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swan-of-sunrise · 4 years ago

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Taking Care of Business (Chapter Ten)

Summary: Din and (Y/N) spend the next couple of weeks trying to repair the Razor Crest themselves, and his close proximity to the beautiful captain begins to stir up complicated feelings for Din.

Pairing: Din Djarin X Reader

Word Count: 2.9k

Warnings/Disclaimers: None

A/N: I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Ten The Repairs (Previous Chapter)

“Son of a mud-scuffer, Mando!” (Y/N) groaned in pain, making no attempt to get up off the floor of the ship that she’d been knocked down onto. “Ow…you did that on purpose…”

Beneath his helmet, Din rolled his eyes in exasperation; he stood above the captain with his hands resting on his hips as he heaved a sigh. “That’s kinda the point, isn’t it? An attacker’s not gonna go easy on you just ‘cause you asked them nicely to.”

Din, (Y/N) and the child had been traveling through space for a little over three weeks; in that time, they’d been slowly but surely working on the repairs that the Mon Calamari hadn’t completed. Neither of them were very knowledgeable mechanics, but they did their best as they worked side-by-side.

Whenever they weren’t doing repairs, they relaxed in the cargo hold; Din would work on cleaning his weapons and entertaining the child while (Y/N) sewed, and they’d usually fall into easy conversation. True to her word, she’d quickly completed a new robe for the child – much to the kid’s delight – before starting on what appeared to be a golden-yellow dress. The captain hadn’t said anything to Din about his impromptu gifts of fabric and sweets, but he could clearly see how much the gesture meant to her; he’d often sit and secretly watch her work, admiring how carefully her hands moved across the delicate material and how her eyes narrowed in concentration. She was happy, and he was proud that he’d been the one to help give that to her.

But whenever they weren’t working or relaxing, they were training; Din hadn’t forgotten his promise to teach his partner how to fight and after their recent adventures, he decided that it would be wise for her to learn sooner rather than later. I’d feel a lot better going to Corvus to confront a Jedi if I knew she’d be safe, he thought to himself one evening as he lay awake in his bunk, remembering how easily she’d been overpowered by the Black Sun operatives and the bandits on Tatooine.

“Okay, okay,” He watched as (Y/N) gritted her teeth and clambered to her feet, her brow covered in perspiration. “Can you repeat what you said one more time before we try again?”

“Of course. More often than not, you’ll go up against attackers who’re bigger than you and maybe even stronger, so you use all that to your advantage; a well-placed kick or punch could easily change the course of a fight, but what really matters is that you act faster than they do.” Moving to stand in front of her, Din gestured for her to raise her fists. “Now, I’m gonna attack you and you’re gonna do whatever you can think of to knock me down. Got it?”

(Y/N) nodded, her eyes narrowed and body tensed in preparation, and Din threw his first punch. His partner managed to block it and twist out of the way of his second attack, sucker-punching him hard in his un-armored stomach and hooking her leg around his as he doubled over in surprise; she took advantage of his off-balance by shoving him down, where he landed flat on his back.

Din couldn’t help but grin as the captain let out a celebratory cheer at her success. “I finally did it!”

“Good job, alor’ad…” Deciding to have a little fun with her, he held his arm out towards her; the captain, being the kind-hearted woman that she was, grasped his hand to help him stand and that’s when he acted. He yanked on her arm and brought a foot up to her stomach, flipping her over him and onto her back before quickly maneuvering so that he was straddling her waist and trapping her against the floor of the ship with his hands on her wrists. “…but you should never let your guard down around an enemy.”

Struggling to catch her breath, (Y/N) flashed him a teasing grin. “Mir'sheb. You’ve been waiting to do that since our very first sparring lesson, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, pretty much.” Din replied, only then realizing that his joke might not have been the smartest idea; in their current positions, their bodies were flush with one another and being so close to her was only causing his head to spin and his face to warm. In an attempt to save face in front of his partner, he hurriedly continued. “How would you break away from an attacker who has you boxed in like this?”

(Y/N) bit her bottom lip in thought as she considered his question; Maker have mercy on me, he thought to himself, swallowing hard and forcing himself to avert his gaze from the tempting sight. “Well, it seems like the only way to gain the upper hand in this, um…position, is to use the attacker’s weight against them.” Before he could reply, she hooked her right foot around his leg and in one fluid motion, she flipped them over so that she was straddling his torso and he was the one now lying flat on his back. “How was that?”

Din let out a breathless chuckle. “Perfect, alor’ad. You’re coming along great.”

“Well, I guess I have my ex-bounty hunter instructor to thank for that.”

“That mean you’re finally admitting that bounty hunters are better than smugglers?”

Her smirk widened and she shrugged noncommittally. “Maybe better at bragging, but that’s about it.”

As she looked down at him with (Y/E/C) eyes twinkling in amusement, Din realized with a sudden jolt that their innocent flirting was rapidly on its way to becoming something much more complicated; his gloved hands had somehow found their way to her hips while they talked, and one of the captain’s thumbs was resting tantalizingly close to the collar of his undershirt and was only centimeters from touching the bare skin of his neck.

With his heart hammering in his chest, he struggled to find his voice but was mercifully saved by a familiar coo; they both looked over to see the child standing beside them, his brow wrinkled in concern as he stared at them with widened eyes, and (Y/N) laughed. “Aw, it’s okay, little guy, I promise I’m not hurting Mando.” She moved to kneel next to the child and pointed towards Din, who was sitting up and trying not to think about how much he missed their closeness. “See? The only thing that’s bruised is his ego!”

“Just for that, alor’ad, you’re the one who gets to change the kid today.” Smirking at the look of stunned disbelief on (Y/N)’s face, Din got to his feet and made his way over to the ladder. “Have fun!”

Her protests followed him as he climbed the ladder to the cockpit to don his armor. “Oh, come on, Mando, I was only joking! Mando? Mando! Dank farrik…”

Once Din put his armor back on, he and (Y/N) decided to try their hand at some of the more complicated repairs in the cockpit. Their work kept them busy and at opposite ends of the small space, much to Din’s relief; the temptation to touch or even be near the captain like he’d been when they were sparring was overwhelming, but it helped a little to have a complex distraction to focus on.

“Hey Mando, could you hand me those pliers on the control panel?”

Din, who was seated in the pilot’s chair and had been busy testing which switches were still operational, glanced over and nearly fell out of his seat. (Y/N) was standing on the right passenger’s chair, her arms elbow-deep in an exposed panel full of tangled wiring, but that’s not what had stunned him; it was the full, unobstructed view of her trouser-clad hips and legs right in front of him. So much for those complex distractions, he thought with an inward groan, trying and failing to avert his gaze from the appealing sight.

“Mando? The pliers?”

“Right, right,” Giving his head a small shake, he grabbed the pliers and stood, leaning against the wall of the cockpit as he handed the tool to her. “How’re the repairs going up there?”

(Y/N) smiled to herself while she continued rewiring. “Well, we should be able to land safely and avoid plummeting to our deaths now but I’m not making any promises, though. What about you? Did you get the hyperdrive fixed yet?”

“No, not yet. I have to rewire the ship’s circuit board, which just so happens to be four feet behind that tiny opening there.” Din pointed to the opening in question before sighing. “You don’t think you’d be able to reach your arm in there, do you?” The captain shot him an ‘are-you-being-serious’ look, to which he merely shrugged and glanced back at the opening. “I figured I’d ask just in case. Unfortunately, it’s one of those kinds of repairs that a ship can’t function properly without; we just need to find something small to fit…”

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“…I’m beginning to think this might’ve been a bad idea, Mando.”

Din shot (Y/N) a look of disbelief from under his helmet. “But it was your idea!”

“Yeah, but you’re the one who agreed to it; as my partner, you really should have better sense than to indulge my off-the-cuff ideas,” (Y/N) retorted, crossing her arms as she knelt beside the small opening; she nervously bit her lip as her brow furrowed in worry. “He’s just a baby, after all.”

Although her comment was fair, her words sparked a surge of protectiveness towards the child. “He’s not just a baby, alor’ad, he’s special. He understands a lot more than people realize and with all the crazy power he has, I’m sure he’ll be able to help us rewire a simple circuit board.” Din turned back to the control panels and began flipping switches. “All right, let’s try this again…okay, do you have the wire?” He asked over his shoulder, hearing a faint coo as one of the ship’s alarms began to blare; pressing another button, he shut off the alarm and sighed. “No, nothing.”

He got up from the pilot’s seat and went over to kneel beside (Y/N) as she patiently called out, “Did you get the wire out? The red wire?”

Peering into the opening, Din watched as the child let out a small coo and raised the tiny hand that held the blue wire, and he pointedly ignored the skeptical look the captain threw him. “No, no. No, the red one, show me the red wire. The red one.” The child looked down at the wires in his hands before waving the blue one around, and Din fought the proud smile that was tugging at his lips. “Yes, good. Now, you’re going to plug that red wire where the blue wire goes in the board.”

“I think you might’ve confused him…” (Y/N) whispered as they both watched the child tilt his head; she leaned in closer and called out, “Okay, little guy, you’re gonna put the red wire where the blue wire goes in the board. Okay?”

“But don’t let them touch!” Din hastily added, noticing how close the two wires were to one another; the child tilted his head again and let out a confused sort of whimper. “You see where you took the blue one off?” The child held up the blue wire and he nodded. “Yes. Now, put the red one – no, don’t put the blue one back. Put the red one where the blue one was, and put the blue one where the red one was.”

With the added hand gestures, Din was confident that the child had understood his instructions but beside him, (Y/N) had resumed nervously biting her lip. “But be careful, little guy. They’re oppositely charged, so keep them away from each other; make sure you hold them apart.”

The child ignored the captain’s warning and while he brought the two wires closer, Din frantically shook his head. “No, don’t let them touch-” He and (Y/N) both jumped when the wires connected and sent an electric shock through the child’s body, briefly surrounding him in bright sparks and smoke; once it dissipated, Din hesitantly asked, “You okay?” The child coughed in response, but he seemed to be uninjured, much to Din’s relief. He glanced over at (Y/N) and met her ‘I-told-you-so’ expression with a sheepish sort of shrug. “Well, it was worth a shot.”

“If you say so, Mando. I’m gonna go prepare some broth for him now.” His partner got to her feet and gave his arm a pat before turning and making her way down to the cargo hold; her touch seemed to send an electric shock through Din, his skin flushing as he once again remembered their earlier closeness, and he let out a shaky breath.

Looking back to the opening, the sight of the child standing at its entrance with widened eyes caused him to smile. “C’mon, kid, let’s get you some lunch for your hard work.”

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Din sat beside the child on one of their storage containers and enjoyed some warm broth, since (Y/N) insisted that he needed to eat something as well. Although he’d explained that lifting his helmet to take sips of broth in front of her and the child wouldn’t break his Creed, she insisted on sitting behind him on her makeshift cot and sewing so that he’d have more privacy. Her consideration for his Creed was touching, but after his confrontation with Bo-Katan and the other Mandalorians on Trask, he found himself realizing that for the first time in his life, someone else cared more about his Creed than he did. His recent feelings towards his Creed were…complicated, to say the least; if what Bo-Katan said was true, then he’d grown up within a cult of religious zealots who’d coerced him into swearing a Creed than wasn’t truly Mandalorian but on the other hand, the so-called Watch had saved him as a child and raised him after he’d lost his parents, and that was a kindness he couldn’t just ignore.

“You’re kinda quiet over there, Mando.”

Smiling to himself at her unspoken question, Din lifted the bottom of his helmet up and swallowed a sip of broth before answering. “Yeah, just lost in thought. Are you ever gonna tell me what it is you’re making?”

Her laugh carried through the cargo hold, and Din was reminded of how much he enjoyed hearing the sound. “What’s it look like I’m making, a fathier blanket? It’s a dress!”

“Mir'sheb. I know you’re making a dress but I was just wondering…well, why? Dresses aren’t exactly practical in our line of work, alor’ad.”

The captain was quiet for a moment and just as Din silently cursed his bluntness, she replied, “Ever since I was little, I had a dream of settling down on a peaceful planet and opening up my own shop, just like my mother had done. But then the Empire tightened their control of Naboo, she died of illness and I fell into the smuggling life…and suddenly, my dream seemed irrelevant. When the Rebellion finally ended and the New Republic was established, I began thinking about that childhood dream again; the way I see it, if I can create this one thing with only my mother’s sketchbook and the memories of my old trade to guide me, then I’ll know whether or not I’m meant for the life I’d envisioned for myself.” The cargo hold was silent for a moment. “What about you? What kind of future do you imagine for yourself?”

