own, regardless of the state of his marriage and/or whether or not he actually wants children. (Luckily this man has family engraved into everything about him so OF COURSE he wants his own kids.)

So with all of that said, to some degree I think Thor was a bit... flippant about the concept of marriages, wives, queens and heirs because he knows he's not going to get a lot of wiggle room when it comes to choice in that regard. Not that he hasn't got any, but the likelihood of him actually finding someone he likes, then becoming friends with them? Not to mention if he learns to trust and falls in love with them?

Well, that's probably not going to happen. And I think Thor accepted all of the above three points a long time ago, spoken or not. So while I don't think he went out of his way to seek out flings and one off relationships or one-night-stands, I do think he was the sort to dabble here and there whenever there was enough chemistry between himself and another to justify it to himself. It's not like he'd get close to them again anyways. (and s*x is a good distraction.... on occasion.... Certainly when everyone's so focused on how pretty he is they're not going to bother to see past that anyways ... so why bother?)

Needless to say that the entire circumstances around Thor meeting Jane were of course, entirely unprecedented... but then Jane went above and beyond anything Thor could have possibly predicted. And even beyond that: beyond anything Thor would have EVER asked anyone to do or to be for him. She was kind when he was still neck-deep in his own bloated facade, she - in her own way, realizing it or not - supported him through a time he felt completely abandoned and lost... and though their first foray was only about three days minimum, she very quickly became someone that Thor feels safe with because she gave him something that he didn't have during his banishment: somewhere to belong.

And I think more than anything that's ultimately what Thor needs out of a partner. Someone who is nurturing enough to allow him to stay, and allow him to rest for a time whether he asks out loud for that rest or not. (And someone who's feisty enough to bop him on the head a little bit when he's being too stubborn to do exactly that.)

She's a bit of an anomaly to Thor. A brilliant, beautiful anomaly that Thor never expected. Nor do I think part of him ever fully believes he's been lucky enough to cross paths with her. Thor sees in Jane, not only future for himself but most importantly: a friend. A very dear, kind, and trusted friend who Thor feels completely at home with, in his own way. A kindred spirit, of sorts. Or in the way of High School Musical:

Gabrilla Montez: Do you remember in kindergarten how you'd meet a kid and know nothing about them, then 10 seconds later you're playing like you're best friends, because you didn't have to be anything but yourself? Troy Bolton: Yeah. Gabrilla Montez: Singing with you felt like that.

[marukrawler]

Ok, so I guess it's further dissing Dan hour because I'm studying to become a HR manager, and he might be the worst option ever to be the leader of a team: first of all, he's clearly an individualist, which on itself isn't a bad thing, but given one of the key parts of a team against a group is coordination, this kind of personality can only lead to problems. Second of all, he sucks at communication and is willing to even strain it between the other members of the team that (1/?)

that do actually work well together; for example, instead of telling the group that Shun was grieving over his mother's death he preferred to make them believe he was a selfish cunt for not wanting to play with him again (luckily, that didn't stop other brawlers from seeking him). As for compromise, it isn't strange for him either to screw the bigger project or picture because he wants to become the best brawler ever, going as far as to put others in danger like in MS if I'm not mistaken. (2/?)

He also lacks any larger experience or knowledge of the situation in comparison to his teammates; for example, it's Mira who knows how Vestal and their colonizing process work, Ren who knows Gundalia's military and politics, Alice is the mastermind behind the Bakugan game and the one with atual access to the Old Vestroia and the Doom Dimension, and Fabia is the goddamned princess/queen of Neathia... and yet, everytime, the team has to follow a lose canon like him (3/?)

Likewise, I'd say the rest of his teammates actually work well together, like Shun may sometimes go solo as well, but is willing to team up with the others and acknowledge that other people actually know what the hell's going on (he works with Fabia a lot in GI, and didn't forced himself on Ace, another Vestos, during NV); Marucho is definetly the trust part of the team and Alice's arc is all about the importance of complementarity, while Julie's is about communication. Runo (4/?)

Runo I'd say was the one who was screwed since the very beginning as, while the other brawlers got their importance in the team diminissed either to erase them from further seasons or to make Dan seem like the better option, she actually seemed to reunite at least the passion to seek his teammates, offer them some comfort like with Alice in BB and Julie in NV, defy whenever Dan was an obstacle in communication (she was the first to look for Shun if I remember well) (5/?)

But then Runo's arc changed to revolve around abiding anything Dan did or made since her trial in which she "accepted" she was into him, which was exaggerated in NV and MS. Likewise, Drago himself has the experience and attitude of an actual leader, and because he's Dan's guardian we're supposed to accept Dan is as well (which no). Had Dan had rivals that actually exploited his lack of teamwork and leadership skills instead of being somehow worse Drago would be toast already (5/5 Sorry for this)

no need to apologize, it's always dissing dan hrs on this blog lolol

dan is all about everyone accommodating and taking his feelings into consideration but won't do the same when it comes to his friends. it's so funny to me how this was actually a problem the show brings up multiple times but is never actually resolved?

dan is so quick to ignore the suffering of his friends in favor of going after masquerade, which is funny because outside of dan hating what masquerade is doing to the game, he had the least bit of personal reason to beat masquerade. runo wanted to avenge the fallen bakugan, shun wanted to protect the game his mother encouraged that masquerade is now destroying, julie and alice had their loved ones work for masquerade and marucho almost lost preyas for good. even then, none of them are blind to what the others are going through except for dan.

i agree with you that dan is just awarded the role of leader without putting in any of the work to bring his team together or having any leadership skills that make him qualified for the role. he simply is the leader because he has the strongest bakugan, which is so unfair to characters like runo or marucho who exhibit far more competency in battle as well as compassion towards their teammates than dan ever does.

runo is the one to take action and tries to bring shun back to their group, who can easily tell that julie is faking her cheerfulness, who checks up on marucho throughout his period of grief and implores dan to be patient and understanding of marucho's loss, and she's the one who takes care of alice and weeps when alice leaves them. i'm really not joking when i say i want runo to be the main character and that marucho deserved to be the leader after ms1 when it was so clear to everyone that he was doing a far better job than dan lol

[diabelskoga]

sanji & nami for the ship meme!!

Send me a ♡ plus a ship and I'll tell you... ( accepting! )

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙰𝚂𝙺𝙴𝙳 𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙾𝚄𝚃 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃? Sanji with something special, like something romantic, so you know it's more serious!

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃 𝙸𝙽 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃 𝙺𝙸𝚂𝚂? Nami, because Sanji would be absolutely nervous because Sanji rarely kisses a lot of people. The nervousness making him sweat just a little.

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙶𝙸𝚅𝙴𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚁 𝙽𝙸𝙲𝙺𝙽𝙰𝙼𝙴𝚂? Both perhaps? Sanji with the many affectionate nicknames for Nami though!

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙲𝙾𝙾𝙺𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙼𝙴𝙰𝙻𝚂? Sanji, but we know Nami can cook here and there, so Sanji wouldn't mind her cooking for him! ( But he prefers cooking for someone like her. )

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙷𝙰𝚂 𝙱𝙴𝚃𝚃𝙴𝚁 𝚃𝙰𝚂𝚃𝙴 𝙸𝙽 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙸𝙲? God, probably Nami? Sanji rarely listens to a lot of music, and he's probably more into something like jazz????

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙷𝙾𝙶𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙴𝙳? Nami perhaps? Sanji is absolutely fine with it <3

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚆𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚂 𝚄𝙿 𝙵𝙸𝚁𝚂𝚃? Sanji, he has to get up very early to prepare for a delicious and well-thought-out breakfast!

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙼𝙰𝙺𝙴𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙲𝙾𝙵𝙵𝙴𝙴? Nami, likely because coffee is usually the last thing that Sanji makes!

𝚆𝙷𝙾'𝚂 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙱𝙸𝙶 𝚂𝙿𝙾𝙾𝙽? Sanji, but if Nami ever wants to be the big spoon, she can!

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚈𝚂 𝚄𝙿 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝙻𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚂𝚃? UHHH, depends on who's on watch. But perhaps Nami

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚁𝙴𝙰𝙲𝙷𝙴𝚂 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚆𝙷𝙾'𝚂 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙳? Nami, but sometimes Sanji, so a bit of both really!

𝚆𝙷𝙾'𝚂 𝙰 𝙵𝙰𝙽 𝙾𝙵 𝙿𝙳𝙰? Sanji, but he respects Nami if she doesn't want any PDA currently!

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝚂𝙽𝙾𝚁𝙴𝚂? Sanji, he snores

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙶𝙴𝚃𝚂 𝙰𝙽𝙽𝙾𝚈𝙴𝙳 𝙼𝙾𝚁𝙴 𝙴𝙰𝚂𝙸𝙻𝚈? Nami perhaps? Then again, they easily get annoyed at others ( minus people like Robin ofc! )

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙸𝙽𝙸𝚃𝙸𝙰𝚃𝙴𝚂 𝚂𝙴𝚇? I'mma say they equally initiate, but likely Nami because I bet she's more confident than Sanji is!

𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙰𝚂𝙺𝚂 𝚆𝙷𝙾 𝙵𝙾𝚁 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙸𝚁 𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙳 𝙸𝙽 𝙼𝙰𝚁𝚁𝙸𝙰𝙶𝙴? Sanji! He's prepared a big romantic dinner and has the ring somewhere in the dessert!

𝙼𝚈 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙴'𝚂 𝙵𝙰𝚅𝙾𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙴 𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙾𝚁𝚈 𝙾𝙵 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁𝚂: For canon-wise, there are a lot of favourite memories. ( Because lbr, It's Sanji we're talking about. ) Considering the moments that Sanji has caught her in his arms, and how she feels safe in them, smiling at him is his favourite. ( Like in the Whole Cake Island Arc! ) Headcanon-wise. When the sunlight hits right while Nami is over at her tangerine trees, seeing that peace and tranquil on her face, and that smile. That will always be his favourite. Because she's happy and likely thinking of Bellemere.

𝙰 𝚁𝙴𝙶𝚁𝙴𝚃 𝙼𝚈 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙴 𝙷𝙰𝚂 𝚁𝙴𝙶𝙰𝚁𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚈𝙾𝚄𝚁𝚂: Having to fight Luffy in front of her, and crushing her hopes and such. Because they came to save him, and Sanji couldn't risk it. It's both a regret and something that Sanji probably/maybe would've done again if it meant protecting his crewmates if their lives were in danger. ( In a sense that is too risky, so Sanji would probably have to commit to lying again to make sure no one is harmed, and even those like his found-family on the Baratie are safe. But luckily, or hopefully that won't happen again. ) But he hates the look, that painful and betrayed look on her face. That slap was deserved.

𝙸𝙵 𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚈 𝙲𝙾𝚄𝙻𝙳 𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙽𝙶𝙴 𝙾𝙽𝙴 𝚃𝙷𝙸𝙽𝙶: The whole Big Mama thing. So everything would be okay, and old wounds wouldn't be opened, or new wounds being cut through because of what happened.

𝚃𝙷𝙴𝙸𝚁 𝙻𝙾𝚅𝙴 𝙻𝙰𝙽𝙶𝚄𝙰𝙶𝙴𝚂 𝙰𝙲𝙲𝙾𝚁𝙳𝙸𝙽𝙶 𝚃𝙾 𝙼𝚈 𝙼𝚄𝚂𝙴: Hmmmm, I'd say Sanji thinks that Nami's love language could be surrounded by Acts of Service? That or/and Quality Time.

[thesnailkiwi]

for the queer ask game: 🍁🔥🧡🌼💛🌾🌱💚🔮🏳‍🌈🌈?

🍁 actually, it wasn't that long ago. Around last November I started suspecting, and in January I actually fully realized

🔥 not really. I mean, still a bit of yes, but not much. Mostly whenever anyone says anything suggestive about me I scrunch up my nose and dismissed them. I also am proud of who I am a bit more, knowing that there's a community if I ever need help.

🧡 none. None at all. I mean, I draw myself as a guy if that counts.

🌼 I fully went by she/her, but now I go by whatever. I'm not a stickler about Pronouns. I prefer she/they/he, but idrc if you use anything else. As long as I know you're referring to me.

💛 I thought about it a lot. No one or nothing really made me realize. It was just kind of a thing when I was trying to sleep one night and it hit me like a brick wall v. character in a cartoon. Though I will say that Scott Smajor, Notajlafond, and Ranboo helped me accept myself.

🌾 no, I definitely do not look the part. I act the part, apparently, tho. A few years ago, literally one of my closest friends asked if I was queer, and at the time, I wasn't. So that's a thing ig.

🌱 she'd be like "what tf happened?" And proceed to have a sexuality crisis. Maybe I'd even get denied, who knows? I wasn't a homophobe but I used to be the straightest person in the friend group. Huh, now that I think abt it, what did happen?

💚 too many.

🔮 twas a dark and stormy night when the queer monster appeared and attacked me with its vicious teeth. It gave me a device to do research on at 4 am and then told me "get used to it ur lgbtqia+" and disappeared in a puff of magic smoke. Then I proceeded to message the wrong person since I was tired and having a crisis. Luckily they were the same sexuality.

🏳️‍🌈 I love the colors of the asexual flag. I don't incorporate it in my outfits since I throw on whatever is clean and go about my day. I want to get one but idk how my dearest parents would react.

🌈 hmmm. So many different, smaller, less mainstream sexualities should get some attention as well. They're here, too! And they are part of the community but are constantly ignored! Also, some people need to experience the feeling of the hate we get and the struggles we face as a whole. Yeah, ok, cool - you have your beliefs and I have mine, but bro chill out agree to disagree you don't need to attack me because I like someone and you don't understand what love feels like. My parents pretty religious, and if they can accept me, you can. Anyway, moving on. This turned into a rant.

Enjoy, do want you want with this ig. Also you are a consistent person and highly appreciate you! They say teamwork makes the dream work, but I think they should replace teamwork with "my tumblr mutuals that I highly appreciate and want to give a blanket, plushie, and hot coco and proceed to pat them on the head"

[marisferasiop]

Also on ao3 link

Pairing: Din Djarin/ Cobb Vanth

Eating: Explicit, minors DNI

Summary: Cobb accompanies Din on a bounty, they travel and talk and get close. They flirt and Din teaches Cobb and Grogu how to swim. They f*ck.

Warnings: None. Slight canon-typical danger (hypothermia) but Din boyscouts them safe.

"You what?" Cobb sets his glass down and lifts an eyebrow at the man in beskar beside him at their usual table inside Freetown’s little cantina. The kid- he’s got a name now, Grogu, the still-nameless Mando tells him - coos at him and trains his huge eyes on a small group of miners talking animatedly across the bar. Mando pushes a second (his own) bowl of bone broth and legumes at him and tips his helmet toward Cobb.

"I'm asking if you want to come off-planet with me. Be my second on a bounty. It's a big job- big payout. There are four males to bring in. Two humans, a Shistavarian, and a Togruta. And the client wants them all alive. Carbonite is acceptable, thankfully," Mando grouses, resettling his weight on the stool.

"And where exactly would we--?" Cobb waves a hand vaguely upward and Din cocks his head a bit. "Go?"

"Luckily they’re not too bright and stole an Imperial cruiser. It can be tracked fairly easily. Fett has told me they were last tracked fleeing across the Hoth system. Last seen seeking lodging on Bespin but it was overheard that they planned to split up and hide out in the abandoned bunkers on Hoth or hire a ship and jump across to Takodana. It's a jungle planet," Din supplies, noting Cobb's confused frown. "You might see some rain. Greenery. Snow."

Cobb snorts into his glass and knocks it back. "I know about Hoth, nerfherder. Damn near everyone does by now. How long?"

"I'd prefer to leave tonight. And it's hard to say. Maybe two standard weeks?" Din isn't sure Cobb will leave his beloved town and folk for that long. The last deputy is dead, after all. "It could be longer. I can't guarantee it."

"Can you guarantee I will come back?" Cobb levels a gimlet eye at him and arches a neat, white eyebrow when Din shakes his head after a slight hesitation. "Hmm. Let me think on it. 's a lot to ask a man to leave the planet he's never left and a people he's lost an arm to protect."

“I understand.” Mando nods and goes silent after a crackling hum through the vocoder at the kid, ever the shiny statue at the other end of the table during his increasingly- frequent visits. The Marshal watches him push a small pale bread roll at the kid’s grasping claws, who peers at it with a questioning sound.

“Patu! Ooah?” Grogu waves the roll in one tiny fist. He waves his other tiny claw at him and Mando nods and repeats the sign language. Cobb’s eyebrows crawl up his forehead.

“It’s bread, ad’ika. Different grains grow here from others you’ve had, these are bleached by the two Suns. They’re paler,” Mando explains to the kid, who seems to take this as a suitable answer and sinks his teeth into the roll.

“Are you Patoo?”

Mando shrugs. “The jetti told me he is saying Papa.”

“Well if that ain't the cutest thing I've ever heard. And now you can understand him?”

The Mandalorian shifts back to Cobb, hesitating the way he does. Choosing his words. “Yes and no. Since he came back from training, it’s easier. I’m teaching him some common signs. Food, Papa, hurt, water, tired, scared. I’m not sure if he figured something out about the language barrier or I did.” He pauses another moment and seems to deflate. “Probably him, knowing what he can do.”

Cobb nods and watches them while he finishes his drink. He knows he's gonna damn well say yes- the man killed a dragon for him and his town, increased the trade by mending strained relations with the Tuskens, educated both sides on communication, and therefore enhanced the economy for Cobb’s struggling people. Even if he took the armor and a bounty hunter traced him to Freetown and Cobb lost an arm, he still feels an inexplicably planet-sized pull toward the other man.

“I have a gift for you, should you join me.”

“Ah, a bribe aside from credits and spending time with your handsome self. This I gotta see.” Cobb smirks when Mando hesitates.

Well then. Least he can do is ride along and shoot things. Even if it scares the shit out of him to think about going offworld.

Cobb knocks back his drink and cashes in, waves at Mando and they sidle off to his house. When they're in, Cobb pours a dram of fresh water and another two, passes the second and third to Mando who hands the smallest one to the kid. He drops onto his sofa and asks about the job. Mando follows and leans in the doorway like he does, stoic and patient.

“Four males, ex-spice runners turned slave trade syndicate for the Hutts. Two of them did the hunting, two did… conditioning during transports. They skipped on their last delivery which would have netted the Hutts an estimated two million credits. So they're paying me to bring them in, and Boba is paying me to kill them and the Hutts upon delivery. If I can't coerce them to leave, which we know from experience they will not.” He pauses for a moment. “Maybe a bit more death and destruction than you were anticipating.”

Cobb shrugs. “You know me well enough by now. I have no love for the slavers on this planet.”

“Yes. But ensuring their destruction is much more than keeping them out of your town, which you have historically preferred over eradicating them.”

Cobb glares at him and goes stiff all over. Mando interrupts before he can lash out, putting a placating hand up between them. “I’m not implying that you don't want it done, just that you maybe haven't had the means before. Come with me,” he says, softer this time. More of a request than a favor.

The Marshal softens a bit and stares at his own mismatched hands for a minute of silence. “Fine. I’ve been persuaded by your effusive natural charm. Lemme go hire a deputy.” He gets up with a groan and saunters out the door, leaving Mando and his kid to wait.

An hour and a half later, the three moons illuminate the Mandalorian’s reflective armor as they walk out to the Crest. Cobb has very little (clothes are hard to come by outside of a big city, especially new, and making the trip is rarely worth it) so he has a soft kit bag thrown over his shoulder and his extra blaster on his left hip. Mando is talking about stopping in the Core for clothes- Cobb’s gonna need a winter setup if they go to Hoth.

He drops his bag next to the bunk compartment Mando points out and turns to him.

“So what's my big surprise?” Cobb plants his hands on his hips and lofts a skeptical eyebrow while Mando raises the door shut. The other eyebrow joins the first soon enough, out of genuine surprise.

Mando gestures to a black plastisteel crate. Cobb angles toward it, curiosity piqued. He kneels and unlatches it and inside, carefully nestled in layers of padding is a set of Mando-style armor gleaming up at him, complete with a stylized HUD helmet and z-6 jetpack.

“Kriff, Mando! I can't accept this!” Cobb can't even bring himself to touch it, though it was clearly made for him. But the Mandalorian just cocks his head at him and stands there.

“Well that would be quite a pity; it was commissioned for you by the Mand’alor ruler themself.” Cobb has to be imagining the odd lilt to Mando’s voice- surely the vocoder is stressing something.

