#probably too busy kissing lando to remember

[norgeant]

Max on men of the paddock monza 🗣️

"THANK YOU KYM" we all say in unison !

[russellsppttemplates]

It is what it is (Lando Norris)

It takes Lando a while to notice how you always assume he has something else to do whenever you need his help

Note: english is not my first language. It's slightly angsty but has a good ending! ✨️ is this good, is this bad? I'm not too sure

Thank you so much to everyone who likes and reblogs, your feedback is appreciated 🤍 and I'm taking requests so if you have any ideas or concepts you want to share, feel free to do so as I'll try to get to them the best I can!

my masterlist

Cw: alludes to the lack of quality time between a couple

Tag list: @myloverjk-blog @hiireadstuff @c-losur3

"Look at you, beautiful girl", Lando twirled you as he stepped inside your bedroom, noticing you were getting ready, "are you going somewhere?".

"Yes, I have an appointment at my optometrist", you smiled, "Anna should be here soon to take me".

"Is it a joint appointment?", Lando squinted.

"No, you muppet", you giggled, "my optometrist needs some exams on my eyes, so I have to today because that's when the ophthalmologist is there and they recommended that I had someone take me there because they want to dilate my pupils and, depending on how it goes, my sight might be a little affected for a couple of hours", you offered, making sure you had everything you needed to take.

"You could've told me and I would've taken you", Lando added, accepting the kiss you placed on his lips.

"I thought you had a meeting this afternoon", you reasoned.

"I do, but I could have moved that around a little and fit everything into the schedule", he reasoned back.

"It's okay, don't worry about that", you mused, "That's Anna - bye, handsome!", you kissed his lips one last time before making your way out and downstairs to meet your friend.

The ride to the office wasn't long, you and Anna taking the time to catch up and learn about the new gossips she had to update on you.

"And how's Lando? I haven't seen him in a while", Anna stated after you sat in the empty waiting room waiting to be called.

"He's been busy lately - he has a meeting today with the team, they're also launching a new collection for Quadrant and they're investing a lot in the social media content, so he's been busy recording a lot of videos and stuff", you offered, never shy whenever it came to talk proudly about your boyfriend's achievements, "and we're also on the countdown for the season to begin, so there's training and meetings and all that".

"Sounds like a busy schedule, no wonder why I haven't seen him - I'm surprised you even see him at all", she joked, grabbing her phone once she remembered she had something to show you.

You were surprised yourself at every bit of time you were able to spend with Lando, as lately it had become near impossible to do so apart from sleeping in the same bed, and even that was rare as he was often travelling between Monaco and England on a weekly basis.

"Ms. Y/N Y/L/N?", the doctor called you before you stepped inside the exam room, starting with the procedures.

The check up itself didn't take long despite the twenty five minute wait for the drops to dilate your pupils, "Don't forget your sunglasses, Y/N!", the secretary reminded you before you stepped outside.

"Thank you, have a good afternoon", you smiled before tapping Anna's shoulder, "Give me your arm so I won't trip", you mumbled.

"Is your sight that bad? The doctor said it should be good enough", Anna worried as she was about to open the door.

"No, it's fine, but if I'm clumsy on any good day, imagine how probable it is for me to fall on some stupid step or raised cobblestone", you argued as you both chuckled, making your way to her car.

Before you went home, your friend stopped by the pharmacy to get you the relief eye drops you'd have to follow the medication regimen with for the next few days, stopping by your favourite bakery so you could enjoy some sweet pastries.

"Can you even read these prescriptions?", Anna asked as she read the regimen you had to comply with.

"Stop making fun of me, you say that as if I'm almost blind", you swatted her arm before reading - trying to - the words, "fucking hell, am I?".

"I can barely read them myself, Y/N! They're so tiny I don't know how they give these to eye patients! Is Lando going to be home soon? That way he can help you with this", she suggested.

"Can I even see the time? At least that", you mumbled as you looked at the large numbers on your phone, "he'll probably take a while still - I can set the alarms on my phone and I'll memorise the different drops", you tapped your head.

Once it was all settled and you assured Anna she was fine to go home and you'd be perfectly well on your own, you walked her to the door before going back to the living room as the sun was no longer shinning outside and you could lay down on the sofa.

The nap you were taking was cut short by the door being shut, making you rub your forehead before an alarm rang. Getting up to head to the bathroom where you kept the supplies, you found Lando taking his trainers off.

"Hi baby, how was your appointment?", he asked as he put the footwear away.

"It was good, need to go and apply my drops", you smiled, turning the light on and grabbing the right box of medication.

"Is that what the alarm was for? I thought we had gotten a new security system I was not aware of", Lando joked as he watched you wash your hands.

"Yes, these instructions are so small to read that Anna thought it would be best to have alarms so I wouldn't mess it up since it's still a little bit blurry", you mused.

"Do you want me to do it?", Lando offered.

"No, it's fine - I'll have to do this for the next 48 hours anyway, so I might as well get used to it", you stopped talking so you could apply them, almost holding your breath until the drops fell.

"My lovie", Lando whispered on your ear once he felt it was okay to approach you, hugging your mid section from behind and kissing your neck as you put your hands on top of his.

.

You were adding the finishing touches on the present wrapping, the shiny gold string fiddling between your fingers as you tried to tie a bow with it around the paper bag handle, when Lando stepped inside your home office.

"That's looking pretty", he mused as he handed you the tape you were looking for on your desk.

"Thank you", you offered before placing the sticky piece down, "the bag is quite plain and even though the present inside is what will get her attention, it should come in nice wrapping".

"Who is this for?", Lando asked.

"It's for Maya's birthday tonight", you smiled, admiring your work.

"Is that tonight? Fuck, this week has flown by", Lando cursed, "I can't make it - will you let her know, please? I'm sorry I can't go", Lando pouted, "if she has to pay for having made the reservation with me in it, let me know and I'll pay my part!".

"I had already told her I'd be going alone, so she made my reservation without a plus one", you mused, remembering the conversation that came around the time of booking the venue.

Lando was leaving late in the afternoon for a trip with Max, Ria and some of the Quadrant athletes, so like you predicted, he couldn't attend the dinner with you.

"Oh", Lando offered.

"Max told me about your plans and when Maya told me the date, I assumed you wouldn't be able to go", you explained with a tinge of sadness and conformity in your voice.

"Well, it seems you guessed right", Lando chuckled despite the uneasy feeling on his chest.

You seemed sad that he wouldn't be able to join you, but at the same time you didn't? Lando put the topic at the back of his mind for now, heading to the bedroom so he could pack the last minute things.

"I was thinking of wearing this dress", you said once you joined him inside a while later, taking the steamer out of your drawer and setting it up to get out any kinks and wrinkles.

"That one is one of my favourites on you, but then again, they all are, I think", Lando mused, kissing your cheek as you waited for the steamer to be up for use.

"Figured it would be a little cold out tonight, so I chose this one, and that coat over there", you pointed.

"You'll be the most beautiful in that room", your boyfriend complimented, pecking your lips before he let you continue your task.

A couple hours later, Lando found himself restless as he scrolled through the posts and stories of Maya's birthday dinner, "Ria", he called, "what would you think if your partner made plans without you because they figured you wouldn't be able to go anyway?".

Ria exchanged a look with Max and Tara before she spoke, "did they ask me if I could go?", she offered.

"They didn't, but truth be told it's not like you have given them much to believe that you could join them", Lando mumbled the last part.

"I think I'd be a more 'it is what it is' at the start if I saw that it was something out of their reach, but I'm not sure I'd put up with it if it was genuine disinterest from them", Ria explained.

"It's not disinterest! They're just busy and shit at organising their schedules", Lando groaned defensively.

"Okay, okay", Ria calmed the room down once Max squinted his eyes at his bestfriend, "then I guess they would have to make sure they do better", she shrugged, "is everything alright?".

"Yes, yes, sorry for snapping just then", Lando offered her a tight lipped smile.

Everyone carried on with what they were doing before the existencial question, Max seemingly as stuck on it as Lando, "is this an hypothetical thing or are we calling people by their names and working this out?", he whispered to Lando.

"It's fine, just a loose thought I had there", Lando grumbled.

.

Lina 🤎

Hi, Y/N!

You won't bother, don't worry - I think I miss having someone other than my boyfriend to talk to 😅

Would it be okay if you visited in the afternoon? Our morning routine is still a shitshow (literally and figuratively), so we would appreciate it if you came after her first nap, around two pm?

One of Lando's older couple friends had a baby a couple of weeks ago, and while you were dying to meet their baby boy as soon as he came earthside, you were respectful of their adjustment period so you waited for them to be up for visitors and were ready to comply with whatever schedule they offered.

"It smells nice in here", Lando commented as he stepped inside the kitchen, "what delicious food are you making and can I please have a bite?".

"I made a little tray for us, but the big one is to take for Lina and Theo - I can imagine they don't have much time for cooking, so food is welcomed by them", you smiled, setting the cheese grater down once the measurements were like the recipe stated.

"Are you going to visit today? I have some streaming with Max scheduled for this afternoon", Lando added.

"Lina told me that this afternoon was the only time they could handle some visits - you know how it is with new parents and newborns and all of that -, I didn't want to change their schedule when I have some flexibility with my schedule", you explained, "I'll give the little one a big kiss from you, then?".

"Well, in that case, I should give you two big kisses then - one for you", he kissed your lips once, "and then this one for the little one", he smiled before kissing you again.

You shared lunch in a semi comfortable silence, Lando telling you a bit about the stream they would be doing and you sharing some work updates from your end.

When Lando gets a text in the middle of watching Max send his virtual car to the curb, "who might that be that's brought such a big smile to your face?".

Lando checked the photo to make sure the baby's face was covered despite his friends having already posted him, tuning the phone to show the camera, "Y/N met our friends' baby boy for the first time", Lando gushed.

"That's the little nugget", Max cooed, "she looks very happy with a baby on her arms", he wiggled his eyebrows, "have you met him already?".

"No, I haven't yet! She could only go this afternoon and we had this so...", Lando tsked, admiring the picture one last time before setting the phone back down. The baby was perfectly nestled on your arms, hiding his face on your chest as you looked down at him with a big smile on your face.

Now that he thought about he, he hadn't seen such a big smile in quite some time, and he was really starting to believe he was the reason behind it. He was absent, more than usual and more than the standards of your relationship considering his job.

The air had shifted around you once you came back from meeting Lina's little boy and Lando could only pinpoint it to the subject he thought about earlier.

"Lan, did you hear what I said?", you asked as you showed him another picture of you touching your noise in the little boy's.

"It's just... are we okay, baby?", Lando questioned. Even though it seemed like he was the only one that felt there was something wrong - different at least -, surely you had noticed it too.

"What makes you say that?", you asked.

From the serious tone, your boyfriend mentally slapped himself. Whatever it was, he was on the wrong and you had indeed noticed it too.

"I've noticed you don't ask me for help with stuff like driving you somewhere or accompanying you to places, which is fine if you want to do things on your own, I'm not saying you can't have your own independence, you know I'm not controlling you in that way - obviously! Fuck, I'm rambling! What I mean is, I have been taking notice that you just assume that I'm not available, and your assumptions are not unfounded, and it makes you sad, and I myself am upset that it has reached this point", Lando stated.

"It's not great, I can tell you that, but we knew it would be like this, your schedule is not the regular nine to five - it is what it is, Lan", you argued.

"But it's not, not all the time anyway! I want you to know you can always count on me!", Lando stated, "Y/N, you are one of my priorities and I never want to let you down - I'm going to make sure that from now on I spend more time with you and that I'm by your side a lot more", he rubbed your palm, "damn, I was so stupid, I'm sorry, lovie".

"Lando, these things happen", you attempted, "now we can work on it".

"You can count on me for little and big things in life - you need to go to the post office? I'm there helping you put the letter in the box. Dinner with your friends? I'll find it in the schedule to go and I don't care who I have to tell no to!", he pointed his finger, "I never ever want you to feel like you don't belong in my life or like I don't want to be involved in yours, Y/N - I'm so so so sorry that it took me so long to notice it".

"It's in the past", you smiled, pecking his lips softly, "now, look at this cute little nugget, he's so cute, we have to go there another day so you can meet him, and I think Theo won't mind another traybake".

[boiohboii]

The surprise guest (who had to be protected by the host)

Lando Norris x Leclerc! Reader

After Lando Norris had a make out session with YN Leclerc on his stream, it hadn't been intentional, he had been too scared to come face to face with any of his girlfriend's three older brothers. But when his girlfriend's mother invites him over for dinner, he can't just ignore her

or

in which Pascale Leclerc invites her daughter's boyfriend (or as she likes to call him, her fourth son) over for a family dinner

N.B: I feel like the humor isn't what most of you expected and I am so sorry, I swear I am funnier irl 😭 hope you guys like it... special thanks to @glai1023-blog and @flowerchild-96 for the idea of mama leclerc doting on Lando

For context

The brothers' reactions to the steamy stream

Social media reactions

YN had always been close to her mother, she always told her about her new hair ideas, how she wants to cook a new recipe and her crushes, so when YN started dating Lando Norris her mother was the first person to know (with the promise of not telling her brothers)

Pascale had met Lando quite a lot in the 9 months that the young couple's relationship had stayed secret from her brothers. To say Pascale adored the young Brit was an understatement.