“I don’t know,” Din answered truthfully, the words almost falling out of his mouth as he continued. “Living the life I’ve lead, I…well, a future’s never a guarantee, so I never allowed myself to imagine one. But if I had to, I don’t think I’d want any specific future…just a peaceful one…” He didn’t know what else to say; he couldn’t exactly follow up something heavy like that with a witty comeback, so he merely nodded and glanced down at the child, who was happily drinking the last of his broth. “You want some more broth, kid?” The child tilted his head and held out his empty bowl towards Din, who couldn’t help but smile as he ladled some more broth into it. “There you go.” The child began gulping down his second helping, and Din glanced around the derelict cargo hold with a sigh. “You know, there’s no way we’re making it to Corvus in this shape.”

“I’ll have to agree with you on that. With the hyperdrive broken, it won’t be long before we’re fighting off bandits and bounty hunters.”

“You know, I think we need to visit some friends for repairs,” Din remarked, turning around to meet (Y/N)’s curious expression. “How’d you like to visit Navarro?”

“Navarro, huh? I’ve never been, but it sounds a lot better than floating around in space like a sitting porg.” Setting aside her bundle of fabric, (Y/N) got to her feet and gestured over to the ladder with a tentative smile. “Wanna help me chart our course, Mando? You can tell me about these friends of yours while we work…”

Din nodded and the captain’s smile widened as she began climbing up the ladder to the cockpit. Making sure that the child had everything he needed, Din hurried up into the cockpit after her; maybe a peaceful future wasn’t in the cards for him, but he’d be damned if he didn’t enjoy the brief moments of happiness whenever he could.

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A/N: Thank you guys so much for reading!

Mando'a Translations: Alor'ad-Captain Mir’sheb-Smart-ass

Chapter Eleven

Taking Care of Business Masterlist

Tagging: @remmysbounty @sinon36 @seninjakitey @thatonedindjarinfan @ginger-swag-rapunzel @mostclevermiss @momc95 @welcometothepedroverse @sarahjkl82-blog @zukoyonce @itsnottilly

#din djarin x reader #the mandalorian x reader #din djarin #the mandalorian #din x reader #mando x reader #grogu #the child #baby yoda

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joel-millerr · 4 years ago

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It All Makes Sense Now

Chapter Five of We Are One When Together (formerly A Mandalorian and a Smuggler)

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 9.8K

Summary: The three of you land on Corvus to find a Jedi, but what starts out as a simple job is quickly turned into a truth you definitely weren’t prepared to face

A/N: okay sorry peeps but no smut in this one...I did say slow burn, right? hahahahaha. there's a bit of fluff towards the end, but this chapter focuses more on the reader's relationship with the force and their conflicting feelings, but it's not all bad, we have a special guest in the next two chapters! besides that... this basically a shit ton of angst. also, I split this chapter in two so the next update should be within the next week?

Warnings: ummmm there’s a small mention of torture? (like in the ep the Jedi with the prisoners strung up outside the magistrate’s gate but other than that... I don't think there’s anything but pls tell me if there’s something I missed!)

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Your body jolts awake to the sudden drop out of hyperspace. Panic quickly sets into your blood as you try to get your bearings, but once you see Mando sitting quietly in his chair along with the Child sitting on the control panel just to his right, your heartbeat steadies, and a wave of relief washes over you. Using the heels of your palms to rub at your eyes and clear your vision, you catch sight of the planet Mando had mentioned just before takeoff on Tatooine through the transparisteel.

“Ah, good. You’re awake.” He addresses as he hears you stir, still keeping the visor glued to the view in front of him.

“Mmm,” You groan back, still somewhat asleep and unable to use your words to answer him properly.

“Corvus, this is the place,” Mando’s voice cuts through the gentle hum of the ship. “I’ve detected a beacon.” You’re about to answer him when you realize that he wasn’t even talking to you to begin with. He was talking to the kid.

The Child looks up at him, and coos as if they’re having a conversation with each other even though they clearly don’t speak the same language, and don’t understand what the other is saying.

“I’m gonna start the landing cycle. You better get back in your seat.”

He looks up again at Mando, but doesn’t budge from where he’s currently seated. Turning his gaze to one of the levers on the control panel, he stares at the durasteel ball just atop of the handle. You’re not sure why the kid loves that ball so much, but it clearly means a lot to him because you’ve seen the way he gets upset or fussy whenever Mando tries to take it away from him.

“Hey,” He warns—not in an aggressive way, but a stern way like a child being scolded by their parent. “What did I tell you? Back in your seat.”

This time the kid listens, letting out a chuff of air before crawling down the little ledge he was seated on previously and gently scuttling back to the seat to your left.

Maker, your body aches. Sleeping in the chair every night has seriously done a number on your bones and muscles. Twisting your upper body and using the back of the chair to hold yourself in place, a series of smalls cracks echo through the cockpit, and it somewhat releases a bit of the tautness in your back and along your spine. Suddenly becoming aware that you haven’t taken a sanisteam in…well you’re not sure exactly how long it’s been since you left Tatooine, but it’s definitely been long enough; you could seriously benefit from one right now.

Using your palms to push yourself up to your feet by your knees, you inform Mando you’ll be heading down to clean yourself up. “I’ll be ready to go once we land.”

“All right.” He says matter-of-factly.

You wait a couple of seconds before moving, elongating your arms above your head before bringing one of them behind you and stretching out your bicep, holding your elbow with your other arm. You repeat the process with the opposite arm and feel your body slowly coming back to life. A sanisteam is starting to sound better and better with every second. Your feet guide you to the ladder and take two rungs at a time, feet hitting the ground in record time. Not even bothering to wait until you reach the fresher, you strip out of your clothes and gather them together in a small pile atop one of the crates lingering around in the hull.

Once in the fresher, you turn on the water to almost the hottest setting possible. It stings your skin at first, but your body quickly acclimates to the heat, muscles slowly relaxing in response to the gentle massage the showerhead exudes as it hits you, releasing the stiffness from your body. Truthfully, you could stay in this tiny space for hours and just let the water continue to cascade down your skin until your fingertips were wrinkled like a Dressellian prune, but you don’t want to use up all of the hot water since you’re not the only one on this ship who needs to sanisteam. The longer the water pressure falls onto your upper body, you begin to feel a sharp pain on your left shoulder, and you’re forced to recoil from the water in an effort to stop the throbbing ache. Inspecting your naked form to find the source of the discomfort, you notice a large, plump purple bruise nestled between the crook of your neck and the top of your shoulder. It’s a dark shade of purple, with swirls of yellow and forest green surrounding it. When the Kriff—

Oh.

It suddenly comes back to you.

The firm grip on your shoulder.

The feeling of Mando’s cock on your tongue.

His moans.

Fuck, it’s enough to make your own groan echo through the walls of the refresher.

Maker, pull yourself together!

Giving yourself a gentle slap on the cheek in an effort to knock those filthy thoughts out of your mind and knowing the Crest will be landing in the next couple of minutes, you quickly wash the grime off your body while trying to be mindful of your bruise, and rinse yourself off before grabbing your only remaining clean pair of clothes left, dressing hurriedly just as you hear his footsteps reach the top of the ladder. Your clothes stick to your wet skin, and it’s slightly uncomfortable, but you try not to pay too much attention to it; you’ll dry up eventually.

The Mandalorian descends the ladder, the Child burrowed in one arm, then hands him off to you as he heads to the armory to grab his pulse rifle.

“Hey,” He says before calling your name to get your attention. Turning his body towards you, his arm extends out in your direction, a blaster in his hand. Your eyes shift down to the gun, taking notice of it before your brows pull together tightly, shifting your gaze back up to him in confusion.

“You should probably take this back. Just in case,” He gestures the gun at you, holding the barrel of it so you can grab the handle. It’s a small act, giving you back your blaster, but there’s an unspoken message as he hands you your gun. He now trusts you enough not to shoot him and run off, and at the same time, this gives you the reassurance you needed that he no longer views you as just a quarry, but as his partner.

Putting the kid down for a moment to grab your bag and ruffle through it to retrieve your thigh holster, you strap it around your leg and plop the blaster into the pouch. Once you turn around to pick the Kid back up, you notice he’s already by the back ramp with Mando, both waiting for you to catch up with them.

You head down the ramp first, walking a few feet away from the Crest and taking an immediate scan of the area, as you always do whenever you’re in new territory. It comes at almost as a shock to you that Mando doesn’t instantly head down after you. Instead, he stays at the top of the ramp with the kid, waiting for you to give them the ‘okay’. The sun can barely penetrate the dense amount of cloud here, the area is covered in fog as far as the eye can see, making you shift anxiously. The faint cry of the native beasts’ boom in the distance, making your skin crawl.

Mando’s landed the Crest in a small clearing. The trees appear to be snags—lifeless due to its climate and the lack of sunlight, making the whole planet even more eerie. The quicker you meet the Jedi, the quicker you can get off this planet.

“Not much to see here,” You announce, slightly disappointed by the scenery. When you don’t immediately see a threat, you gesture with your hand that it’s safe to come down, and so he does. The fact that Mando now acknowledges the routine you’ve created isn’t lost on you. In truth, it makes your heart swoon because you both know that he doesn’t needto wait for you. Mando’s more than capable of checking for threats himself, and defending you both if someone tries to ambush you, but he knows it puts you at ease to check for yourself, and the fact that he’s indulging you in this small service shows you he’s more of a softy than he lets on.

As Mando walks towards you, he hears the kid huffing behind him and turns his body to face the little baby waddling down the ramp before falling back on his bum. You make out a small sphere in his hands and realize it’s the knob from the lever in the cockpit. When did he snatch that and how did Mando not see him take it?

“What did I say about that?” He disciplines, taking the ball from his hands and holding it out in front of him. “This needs to stay in the ship.” The Child looks up at him fondly, chattering incoherently as he watches Mando place the ball in his utility belt.

“Never had dealings with a Jedi before,” He admits before leaning down to pick up the Child and placing him in the makeshift pouch he designed for the baby that’s strapped across his cuirass. “Let’s head into town. See if we can pick up a lead.”

He walks ahead of you just by a couple feet. Your hand hovers over your blaster the entire time, body on edge as you both make your way through the forest. The air is hot and humid, almost suffocating—you can only imagine how hot Mando must feel under all that armor. Your clothes stick to you like glue, a mix of water from the sanisteam as well as from the damp air. Every now and then, the Child babbles nonsense and Mando answers him like he knows exactly what the kid is saying. “Don’t worry, Kid. We’re okay.”

It’s quite endearing, seeing such a gentle side to the Mandalorian. You know not many people have had the opportunity to see these little moments, making this that much more special. Watching two beings, appearing to have nothing in common, and clearly coming from two very different upbringings, but having such a deep connection you’re not sure you’ll ever fully understand is quite a beautiful sight. It makes you appreciate these moments so much more. Mando’s letting you in on these precious exchanges, and you’ll cherish them for as long as you live.

After walking for what feels like hours, off in the distance you catch sight of a giant wall made of duracrete, and can faintly make out little blobs at the top of the wall; soldiers by the looks of it.

“A fortified city?” You ask him.

“Seems like it.” He answers as you draw closer to the gates. “Let me do the talking, all right?” He says, more of an order than an actual statement, but you choose not to argue. Mando usually knows better than you, and you’ve shown that you have a tendency to lose your temper, therefore he’s definitely the better mediator between you two.

As you both appear from the edge of the forest, the guards atop the parapet flock to the front gate, their rifles pointed at you. Mando stops just a few metres shy of the gate, waiting. A man suddenly appears, studying you both.

“State your business.” He shouts, standoffish.

“Been tracking for a few days,” The Mandalorian begins to say. You continue studying the gunslinger as well as the other soldiers whose rifles are still pointed at you. Hand continuing to hover merely inches above your blaster, your body fighting the urge to turn this into a fight. “Looking for a layover.”

The man shifts his gaze between you and Mando, clearly debating whether or not to shoot you both where you stand.

“Nice armor.” He jests.

Kriff, you don’t like the look of this. You’re both severely outgunned, and despite the beskar amour Mando wears, that doesn’t guarantee that you’ll live through this if a fight ensues.

The man to your left doesn’t answer, opting to gauge the gunslinger’s demeanor, waiting for him to press you again. “You a hunter, then?”

“That’s right.”

“Both of you?” His stare turns to you, so you glare back at him, refusing to back down and cower under his own piercing scowl.

“Yes.” You hiss through gritted teeth.

The helmet turns slightly in your direction as if warning you to watch your tone. Swallowing the lump in your throat, you straighten out your shoulders and let your arm drop to your side, no longer hovering over your blaster.

“Guild?”

“Last I checked.” Mando answers, a glint of annoyance is hidden under the deepness of his baritone.

The man studies you two for a couple more seconds, then orders the guards to open the gate. Letting out a deep breath through your lips, you start to feel like this will be the beginning of a very tense day. Better to keep quiet and let Mando handle this, since you tend to shoot first then ask questions later. Your partner is much more of the level-headed one—who would have thought that?