“Yeah, I can see that it was made for me! What the hell’d I do to earn this?” he whips his head back at Mando and squints. “Who’s your ruler? ‘N how’d they know about me?”

Din ignores the question. They can dredge that up later. “Well. You lost an arm to a bounty hunter I inadvertently led directly to you after I reclaimed the armor you’d been using to rather selflessly protect yourself and your people from exactly that sort of danger. My neglect in the Pyke situation very nearly got you killed. Seemed appropriate to rebalance the scales.”

“But– isn't this like, sacred? Do I gotta swear a creed? Isn't it– offensive? To your people?”

“Fett’s armor was offensive because you were wearing a fallen Mandalorian's armor who had presumably died wearing it in battle. It had to be returned. And Fett isn’t dead, so. But this is yours, crafted new. It’s not beskar. But it is the best quality durasteel; I've been reassured of that. Beskar’s just hard to come by, and. Sacred. And to answer your question- I’ve learned since seeing you last that there are... many Creeds among my kin. I myself am relearning many things about my people. I won't make you swear the creed for this gift, just honor the implications of the armor when you wear it. Though I should probably teach you the tenets of resol’nare at some point.” Din watches Cobb carefully lift the breastplate and examine it, swallowing. “I can have you swear something if you’d like.” He’s pleasantly surprised at how pleased he feels with Cobb’s reaction.

Din helps, eventually, setting his ad’ika down and watching Grogu toddle off to get into something. Mando kneels and helps lift out the pieces, hands Cobb his dark oxblood-red flight suit, which has a zip-off arm on the right side. He shows him how to attach the various plates to each network of wires and sensors and chips embedded in the fabric. Fett’s kit had been so ragged by the time Cobb had gotten it off the Jawas- it had been vastly different to this brand new set.

The plates are painted a pale, flat grey with white accents on the ridges and a thin red pinstripe outlining the white. The vambraces are striped diagonally with the same rich, blood-dark scarlet. The belt buckle that keeps the belly and hip padding in place is painted to look exactly like his Marshal’s buckle. The belly and hip guards are that same deep red, as is the soft vest that goes under the chest and back plate. His cowl and cape are the same rich scarlet, the precise shade as his old kerchief. Cobb thumbs the fabric and smirks. Mando must have made that request pretty specifically to nail the color just right.

The helmet is grey to match with white in the sunken cheeks, but unlike Fett’s old busted helmet, the HUD actually works for far more than a targeting system for the jetpack. The seals will actually work under his jawline, the filter will let in fresh air and expel carbon dioxide. It fits perfectly. The Marshal’s red and white stripes curve upward over one eye ridge and back over the top left hemisphere, noting his role blatantly.

He’s absolutely floored at the detail put into his armor, and he's not even a Mandalorian. “Partner, I– I know how meaningful this is. Thank you.”

Mando looks up at him from his knees a beat too long, too still, like he tends to do, and Vanth looks down at himself all decked out, feeling a little out of place.

“It suits you,” Mando finally says, and means it. He smiles behind his helmet and holds Cobb’s up for him to take, complete the set. He obliges, donning the last piece. Mando whistles low at him, making them both snort a laugh.

“Alright, alright. Let's get this heap off the planet, shall we?”

“Did you call my ship a heap?” Cobb snorts again, taking his helmet off and setting it carefully back in the crate. He picks up Grogu, who had climbed inside and started playing with the layers of foam packing.

“Ain’t it? This thing’s pre-empire, practically a relic.” he hands the kid over.

Mando just shakes his head and grumbles so low it’s lost in the vocoder, disappearing up the ladder.

Cobb grins and follows the other man up to the cockpit, strapping in beside Grogu.

They coast up over the dunes for a while, closing in fast on Mos Espa before he knows it. When Mando hits the throttle and pulls back on the yoke, Cobb has to hold his breath as they rocket upward and then suddenly- he’s in the stars.

“Force,” he curses, catching his breath and watching the buffeting whorl of hyperspace pass them by. “And you just– do this all the time, partner? Like it’s nothin’.”

Mando turns- the ship’s on autopilot now that they’re in a hyperlane. He nods. “Sort of loses its luster after a few dozen times. But I am enjoying your reaction,” he adds, seeing Cobb’s face fall a bit. “And you're still a bit drunk. I’m a little surprised you didn't vomit,” he teases. It has the intended effect, even with his modulated voice. Cobb chuckles weakly and shakes his head.

“So now what?”

“Now, I put Grogu to bed and we float along the hyperlane til we get to Naboo. Hopefully my tip will come in by then regarding the crew’s last whereabouts. You can sleep too, if you like–”

“No chance. I’ve had a very exciting afternoon and I’m in space for the first time, I wanna see what I can.”

Mando nods and scoops the kid up and drops into the seat beside Vanth, who is still strapped in tight as can be and wide-eyed as a mooncalf while he stares out the transparisteel screen. Mando strokes Grogu’s back and soon enough the kid nods off, full and comfortable in a familiar environment. He waits another few moments and shifts Grogu to one arm, getting up to climb down and put him to bed.

“Don't touch any settings, I'll be back in a few minutes”

Cobb nods and stares wide-eyed at the console, no doubt imagining all the things that could go wrong. Din snorts, the sound smothered by his helmet, and clambers down the ladder one-handed.

He settles Grogu in the little nest the kid’s made out of Din’s old cape and a cushion in a cubby in the ship’s narrow bunk space. Once settled and still asleep, he drops down the door and goes back topside to sit with Vanth.

When he comes silently back into the cockpit, Vanth is straining forward in his seat a bit, looking upward, his mouth hanging open in awe. Din smiles behind his HUD and makes his presence known. “My name is Din,” he says, apropos of nothing. Cobb jumps slightly and half-turns to look up at him. “By the way. Din Djarin.”

“Two names in one day, a new set of Mandalorian armor from your monarch, and a trip to space. What kind of lotto did I win?” He grins up at Din and relaxes back into the seat.

“We’ll see if you feel the same when we get to a decent planet for some warm clothes. And then if we go to Hoth. You won't feel like much of a lotto winner there,” he chuckles.

“Stars, Din! Two names, armor, I'm in space, and a laugh?! Slow down! Gonna give an old man a heart attack,” Cobb throws his head back and laughs when Din sighs and shakes his head.

“You're barely older than me,” Din grouses. “We’ll be at Naboo in an hour or so.”

“Alright,” Cob says agreeably, though now he’s more curious than ever about the man under the helmet. He watches outside and asks questions about flying and space travel and Naboo and generally feels like a nuisance, though Din weathers the curiosity well.

He has a kid after all.

Cobb watches closely as Din drops them out of hyperspace and smoothly (though far too quickly in Cobb’s opinion) into a lane to orbit and then dock at the markets on the rim of Theed.

Din tucks a sleepy Grogu into his satchel and leads Vanth, who has replaced his helmet and strapped his blaster to his thigh, out among the stalls. Din is patient, delighting silently in pausing to watch Cobb stare in bafflement at goods he’s never seen in his life. Fabrics and art, shoes and bags, food and farming equipment, Cobb pokes at it all, allowing Din to nudge him along slowly and speak for him in languages other than basic or Huttese. They speak a thousand languages here, it seems. If the Mandalorian doesn't speak it, he can find a middle ground to communicate in most stalls. Cobb knows Huttese, an unfortunate side effect of growing up like he did, like most things in the galaxy seem to. He still tries valiantly not to gape too much at Din haggling over a set of fur capes and boots with a Shistavanan. The poor xeno looks fairly terrified to see two Mandalorians in full getup in their stall.

Din gets the furs and boots, grabs Vanth by the elbow, and tows them out of the stall in a huff. “Aw, what's the matter Mando? That canid got you bothered?”

Din says nothing for a moment and stalks ahead, dropping his hold on Cobb’s good arm. “He was taunting me, I suppose. About dressing my.. erm. Mate?” He shakes his head.

Cobb’s eyebrows shoot up playfully, not that Din can see it. “Oh?” He cocks his hip. They’ve drifted to a stop outside of a Gungan food vendor.

“Just choose something,” he sighs, jangling some credits out of his pocket and waving at the picture menu. Cobb stares at the pictures for a blank moment and points at something that looks vaguely good with a questioning glance at Mando. Din leans in and mutters conspiratorially; “That’s not going to be good.”

“Oh. Uhm. Whatever you get? You're… Wait, are you human?” Cobb gives him a once-over and seems to decide probably. “Humanoid, anyway. Whatever you have. Long as it's not like that Tusken melon.”

Mando snorts and orders in Gungan, paying and accepting three disposable trays. Grogu immediately tries to stick his hand in one, but Din holds it out of the way and tells him to wait- it’s too hot. He lets Cobb take the food while he shoulders the shopping and they go back to the Crest where Din can at least eat in relative peace.

“I’ll eat up top, you can stay down here with the womp rat, take your helmet off? Or you can go up.” Cobb takes his own helmet off and sets it on the bunk, watching Din unload the shopping into a storage panel. Grogu has already found the bag of food and opened a box, spilling ahrise everywhere as he eats with his hands.

Din hesitates and stares at Cobb for a long moment like he does, which always makes Cobb feel like a pinned insect. He stares back, eyebrows climbing, until Din moves and shuts the cargo door.

“I can take it off,” he says, and does exactly that. Vanth watches (and keeps his eyes on Din’s blaster holster just in case he's misinterpreting) as the catches go and then hiss, and Din pulls the helmet off. “My Creed is already broken, Vanth. My ad’ika–” he glances at the kid and shrugs. It doesn't quite hit as nonchalantly as Cobb thinks he's going for. “I took it off so he could see me when I had to leave him, remember me when I had to leave him with the jetti. I thought I'd never see him again, and it meant something to me. Hopefully it did to him. It’s already broken. And I like and respect you.” He waves a hand at Cobb’s whole self as if to say obviously. “You can look.”

Cobb bites his lips and hesitates before flicking his eyes up. He meets the deepest brown eyes he thinks he’s ever seen; soft, soulful eyes that hardly could belong to such a hardened bounty hunter, but they do. He realizes belatedly that he's been quiet a beat too long and blinks.

“This day just keeps unfolding, don’t it?” Cobb breathes, transfixed. Din scoffs and unfolds a small table and bench from a panel in the wall. When he turns back, Cobb is still watching him, drinking in the finer details of his face as if memorizing it. “Could’a said you were drop dead handsome, Din.”

“Stop it,” Din sighs, dropping onto one of the small folding stools.

“Not for anything,” Cobb continues, delighting in teasing the other man.

Getting to watch his reactions is an absolute treat. Cobb has learned to read Mando’s reactions in the tip of his helmet or the set of his shoulders. Now he gets to learn Din’s reactions removed from all that beskar. It feels like winning the lottery all over again. How many times is that today? He’s lost count.

“Well then we’re a pair.”

“You have dimples.”

“Shut up,” Din grouses, shoving a plate of food at him. Cobb laughs aloud and relents, digging in. There’s a moment of quiet while Din hands Grogu a utensil and hopes for the best, pushing some of his portion into the lid for the kid to scoop up messily in his little claws (the spoon has hit the floor). He sacrifices the larger chunk of meat readily. Cobb hands over one of his pieces without hesitation. They eat with a quick and neat pattern of men who don't often have time to linger and enjoy things before Cobb is piping up again.

“Did you call me handsome?”

Din rolls his eyes over a mouth full of ahrise. “You started it.”

“Oooh, I’ll fuckin’ finish it if you keep that up.”

Din eyes him for a charged moment, assessing him carefully. The kid is already yawning over Din’s forearm, slumping with a full belly. Cobb’s never been on the receiving end of the stare of a predator quite like that; it makes his pulse quicken despite his desire to remain cool and nonchalant. Din takes another bite before closing his box and tucking Grogu into his nest again. Cobb is staring at the spread of his thighs fairly blatantly as Din bends into the bunk space and situates Grogu, hazel eyes flicking between Din's ass and the back of his curly head. Din smirks a little and huffs when he straightens and catches him at it.

Cobb just raises his eyebrows as if begging to be called out, itching for a tussle. Part of him wants to rise to the bait, bite back twice as hard, see if Mandalorian skin grows thick as a Tattooine slave’s.

“Get some sleep,” Din cracks into his thoughts, shutting them down. “The cot’s wide enough with the kid in his cubby. I’ll wake you when we get to the Hoth system. It’ll be a longer jump than Tattooine to Naboo.” With that, Din scoops up his helmet, replaces it, and disappears up the ladder, leaving Cobb to finish his dinner and crawl into the bunk beside the kid to lick his wounds.

____________

“I did warn you,” Din growls, dropping Cobb from his fairly undignified position slung over his shoulder down to the frozen ground of the cave he’d just scouted out. The man immediately huddles into his furs and glares up at Din insolently thru his own HUD. “Keep your helmet on, it will prevent your throat from freezing until I can get a fire built."

“I’m sorry!” Cobb picks off the rest of his absolutely freezing armor and jetpack while Din kneels and rips his soggy boots off and wraps him back up as quickly as his shaking hands will allow. At least Din got them out of the biting wind.

Din serves Cobb a deadpan glare (what else can he do with the helmet on) and stalks off deeper into the cave with a Stay called over his shoulder and his blaster drawn. A moment later he returns dragging the massive freeze-dried carcass of a wampa and a pile of partially charred wood tucked under the other arm. He’d scouted for (living, dangerous) wampas and thanked the stars for finally some small stroke of luck on this twice-damned bounty hunt.

The Mandalorian sets about making a campfire, aiming his torch gauntlet at it to get it blazing quickly, and starts skinning the wampa carcass. It’s been cut by something and burned, but still usable for a thick fur. At least it’s not bloodied or particularly smelly.

Cobb shakes violently and inches closer to the fire, watching Din methodically strip the fur clean. He’s pretty sure his ass is frozen to the ground by now.

“Here,” Din says after a moment, standing and shaking out a large swath of wampa fur. He lays it down close to the fire and pushes Cobb onto it on his side, blanketing him with both their fur cloaks.

“Hey!”

“I’m not the one that plunged into a ten foot deep snowdrift, shut up and focus on getting warm before you go hypothermic and lose another limb,” Din grits at him, stressed. He starts detaching his own armor and stacking it. “Fett’s not out here to drop you in a convenient bacta tank and get his Mod artist to build you something else.”

“Yeah- yeah. What are you doing?”

“Do you want ice cold beskar on your back?”

Cobb hesitates, squinting back at Din through the cover of furs. “You gettin’ under here with me?”

“Body heat is the fastest way to warm you back up. I wasn't joking- you could lose toes or a foot, easily. Fingers, et cetera. Stay still,” Din shucks his helmet and scoots under the two cloaks, shimmying up tight behind Cobb’s bony ass, sandwiching his frozen flesh-and-blood hand between Din’s forearm and Cobb’s ribs. Vanth uses the mod arm to pull his helmet off and burrows back under the cloaks.

At least they're not wet, thank the Force, and both still fully clothed in their flight suits and gloves aside from Cobb’s soggy socks and boots which are upended by the fire to dry them.

Din had fished the Marshal out of the snow, then summarily thrown him over his shoulder and used the Rising Phoenix to get them to the mouth of the cave his HUD picked out of the low mountain range to their west. He had ripped Vanth’s boots and socks off, taken his own second set off and jammed them on Cobb’s numb feet before leaving him to scout the cave. Cobb had complained about the manhandling until his jaw started shivering so hard he couldn't.

“Womp rat of a man. No fat on you at all,” Din teases into a bristly silver hairline, now that the survivalist panic is starting to subside. He breathes warm into the skin there, lips catching on the peak of a star-shaped scar just under the cowl’s pile.

“Well it’s not exactly a problem back home.”

Din buries his forehead in Cobb’s nape and snorts. “Problematic when you see snow for the first time and drop directly into it because you're not listening.”

“Oh fuck off. I’m fine.” Cobb tightens further into a ball of angles and pouts, elbowing Din in the ribs with his mech arm. He growls when Din says as much. “Not pouting! I’m a grown ass man, Mando, I do not pout.”

“You're doing a valiant job of proving it,” Din sighs and settles them closer, tucking Cobb's frozen feet between his own to warm them. Cobb, intelligently, does not retort. “It’s at best negative fifty standard degrees outside with a sharp wind chill. You would have had frostbite across your feet within the hour and gone hypothermic within another twenty minutes. You haven't been in this environment before, Cobb. Shut up and let me take care of you.”

Cobb doesn't answer but his belly tenses like he’s rolling something acrid around in his mouth, trying to decide if he’ll let it out.

Din presses on to prevent it. “If I were suffering heat stroke in the Dune Sea, would you step in and care for me? Tell me to shut up and bow to your better knowledge of the environment and dangers of what it can do to the body?”

“Yeah– alright. I get it.”

Din hums in simple acknowledgement and thinks about Grogu back on the ship, hopefully remaining safe and warm. With any luck he can get Cobb warmed and they’ll be out of here within the hour and can flush out the two men his tip had told him were hiding in the old abandoned rebel alliance base. It’s not too much further. He’s hoping the base’s ground sensors are damaged badly enough from the battle a few years ago to scan for him and Cobb flying in with their Rising Phoenix.

______________

The bounty targets prove to be as stupid and easy to catch as Din had hoped. The base was indeed ruined, barely more than a cave anymore. He and Vanth had made quick work of flying in low and sneaking in a crevice left over from an old blaster hit during the war. They had snuck up on the men sleeping around a fire, not even taking shifts. A good hit to the temple and they were both out cold. He and Cobb each grabbed one and flew back to the Crest to put the men in carbonite and head out.

“What about the other two?” Cobb asks, releasing his helmet seals and trying not to shiver too hard while he thaws in the warmth of the ship. Grogu bashes his shins til he picks the little guy up. Din hangs the Carbonite plate of the second man and turns to him.

“I need to send a comm to confirm, but last I heard they had followed through on that plan to jump to Takodana. Up for a jungle planet?”

“After this? Kriff yes.”

Din snorts and scoops Grogu up, who is reaching for him. “You did a great job doing what I asked, ad'ika. Let's get to a warmer locale?”

___________

It’s dark and they're both exhausted by the time they make it across the short jump to Takodana. Din normally would push through and pursue the targets anyway, but he’s silently concerned that Cobb is hiding how badly he feels.

They decide to sleep and search for the other two in the early morning.

“Take the bunk again, I'm used to sleeping up here,” Din says, waving at the ladder. Cobb glances down and hesitates.

“Reckon there’s space enough down there.”

In lieu of answering, Din waits for clarification. Cobb huffs and seems to swallow down a biting taunt. “Surely this ship’ll keep us safe enough that sleeping in shifts ain't necessary?”

“I wasn't going to do shifts,” Din lies. He was going to sit up here quietly, possibly meditate, until he fell asleep. That's not quite the same as intentionally staying up, he reasons.

“Then come down here with us. Rather have us all in one place. And warm,” Cobb shifts his weight and sighs before shaking his head and going down the ladder. Din listens to him remove the armor and place it in the crate before opening the bunk hatch and growling about clambering in.

The bunk is narrow and cut into the side of the ship like a horizontal closet. Din has compared it to a cryo pod (or a casket) more than once, but the door opens at the feet rather than upward. It’s perhaps a meter wide with a cubby on each side, one of which is now filled with Grogu’s little nest. As of late, Din usually puts his helmet and sabre in the other.

Cobb crawls into it and kicks off his boots so they fall outside with a thunk. He doesn't shut the door, feeling uneasy about it. He hadn't napped earlier, before Hoth; he’d been too anxious and filled with nervous energy. Now, his body is severely protesting that lack of sleep among the other things he’s done such as nearly freezing to death and carrying a full- grown male Togruta back to the ship. He’s bone-weary but can’t relax.

He’s on his left side (he can't sleep with all his weight on his right side anymore) watching Grogu snore softly when he hears the clink of beskar against the ladder. A moment later, Din appears at his feet, hovering a bit awkwardly. Instead of saying anything, Cobb shuffles backward so Din can fit between him and his son.

The Mandalorian strips off his armor so they can fit, setting the plates in the crate with Cobb’s before he slides into the bunk. He reaches behind Cobb and sets his helmet and sabre into the cubby within reach and lays down, his back to Cobb’s chest, and goes still.