Pascale Leclerc loved Lando Norris like her own son; she learned all his favorite foods, what are his preferred desserts and the meals he hadn't been able to taste before (so that she could make it for him)

With that being said, the Leclerc parent is always big on family. She had instilled in her childrens' head that even if you are busy, you must have a day each month for a family dinner and that all five members of the Leclerc family must be present.

Except for this month, six members were present at that dinner, and three of them were ready to kick the intruder out if it not had been for their mother hitting them on the back of their heads.

It had all started out normal- well as normal as it could be when just a week ago you had seen your sister making out with her boyfriend on live.

Pascale had been in the kitchen making dinner with the help of YN while the three male Leclercs were too traumatised by last week's events to face their sister. It's not that they didn't want to ask her questions, they really did, they wanted to interrogate her, but whenever they catch a glimpse of her they remember the phone screens showing her and her boyfriend.

Boyfriend. That was one person they would love to meet. Charles could probably know where Lando Norris is whenever he wanted, that was the perks of having the same circle of friends, team workers who were also friends and same bosses. Did he want to talk to him? No. Did he want to beat him? Yes.

The doorbell interrupted the brothers creative imagination of how they could kill the British driver. As Arthur was closest to the door he went up to see who it was, not expecting the one who they murdered 100 different ways in their haeds to be standing at the door with 2 bouquets of flowers, a box of chocolate and a box of what appeared to be a cake.

"Oh, umm, hi?"

Lando was about to piss his pants, he saw that expression change on Arthur's face, and he was the youngest of his girlfriend's brothers. With every second Arthur stared at him his heart rate increased with sweat filling his palms as his throat tightened up.

"Who is it Arthur?"

Shit, fuck. Lando knew that voice all too well, and he was not ready to have his head nailed to the front of the paddock for everyone to see.

"Oh dear, hello my son, Arthur move out of the way."

The gentle voice of Pascale Leclerc stopped any and all movements in the living room.

"SON!"

The three Leclercs exclaimed in sync, looking at the young brit with wide eyes and clenched jaws.

The boys' anger increased as they watched their mother fuss over the boy, thanking him for the flowers as she called their sister to place them in a vase, giving him a hug and kissing his cheeks.

"Oh lovely, you didn't have to bring anything. Is that your favorite dessert then?"

Lando was all too aware of the three pairs of eyes staring at him, and if looks could kill he'd be 18 feet under. Gulping, he gave Pascale an awkward smile, too scared to actually utter a word.

Noticing his trembling hands and terrified glances at her sons, Pascale glared at the young men "you three! Stop it!"

"But mum-"

"No! I don't want to hear a word out of any of you if it's not going to be nice! You should respect you sister's boyfriend and my guest!"

"It's a family dinner! You never invited any of our girlfriends to a family dinner before"

"Oh my god," now that's a familiar voice Lando loves hearing "stop being babies about it."

Moving closed, YN took the flowers from Lando's hands "ohhh, mum, he got you your favourite!"

"Thank you love." Giving him a peck on the lips, YN smiled at him, and upon hearing her brothers' groans and complains she gave him a wink before kissing him again.

■■♡■■

The three Leclerc brothers were like Hyenas, waiting for their mother to stop protecting their pray so they could have a word (with their fists.)

Sitting at the couch facing the open kitchen they watched as their mother dotted over the British driver, stretching her hand for him to taste the food on the spoon before giving her a wide smile

"You three look like Scar." YN teased as she took a seat besides Charles

"Mon ange," Charles started as he rotated in his seat making him face to face with his sister "please, why didn't you tell us?"

"YN, Lando Norris, really?" Arthur whined as he looked at his younger sister, waiting for an explanation of hers.

"You three are really insufferable," YN stated as she looked at them with a devilish smirk "if you guys are wondering why i didn't tell you, it's just cause I know you three will be earing my ear off about our relationship and yes Arthur, Lando Norris, he makes me happy and he kisses me oh so-"

"LALALALALALAAA" Arthur screamed at the top of his lungs, making his sister laugh while their mother scolded them for the noise

"No, but really," YN took a sip of water "he is really nice to me, he treats me really well and he is so respectful-"

"Oh yeah, making out on live is oh so respectful of him" Lorenzo rolled his eyes then glared at the young boy in the kitchen, getting head pats from their mother like a golden retriever.

"Oh god, don't remind me man" Charles groaned as the image he tried so hard to erase came back much more vibrant and clearer, as if the presence of Lando just solidified it in his brain.

"Okay listen," YN huffed as she crossed her arms "if you don't like him then okay, fine, I will end it before it goes any further, but it was an honest mistake on both of out parts. We're not into that kind of thing."

"God, will you stop doing that!"

"Do you want to tramatise us?"

"Oh god, I did not need to know anything about this."

Hearing her brothers whine and groan from her teasing brings YN the greatest of joys. Was she planning on actually breaking things off for her brothers? Hell no, they're not little princesses they can keep their emotions in check.

"Mon ange, are you really sure that you like him?"

"Yes!" YN insisted as she looked at him like he grew 2 heads "will you just please get to know him?"

Sighing Charles bit his tongue, not wanting to actually upset his sister with what he really wanted to say.

"Okay mon ange, I'll talk to him and I'll make sure everything is normal," Charles got up to make his way to his mother who was now in a matching apron with Lando as he listened to her every word, basking up the praises and head pats given to him "just please, if he hurts you or if you feel like you aren't his top priority don't stick around okay. You are worth so much more than a race driver."

"Aren't you one?"

"Exactly."

With that, Charles left his siblings heading off to his mother with a pout as he spotted her patting the Brit's cheek with a full smile

"God, he's so whipped for her." Arthur told his brother, shaking his head.

"Yeah well, I told him it'd bite him in the ass someday."

"Hey! I'm not that bad!"

"YN," Lorenzo looked at her with a blank expression "you take full advantage of it and you know it."

■■♡■■

It had been an hour and now the family of five and their guest are sitting at the dinner table, having their first bite of the homemade dinner.

"Oh, this tastes phenomenal Mrs Leclerc. I hadn't had that in a while"

"Oh dear, I'm so glad you like it!" Pascale cooed over the young boy, getting up to place more for him on his plate "YN told me it's one of your favourites."

"Thank you so much darling." Lando smiled at YN, feeling more at ease with the glares sent his way as Pascale Leclerc glared right back at her sons.

"Mum," Lorenzo started as he looked at the food in distaste "I don't eat that, you know."

"Well," the mother smiled at her son sarcastically, making sure to get her point across "if you don't like it, then don't eat."

"Oh, c'est brutal maman." Arthur murmured under his breath, looking at his oldest sibling in pity

("Oh, that's brutal mum")

"I said no French!" Pascale warned her youngest son before turning to her now favorite son "tell me Lando, do you like Vanilla cakes?"

"Not really no, but YN told me it's your favorite so I bought it from what I also believe to be your favorite dessert shop."

"Oh dear, you really are my favorite," four voices of a 'mum!' yelled in the dinning room which did not take any of Pascale's attention away from the British young man "you're going to make me swoon."

"Oh my god," YN whispered to her brothers "we lost her."

"Yeah well," Lorenzo grumbled at his sister "he is your boyfriend"

"I lost my mum to my boyfriend."

"Oh, he went out of his way to go to her favourite shop," Arthur stated "she's not letting him go anywhere."

"I think you lost both of them mon ange."

■■♡■■

{Taglist: @idaesrhy @masonspulisic}

[antimonyandthyme]

body swap, for carcar or even landoscarcar?

He wakes up, disoriented. It’s not even light out yet, why the fuck is he awake? His throat’s a little sore, his hips are a little sore. Jeez. Didn’t even bother to put some pants on last night, and did he chafe his ass on like, the sheets or something? Wow. He’s sore all over. A settled, pleasant kind though, a muscle ache too deep for him to reach. Maybe he can skip the gym today, hop on a stream, relax. Grab Carlos for a round of golf before he leaves, if he’s not too busy mapping Monaco on his bike.

He turns to his left. Claps a hand over his mouth, shrieks into it.

Like, he’s groggy. He doesn’t have the remnants of a disaster headache, so he’s not hungover. But it’s early, and he never wakes up early. Must be why he’s hallucinating.

When he can bring himself to look again, Carlos is still there. Close enough that Lando can hear the air whistling softly through his teeth.

Lando shifts uselessly, stares. That’s Carlos, alright. He’s always been a loud sleeper. Back in their McLaren days, when they’d shared hotel rooms, Lando had taken voice recordings to prove to an adamant Carlos that he snored. The memory makes his lips twitch. It’s nice Carlos looks well-rested. Better than he has in awhile. A pretty trophy will do that for you. If he wants, Lando can choose to waste precious time counting Carlos’s lashes while he figures out what to do. He’ll lose count at probably a hundred.

That’s Carlos, alright.

What were they doing last night? Surely Lando would remember. The party was loud, raucous, the Prince of Monaco victorious here at last. All podium finishers present, fourth place included. Drinking, laughing, cozying up to one another. Carlos and Oscar smiling tentatively at each other after sharing just one couch, animosity seemingly forgotten. The prickly itch crawling under Lando’s skin, until Charles finally manages to bag him a set. The music, beats pounding a tattoo into his brain. He remembers all of that.

Surely he would remember taking Carlos’s clothes off. He’s wanted to for—

Lando slaps both hands onto his cheeks, hard enough to sting. He needs to take a leak.

He squeaks out of the bed, as quietly as he can. Trips over a pair of jeans that look vaguely familiar, rams his toe into the wheel of a suitcase that definitely wasn’t there last night. Finds the bathroom, closes the door with a silent snick.

Fumbles around like a dunce for the light switch, right there where all light switches usually are.

Flicks it on. Shrieks for real this time, without his hands to cover the noise.

It’s a good thing Carlos has always slept like the dead. To be absolutely fucking certain, Lando peeks his head out.

Yep, still asleep. That’s Carlos, alright.

Deep, deep breaths. As deep as he can go without passing out. He returns to the mirror. Feels for his face like it’s a foreign object.

Which it is. Because that’s Oscar Piastri, looking right back at him.

--

He means to start off with something useful. Something like, Hey, do you remember what drugs we were on last night? E? Salvia? Because mate, these are the strangest withdrawal symptoms I’ve ever experienced. Or even something funny, like Haha, now I know what you look like naked. The fans are going to have a field day.

Instead, what comes out of his mouth is, “Why are you sleeping with Carlos?”

“Good morning to you too,” Oscar says, after the longest pause on planet fucking earth.

He didn’t mean for that to sound as sulky as he did. But he’s sore all over, and his lips, which are not his, but Oscar’s, feel extremely kissed, and he definitely does not expect that to make something in his chest twist tighter than a coiled spring.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

“What did we drink last night?” Oscar says, unsurprisingly choosing to be the level-headed one in this conversation.

“Something bright green, something ocean blue. Dunno. Lost track during the set.”

“Lando,” Oscar says patiently, in Lando’s voice. Which is just all kinds of weird. “Something green, something blue, doesn’t sound all that normal.”

“I knew that DJ couldn’t be trusted.”

The world-weary sigh Lando receives makes his skin prickle with heat. Things have been happening. The car’s gotten faster. From his grandmother to the mechanics, everyone’s been talking about a chance he could pull like magic out of thin air. It’s not his fault he wasn’t paying attention. At the club, or to every encounter Carlos and Oscar had prior to this that has led them here.

“Look, I’m gonna—where are you?”

“In Carlos’s room,” Lando says, rudely, unhelpfully.

“Right. I’ll. I’ll be there in. We’re staying just, two blocks away, right? I’ll be there in ten. Could you. Could you please, just—”

Lando expects him to say something totally condescending. Please just don’t freak out. Please just don’t do anything until I get there, because I’m being responsible and you’re being a baby.

“Just, go back?”

“What?”

“Be next to him, when he wakes up?”

Lando swallows. The acid from yesterday must be making his stomach churn. Oscar—in Lando’s fucking voice, sounds smaller and more hopeful than Lando ever wants to hear himself sound.

“I don’t want him to think.” Oscar stops. Lando can practically see him scrubbing at the back of his neck. “I don’t want him to think I left, or anything like that. Could you—”

Lando hangs up.

The earnestness. The, the audacity.