The city itself is small, and very quiet—way too quiet for any normal city. Every city and village you’ve visited have been vibrant and loud, with native villagers and visitors mingling together, but here? The residents walk silently, keeping their heads down, and only peeking at you both through the corners of their eyes. The guards walk around, hands planted firmly on their rifles, as if to be looking for trouble. Immediately, your bones tense and that anger you have trouble controlling begins to bubble up inside you. These villagers seem trapped—Maker, even the kids aren’t running around. They’re stuck to their parents like glue, never taking a single step away from them. This is a city under a gruesome Magistrate.

As you make your way down the main road, Mando catches sight of a vendor and heads for their stand. “Pardon me, vendor, have you heard of anyone…” But as he draws closer to the elderly woman behind the table, they quickly turn their back to you and disappear down a quiet alley.

Eyebrows pulling tightly, your jaw clenches, completely astounded at how these people are too afraid to even talk to you. What kind of monster forces its citizens to live in constant fear to the point of being too afraid to speak to travelers?

Before you know it, you’re following the vendor down the alley when you see another elderly man bending down and whispering to some younglings. Your neck cranes to the side, and you walk over to him cautiously, hoping you won’t startle him.

“Excuse me,”

Once he catches you in his peripherals, he ushers the kids away before rising to his feet and turning his body to you.

“We need some information.” You announce, trying to keep your voice as gentle as you can despite the white-hot rage cooking up in your veins. “We’re looking for someone. Could you help—”

“Please,” he pleads as he holds a palm out in front of him to stop you from elaborating, voice quiet as to not draw any attention to himself. “Do not speak to any of us.”

“Look,” Mando interjects, his attitude becoming less patient as time ebbs on. “I just need to know—”

Before he can finish his sentence, you’re approached by two armed guards. Your hand flies to your holster, and Mando quickly shoots his hand out to stop you.

“The Magistrate wants to see you.” Their voices come out heavily distorted by their voice-box. It’s deep and frightening—no wonder these villagers are terrified. Even you are somewhat taken aback by their aggressive inflection, you can only imagine how these people must feel. Completely helpless and cut off from the anyone else, they don’t have a fighting chance even if they wanted to overthrow their government.

The old man leans over and takes a step back as one of the guards takes a step towards him. Your body cuts the droid off, putting yourself between the both of you. They’re wearing what appears to be a gas mask, but you stare at him, imagining where his eyes would be and continue to burn your own eyes into him, full of poison and anger. Inside, you’re begging him to make a move; to give you an excuse to shoot him right where he stands, but Mando’s visor snaps towards you, shooting you a warning as to not do something stupid. “Let’s go.” He says to you.

You follow Mando and the first guard down the main street, keeping an eye out on that other guard that treads behind you. The soldier leads you to another gate and kriff, you’re completely dumbfounded by what’s in front of you.

Along the cobblestoned street just ahead of the second gate are…prisoners. Prisoners strung up on various poles with a tiny podium to stand on, surrounded by what looks to be some kind of electrical barrier around them. The hostages are disturbingly frail, with many of them scarred with markings of fresh and old burn wounds you assume are from the bars circling around them. One man nearly doubles over and is electrocuted, its power so strong you can see the outline of their bones when the voltage hits their skin. You shudder at the sight of them, feeling your heart drop to your stomach.

They whisper desperately, begging for help but Mando continues walking, only offering one of the prisoners a quick glance. You stop in front of one of the hostages, eyes looking up at him as he cries, pleading over and over again for your help. Your jaw slacks, wanting to say something, but knowing nothing you say will matter. You can’t help them, at least not right now. Making a mental note to tell Mando once you head back to the Crest that you will free these prisoners, your eyes meet with the man’s own droopy, hooded lids, and hope they somehow can understand.

“Hey, girl,” A guard yells out. Looking down at the ground, you hear his heavy footsteps walk towards you, each step getting louder and louder as he nears you. “Keep moving.” He warns.

Biting your tongue and white knuckling your fists at your sides, you catch up with Mando, choosing no longer to wait till you are alone to whisper, “We’re freeing these prisoners before we leave,” through gritted teeth.

Mando’s helmet dips forward just enough for you to see it. The faster you find this Jedi, the sooner these prisoners can be freed. Once the first gate closes behind you, the second one opens and your jaw downright drops.

Firstly, there’s a fucking moat in front of you. When you and Mando were walking through the woodland in search of the village, you hadn’t even come across any body of water, and here the Magistrate is living with a full-on fucking moat. If that wasn’t enough, Maker there are trees here—not just stumps or snag trees, but actual trees flourishing in her small haven. They appear to be some sort of pine tree, but you can’t be sure since you’re too far away from them. Somehow even the air feels different here. Logically, you know that makes no sense, but it must be due to the contrast between how the Magistrate lives compared to how her own people live. There are hostages strung up, and being tortured, citizens who are too scared to even talk to you, living in tiny homes with little to no resources, and this one person is living with such excess and wealth, all the while quite literally separating themselves from the city’s population. It’s disgusting, it’s totalitarian, and the thought of people living in such horrible conditions is making your head spin.

It’s not that you were naïve enough to think there weren’t people living in such awful conditions, it was just that you had never actually seen this firsthand, so it was easy to forget that not everyone was as fortunate as you. Sure, water was a luxury back when you were just a child, but you had never been oppressed or discouraged from being a child. You had the luxury of walking around the city, and not having the stress or fear that any minute now a guard could kill you for doing something as normal as talking to another person. Not knowing how many more planets are under such control, it makes you want to search this entire galaxy and save every single citizen from this kind of barbarity.

The Magistrate is standing by the edge of her moat, appearing to throw something in the water. Maker, if she has fish in this moat, you’ll be… literally fucking speechless.

She addresses Mando to come forward, so he does. You opt to stay by the gate—deciding that it’s would be too difficult to hide the anger on your face and choose to wait for him to return.

“So she wants you to kill the Jedi?”

“Yes.” He says before putting the Child down gingerly on a smooth boulder.

According to the Magistrate, the Jedi is hiding somewhere in the forest, so now you and Mando have been searching aimlessly through the vast amount of woodland for any sign of a Jedi—whatever what means, but after what felt like hours of searching, your feet were throbbing. After ten minutes of begging him to take a small break, he finally gave in.

Plopping yourself down next to the Child, you continue to pester Mando with more questions. “And she’ll give you that beskar staff if you kill them?”

A drawn-out sign emits from the helmet. “Yes.”

“But we’re not doing that, right?” The question coming out rhetorically.

“No.” He answers curtly.

“Okay, good.” The conversation goes silent for a few seconds, and then your lips are moving again. “I really want to head back in there and shoot that woman right between the eyes.”

A noise comes from him that you’ve never heard before. Was…was that a fucking laugh? Is he fucking laughing at you? “You wouldn’t even get that close before one of her droids would shoot you down.”

“Believe it or not, Mando, but I’m a pretty decent fi—”

All of a sudden, Mando turns his body to yours and throws a gloved hand over your mouth. A small yelp escapes you but is muffled by leather. Your own hand flies to his, struggling to remove his kriffing hand from your face, tugging and trying to pull away from him.

“Stop!” He whispers, before raising a finger to his helmet where his mouth would be, ordering you to be quiet. Giving him a nod, he lets go of you, and presses a button on the side of his helmet then pivots around, scanning the area for lifeforms. Off in the distance, a large beast trots along the forest edge and Mando’s body relaxes.

“False alarm,”

“What the hell, Mando?” You force out through jagged breaths.

“Why are you here?”

Both your bodies whip around and catch the sight of a female Togruta standing just a few metres away from you. Her blue stripped lekku are enlarged around her round face and extend all the way to her midthighs, giving an indication that she’s of a mature age, although her face is clean of wrinkles, her features still smooth, suggesting she’s still well within her prime. Thick montrals pointing towards the sky like mountain tops, her orange skin reminds you of Tatooine sunsets—warm, and deep. White pigments outlining her cheeks, forehead, and eyebrows, Maker, she is stunning, and intimidating.

In her hands, she’s holding what appears to be two beaming swords. Not unlike the electrical barrier that the Magistrate had her prisoners surrounded by, although this type of energy looks much more elegant and impressive. Its luminescent white light purrs, you can hear the humming even though you’re a couple metres away from her. You’ve never seen a weapon quite like it. It’s much more of sophisticated weapon than you’ve been privy to seeing, but it’s exceptionally beautiful.

“Ahsoka Tano?” Mando asks, holding his hands out in front of him, taking a very cautious step towards her. She tenses, one of the laser swords comes up and she holds it across her chest, keeping the other steadily by her side. Your hand placed firmly on your blaster strapped to your thigh, heart thumping in your chest, you wait for her to attack.

“Who are you?” She says cautiously, keeping that glowing spear between Mando and herself.

“Bo-Katan sent me.” He says warily.

The Togruta stares at Mando, then to you before straightening out her back, her weapons’ beaming white blades retracting into their handles.

“We need to talk.” Mando clarifies, standing up straight.

“Well, I hope it’s about them,” She answers kindly, shooting you a quick wink before taking a step towards you.

Crossing your arms and lips forming a tight line, your head jerks back when she responds.

“What do you mean, “them?”

Mando retreats to get the Child, and holds him with one arm, choosing to stand almost directly between you and Ahsoka. “Is there somewhere we can talk?”

Her posture changes from weary to inviting, hooking her weapons back on her hips, her back untensing and taking a step back. “Come.”

You and Mando follow her through the thick, dense woods, nearly tripping and twisting your ankle trying to avoid the roots that are nestled above the dirt, or stumps that have fallen over and are lying on the ground.

She finds a spot not too covered in trees, with a couple of boulders lying around in a circle. In the middle are embers from an old fire that you assume she made for herself. She sits down on one of the rocks, then you and Mando follow suit. He places the Child gently between himself and Ahsoka, and presses a button on his vambrace, causing a flame to shoot out from his wrist, reigniting the ashes. Instead of waiting for either of them to speak, you begin questioning Ahsoka.

“So,” You say, head craning in her direction. “You’re a Jedi?”

Ahsoka lets out a small chuckle, eyes shifting towards the ground. You can vaguely make out the blaze in the reflection of her eyes. “No, I’m not a Jedi, not anymore.”

“Is there anything you can tell me about this little one?” Mando questions her, jerking his neck to the left where the green baby is perched between them. She turns her head towards the Child, and almost instantaneously, his giant ears perk up, big eyes peering up at her, uttering unintelligibly.

“Can I have a moment alone with him?” She asks you and Mando. He doesn’t say anything in response, but stands up straight and walks away, not once looking back. You’re a few seconds late, but finally rise to your own feet before taking one last look at Ahsoka. She smiles at you and nods. You hear her voice and at first believe she’s actually spoken to you, but quickly realize her lips haven’t moved.

It’s okay.

Surely, you’re imagining things. It’s not possible to hear someone’s voice so clearly in your mind unless they actually said something to you…right?

Pushing the thought out of your mind, you turn on your heel, and you walk over to where Mando is pacing back and forth. He’s quiet as usual, but his body language is screaming. He’s tense, boots retracing the same steps over and over, shoulders square and hands fidgeting by his thighs. The apprehension, his nervousness—it’s practically seeping from him. It’s not something you ever thought you’d see—Mando anxious about a situation, given that he’s usually a lot better at keeping his cool under pretty much every single stressful situation.

At first, you think about asking him if he’s okay, or showing him that you notice his tentativeness, but it’s quickly shoved out of your mind when you remember how little he likes to talk about himself or how he’s feeling. You know firsthand that he prefers to stay silent rather than admit what’s going on inside his head.

Choosing to sit on a tree stump that’s fallen over on the ground, you continue to study Ahsoka and the Child. They stare at each other for a couple minutes not saying anything, just offering each other a series of smiles, gazes, and tilts of the head. As you continue to watch them, it’s almost as if you can hear them, which you know logically makes no sense. It’s very faint and muffled, taking all the concentration you can muster but you swear to the Maker you can hear them speaking to each other. The harder you squint, the clearer their voices get. However, it’s when you close your eyes and pull your brows together tightly, giving them your full attention that their voices become almost as clear as day.

His name is Grogu.

He was raised at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant.

Order 66.

What’s order 66?

Before you can make out anything else, Ahsoka’s voice pulls you out of your concentration, calling you both over. Jumping to your feet in record time, you reach out and grab hold of Mando’s vambrace. He stills at your touch.

“Come,” You say gently, motioning your head over to the two by the fire.

The deep breath he lets out pulls rough from his vocoder, you can feel the trepidation in his body spilling into his lungs. He trails behind you and when you both reach them; you sit back down on the rock you were seated on before, but Mando chooses to stand instead.