The fit is tight; they're spooning like they were by the fire in the wampa cave, except Din is in front and Cobb isn't facing the idea of losing his toes. Cobb finds his body relaxing much better than he was when he was laying here with just the kid. Din smells like sweat at his nape and whatever antiperspirant he uses under the flight suit. Cobb’s still a long red streak in his own suit and the material whishes softly as they adjust and get comfortable against one another. Din taps the door button with his foot and it slides down, dimming the compartment light to a low red glow that bleaches the colors out. Cobb presses his eyes closed and makes himself lay still until sleep finally takes him.

A few hours later, Vanth blinks awake to a light tapping on his forehead. He cracks his eyes open to see Grogu curiously eyeing them, cooing very quietly.

“Hey lil guy.” Cobb whispers and stretches minutely, flexing against the heavy weight pinning him to one wall. He can feel Din’s helmet in his lower back and he bows away from it, finding he can’t go far. There is a soft grumble of protest against his throat and Cobb quickly becomes aware of their position change.

Din had rolled in his sleep and tucked his head under Cobb’s chin, puffing hot breaths into the hollow of his throat. He’s got a heavy arm across Cobb’s belly and their legs are carded. Cobb’s flesh arm is under Din's neck and bent upward, cupping his top shoulder.

Ah, that would be a big part of the kid’s confusion. He’s probably never seen Din touch anyone outside of a fight.. or holding Grogu, himself.

Cobb clears his throat as quietly as he can and blinks up at the kid, now standing just behind Din’s head, his little claws resting gently in his papa’s hair.

“Does your daddy not want anyone to know he's secretly very cuddly?” He whispers to the kid, who blinks at him and cocks his head. In answer, Grogu crawls over Din’s neck and settles against the hollow made between their chins and chests. Din hums, tipping his face up to allow him more room, as if this is a regular occurrence. The adjustment puts the Mandalorian’s nose in Cobb’s beard, just under his ear.

Cobb holds perfectly still, pinned halfway under them both, taking in the softness of Din when sleeping. His face is unlined and relaxed, jaw soft and slack, lips parted slightly. His hair is mussed on one side, sticking up and curling wildly where he's been rubbing it against the pillow. Drowsily, he brings an arm up off of Cobb’s belly and curls it around the kid, humming before going quiet again. He’s on the verge of waking; Cobb can feel the shift in his breathing.

Call him selfish, but any Tatooine - born being knows that you take your pleasures as they come. They're often few and far between. So Cobb lays there and counts their three separate breaths, enjoying the press of another body (or two) and the simple joy of how easy it feels, for now.

Din snuffles awake a few short minutes later, blinking a dark eye down at the kid and then across at Cobb who’s in the middle of a jaw-cracking yawn. Din stretches against them and rolls mostly to his back, as much as he can in the narrow space.

“Sorry if we crowded you,” he yawns, pulling Grogu onto his chest. The kid taps him on the chin curiously and blinks over at Vanth with a questioning sound.

“No trouble. I don't get to cuddle very often,” he winks at Din’s startled look and chuckles.

The Mandalorian just hums in somber agreement and sits up, sliding out of the bunk to check the local time and his comms.

“The local cantina is also an inn. We can go there and check with the proprietor, see if our targets have passed through.” While he's talking, he sets Grogu down and starts reattaching armor to his flight suit, pausing when he seems to belatedly realize his helmet is still off. Cobb reaches behind himself where he's sat on the edge of the bed and retrieves it.

“Alright.”

Din takes the helmet and holds it at his hip, watching the child crawl into his satchel. “If you're coming you have to be vigilant,” he says. Grogu blinks up at him and waves a claw. Whatever he signs makes Din snort and pick him up. He puts the helmet on and opens the cargo door, turning to Cobb.

“I’ll set a path to the inn. Do you need help with your armor?”

Vanth squints at him, how he’s angling for the door fairly blatantly. “Nah, I got it. Go piss,” he says, waving, and earns a slightly embarrassed huff of laughter (he’s getting better at deciphering the myriad of flattened sounds that come through the vocoder) before the Mando disappears down the ramp.

__________

The bounties prove blessedly easy once again.

The innkeeper at the cantina-and-inn goes wide-eyed at the sight of them and quickly directs them to a room in which the two remaining bounties are still asleep in the early dawn hour. Cobb kicks in the door and Mando shocks them back into silence with his stunner. Again, they each take a man and drag them back to the ship. Cobb’s wakes up halfway there and they have a tussle, but he clocks the Shista in the temple with his mod arm and he goes back down.

Din puts them both in carbonite and hangs the trays. Cobb is maybe five meters from the ship, standing at the edge of a streamlet cutting through the undergrowth.

“We’ve made good time. Only two days,” the Mandalorian calls.

“That we have,” Cobb agrees, shucking his helmet. “So much for a vacation,” he jokes. Din stares at him a moment and then looks down at the kid and back.

“I probably know the answer, but have you ever swam?”

Cobb snorts. “Hell, no. Not enough water on all of Tattooine for that, ‘cept for maybe one of the Hutt palaces.”

“I don't think the kid has either. There’s a waterfall and pool not far from here. We have plenty of time,” Din lets the bait lay and waits, like any good hunter.

“I ain't keen on drowning,” Cobb says, testing his way forward.

“I won't let you drown.”

“Well then. Count me in, partner.”

They fill up canteens and fill a camtono with snacks and blankets for drying off. Cobb straps the kid to himself since Din’s got the heft of the gear slung over his shoulder. In lieu of walking, he suggests they fly the few clicks to the south. He shows Cobb where to go on the topography map and they take off.

It’s not hard at all to find; Takodana is a thick jungle planet with mountains and lakes studded through the forest. It’s easy to spot the low mountain range with water climbing along its spine and then falling off the end, even if Cobb’s never seen that much free-flowing water in his life. At the bottom of the waterfall is a deep natural pool of the brightest turquoise he’s ever seen.

Din lets him explore the rocky outcroppings while he removes his armor and flight suit and strips the kid down. Grogu immediately splashes into the shallows and sits in the mud, playing with small rocks and trying to catch the small fish in his tiny fists.

“You could jump from there,” Din calls out, catching Cobb’s curious stare down into the pool. “But I'll probably have to fish you out.”

Vanth nods and steps down off the rocks, returning to the two of them. “Better learn to swim first, eh?” He chuckles, stripping off his own suit and armor. He lays it on a flat rock beside Din’s and joins them in the shallows. In their smalls, they must look a hilarious sight between Din with his helmet on and a little green fella between them, but Cobb splashes happily in the water anyway. The smile on his face could power Tattooine’s suns, Din thinks idly.

Soon enough, Grogu tires out after lifting pebbles with his powers and trying to catch the tiny silver fish that flit between their feet. He yawns and drapes himself over Din’s knee, so Din makes a little nest out of their combined clothing and puts him there to nap.

When he comes back, Cobb’s standing in the pool to his chest, dipping parts of the mod arm tentatively in the water, watching it closely. He turns and lifts his eyebrows at Din’s lack of helmet.

“It shouldn't react negatively in water; they're made so you're able to bathe regularly.”

“Yeah well I only have a sonic, hasn't really been tested.” He drops his arm in the water with a wince, half expecting to be electrocuted. When nothing happens, Din watches him relax. “Your helmet can't get wet?”

“It can, but submerging it isn't wise. I don't have it fitted for waterproofing.” Maybe my next upgrade if this goes well. Take them to more watering holes. He holds out a hand and waits for Cobb to take it. “No need to look like I'm going to drag you out and leave you. I’d have done that on Hoth,” Din quips, swimming backward with one arm until it’s deep enough to barely touch.

Cobb snorts but his face fills with apprehension the deeper he follows Din out. But he goes. Cobb’s taller than him, but soon they run out of large, sunken boulders to balance on and Din slips off the side of one into deeper waters. Cobb stays on the boulder, comfortable with the depth and something solid under his feet. He watches Din paddle around for a moment and starts to copy the movements. When Din notices, he comes back and takes a hand again, squeezing lightly.

“Bow your arms out, like this, and keep them moving. Yeah– that’s called treading water. Keeps you afloat, but it's tiring. Now tip your chin back- no! Ah-ha. Put your head in the water! Further.” He puts a hand under Cobb’s skull and lower back, guiding gently. “Tip your chin up. Now clench your stomach, bring your knees up. There you go. And move your arms like- yeah. Now you're floating. You can stay like that for ages.” Din lets go, flops to his back and floats, casting an eye back over at the kid, still sleeping soundly. He jumps and sinks when he gets splashed.

Cobb laughs hard enough that he sinks, and then panics. In retaliation, Din shoves him under water and then yanks him back up before Cobb can get a lungful.

“Oh, kriff,” Cobb splutters, hanging onto Din like a parasite. He wipes water off his face and laughs, catching his breath. Din shakes his head to rid excess water and chuckles, holding him easily and still staying afloat even though they're off the big flat boulder.

“The water is drinkable here. If you hold your breath you could go under and open your eyes.” Din laughs at the appalled look Cobb gives him.

“Sorry partner but uh- I'm okay not seeing what is or isn't below us right now. Unless I feel it touch me, then we’re gonna have problems.”

“Oh, come on. Just a bunch of rocks. Some small fish. Maybe a sea monster,” Din chuckles when Cobb splashes him. He lets Cobb go and then has to catch him again when the man turns into all angles and forgets his floating lesson. “Maker, you're forgetful. Just– come here,” he turns and drags Cobb up against his back, hooking the Marshal’s forearms over his shoulders. “Hang on,” he says, and paddles slowly out to darker waters, pulling Cobb along like a tugship.

They're close enough to feel the thrum of the waterfall pummeling into the rocks under the surface now, the pool deep and rocks worn hollow in some spots from millennia of erosion. Din takes them right up to the froth to let Cobb sit on a rock and get beaten by the flow of a smaller section of the fall for a moment. He answers questions about the strength of water, the ability for it to cut through rock and carve out canyons. How ice is stronger and less forgiving, like the low mountains they saw on Hoth versus the tall ones here with rivers cut across the lay of them.

Cobb clings to Din and floats behind him like a cape, trailing through the water til Din gets tired and beaches them on a flat sheet of rock not far from where they left the kid. There is a rock pool in the middle of the shale and Cobb moves over to it, poking curiously at a little crustacean. It snips its claws at him furiously and he relents with a huff of laughter, taking an empty, mirror-shiny shell back to show Din.

He gives it a few seconds of curious perusal before directing the Marshal to look at something dark swimming through the lake where they’d just been floundering, but Cobb notices Din wrapping the shell in his fist as he looks away.

Cobb sprawls out flat on the rock beside Din, legs straight out and dangling off the flat rock into the water, leaned back in his elbows, taking in the greenish-blue sky framed in tree tops and single sun, all the foliage that’s so odd to him. It's fascinating. He thinks he likes it.

Much better than Hoth, anyway.

“Didn't imagine a bounty hunt would turn into a nice little family vacation,” he teases, hooking his ankle behind Din’s where they float in the lapping water. He doesn't get much response, which doesn't surprise him, so he presses on the bruise a little harder. “Dank farrik, Din. You could have just asked me, you know. Or– shit. Come to my house and stayed.”

Din nods and seems to recede, but Cobb is used to his stretches of meditative silence by now. Din’s smart- he doesn't talk a lot or talk quickly, so others tend to think he’s slow or just antisocial, but mostly he thinks about his words and chooses them carefully. Cobb can accept that, so he waits.

“I like that you can handle yourself. And are respectful of my customs, even if I've broken some of them myself. And the kid likes you; he’s easy around you. You’re smart, and brave, and resilient. But I have had a… Perspective change over the last few months. That sabre I carry has a weight attached to it like nothing I would have ever expected. And it means that anything I might pursue with you could potentially be incredibly complicated, or drag you or your people into unnecessary danger. I’ve painted enough of a target on your back. And the people who are after the kid… That's a whole other set of dangers.”

“Just tell me.” Cobb sits up, cross-legged and leaning forward don his knees. “Let me have a choice, here.”

Din stares at the water, then over at the kid, then finally locks eyes with him and heaves a deep sigh. “I won the sabre in battle against an Imp who had it. By Mandalorian custom, after winning it in battle the wielder is our ruler, the Mand’alor. I’m– essentially a king.”

As expected, Cobb recoils and blinks at him, stunned into silence.

“So– you’re like. Royalty?”

Din snorts and shakes his head. “That's not really- we don't have a lineage like that. Boba’s father led the last of the true Mandalorians- and they were slaughtered by the splinter faction that raised me as a foundling. There’s not many true Mandalorians left. Whoever owns the sabre is the ruler, and I can’t hand it off. I’ve tried. Someone has to defeat me in battle.”

“So be the king or die.”

“Essentially.”

Cobb sits for a moment and kicks his feet lazily in the water. “Sounds like a call to action. And you're an action kinda man.”

Din hums noncommittally. “It’s not only that. As if that isn't enough. I broke my Creed, so my faction no longer considers me Mandalorian. And the remaining factions are suspicious of me because I was a foundling, so I don't represent them either as the Manda’lor. And all this is aside from the pull I have to simply–” he breaks off and waves toward the shore where Grogu is bundled. “Be. Raise him. To the best of my ability.” he shakes his head and lays out flat on the rock, eyes squeezed shut.

“And where do I fit in?”

Din sighs and shakes his head. “Wherever you want. In all honesty, I don't know. I was content to do what I had to do regarding Grogu and just– come back, maybe present you with a future, but then all of this–. Now I'm not sure if I can have you, and him, and do everything I now have to do. Or ought to do.”

Cobb nods and hums, lets that sit heavy on his chest for a minute. “And your planet- it’s ruined, ain't it?”

Din nods. “Mandalore was glassed by the empire in an attempt to wipe us out. They and the Yuuzan Vong have wiped the beskar from the surface and most of the crust as well. It’s why we live in small factions, in coverts. We are hunted, even by non-imperials. the planet will have to be terraformed aggressively before it's livable again.”

Cobb bites his lip. “And until then?”

Din shrugs. “We’ll live wherever. Or remain as nomads as we have been. My covert on nevarro was wiped out, the few remaining from my faction are in hiding. Boba has invited me to use his palace as a base, but I have to endure his ribbing and passive- aggressive comments. And Fennec.” Din cocks his head to the side and raises his eyebrows.

“Hmm.” Cobb rolls to his side and lays next to Din, almost touching. He knocks their feet together again. “So you’re tellin’ me that– for the foreseeable future- you’re stationed on Tattooine while you gather your people and terraform your planet. And you like me. And you want some domesticity in which to raise your kid? The kid you told me to care for in your stead?”

Din cracks an eye and looks at him, assessing. “Yes.”

“And your kid likes me, and my town has a few little ones and a school in the middle of nowhere not even on a map in the desert, days from anywhere.”

“Yeah.”

Cobb snorts, cracking a wide grin. “Well then, darlin’. Sounds like we want some of the same things.” He stays still while Din rolls to his side to face him.

“Yeah?”

Cobb hums his assent. “I’d like you to stay with me, when you can. If you're on Tattooine anyway. ‘N Freetown ain't too far a ride from Mos Eisley. Faster in your cruiser. And I'll mind the kid when you gotta go off without him. And I'll come out here with you when I can, like now. Like this.”

“And if we finish terraforming Mandalore in my lifetime?”

“Stars, I better be retired by then. Bein’ a trophy partner to a king and all,'' Cobb teases. He grins wide when it makes Din actually laugh, his hazel eyes folding into half-moons. “I expect I'll have passed on my mantle by then. And I'll come with you.”

Din stares at him for several seconds, seemingly thinking a thousand loud things at once. Cobb decides to interrupt for once. “Sweetheart, we don't gotta plan our lives right now. But I like you a lot, and I miss you when you're gone. And I love your kid, and I respect your customs, and your mantle. And I'd really like to kiss you.”

Din laughs. “Hmm. Come on then,” he says, and pulls Cobb on top of him as he rolls to his back.

And Maker, Din kisses with a curious sort of gentle certainty for someone who’s spent most of his life under a bucket. His palms and thumbs cup the rise of a sharp hip bone on each side and his square fingers curl over Cobb’s narrow ass, and he angles up his chin and lets Cobb lick into him slow and sure like the waves lapping over their calves. Cobb’s flat atop him, balanced on his elbows on either side of his Mandalorian’s head with his flesh fingers in those dark curls, tilting him just a little to deepen the angle.

Just as they’re starting to explore a little more, legs spreading and hands searching, they both jump at the sound of a curious coo across the shore.

“Ah,” Din sighs, dropping his head back into the rock and smiling up at Cobb. “We’ve been caught.”

Cobb laughs and kneels up, offering Din a hand as he stands. They splash across the shore back to Grogu, who’s woken up and made a beeline for the water. Din catches him before he can step too deep and parades them back to a rock pool that can be safely investigated.

As the sun heads toward the evening, Din uses his grappling tool to catch a sizable fish and inspects it for toxins, and they build a small fire and roast it. The kid inhales half of it and promptly passes out with a full belly and an active day under his belt.

They re-armor up and fly back to the ship, landing just as the sun dips below the horizon.

________________________

He’s draped over the back of one of the cockpit chairs, knees on the seat and chest on the headrest.

“Ohhhffffff!” Din wheezes, hips stuttering forward against the unyielding hold of Cobb’s mod hand clamped over his hip. He’s trying to be still and quiet, not make a fuss or wake Grogu in the bunk compartment just below them, but Cobb is talented with his mouth in a way that defies logic. The bounty hunter's pretty sure he’s losing higher brain function by the second; it had been methodically sucked out of his dick before Cobb turned him around and put his mouth and fingers– elsewhere.

He’s got one hand fisted behind him in Cobb’s hair and the other locked over that metal hand on his hip, getting what can only be described as the most necessary rimming of his life while the Marshal kneels behind him, half his face ticked up around the stretch of his jaw in a smirk. Bastard. Din resolves to give it back in kind as soon as he’s ready to go again.

A long, narrow flesh- and- blood thumb probes, tracing Din’s hole and pressing lightly, smearing slick. He jumps, though not in disagreement. “Oh– Cobb! Cobb! I’m already– If you- if you do that too I'm gonna– come,” he pants, tugging on the straight silver hair in his hands.

Cobb relents, though only a little. He pulls his mouth away only to move up, kissing the top of Din’s crack while still circling below with the slick finger. He bites over the curve of Din’s firm ass, all hard muscle with a layer of soft that holds teeth imprints like footprints in sand. He laps curiously into the fuzzy whorl of Din’s lower back and noses up the trail of dark hair that arrows south. Below, he rolls a fingertip inside and seals his lips over a curve of shoulder, sucking hard enough to bruise, scraping teeth over the mark while the Mandalorian pants and tries to stay quiet. Din works back against the finger inside him, wanting more- wanting to feel strained and used and to do exactly what is asked of him. But Cobb only gentles his touch, pulls his hand away and grabs more slick.

“Ah– more. I can take it. C’mon.” Din grabs Cobb by the hair and hauls him up while he twists to the side for a bruising kiss, tongues lashing for dominance until Din relents. He lets Vanth press him back down and bite over the back of his neck, arches his head to the side so he can suck another bruise over the juncture of shoulder where it’ll be tender under his pauldron tomorrow. He keens when Vanth rolls two fingertips against him.

“I'm nearly done, you’re– oh!” Vanth takes his balls in his mod arm and yanks them down, sliding two fingers in fast at the same time. Din jolts with the sharp change and huffs out a stifled gasp, biting down on the leather under his cheek. “Fuck!”

“Almost,” Cobb grins, biting the rounded curve of a firm ass cheek.

Din drops his forehead to the headrest and tries to get a grip on his breathing. He’s going to come the second Cobb seats himself at this rate. “Come on. I want you inside- gonna come any second,” he pants, looking back and down his body at the other man.

Cobb keeps his fingers crooked inside, avoiding his prostate, and mantles back up over Din, trailing biting kisses and soothing licks up his spine. He flattens against Din's back and yanks him around by the hair and kisses him, licking behind his teeth like a hook to drag more gasping tiny sounds out of him.

“One more, sweetheart, so it don’t hurt. Then you can have me.”

Din groans as Cobb scissors his fingers a few times, testing the stretch. He adds a third finger and lets them sit just inside for a minute, stroking the straining walls gently to coax Din into relaxing. The man’s teeth are buried in the leather of the seat, growls and gasps falling out of his mouth. Din pushes his hips back and up, seeking more of anything. Cobb still has a hand clamped around his balls, drawing them down and away from his body. Din’s pretty sure that's the only thing keeping him from coming at this point because all the self-determination in the galaxy isn't helping him now.

“Ah- please,” he pants, throwing a hand back, drawing Cobb closer against him by the hip.