The phone rings again, and Lando hangs up again, out of pure spite. He paces wildly, in front of the mirror. Each time he turns on his heel he imagines his body morphing back into what’s right. Each turn smacks him with the image that Oscar’s pale, freckled skin turns splotchy red when he’s angry.

What. A useful thing. To know.

It’s been half an hour since he’s woken up. Which means, oh fuck. Fuck. Carlos’s body clock has always been impeccable. Eight, on the dot, he springs out of bed like it’s a wonderful thing being alive at that hour, and then goes and makes coffee without fail. Which means in three, two minutes, Carlos will open his eyes. And, and he’ll be alone in bed.

He’ll be alone. That’ll make Lando feel better, right? Carlos will be alone, and then Oscar will no longer be a problem, and then the itch under his skin will disappear, for good.

Carlos will be alone.

He flicks off the light, slips out of the bathroom. Bangs his toe again on that damned suitcase. Slides under the covers, adjusts himself into a position he hopes might be believable. Head on one hand, face tilted toward Carlos. Body leaning, reaching. Always reaching. Eyes half-closed.

But open enough so that he can see the exact moment Carlos wakes. See that small, relieved smile. See the way Carlos clicks his jaw askew, the way he always does before making a decision. Then feel Carlos run the backs of his knuckles against a face he wishes were familiar.

[eternally-racing]

meet me at midnight | lando norris

pairing: lando norris x reader

wc: 1k

summary: even though you're sick, new year's eve is definitely a night you and lando want to remember.

----

“You have to go, Lan, everyone’s expecting you” you say while attempting to hide the congestion in your voice. It’s all futile though, since your ruby red nose and all too evident fever are giving you away. 

It’s New Year’s Eve and the two of you had planned on spending it together in Bali. It was a compromise of sorts. You got your quiet Christmas at home, while Lando was so excited to show you all his best DJ moves to close out the year. The only hiccup in the plan so far is that you had come down with one of the worst colds you’d experienced all year, leaving you absolutely cocooned under the blankets of your shared hotel room. 

Of course Lando wants to stay with you, he’s a gentleman after all. The two of you are still trying to keep things quiet with your relationship;  that means no joint entries into the paddock, no lavish vacations on a yacht, and most of all trying to keep things looking as “business as usual” in your personal social media accounts. People were already starting to question things, and Lando not making an appearance with his besties while everyone knows he’s in Bali would definitely raise too many red flags. It’s only when you threaten to get out of bed and iron his button down shirt yourself (it’s your favorite on him, and he knows that), does Lando come to terms with the fact that he’s leaving you behind to go party. It makes him feel a little sick in his stomach and you can see him almost change his mind at least half a dozen times before he makes it out the door, and it’s only after a mountain of air kisses and a promise to come back the minute you text him that you need him that he finally walks out the door. 

You’re not sure how long he’s been gone, but you can definitely still hear the party booming just miles away from your room. The toxic combination of advil and dehydration has left a pounding in your head that’s only compounded by the bass booming through your sheets, and the amount that you’re writhing in bed is almost enough to have you text Lando to come back. The minute you pick up your phone you see a cute video Martin sent of your man in the DJ booth looking like he’s having the time of his life, and that’s enough to make you change your mind. Seeing Lando happy made you happy enough, and if he was here the only thing he would do is probably just get himself sick. 

After drifting in and out of consciousness for a while you feel the side of the bed dip next to you and a pair of warm arms circle around you. Lando’s giggling a little to himself as he presses his face into your shoulder, and the ticklish feeling is enough to bring you further out of your slumber and roll over towards him. You can tell that Lando is still wearing the same shirt as you grasp at the buttons. He has that soft smile on his face that you just love seeing, his eyes fluttering open and shut as he tries to fight off sleep to look at you. On a normal night you would definitely chastise him for not brushing his teeth or changing his clothes before getting into bed, but it is honestly so nice to have him back and you tell him exactly that. As a response Lando only tries to bring your bodies even closer to each other, burying his head into your neck as he entangles your limbs together.

“Lan, baby I love you but you reek of tequila right now” you groaned as you stretched your back out slightly. The smell itself is enough to make your nausea return and you keep your nose shut with your fingers while you lift his head away from your body,

All of a sudden you feel Lando’s roaming hands freeze on your body and it immediately has you worried something’s wrong. You reach out to touch his cheek again but instead it looks like your boyfriend has seen a ghost. 

“You…love me?” Lando whispers out.

Shit. this is absolutely not how you meant for this to happen. I guess that's what love is like - perfectly imperfect and never how you expect it. The words had been on the tip of your tongue for weeks now but you just didn’t know the right moment to say it, but it looks like while your brain was overthinking it your heart had decided to blurt it out. 

You can feel your own face start to heat up, and this time it’s not from your fever. “Yeah, I love you Lando” You can barely keep eye contact with the blue-eyed boy across from you as you say it. 

There’s barely a beat of silence between you two and you’re about to launch into a mini rant about how he shouldn't feel any pressure to say it back and that it kind of slipped out when Lando scoops you into his arms. Before you know it he’s laughing and he’s kissing you and there’s fireworks happening between you two that can’t even be rivaled by the lights show that you can see streaming in through your window. 

“Can I show you how much I love you, baby?” is all Lando has to ask before you give in, all goals of trying to keep your distance to stop him from getting sick having gone out the window. 

And when Lando wakes up with a cold the next day, you’re right there next to him taking care of him. He’s the one you love, after all.

---

author's note: fun fact this was the very first formula 1 fic i ever wrote! it's making an appearance today because i've been so crazy busy this week and haven't been able to write a ton of new stuff :( so excited to get some more writing done this weekend! Love you all, thank you so much for reading! Until next time - Em <;3

[f1tales]

say you can't sleep, baby, i know - mv1

that's that me espresso || part three

previous part || next part

pairing: max verstappen x ofc!piastri

summary: oscar’s older sister is a singer, who’s taylor swift’s opening act for the eras tour. she goes to a few races on her break. she meets max; who thinks about her every night now. much to oscar’s annoyance.

author's note: it's been a while, works been busy! hope you enjoy!

face claim: sabrina carpenter

Ivy erupted into cheers alonge everyone else in the Red Bull garage as Max crossed the finsih line first. She watched the mechanics hug and clap each other on the back before going out towards parc fermé.

Ivy slowly trailed behind, hoping she would be able to hide a little in the crowd. She didn't want to send Oscar into an early death just yet.

She arrived at Parc Fermé just as Max stepped away from his mechanics. His eyes seemed to be searching for something, someone, in the crowd.

Ivy blew him a kiss as their eyes met; Max's face lit up with the brightest smile ever. She waved as he went over to Checo, to wait for his interview.

She smiled all throughout his interview, their eyes would occasionally meet causing both of them to break out into big smiles. Ivy felt her heart swell as she watched him on the top step of the podium. She slipped out just as the top three were taking their photo's on the podium.

Judging by the last Grand Prix she attended, Oscar would probably still be in his post race interviews. But it couldn't hurt to check if he'd come back already. Max still had his interviews and press conference to attend, so she decided she'd hang out with Oscar until then.

Ivy easily reached the McLaren hospitality. She waited outside, not daring to go in. Unlike last time, she didn't actually have a McLaren pass.

"Ivy?"

She turned around, only to meet Lando and his press officer. She smiled as she got pulled into a hug by the British driver. "Hey, good race!"

"Eh, I suppose. Are you here to see Oscar?" He lead her inside the hospitality. "He should be back soon. Man was having a mental breakdown before the race. Surprised he manged to finish it."

Ivy chuckled, "yeah, that may have been my fault."

"Yeah, we know." Lando winked at her. "So," he pulled out a chair for her then sat down in the opposite chair. "You and Max?"

Ivy pulled her blonde hair to the side, "well, uh-,"

"Vee, let's go." Ivy looked up to see Oscar standing next to the table now. "We have to talk." He started walking away, urging his older sister to follow him.

She turned to Lando, "well, gotta go. Need to speak to the boss." She followed Oscar to wherever he was going. He held the door open for her then closed it with a rather loud slam behind her.

"Remember," she started, "you weren't angry."

Oscar let out a sigh as he ran a hand through his hair. He looked at her with his eyes narrowed, "what happened to going to Perth?" Ivy just stared at her brother for a minute. "Vee, come on, you said you'd talk to me."

"Oscar, this is my personal life. It's really none of your business." Ivy stood up from the bed she was sitting on. "And I must go now. I have plans."

Oscar grabbed her wrist just before she could walk out, "is he being good to you?"

Ivy's face softened. She nodded, "he is."

liked by oscarpiastri, maxverstappen1 and others

ivypiastri: first time at the japanse grand prix! also, happy belated birthday, osco! love you 🧡

View all comments

oscarpiastri: ..i don't get a seperate birthday post? alright i see how it is

redbullracing: It was nice to have you in the garage with us!

oscarspastry: uhh is she soft launching max?

ln1999: ...she posted a picture of the podium?? checo and carlos are literally there too...

ivypiastri_fan: MAX IS IN THE LIKES AGAIN!

landonorris: Come back to McLaren next time, it's more fun over here

ivysgarden: 💗💗

maxverstappen1: Good to have you!

liked by ivypiastri

"So, did he freak out?"

Ivy tore her eyes away from the movie playing on the TV to look at Max. He was drawing shapes on her bare shoulder. "Oscar, I mean."

Ivy hummed, "he did for a minute. I think he's just trying to protect me. Because he couldn't before and, well, I don't know." She looked away from Max and back at the TV.

Max frowned down at the girl in his arms, "what do you mean?"

"Nothing, just, there was this whole thing with me 'stealing' this guy, Harry, from this actress he was seeing," she made quotation marks with her fingers. "Which caused the whole internet to start a hate campagin against me. And then there was this whole drama just a few months ago with Elias and Cristina."

"Who?"

Ivy laughed as she looked at the cute expression on Max's face; his nose scrunched up and his brow furrowed. "Elias Pereira? Cristina Torres?"

Max shook his head; he had no idea who any of these people were.

"Elias and I dated, but he had this whole history with Cristina and decided to go back to her. No hard feelings on my part, really, in hindsight anyway. He wasn't good for me."

Max pulled her closer, "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. In the whole thing with Harry gave me the whole emails i can't send album." She put on a brave smile. "And without Elias dumping me, I wouldn't have been at the Melbourne GP, and then I wouldn't have met you."

"Hm," Max hummed, "I'm still sorry that happened to you." He rested his cheek on the top of her head after kissing her cheek. "I promise I'll treat you better."

Ivy erupted into fits of laughter, "I'm sorry," she wheezed as she saw the confusion written across his face again, "Elias has a song with that title. Sorry."

"You think that's funny?" Max let go of her and went to sit on his knees on top of her. "Huh?" Ivy shook her head, trying to control her laughter. Max started poking his fingers to her sides, "I'll show you funny."

Ivy squealed as Max tickled her, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry." She managed to wrap her arms around his neck to pull him down. "I'm sorry," she said as she pressed her lips against his.

part 4 coming soon.

taglist: @mastermindbaby @charlesgirl16 @a-beaverhausen

[itaipava]

— christmas with f1 boys.

˒ ⌕ LANDO NORRIS

snow fight: he would take you to make angels in the snow but, when you least expected it, you would be attacked by a snowball and when you looked at him, he would act confused as if nothing had happened, so you take advantage of this moment and play more snow on him, which causes a snow fight. you lose track of time because you’re too busy throwing snow at each other while trying to hide: you laugh so much and have fun like children. after a while, he comes to you: he hugs you and kisses you several times, which makes you laugh even more because his lips are cold. later you go home to watch christmas movies while drinking hot chocolate.

˒ ⌕ DANIEL RICCIARDO

building a snowman: he would be very excited to build a snowman with you and he wouldn’t even try to hide it because honestly he probably waited all year for it to snow so he could build one with you. he would try to make it look like one of his friends but it wouldn’t work anyway. the snowman is a little jagged and deformed, but you two worked so hard on it, you love it anyway. he would let you add the finishing touches like; the scarf, the nose, and any hat you could find in the dorm that would fit your crazy snowman. his name would be from your shipp and he would take so many pictures to always remember this special and funny moment.