“Has he…said anything? Do you…understand him?” He asks Ahsoka curiously, but with a hint of worry in his baritone.

“In a way. Grogu and I can read each other’s thoughts.”

“Grogu?” Mando’s voice is gentle but still low, and almost immediately, the Child’s ears perk up once again, and his little head jerks to face him, a gentle noise of glee escapes him.

“Yes,” Ahsoka says, smiling. “That’s his name, but you already knew that.”

“I—” He begins to say but Ahsoka cuts him off.

“No, not you. Her.”

Both Ahsoka and Mando’s head turn to you. Leg bouncing anxiously off the ground, your jaw slacks to answer, but not entirely sure how to answer. “Uh—Yeah, I mean he didn’t exactly tell me but he…kind of did?”

“What do you mean?” Mando presses you.

One of your hands rub the back of your neck and your eyes trail away from the two people staring you down to look at your feet. Clearing your throat, you answer uncertainly. “I…don’t know how he did it or how I was able to understand it.”

“Are you both still able to wield the Force?” Ahsoka asks curiously.

“The Force?” You repeat in confusion.

“You mean, his powers?” The Mandalorian chimes in.

“The Force is what gives him his powers. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It also allows us to communicate with each other.” She clarifies, somewhat answering your question but simultaneously confusing you even more. What the hell is ‘The Force’?

“You’re saying he used ‘The Force’ to communicate with me?”

“In a way, yes. We can communicate with others who are Force-sensitive, although it takes a great deal of training and discipline to wield it properly.”

Does this mean…?

Is she saying you’re…?

Force-sensitive?

Ahsoka sighs before addressing you again. “I sense a lot of conflict in you,”

“I’m just finding all of this very hard to believe,” You admit.

Ahsoka acknowledges your stunned expression with a gentle nod, before shifting the conversation towards the real issue—Grogu. Turning her eyes away from you, she now speaks to Mando. “Grogu was raised and trained by many Masters at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. At the end of the Clone Wars, when the Jedi were deemed traitors of the Republic, they were hunted down and killed. Grogu was smuggled out of the Temple beforehand, and has been forced to hide his abilities in order to survive over the years.”

Peeking over to observe Grogu, your heart aches. How could anyone want to harm him? He’s just a child, an innocent creature. “Do you know of anyone else like him?”

“I’ve only ever known one other being like this.” Her eyes trail off to gaze into the fire once again. “A wise Jedi Master named Yoda. I didn’t know others like him existed.”

“My task was to bring him to a Jedi. Can you train him?”

Ahsoka lets out a deep breath before answering. “The Jedi Order fell a long time ago.”

“So did the Empire, yet it still hunts us.” Your voice comes out more aggressive than you intended, but you’re desperate for answers.

Ahsoka looks down to the Child once again. His eyes flutter shut, exhaustion overcoming his little body until he all but bows his head to fall asleep. “Let him rest for now, I’ll test him in the morning.”

Mando’s helmet dips forward in agreement. He moves around the fire and makes his way over to Grogu and picks him up gingerly, holding him close to his cuirass and motioning his head in the direction of the Crest. Humming in response and rising to your own feet, you make to follow behind Mando back to ship when Ahsoka places a hand on your forearm.

“A moment?”

“Uh, sure,” You answer hesitantly. “I’ll meet you back at the ship.” You call over to Mando.

He huffs in response before walking away, Grogu fast asleep in his arms. Sitting back down, you wait for Ahsoka to speak.

“You’re troubled. I can sense it.”

Jaw dropping, you look for the words to accurately describe just how confused and in disbelief you are. Gesticulating around you, your voice is soft and low. “How—how is this possible?” A laugh escapes your lips. “I’m just a mecha—smuggler.” You catch yourself, the word barely leaving your lips. “Nothing more, nothing less.”

Her own lips form a tight line, as if she’s seen others react the same way. “It’s unclear how the Force works, and there’s no definitive way of explaining who has the gift and who hasn’t. We’re just…burdened with it.” Her eyes look down at the ground. It’s evident there’s some unresolved regret and sadness she’s been carrying for years, and you can’t help but wonder what could have possibly happened to her for her to feel this way.

“You said ‘I’m not a Jedi, not anymore’. What did you mean by that?”

She takes a deep breath, exhaling through her nose before speaking. “I left the order when I was young. It… wasn’t what I thought it was anymore.” Her voice trails off.

“What was it supposed to be? Who were the Jedi?” You don’t mean to ask so many questions, but there are so many pieces to this puzzle that you don’t understand yet. You’re supposedly predestined to be a Jedi, but you know nothing about them. Stories of the Jedi weren’t told to you when you were a child. It was treated more like a moment in history that no one wanted to speak of—like it was a stain on the galaxy that the majority of folks wanted to forget.

“We were trained to be keepers of the peace, but that all changed when the Clone Wars began. Jedi were suddenly soldiers and thrown into battle, required to fight for the Republic and keep the Separatists from expanding.”

“You fought?”

Ahsoka’s voice is low, like your question that thrown her back into the war, reliving all the pain from her youth. “I was just a Padawan when I joined the war effort. At first it was easy to say we were fighting to maintain the peace, but after a while, it almost felt like we became the ones raging the war. All of a sudden, the Order just didn’t feel like it once was…” She goes quiet for a moment, trying to find the right words to describe her conflicting feelings. “It changed.”

Your hand reaches out to hold hers. Once your skin touches her, immense pain overwhelms you. It’s haunting, a sudden hole fills your body with anger, regret, sadness. There’s a male voice, low and threatening, taunting her as he hisses.

Why did you leave?

You abandoned me!

Do you know what I’ve become?

Hand recoiling away, your left with the same empty feeling as her. It’s unnerving, experiencing something that hasn’t even happened to you yet somehow able to feel it so deeply, as if you know who this man is, but it gives you an insight as to just how tortured she must be feeling, and why she’s alone on this planet.

“Who…who was that?” Your voice is strained, shuddering out little breaths.

“Someone who meant a great deal to me.” Ahsoka’s face softens immediately, a somber smile develops on her lips, losing that hard, stoic demeanor she’s kept up in front of you and Mando. “An incredibly skilled Jedi Knight. He was my Master.”

“What happened to him?”

Ahsoka’s lungs fill with air, and she takes her time exhaling before answering you. “He fell to the Dark Side…” Her voice breaks up at the end, and clears her throat, giving the impression that she feels guilty about it, while also trying to regain control of her emotions.

Despite hearing the term ‘Dark Side’ for the first time, you almost instantaneously know what it is. The voice that creeps into your mind, the one that feeds off your anger and emotions, the one that scratches the inside of your brain, hissing to cause harm and feed the deepest parts of yourself that you despise. It all makes sense now.

“I sense it within you.” Her voice barely above a whisper, but clear enough to make your skin crawl. It’s a truth you didn’t know you had been dreading to hear. A truth you yourself had tried to ignore. The part of you that you hated most, finally being noticed by a complete stranger, it triggers something deep inside you, almost confirming your worst fears. You’re a danger, not only to yourself but to anyone around you. It’s suddenly as clear as day why you’ve tried to keep your distance from those you loved ever since your parents’ death. Why you never allowed yourself the luxury of attachments or love. Somehow, you knew that in order to keep yourself and others safe, you needed to put a barrier up, a wall to stop yourself from hurting others.

“I…don’t know how to control it.” Desperation in your voice, it becomes obvious that you’re both struggling to find solace.

“You should get some sleep. We’ll talk more in the morning, okay?” Attempting to put you somewhat at ease, she offers you a smile, although her eyes show you anything but contentment. There’s a sadness in them, like she already knows your fate but is unsure of the proper way of confessing it to you.

Nodding your head slowly, you push yourself to your feet and make a beeline for the Crest. Ahsoka stands, watching you drag your feet back to the ship, then disappears through the fog, and back into the forest.

When you reach the back ramp of the ship, the lights are dimmed to the lowest setting, your legs almost collapsing once you reach the hull from all the trekking throughout the day. Leaning over to the side of the ramp, you press a button on the board by the door and the ramp creaks shut.

The Crest is deafeningly quiet. As you make your way deeper into the ship, you observe Grogu sleeping soundly in his little hammock inside Mando’s bunk. Making sure not to make too much noise on the ladder, you gently head up to the cockpit and find Mando sitting in the pilot’s chair, unsure if he’s sleeping or simply sitting there like a statue which you’ve noticed he’s does from time to time. Upon entering the cockpit, you sigh a little loudly, testing to see if he’s awake.

Practically falling into your seat, you know you should get some sleep, but the mental exhaustion is almost too intense, you can’t seem to get your mind off everything that’s happened. Continuously mulling over what Ahsoka’s said, noting how it makes perfect sense, but not wanting to accept it.

“Are you…all right?” Mando asks you timidly, the deepness of his tone cutting through the low hum of the dimmed lights.

The question bounces around in your mind.

Are you all right?

Just under a couple of hours ago, you had never even heard of ‘The Force’, let alone supposedly have a connection to this intangible entity. Of course, there are things that you’ve done that you couldn’t logically explain, but does that necessarily mean you suddenly have some greater purpose? That you’re this…peacekeeper with an obligation to protect others?

Did your parents know?

Did they keep this a secret from you in order to protect you or were they just as in the dark as you were about this?

Everything you thought you knew about yourself is once again being challenged.

Mechanic.

Smuggler.

Quarry.

Jedi?

How are you supposed to navigate through this? Ahsoka said herself the Jedi were basically wiped out right as the Empire rose to power. What does that mean for you? Is the Empire hunting you down because you’re ‘force-sensitive’?

Certainly, it would be easier to simply put this all behind you. Help Mando with Grogu and then go your separate ways, ignoring what Ahsoka’s told you about being connected to The Force.

Do what you must in order to stay alive.

Keep to yourself just as you’ve always done, and survive.

But…is that the right thing to do? How does one know if the path they’re on is the correct one? It’s not like there’s someone all knowing that you can ask, or seek help from. The only thing you can do is trust your own instincts, go over each possibility and examine them meticulously, and pray to the Maker that you’ll be drawn to one option more than another.

Remembering that Mando’s just asked you a question but not remembering exactly what it was, you hum in your throat. “Hmm?”

Mando swivels his chair around to face you. “Are you all right?”

“It’s funny how we can here for the kid, and now I’m the one having some kind of existential crisis.” Your tone is wry, the ability to mock yourself never waving.

“Yeah.” He answers coolly, probably just because he doesn’t know what else to say. Mando’s not really one to comfort or coddle, unless it’s Grogu but that doesn’t bother you so much. Mando is the way he is, and you wouldn’t change a thing about him.

Before you even realize what you’re doing, you’re rising to your feet, word vomit expelling from your lips.

“I’ve lived my whole life not knowing where I belong. Navigating through various routes, trying to find my purpose and what I’m supposed to be doing, and I was fine with smuggling. I know it wasn’t honorable or strictly legal, but it made me feel better about my place in the galaxy. It felt better than being a mechanic on some rotten planet because at least I was seeing what the galaxy had to offer me, right? But it still couldn’t fill this empty pit I felt in my stomach.” Your breathing is erratic, chest pumping in and out as your heartbeat races.

“And I dealt with that. I did things I regretted but I never allowed myself to dwell on those things because I knew what I had to do in order to survive. Then out of nowhere I’m being hunted by what I thought was the New Republic but oh no surprise!” Your voice becoming almost hysterical, empty laughs punching out of you through jagged breaths. “It’s actually the Empire! Because I now apparently have some connection to an entity that exists in a form that I don’t even understand and have never heard of.

“All the while, I have this voice inside my head that fucking eats away at me. ‘Do this’ and ‘Make them feel pain’, ‘Hurt them like they hurt you’. It’s fucking gnawing at my brain, and I have no fucking idea how to control it or get it to stop. I feel like a monster, like some evil being that will one day just explode and hurt anyone in my path, and it fucking terrifies me because I can’t control it. I can’t fucking control it, Mando.” Your voice is hoarse, speaking so fast your lungs can’t keep up with you, only allowing yourself quick breaths as you begin to feel yourself hyperventilate.

Mando rises to his feet ever so slowly, visor glued to you as you continue to explode.

“What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to follow down the path of being a Jedi despite not knowing a single fucking thing about them? You heard what Ahsoka said about them. They were almost all wiped out.”

Your hands fly to your face, squeezing your eyes shut so hard, you’re seeing stars, and rubbing the heels of your palms into your skin. Completely overwhelmed by everything, you just want to disappear.