“Hmm. What're you gonna call me? Does the partner of the Manda’lor have a title?”

“Hnnng- I'm gonna call you a "You what?" Cobb sets his glass down and lifts an eyebrow at the man in beskar beside him at their usual table inside Freetown’s little cantina. The kid- he’s got a name now, Grogu, the still-nameless Mando tells him - coos at him and trains his huge eyes on a small group of miners talking animatedly across the bar. Mando pushes a second (his own) bowl of bone broth and legumes at him and tips his helmet toward Cobb.

"I'm asking if you want to come off-planet with me. Be my second on a bounty. It's a big job- big payout. There are four males to bring in. Two humans, a Shistavarian, and a Togruta. And the client wants them all alive. Carbonite is acceptable, thankfully," Mando grouses, resettling his weight on the stool.

"And where exactly would we--?" Cobb waves a hand vaguely upward and Din cocks his head a bit. "Go?"

"Luckily they’re not too bright and stole an Imperial cruiser. It can be tracked fairly easily. Fett has told me they were last tracked fleeing across the Hoth system. Last seen seeking lodging on Bespin but it was overheard that they planned to split up and hide out in the abandoned bunkers on Hoth or hire a ship and jump across to Takodana. It's a jungle planet," Din supplies, noting Cobb's confused frown. "You might see some rain. Greenery. Snow."

Cobb snorts into his glass and knocks it back. "I know about Hoth, nerfherder. Damn near everyone does by now. How long?"

"I'd prefer to leave tonight. And it's hard to say. Maybe two standard weeks?" Din isn't sure Cobb will leave his beloved town and folk for that long. The last deputy is dead, after all. "It could be longer. I can't guarantee it."

"Can you guarantee I will come back?" Cobb levels a gimlet eye at him and arches a neat, white eyebrow when Din shakes his head after a slight hesitation. "Hmm. Let me think on it. 's a lot to ask a man to leave the planet he's never left and a people he's lost an arm to protect."

“I understand.” Mando nods and goes silent after a crackling hum through the vocoder at the kid, ever the shiny statue at the other end of the table during his increasingly- frequent visits. The Marshal watches him push a small pale bread roll at the kid’s grasping claws, who peers at it with a questioning sound.

“Patu! Ooah?” Grogu waves the roll in one tiny fist. He waves his other tiny claw at him and Mando nods and repeats the sign language. Cobb’s eyebrows crawl up his forehead.

“It’s bread, ad’ika. Different grains grow here from others you’ve had, these are bleached by the two Suns. They’re paler,” Mando explains to the kid, who seems to take this as a suitable answer and sinks his teeth into the roll.

“Are you Patoo?”

Mando shrugs. “The jetti told me he is saying Papa.”

“Well if that ain't the cutest thing I've ever heard. And now you can understand him?”

The Mandalorian shifts back to Cobb, hesitating the way he does. Choosing his words. “Yes and no. Since he came back from training, it’s easier. I’m teaching him some common signs. Food, Papa, hurt, water, tired, scared. I’m not sure if he figured something out about the language barrier or I did.” He pauses another moment and seems to deflate. “Probably him, knowing what he can do.”

Cobb nods and watches them while he finishes his drink. He knows he's gonna damn well say yes- the man killed a dragon for him and his town, increased the trade by mending strained relations with the Tuskens, educated both sides on communication, and therefore enhanced the economy for Cobb’s struggling people. Even if he took the armor and a bounty hunter traced him to Freetown and Cobb lost an arm, he still feels an inexplicably planet-sized pull toward the other man.

“I have a gift for you, should you join me.”

“Ah, a bribe aside from credits and spending time with your handsome self. This I gotta see.” Cobb smirks when Mando hesitates.

Well then. Least he can do is ride along and shoot things. Even if it scares the shit out of him to think about going offworld.

Cobb knocks back his drink and cashes in, waves at Mando and they sidle off to his house. When they're in, Cobb pours a dram of fresh water and another two, passes the second and third to Mando who hands the smallest one to the kid. He drops onto his sofa and asks about the job. Mando follows and leans in the doorway like he does, stoic and patient.

“Four males, ex-spice runners turned slave trade syndicate for the Hutts. Two of them did the hunting, two did… conditioning during transports. They skipped on their last delivery which would have netted the Hutts an estimated two million credits. So they're paying me to bring them in, and Boba is paying me to kill them and the Hutts upon delivery. If I can't coerce them to leave, which we know from experience they will not.” He pauses for a moment. “Maybe a bit more death and destruction than you were anticipating.”

Cobb shrugs. “You know me well enough by now. I have no love for the slavers on this planet.”

“Yes. But ensuring their destruction is much more than keeping them out of your town, which you have historically preferred over eradicating them.”

Cobb glares at him and goes stiff all over. Mando interrupts before he can lash out, putting a placating hand up between them. “I’m not implying that you don't want it done, just that you maybe haven't had the means before. Come with me,” he says, softer this time. More of a request than a favor.

The Marshal softens a bit and stares at his own mismatched hands for a minute of silence. “Fine. I’ve been persuaded by your effusive natural charm. Lemme go hire a deputy.” He gets up with a groan and saunters out the door, leaving Mando and his kid to wait.

An hour and a half later, the three moons illuminate the Mandalorian’s reflective armor as they walk out to the Crest. Cobb has very little (clothes are hard to come by outside of a big city, especially new, and making the trip is rarely worth it) so he has a soft kit bag thrown over his shoulder and his extra blaster on his left hip. Mando is talking about stopping in the Core for clothes- Cobb’s gonna need a winter setup if they go to Hoth.

He drops his bag next to the bunk compartment Mando points out and turns to him.

“So what's my big surprise?” Cobb plants his hands on his hips and lofts a skeptical eyebrow while Mando raises the door shut. The other eyebrow joins the first soon enough, out of genuine surprise.

Mando gestures to a black plastisteel crate. Cobb angles toward it, curiosity piqued. He kneels and unlatches it and inside, carefully nestled in layers of padding is a set of beskar armor gleaming up at him, complete with a stylized HUD helmet and z-6 jetpack.

“Kriff, Mando! I can't accept this!” Cobb can't even bring himself to touch it, though it was clearly made for him. But the Mandalorian just cocks his head at him and stands there.

“Well that would be quite a pity; it was commissioned for you by the Mand’alor ruler themself.” Cobb has to be imagining the odd lilt to Mando’s voice- surely the vocoder is stressing something.

“Yeah, I can see that it was made for me! What the hell’d I do to earn this?” he whips his head back at Mando and squints. “Who’s your ruler? ‘N how’d they know about me?”

Din ignores the question. They can dredge that up later. “Well. You lost an arm to a bounty hunter I inadvertently led directly to you after I reclaimed the armor you’d been using to rather selflessly protect yourself and your people from exactly that sort of danger. My neglect in the Pyke situation very nearly got you killed. Seemed appropriate to rebalance the scales.”

“But– isn't this like, sacred? Do I gotta swear a creed? Isn't it– offensive? To your people?”

“Fett’s armor was offensive because you were wearing a fallen Mandalorian's armor who had presumably died wearing it in battle. It had to be returned. And Fett isn’t dead, so. But this is yours, crafted new. It’s not beskar. But it is the best quality durasteel; I've been reassured of that. Beskar’s just hard to come by, and. Sacred. And to answer your question- I’ve learned since seeing you last that there are... many Creeds among my kin. I myself am relearning many things about my people. I won't make you swear a creed for this gift, just honor the implications of the armor when you wear it. Though I should probably teach you the tenets of resol’nare at some point.” Din watches Cobb carefully lift the breastplate and examine it, swallowing. “I can have you swear something if you’d like.” He’s pleasantly surprised at how pleased he feels with Cobb’s reaction.

Din helps, eventually, setting his ad’ika down and watching Grogu toddle off to get into something. Mando kneels and helps lift out the pieces, hands Cobb his dark oxblood-red flight suit, which has a zip-off arm on the right side. He shows him how to attach the various plates to each network of wires and sensors and chips embedded in the fabric. Fett’s kit had been so ragged by the time Cobb had gotten it off the Jawas- it had been vastly different to this brand new set.

The plates are painted a pale, flat grey with white accents on the ridges and a thin red pinstripe outlining the white. The vambraces are striped diagonally with the same rich, blood-dark scarlet. The belt buckle that keeps the belly and hip padding in place is painted to look exactly like his Marshal’s buckle. The belly and hip guards are that same deep red, as is the soft vest that goes under the chest and back plate. His cowl and cape are the same rich scarlet, the precise shade as his old kerchief. Cobb thumbs the fabric and smirks. Mando must have made that request pretty specifically to nail the color just right.

The helmet is grey to match with white in the sunken cheeks, but unlike Fett’s old busted helmet, the HUD actually works for far more than a targeting system for the jetpack. The seals will actually work under his jawline, the filter will let in fresh air and expel carbon dioxide. It fits perfectly. The Marshal’s red and white stripes curve upward over one eye ridge and back over the top left hemisphere, noting his role blatantly.

He’s absolutely floored at the detail put into his armor, and he's not even a Mandalorian. “Partner, I– I know how meaningful this is. Thank you.”

Mando looks up at him from his knees a beat too long, too still, like he tends to do, and Vanth looks down at himself all decked out, feeling a little out of place.

“It suits you,” Mando finally says, and means it. He smiles behind his helmet and holds Cobb’s up for him to take, complete the set. He obliges, donning the last piece. Mando whistles low at him, making them both snort a laugh.

“Alright, alright. Let's get this heap off the planet, shall we?”

“Did you call my ship a heap?” Cobb snorts again, taking his helmet off and setting it carefully back in the crate. He picks up Grogu, who had climbed inside and started playing with the layers of foam packing.

“Ain’t it? This thing’s pre-empire, practically a relic.” he hands the kid over.

Mando just shakes his head and grumbles so low it’s lost in the vocoder, disappearing up the ladder.

Cobb grins and follows the other man up to the cockpit, strapping in beside Grogu.

They coast up over the dunes for a while, closing in fast on Mos Espa before he knows it. When Mando hits the throttle and pulls back on the yoke, Cobb has to hold his breath as they rocket upward and then suddenly- he’s in the stars.

“Force,” he curses, catching his breath and watching the buffeting whorl of hyperspace pass them by. “And you just– do this all the time, partner? Like it’s nothin’.”

Mando turns- the ship’s on autopilot now that they’re in a hyperlane. He nods. “Sort of loses its luster after a few dozen times. But I am enjoying your reaction,” he adds, seeing Cobb’s face fall a bit. “And you're still a bit drunk. I’m a little surprised you didn't vomit,” he teases. It has the intended effect, even with his modulated voice. Cobb chuckles weakly and shakes his head.

“So now what?”

“Now, I put Grogu to bed and we float along the hyperlane til we get to Naboo. Hopefully my tip will come in by then regarding the crew’s last whereabouts. You can sleep too, if you like–”

“No chance. I’ve had a very exciting afternoon and I’m in space for the first time, I wanna see what I can.”

Mando nods and scoops the kid up and drops into the seat beside Vanth, who is still strapped in tight as can be and wide-eyed as a mooncalf while he stares out the transparisteel screen. Mando strokes Grogu’s back and soon enough the kid nods off, full and comfortable in a familiar environment. He waits another few moments and shifts Grogu to one arm, getting up to climb down and put him to bed.

“Don't touch any settings, I'll be back in a few minutes”

Cobb nods and stares wide-eyed at the console, no doubt imagining all the things that could go wrong. Din snorts, the sound smothered by his helmet, and clambers down the ladder one-handed.

He settles Grogu in the little nest the kid’s made out of Din’s old cape and a cushion in a cubby in the ship’s narrow bunk space. Once settled and still asleep, he drops down the door and goes back topside to sit with Vanth.

When he comes silently back into the cockpit, Vanth is straining forward in his seat a bit, looking upward, his mouth hanging open in awe. Din smiles behind his HUD and makes his presence known. “My name is Din,” he says, apropos of nothing. Cobb jumps slightly and half-turns to look up at him. “By the way. Din Djarin.”

“Two names in one day, a new set of Mandalorian armor from your monarch, and a trip to space. What kind of lotto did I win?” He grins up at Din and relaxes back into the seat.

“We’ll see if you feel the same when we get to a decent planet for some warm clothes. And then if we go to Hoth. You won't feel like much of a lotto winner there,” he chuckles.

“Stars, Din! Two names, armor, I'm in space, and a laugh?! Slow down! Gonna give an old man a heart attack,” Cobb throws his head back and laughs when Din sighs and shakes his head.

“You're barely older than me,” Din grouses. “We’ll be at Naboo in an hour or so.”

“Alright,” Cob says agreeably, though now he’s more curious than ever about the man under the helmet. He watches outside and asks questions about flying and space travel and Naboo and generally feels like a nuisance, though Din weathers the curiosity well.

He has a kid after all.

Cobb watches closely as Din drops them out of hyperspace and smoothly (though far too quickly in Cobb’s opinion) into a lane to orbit and then dock at the markets on the rim of Theed.

Din tucks a sleepy Grogu into his satchel and leads Vanth, who has replaced his helmet and strapped his blaster to his thigh, out among the stalls. Din is patient, delighting silently in pausing to watch Cobb stare in bafflement at goods he’s never seen in his life. Fabrics and art, shoes and bags, food and farming equipment, Cobb pokes at it all, allowing Din to nudge him along slowly and speak for him in languages other than basic or Huttese. They speak a thousand languages here, it seems. If the Mandalorian doesn't speak it, he can find a middle ground to communicate in most stalls. Cobb knows Huttese, an unfortunate side effect of growing up like he did, like most things in the galaxy seem to. He still tries valiantly not to gape too much at Din haggling over a set of fur capes and boots with a Shistavanan. The poor xeno looks fairly terrified to see two Mandalorians in full getup in their stall.

Din gets the furs and boots, grabs Vanth by the elbow, and tows them out of the stall in a huff. “Aw, what's the matter Mando? That canid got you bothered?”

Din says nothing for a moment and stalks ahead, dropping his hold on Cobb’s good arm. “He was taunting me, I suppose. About dressing my.. erm. Mate?” He shakes his head.

Cobb’s eyebrows shoot up playfully, not that Din can see it. “Oh?” He cocks his hip. They’ve drifted to a stop outside of a Gungan food vendor.

“Just choose something,” he sighs, jangling some credits out of his pocket and waving at the picture menu. Cobb stares at the pictures for a blank moment and points at something that looks vaguely good with a questioning glance at Mando. Din leans in and mutters conspiratorially; “That’s not going to be good.”

“Oh. Uhm. Whatever you get? You're… Wait, are you human?” Cobb gives him a once-over and seems to decide probably. “Humanoid, anyway. Whatever you have. Long as it's not like that Tusken melon.”

Mando snorts and orders in Gungan, paying and accepting three disposable trays. Grogu immediately tries to stick his hand in one, but Din holds it out of the way and tells him to wait- it’s too hot. He lets Cobb take the food while he shoulders the shopping and they go back to the Crest where Din can at least eat in relative peace.

“I’ll eat up top, you can stay down here with the womp rat, take your helmet off? Or you can go up.” Cobb takes his own helmet off and sets it on the bunk, watching Din unload the shopping into a storage panel. Grogu has already found the bag of food and opened a box, spilling ahrise everywhere as he eats with his hands.

Din hesitates and stares at Cobb for a long moment like he does, which always makes Cobb feel like a pinned insect. He stares back, eyebrows climbing, until Din moves and shuts the cargo door.

“I can take it off,” he says, and does exactly that. Vanth watches (and keeps his eyes on Din’s blaster holster just in case he's misinterpreting) as the catches go and then hiss, and Din pulls the helmet off. “My Creed is already broken, Vanth. My ad’ika–” he glances at the kid and shrugs. It doesn't quite hit as nonchalantly as Cobb thinks he's going for. “I took it off so he could see me when I had to leave him, remember me when I had to leave him with the jetti. I thought I'd never see him again, and it meant something to me. Hopefully it did to him. It’s already broken. And I like and respect you.” He waves a hand at Cobb’s whole self as if to say obviously. “You can look.”

Cobb bites his lips and hesitates before flicking his eyes up. He meets the deepest brown eyes he thinks he’s ever seen; soft, soulful eyes that hardly could belong to such a hardened bounty hunter, but they do. He realizes belatedly that he's been quiet a beat too long and blinks.

“This day just keeps unfolding, don’t it?” Cobb breathes, transfixed. Din scoffs and unfolds a small table and bench from a panel in the wall. When he turns back, Cobb is still watching him, drinking in the finer details of his face as if memorizing it. “Could’a said you were drop dead handsome, Din.”

“Stop it,” Din sighs, dropping onto one of the small folding stools.

“Not for anything,” Cobb continues, delighting in teasing the other man.

Getting to watch his reactions is an absolute treat. Cobb has learned to read Mando’s reactions in the tip of his helmet or the set of his shoulders. Now he gets to learn Din’s reactions removed from all that beskar. It feels like winning the lottery all over again. How many times is that today? He’s lost count.

“Well then we’re a pair.”

“You have dimples.”

“Shut up,” Din grouses, shoving a plate of food at him. Cobb laughs aloud and relents, digging in. There’s a moment of quiet while Din hands Grogu a utensil and hopes for the best, pushing some of his portion into the lid for the kid to scoop up messily in his little claws (the spoon has hit the floor). He sacrifices the larger chunk of meat readily. Cobb hands over one of his pieces without hesitation. They eat with a quick and neat pattern of men who don't often have time to linger and enjoy things before Cobb is piping up again.

“Did you call me handsome?”

Din rolls his eyes over a mouth full of ahrise. “You started it.”

“Oooh, I’ll fuckin’ finish it if you keep that up.”

Din eyes him for a charged moment, assessing him carefully. The kid is already yawning over Din’s forearm, slumping with a full belly. Cobb’s never been on the receiving end of the stare of a predator quite like that; it makes his pulse quicken despite his desire to remain cool and nonchalant. Din takes another bite before closing his box and tucking Grogu into his nest again. Cobb is staring at the spread of his thighs fairly blatantly as Din bends into the bunk space and situates Grogu, hazel eyes flicking between Din's ass and the back of his curly head. Din smirks a little and huffs when he straightens and catches him at it.

Cobb just raises his eyebrows as if begging to be called out, itching for a tussle. Part of him wants to rise to the bait, bite back twice as hard, see if Mandalorian skin grows thick as a Tattooine slave’s.

“Get some sleep,” Din cracks into his thoughts, shutting them down. “The cot’s wide enough with the kid in his cubby. I’ll wake you when we get to the Hoth system. It’ll be a longer jump than Tattooine to Naboo.” With that, Din scoops up his helmet, replaces it, and disappears up the ladder, leaving Cobb to finish his dinner and crawl into the bunk beside the kid to lick his wounds.

____________

“I did warn you,” Din growls, dropping Cobb from his fairly undignified position slung over his shoulder down to the frozen ground of the cave he’d just scouted out. The man immediately huddles into his furs and glares up at Din insolently thru his own HUD. “Keep your helmet on, it will prevent your throat from freezing until I can get a fire built..”

“I’m sorry!” Cobb picks off the rest of his absolutely freezing armor and jetpack while Din kneels and rips his soggy boots off and wraps him back up as quickly as his shaking hands will allow. At least Din got them out of the biting wind.

Din serves Cobb a deadpan glare (what else can he do with the helmet on) and stalks off deeper into the cave with a Stay called over his shoulder and his blaster drawn. A moment later he returns dragging the massive freeze-dried carcass of a wampa and a pile of partially charred wood tucked under the other arm. He’d scouted for (living, dangerous) wampas and thanked the stars for finally some small stroke of luck on this twice-damned bounty hunt.

The Mandalorian sets about making a campfire, aiming his torch gauntlet at it to get it blazing quickly, and starts skinning the wampa carcass. It’s been cut by something and burned, but still usable for a thick fur. At least it’s not bloodied or particularly smelly.

Cobb shakes violently and inches closer to the fire, watching Din methodically strip the fur clean. He’s pretty sure his ass is frozen to the ground by now.

“Here,” Din says after a moment, standing and shaking out a large swath of wampa fur. He lays it down close to the fire and pushes Cobb onto it on his side, blanketing him with both their fur cloaks.

“Hey!”

“I’m not the one that plunged into a ten foot deep snowdrift, shut up and focus on getting warm before you go hypothermic and lose another limb,” Din grits at him, stressed. He starts detaching his own armor and stacking it. “Fett’s not out here to drop you in a convenient bacta tank and get his Mod artist to build you something else.”