˒ ⌕ CARLOS SAINZ

making cookies together: he promises to help you, but he spends all the time with his arms around your waist, resting his chin on your shoulder as he watches you do all the work by yourself. but after you complain, he helps you cut the cookie dough in the shape of stars and christmas trees, complaining about how cliché it is but still enjoying spending time with you: this moment is so precious and genuine to him, spending this day with you it’s truly a blessing. and when the cookie is done, he smiles and brags about being an amazing cook

˒ ⌕ CHARLES LECLERC

ice skating; he would pick you up on a date, not telling you where you were going; so you would be very surprised when he pulls into the parking lot of an outdoor ice skating rink. it would be all decorated for the holiday with christmas lights everywhere and it’s so beautiful you can’t stop smiling and admiring the place around you. you’d probably need to wear those things kids use and hold so they don’t fall on the ice and he’d quickly grab it for you, trying to hide the smile on his face. he just circles around you while you barely move and try not to fall. when you start to get a little more used to it, he grabs your hands and holds you to keep you steady, looking sweetly at you. asking strangers to take a picture of you two for him to send to his family as a keepsake. then he’d buy you hot chocolate later and walk around town with you until it’s time to go home <3

˒ ⌕ OSCAR PIASTRI

going to shop together: walking through the crowded mall hand in hand as christmas music plays softly on the intercoms. after buying some presents for your friends (with you having to help him because he has no idea what to buy) you decide to split up to buy presents for each other; at the end of the day he takes you to dinner in a beautiful and comforting place. he lightly pats your hand on the table as you wait for your food to arrive, enjoying the snow falling outside.

˒ ⌕ LEWIS HAMILTON

decorating the christmas tree: he would have all the trinkets and decorations ready when you get there and he would smile a little embarrassed at how excited he is; he would take it so seriously; it would be so cute and precious. he probably has a color scheme for all the embellishments and decorations, so everything matches and that makes you even more enchanted. he helps you to place all the ornaments that are too high on the tree for you to reach; smiling without you noticing because he doesn’t want this moment so unique and pure to end ever. he also loves taking photos of you distracted while you decorate the tree or when you pet roscoe who watches the two of you with curiosity. he also likes to take several photos of the three of you together, to save this precious and genuine moment and to post everywhere — and brag about having a beautiful family.

˒ ⌕ MAX VERSTAPPEN

making a gingerbread house: he’s the one who came up with the idea and honestly he’s really good at it! he is very focused and silent as he puts the frosting on the walls of the house, but he also gets even more intense and focused as he glues the walls together, whispering something like “no sudden moves, babe.” as if it were the most important thing of all. but of course, he would still have fun with it and mess with you a bit; he probably smears frosting on your cheek or nose and kisses you with the excuse to ‘clean up’ but you two would also discuss how to decorate the outside of the house; he wants to use chewing gum as a doorknob and you want to make one with glace; it takes hours to finish, but once done it looks amazing; it’s a mix of both of your design ideas and you both love it <3

[folkloresthings]

“i keep saying things like, ‘i never saw him and we never kissed.’” x Lando

“i keep saying things like, ‘i never saw him and we never kissed’” with lando norris

✩⡱ warnings: suggestion of sex

the london apartment is as quiet as you remember it to be. probably because, despite being so central, lando lived completely alone — bliss compared to your flat shared between four girls. lando had let you in a few minutes ago, offering a cup of tea or a glass of wine, disappearing into the kitchen. but you’d stayed there by the shut door, coat still on your shoulders, head spinning with the regret of coming here. your friends had warned you to stay away, and they had every right to. night after night had you cried to them over the puzzle that was lando norris, the man that held your delicate heart in his hands. your relationship had been a complicated one, but even after a year of on and off and on again, you always managed to find your way back together.

only the night before had he messaged you, letting you know he was back in the city and, if you weren’t too busy with university, you should come over. daring not to breath a word of the text to your friends, you’d come straight across town to lando’s place after class, laptop and lecture notes still tucked in your tote.

“do you still take two sugars?” his familiar bristol accent echoed through the apartment, forcing you to drop your bag and hang up your coat. your shoes carried you through the hallway toward the kitchen, knowing every turn like the back of your hand. it always felt so right to be here in his space, more at home than you’d ever felt in your shared university house. hell, more at home than in the house you grew up in. but it was a dangerous line, and your heart was willing you to not fall in too deep again.

“yeah,” you slipped into the kitchen quietly, teetering along the edge of the counter towards where he spooned the teabags out of two mugs. “i’m trying to cut down to one but it’s not going very well.”

lando laughed. that boyish chuckle he always did when you said something without meaning to be funny. his eyes shone over to you, stirring the sugar and milk around the mug he always saved for you: one with a little cartoon duck painted on the side. you’d said once that his tea tasted nicest out of that one.

your gaze dips shyly when he slides the tea towards you, afraid you’d give in too quickly if you looked at him again. he’d always had this strange power over you, able to make you crumble with the smallest of gestures. you could hear your best friend now, tutting at your silliness of coming in the first place. lando takes a sip of his tea, closer to you now. you could only blow lightly on the hot drink, your breath too constricted to chance swallowing.

“how’s uni?” ah, small talk. it only made things more tense, wondering which of you would trip up first.

“not bad. i’m nearly finished with my dissertation, and then it’s just graduation,” you tell him calmly, focusing all your efforts on keeping your voice steady and not on staring at his wet lips. he nods, setting his mug on the counter with a soft clink. you inhale gently, watching his movements carefully, watching his chest get closer and closer to yours. you don’t know when you sat your tea down, but your hands are free now, resting on the soft material of his jumper. “lando…”

your voice is warning, but it doesn’t stop his small smirk. “what?” he murmurs, and despite the smugness in his tone his eyes are all softness, full of the love he’d promised months ago. you can’t find the energy to answer, thoughts jumbled with how warm he feels.

his lips are on you then, hesitant and tentative, making sure you’re okay with this. no matter how idiotic he’d acted in the past, he had always been considerate. as soon as your feet rise up to meet his height, he pulls you even closer. strong arms winding around your waist, pulling you flush to his frame, eyes squeezed shut as he kisses you with everything that he has. you notice the small whine that slips from his throat, and you know then how much he’s missed you.

fingers find his hair, getting lost in the brown curls, you palm on his head pushing his lips closer to you. even then, it’s not close enough, not until you could swallow him whole. your knees go weak with how his hands have slipped under your top, warm from where he held the mug of tea. but he doesn’t let up, holding you closer and tighter, swearing not to let you slip away again. his tongue, warm and sweet, makes you dizzy, that familiar heat pooling in your stomach. he clearly feels the same, tracksuit bottoms straining against your middle, feet moving to pull you both towards the bedroom.

“lando,” you part from him, breathless and muddled. when you look at him, his lips swollen, hair messed, eyes wide and yearning, you completely forget what you were going to say. he doesn’t, though, reading you like a book he’d written himself.

“right, yeah. not now. maybe we could get dinner, or something. and talk?” he offers, sensing your hesitation to trust him. had it been an hour ago, you’d have laughed the idea off. but after the way he’d kissed you, like he’d just been told you were being taken away from him for the rest of eternity, how could you refuse?

the kiss goodbye he’d given you at the door still lingers on your lips as you wait for the train, regretting how you refused his offer to let him drive you when the cold london air chills at your spine. your palm wipes at your lips as you let yourself into your own apartment, as if your friends could tell he’d been on them an hour ago.

“it’s late, where were you?” your roommate questions innocently, watching you hang up your coat and slip off your shoes. you glance at her, searching for any suspicion in her eyes.

“nowhere.”

[leclsrc]

This req is gonna sound weird but do yk that scene in friends where ross is hugging rachel by the legs? on his knees? could i have a charles drabble w/ that? ty!

the final frame – cl16

You and Charles move in together, among other things.

auds here... this req is from before christmas hahaha. i do not watch friends so i scoured the internet for this ‘scene’, i hope i was right and i hope i did this req justice! this is the last one for now and i’ll hopefully reopen them fr in a minute. title from this

The night’s colder than you anticipated, a cool draft sending goosebumps up your forearm as you inspect the fillet of salmon in the oven. You step forward, off where you’d been leaning on the island, to heave the window shut—the act usually requires all your strength—but Charles bounds into you from behind, pressing insistent, laughing kisses onto your neck.

“C,” you say, giggling yourself, a hand coming up to stroke at the nape of his neck. “Stop, there are people in the next room.”

He bites on your jaw a little and you laugh. “Next room, babe. Like, right in the next—just two metres—!”

Laughing still, he finally lets up and effortlessly shuts the window himself. He pecks another kiss, just on the tip of your nose, murmurs I love you and lets it settle into the herb-smelling air. “Are you tipsy?” You ask, teasing. He winks.

“No—really, though,” you press a little, lacing your hands together. “You’re fine?”

“Totally.” He smiles. “Bit nervous.”

“I was, too,” you start, squeezing his hand, “until I remembered these are literally just our friends. And they’re stupid, and they’ll probably love us even if we announced we murdered someone.”

He nods and smiles, slots your mouths together. When he pulls away, he murmurs, “I love you. You look beautiful.”

Really, you’re just in a two-year-old dress from a flea market in Provence, and your hair is dry and ratty and tied into a bun, but you appreciate the compliment. He’s being genuine, eyes gliding over you with ease as he presses yet another kiss to your cheek; you loop your arms around his neck, smiling up at him. This is so foolish, you think, to be so idiotically in love like this, but it’s Charles, and it makes so much sense.

“You’re glowing, really.” He doesn’t give, still spouting compliments like a broken fountain. 

“You suck.” You’ve never been good at accepting compliments, which seems ironic because you’re with a man who loves words, loves to tell you how much you mean to him, muffled by skin or said through a mic or in French or Italian. You tug him closer. “Should we go?”

He pauses, exhales. “Yeah. Let’s.”

Your friend group has gathered here, at Charles’ place, under the pretense that you’re trying to finish the ridiculously expensive bottle of wine Charles had purchased from France, but really, it’s for you both to announce your moving in together. Little milestones like these have always been celebrated by your group, and this is no different; tonight, Max has even volunteered to fix the clock that permanently reads 12:38 on Charles’ flat’s mantle.

You lead the way from the kitchen into the living room, where everyone is engaged in some kind of chatter or activity. Lily’s legs are draped over Alex’s lap and she’s coaching him through a Rubik’s cube. Lando is busy telling a joke to Carlos and Isa. And Max is three feet off the ground fiddling with a clock, turning deviously to ask: “Where have you two been?”

“Shagging,” you reply with nonchalance. 

“Your hair’s still perfect,” Lily says disapprovingly. “Don’t lie!”

You roll your eyes, stifling a smile as you lean into Charles’ arm that’s wrapped itself around your shoulders. In the future, you’ll tell yourself you should’ve noticed his clammy hand pressed against your arm, or turned and noticed his blank stare, his too-nervous gait. So many signs, you’ll think, and you ignored them all because you felt so damn happy. “Okay, I’m lying. The truth is…”

You turn to him, brows raising. “…you wanna go?”

“I wan—do you?”

“Sure, if you—”

“Just tell us!” Lando yells impatiently, sitting straighter, abandoning the joke in favor of this. “Tell us. Now!”

“Okay, um, we—well, a few months ago we decided we kind of. No, we definitely wanted to live together. And, to save you all the sexy details of getting leases and looking around Monaco for flats—we got one just two weeks ago. So this is—what it is, is it’s, uh, really a dinner to celebrate saying bye-bye to Charles’ flat. Okay? Right. Okay.”

You pause. The room erupts in whoops and cheers—many utterances of the word finally! float across the room. Immediately Isa and Lily are standing, demanding to see pictures of the new place, directions they can input into their cars and phones so they know exactly how to get there. Carlos, Lando, and Alex all cheer, offer alcohol as housewarming gifts. Max nearly drops the clock.

And this is it, you think, the rest of your life’s been decided. With this group, and your Charles, and the flat that will be yours by tomorrow morning.

—

Your house doesn’t feel much like home.

You know it’s an unfair statement, that it’s only really been two, three months of living together. But something has shifted, something you cannot name no matter how hard you try to. It’s just as cold tonight as it was the night you were in Charles’ old place announcing this one, but everything feels different now.

The move had started excitedly, with you sending near daily updates to the group chat with Isa and Lily, of paint swatches and ship-ins from IKEA. They sent flowers, came over to inspect the place, and so did everyone else—Max returned the now repaired clock, nailed it onto a spot on the wall the entire group agreed on. Slowly, bit by bit, the place began to feel like it was yours. 

But the nights without Charles grew long, and the days with him at work or at the gym or at a media affair—some of which he’d easily denied in favor of you before—grew more frequent. The flat, big and wide and lofty in an affluent neighborhood, felt bigger when he was gone. You were alone, a stranger in your own house, without him. 

You can’t pinpoint anything.

You can’t pinpoint the when, the how, the why, the if. To you, everything is vague, and that’s the worst part: how can you fix something you can barely understand? You haven’t shared a cup of coffee in ages, and the most you see of him is half his foot departing the front door in the morning. It could be work, it could be the preparing for the season, but in six years of being together nothing’s felt quite like this. You wonder if it’s deliberate. 

But your texts to Isa and Lily stay the same. Cream or eggshell? Cerulean or slate? And when they ask about Charles, you ignore the bite of guilt and lie instead. C and I just had brunch, he said eggshell, but the truth is, you’re the one settling on eggshell. You’d asked him ‘cream or eggshell’ three weeks ago and he said he’d think about it but he didn’t come home until four, and he hasn’t answered it.