Then, you feel rough, sturdy gloves wrap around your wrists, and gently pulling at them, freeing your hands away from your face. When you finally open your eyes, all you see is Mando’s helmet, the ‘T’ of his visor looking down at you. He doesn’t let go of your wrists, just continues to hold them gingerly, even pulling them towards his chest. You take a step towards him, standing merely inches away from each other. He says nothing, but truthfully, he doesn’t need to. Holding you steady is all he needs to do in order to calm you down. Your breathing is slowly starting to regulate itself, even though your mind is still shouting at you.

Hearing a soft exhale emit through the helmet, Mando speaks quietly and softly. “You’re not a monster.”

“But—”

“We’ve all done things we regret.” He tells you softly. “What matters is that you regret it, which means you’re not a monster, because they don’t regret anything they’ve done.”

Your head dips downward, letting out a deep breath through slightly parted lips, as you begin shaking your head. “What if I hurt you or the kid one day?”

“You won’t.”

“You don’t know—”

“I do,” He says firmly, leaving you no more room to argue.

When you finally look up into the black eye slit of his helmet, you wish you were looking into his eyes. To see him looking back at you would be a blessing right now, but you know better than to ask him to take it off. You don’t know much about Mandalorians, but from the one you do know, he never takes his helmet off, and you wouldn’t dare ask him to break his creed just for you. So, this will have to do.

“Get some sleep.” He says then releases your wrists, letting them fall to your sides.

“I’m not tired,” You mumble.

“Yes, you are.” He argues. “Use the cot downstairs.”

“But that’s where you sleep.”

He turns away from you, sitting back in the pilot’s chair and swiveling it around so you’re facing the back of the seat. “I’ll sleep here. Now, go.”

He leaves no room for argument, and honestly? Finally being able to sleep lying down and not sitting upright in a chair does sound amazing. You head down the ladder without another word, feeling the sudden exhaustion hit you hard. Grogu’s still sound asleep in his hammock, and you wiggle into the tiny sleeping space, being mindful not to touch the hammock or make too much noise that might wake him up, gently pressing on the button on the panel near the door and hearing it woosh shut. Your nostrils fill up instantly with Mando’s smell. Notes of beskar, musk, and his soap fill your sinuses and you take a deep, burning breath, trying to inhale as much Mando as you can in one breath. The voices in your head are still chattering away, but being bundled up in Mando’s blanket and his smell is enough for you to push those noises away and fall asleep to the sound of the Child’s gentle snores.

Grogu’s training begins in the early morning. You’re all gathered around the same place you were last night, but there’s definitely more tension than there was the night before. For starters, you basically had a mental breakdown in front of Mando last night, and you’re feeling pretty guilty and embarrassed about it. You should have been able to keep your emotions in check and under control, but instead you blew up in front of the one person you didn’t want to blow up in front of.

Secondly, today you’ll all be seeing Grogu’s abilities firsthand, and find out just how much training he’s had and what he’s fully capable of doing, and it’s pretty easy to tell that Mando is nervous. The way he carries himself; back tense and his hands balled into fists at his sides, shifting uncomfortably as he watches Grogu stand on a rock just a few feet away from Ahsoka. You’re standing to his right, nerves and curiosity radiating off your skin.

“Let’s see what knowledge is lurking in that little mind of yours, shall we?” She says to Grogu before turning her head to you both. Clearing your throat, you nod in acknowledgement while Mando stays stiff as a board.

She reaches down and picks up a small stone off the ground and holds it out in front of her chest. Looking down at the rock and watching her eyes squint, it suddenly lifts out of her palm and stays in limbo for a moment before she uses her hand to push it towards Grogu. It flows over so slowly in his direction, his little arms reaching out and grabbing it with both hands. You stand there, completely stunned, eyes wide-shot and jaw practically hanging. It’s something you’ve been able to do as well, but only during bouts of anger or in the middle of a fight.

“Now, return the stone to me, Grogu,” She instructs, her voice gentle but commanding all the same.

His head tilts to the side, continuing to hold it firmly with his claws.

“He doesn’t understand what you’re saying,” Mando blurts out.

“He does.” She reassures him, holding her hand out and gently coaxing Grogu once again to hand her the rock. “The stone, Grogu.”

The Child gurgles, then drops the stone in a chuff of defeat. A drawn-out sigh releases from Mando’s helmet, somewhat irritable, but not fully angry.

Ahsoka approaches Grogu, leaning down to pick up the stone he’s dropped and taking his tiny hand in hers. Her head dips forward and whispers, “I sense much fear in you, little one.”

Grogu coos in response, his big eyes blinking slowly. She flashes him a kind smile and takes a couple steps back, cocking her head to one side as she ponders her next move. Ahsoka’s eyes meet yours for a second and just when they meet, it’s almost like you both come up with the same idea. Grogu needs a different kind of enticement, a more personal incentive.

“Let’s try something else,” She says. “Come here.”

Mando looks over to the Child and motions with his head for him walk over to meet Ahsoka. When he looks over to the Mandalorian with a puzzled look, Mando sighs again. “He’s stubborn.”

Unable to hide the smile on your face, you shake your head just as Ahsoka lips curl upwards. “Not him, you.” She says, looking at him.

Mando hesitates at first, so you grab hold of his forearm and almost usher him in Ahsoka’s direction. “I want to see if he’ll listen to you,” She says curiously.

Mando scoffs, and the sound comes out scratchy and low through the vocoder. “That would be a first.”

Handing Mando the stone, she instructs him to hold it in his palm, open faced and tell Grogu to lift and take the rock. He stands there awkwardly, shifting a bit, clearly a little uncomfortable but in an endearing way. You smile from ear to ear, watching Mando be so confused but approaching this in a gentle way that you know almost no one has been privy to witnessing. It tugs at your heartstrings, observing father and son.

He lets out a deep breath before following Ahsoka’s direction. “Okay, kid. Lift the stone.”

“Grogu,” You clarify, still smiling.

He whips his head to face you then back to the Child.

“Grogu,”

The Child’s ears perk up instantly hearing Mando’s voice call him, cooing excitedly. “Take the stone.”

Looking at the rock, Grogu babbles and then looks at the ground defeatedly.

“See?” Throwing the stone on the ground in annoyance, Mando looks over to where you and Ahsoka are standing. “I told you, he’s stubborn.”

You and Ahsoka turn heads to look at each other, knowing damn well it’s not because the kid is stubborn, but because Mando is stubborn. Keeping an emotional type of distance between him and every person in the galaxy, never allowing himself to make a meaningful connection.

“Try to connect with him,” Ahsoka chimes.

Mando studies Grogu, possibly trying to gauge a reaction or an insight as to what he wants. His gloved hands come up to grasp onto his utility belt and then you notice him fiddle with his belt and flesh out the metal knob from the lever of the Crest. Both you and Mando know just how much that durasteel ball means to Grogu, and if there’s one thing in this galaxy that the kid absolutely loves and wants at all times, it’s that ball.

Sure enough, as soon as he sees Mando with the ball in his hand, his ears perk up immediately and giggles of joy rush out of him. Mando bends his knees, crouching down so that he’s at eye level with him, holding the ball between his fingers, enticing the downright giddy baby just a few feet away from him.

“Grogu,” His tone is playful, and it shocks you. He’s never spoken that way around you. Mando has a monotone way of speaking, maintaining a level tone, or an annoyed tone. Never speaking in a playful or humorous manner. To see him show this kind of vulnerability must be hard for him, especially in front of Ahsoka who he’s known for half a day, but Mando knows this isn’t about him, this is for Grogu, and he’ll do whatever it takes for the kid.

“Do you want this?”

The Child fixates on the ball, arms reaching out in front of him, almost begging for it, but Mando continues to tempt him, speaking low but tender, as he urges Grogu to take it. “Well, go ahead. Go on, take it. You can do it.”

Maker, it takes everything in you not to scream. The way Mando continues to coax him, the way Grogu coos and looks at him so lovingly, it’s enough to break hearts. A relationship borne of hunter and quarry turned father and son. Something so rare, so genuine. To think that these two beings don’t even speak the same language yet have an attachment so fierce and pure.

Eyes squinting in concentration, Grogu’s hand reaches out just a little further and then the ball flies from Mando’s hand right into the Child’s little grip.

“Good job!” Mando exclaims, pure joy and full of proudness. Your mouth falls into a toothy grin as you watch him approach the Child and continue to affirm how proud he is. Looking over at Ahsoka and expecting to see her smiling, your face quickly changes when you take notice of her expression. She’s looking down at the ground, not a speck of joy on her face. In fact, she looks defeated, like she’s just witnessed something awful. Eyebrows pulling together, you give her a nudge with your elbow, asking what’s wrong without actually asking what’s wrong.

“I knew you could do it. Very good,” Mando continues to praise.

“He’s formed a strong attachment to you,” She says before her lips press into a thin line.

“Is that a bad thing?” You question. Taking a step towards Mando and away from Ahsoka, and crossing your arms against your chest, your head cocks to one side waiting for her to explain.

“I cannot train him.”

“What?” Mando straightens out immediately and turns his body to face her. “You’ve seen what he can do, right?” He asks curtly, a hint of underlying anger in his vibrato.

“His attachment to you makes him vulnerable to his fears—his anger.”

“All the more reason to train him.”

“No,” She grits out through her teeth. “I’ve seen what such feelings can do to a person. What it can do to even the best of the Jedi Knights. I will not start this child on that path. Better to let his abilities fade.”

You take a step back; a sneer escapes your lips as you try to understand what the hell she’s saying. “Let his abilities fade? Look at him. You can’t just give up on him.”

She looks down at Grogu who’s too busy examining the ball in his hands to notice the three of you arguing. Giving you both a quick glance, Ahsoka shakes her head. “I’ve delayed too long. I must head back to the village.” She turns on her heel and begins walking away from you two when Mando gets her attention.

“The Magistrate’s asked me to kill you.”

Ahsoka freezes, turning her body slowly towards you, hands making their way to the weapons strapped around her waist.

“I didn’t agree to anything.” Mando clarifies.

Uncrossing your arms, you take a tentative step towards her. “We’ll help you free the village, but at the very least, Grogu,” You point a finger in Grogu’s general direction, “needs training.”

She clamps down on her jaw, eyebrows knitting together as she mulls over the proposition.

“Fine, but we hit the city tonight.”

-------

I hope y'all liked the way I wrote ahsoka...I completely ignored how she looked in the mandalorian and based her appearance off the “Overlords” ep of tcw and changed the way her character was because I wasn't really a fan of how she was written.

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin x reader #din djarin x you #mando x reader #mando x you #angst #reader insert #we are one when together #fics

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kkeidawrites · 4 years ago

Text

Lost Light

Whew, let me tell y'all writing this one shot was killing me...having to re-watch and relive the experience from this made me have a broken heart again like all those years ago. But, here we are.

Loki Laufeyson x black!reader

Disclaimer: The story you are about to read is full of spoilers from the Avengers: Infinity War movie, I do not own any of the quotes or the gifs that are displayed on this fanfic, that all belongs to Disney, Marvel Studios which is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios and its proper companies and I would suggest you not read this if you have not seen the movie yet. This story is both fictional and all the characters that are mentioned are all my personal, made up ocs that I wanted to share. So, just you know, prepare yourselves. Thank you.

The stench.

The falling ash.

The haunting distress call, pleading for any help that was close by, didn't reach a willing ear.

Pieces of the ship, that once held all of the surviving members of Asgard, were scattered astray and skewed in space.

Asgardians young and old littered the remaining floating, functioning part of the ship, dead and being stabbed again by the ones who created the carnage to ensure they stayed dead.

Mawu watched helplessly as Thor laid on the bay of the ship, defeated and critically wounded, his breathing was becoming labored but the Moon Goddess couldn't do anything as she was restrained by the large behemoth that had its foot on her back.

They had fought valiantly and fearlessly, but in the end it didn't matter, Thanos had took them down without breaking a sweat. His lackeys went to work to kill the rest of the innocent Asgardians, claiming he was doing them a favor.

"Your people are nothing now...you have no world to occupy." he had said after he broke our spirits. He spoke to us like we were his captured kill from a glorious hunt.

"Your people are powerless, tired, it would be best to end your suffering."

"I know what it's like to lose," the titan turns his back to stare at Loki who shifted his gaze from his wife back to Thanos. The last thing he needed was the titan to know that he was a married man and Loki refused to allow anymore harm come to her.

He had done so in the past and he vowed to protect her since then. Mawu watched powerless as the feeling of the creature's foot pressed a bit more on her back, making Mawu grunt in pain.

"Feels so desperately that you are right, yet to fail none the less."

Thanos approaches Thor and picks him up by the neck dragging him over to Loki's stiff form.

"Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you to what end? Dread it, run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. Now it's here, should I say 'I am..'"

Thor makes a clipped comment and Loki quickly gazes at his brother fearfully then back to the menacing titan's glare.