“Yeah- yeah. What are you doing?”

“Do you want ice cold beskar on your back?”

Cobb hesitates, squinting back at Din through the cover of furs. “You gettin’ under here with me?”

“Body heat is the fastest way to warm you back up. I wasn't joking- you could lose toes or a foot, easily. Fingers, et cetera. Stay still,” Din shucks his helmet and scoots under the two cloaks, shimmying up tight behind Cobb’s bony ass, sandwiching his frozen flesh-and-blood hand between Din’s forearm and Cobb’s ribs. Vanth uses the mod arm to pull his helmet off and burrows back under the cloaks.

At least they're not wet, thank the Force, and both still fully clothed in their flight suits and gloves aside from Cobb’s soggy socks and boots which are upended by the fire to dry them.

Din had fished the Marshal out of the snow, then summarily thrown him over his shoulder and used the Rising Phoenix to get them to the mouth of the cave his HUD picked out of the low mountain range to their west. He had ripped Vanth’s boots and socks off, taken his own second set off and jammed them on Cobb’s numb feet before leaving him to scout the cave. Cobb had complained about the manhandling until his jaw started shivering so hard he couldn't.

“Womp rat of a man. No fat on you at all,” Din teases into a bristly silver hairline, now that the survivalist panic is starting to subside. He breathes warm into the skin there, lips catching on the peak of a star-shaped scar just under the cowl’s pile.

“Well it’s not exactly a problem back home.”

Din buries his forehead in Cobb’s nape and snorts. “Problematic when you see snow for the first time and drop directly into it because you're not listening.”

“Oh fuck off. I’m fine.” Cobb tightens further into a ball of angles and pouts, elbowing Din in the ribs with his mech arm. He growls when Din says as much. “Not pouting! I’m a grown ass man, Mando, I do not pout.”

“You're doing a valiant job of proving it,” Din sighs and settles them closer, tucking Cobb's frozen feet between his own to warm them. Cobb, intelligently, does not retort. “It’s at best negative fifty standard degrees outside with a sharp wind chill. You would have had frostbite across your feet within the hour and gone hypothermic within another twenty minutes. You haven't been in this environment before, Cobb. Shut up and let me take care of you.”

Cobb doesn't answer but his belly tenses like he’s rolling something acrid around in his mouth, trying to decide if he’ll let it out.

Din presses on to prevent it. “If I were suffering heat stroke in the Dune Sea, would you step in and care for me? Tell me to shut up and bow to your better knowledge of the environment and dangers of what it can do to the body?”

“Yeah– alright. I get it.”

Din hums in simple acknowledgement and thinks about Grogu back on the ship, hopefully remaining safe and warm. With any luck he can get Cobb warmed and they’ll be out of here within the hour and can flush out the two men his tip had told him were hiding in the old abandoned rebel alliance base. It’s not too much further. He’s hoping the base’s ground sensors are damaged badly enough from the battle a few years ago to scan for him and Cobb flying in with their Rising Phoenix.

______________

The bounty targets prove to be as stupid and easy to catch as Din had hoped. The base was indeed ruined, barely more than a cave anymore. He and Vanth had made quick work of flying in low and sneaking in a crevice left over from an old blaster hit during the war. They had snuck up on the men sleeping around a fire, not even taking shifts. A good hit to the temple and they were both out cold. He and Cobb each grabbed one and flew back to the Crest to put the men in carbonite and head out.

“What about the other two?” Cobb asks, releasing his helmet seals and trying not to shiver too hard while he thaws in the warmth of the ship. Grogu bashes his shins til he picks the little guy up. Din hangs the Carbonite plate of the second man and turns to him.

“I need to send a comm to confirm, but last I heard they had followed through on that plan to jump to Takodana. Up for a jungle planet?”

“After this? Kriff yes.”

Din snorts and scoops Grogu up, who is reaching for him. “You did a great job doing what I asked, ad'ika. Let's get to a warmer locale?”

___________

It’s dark and they're both exhausted by the time they make it across the short jump to Takodana. Din normally would push through and pursue the targets anyway, but he’s silently concerned that Cobb is hiding how badly he feels.

They decide to sleep and search for the other two in the early morning.

“Take the bunk again, I'm used to sleeping up here,” Din says, waving at the ladder. Cobb glances down and hesitates.

“Reckon there’s space enough down there.”

In lieu of answering, Din waits for clarification. Cobb huffs and seems to swallow down a biting taunt. “Surely this ship’ll keep us safe enough that sleeping in shifts ain't necessary?”

“I wasn't going to do shifts,” Din lies. He was going to sit up here quietly, possibly meditate, until he fell asleep. That's not quite the same as intentionally staying up, he reasons.

“Then come down here with us. Rather have us all in one place. And warm,” Cobb shifts his weight and sighs before shaking his head and going down the ladder. Din listens to him remove the armor and place it in the crate before opening the bunk hatch and growling about clambering in.

The bunk is narrow and cut into the side of the ship like a horizontal closet. Din has compared it to a cryo pod (or a casket) more than once, but the door opens at the feet rather than upward. It’s perhaps a meter wide with a cubby on each side, one of which is now filled with Grogu’s little nest. As of late, Din usually puts his helmet and sabre in the other.

Cobb crawls into it and kicks off his boots so they fall outside with a thunk. He doesn't shut the door, feeling uneasy about it. He hadn't napped earlier, before Hoth; he’d been too anxious and filled with nervous energy. Now, his body is severely protesting that lack of sleep among the other things he’s done such as nearly freezing to death and carrying a full- grown male Togruta back to the ship. He’s bone-weary but can’t relax.

He’s on his left side (he can't sleep with all his weight on his right side anymore) watching Grogu snore softly when he hears the clink of beskar against the ladder. A moment later, Din appears at his feet, hovering a bit awkwardly. Instead of saying anything, Cobb shuffles backward so Din can fit between him and his son.

The Mandalorian strips off his armor so they can fit, setting the plates in the crate with Cobb’s before he slides into the bunk. He reaches behind Cobb and sets his helmet and sabre into the cubby within reach and lays down, his back to Cobb’s chest, and goes still.

The fit is tight; they're spooning like they were by the fire in the wampa cave, except Din is in front and Cobb isn't facing the idea of losing his toes. Cobb finds his body relaxing much better than he was when he was laying here with just the kid. Din smells like sweat at his nape and whatever antiperspirant he uses under the flight suit. Cobb’s still a long red streak in his own suit and the material whishes softly as they adjust and get comfortable against one another. Din taps the door button with his foot and it slides down, dimming the compartment light to a low red glow that bleaches the colors out. Cobb presses his eyes closed and makes himself lay still until sleep finally takes him.

A few hours later, Vanth blinks awake to a light tapping on his forehead. He cracks his eyes open to see Grogu curiously eyeing them, cooing very quietly.

“Hey lil guy.” Cobb whispers and stretches minutely, flexing against the heavy weight pinning him to one wall. He can feel Din’s helmet in his lower back and he bows away from it, finding he can’t go far. There is a soft grumble of protest against his throat and Cobb quickly becomes aware of their position change.

Din had rolled in his sleep and tucked his head under Cobb’s chin, puffing hot breaths into the hollow of his throat. He’s got a heavy arm across Cobb’s belly and their legs are carded. Cobb’s flesh arm is under Din's neck and bent upward, cupping his top shoulder.

Ah, that would be a big part of the kid’s confusion. He’s probably never seen Din touch anyone outside of a fight.. or holding Grogu, himself.

Cobb clears his throat as quietly as he can and blinks up at the kid, now standing just behind Din’s head, his little claws resting gently in his papa’s hair.

“Does your daddy not want anyone to know he's secretly very cuddly?” He whispers to the kid, who blinks at him and cocks his head. In answer, Grogu crawls over Din’s neck and settles against the hollow made between their chins and chests. Din hums, tipping his face up to allow him more room, as if this is a regular occurrence. The adjustment puts the Mandalorian’s nose in Cobb’s beard, just under his ear.

Cobb holds perfectly still, pinned halfway under them both, taking in the softness of Din when sleeping. His face is unlined and relaxed, jaw soft and slack, lips parted slightly. His hair is mussed on one side, sticking up and curling wildly where he's been rubbing it against the pillow. Drowsily, he brings an arm up off of Cobb’s belly and curls it around the kid, humming before going quiet again. He’s on the verge of waking; Cobb can feel the shift in his breathing.

Call him selfish, but any Tatooine - born being knows that you take your pleasures as they come. They're often few and far between. So Cobb lays there and counts their three separate breaths, enjoying the press of another body (or two) and the simple joy of how easy it feels, for now.

Din snuffles awake a few short minutes later, blinking a dark eye down at the kid and then across at Cobb who’s in the middle of a jaw-cracking yawn. Din stretches against them and rolls mostly to his back, as much as he can in the narrow space.

“Sorry if we crowded you,” he yawns, pulling Grogu onto his chest. The kid taps him on the chin curiously and blinks over at Vanth with a questioning sound.

“No trouble. I don't get to cuddle very often,” he winks at Din’s startled look and chuckles.

The Mandalorian just hums in somber agreement and sits up, sliding out of the bunk to check the local time and his comms.

“The local cantina is also an inn. We can go there and check with the proprietor, see if our targets have passed through.” While he's talking, he sets Grogu down and starts reattaching armor to his flight suit, pausing when he seems to belatedly realize his helmet is still off. Cobb reaches behind himself where he's sat on the edge of the bed and retrieves it.

“Alright.”

Din takes the helmet and holds it at his hip, watching the child crawl into his satchel. “If you're coming you have to be vigilant,” he says. Grogu blinks up at him and waves a claw. Whatever he signs makes Din snort and pick him up. He puts the helmet on and opens the cargo door, turning to Cobb.

“I’ll set a path to the inn. Do you need help with your armor?”

Vanth squints at him, how he’s angling for the door fairly blatantly. “Nah, I got it. Go piss,” he says, waving, and earns a slightly embarrassed huff of laughter (he’s getting better at deciphering the myriad of flattened sounds that come through the vocoder) before the Mando disappears down the ramp.

__________

The bounties prove blessedly easy once again.

The innkeeper at the cantina-and-inn goes wide-eyed at the sight of them and quickly directs them to a room in which the two remaining bounties are still asleep in the early dawn hour. Cobb kicks in the door and Mando shocks them back into silence with his stunner. Again, they each take a man and drag them back to the ship. Cobb’s wakes up halfway there and they have a tussle, but he clocks the Shista in the temple with his mod arm and he goes back down.

Din puts them both in carbonite and hangs the trays. Cobb is maybe five meters from the ship, standing at the edge of a streamlet cutting through the undergrowth.

“We’ve made good time. Only two days,” the Mandalorian calls.

“That we have,” Cobb agrees, shucking his helmet. “So much for a vacation,” he jokes. Din stares at him a moment and then looks down at the kid and back.

“I probably know the answer, but have you ever swam?”

Cobb snorts. “Hell, no. Not enough water on all of Tattooine for that, ‘cept for maybe one of the Hutt palaces.”

“I don't think the kid has either. There’s a waterfall and pool not far from here. We have plenty of time,” Din lets the bait lay and waits, like any good hunter.

“I ain't keen on drowning,” Cobb says, testing his way forward.

“I won't let you drown.”

“Well then. Count me in, partner.”

They fill up canteens and fill a camtono with snacks and blankets for drying off. Cobb straps the kid to himself since Din’s got the heft of the gear slung over his shoulder. In lieu of walking, he suggests they fly the few clicks to the south. He shows Cobb where to go on the topography map and they take off.

It’s not hard at all to find; Takodana is a thick jungle planet with mountains and lakes studded through the forest. It’s easy to spot the low mountain range with water climbing along its spine and then falling off the end, even if Cobb’s never seen that much free-flowing water in his life. At the bottom of the waterfall is a deep natural pool of the brightest turquoise he’s ever seen.

Din lets him explore the rocky outcroppings while he removes his armor and flight suit and strips the kid down. Grogu immediately splashes into the shallows and sits in the mud, playing with small rocks and trying to catch the small fish in his tiny fists.

“You could jump from there,” Din calls out, catching Cobb’s curious stare down into the pool. “But I'll probably have to fish you out.”

Vanth nods and steps down off the rocks, returning to the two of them. “Better learn to swim first, eh?” He chuckles, stripping off his own suit and armor. He lays it on a flat rock beside Din’s and joins them in the shallows. In their smalls, they must look a hilarious sight between Din with his helmet on and a little green fella between them, but Cobb splashes happily in the water anyway. The smile on his face could power Tattooine’s suns, Din thinks idly.

Soon enough, Grogu tires out after lifting pebbles with his powers and trying to catch the tiny silver fish that flit between their feet. He yawns and drapes himself over Din’s knee, so Din makes a little nest out of their combined clothing and puts him there to nap.

When he comes back, Cobb’s standing in the pool to his chest, dipping parts of the mod arm tentatively in the water, watching it closely. He turns and lifts his eyebrows at Din’s lack of helmet.

“It shouldn't react negatively in water; they're made so you're able to bathe regularly.”

“Yeah well I only have a sonic, hasn't really been tested.” He drops his arm in the water with a wince, half expecting to be electrocuted. When nothing happens, Din watches him relax. “Your helmet can't get wet?”

“It can, but submerging it isn't wise. I don't have it fitted for waterproofing.” Maybe my next upgrade if this goes well. Take them to more watering holes. He holds out a hand and waits for Cobb to take it. “No need to look like I'm going to drag you out and leave you. I’d have done that on Hoth,” Din quips, swimming backward with one arm until it’s deep enough to barely touch.

Cobb snorts but his face fills with apprehension the deeper he follows Din out. But he goes. Cobb’s taller than him, but soon they run out of large, sunken boulders to balance on and Din slips off the side of one into deeper waters. Cobb stays on the boulder, comfortable with the depth and something solid under his feet. He watches Din paddle around for a moment and starts to copy the movements. When Din notices, he comes back and takes a hand again, squeezing lightly.

“Bow your arms out, like this, and keep them moving. Yeah– that’s called treading water. Keeps you afloat, but it's tiring. Now tip your chin back- no! Ah-ha. Put your head in the water! Further.” He puts a hand under Cobb’s skull and lower back, guiding gently. “Tip your chin up. Now clench your stomach, bring your knees up. There you go. And move your arms like- yeah. Now you're floating. You can stay like that for ages.” Din lets go, flops to his back and floats, casting an eye back over at the kid, still sleeping soundly. He jumps and sinks when he gets splashed.

Cobb laughs hard enough that he sinks, and then panics. In retaliation, Din shoves him under water and then yanks him back up before Cobb can get a lungful.

“Oh, kriff,” Cobb splutters, hanging onto Din like a parasite. He wipes water off his face and laughs, catching his breath. Din shakes his head to rid excess water and chuckles, holding him easily and still staying afloat even though they're off the big flat boulder.

“The water is drinkable here. If you hold your breath you could go under and open your eyes.” Din laughs at the appalled look Cobb gives him.

“Sorry partner but uh- I'm okay not seeing what is or isn't below us right now. Unless I feel it touch me, then we’re gonna have problems.”

“Oh, come on. Just a bunch of rocks. Some small fish. Maybe a sea monster,” Din chuckles when Cobb splashes him. He lets Cobb go and then has to catch him again when the man turns into all angles and forgets his floating lesson. “Maker, you're forgetful. Just– come here,” he turns and drags Cobb up against his back, hooking the Marshal’s forearms over his shoulders. “Hang on,” he says, and paddles slowly out to darker waters, pulling Cobb along like a tugship.

They're close enough to feel the thrum of the waterfall pummeling into the rocks under the surface now, the pool deep and rocks worn hollow in some spots from millennia of erosion. Din takes them right up to the froth to let Cobb sit on a rock and get beaten by the flow of a smaller section of the fall for a moment. He answers questions about the strength of water, the ability for it to cut through rock and carve out canyons. How ice is stronger and less forgiving, like the low mountains they saw on Hoth versus the tall ones here with rivers cut across the lay of them.

Cobb clings to Din and floats behind him like a cape, trailing through the water til Din gets tired and beaches them on a flat sheet of rock not far from where they left the kid. There is a rock pool in the middle of the shale and Cobb moves over to it, poking curiously at a little crustacean. It snips its claws at him furiously and he relents with a huff of laughter, taking an empty, mirror-shiny shell back to show Din.

He gives it a few seconds of curious perusal before directing the Marshal to look at something dark swimming through the lake where they’d just been floundering, but Cobb notices Din wrapping the shell in his fist as he looks away.

Cobb sprawls out flat on the rock beside Din, legs straight out and dangling off the flat rock into the water, leaned back in his elbows, taking in the greenish-blue sky framed in tree tops and single sun, all the foliage that’s so odd to him. It's fascinating. He thinks he likes it.

Much better than Hoth, anyway.

“Didn't imagine a bounty hunt would turn into a nice little family vacation,” he teases, hooking his ankle behind Din’s where they float in the lapping water. He doesn't get much response, which doesn't surprise him, so he presses on the bruise a little harder. “Dank farrik, Din. You could have just asked me, you know. Or– shit. Come to my house and stayed.”

Din nods and seems to recede, but Cobb is used to his stretches of meditative silence by now. Din’s smart- he doesn't talk a lot or talk quickly, so others tend to think he’s slow or just antisocial, but mostly he thinks about his words and chooses them carefully. Cobb can accept that, so he waits.

“I like that you can handle yourself. And are respectful of my customs, even if I've broken some of them myself. And the kid likes you; he’s easy around you. You’re smart, and brave, and resilient. But I have had a… Perspective change over the last few months. That sabre I carry has a weight attached to it like nothing I would have ever expected. And it means that anything I might pursue with you could potentially be incredibly complicated, or drag you or your people into unnecessary danger. I’ve painted enough of a target on your back. And the people who are after the kid… That's a whole other set of dangers.”

“Just tell me.” Cobb sits up, cross-legged and leaning forward don his knees. “Let me have a choice, here.”

Din stares at the water, then over at the kid, then finally locks eyes with him and heaves a deep sigh. “I won the sabre in battle against an Imp who had it. By Mandalorian custom, after winning it in battle the wielder is our ruler, the Mand’alor. I’m– essentially a king.”

As expected, Cobb recoils and blinks at him, stunned into silence.

“So– you’re like. Royalty?”

Din snorts and shakes his head. “That's not really- we don't have a lineage like that. Boba’s father led the last of the true Mandalorians- and they were slaughtered by the splinter faction that raised me as a foundling. There’s not many true Mandalorians left. Whoever owns the sabre is the ruler, and I can’t hand it off. I’ve tried. Someone has to defeat me in battle.”

“So be the king or die.”

“Essentially.”

Cobb sits for a moment and kicks his feet lazily in the water. “Sounds like a call to action. And you're an action kinda man.”

Din hums noncommittally. “It’s not only that. As if that isn't enough. I broke my Creed, so my faction no longer considers me Mandalorian. And the remaining factions are suspicious of me because I was a foundling, so I don't represent them either as the Manda’lor. And all this is aside from the pull I have to simply–” he breaks off and waves toward the shore where Grogu is bundled. “Be. Raise him. To the best of my ability.” he shakes his head and lays out flat on the rock, eyes squeezed shut.

“And where do I fit in?”

Din sighs and shakes his head. “Wherever you want. In all honesty, I don't know. I was content to do what I had to do regarding Grogu and just– come back, maybe present you with a future, but then all of this–. Now I'm not sure if I can have you, and him, and do everything I now have to do. Or ought to do.”

Cobb nods and hums, lets that sit heavy on his chest for a minute. “And your planet- it’s ruined, ain't it?”

Din nods. “Mandalore was glassed by the empire in an attempt to wipe us out. They and the Yuuzan Vong have wiped the beskar from the surface and most of the crust as well. It’s why we live in small factions, in coverts. We are hunted, even by non-imperials. the planet will have to be terraformed aggressively before it's livable again.”

Cobb bites his lip. “And until then?”

Din shrugs. “We’ll live wherever. Or remain as nomads as we have been. My covert on nevarro was wiped out, the few remaining from my faction are in hiding. Boba has invited me to use his palace as a base, but I have to endure his ribbing and passive- aggressive comments. And Fennec.” Din cocks his head to the side and raises his eyebrows.