He gets in on Saturday night earlier than usual, eyes dark with exhaustion. He’s wearing a suit, and you don’t know why. You can’t place half the places he’s been lately. His texts are choppy, standoffish. Here. Leaving soon. I’ll see you? “Hi, baby,” he croaks when he sees you nursing wine at the kitchen counter.

“C,” you say quietly. “Hi. When did you get in?”

“Just now, I was driven.” 

“Oh.” You pause. “Want a glass?” You raise the bottle.

He seems to hesitate, stopping in his tracks a bit before nodding defeatedly and pacing toward you. He presses a kiss to your forehead, then your cheekbone, then finally your lips. You relish this, because you haven’t had it in so long. This intimacy, this affection, this kiss that isn’t pressed onto you while you’re asleep and he comes home with apologies flowing from his lips.

You pull away, pour him a glass of red. “Isn’t it crazy to think we have a home now?”

His smile flickers a little, and you notice. You try not to sound nosy when you pry. “C,” you say, the lump rising in your throat. Here you are, celebrating one of the happiest chapters of your life, but Charles won’t even meet your eyes. This is it. After months of not knowing, you think, you have to know. Now. “Are you okay?”

The wine is only half-poured. He sighs shakily, shakes his head.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” He sounds so, so far away.

“You’re scaring me,” you say, laughing. But you sound more nervous than amused. He sounds nervous, too.

“Baby,” he says suddenly, like a dam in his mind has broken and everything is spilling out, all the damage, all of it, and it’s washing onto you like a massive wash of water. “Baby, I—I fucked up.”

You cannot withstand the wave. Your eyebrows knit together. “Tell me,” you insist. Even more surprisingly, he crumples to his knees, hugs your thighs and leans against you. You press, anyway. “Talk to me, C. Please.”

“You can’t fix this,” he says resolutely, “you abso—you can’t.”

“I will,” you say. “I love you.”

“I slept with someone else.” This is a great, big, terrible feeling. You really can’t fix this. You’re back to being clueless. Your heart stops, and so does your breath, heavy and heaving. Words are dry when they try to leave your throat, leap off your tongue. Your hand, threaded into Charles’ hair, pauses. You feel him crying, but you feel nothing else.

“You what,” you ask. It’s so dry, everything is desert dry. A whisper, a breath, a murmur in the cold kitchen.

“I’m sorry.”

“C,” you say, and you can’t even cry yet. You’re stunned, struck with dizzy disbelief. “Was it—when, like, last season…?”

His silence answers you, and you stumble backwards, out of his grasp. You shake your head, like you’re trying to quell the tears, the lump in your throat, the nerves in your stomach that threaten to bubble over.

“Don’t say this year.” You shake your head, over and over, shaking and shaking, like it will rid you of the conversation you’re currently having. You think of the paperwork, of the nearly dropped clock, of signing the lease, of eggshell and flowers, of housewarming gifts yet to be unwrapped.

Tearily, you muster, “Don’t tell me, C. Don’t fucking do this to me, please. Don’t.”

“I barely even know her,” he says. “Once. It happened once. It meant nothing.” Your soul crushes, shot and wilted.

“No, it meant everything,” you say angrily. You’re angry now. Angry and sad, and furious and boiling with rage. You’re everything. You’re a house fire, right here in the flat. 

And you stand, feet bare on the tile, thinking about how you’ll have to live with this forever, branded like an ugly stamp. You loved and he did not. Get out, you say. Get out and don’t come back, I don’t care. Don’t fucking come back. You shove him weakly, but he gets the message, ushers himself to the coat rack. You’re not even yelling. You’re just breathing heavy, shaking your head, like you’re denying this ever happened.

You only cry when he’s left, loud, exruciating sobs. He wrestles himself outside still apologizing, saying he’ll be back tomorrow. You’re torn between hoping he will be and hoping you never see him again, crumpled to the hardwood of your brand new house, knees weak, heart weaker. You don’t get up until morning. 

[garykingz]

I saw someone else do this so I wanted to as well

So. Could I beat f1 drivers in a fight:

Max: He would attempt murder without a second thought so probably not but if he started, I'd simply walk away like George did. If we actually had to fight, I'd just say Charles doesn't luv him and leave him to that

Sergio: I'll bring a knife from my womany kitchen. Try me, Q2-1 boy

Charles: Remember his angry growls at the French gp last year? He'd kill if he wanted to but he'd never bc he's an angel. I'm only fighting him in be—

Carlos: He could try. He'd almost win but then I'd give him a swift kick in the nuts n he'd be down for the count. "Nice fight" "Thanks" 🤝

George: FIGHT? IM ONLY HERE TO [REDACTED] (He could beat my ass n I'd let him)

Lewis: NO. Wouldn't win, wouldn't want to try. Maybe I'd try just to see where it leads but– 🤭

Alex: Probably but wouldn't fight him. Would kiss him on the cheek n tell him how wonderful he is

Logan: Absolutely. I'd ask him what a kilometre is and watch him crumble to the ground and whine in American

Lando: Maybe but I'd call him cringe and he'd call me cringe and that's abt it lbr

Oscar: I could beat his twink ass easily but mostly bc he's too nonchalant to even care

Daniel: KISSES HIM ON THE MOUTH– I mean, no, I wouldn't fight him bc he could probably beat someone's ass easily if he wanted to

Yuki: NO. That tiny man is filled with the rage of a thousand suns and would easily win a fight with anyone if prompted tbh

Kevin: He's too busy being a total dad to even acknowledge a fight

Nico H: BEATS HIM WITH A STICK BEATS HIM WITH A STICK BEATS HIM WITH A S–

Pierre: No, I feel like he's got some hidden anger issues n I don't wanna fuck w that either. Also Yuki would beat my ass even considering fighting his boyfriend

Esteban: NOOOO. I mean, he could kill me in one swoop if he wanted, but NOOO I WOULD SIMPLY HUG HIM TIL HE FORGAVE ME FOR WHATEVER I DID

Fernando: ...Do I even need to say it? That man could kill someone 6'5 if he felt like it. But he chooses to be silly instead. He could end my existence but we end up kissing bc he's a sexy old man

Lance: Maybe. I'd beat him up but he wouldn't care bc his dad is a billionaire so

Zhou: I feel like I could but he has kind eyes so I could never do that. He'd win by smile alone

Valtteri: No. I would go on a hike with him instead

[norrisxfewtrell]

Only In The Morning | Pierre Gasly

Request: Could I please get something about Pierre where you’re friends and you’re drunk and he takes care of you and you go to kiss him and stuff and he says he doesn’t want to do anything whilst you’re drunk but he’ll wait til you’re sober?

Warnings: tiny bit of language, alcohol, and a lot of fluff.

You were never one for parties but when Pierre insisted that you attended you couldn’t say no to his puppy dog eyes and he knew it, so of course he used them against you “Pleeeaase (Y/N), it will be fun!” he promised. It was the famous Amber Lounge party celebrating the end of the season, so you weren’t super convinced to go although Pierre said Max, Alex, Lando, Yuki, their girlfriends and some other drivers you got along with were gonna be there. You loved the boys but the chances of them being way too drunk to even remember you being there were slim to none, so why go? Reluctantly, it was Pierre, your lifelong best friend who you had been in love with for years who had asked you to go, so you couldn’t bring yourself to say no.

Pierre sat on the couch in your hotel room as he typed away on his phone waiting for you to be ready “We need to leave soon.” he called “What’s taking so long, womaaan?” He calls again on purpose, knowing it would annoy you and he chuckles as he hears you groan out a “Coming!” from your bedroom as you finished putting on your heels and grabbed your purse. You walk out to the living room, standing in front of him as you flattened your dress “So? What do you think?” you ask posing slightly. As he looks up from his phone you could swear you heard his breath hitch and his eyes wander all over your figure, your black dress hugging every curve perfectly “Wow... I mean, you look beautiful, chérie.” He had always called you that but it had started making you blush for a few years now, since you started having feelings for Pierre but you knew he always meant it as friends. The moment is cut short as Pierre clears his throat and places his arm out towards you “Ready?” he asks “Ready” you giggle as you lace your arm through his and out the door you went.

The party was a lot of fun, you danced with the girls and you all drank shot rounds after shot rounds along with the boys. “You know Pierre hasn’t stopped looking at you all night, right?” Charlotte spoke as you and the girls were dancing; of course you had noticed, neither of you could stop staring at each other “It’s probably just to keep an eye on me, you know how he is when we go somewhere.” you say trying to end the subject quickly until “Bullshit!” Kelly intervenes “Everyone knows you both love each other, we just don’t understand why neither of you do anything about it.” you knew they all knew about your feelings for Pierre, even some of the boys knew “We’re just friends girls, you know that. I’ll be right back, need a drink.” You say needing an excuse to get out of that situation so you stumble your way towards the booth you all had reserved where all of the boys were sat. You wanted to sit down for a bit but you notice that there was no space for you and the boys were too busy talking to each other to stand up for you to sit “You can always sit here if you want to.” Pierre speaks up patting his lap, shocking you a bit; yeah, you were best friends but that was something you never thought you’d do. You were about to protest but he grabs your hand and pulls you down to sit on his lap leaving his arm around your waist and resting his hand on your thigh “This okay with you?” He asks into your ear causing goosebumps to rise all over your body, to which you could only nod as you turn to look at him.

You spend some more time talking, laughing and drinking with everyone, Pierre’s hand never leaving your waist. You suddenly feel Pierre push you slightly, indicating for you to stand up “Come on (Y/N), I think that’s enough for tonight.” He says as he grabs your stuff and you stumbled saying goodbye to everyone; his hand stays on your lower back as he leads you outside towards the Uber he had ordered to get back to the hotel, both of you silent on the way back. You immediately kick your heels off when you get to your hotel room, plopping onto the bed as you were way too tired and drunk to do anything “Nope, nope (Y/N). You have to get your makeup off and change for bed.” Pierre says walking out of your bathroom with one of your makeup wipes in his hand, you could only whine in response “Can’t you do it? Please?” you beg barely opening your eyes in his direction “Fine, but come on, you have to sit up.” he chuckles as he pulls you to sit up as he sits down beside you, gently starting to rub your face and eyes to take off as much of your makeup as he could. Your mind was still hazy enough to not really care about what you did in the moment as you could only stare at the man in front of you, analyzing every feature of his face “Enjoying the view, chérie?” Pierre suddenly asks in a playful way snapping you out of your thoughts and before you could even process what you were doing you hear yourself reply “Impossible not to.” in the same tone and you notice he’s surprised but doesn’t move away from you, on the contrary, his eyes moved between yours and your lips, his hand letting go of the makeup wipe and caressing your cheek instead. You close your eyes for a moment and lean into his touch “You really looked beautiful tonight.” He whispers as you open your eyes and move a hand to the collar of his shirt, slightly pulling him closer to you until your lips slightly touch before his hand moves to your waist and he fully kisses you.

You kiss him back, wrapping your arms around his neck, your fingers tangling into his hair pulling at it slightly, causing him to let out a small moan against your lips and he suddenly pulls you onto his lap as the kiss gets more heated. After a few minutes of making out you start moving your hands to his shirt, undoing the first few buttons but Pierre suddenly pulls back “Wait, stop.” he says and you pull back as well “Is everything alright? I-I’m sorry if I’ve done something wrong.” You say moving off his lap and standing up, sobering up slightly at the embarrassment “N-No, you didn’t do anything wrong. It’s just… I don’t want to do anything more when you’re not sober. Also, do you actually have feelings for me? I mean, for myself I can say that I’ve been in love with you since forever.” You couldn’t help but smile as you reach out for his hand taking it in yours and stepping closer to him as you look up at his eyes “I’ve been in love with you for a while Pierre, I love you.” You say and he wraps his arms around your waist “I love you too.” He says back and you lean in to kiss him again “Stay with me?” You ask pulling back a bit, he chuckles again “Okay, but again, no funny business. Only in the morning once you’re sober we’ll see what happens, okay?” He says as he places a kiss on your forehead and you nod in response. You proceed to get ready for bed and fall asleep in the arms of your now boyfriend, your best friend and love of your life.

[russellsppttemplates]

Like you, I think at least, I've recently fallen for Lando 🫠 can you please do one where he finds out how to do his hair so it is curly? I remember he usually wore it sort of smoothed/brushed out and I can picture him seeing his girl do her curly hair routine and wondering if his hair needed it because whenever he wet it, there was some curl pattern going on!

Note: yes, it's a recent thing for me too! Well, I myself am still trying to find out the routine that works best for me 😅

"Do you need help, baby? You look like you need help but I don't know what I can do for you", Lando giggled as he took you in. You were in your pyjamas, towells on the floor and one over your shoulders so your soaking hair would drench your clothes too much. The bathroom counter had hair clips, hair brushes and an array of products people surely needed a guide for.