"The Tesseract or your brother's head." His large fist began to squeeze the new king's head.

"I assume you have a preference?" Thanos asked smug.

"Oh, I do. Kill away." Loki's statement lifts the titan's chin smugly and Mawu's jaw drops in disbelief; the large brute then takes the power infinity stone and presses it against the side of Thor's head. Thor screams from the immense pain that was coming from the stone and Mawu squirmed under the beast's foot.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!" Mawu yells as she struggled. More pressure was applied to her back and the Goddess gasps in pain going limp, and had no choice but to listen to the agonizing screams of the king of Asgard. Tears were running down her cheeks, as a sob left her lips.

After all they had been through, Loki would pull something like this. Mawu believed that her husband had changed for the better and here he was allowing this monster to kill his own brother. She struggled to turn her head and out of the corner of her eye she watched her husband. He was looking conflicted to what was happening. Thor let out another excruciating cry of pain and Loki balled his fists at his sides.

"Alright, stop!" Loki yells.

The power stone was removed from his brother's head and Thor panted helplessly at Thano's side. Loki sighs in relief.

"We don't have the Tesseract. It was destroyed on Asgard." Thor wheezes.

Low and behold, Loki materializes the Tesseract in his right hand, raised to Thano's eye and the titan gives a chilling grin.

"You..you really are the worst brother." Thor says and Loki comes closer to Thanos as if to hand over the sacred item to him.

"I assure you brother , the sun will shine on us again." Loki tells him and that makes Thanos chuckle.

"Your optimism is misplaced Asgardian."

"Well for one thing, I'm not Asgardian. And for another, we have a Hulk." Just as he said that, the green gamma fused hero came barreling through and punches Thanos giving Loki enough time to move Thor out of harm's way.

"Let him have his fun." Ebony Maw tells Black Dwarf who moved to help their master.

Mawu was shocked at the quick turn of events and the pressure on her back was lifted long enough for her to roll out from under Black Dwarf and use her cosmic beam emission to blast him away from her. Sending another beam at Corvus Glaive, Mawu floated over to Thanos to help Hulk.

This brought Proxima Midnight attention to Mawu's sudden escape and she steps in Mawu's way to halt her assault. Spins her three-pronged spear to ready her stance. Mawu readies herself and her hands and eyes begin to glow a bright blue color.

"You won't leave here alive." she taunts with a smirk.

"We will see, bitch." Mawu sends beams her way and Proxima dodges them, moving close to unleash swings from her spear. Mawu dodges them and blocks the ones that reached her face.

Hulk began with having the upperhand on Thanos but, the titan quickly unbalanced him and took his down within seconds, hauling his large body over his head then slamming it on the ground of the ship's bay. Hulk lays there defeated and not moving.

Thor comes up behind Thanos and hits him with a lead pipe that bounces off his armor and the titan turns around and pushes him away. Ebony Maw takes this time to use his psychokinesis and trap Thor's body with the iron from the ship.

Mawu manages to scratch Proxima's right cheek and the woman grunts in pain touching her cheek to feel the blue blood running down to her lip. She gives a battlecry and sweeps her spear under Mawu's feet but she was quicker to jump back and uses her right leg to come down and snaps the spear in half.

Proxima uses one end of her spear to throw at the Moon Goddess and Mawu dodges it.

Elbowing her in the face, Mawu is quick to get onto her hands and spin her straightened feet in a kick combo on her face. Proxima dodges the first spin but was hit by the second one, along with an uppercut Mawu sent once she returned to her feet.

.As she stumbles back from the attack, Mawu grabs Proxima by the neck and throws her down into the ground, raising her leg to bring it down on her head as a final blow when she was suddenly grabbed by the back of her neck and pulled away from her opponent. Black Dwarf had grabbed her threw her but, Mawu was stopped by an invisible force.

The Goddess squirmed from the invisible force holding her and turned her head to see Ebony Maw holding her against her will.

She cursed him in her native tongue as she was left floating at his side.

However, the thing Mawu saw was Heimdall as he prayed softly to his ancestors and her eyes widened at what he was doing.

"Forefathers, let the dark magic flow through me one last...time." his soft prayer was heard and the Bifrost was opened and immediately took Hulk away. Thanos approaches Heimdall and grabs Corvus Glaive's double-sided polearm as he looks down at the struggling man.

"That was a mistake." Thanos tells the watchman of the gods and stabs the polearm through his heart. Heimdall stares defiantly at Thanos until his last breath of life left his body and he fell limp against the piece of metal he was propped up against. Thor cries in anguish as he watched his friend die and glares hatefully at the titan.

"You going to die for that." Thor swears to Thanos then his lips are bound when Ebony Maw seals his lips with metal.

Ebony Maw then presents the Tesseract to Thanos, as he kneels before the titan and the purple brute removes his armor, and plucks the cube from his lackey's hand. He crushes it and inside his hand sits the space stone. He places the stone on his gauntlet and hums in pleasure of the new power flowing through him.

Mawu suddenly feels weak and lethargic, her head begins to pound severely. You see, when the space stone is disrupted, it effects those who helped create the universe, Mawu is beginning to lose her powers because, the space stone is what keeps the balance of all the nine realms in harmony. With a dark heart like Thanos, the space stone could easily kill the creator gods of the universe.

"There are two more stones on Earth," Thanos marvels at the stones on his gauntlet, he then turns his attention to his 'children'.

"Find them my children, and bring them to me on Titan." he orders and his 'children' kneel down in front of him in respect.

"Father we will not fail you." Proxima Midnight says. Mawu glares at the woman.

"Karachi ẹnu kẹtẹkẹtẹ bishi (Stupid kissing ass bitch)." Mawu cursed and Proxima gives her a menacing glare as if she understood what the Goddess said.

"If I might interject," Loki makes his appearance and slowly moves closer to Thanos.

"If you are going to Earth, you might want a guide. I do have experience in that arena." he gives a dry chuckle.

"If you call failure experience.

"I consider experience, experience."

"Oh mighty Thanos," he grew closer now as he sneakily summoned a knife in his left hand.

"I, Loki, prince of Asgard...Odin's son, the rightful king of the Jotunheim, God of Mischief...do hereby pledge to you..." he gives his wife a look. Just one look to show that he loved her and Mawu's eyes widened. Mawu watched in horror as her husband approached the titan and began shaking her head.

"...my undying infidelity." Loki moves to strike Thanos through the throat but, the space stone possesses his arm to stop him. Loki pants in disbelief and Mawu struggles in her metal bindings, trying desperately to get out to help her husband.

"Loki! Get out of there! Loki!" she screams to her lover, whom even if he wanted to, could not move.

"Undying? You should use your words more carefully." Thanos scolds Loki and pushes back his arm, making the God of Mischief grunt in pain as he was quickly disarmed and Thanos gripped him by the throat. Mawu struggled harder as the titan raised her lover higher to get a better look at him. Loki's choking gargles alerted both her and Thor.

"Let him go you alainiye lori (son of a bitch)! Loki!" Mawu grunts as her metal prison squeezed around her body. She watched pitifully as her husband squirmed in Thano's squeezing grip and her tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Don't...Do not do this! Please don't do this!" she cries as the sound of Loki's bones began rattling.

As he struggled, Loki had the gal to look in Thanos in the eyes as he whimpered out one last statement. "You...will never be...a god." Loki then shifts his wavering gaze to his wife and gave her a painful smile then mouthing his love to her before the crack of his neck resounded in the tense atmosphere.

"Noooooooooooo!" Mawu yells.

Thor's muffled cry of anguish is a haunting one as Thanos brings his dead brother's body over to his bound form, dropping him at his feet.

"No resurrections this time." Thanos taunts. The titan then raises his gauntlet and activates the power stone, all around them what's left of the Statesmen began to explode and Thanos uses the space stone to open a portal and the Black Order leave the blowing up ship.

The metal around Thor disintegrated and he quickly crawled over to Loki's body. He looked over his brother's face and sobs left his lips as he hugged him to his chest.

"Loki..." he whimpers solmenly.

Mawu however, had another agenda, once she was released from the metal prison her eyes had coated over to a dark blue color and her hands glowed a illuminated white color. Her adrenaline was high as hell and so was her anger which gave her more of a boost as she flew up from the Statesmen and aimed her glowing hands at Thanos' ship.

"O gba ọkọ mi, ẹbi mi, lẹhinna o ro pe o kan le sá? Iwọ yoo ku loni, aderubaniyan(You take my husband, my family, and then you think you can just run away? You will die today, monster)! " Mawu beams up her hands and begins throwing concentrated cosmic energy balls at the ship.

Two of the engines on the ship went up in flames, and Mawu flew closer to punch a side of the ship but, her assault was cut short when a canon blasted her away. This gave the ship enough time to portal out of there.

Mawu regained her balance mid-flight and her brows furrowed in anger as she watched the ship disappear through the portal. Her tears returned and her adrenaline wore off, as the Statesmen blew up in a purple flash behind her. Mawu welcomed the force of the blast as her eyes returned to its original brown color.

She simply floated in outer space as the debris of both the ship and deceased Asgardians coasted past her. Mawu's eyes caught Loki's departed form and moved closer to him, grabbing his cold hand and pulling him to her chest. Mawu cried in his chest as she wrapped his arms around her body, wanting to once again feel his loving embrace.

The moon has a dark side and it has a bright side but, with how her emotions played out, the moon has been cased in a dark grey hue that stirs the gravity on the Earth.

Mawu didn't care about any of that right now...her husband was dead, her heart has been torn in two, and there was nothing she could do to change it. Mawu's eyes filmed over a grey color and she fell limply against her deceased husband's chest as her body shut down into a vegetative state.

The light was lost from the moon that day and the end of the universe was closer.

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I hope you all had a good cry like I did when I wrote this story. This had been sitting in my brain for weeks, yall. WEEKS. And I finally sat my ass down and wrote it. So, enjoy, like, comment and reblog. Also make sure to head over to my inbox for any requests. Peace y'all.

#black reader #black oc #mawu oc #loki x black!reader #loki laufeyson #fanfiction #black fanfiction #my writing #loki layfeyson x reader #loki layfeyson x black!reader #marvel #marvel x oc

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venusandromedadjarin · 4 years ago

Text

Legend

Ch. 16, A Glint of Beskar

18+, angst, fluff, love, NON CANON, 2k words

****I hope y’all love this one as much as I do xx, I am planning on posting another chapter this weekend too****

You stare at him, the rage plain on your face, but you’re interrupted by the sudden cries of the kid who is currently looking between you and his dad with large black eyes. Before Din can get to him, you scoop him up and climb the ladder to the cockpit, pressing the button as soon as you’re inside so the doors slam shut behind you. The baby screeches and you do your best to comfort him, but the tears just keep coming. Hours pass as you try everything: feeding him, singing to him, rocking him, pointing out creatures on the dock, and stars to him once the sun sets. Eventually, he closes his eyes and falls into a pattern of deep breathing against your soaked shirt. You coo down at him, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

When the doors slide open, you don’t bother turning around. The pram floats up beside you and you lay his tiny body inside of it, tucking the blanket around him before closing the top. Din is silent, the suit of Beskar unmoving, as he watches you. It’s not until you move towards the door that he even attempts to speak, but you ignore your name as it falls from his lips before disappearing back to the hull.

The action makes your heart ache, but your mind is reeling with so many questions. Questions he may or may not have an answer to, which is another problem all together. You pace, rubbing at your eyes until you see stars. His boots thud somewhere close to you, followed by small clanging sounds, but your back is turned so you can’t see what it is. You’re suddenly very preoccupied with the weapon cabinet, studying everything inside it while he broods less than five feet away from you.

Eventually, his ungloved hands come to rest gently on your shoulders, and you can hear his modulated breathing behind you, “Y/n.” It’s not a command of any sort, but you slowly turn to look at him, the anger bubbling inside your chest again.

“You lied to me Din.” It’s an accusation, and his unguarded chest stills at the words. Without all the Beskar, you realize now that he was taking it off earlier, he looks smaller and more inviting. The visor is pointed at you, which makes you even more angry. “They made it sound like I can see your face. They didn’t wear their helmets. What the fuck does that mean?” Your hands come out to push him away, hitting his chest harder than you meant and he steps back, catching your wrists.

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what? Don’t question you? You knew and you lied!” Your voice breaks as you try to keep from yelling, try to keep from waking the baby up.

“I didn’t lie,” the modulator cracks with how quietly he’s speaking.

“Then tell me. Tell me what they said wasn’t true and explain it to me.”

He watches you for a moment before pulling you towards his chest. You tense against him, trying to keep some semblance of a level head, but his body heat makes you lean into him before he speaks again, “What they said was true, but I didn’t lie.” Din is silent, waiting for you to say something. When you don’t, he breaks away from you and grabs two cases so that you can sit and face each other. He gestures towards one and you sink down onto it, brushing at your wet cheeks and trying to stop the tears from flowing.