“Hmm.” Cobb rolls to his side and lays next to Din, almost touching. He knocks their feet together again. “So you’re tellin’ me that– for the foreseeable future- you’re stationed on Tattooine while you gather your people and terraform your planet. And you like me. And you want some domesticity in which to raise your kid? The kid you told me to care for in your stead?”

Din cracks an eye and looks at him, assessing. “Yes.”

“And your kid likes me, and my town has a few little ones and a school in the middle of nowhere not even on a map in the desert, days from anywhere.”

“Yeah.”

Cobb snorts, cracking a wide grin. “Well then, darlin’. Sounds like we want some of the same things.” He stays still while Din rolls to his side to face him.

“Yeah?”

Cobb hums his assent. “I’d like you to stay with me, when you can. If you're on Tattooine anyway. ‘N Freetown ain't too far a ride from Mos Eisley. Faster in your cruiser. And I'll mind the kid when you gotta go off without him. And I'll come out here with you when I can, like now. Like this.”

“And if we finish terraforming Mandalore in my lifetime?”

“Stars, I better be retired by then. Bein’ a trophy partner to a king and all,'' Cobb teases. He grins wide when it makes Din actually laugh, his hazel eyes folding into half-moons. “I expect I'll have passed on my mantle by then. And I'll come with you.”

Din stares at him for several seconds, seemingly thinking a thousand loud things at once. Cobb decides to interrupt for once. “Sweetheart, we don't gotta plan our lives right now. But I like you a lot, and I miss you when you're gone. And I love your kid, and I respect your customs, and your mantle. And I'd really like to kiss you.”

Din laughs. “Hmm. Come on then,” he says, and pulls Cobb on top of him as he rolls to his back.

And Maker, Din kisses with a curious sort of gentle certainty for someone who’s spent most of his life under a bucket. His palms and thumbs cup the rise of a sharp hip bone on each side and his square fingers curl over Cobb’s narrow ass, and he angles up his chin and lets Cobb lick into him slow and sure like the waves lapping over their calves. Cobb’s flat atop him, balanced on his elbows on either side of his Mandalorian’s head with his flesh fingers in those dark curls, tilting him just a little to deepen the angle.

Just as they’re starting to explore a little more, legs spreading and hands searching, they both jump at the sound of a curious coo across the shore.

“Ah,” Din sighs, dropping his head back into the rock and smiling up at Cobb. “We’ve been caught.”

Cobb laughs and kneels up, offering Din a hand as he stands. They splash across the shore back to Grogu, who’s woken up and made a beeline for the water. Din catches him before he can step too deep and parades them back to a rock pool that can be safely investigated.

As the sun heads toward the evening, Din uses his grappling tool to catch a sizable fish and inspects it for toxins, and they build a small fire and roast it. The kid inhales half of it and promptly passes out with a full belly and an active day under his belt.

They re-armor up and fly back to the ship, landing just as the sun dips below the horizon.

________________________

He’s draped over the back of one of the cockpit chairs, knees on the seat and chest on the headrest.

“Ohhhffffff!” Din wheezes, hips stuttering forward against the unyielding hold of Cobb’s mod hand clamped over his hip. He’s trying to be still and quiet, not make a fuss or wake Grogu in the bunk compartment just below them, but Cobb is talented with his mouth in a way that defies logic. The bounty hunter's pretty sure he’s losing higher brain function by the second; it had been methodically sucked out of his dick before Cobb turned him around and put his mouth and fingers– elsewhere.

He’s got one hand fisted behind him in Cobb’s hair and the other locked over that metal hand on his hip, getting what can only be described as the most necessary rimming of his life while the Marshal kneels behind him, half his face ticked up around the stretch of his jaw in a smirk. Bastard. Din resolves to give it back in kind as soon as he’s ready to go again.

A long, narrow flesh- and- blood thumb probes, tracing Din’s hole and pressing lightly, smearing slick. He jumps, though not in disagreement. “Oh– Cobb! Cobb! I’m already– If you- if you do that too I'm gonna– come,” he pants, tugging on the straight silver hair in his hands.

Cobb relents, though only a little. He pulls his mouth away only to move up, kissing the top of Din’s crack while still circling below with the slick finger. He bites over the curve of Din’s firm ass, all hard muscle with a layer of soft that holds teeth imprints like footprints in sand. He laps curiously into the fuzzy whorl of Din’s lower back and noses up the trail of dark hair that arrows south. Below, he rolls a fingertip inside and seals his lips over a curve of shoulder, sucking hard enough to bruise, scraping teeth over the mark while the Mandalorian pants and tries to stay quiet. Din works back against the finger inside him, wanting more- wanting to feel strained and used and to do exactly what is asked of him. But Cobb only gentles his touch, pulls his hand away and grabs more slick.

“Ah– more. I can take it. C’mon.” Din grabs Cobb by the hair and hauls him up while he twists to the side for a bruising kiss, tongues lashing for dominance until Din relents. He lets Vanth press him back down and bite over the back of his neck, arches his head to the side so he can suck another bruise over the juncture of shoulder where it’ll be tender under his pauldron tomorrow. He keens when Vanth rolls two fingertips against him.

“I'm nearly done, you’re– oh!” Vanth takes his balls in his mod arm and yanks them down, sliding two fingers in fast at the same time. Din jolts with the sharp change and huffs out a stifled gasp, biting down on the leather under his cheek. “Fuck!”

“Almost,” Cobb grins, biting the rounded curve of a firm ass cheek.

Din drops his forehead to the headrest and tries to get a grip on his breathing. He’s going to come the second Cobb seats himself at this rate. “Come on. I want you inside- gonna come any second,” he pants, looking back and down his body at the other man.

Cobb keeps his fingers crooked inside, avoiding his prostate, and mantles back up over Din, trailing biting kisses and soothing licks up his spine. He flattens against Din's back and yanks him around by the hair and kisses him, licking behind his teeth like a hook to drag more gasping tiny sounds out of him.

“One more, sweetheart, so it don’t hurt. Then you can have me.”

Din groans as Cobb scissors his fingers a few times, testing the stretch. He adds a third finger and lets them sit just inside for a minute, stroking the straining walls gently to coax Din into relaxing. The man’s teeth are buried in the leather of the seat, growls and gasps falling out of his mouth. Din pushes his hips back and up, seeking more of anything. Cobb still has a hand clamped around his balls, drawing them down and away from his body. Din’s pretty sure that's the only thing keeping him from coming at this point because all the self-determination in the galaxy isn't helping him now.

“Ah- please,” he pants, throwing a hand back, drawing Cobb closer against him by the hip.

“Hmm. What're you gonna call me? Does the partner of the Manda’lor have a title?”

“Hnnng- I'm gonna call you a bottom from here on out if you don't hurry up,” Din growls.

Cobb laughs aloud with his forehead pressed into the space between Din’s shoulder blades, delighted, and slicks himself.

Din’s pretty sure the sound that pushes out of him as Cobb sinks in isn't human. He’s distantly aware of the fact that he’s unable to hold still. It’s been so long since he’s been touched like this, so much, and Cobb is hyperattentive to every questing push and pull. He offers touches so freely for someone who's surely as starved as Din himself.

Once rooted, Cobb drapes his weight over Din’s back and holds him close. He brings a knee up to the seat and grinds in a bit deeper, stretching Din perfectly and pressing hard on that tight bundle of nerves inside. The Mandalorian makes a choked noise and ruts back, tipping his hips up experimentally.

“You ready?” Cobb asks, turning Din’s head for a kiss. He kisses back, still flexing minutely, and nods, smearing their mouth together more than anything. Cobb drops one more kiss on his slack mouth and pulls back, getting a good grip of his hips.

He moves slowly at first but Din doesn't have the patience- he shoves back at every thrust and soon they are pistoning against one another. Cobb snaps his hips forward and Din tips his up until he spills against the cushion of the seat with barely more than a stroke to his cock. He faceplants into the leather, shaking, and huffs a laugh when Cobb curses and goes still, buried deep and jetting hot into him.

“Kriff that was- ah! Long– overdue.” Cobb pants, dropping a kiss on the brown shoulder in front of him and pulling out with a wince. He leans back over Din, hugging him from behind. “Okay?”

Din nods, catching his breath.

“Not hurt?” He shakes his head. “Let’s go rinse off outside and lay down,” the Marshal prompts, tugging Din by the hips til his feet come down to the floor.

He drops onto the seat and makes a disgusted face at the wet splat of the slick and come meeting the leather. “To answer you, they would call you gar veriduur- my courtesan.”

“Oh so I don't get a title. I see.”

Din snorts at Cobb crossing his arms in a show of annoyance. He winces at the pull in his lower muscles. “Yeah okay– wash time. Then a hyperlane back to Tatooine.”

In the nude, they pad silently down the ladder and past Grogu asleep in the bunk. Din grabs a bath blanket and fresh small clothes for them both to take out to the little stream near the ship.

Din simply sits in the shallow water, scrunching his nose at the cold, inadvertently making Cobb laugh. The latter squats and scoops up a handful of water to rinse his bits and pits.

“What would you call me?” Cobb asks, picking up the trail of their last conversation. Din pauses like he does and watches him splash around for a moment of silence, enjoying the water while they’re here.

“Many things,” he eventually says. “To me, you might be ner riduur, a partner or spouse. Cyar’ika, which I expect you’ll hear often. Means darling or sweetheart, which you already call me.”

“Shuh-ree-ka. Okay,” Cobb tries, laughing at his own clumsy mimicking. Din throws a handful of water at him.

“Maybe vhekadla. Sandy,” he laughs, accepting his fate as Cobb feigns offense and pushes him backward into the stream.

There’s a name, though, that he’s been unconsciously assigning to the Marshal since the first time thean shone his smile in Din's direction. He’s not ready to share it yet- this is all still too new and raw. But one day it’ll come out.

Tranyc.

from here on out if you don't hurry up,” Din growls.

Cobb laughs aloud with his forehead pressed into the space between Din’s shoulder blades, delighted, and slicks himself.

Din’s pretty sure the sound that pushes out of him as Cobb sinks in isn't human. He’s distantly aware of the fact that he’s unable to hold still. It’s been so long since he’s been touched like this, so much, and Cobb is hyperattentive to every questing push and pull. He offers touches so freely for someone who's surely as starved as Din himself.

Once rooted, Cobb drapes his weight over Din’s back and holds him close. He brings a knee up to the seat and grinds in a bit deeper, stretching Din perfectly and pressing hard on that tight bundle of nerves inside. The Mandalorian makes a choked noise and ruts back, tipping his hips up experimentally.

“You ready?” Cobb asks, turning Din’s head for a kiss. He kisses back, still flexing minutely, and nods, smearing their mouth together more than anything. Cobb drops one more kiss on his slack mouth and pulls back, getting a good grip of his hips.

He moves slowly at first but Din doesn't have the patience- he shoves back at every thrust and soon they are pistoning against one another. Cobb snaps his hips forward and Din tips his up until he spills against the cushion of the seat with barely more than a stroke to his cock. He faceplants into the leather, shaking, and huffs a laugh when Cobb curses and goes still, buried deep and jetting hot into him.

“Kriff that was- ah! Long– overdue.” Cobb pants, dropping a kiss on the brown shoulder in front of him and pulling out with a wince. He leans back over Din, hugging him from behind. “Okay?”

Din nods, catching his breath.

“Not hurt?” He shakes his head. “Let’s go rinse off outside and lay down,” the Marshal prompts, tugging Din by the hips til his feet come down to the floor.

He drops onto the seat and makes a disgusted face at the wet splat of the slick and come meeting the leather. “To answer you, they would call you gar veriduur- my courtesan.”

“Oh so I don't get a title. I see.”

Din snorts at Cobb crossing his arms in a show of annoyance. He winces at the pull in his lower muscles. “Yeah okay– wash time. Then a hyperlane back to Tatooine.”

In the nude, they pad silently down the ladder and past Grogu asleep in the bunk. Din grabs a bath blanket and fresh small clothes for them both to take out to the little stream near the ship.

Din simply sits in the shallow water, scrunching his nose at the cold, inadvertently making Cobb laugh. The latter squats and scoops up a handful of water to rinse his bits and pits.

“What would you call me?” Cobb asks, picking up the trail of their last conversation. Din pauses like he does and watches him splash around for a moment of silence, enjoying the water while they’re here.

“Many things,” he eventually says. “To me, you might be ner riduur, a partner or spouse. Cyar’ika, which I expect you’ll hear often. Means darling or sweetheart, which you already call me.”

“Shuh-ree-ka. Okay,” Cobb tries, laughing at his own clumsy mimicking. Din throws a handful of water at him.

“Maybe vhekadla. Sandy,” he laughs, accepting his fate as Cobb feigns offense and pushes him backward into the stream.

There’s a name, though, that he’s been unconsciously assigning to the Marshal since the first time thean shone his smile in Din's direction. He’s not ready to share it yet- this is all still too new and raw. But one day it’ll come out.

Tranyc.

[irkedaud]

A year and a month together with you 🫀

06.22.24 — 1 year and 1 month (13 months) 💭

Happy 13 months of love to us, my baby! 🫀 We've been through so much together, and I'm really grateful that even though we've had a roller coaster ride of emotions, we still managed to stay together and choose each other. Every day, I'm grateful for having you in my life. I never thought I'd get to dream about my future with the person I want to spend my lifetime with.

I still remember the days when I was always crying and begging God to let me meet the person I’d want to be with forever. Luckily, I met you. It was like God was listening to all of my prayers and, when He was finally tired of hearing them, He granted my wish. You are the one I wished for every single night, baby. I can’t believe you’re the woman I’ll get to be with for the rest of my life.

Did you know there's a myth that at the age of 16, you'll meet the person you'll want to be with forever? Ever since I heard that myth, I always wondered what kind of love I’d have at 16. I’ve always been eager to be loved because I didn’t get much of it from my parents. So when I turned 16 in 2022, I thought I’d meet the right person by then. But a few months before my birthday, I gave up on finding the love of my life. I told myself that the right person would come eventually and that I shouldn’t rush things because of a silly myth.

Then in April, you suddenly came into my life. At first, I wasn't really interested in dating, but you caught my attention. There was something about you that set you apart from everyone else I’d met before. I realized then that I wanted it to be you—I wanted you to be the person I’d spend the rest of my life with. Fast forward to now, and look at us. We’re happier than ever. We’re slowly healing from our past traumas, and we’ve already planned our future together. It still shocks me that a month before my 17th birthday, I got to meet the love of my life. It was like fate really had a plan for us to meet each other.

I've learned many lessons during our relationship. I've discovered things I didn't know before, and I'm thankful that you helped me understand them. You made me the person I am now, and for that, I will always be grateful to you. Without you, I wouldn't be who I am today. I can truly say that I am nothing without you, baby. You made me realize many things I didn't know before. I’m really lucky to have you in my life, my riri. You’ll always be the only person whom I’ll love for the rest of life 😚 I love you in all ways, my baby!

Before you finish reading this letter, I want you to know that I wrote this short prose a long time ago (maybe around dec or nov) when I was still working on finding my preferred writing style. I forgot the exact date kasi I was always revising this prose kaya paiba iba yung date sa notes ko.

“In her presence, life unfolded like a tapestry of dreams. The once-dim hues of her existence transformed into a kaleidoscope of colors, painted by the brushstrokes of their shared moments. No longer did she crave the respite of eternal slumber; instead, she found herself longing for the dawn, eager to chase the promise of each new day by her side.

She let go of her weary longing for an end and embraced the fervent yearning for a beginning—a journey of love that spanned beyond the confines of mortal days. For in her, she found not just a lover but a kindred spirit, a companion who illuminated the darkest corners of her soul with unwavering acceptance and boundless affection.”

( I’m still an amateur when it comes to writing those kind of writing styles so bare with me 🙈 )

For the last time, Happy 13th monthsary my wife! 😚 Let’s celebrate all our monthsaries and anniversaries together forever baby! Let’s grow old together and make all of our dreams come true. I love you so very much, my lifeline 🫀 You’re the only one who keeps my heart from pumping. Without you, I am lost—adrift in a world without rhythm. I love you more than anything and everything, baby.

[thecreativeforge]

❤️ - How did your muse come to realize their romantic and sexual orientations? Was it difficult to accept? Are they proud? { rashad! }

I'd like to imagine Rashad probably discovered his queer sexuality in his early teens. At first, he thought he was attracted to both men and women as he found both rather attractive. With time, he came to understand that the way he finds women beautiful is more an appreciation of the female and feminine aesthetics and less a matter of romantic or sexual engagement—something that was prevalent when he was involved with men in his life.

He had two girlfriends in his young teenage years (if you can call anything in that age a relationship), but truly came to realize and accept his male leaning preferences with his first boyfriend when he was around 17, 18. It didn't last long, but it was an eye-opening experience for him. It wasn't so much difficult as it was just a journey to learn about it and have a somewhat firm grasp on it until that point. I'd say he truly embrace it the first time he had sex with another man, which came a bit later in his early twenties, and luckily for him it was with an older, more experienced man who knew how to ease him into it well.

Nowadays, he is proud of who he is. His parents are very open-minded, so he has no front from his family, and Rashad himself has no shame in who he is. It has always been a part of him, he figured, so it's not like he was ever truly someone else or could have been someone else.

[chefdoeuvre]

Aftermath

Jay Halstead

Pairing: Jay Halstead x Sister!Reader

Description: People always tend to forget about the aftermath.

Words: 2,122

Requested: yes by anonymous; second, if it's ok i wanted to request a part two to the imagine? i was wondering if you could just explore the aftermath of her assault, as she continues to heal and accept what's happened to her. by this i mean experiencing ptsd and having nightmares, flashbacks and dealing with certain triggers. also, maybe she could still sometimes turn to substances as many survivors do, and just break down sometimes. obviously since it's a halstead sister fic and i love the support system in the last story, i'd love to see jay helping her through everything and being super protective + some scenes with the rest of intelligence? but it's obviously up to you. thank you so much <3

Warnings: mention of drinking, sexual assault, drugs, language, PTSD, Jay Halstead and all of Intelligence being the best.

A/N: This is the long awaited part two to Infliction, and by long-awaited I mean like a month later. I tried to make the end light hearted because it seemed like a good way to go. I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.

—

It had been a few weeks since the party and things were beginning to look up. You and Brayden started hanging out more and it was safe to say the two of you were on your way to becoming best friends. The group of guys had all been arrested and sent far away from you. You, Jay, and Will have been having more frequent family movie nights instead of them heading out to Molly's every free night they got. Intelligence had basically adopted you as one of their own and even went out of their way to hang out with you. Kim and Hailey had girls nights away from the ever-annoying guys they work with. Adam and Kevin practically chauffeured you to hangouts with Brayden and took you out to your favorite diner on the weekends. Even Hank had called you once in a while as a check-in and to keep you informed about your case. Overall things seemed to be getting better for you.

Except for one little detail. Your PTSD was hitting you like a truck. Of course, the only person who even remotely knew what was happening was Brayden because he was the one person you spent most of your time with. Thankfully he was there to help ground you and calm you down when it all became too much for you. This wasn't sudden, it's been building up since it happened and clearly you needed to work on accepting it rather than shoving it all down. That's one thing you and Jay had in common, the two of you always had trouble addressing your problems no matter how big they became.

Currently, you were laying in bed and staring up at your ceiling that Jay had covered in stars for you. If there was one thing about you is that you still are a child at heart. You had been shocked awake by your recurring nightmare. It always followed the same premise of the night of the party but every night there were either different people, points of view, or different actions you took that still led you to the same outcome. There were dried tears staining your cheeks that you hadn't bothered to wipe away and every few moments there would be a soft sniffle to break the eerie silence.

Having enough of staring up at your ceiling you let out a low huff and pushed yourself up to a sitting position. You turned to the side and looked at the clock resting on your nightstand. The clock read 4:19 AM which was clearly too early for you to be up but too late for you to try and go back to sleep before Jay's rustling while getting ready would wake you up. Reaching over to open the drawer in your nightstand you checked the small bottle hidden under the glasses case that held your blue light ones. It was three-quarters full of vodka you had inconspicuously stolen from Jay's cabinet. You kept promising yourself that you wouldn't drink anymore, but clearly, that wasn't really panning out in your favor. Sure you would have a swig or two before braving yourself and heading off to school but it was to take the edge off, not to get drunk.

If Jay were to check through your drawer he'd probably think otherwise. You had stopped with the pills since he had found you, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him so you continued to drink. Obviously, it wasn't a lot and definitely not enough to get you drunk off your ass. You just wanted to be buzzed enough to have the courage to walk into your dreaded school every morning and deal with the numerous triggers you kept on discovering.