"It's okay, just need to the cream, then the gel and just scrunch it out", you explained, taking one of the partings, applying the products as you spoke and then scrunching the hair as your curls took shape.

"Those noises suggest some other things", your boyfriend wiggled his eyebrows, and if you weren't so focused on moving your neck properly, he was sure you'd have slapped his chest.

Stretching your leg, your foot just about nudged Lando's hip, "this is serious business, you can't distract me like that!", you scolded playfully, finishing the product application and grabbing your hairdryer, "since you're so keen to help, would you dry my hair? My arms are a little tired", you pouted, smiling when he moved to stand next to you, taking the hot tool from your hands and listening intently to your directions.

"I noticed my hair also does this", your boyfriend said when you laid on his naked chest, shielding your eyes from the sun since you forgot your sunglasses in the hotel room. The plans for the weekend had been simple: relax and enjoy some sun before the reason got back in full speed.

"What does 'this' mean?", you wondered, kissing his tanned skin and tracing random shaped, "when I get out of the water, it's wavy, but all together, then when I brush it out, it gets puffy", he noted.

"I've told you many times that you probably have very beautiful curls if you tailored your care to them", you recalled as he nodded in agreement, "does that mean you'll let me do them? Please please please?", you pouted, squealing when he said yes.

By the time you were back in the room getting ready for dinner, you were brushing and splitting your boyfriend's curls, careful with the gel as you struggled with measuring product yourself, "I'm just going to dry these a little", you whispered. When you were finished, you gulped, "you were very hot already, but right now?", you groaned, biting your lip.

"Do you like it, though?", you wondered, seeing him ruffle the curls slightly, "yeah, I look quite nice if I say so myself", he blushed when he noticed your attention on him, "very nice indeed, very handsome, baby".

(Thank you for your submission ✨️)

[cellard0ors]

“Dad, it’s time,” Lily says so simply, so easily that Link just stares at her. When does the child become the adult? That sure seems like the case here, but he refuses to acknowledge it, instead pushing some of the checker pieces in front of him around the board, “Don’t know what you mean.”

Lily rolls her eyes, “Come on, it’s been over ten years. Mom is gone-”

“Thanks, I remember.”

She ignores the bitterness and continues, “-and me and Lando agree. You’ve gotta get back out there.”

“Out where?”

A heavy sigh, “Don’t be deliberately obtuse.”

“‘Deliberately’-?” he starts repeating, eyebrows rising as he looks at her in wonder, “Who raised you? When did you learn to talk like that? They teach you that fancy talk at the office? Or did you learn it from that guy…what was his name? Bryce?”

“It was Trish, actually.”

“Trish?” Link frowns, confused, “You still seeing her? I thought you were with Bryce.”

Lily shakes her head, “I dated a Brian, then Trish, who I’ll admit had something of a vocabulary but right now it’s all about Ben. I’m stepping away from the dating pool for now to focus on what’s most important.”

“Ben - how is my grandson?”

“He’s fine,” she stresses and glares at him with an expression that reminds him so much of Christy’s it hurts, “And stop changing the subject. You need to go back out into the world, Dad. You need to date and - again, Lando and I agree on this - you need to date Rhett.”

Lily directs this so easily that it makes his hands sort of scatter, knocking checker chips everywhere. He thinks about blaming it on arthritis, but thus far he’s thankfully avoided that. His hands might be unsteady now and again in his old age, but they’re still in mostly good shape.

Wrinkled, sure. Less than pristine seeing as they no longer have that bright sheen of youth, but still - not bad. Certainly not the kind that would just randomly toss chips and yet there they go, spilling all around. To be fair, he hadn’t even really been playing - more toying around with the game board.

After all, what else is there to do? And now here he is - his adult daughter telling him to date his best friend, as if that’s what he should do (or should have been doing) and he just stares at her, “Why on earth would I go and do something like that?!”

Another eye roll and yes, she might be grown but he’s thisclose to scolding her about that action, “Dad - please.”

“What?!” he asks in a somewhat hysterical manner because this is crazy. Absolutely coo coo bananas. This generation…

…and good gosh, he has become an old man, hasn’t he?

Lily barrels on, “You want to date him. You’ve probably always wanted to date him. I know that, Lando knows that - Lincoln does too, but he’s been busy overseas, so, y'know we haven’t had as much of a chance to talk to him about it, but I honestly don’t think he’d give a shit-”

“Language!”

“-crap,” she corrects smoothly and leans back in the chair across from him, arms folding over one another, “And like I said, Mom is gone and Rhett’s divorce is years old. He and Jessie split amicably - she’s moved on, he hasn’t and why? Probably because he’s waiting for you to call him.”

“I just talked to him last night!” he cries and she sits up, one hand lightly smacking the table, “Yeah! And no doubt you two just circled around one another like you always do! You talk about all this-this inane, useless stuff and just-just avoid the real issue!”

“The real issue?!”

Lily sighs and reaches for one of his hands, holds it as if to comfort him, “That you’re both single again, both lonely again, and both missing one another more than two friends should miss one another.”

He snatches his hand back and pouts. He pouts. Again, when does the child become the adult? He crosses his own arms over his chest, doing his best to look surly, “I do miss Rhett. I used to see him every day. I’ll give you that. But that doesn’t mean I miss him so much that I think we should date. For goodness sake’s, I’m in my sixties, Lily. People my age don’t date.”

“Fine, call it whatever you want - but just, I mean, go out with him,” she does this strange almost 'shoo-ing’ gesture, “And I mean out out. This isn’t the nineties, Dad. Heck, not even the early two thousands - we’re pretty deep into it now and most people aren’t going to look one way or another if you two finally hook up.”

Link doesn’t want to keep repeating his daughter, but it’s hard not to say 'hook up’, because clearly she’s lost her mind. She’s a single mother. Who will care for Ben if she has to be carted off to the nuthouse? Which is clearly where she’s headed.

…his sons too.

…I mean, the very idea…

…'hookin’ up with Rhett…

…ridiculous…

A chuckle breaks into his thoughts and Lily looks at him with love and amusement shining from her eyes, “You do know you’re saying all that stuff out loud, right?”

Link blinks and swallows because no, he didn’t. And he doesn’t think it’s a sign of senility so much as shock. Lily gets up and starts picking up the mess he made, shaking her head as she does so, “All I’m saying is…I think it would be good for you. BOTH of you.”

Link’s nose twitches and he runs a finger under it, “…I think you’re out of your mind.”

Lily finishes cleaning up the chips and kisses her father’s forehead, “And I think you’re sweet. And silly. And just a little too stubborn for your own good.”

“Quit quoting your Mama.”

She shrugs, “Can’t help it. She was a wise woman and, I might add, a woman who would be happy to see you settled. She loved you, Dad, And so do I. So, I mean - if anything, just…think about it. Okay?”

There’s another kiss to the forehead before she gathers up her things and then there’s a quick talk about when they’ll see each other next and then she’s gone.

Gone.

And Link is alone again.

Alone and looking at a stupid checker board he doesn’t even play and a pile of chips.

…ask Rhett out. Ask him out. As in a date. As in 'hooking up’. As in…

He looks out over his porch and sighs, about a million thoughts rolling all over one another in his mind.

Ask Rhett out.

It’s insane…

…but is it really any more insane than anything else he’s done in his life?

Part 2 here

I'mma dedicate this to @lallyloo. I don't know if I'll write any more of it, but it was just in my mind refusing to leave so, y'know...here? *yeets it at you in an awkward manner and runs away*

[indiebyrdn7]

All the memories, my memoires I tried to suppress came flooding back the close I came to Naboo. My mother brought me here once when I was little. Like always my father was M.I.A. He was off on a run with Uncle Lando or smuggling run. He never had time for ‘family’ things.  A part of me was even surprised my mother even had the time to take me to my Grandmother’s home. With all her New Republic business and all.

17 years ago, on Naboo

“Where are we Mommy?” I asked as I stared wide eyed out of the ships window

“Ben… This is where we come from,” Mom said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around me, “Welcome to Naboo.”

“Nab…oo,” I said slowly as I sounded out the word. “It sounds funny…”

“Most words do when you say they for the first time,” she continued. “This is where my mother was born.”

“Where you born here too Mommy, what about me?” I asked. “Were we born here too?”

“No, we were born on spaceships,” she answered. “Hence you are my little pilot.”

I missed Daddy and the Falcon. Why wouldn’t he let me come along? I felt my tears well up in my eyes. Mom gentle touched caressed my check as she wiped my tears away.

“He’ll join us next time, I promise,” she added as she kissed the top of my head. “And maybe Daddy will let you set in the captain’s chair.”

My light up.

“You promise?” I beamed.

“I promise,” she replied.

She lied. Dad never came joined us on Naboo. We never went back.

           “Approaching Naboo Supreme Leader,” I heard mt Tie Fight say.

           My computer’s voice pulled me out of my reveries. I glanced up from my controls and looked out the window. Naboo was so beautiful.

           “Just like I remembered,” I muttered under my breath.

           “Did you say something Supreme Leader?” it asked.

           “No,” I quickly replied.

           Gathering myself I flew my Tie-Fighter into the atmosphere of Naboo. Thankfully the shield modifications I made on my ship allowed me to enter the planet atmosphere without being detected. Naboo remained unchanged since the Clone Wars. For some reason the Emperor never touched this place during his reign over the known galaxy. He probably did so for Vader’s sake. It was his wife’s home.

I scoffed at the notion of sentimentality in the Empire.

“It was probably about control,” I thought to myself. “The Emperor was just like Snoke…”

I filled with rage as the thought of Snoke came into my mind. I knew all to well about being controlled. The Emperor probably knew if he destroyed my Grandmother’s home planet Vader might have revolted against him. And he didn’t want that.

“I am free Grandfather…” I said. “No one controls me…”

“But are you truly free Ben…”

[gondalsqueen]

Chapters: 18/18 Fandom: Star Wars: Rebels Rating: Explicit Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Kanan Jarrus/Hera Syndulla, Ketsu Onyo/Sabine Wren, Alexsandr Kallus/Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios Characters: Hera Syndulla, C1-10P | Chopper, Original Characters, Kanan Jarrus, Ezra Bridger, Sabine Wren, Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios, Alexsandr Kallus, CT-7567 | Rex, Mart Mattin, Wedge Antilles, Ketsu Onyo, Jacen Syndulla, Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Ackbar (Star Wars), Lando Calrissian, Jan Dodonna, Ahsoka Tano Additional Tags: Pregnancy, vague mentions of abortion, future character death in the background, Season/Series 04, Established Relationship, Oral Sex, Chair Sex, Table Sex, sex during pregnancy, chapter 2 has lots of sex, Secrets, the best pilot in the galaxy, flying combat, character injury, canon torture, flight of the defender, rebel assault, Jedi Night, Major character death - Freeform, Grief, Morning Sickness, Counseling, Masturbation, Dreams, Traditions, Space family, Inappropriate bets, Lothal, Shopping, down time, Space Combat, Battle of Scarif, Rogue One - Freeform, hammerhead corvette!, Yavin 4, Stardust - Freeform, Alderaan, Death Star, labor, Childbirth, domestic life, Lothwolves, Dogfight - Freeform, Hoth, did i mention babies yet?, Babies!, One baby, Work/Life Balance, Advice, Bounty Hunters, Capture, this story has it all apparently, Return of the Jedi, Second Death Star, Existential Anxiety, parenting, Breakups, wine and cheesecake, wine and cheesecake needs its own tag, battle of endor, Battle for Coruscant, forces of destiny: an imperial feast, The New Republic - Freeform, Quests, letting go, Travel, ask me no questions i'll tell you no lies, but one of these days you'll get a surprise Summary: The end. Kind of. 

...

Something had happened to Ezra out there, something he wasn’t ready to talk about until after this vacation was over. None of them pried. He was...different, in a lot of ways. Grown up. He finally believed in his own adequacy. With that confidence came an edge of brooding that reminded her of Kanan, though. Hera hoped he stuck around where they could support him, whatever he was facing.

In other ways he was still their Ezra—surprisingly predictable given all the time that had passed, and still the baby of the crew until they adjusted their thinking and changed the way they treated him accordingly.

To no one’s surprise, he and Jacen got along well. Their bonding mostly consisted of wrestling, with some sword fighting and a little chase for variety. Hera could have done without the just-before-bed play that infallibly kept Jacen awake and hyper. She didn’t say anything, though, because the two of them had a lot of time to make up for.  

Tonight Jacen was trying to push Ezra into Alexsandr’s small fishpond. Since Ezra vastly outweighed him he was failing, but he made up for it by practically strangling his opponent in the process — by accident, Hera was pretty sure. Really, Ezra had bought this when he picked Jacen up off the ground and threw him over his shoulder.