Once he’s seated, his elbows resting on his knees, the helmet lifts to look at you again, “I’ll tell you what I know, but it’s not much.

“On Mandalore, there was a legend of lovers who were born to bring balance to the galaxy in times of dire need. The Maker created each person out of dust, reaching into the stars and collecting the strongest elements to craft them before breathing life into their forms. The man would be marked with the sun and the woman would be marked with the moon. The balance for life on each planet. The lovers were said to have disappeared hundreds of years ago, and until they appeared again, the galaxy would be safe.

“Our families fled Mandalore together after you were born, two years after me. The Djarin clan had been marked by the sun, and your clan was marked by the moon. My parents explained to me that because I was older than you, it was my responsibility to protect you no matter the cost. I didn’t realize it would eventually mean I would lose you for what felt like a lifetime. It was my job to protect you in that cellar, but I left you behind.

“The Children of the Watch took me in and raised me. The boy that I was before I was a foundling died in that cellar with you. He was supposed to. The Creed requires us to forget our names, our faces, our lives. This is the way.

“There are very few loopholes once you take the the Creed. But after hearing what Bo-Katan said, I don’t know if it’s really true or if it’s all lies. The Death Watch look like Mandalorians and act like Mandalorians, but they are allowed to be people. I was raised to be a machine, a killer. When I found the child, that started to change.

“The armorer made us a clan of two and deemed him my foundling. He is my son. I gave up everything for him, and in order to help me, the covert all but disappeared. They’ve gone into hiding and I haven’t gone back since before I rescued you. When I found the child, I watched you fight on Arvalla-7. At first, I didn’t believe my eyes. I had gone to the armorer and asked about the legend. I didn’t even know for sure until I saw your birthmark on the Crest.

“It’s my responsibility to give this foundling the life he deserves, and it’s our responsibility to bring balance.”

You’re silent as you watch him wring his hands, rubbing at the spot between his thumb and index finger. “Is the covert gone or are they dead?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know the child’s name?”

“No.”

“What balance are we supposed to bring back?”

“I don’t know,” his voice is exasperated, and you can tell he’s frustrated with your questions.

“Din…” You take his hands in your own before falling to your knees in front of him, looking up at the visor, trying to find his eyes through it. He doesn’t move as you bring your hands to the sides of the helmet, pausing and waiting for his response. “Can I?”

Din’s hands come up to rest on top of yours, stopping you from moving the helmet off of him, “I-I can’t. Not yet. Please.” You nod, dropping your hands to your lap and biting your lip to keep the tears at bay. He moves to the floor with you so that he’s on the same level, “Riduur, I want to show myself to you, but not like this.” You nod again and fold into his embrace, his strong arms wrapping around you.

“We need to go back to them. They can help us.”

“I promised I would help them on a mission, when you were in the cock pit. Bo-Katan will give me the information I need when it’s done. I leave in the morning, but it’s already late.”

You stand, pulling him up with you and leading him towards your bedroom. The exhaustion takes over and you pull him onto the bed, not even bothering to undress. As soon as he taps the light switch, you hear the hiss of his helmet and the familiar clink before you both fall asleep.

Din is gone when you wake, but the child is toddling around on the bed, watching you as he plays with his silver ball. There’s a note and a com link next to the bed. I’ll make contact with coordinates, fly to get me. -Din. A man of few words. With a shaky breath, you realize last night is the most you’ve ever heard him speak.

“Come here you little gremlin,” he giggles and rushes over to you, tripping on his baggy clothes. You hold the ball out in front of him while he makes grabby hands and baby noises. After about twenty minutes, you decide to risk taking a shower while he plays and slip away to the refresher. The warm water eases the rest of your nerves as you wash your hair and shave, taking advantage of the Crest being in a landing dock. Afterwards, you can’t help but stare at the reflection of your birthmark in the mirror. You run your fingertips over it, remembering the legend that Din told you last night. You braid your hair into a crown and pin it up before finishing getting ready. A faint buzzing makes you dress quickly before running back to the room and clicking the com link on, placing it onto your wrist, “Hello.”

“Where were you?”

“I was in the refresher, where are you?” You can’t hide the smile in your voice.

“I-I’m a couple thousand feet off the ground right now. In a ship.”

“Coordinates?” You scoop the child up and he giggles, which in turn makes his father chuckle, before climbing to the cockpit. Setting him down, you buckle him up and start flipping switches as you settle into the pilot’s seat. Din gives you his location which you plug in as the engines start up, the Crest rattling as you ease it into the air.

“Make sure the hatch is open when you get here.”

“Wait wh-“ the com link clicks off and you curse as the Crest jolts upwards. The ship doesn’t take long to locate, and you hover a good distance beneath it before pressing the buttons for the hatch to open half-way. A glint catches your attention on the ship’s catwalk before whatever it is falls off the side.

With a gasp, you realize it’s Din as his jetpack fires to life and he comes to a hovering stop outside the cockpit, saluting you. You laugh before he dips away and seconds later, the hatch bangs shut below you. You push the Crest upwards and break the atmosphere just as Din comes up to the cockpit, pulling his gloves off before leaning against the other chair and rubbing the kid’s ears. “We’re going to Corvus,” he says matter of factly and you punch in the coordinates before making the jump into hyperspace. The stars streak above the glass and you can’t help but stair up at them.

“What’s on Corvus?” You spin to look at him and find the helmet is already trained on you. The kid’s big eyes are looking up at him.

“Someone who can help us with the kid.” He coos at the mention of himself. Din watches you, silently, before reaching into a pouch at his belt. You raise an eyebrow, questioning the bizarre movement but deciding not to press it. The kid also senses something is up and looks between the both of you, his little teeth worrying at his lip.

“Din, what is it?” You lean forward, ready to stand up, but he stops you.

“I told you that I wanted to show myself to you, I want you to see me… but there’s only one way that can happen.” He breathes in sharply, and you realize he’s nervous.

“Din, I will wait as long as you want. I don’t care as long as I’m with you,” you ignore his previous attempt at halting you and move towards him, trying to take his hands in yours when you realize what he’s holding. Shock rushes across your face as you look into the visor. “Din, I-“

His soft voice cracks through the modulator, “Marry me.”

#the mandalorian #the mandolorian x reader #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin x reader #din djarin reader insert

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nate-the-content-creator · 4 years ago

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[Timeskip] Asuka and Viktor being hidden farewell by their families before going to Duel Academy.

Tali had her eldest son in a strong hug. Just lavishing praise onto Viktor for having won his practical duel, and earning his spot into the prestigious school. From the excited Russian coming out of the sorceress’ mouth, once would be able to tell that she was extremely proud of her son.

“Let him breathe Tal.” Jackson laughed while futily attempting to tug her away from Viktor. Meanwhile, Yuki had Asuka hoisted onto one of his shoulders, her little brother Cody-named after Alexis’ cousin, was hoisted onto her shoulder. Father, daughter, and son all had bright smiles on their faces, as Alexis who also had a bright smile on her face, took a picture of the two, before switching with Yuki so he could take their picture.

“Poppa...” Jakson felt a small hand tug at his jacket. Anna who looked remarkably like her mother, was looking up at her poppa with puppy eyes. “Can’t I go with them...?”

“Just three years sweetheart.” Jack smiled giving her head a small pat. “You’ll get your chance, now let’s see if we can get your mother away from your older brother.”

Eventually, Jackson and Anna were able to pry Tali away from Viktor. Though the eldest of the Rasputin-Corvus children was only allowed a moments reprieve, before Anna had her older brother in a similarly tight embrace. When the siblings pulled away, there was an awed expression on her face. Wondering what caused that, Viktor followed her gaze, and his jaw went slack.

Seto Kaiba was standing with the Hyoudou-Rhodes family. He hadn’t aged a day since his own days of being a professional duelist, and was currently congratulating Asuka. The now retired CEO of Kaiba Corp had handed her something with a smile, making her eyes go wide, and then wrap her arms about the older man.

“Better get going.” Kaiba said, gently ruffling Asuka’s hair. “Chopper is almost full.”

It was time for the last minute good-byes. Both families crowded around the two new Duel Academy students, imparting some last second advice.

“Behave yourselves.” Said Alexis.

“Duel as many people as you can.” Jackson hugged the both of them.

“No shadow games. At least not until your first semester ended.” He winked at his daughter and godson, despite the playful smack to his shoulder delivered by Alexis.

“I packed your little drakon.” Tali nuzzled Viktor’s cheek affectionately before placing a kiss on it. “At the bottom of your bag.”

Viktor smiled, and hugged Tali. “Thank you Mama~” Though that remark got Viktor a playful nudge with Asuka’s elbow.

“Seto.” Yuki caught the former CEO, and teacher. “think you could...?”

Kaiba smiled, taking the camera from Yuki’s hand. Both families bunched together, with Asuka and Viktor at the front. Leveling the camera, Kaiba took several pictures, before handing the camera back to Yuki. “I’ll expect a copy. Now, time for you two to head off.”

Both Asuka and Viktor grabbed their bags, and after one last round of hugs, several in Tali’s case, the two boarded the chopper that would take them to Duel Academy. Being the last two to do so.

#ask #oc #yugioh gx #yugioh gx oc #yuki hyoudou #jackson corvus #tali rasputin #alexis rhodes #asuka hyoudou-rhodes #viktor rasputin corvus #anna rasputin-corvus #cody hyoudou-rhodes #seto kaiba

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frisbee-camp · 6 years ago

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What’s Hidden Can Be Found|Tyrus Summer Camp AU (complete!)

AO3 link/Wattpad link

Camp Lowland sleepaway camp is an hour drive from Shadyside, where tensions and disagreements have been left for time to mend. But what will Tj and Cyrus do when the past comes chasing after them? Follow the Good Hair Crew and The Good Boys through their annual two-month stay in the wilderness where nature does not care for petty arguments and time has only worsened their situation.

Chapter 4: Forecast

They sunk like a ton of rocks, Cyrus closed his eyes and let the water surround him. The unknown was freezing alright, but it was serene, quiet, gentle. Cyrus thought being reincarnated into a fish wouldn't be half bad. When he came up for air, he saw TJ's hair hanging in his eyes. He was laughing his warm laugh that Cyrus missed so much.

"That was exhilarating!" Cyrus said shaking his own hair out of his eyes. The crowd had gathered on the dock and was whooping and hollering. He saw a couple of them take off their camp T-shirts and jump in with them. Cyrus laughed and smiled as everyone jumped in one by one. His friends splashed and swam and laughed together in the water. For the first time in a long time, Cyrus loved Camp Lowland.

Cyrus could only hope to keep his head afloat but it was impossible to float without bumping into anyone. He didn't know how TJ was able to avoid campers as he calmly floated on his back, Cyrus thought that either he was avoiding people or people maneuvered themselves around him. He was absolutely serene, at one with the surrounding water. He looked like he was sleeping. Cyrus had nearly forgotten about their past, or how he was bruised because of the fall not too long ago. He knew it wasn't his fault, that he slipped and Cyrus just happened to fall. But even after that, they were back to their weird tension-filled longing glances and lingering looks. He suddenly felt angry at TJ for floating so calmly, how could he just ignore everything? Cyrus splashed water on his face in revenge.

"HEY!" Tj sprang into the water and looked around, "Did you do that?" he said with a laugh and a smile.

Cyrus said, "Who me?" Which landed him getting him splashed in return. Soon it turned into and all around splashing war between TJ, Cyrus, and the other campers.

As the sun started setting, more and more campers crawled onto the beach and close to the fires to warm up. By then, Cyrus started feeling like he was dying. Yes, dying. His arms weren't working how he wanted them to, time had slowed down dramatically, and he felt like making a marshmallow waffle with chocolate syrup and tons of whipped cream. He let himself be led back to the beach by TJ who seemed to be dancing to music he couldn't hear. Tj plopped onto the ground and patted the space next to him. Cyrus thought that was the best idea ever and giggled, actually giggled, which led them both into a laughing fit. Now that he thought about it, Cyrus noticed that a lot of the campers were dancing and laughing more than usual.

Tj laid on his back while Cyrus laid on his stomach closely inspecting a rock in his hands. That rock was very very interesting to Cyrus, it felt like it was giving him superpowers.

"Mcjagger," Cyrus said to TJ as he put the rock in his hand, "this rock-" Cyrus was cut off by his own incessant laughter. He hadn't called TJ Mcjagger for years. Since Tj didn't want him calling him Thelonious Jagger, Cyrus decided that Mcjagger was close enough to lovingly annoy him. He had no idea what was happening to him, "Oh god I-," more laughter this time from TJ, "I'm dyingggg."