Eventually, it was time for you actually start getting ready for school. Jay had already left for work a while ago, leaving a kiss on your head before stepping out the door. You pulled on a random outfit that was comfortable and your usual pair of shoes before throwing your backpack over your shoulder and walked downstairs. Deciding against your worst judgment you made the choice to brave the day without the buzz of alcohol. Waiting at the front entrance of your building was Brayden. Like every morning the two of you would walk to school together if Jay had to go into the district early. If Jay only had paperwork that day he would drive the two of you to school instead, but that didn't happen very often.

The two of you walked to school silently, only exchanging a few words of greeting. Once you had made it to the large building you both had to split up for your classes. The day went on like usual, boring teachers droning on about upcoming assignments and tests. Lunch had arrived after what seemed like forever and you sat at an empty table practically half asleep. You held your head in your hand as you kept your eyes from slipping shut at the exhaustion.

"You not feeling too hot there?" One of your classmates from English asked as he passed by.

You froze at the familiar words before shaking yourself out of the memory.

"Fine, just tired." You brushed off their comment as he nodded with an understanding smile before continuing to his table.

Moments later the door opened and you picked your head up reluctantly. It was a few guys on the football team.

"You not feeling too hot there?" One of the seniors asked you.

You simply shook your head which only worsened the pain in it. The boys walked a few steps closer before placing their hands on your shoulders. They shoved you back onto the bed and immediately your body began to react.

You kicked and punched aimlessly to get them off of you but your movements were uncoordinated and your mind was foggy. There were too many of them and they began to overpower you, their hands wandering to unwanted places.

“Y/N?” Brayden’s voice pulled you out of the flashback.

“Huh?” Your teary eyes darted around his face before focusing on his concerned expression.

“Let’s head to the library, all right?” Brayden suggested already standing up from his seat across from you.

You nodded silently before hiking your bag over your shoulder and walked to the library beside him. Luckily at your school, they were lenient enough to let you head to the library during lunch. Usually, the kids didn’t take advantage of it but it was an unspoken spot of peace for you and Brayden.

The two of you sat at a table near the back and Brayden pulled a chair up beside you.

“Want to talk about what happened back at lunch?” Brayden asked softly.

You bit your lip in contemplation. This had been happening for weeks and every time you’d shake your head and change the subject. But the fact was it wasn’t getting better and you just needed to tell somebody that you weren’t okay. A few tears slipped out of your eyes which led to quiet sobs escaping from your lips. Brayden offered you a hug with outstretched arms, making sure to check if you were okay with it. You leaned forward into his embrace and squeezed his waist tightly. He held you there while rubbing soothing circles on your back until your cries stopped. You lifted your head off his chest and wiped away the remained tears on your cheeks before speaking up.

“Uh, flashbacks. I’ve been getting them for a while. I thought they’d go away, but they haven’t.” You explained with a sigh, avoiding his gaze and instead taking interest in your hands.

“Okay first, if they happen again tell me, or pull on my sleeve and I’ll get you somewhere quiet. Got it?” Brayden bent his head to try and get into your eye line.

You nodded your head with a hum before he spoke up again, “since they haven’t gone away maybe you should talk to someone. Preferably a professional, but if you’re only comfortable telling me then I’m all ears. Although, I’m not sure that I can cure you with magic, wish I could though.” Brayden tried to lighten the mood with his magic comment.

“Thanks, Brayden. Jay actually has been bugging me about seeing a therapist. Said it helped him with his PTSD, I think I might take him up on it.” You looked up at the boy with pursed lips.

“That’s good. Just know we’re not trying to force you into anything, we just want you to feel better however long that may take.” Brayden gave you a soft smile.

“You are wise beyond your years, you know that?” You smiled back with a small laugh.

“I try, I try.” Brayden shrugged nonchalantly.

“Can you come with me to the district after school?” You asked cautiously.

“Of course, not like I’d rather do my homework.” Brayden laughed.

“And there’s the Brayden I know.” You smiled widely.

Soon enough you and Brayden had been making your way to the twenty-first district to talk with Jay and probably the rest of Intelligence. The air was lighter between the two of you once you had finally started to open up. Of course, you hadn’t spilled everything but the little you had told him made the weight on your shoulders lessen slightly.

“Ah, baby Halstead and company, what brings you here?” Trudy greeted from the front desk with a tight-lipped smile. Even if she didn’t want to admit it, she had a soft spot for you.

“Can you ring us upstairs? I need to talk with Jay.” You asked.

“You’re lucky they haven’t caught a case today.” Trudy walked out from behind her desk and led you and Brayden upstairs.

“Thank you, Trudy.” You smiled and followed the woman.

“I have a special delivery for Detective Chuckles.” Trudy spoke up once the three of you reached the top of the steps.

Jay’s head snapped up from his desk with a look of confusion when his eyes landed on you. He quickly stood up and scanned you over for anything.

“What happened, are you all right?” Jay cupped your cheek in concern before sparing a glance at Brayden for any sign of something bad.

“I’m okay, I just needed to talk to you.” You reassured him.

“All right. You wanna head into the kitchen?” Jay asked.

“No, we could talk at your desk. They’re all gonna find out anyway.” You gestured to the rest of the unit who was watching the two of you intently.

Jay nodded his head and led you to his desk. You reached out and held onto Brayden’s arm as you pulled him along to take a seat and sit beside you. Of course, at this, the entire unit had gathered around with concerned faces once you started to explain to them. Jay’s expression was held with soft eyes as he listened to you agree with wanting to try therapy and asking for help.

Once you were done Jay stood up and placed a kiss on the top of your head before whispering into your hair, “I’m proud of you.” Jay pulled away to give you a warm smile.

“All right come here you little muffin.” Kim held out her arms with a smile.

You stepped forward into her embrace as she squeezed you tightly, she rocked the two of you from side to side eliciting a small giggle out of you. Hailey joined the hug with a laugh once Kim pulled her by the arm.

Antonio placed a hand on your shoulder once you, Hailey, and Kim pulled away, “I’m proud of you, kiddo.” He offered you a kind nod.

“So proud.” Kevin gave you one of his signature bear hugs.

“Okay, it’s my turn.” Adam squeezed his way to stand in front of you. Which caused everyone to laugh at his eagerness.

“I could never forget about you, Ruz.” You wrapped your arms around his shoulders as he lifted your toes off the ground.

“Are we done yet? You guys are treating my sister like an attraction.” Jay sassed.

“You’re just mad that you only got to kiss me on the head and not a hug.” You retorted from leaning back into Brayden with a smirk.

“No, not true.” Jay shook his head with furrowed brows.

“Yup, totally jealous.” You nodded convinced.

“How did we go from a serious topic to Halstead and mini Halstead having a sarcasm battle?” Adam questioned with a confused expression.

“I learned to stop questioning it.” Brayden shrugged from behind you.

“It’s how we cope. Halstead thing, I guess.” You said with raised brows.

“Fair enough.” Jay sighed.

[doctorofmagic]

I find it so sad and upsetting to see the Clea tag here on tumblr being SO full of people complaining about her and being upset that Stephen didn't end up with Christine... I just want to read some new people appreciating Clea now and her fans being happy, and yet I'm finding so much negativity 😔 I love Christine as well and I was so happy with what they did in MoM with her character and her relationship with Stephen, and yet palmerstrange fans are all so angry. These ship wars are so stupid, kill all my joy of being in fandom.

PS: Anon who sent me the Palmerstrange ask, I’m sorry but tumblr got dumb and deleted your post as I was editing this ask. But luckily enough I was able to answer your whole question before it got deleted. Sorry :/

Okay *sighs*

First of all, I'd like to say that I understand where both preferences come from, even though I've always been biased because of Cleaphen (even when it was just Victoria and Clea, I always rooted for Clea because I knew how deep Stephen loved her - and yes, Stephen is poly-coded in canon).

Anon 1: I was avoiding the tags but your message made me curious and since I lack self-caring, I checked it out and yikes, yeah... I understand where they come from and I respect their sadness for having their ship wrecked but uh...

It's okay, they may not accept Clea now but who knows? They can always change their minds, especially if they see that Stephen is happy (which is really a sign of love).

I mean, I've been there in other fandoms so I know how it feels, but it's not like I didn't appreciate the new possibilities cause, luckily, I'm able to multi-ship so all good.

But true, true. Ship wars are the stupidest bs in any fandom. Also if I was THAT obsessed with canon, I wouldn't have a fic with 14+ ships featuring Stephen lmao. It's not that serious. Besides, canon never stopped people before, me included 😭 90% of my ships are not canon, so what?

Anon 2: At this point, I'm just glad they introduced her instead of using Christine as a variant, ngl 😭 this concept of variants in the MCU just set everything on fire. It worked so well on comics but now, like, I'm not commenting on THAT. I refuse to do so. But okay, okay, at least she's here!! Also I really don't see that Stephen's story will end in DS3 when we're having a fourth Thor movie coming and it won't probably be the last? I strongly believe we'll have so much more of him, and consequently Clea.

Anon 3: Thank you for your kindness! Yes, yes, let's always support older women and their amazing work! I'm just glad to see more of this on screen. There's still a long road but the more vocal we’re about it, more often we’ll see them represented.

Anon 4 who asked about Palmerstrange: look... I really tend to avoid ship discourse on my blog because I know it hurts people's feelings so I'd rather not to, even though the opposite is not always true. Besides, I liked them in the What If? episode, although I agree that MCU!Stephen and Christine were portrayed in a way that their relationship wouldn't be rekindled. But that's just my interpretation. People ship for less. Crack ships exist. Who am I to judge people's preferences? (except pr0-sh1pping. That's definitely not my cup of tea.) In my opinion, when Christine kisses Stephen's cheek in the first movie, I knew they wouldn't end up together since I understood that moment as a gesture of platonic affection. And the fact that Stephen clings into her memory is because he needs love, and her memory is all he has left. But then again, that's MY interpretation. Doesn't mean I'm right.

What I'll criticize, though, is people coming for Clea and saying all kinds of nasty stuff when first loves are hardly endgame irl. It feels real to me. The point is, I agree with you, but it doesn't invalidate Palmerstrangers who felt compelled by their story on screen because it was their interpretation when consuming said content.

--

In any case, my point is, it's really hard for me to validate or invalidate people's preferences when it comes to shipping because, as I said, I'm able to ship Stephen with every character in the Marvel Universe, it works in my head regardless of canon. But that's just me. There are ships that I really dislike in the MCU and have strong opinions on them but you'll never hear about it 🥴 and this is why I avert my eyes to this kind of discourse.

(truly, this subject feels like walking on eggshells oooooof)

[sleepdeprivedsloth]

OMG YES you don't understand how excited it makes me to see your requests open! I've been waiting for this moment for so long!! XD I would freakin LOVE to see what you do with Hinata and Kageyama! I personally prefer their platonic relationship and lee Kageyama has my whole heart, but I'd be 100% happy with whatever you decide to do!! For the numbers, maybe #6 and #19? Thanks so much for opening requests! I'm so excited you don't understandddd!!! <3 (Also I hope you feel better soon! ^^)

a/n: thank you so much for all the kind words!! ik it's been a (very long) while since the last time i posted, and i sincerely apologize for the wait! I"M SO GLAD THAT YOU REQUESTED PLATONIC KAGEYAMA AND HINATA BC THEIR FRIENDSHIP WAS SO FUN TO WRITE IN THIS!! hope you all enjoy :)

Someone Admitting Something

[Haikyuu - Hinata, Kageyama]

words: 1.4 k

#6: “Don’t you even dare touch me…”

#19: “Geez! You sure do squirm a lot!”

--

Some setter you turned out to be. Kageyama winced at the internal criticism, his movements sluggish as he packed up his belongings in the club room. Can’t even control something as simple as your timing.

It wasn’t even a real game, just another practice match against Seijoh, but that didn’t mean that it didn’t matter. Kageyama was off his game right from the start; the ball sat uncomfortably in his hands at every serve, his fingers clumsy with every set. He was losing more points than gaining, until he was benched and Sugawara subbed in for him. After Suga came into the picture, Karasuno was luckily able to turn the match around and earn a win against Abajo Sai. No thanks to Kageyama.

Why are you even on the team when you can’t help out during a match? Kageyama closed his eyes and sighed, feeling completely and utterly defeated.

“What’s taking you so long, slowpoke?” Kageyama’s eyes snapped open at the voice. Looking around, he realized that he and none other than Hinata Shoyo were the last two left. “Are you trying to race me to see who can take the longest to leave?!”

Kageyama looked back to Hinata with the most deadpan expression he could manage, hoping that his face was conveying just how stupid this thought was.

Unfortunately, the message went straight over the ginger’s head. “Ha! I accept your reverse-race challenge! Prepare to lose, Crappyama!” he exclaimed as he bent over to start untying his shoelaces in a slow motion type manner.

Kageyama only shook his head and continued to pack his things away, for once ignoring the childish competition proposed by his teammate.

“Kageyama?” Hinata asked, beginning to sense that something was off. The Kageyama he knew would never turn down a chance to one-up him, even if it was something as silly as a slow-mo race. “You doing okay, dude?”

“Do you prefer me or Sugawara?”

Utterly confused, Hinata could only respond with, “Huh??”

Kageyama looked down, his bangs covering over his eyes. “As a setter. Do you prefer to hit sets from me or Suga?”

“Oh, that’s an easy one! I prefer both of you!” Hinata replied, not missing a beat. “You guys are both super talented and experienced, so there’s no way I could only choose one of you.”

“Even after today?” Kageyama spoke barely above a whisper, his voice quieted by shame and regret. “Even after I was so useless to the team that Coach put me on the bench?”

Suddenly, Kageyama felt a pair of arms wrap around his lower ribs from behind him in a tight embrace. After the initial flinch from the unexpected contact, he looked back and saw a mess of orange hair pressed against his spine.

“Is this sad mood really because of the practice match?” Hinata mumbled into Kageyama’s back, sending shivers to run through the ravenette’s body. “It was one off day, dude. One bad game doesn’t determine your worth as a setter, especially when you’ve had so many great and amazing days!”

Kageyama shrugged away from Hinata’s hug and turned to face his teammate, raising his voice to argue, “All of those other days don’t matter if I can’t give you a good set when it actually counts!”

Throwing his arms exasperatedly into the air, Hinata was quick to shout back. “That’s why you have a whole team to back you up, stupid! If you give a bad set, the spikers will adjust. If your serves suck ass, we’ll prepare to go on the defense. If you’re feeling off your game, the team’s got your back! Coach didn’t put you on the bench because he thinks that you’re a bad setter, otherwise you wouldn’t be on the starting lineup! Suga subbed in for you to help out. That’s what a team does, for crying out loud!”

Kageyama could only stare into Hinata’s eyes, mouth slightly agape out of shock. He certainly didn’t expect to be lectured into feeling better. But the setter had to admit: his teammate wasn’t wrong.

“You got that, Sulkyama?!”

“Uh, yeah,” Kageyama breathed out, snapping out of his thoughts with a teasing smile spreading across his face. “Thanks, Shorty.”

Hinata crossed his arms in front of his chest and spoke with a playful sternness, “I don’t want a ‘thank you,’ I want you to admit it is okay for everyone to have bad days.”

With his usual, competitive attitude having returned, Kageyama challenged, “Isn’t my ‘thanks’ good enough for you? No way you’re getting my gratitude and me admitting anything as silly as that.”

“Oh yeah?” Hinata asked with a raised eyebrow, taking a step closer to his friend. “I bet I could make you.”

“Mhm, and how would you manage to do that?”

“I have my ways,” the ginger teased, raising his hands up and wiggling his fingers threateningly towards Kageyama.

The ravenette’s eyes widened, a wobbly smile already finding a place on his flustered face, knowing from experience what Hinata’s go-to cheer up tactic was. Backing away slowly, Kageyama warned, “Don’t you even dare touch me, you human tanger-IHIHIHIHINE! Nohohohoho!”

Before he could even finish, the shorter boy had rushed over and latched his hands onto Kageyama’s sides, wiggling all ten of his fingers into the sensitive flesh. And poor Kageyama had no time to even try and resist the bouts of laughter that started to flow out of him. Curse Hinata’s stupidly fast reflexes!

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that over your helpless laughter,” the ginger teased, moving his hands down to squeeze at Kageyama’s hips. The ravenette’s knees buckled as he slid down to the floor, but nevertheless Hinata’s ever-relentless squeezes followed. “Is there something you wanna admit for me, Sulkyama?”

“NahaHAHAhaha!!” Kageyama writhed underneath Hinata’s hands from his position on the floor, but despite his best efforts, he just couldn’t dislodge his friend’s torturous hands from his hips. “Gehehet your hands OHOHOFFA MEHEHEHE! Thehehere’s nothing to admiHIHIHIT!”

Hinata stopped his squeezes, but kept his hands firmly in place holding Kageyama down as he clicked his tongue in mock disappointment. “Nothing? Huh, that’s weird,” he spoke as his hands slithered down to rest on top of the ravenette’s thighs.

Kageyama’s breath hitched from the subtle contact, eyes widening in a giddy horror. “W-wait, no-”

“Because I could’ve sworn that someone needed to admit something,” Hinata gave a small squeeze to Kageyama’s thighs, watching with a smirk as the taller boy shrieked with a full body jolt. “And y’know what? This would be a perfect time to admit something before someone gets tickle-tickled somewhere that’s a little too tickle-ticklish~”

“Nohohoho!!” Kageyama’s hands grabbed desperately at Hinata’s, trying anything to get them off of him. Just the mere presence of those small torturous squeezers on his thighs was enough to make him giggle uncontrollably. “Nohohot thehehere! Plehehease, anywhere-”

“Anywhere but here?” Hinata teased with a few quick pinches. “Poor, ticklish Tobio. Whatever shall he do?”

“Nahahahaha, stahahahahahap!!”

“You know what I wanna hear, Ticklyama!” Finished with the taunting touches, Hinata grabbed onto the outer sides of Kageyama’s thighs and dug in with all his might, wiggling his fingers deep into the flesh.

“GAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NONONOHOHOHOHO!” Kageyama’s legs began kicking spontaneously, his waist bucking up into the air in a fruitless attempt to lessen the strong tickly sensations traveling throughout his entire lower body. “STAHAHAHAHAP!! PLEHEHEASE, I-IHIHI CAHAHAN’T!”

“Geez, Kageyama! You sure do squirm a lot!” Hinata exclaimed playfully, keeping a firm grip on his friend’s legs. “You know how to make me stop, just stop being so damn stubborn!”

“OKAHAHAY FIHIHINE!!” Kageyama gathered up all of his remaining strength and admitted in a single breath, “EVERYOHONE HAS BAHAHAD DAHAHAYS AND THAHAT’S OKAHAHAY!! NOW STOHOHOP!”

“Hmm, how about you also admit that you have a stupid face?” the ginger teased.

“SHOHOHOHOYO!!”

“Okay, okay, i guess you’ve had enough,” Hinata spoke with a fond smile, taking his hands off of Kageyama’s thighs after a few final pinches. After bouncing back onto his feet, he extended a hand towards his giggly friend and helped him off of the ground. “You feeling better?”

“Yeah, thahahanks,” Kageyama nodded his head as the last of his chuckles and titters slipped out. “Yohou can really be a little shihihit sometimes, you knohow that?”

“Oh please, you know you love it~”

“What?! Take that back, you turd face!”

“NAHAHAHA!! Wahahait, Kageyamahaha, I take it back! I TAHAHAKE IT BAHAHACK!!”

--

a/n: thanks for reading everyone! life update post coming soon :)

[wishingstarinajar]

Care to share more about Reverse [and maybe also his potential relationship with nightmare]

Bc... My interest is piqued

Sure! Longish post incoming~

Reverse is an alternate version of my boy Rewind, basically the True Genocide aka evil version. He had it a bit rougher in his timeline of @underewind and this made him heartless and not fully sane. Less of a joy to be around as well.

While Rewind travels around the multiverse to ask Papyrus-coded monsters if they are willing to sacrifice themselves so he can revive his brother (and also expects and accepts any no's he'll get because who in their right mind would give themselves up for a stranger's cause?), Reverse just goes for it with aggression and violence. Luckily, he isn't always successful; he doesn't have a death wish and sees no shame in retreating/fleeing if he's outnumbered or out of his depth. He may have a questionable sanity but he's still logical and think before he acts.