Oh, and that was a knee in the face.

“Ow!” Ezra protested. “Kid, you are deadly!” He twisted out from under Jacen and somehow they both ended up on their feet, facing each other. Quick as a flash, Ezra tapped Jacen’s shoulder.

“Hey!”

“Block me, then. Like this.” He showed Jacen how to bring his hands up in front of him and deflect the blows. Then he tapped Jace’s knee. “Got you! This is how you block with your feet. Try to tap my knees.”

“Your shoulders, too!”

“Sure, if you can reach.”

Hera watched her son eye a nearby boulder. She hoped he was planning to climb on it and not throw it at Ezra.

Then they both went at each other, jumping towards a shoulder or knee and dashing out again, blocking on one side and darting in on the other. Ezra went easy on Jacen, but he sped up as they played and Jace kept pace with him.

The whole thing ended when Jacen got sick of it, yelled “ATTACK!” and somersaulted across the ground towards his target. He bumped harmlessly against Ezra’s legs, but in the attempt not to step on him Ezra backpedalled and, with a whirling of arms, ended up in the water.

Hmm. Somehow they had both ended up in the water.

“Bathtime!” Hera called.

“It’s not!”

“It is, in fact, a solid hour past BEDtime.”

Ezra hit the shower in Zeb’s place while Hera scrubbed the slime off of Jacen in the Ghost’s fresher. Forty-five minutes later they’d finished showering, cleaning teeth, a snack that he didn’t ask permission to get, and teeth a second time, and they were cuddled together on Jacen’s bunk reading their nightly chapter of whatever novel Jace had picked. Since he’d gotten old enough to understand them, he’d mostly chosen from a children’s series of adventure stories about — guess what? — Jedi. Hera, remembering her own childhood, couldn’t blame him.

She read: “Shuyen closed her eyes and took a deep breath, reaching out to the Force as she fell. She could feel the air rushing past her. The wind whipped at her face roughly, but it wasn’t enough to hold her up…”

Sabine passed by the door and stopped to listen for a minute. “Are you reading Knights of the Old Republic to him?”

“Yes.”

“That’s sending mixed messages, don’t you think?”

“He likes it,” Hera told her, aware of how defensive she sounded. “It’s a good story. Who am I to tell him what to like?”

Sabine held her hands up. “Fair enough. Carry on.”

Hera finished the chapter, the Jedi who had fallen off the cliff while being chased by Sith warriors arriving unscathed back at the temple. “That’s a good stopping place for tonight,” she told Jacen, smoothing his hair back. He’d started to grow it out and they were both learning how to manage the tangles that was causing, but right now it was clean and brushed and smelled like shampoo, and she breathed in the scent gratefully.

He nestled into to her side. “Mama?”

“Yes?”

“Is Rex going to come back?”

“No, baby, Rex isn’t going to come back.”

“But Ezra came back.”

“Ezra wasn’t dead, love,” she told him gently. “Nobody comes back from the dead.” She paused for a moment to let that sink in, then continued, “I know it’s hard. It hurts for me, too.”

“I like Ezra.” He was trying to think something out. Hera waited. “But...I’d rather have Rex.”

“I can understand that.”

“But that’s mean of me, right?”

“Well…” she answered as honestly as she could. “You don’t want someone to die. You just miss the person you love. I think it’s very normal. Probably not the best idea to mention it to Ezra, though. It might hurt his feelings.”

He nodded and she tucked him into bed with a song and a kiss. “Sleep,” she told him. “You are exhausted. Go to sleep.”

“Okay,” Jacen said around a big yawn.

Sneaking out of the room a moment later she passed by the open doorway of Ezra’s bunk and caught a snatch of conversation. “...her turn for a while,” Sabine was saying. Then Ezra: “Coruscant is good place to stay, anyway. We’re going to need to talk about defenses. Maybe exploratory missions, but that might be a bad idea. IF they even decide to believe me.”

Keep moving, Hera, she told herself. She went to the cockpit to give the monitors one last check for the evening and tried to remember that Sabine and Ezra were adults and it was perfectly reasonable for them to live on whatever planet they wanted to. But maybe, maybe, maybe she’d get them back for a while. It was worth hoping.

Ezra joined her a few minutes later, a mug of warm hubba juice in each hand. “Best place to watch the sunset,” he explained. The summer sunsets on Lira San were amazing, oranges and purples breaking through the thick cloud cover. Hera swung the copilot’s seat around for him and he passed her a cup.

“Two more days and then Lothal, right?” he asked.

“If that’s still what you want.”

“Yeah. Sabine says it’s changed a lot. I can’t even remember before the Empire came anymore.”

Hera smiled. “It’s a good place. Not perfect, but Azadi made it pretty welcoming even before the Emperor fell.”

“You guys were there a lot.”

“Second home, but it will be better with you back.”

“Yeah.” He shrugged, looking like his teenage self for the moment of the gesture. “Everything’s different, but it’s really good BEING back. I’m still trying to...fit in, I guess.”  

“Hey. You do fit in,” Hera told him, giving the chair a little kick to spin him towards her. “You’re one of ours. And Jace loves having you around. Chop and I are too busy to play with him as much as he’d like, and it’s been a while since we’ve had anyone else on the Ghost.”

“Yeah, Ezra Bridger, Jedi Knight, hero to six-year-olds everywhere.” He rolled his eyes.

Hera laughed. “At first that was the draw, sure. But he had a lot of...anxiety, too. He’d heard stories about you his whole life and he knew how important you were to all of us, and to have you standing before him in the flesh…” She shrugged. “But now I don’t think you’re Ezra Bridger, Jedi Knight. I think you’re his friend.”

“He’s really great, Hera. Thinks he can do anything. He...reminds me of you that way.”

She sighed. “He didn’t know you were a Jedi.”

“Okay.”

“He doesn’t know Kanan was a Jedi.”

A pause. “Okay.” Ezra didn’t push. Once he would have pushed.

“The hand game — those were forms,” Hera said. “Lightsaber forms. I’ve seen you practice them with Kanan.”

“Yeah, well…” Ezra ran his hand over the back of his hair awkwardly. “They’re kind of drilled into me, so I guess I just go there automatically when it comes to fighting. Is...that all right?”

“It’s all right,” she said, picking at the fraying edge of the seat cushion. “It’s good. There are so many things I’ve wanted to ask you about that.”

“About lightsaber forms?”  

She shook her head. “Ezra, I know this seems like a subject change, but...were you happy as a child? Or were you...confused?”

“What do you mean? I had kind of a rotten childhood.”

“Before that. When you were small, with your parents, and you could do things that nobody could explain. Did it confuse you or upset you?”

He considered her words carefully. “Let me think.” After a solid minute of silence, he said, “No. I heard things sometimes that I knew were true, and my mom said they were only my imagination. I think that’s not rare for kids, though. It’s just that in my case, they actually WERE true. The rest of the time, it was just fun to run and jump off of things without worrying about how I was going to land, or to know that people were probably going to believe whatever outrageous lie I told. Stuff like that. Hera… Jacen’s definitely Force sensitive. Does he use any of those abilities?”

“Oh…” she laughed to cover her worry. “Yes.” She’d watched for signs all of his life and could give a detailed list of ‘yes’es ‘no’s and ‘maybe’s. “He’s always been good at picking up moods, but I think he’s just a smart, social kid. Sometimes he knows things that haven’t happened yet, but only in a vague way — he has a feeling that someone’s coming to visit, or he knows we’ll find something around the next corner. He can climb and jump off of anything and he somehow hasn’t broken a bone yet. I don’t mean normal child risk-taking. You saw him take a dive off the Ghost the other day. And then there are the animals that seem to follow him around like he’s some kind of magnet.”

Ezra laughed.

“...which I blame you for,” she added.

“How is that my fault?”

“I haven’t figured that out yet, but the similarity is striking.”

“I’ll take it as a compliment.”

“I don’t want him to be a Jedi,” she said more seriously. “I don’t even want him to be a half-Jedi, partially trained. The Force asks...too much. We know how that ends and I won’t give him up that way. But… if I refuse to let him train when it’s available to him, he’s just going to do it anyway, and he’ll end up doing it behind my back, without my support. Or running off.” She thought of her own childhood. “It’s not my place to hold him back if that’s what he wants.”

“Well...does he WANT to be a Jedi?”

“He’s six years old. Every six-year-old wants to be a Jedi.”

“He’d be good at it. Kind. Flexible. Reminds me of someone else I knew.”

“Me too,” she admitted. “That scares me.”

“Hmm.” Ezra thought about that. “There’s not exactly a trade school for Jedi Knights. The few of us left with any ability have no idea what we’re doing. He’ll probably end up using those talents, but using them in some other field.”

“Maybe. But I don’t want to keep him locked away from the world — locked away from himself — because I’m afraid.”

“Hera, you’re not afraid of anything.”

She sighed and stopped picking at the worn corner of the pilot’s chair so he could see her hands shaking. “That’s not true, and I have changed.”

Ezra frowned. “You want me to train him?” he asked. “Is that what this conversation is about?”

“Not...yet. Not now. But I don’t want anybody else to train him.”

“Luke Skywalker is talking about starting a school.”

“NO. I like Luke. He’s a good kid. But he doesn’t understand the dangers… He hasn’t walked that path, and he doesn’t know what it takes to guide your student safely instead of just following the rules.”

“Hera, I don’t know either.”

“That’s okay. Falling is fine as long as there’s someone to catch you. You would never let anything bad happen to him.”

“Hmph.” Ezra crossed his arms and looked out at the clouds, that stone expression on his face. “I wish I could promise that.”

...

From Lira San they traveled to Lothal. Hera let Sabine show Ezra the sights because she had something else to show Jacen.

The bombed-out Imperial hangar wasn’t hard to reach, despite being perched on one of the dolmens at the edge of Capital City. If you took a shuttle, that is. Hera parked the Phantom halfway up the mountain and made them walk the rest of the way because “it will be fun!” Forty minutes into the uphill hike, Jacen wasn’t finding it particularly fun.

“Why couldn’t we just FLY up there?” he asked, perilously close to a whine.

“Because we’re taking a nice hike together and it’s going to be more enjoyable to see if you make it there yourself than if you just fly up and park.”

Poor kid — his hair was a sweaty wreck. “To be clear,” he said. “I AM getting a real birthday party tomorrow, with friends and cake and stuff, right?”

“Padawan’s honor. Sabine even made you guys those robes and staffs so you could dress up as High Jedi. Though I still don’t know what a High Jedi is.”

“It’s like a really wise, powerful Jedi,” Jacen explained. “Kind of like a wizard.”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“It’s from Rangers of the Force.”

“I didn’t know you could read books that hard.”

“I listened to it.”

“Oh. Okay. Look, we made it.” Hera climbed the short flight of steps and crawled over the rubble blocking what had once been the workers’ entrance. Then she waited for Jacen to do the same.

“Whew!”

“It’s cooler up here.” Jacen spread himself dramatically on the floor.

“Yeah, we’re out of the sun.” She handed him the canteen and waited for him to take a long drink. “You recovered?” He nodded. “Good. Come see what Sabine did.”

He saw the mural as soon as he looked up, and his reaction was everything Hera had hoped for. A shout, and he rushed up to get a closer look. “It’s you guys!”

“Yeah.”

“You look like heroes! Like you’re from a holoshow.”

“Sabine makes good art.”

His brow creased in that thinking look. “Were you heroes?”

“Yes,” Hera admitted. “We were.”

“Sabine,” he pointed. “Ezra. His head looks small in this picture. Zeb and Chop. Hey, look at these lothcats! There’s you. Where am I?”

Hera touched her mid-section in the picture, right on the buttons of her flight suit. “Here.”

“So I came with you when you were heroes?”

“Sure.”

“So I helped save Lothal?”

“Let’s say you were along for the ride.”

But now he was pointing above mural-Hera’s shoulder. “That’s Dad.”

“Yeah,” she said softly.

“I don’t think I look very much like him.”

“Well, you’re shorter.”

“Hey!”

She grinned at him, but he shook his head and said, “Uh-uh. You’re sad.”

“Only a little sad.”

“You miss him.”

“Yes,” Hera said honestly, “but that’s not why I brought you here today. I need to show you something else, something… kind of secret.”

“Okay.”

Hera took a portable projector from her bag and placed it on the floor. “Come sit by me. Seven years old is big enough to see this.” They sat cross-legged on the ground and Hera switched on the projector.

“That’s Dad!”

“Yes.”

“What’s he got?”

Kanan was fitting together two metal tubes. He gave them a practiced twist, then ignited the lightsaber.

Jacen lost it. “WHAT?! Where did he GET that?”