I've been asked a few times before how Rewind would react and interact with Nightmare and the Bad Sanses/Murder Time Trio and I always believed that Rewind is not a good fit for the Bad Sanses at all; he still cares and isn't ready to revive his brother by any means. But Reverse is! Reverse would be a nice fit and Nightmare can offer him exactly what he wants in return for Reverse helping him out (aka becoming one of his henchmen); the Papyrus-coded SOUL and body of another victim. How can Reverse say no to that?

As for his potential relationship with Nightmare... While I was going through a bad emotional phase not too long ago, I was thinking about things and eventually went 'fek it' and Tweeted this:

And that led to this. I am still puzzling it all together but I like the idea. I'd consider it a crackship but who knows. RinSaber22 put it best:

Their relationship would be a “I prefer your company over most people” and would find themselves needing the other for physical comfort with occasional romance".

Not too certain about the romance part because this is Nightmare and Reverse we're talking about it buuuuut it still tickles my fancy a bit. This is purely self-indulgent stuff xD

Anyroad, I rambled enough. Hope that answered your questions, Anon!

[primergon]

I'm not sure if you're still doing these and it's fine if you don't since you have your own life and can be busy but if it's alright, may I request a tfp match up?

I'm 5'3, asexual and chubby and go by she/her.

I'm calm and withdrawn at first, I'm usually very silent when I'm surrounded by people I am not comfortable with. I have suspicions that my selective mutism that I had when I was younger may still be around because there are some situations that require to speak, I get uncomfortable and find it hard to say anything. I don't know, it's just a thought, not sure if I still kind of have it. I just kinda hate being forced to talk when I don't want to. I don't go out much, I prefer indoors, I only go out if I have to.

But yeah, when I'm surrounded by people I'm comfortable with, I'm more talkative and more expressive of my emotions. I don't have many friends in real life but I do have a few online ones.

I usually prefer texting than verbally talking to be honest. Its just easier for me to express. Not like I could physically see my two best friends since I had to move last year but luckily we have discord 💀🤚 otherwise my dumbass can't even go out to try and make friends nor even want to.

I like games, though, I'm also a procrastinator and a lazy person. I tend to procrastinate on my school work and other things like watching a certain anime, tv show, movie and even with playing games. I have a game block 😔👊.

I don't know, but I can be insecure about myself but I try to be positive about some qualities I have. Anyone could compliment me, I mean, there's nothing to compliment anyways, I would just say that they blind or something or wrong. I get insecure when I show people my music taste only because they just seem uninterested when I play it 😔👊. My friends reckon I'm smart but I just don't apply myself to my assignments... Idk, I believe I'm just stupid. Somehow, I don't get stressed out easily, even when a due date is coming up and I haven't done much in my assignment. But that probably depends on the subject and how important it is for it to be done, otherwise I will start getting a little stressed. I don't believe that my problems should matter ever, because I've had a good childhood, a loving family, though occasionally, I have some problems with my dad otherwise we're usually fine. I mean, my friends and many other people have it worse than me so that's why I don't think my problems are relevant.

I can get childish and get distracted easily. Like, I could be doing an assignment or homework and after 30 seconds, I'm on my phone or doing something else 💀. Sometimes, I need things dumbed down for me because I'm just like, "what??"

I love comedy and laughing, it's just fun. I like memes and sending cursed memes to my friends or anyone else that happens to be on the same server I am. To be honest, I'm active 24/7 on discord and mostly active on one server because I socially suck to talk on any other. I'm not a fan of horror because obviously it's scary yet I like watching people play horror games 🤔.

I'm not a fan of physical affection, but it depends on who the person is and how comfortable I get with them like my family for example. My love language would be quality time I think but only a bit of physical affection if I'm comfortable enough ig 😕.

I've never been in a relationship before because I fear cheating, arguments, having a significant other bored of me and all the other problems. And because I'm not that interest in romance that much at the moment in my life

In regards to people having problems in their life and they vent to me, I find it hard to comfort them. I try to do my best but I suck at it. I usually don't know what to say and I wish I knew. It's not that I don't care, I do, I'm just more of a listener than a talker but I try to find some words to say in attempt to help. It's a little easier for me to comfort someone online than in person, I'd probably be silent.

I'm good at keeping secrets, I would take them to the grave, though sometimes I can forget depending on the secret. I can be a forgetful person, not only with some secrets but other stuff I'm suppose to remember 😭.

I love music, I can't tell what genre I like, I like many songs. I'm also an animal lover and currently doing animal studies, which mostly revolves around dogs at the moment but I'm looking forward for the cat part, I love cats, I have two of them.

I'm sorry for all this information, now that I look at it, that's alot. I'm sorry 😭🤚

A/N : Hi Anon! Thanks for sending this ask, I hope you're doing well (｡𓎆 𓎺 𓎆) Don't worry about the long descriptions, I don't mind! I think I'll pair you up with tfp Smokescreen !

TFP SMOKESCREEN

01 | Smokescreen has a way of making you feel at home. In the beginning, you were reluctant to open up, yet once you've gotten to know the playful mech, you find it easy to talk to Smokescreen. You enjoy listening to him ramble on and on and on and find no trouble comforting him when he needs to hear it. In return, Smokescreen is more than happy to speak on your behalf whenever you don't feel like talking. He may be enthusiastic by nature but he isn't pushy. He never forces you to do something you're not okay with and makes you feel safe. This is why eventually you opened up to him and both of you became fast friends.

02 | Texting with Smokescreen is never boring. He's always ready with a handful of reaction pictures and a dozen of emojis when chatting with you. The young mech is naturally expressive and curious, which is why he's always up to date with the latest memes and trends. ( The way Smokescreen text may frustrate Ultra Magnus at times but it never fails to make you laugh.)

03 | Two of you share a lot of common interests which is why you get along so well. Ever since Jack taught him how to play video games, he's been asking you to indulge him. Smokescreen can also sometimes feel worn out and choose to watch movies with you indoors instead, following the plot of your favorite anime and always quoting them on the battlefield. He's not picky and is almost up for anything as long as you get to spend some quality time.

04 | With his positive, upbeat attitude, Smokescreen rarely seems upset or dissatisfied on the outside. But his inner idealism can leave the mech with a nagging feeling that some major areas of their life just aren’t good enough – which would sometimes make him feel insecure. The two of you seem to understand and relate to each other's experiences, making you comfort buddies that lift each other's spirits whenever you both feel down. He reminds you constantly that your problems matter and he's more than happy to listen to you vent, while you assure him that he is good enough because he's trying his best.

05 | He knows you're afraid of starting a relationship, and while he can be a bit impatient and bold, Smokescreen is more than happy to take it slow with you. While he himself is disorganized, Smokescreen tries his best to remind you to catch up on schoolwork. ( Smokescreen tells himself he's turning into Ultra Magnus whenever he finds himself nagging you.) He doesn't take it against you when you don't get what others are saying and is more than willing to rephrase it for better understanding.

06 | Smokescreen thinks you're special. He loves how you're so good with animals and how you seem to have all the right songs to show him. Smokescreen can watch you play with your cats for hours and has a copy of your playlist for him to listen to whenever he feels down. He finds it adorable how you can be forgetful at times and admires how loyal you are in keeping secrets. ( Like that one time you covered for him and saved him from being yelled at by Ratchet.) He doesn't see any flaw in you and even if he does, he accepts that as a part of you : his favorite human.

I hope you enjoy this Anon ! xx

[callisto-rants]

Starting a new ✨series✨ that no one asked for! ( ꈍᴗꈍ)

Callisto-Rants presents...

Here's my Two Cents

Where we just throw down our two cents on how we would change a series to make it better, in our own personal opinion.

[You can Block this tag if you're not interested in this series: #Here's Our Two Cents]

Here's my Two Cents

Yarichin Bitch Club.

Ever since I had the misfortune of having that opening theme song stuck in my head because of countless memes and tiktok edits. . . I have wished for days to have the ability to create a time machine to prevent myself from saying. . .

"okay, fine I'll bite the bullet and check out the source material."

Now if you're reading this and thinking, "huh. I never heard of this series..." let me just tell you, GOD I WISH I WAS YOU RIGHT NOW.

No one was going to tell me this BL Manga about a "pHoTogRaPhY cLuB" wasn't completely INSANE? I was just supposed to find out Three Volumes Later??

Now some of y'all who have read the source material might be thinking. . .

"Okay Callisto, get over it it's obviously supposed to be a comedy it's not meant to be taken seriously 🙄"

And to that I say... I mean I guess??? But do we really need all of THAT to make it a comedy?? I feel like you could still have an entertaining comedy BL Manga without 90% of the shit that goes on in that series..... But that's just ✨my two cents✨ take it or leave it.

FIRST THINGS FIRST, here's all the stuff I'd automatically remove from this series off the bat.

💀 The Gang Bangs.

💀 Teacher x Student Relationships.

💀 In fact all instances of unconsensual acts & sexual assault committed in this manga. Throw all of that away.

💀 the fact that the term Bisexual was used as a replacement for the term switch, and had nothing to do with the sexual orientation itself whatsoever.

💀 The High School Setting.

💀 Whatever the fuck Yuri was on.

💀 90% of the hyper sexualized traits these characters had.

Now here's what I'd change to make it better... Basically here's an AU of what if it was actually a normal photography club....

Actually make it a fucking Photography Club. Not a sex club that's in a fuckin HIGH SCHOOL. Hell, you could just throw this in a college setting too, for more mature themes.

Main character, Takashi Toono a college student that's trying to get out of his comfort zone more. So he decides to join the photography club, because he thinks it's not demanding to require anything of him compared to any other club on campus. He knows completely NOTHING about photography, and doesn't have any passion for the art media. His Character growth would be learning to appreciate the art media While learning what it means to him, as well as who he wants to be as he enters the adult world as a young adult.

Yuu Kashima, can stay as Takashi's love interest. Also, I feel like all the members should have a specific style of taking photos that correlates with their personality in some way. Yuu's photography style would be something the lines of Candid photography which is a type of photography style that's main focus is to take photos in the moment or in surprise. Something he has already done when he took that photo of Takashi. I also feel like Yuu would be the one to keep pushing Takashi to love photography, and understand it's more than snapping a photo.

Kyousuke Yaguchi, can stay as the Love Rival for Yuu Kashima and overall keep his personality? It was actually pretty interesting and I liked his Character dynamics with everyone else. Kyousuke Yaguchi can also stay as the outsider that directly / indirectly influences Everyone else in the club. Causing Takashi to explore his feelings and expand his social group, and make him think about what he wants to capture in his photos. Overall the same interaction between Kyousuke & Yuu Kashima with their rivalry and brotherly relationship at it's breaking point. As well as, Kyousuke and Yui's relationship being tense with miscommunication.

Yui Tamura, I imagine Yui's photography style would be more of Adventure (capturing shots in the great outdoors, usually involving extreme sports; mountain-climbing, skiing, kayaking, sky diving, etc) & Sports Photography. Which could create interesting interactions between Kyousuke and Yui. Cue Yui trying to cover up the fact that, every time the soccer club commissions Yui to take some photos of their club activity to promote their club, all of Yui's photos are of Kyousuke playing soccer. Causing Yui to complain to Kyousuke to get out of his shots and that he's ruining them by being in all of them. So, Kyousuke just shouts back "then stop following me around with your camera, DUMBASS". Just imagine Them bickering, because Yui 100% did not delete the photo he captured of Kyousuke getting knocked out by a soccer ball to the face.

Itsuki Shikatani would definitely be in the club, but only because he prefers to have his photos be taken, more than he likes taking photos himself. He would probably be a cross dresser, who enjoys dressing up in feminine articles of clothing and posing for photos. Everyone on campus who doesn't know Itsuki personally, always asks who the beautiful woman in these photos are, the club president and vice President always just says it's one of their cousins that happen to be in town. If Itsuki had to have a style of photography, it would probably be fashion.

Toru Fujisaki. . . This one is difficult only because his Character is purely centered around Yuki's Character. . . So I'm going to take some creative liberties here. . . Probably really insecure about himself, because he feels like he's a wall flower that's really forgettable, that no one cares about. Although, it's mostly because he's shooting himself in the foot by not letting one have the opportunity to get to know him to give him a chance, in the first place. Until, he meets Yuki who makes him realize that not everyone sees him as a wall flower and someone can notice his nicer qualities about himself that he's hiding away. Toru's Character development in this AU, would be for for him to learn to love himself more and try to trust people to accept him. As well as to expand his social circle with the support of not only Yuki, but the Photography Club as well. At first I bet, he would only feel comfortable with Yuki taking his photos and modeling only for him, but over time he'd let the other club members take his photo when he gets more confident in himself. While also, developing his own style of photography, that isn't just "cute photos of Yuri", it would probably be Still Life or Portrait.

Ayato Yuri, okay first. . . I'm still not over the fact that this boy was written like a deranged feral child, that was given access to a pornhub account way too early in life. While being dropped on his head several times, before and after his first words. Anyhow. . . I feel like Yuri would fit the trope of the genius, that no one understands in any capacity. His mind is 10 steps ahead of everyone else and he forgets to slow down and explain what the fuck he's talking about, when he goes into a passionate rant about photography. With endless rambles about golden ratio, gold lighting and blue lighting, and how he needs these specific props, that don't seem to fit the theme of the photo at all to make it perfect. But despite that, his photos always come out beautifully. No one can deny that his methods might be extremely weird, but they always work out way too well to give anyone the opportunity to chastise him. Anyone trying to work with Yuri often leaves the experience with a beautiful photo in hand, but an enormous headache. Even members within the photography club can't keep up with Yuri most of the time either, he's often in his own little world that just makes sense to only him. He can be a eccentric and passionate about his hobby and goofy to not make people feel too uncomfortable with the huge distance he unintentionally places between himself and others when he doesn't bother to slow down for anyone. But, he still has a good heart to make sure everyone gets a piece of art that'll always be memorable to them. Additionally, with that being said I feel like Toru would be the few people that would consistently attempt to keep up with Yuri, when he's a light year away from everyone else in his rambles. Toru wouldn't shut down and show disinterest in what Yuri says when he can no longer keep up, he's always being supportive and encouraging Yuri to continue because he knows it makes him happy to be able to express his passion. And sometimes, Yuri will pause and explain a bit to let Toru keep up with him, because he just truly appreciates someone trying to get closer to him, without making him feel bad. I would say Yuri is a jack of all trades when it comes to Photography styles. There isn't a single style he is terrible at, but he truly excels at Abstract Photography.

Koshiro Itome I think Koshiro would fit the silent type trope, but with a lot on his mind. Always over thinking things, and although he looks calm his mind is always buzzing with 500 things at once. Because, of this the only way he can find some semblance of peace is by going out for a nature walk and letting the environment take his mind off things. He's always worries about deadlines for projects, meeting up with clients face to face for the first time, whether or not a company will like his photos he submitted, if his boyfriend Akemi is okay, what if he doesn't find anything to take a picture of or if he's missing the perfect shot right now, will the club be okay after they all graduate, what else can be learn to improve his skills etc etc. Akemi can always tell when he's actually calm and when he's just zoned out and drowning in his own worries behind his calm demeanor. Luckily for Akemi, he knows exactly what to do to make him feel better, like a life boat to his pleas for help in the vast ocean of his thoughts. Koshiro is 100% the mom friend in the club, always helping newbies out on how to properly take care of their equipment, and the general basics, stopping people from bickering and carrying around a Mary Poppins bag of useful items. "Damn I forgot to bring my infrared lens with me!" "It's okay I brought a spare, here you go." Koshiro's photography style would be Nature & Wild life, cue everyone wondering how the hell he managed to capture a photo of baby bear and it's mother so close up with such clarity with the equipment he has on him. It should be impossible there's no way he could it's just unlikely, but all Koshiro does in response is just shrugging calmly "I just slowly walked up to them, and took some photos and went my way after I was done, they weren't bothered at all." At first no one believes him, until they see the next photo of him petting the mother bear, and within the next photo of him holding the baby bears paw. I like to think Akemi is always bragging at how his boyfriend is basically a Disney Prince, with the way animals just trust him enough to let Koshiro approach to take the photos. Of course Akemi has the proof that his Boyfriend is not making any of these up. With photo evidence he had taken from a incredibly safe distance away, of Koshiro just interacting with wildlife at such a close distance. Because, Akemi was not in fact gifted the ability of a Disney prince, to be doing that shit that Koshiro pulls on a daily basis. I feel like because of this Akemi can be a bit over protective of Koshiro, always telling him to text him before he goes to work and he gets back home, so he knows a feral bear didn't devour his boyfriend in the woods. He tries his best to join Koshiro while he works so he can be at peace of mind that Koshiro is in fact safe, but they both know it's very difficult for Koshiro to focus. When his boyfriend is being incredibly cute how could he remember he's here to take photos of the wild life and not his boyfriend? That and Akemi always accidentally scares away the wildlife, when he accidentally reads the animals body language wrong as any attempt to devour his boyfriend. Akemi will lose 25 years of his life with amount of false alarms, he has encountered in those damn woods.

Keiichi Akemi, Akemi is definitely one of those smug bastards, that has an ulterative motive or an ace up his sleeve. Appearing sweet and kind until you realize it was a facade. But one way or another you find yourself wrapped up in his convoluted plans, where you're either in his photoshoot as a model or you're carrying all his equipment, while he goes from one job to the next. Akemi's photography style would be Wedding Photography & Landscape something he definitely would've picked up from the countless outings he had with Koshiro in the outdoors. Akemi's friends are almost always married or paired up together, and that's no coincidence. This man is a match-making demon, a hopeless romantic who loves to see a budding romance finally bloom. So, he can snag a fat check when they thank him for brining them together and hire him as the official wedding photographer. His intuition is never wrong about the perfect pairings and how to push the right buttons to move things along, without getting directly involved until the right time comes. Something, that will be a pain in Toono's ass down the line as he stays in the Photography Club.

Overall, I feel like this could've been a really nice BL Manga which was a love letter to the art media of Photography. As Toono figures out what Photography means to him and how he wants to use it to express his feelings. "Why do you take photos? What do you want to say in these photos and tell people without the ability of using your words?" I feel like at first Toono, would just be confused "it's just a photo what's so special about it? You take it as a cool momento for something."

But, as time goes on, and he learns why everyone in the club enjoys photography and why they're here, he learns it's more than that. Whether it be to vent something you're unable to express in words, express your love for something or someone, to tell a story, to inspire others, to feel free, to share something with someone. All these different forms of expression, will let Toono figure out what he wants from photography and how he plans on expressing it.

Also instead of the whole "have sex with someone in one month or we gang bang you against your will" dilemma. . . I feel like another suspenseful situation could have been, "Create a photo album, that will impress all of us in one month, or you have to help us all out with our next projects." Which at first doesn't sound terrible, until you remember...

Yui is a thrill seeker, and would probably push you off a cliff to snag a cool photo. Or force you to be his pack mule as you climb up serval mountains.

Itsuki would force you to cross dress and model different fashion styles to make you look like a clown for his own amusement. All the while he revels in your shame, and points out how these colors don't suit you at all, but ignores the fact he's the one who put you in that outfit in the first place.

Yuri is such a wild card that you honest to God don't know what the fuck will happen to you, it'll be like being on an acid trip the whole time. And not knowing what will happen brings you more fear than knowing what will.

Koshiro would probably bring you to a wolf den full of hungry ravenous wolves, and let you accidentally get eaten alive by a pack of wolves. While he takes pictures of puppies, without a care in the world.

Akemi... Akemi just scares Toono, he seems like the safest bet out of everyone else. But Toono knows better to trust that sweet smile. Toono would be safer walking into Satan's house than spend a day with Akemi at work. Whatever he would have planned for them if he were to lose this challenge would not be good for his sanity. He hates how he knows Akemi wants just that for Toono to know he's not going to be safe either. Akemi would probably make him cry with prying questions about his romance life. While hitting too close to home with all his assumptions about him that he can't argue back. It's losing battle from there on out.

The only problem for Toono is Everyone in this club is so different, that it's almost impossible to be able to impress them all. None of them agree, which style is better or having almost anything in common photography style wise. Toono can't just half-heartedly replicate anyone's style either, he's going to actually try and fail miserably to understand this art media better, like everyone else. I think after losing the challenge and spending time with everyone, Toono would come to really like the club and everyone else in it.

And that's my ✨two cents✨ on how this story could've been better if it didn't focus too much on the whole pwp aspect.

Take it or leave it.