“Hi, kid,” Kanan said to the recorder. “Thought I’d go through a few practice drills here, in case you ever need to see them when I’m not around.” He was talking to Ezra, but Jacen didn’t know that. Hera skipped past the part where he demonstrated the basic techniques and on to the segment where he showed the moves in practice by fighting ten combat remotes, leaping into the air, twisting, deflecting shots… He was using the Ghost’s hold as his staging area, which had irritated Hera to no end at the time because those remotes were firing live blaster bolts. The flip from the ground to the platform four meters above his head was awfully impressive, though, she had to admit.

“How did he DO that?”

Another of him and Ezra training together, both blindfolded, going through forms. Hera watched Kanan’s shoulder rotate as the blade spun, the twist of hips as he altered his stance. It was so familiar and so long ago, all at the same time.

“Mama, tell me.” He knew, but he didn’t want to say it.

“He’s a Jedi, Jace. He was raised in the temple on Coruscant and sent out to fight during the Clone Wars. One of the last Jedi Knights.”

“But...” he trailed off.

“I know it’s a lot to take in. Do you want to see a little more?”

“Yes!”

She’d edited this compilation carefully so they got no footage of actual battles. Next Kanan was tossing Sabine in the air over and over, a little Sabine — she couldn’t have been more than fifteen. He’d throw her impossibly high, and then she’d twist in mid-air, draw her blasters, and fire at a target. Jacen laughed. “Ah-ha, they’re good!” Another of that terrible competition he’d had with Zeb, where Zeb picked up Imperial speeder bikes and threw them at Kanan, who caught every one in mid-air. Okay, that probably wasn’t the best thing to include. One of Hera herself cradled in Kanan’s arms, the laughter near the microphone indicating that Ezra was recording.

“Ready?” Kanan asked.

“Go,” Ezra told him.

Kanan jumped up the Ghost’s ladder one rung at a time, tilted impossibly backwards, holding her. Hera from long ago shrieked in laughter. “I get five credits when I do this, right?” Kanan asked.

“Cheating,” said Ezra’s voice.

“I did TELL you I could do it.” Thunk, up another ring. Thunk, up the next. “See, what you want to do is bend your knees…” Kanan explained, annoyingly pedantic. “Then you absorb most of the shock, especially when you have to land rough.” He rolled at the last moment, still holding Hera, and came up on his feet on the upper platform, neither of them worse for the wear.

“Hey!” Hera-from-the-vid protested. “Warn me!”

“Okay,” Kanan said. “Roll up in a ball, I’m going to toss you to Ezra now so he can practice.”

“No, no, wait!” Ezra yelled. “Wait, let me put the recorder down!” The image went sideways and the recorder died abruptly on the sound of their laughter.

Jacen was watching with a wistful, half-jealous expression. “Nobody ever told me he was a Jedi.”

“Well…” Hera considered. “What DID they tell you?”

“Zeb says he could drink a whole gallon of milk in five minutes without throwing up.”

“Yeah, only part of that is true. And don’t try it.”

“Sabine said he loved you the very most, and he’d never let anything in the whole galaxy hurt you.”

She took a deep breath, willing herself to stay calm. “That is true.”

“And that he was a really good dad and he understood when people got upset or lost their temper and he wouldn’t yell at them.”

“That’s true too.”

“But he wasn’t really Sabine’s or Ezra’s dad, right?”

“No, but he...took care of them when they were kids. Big kids. And he taught them a lot of things.”

Jacen’s eyes lit with realization. “He taught Ezra how to be a Jedi! That’s why they were doing those slow moves with the lightsabers.”

Her kid was too smart.

But now he was mulling over something else. “...He was my dad.”

“Yes.”

“He never met me.”

“Technically, no, but he knew you were on the way.”

“How?”

“You know how you can tell where animals are, even the small ones? You found Alexsandr’s baby chicks when the rest of us were looking in the wrong place.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s the Force, Jacen. He felt you like that before you were born. I’ll bet you guys had whole secret conversations, what do you think?”

Jacen shrugged, clearly pleased by the idea. “So how come you never told me he was a Jedi? And you COULD have told me, lots of times.”

There was the question she’d been waiting for. “Because it wasn’t safe, Jace. The Emperor killed all the Jedi, even the little kids. Only a few of them got away, and then they had to survive by hiding because the Emperor was still hunting.”

“But he died when I was little.”

“Yes, but being a Jedi is still not exactly safe.”

“You mean people are still hunting them?”

“No, I mean they’re still...heroes. Which is good, but it also means that bad guys don’t like them much. You have to learn to keep yourself safe when you’re a hero, and that takes time. I wanted to wait until you were big enough to understand that a little.”

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t want to be a Jedi.”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. If you want to learn to be a Jedi when you get older, I’ll be right there with you. But I want you to understand that there’s always more to these stories than what you hear. And I don’t want you to think that fighting makes you a good person. I didn’t love your dad because he was a Jedi. I loved him because he was kind and funny and understanding, and he couldn’t bear to see anybody in pain without trying to help. And because he never gave up on people. I see a lot of those qualities in you already. You don’t need a lightsaber to be a good person.” Oh, great, now she was sad again.

And Jacen had picked up on it. “Were you scared when he died?”

“So scared. But what do we say?”

“Be afraid,” he said quietly, “but do it anyway.”

“Right.”

A wolf howled nearby, in the middle of the day.

“That’s a lothwolf?” Jacen asked.

Hera nodded. “I think they’re coming to see you. I don’t know why, though.”

“I do.”

“You do? Why?”

“They say goodbyes are over. It’s time for hellos.”  

[klcthebookworm]

Reproduction in the GFFA Part Three: Using it in Fanfic

Nobody has given me a better name for artificial wombs based off cloning tanks for the GFFA as discussed in Reproduction in the GFFA, so I'm using gestational chambers. And since I can't sew up a Free Ryloth Twi'lek costume right now, I decided to give you guys some summary fic as to how I would introduce the concept of gestational chambers to the GFFA. It probably won't become a more polished story because of other writing projects, unless someone else wants to take it as a plot bunny and go.

Setting is post-Luke/Callista break-up and after Mara Jade acquires Jade's Fire. I'm a little fuzzy on that time period in Legends continuity. I own Children of the Jedi and Darksaber, but I don't remember reading the second one. And I don't remember if I had read Planet of Twilight and never bothered to buy it either. But this is set before the Hand of Thrawn duology and probably the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy too.

Best Laid Plans

Mara delivers some supplies to the Jedi Academy on Yavin 4 and arranges for a few days stay, sparring practice, catching up with the Jedi she knows, uses showing off the Fire's flight capabilities as a pretense to get to talk to Luke alone. Luke is excited by her improvements to the ship, and doesn't ruin the outing by being morose about his break-up or by nagging Mara to finish her training. So she jumps into what she wants to tell him. "I've been saving my credits to buy my own ship, but I got the Fire without spending the bulk of it. So I decided to spend it on a baby instead."

Luke is a little shocked. "You and Lando need funds for a baby?"

"I'm not having a baby with Lando. We're not involved like that any more." (Keeping the relationship cover story intact.) Before Luke can derail the conversation into unnecessary condolences, she continues. "There's a clinic on Coruscant, very private and discreet, that uses gestational chambers. That's what I have to pay for, but I can keep working without any danger to the baby."

"That's not how it's done on Tatooine," Luke teases. "I never thought about them."

"Most people don't unless there's fertility or genetic compatibility issues. But since I don't want a clone, I need donor sperm. I can use sperm the clinic has or supply my own donor. Would you want to have a child with me?"

Luke never saw that request coming, but Mara defends her choice. Out of all the men she knows, Luke has the qualities she wants for the father of her child. And she's seen him with his niece and nephews and knows he wants a child of his own. But no pressure, think about it and meditate on it. Luke tells her regardless of his choice, she will make a wonderful mother.

Luke does meditate on it and they talk about what type of parenting partner does Mara desire (whatever he is comfortable with). Luke has a vision of a boy and girl with Mara's hair, and that's what sways him over to saying yes. Mara leaves Yavin 4 with Luke's deposit in a specimen jar.

Time lapse because I'm undecided at what stage of fetal development the future baby boy is at. Luke makes a trip to Coruscant to see what's happening and Cilghal has a list of questions/observations she wants answers to about fetal development of a Force Sensitive baby. He catches up with Mara. She's planning out the Fire's new cabin configuration to house a baby on board. He wants to know when they plan on telling everyone and has an offer for later. Cilghal, Kam, Tionne, Leia, and Han have all told him he needs a break from the Academy, so what if he traveled with her after the baby is born. No interference with her business, just two adults bonding with their infant.

Mara likes the idea, but before she has an answer, the HoloNet blows up with the story that Luke Skywalker is having a baby with far too many accurate details. Mara is livid and goes to the clinic. Luke heads to Leia and Han.

Han questions Luke on why when Luke confirms the story is true. Luke is bitter in front of him and Leia. "None of my relationships have lasted long enough for children and the children's services considers my lifestyle and lack of co-parent detrimental to me adopting a child. Are you really that surprised?"

Mara arrives at Leia and Han's quarters with news that Fey'lya was behind it at the same time Leia's aides figure it out. His motivations is apparently to spoil any political ambitions Luke has. "But I don't have any political ambitions," Luke protests. More importantly, Mara doesn't want to prevent Luke from seeing/raising his son because of all this. She knew about his notoriety before asking him.

Another time lapse fill in with whatever you want between Luke and Mara. Everything is going quiet again media-wise and then the clinic alerts them both: the gestational chamber with their baby has been stolen. The evidence at the clinic points to a Force user with a lightwhip, Lumiya. You can substitute another villain if you'd like; I thought she'd be fun for the previous history she's had with Luke and Mara separately.

So they're off in the Fire to rescue their son. They briefly stop at Yavin 4 for supplies, namely Luke's shoto and materials to make one for Mara. The perfect opportunity to nag Mara about training, but Luke doesn't take it, which is almost as upsetting as her plan to keep her son safe was ruined by Lumiya of all people. On Luke's part, I think he's finally learned futility in asking for what he wants. It has never worked with Mara and it didn't work with Callista.

Close quarters on a ship, intense training sessions demanded by Mara so she can get her shoto technique up to par with her other skills, and it doesn't take long for one spar to devolve into a make-out session. Spurred on because as the first kiss happened, Luke picked up on Mara's mental demand Don't pull away; you always pull away. Challenge accepted and it escalates quickly after than.

Luke wakes up from his post-coitus doze in Mara's cabin alone in the bed. And he has enough alone time to get deep into what the hell just happened thoughts before she returns from the galley with two mugs and wearing his tunic.

"Regrets already?" Mara passes him a mug of hot chocolate and perches on the edge of the bunk.

"I don't regret this, but I am confused. You never gave me any sign you were interested in more than just friendship."

"I never? I all but poured myself into that silver flight suit at the opening of the Academy for you and you never noticed!"

"I noticed you never wanted to stay with me. You always ran back to Karrde."

"You never wanted me to stay, just my talent in the Force. Karrde cares about all of me."

That observation from Mara deflates all of Luke's defensive huffiness. "I never meant it like that. All everyone has wanted out of me was being a Jedi; what else do I have to offer? I am sorry, Mara. You deserved more consideration from me and I failed you." While Mara's still processing that unexpected apology, he continues. "That explains Lando. He cared about the whole woman and expressed that. Smarter man than me."

"Wait, you've been jealous of Lando all this time? But you've had relationships. You ran to other women."

"Jealous of you with Lando, yes. Ashamed of myself for feeling that over your happiness when I should have felt nothing but joy for you both, yes. Of course I tried to move on. I know what to do when I'm not the wanted one."

Mara explains how the whole thing with her and Lando was just a cover story. "I never intended to make you jealous. I thought you didn't want me."

"I want you. Wanted you for so long. Do you want me? Do you want to continue?"

Mara puts down her mug, straddles his lap, and gives him a chocolate-flavored kiss. "Yes."

So after they've reached this level of understanding, they defeat Lumiya and return their son to the clinic. He's fine, and his parents are officially a couple.

The end I came up with is Luke comes back from meetings or something and finds Mara hovering over the sani. "We should have never had sex," she growls at him.

"But we're good at the sex." Luke starts to comfort her and gets down on the floor with her. "Why do you want to stop?"

She glares at him. "That's not what I said." She presses his hand against her stomach. "I'm pregnant. You got me pregnant."

She's not really angry under her morning sickness grumpiness, but her plans! She used to be GOOD at planning things. Luke is ecstatic and declares it must be a girl based on his earlier vision. The end.

I hope you enjoyed reading this. I learned a bit about my inspiration process. Dialogue comes first with the situation that creates the dialogue. Action sequences come later and that includes fight and sex scenes, which probably explains why I gloss over them in first drafts and have to make a concentrated effort to expand and explain them. And if anyone wants to flesh this scenario out to a full story, you've have my blessing.