"NO Cyrus," TJ said seriously and took his face into his hands, "You're high." They thought it was the funniest thing in the world. But it was suddenly important that Cyrus laid his head on Tjs chest. "What? OMG Cyrus are you okay?" Tj said omg how you spell omg or lol.

"Tj I'm dying," Cyrus said again.

"No no well yeah we're all dying, but you called me Mcjagger, you haven't called me that in a million trillion billion trillion years," Tj lifted his arms to elaborate on how long it had been.

"Whatever whatever," Cyrus didn't want to talk but he also wanted to talk to TJ for the rest of his life. TJ then started singing Whenever Wherever by Shakira to a giggling Cyrus. He joined his horrible rendition.

"Why am I high?" Cyrus asked.

"Because of the bears, the bears, they ruin everything we should rename them jaggers," Tj said to no one in particular.

"The bears?? Oh, shit the bears." Cyrus frowned. He didn't remember smoking the bears, but then he remembered, "T! The gummy bears? You tried to kill me with your own two hands!"

"The gummy bears," Tj repeated.

"I'm dying and you're talking about gummy bears," Cyrus mumbled and sat up, "there's something on your shoulder." A tiny green gecko had crawled onto Tj's shoulder. When Tj saw it he screamed at the top of his lungs, stood up quickly, and ran around in circles to try to get it off.

"AHHHHHHH!!! CYRUS!! A DINOSAUR IS ON MEEEEE!" TJ yelled.

Cyrus knew he was the only one to take care of the job. He stopped Tj and cupped the tiny creature in his hands and left it on a nearby tree. Tj hugged him, "You saved my fucking life," he said as he cupped his face in his hands and gave him a kiss on the forehead.

Cyrus was suddenly grounded, the last couple of weeks of complicated feelings melted away. He let himself be held by Tj for a long time by the lake's shore.

Later, they sat in the shade of the forest. They were both still stoned, but the sunset was nice, it stretched out orange and pink and the clouds reflected the light show. Cyrus cried. It was so beautiful he couldn't handle it.

"I'm so happy I could die," Tj turned and said to him. Cyrus blinked. The light made Tj look angelic, Cyrus was sure he was sent to make him lose all of his senses. Cyrus kissed him.

It was short, but it got the point across.

"Cyrus," Tj said.

"No, don't say anything. Let me have this moment," he replied as he took Tj's hand. Cyrus didn't know what he was doing. Everything was so weird, nothing made sense, his actions were sporadic and his blood was made of lead. But it didn't matter, he was there sitting with TJ in the middle of the fucking woods. Nothing was real, nothing here could hurt him. If he had his heart broken again, he would just be able to throw it into lake Redwood and go back home.

They laid down in the soft pebbles until the moon was high in the sky. Tj rubbed circles into Cyrus' hands.

Cyrus pointed out the stars for Tj, "That's Capricorn see?" he pointed to stars that almost looked like an arrowhead.

"Yeah I see it," Tj grinned.

"And Ursa major," Cyrus continued, "Corvus, Andromeda," Cyrus listed all the constellations he knew, they weren't many but they still made Tj smile. He didn't even know if he was pointing the right way, the gummies had made him lazy. "And there's Ursa minor, and Orion obviously and why did you ignore me?"

Tj didn't expect the question, he was trying to follow along with Cyrus' astronomy lesson. "I-," he stammered, "I don't know, I thought you didn't want to be around me." Tj was quiet now.

"Who said that?" Cyrus turned onto his side and stared at him.

"No one I just, I don't know. Things have been weird. You act like nothing happened," Tj said to the starry night sky. "I just followed your lead you know. I gave you space. I didn't know what I did. You just said you weren't ready and needed more time. If it felt like it was weird then I just...I don't know, sulked I guess. And I gave you space, like how you wanted." Tj closed his eyes as he said this, "But I never gave up the hope that you'd come back. I never even looked at anyone else, you were the only one."

Cyrus thought about this and felt guilty. That day two years ago, after they had dated for only two months, Cyrus had told Tj that he wasn't ready for a boyfriend. He told him that one day he would, but not now not when school was so hard, his friends were so distant, and he was having panic attacks almost every day. He could only handle so much pressure, he didn't want to risk hurting TJ in the process.

"I'm sorry," Cyrus said quietly.

"I'm serious Cyrus, I waited for you and I'm still waiting for you," Tj said as he looked up.

Cyrus blinked back tears and propped himself up on an elbow, "Fuck you TJ." Tj looked over at Cyrus and frowned. Cyrus felt two years of stress crawl up his throat, "Yeah, that's what I said. Fuck you for being so ughh" Cyrus groaned and sat up all the way, Tj followed. "You're just so unpredictable I hate you."

"You hate me? You literally just kissed me Cy," Tj gave a small smile and raised his eyebrow.

He was right of course, his actions hadn't made any sense, he was going in circles, "I hate that you know me," Cyrus said as he grabbed at bunches of grass, "And it's not the weed okay, fuck. I just! It's everything okay! We break up and I tell you to move on and you don't, you ignore my request and then tell me you'll always be waiting for me? You're just so nice it hurts okay. And! Costume day with Kira, of all people!"

"Cyrus," Tj said concerned as he gently patted his back, "How long has that been brewing?"

"Did you expect me to just brush everything off? Ignore my feelings? I can't fix everyone TJ. I have feelings too," Cyrus ripped up grass and weeds furious at himself for nothing and everything. Not knowing what the hell was wrong with him and not wanting to hurt TJ forced Cyrus to hurt himself instead. He wanted to scream in TJ's face and kick down doors and he didn't know why. He had never felt like that before, and it wasn't the weed's fault. He closed himself off after the breakup and never opened back up, now he was spilling all over the place and he hated it.

"It's not fair," Cyrus continued, "It's not fair, it's not fair." Cyrus sobbed. TJ held him until he stopped.

"Why didn't you tell me all this Cy," Tj said softly.

"I don't know, I didn't know how to fix it so I left it broken," Cyrus said.

"That's okay, not everything needs fixing. Things are allowed to be messy Cy," Tj said kindly. Cyrus shook his head. He had never thought about it like that, he was so focused on having the perfect relationship, that he didn't realize how imperfect relationships actually are. They're messy and erratic and all over the place but that's the fun of it. Loving someone enough to overcome all the insecurities and troubles, TJ knew this. Cyrus looked into his eyes.

"You're right," Cyrus whispered.

"Do you think we could try again?" Tj said as he gently picked the broken grass off of Cyrus' hands.

Try again. Try again? Try what again? Loving Tj? That had never changed. He had never stopped loving him. Everything about Tj was just so perfect for Cyrus that he couldn't handle it. From the perfect hair that always seemed to have one strand hanging in his eyes, how he always defended him, how he'd protect him, how he had the entire school in his palm, Cyrus couldn't even list all the things he loved about TJ. He'd have to talk until the end of time. He decided to open up.

"Yes," Cyrus finally said.

TJ's eyes glittered as he laced their fingers together, "Can I kiss you? Will you let me have this moment?" Cyrus gave an airy laugh in response.

"Yes," Cyrus said.

This kiss was different than the one Cyrus had hastily given him today. This kiss reminded him of how much TJ loved him, Cyrus then knew that his heart had always been with Tj. Tj pulled away far too early for Cyrus' taste.

TJ and Cyrus had been so entranced by one another that they hadn't noticed that the at first sprinkle of rain turned into a downpour. By the time they noticed, the rain had flattened the top of TJ's hair.

"Oh seriously?" Tj said squinting up, "that is so cliche."

Cyrus stood up and dragged TJ up with him as they laughed, "My rom-com dreams are coming true!" Cyrus said. He stood up on his tiptoes and gave Tj another kiss, "But I really don't want to get a cold." The ran was coming down now, fast and cold. Cyrus was shivering.

"Yeah, me neither," Tj said and looked towards the nearby Redwood cabin as other campers raced past them to get out of the rain. "Come on," Tj said and held his hand as they ran towards the cabin.

Cyrus sat on the extra bed in Tj, Marty's and Jonah's room. Tj had given him a hoodie to sleep him. It was about a million sizes too big, but it made Cyrus' heart flutter. It was his Bash Mitzvah hoodie, Cyrus couldn't believe he kept it.

"Where's Marty?" Cyrus whispered to Tj when he came back from doing rounds to make sure no one was lost or killed by a forest creature.

"He's with Buffy, I called on the landline to tell her you were here," Tj laid down on his bed on the bottom bunk. Jonah was snoring on the top bunk, Cyrus had a feeling he'd been asleep for a long time.

"Oh thank you," Cyrus said. The extra mattress didn't have any covers since no one had claimed it.

"Hey, I have something for you," Tj suddenly stood up and rummaged in his bags. He sat back on his bed and opened his palm. It was an intricate green and yellow bracelet. Cyrus came and sat next to him.

"For me?" Cyrus said. Cyrus couldn't remember the last time someone had given him a gift that wasn't on his birthday.

"Yeah," TJ said and placed it in Cyrus' hands. "I made it like three years ago and never gave it to you." Upon further inspection, he saw that read TJK+CG. Cyrus let out a breath and looked over at TJ who was blushing.

"TJ this is so sweet I love it," Cyrus said right away.

"Really?" TJ looked relieved.

"Yes, now help me put it on," Cyrus said.

TJ and Cyrus squeezed into TJ's twin bed for the rest of the night, Cyrus lightly running his fingers through Tj's hair and smiling like a kid in a candy store. He had forgotten how nice it was to have someone who knew you inside and out. He felt like he didn't have to hide around him.

"Right, but we'll live in Malibu obviously," Tj continued. They were now discussing their future together.

"Well yeah duh, I'll have at least five Oscars by the time I'm 40 and you'll be a celebrity physical therapist-"

"And we'll have a dog named Whiskers," Tj added.

"Whiskers? Now that's cliche Tj," Cyrus scoffed.

"Well considering we'll have at least three dogs, I think the odds are pretty high that at least one will be Whiskers," Tj smiled. They were on their sides facing each other with their legs interlaced in the small space, the moonlight dripping over the room and coating them both in a soft glow.

"Fine, but the other two will be named by me," Cyrus said. They were both whispering, it must have been at least midnight and the other campers were asleep.

"Whatever you want," TJ said sweetly, "I'll give you anything you want."

Cyrus' eyes fluttered, "I love you," he said as he traced along TJ's cheekbone.

"You already told me that," Tj laughed a bit.

"When?" Cyrus said, confused.

"When you were on pain meds," Tj laughed a bit.

"Whe-, The pain meds that you caused me to be on?" Cyrus joked and lovingly shoved TJ.

"Look I'm really really sorry you have no idea how sorry I am," Tj said.

Cyrus kissed him to shut him up, "TJ, it's no big deal, you just traumatized me and now I can never go around another river." TJ rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Well, I love you too," TJ said as he looked into Cyrus' eyes, "And I have for a long time."

The next few weeks went by too quickly. Cyrus' new routine now involved following around TJ and cheering him on as he played sports Cyrus didn't know the name of. They spent most of the day whispering to each other and holding hands. TJ was fond of the wildflowers around the willow tree and would bring Cyrus a bunch every morning before breakfast. Cyrus would proudly wear a couple behind his ears as they held hands and went to different camp activities.

None of their friends were surprised when they got back together, not even Jonah who apparently didn't know they had broken up.

Finally, it was time for the last CC, the obstacle course. For some ungodly reason, Buffy had placed Cyrus in the game. There were six stations at the obstacle course; a balance beam, a bean bag toss, a tunnel of some sort, a jump rope, a climbing thing Cyrus didn't know the name of, and a single Rubik's cube on a table. The rules were simple, explained Counselour Moose, whoever finished first won.

"Buffy, I can't do it. I'm not good with pressure involving athletism," He had told Buffy, his cabin leader.

"Yes you can Cyrus, now go," she placed him by the table with the Rubik's cube. Cyrus looked around the field. The four other teams were assembled. TJ gave him a wave from his obstacle course, Cyrus smiled and gave a wave back. Cyrus was bouncing his leg as soon as Counselour Moose blew the whistle. From down the line, Cyrus saw his team members finish their part of the game and tag the person in front of them. He didn't dare look over at the other teams, he had a feeling that if he did he would surely feel 100% more nervous. Why did Buffy give him the last part of the course? Why did she hate him so?

And then, to Cyrus' horror, Natalie climbed over the climbing thing and tagged him on the shoulder, "Go Cyrus!" she said to a motionless Cyrus. He then clambered to the table and picked up the rube. Suddenly, he forgot what colors go with which.

"What does blue look like?" Cyrus murmured to himself as he moved the little cubes around and around. The crowd was now screaming white noise, he forced himself to take a deep breath. After what seemed like forever, Cyrus finally figured out the cube and ran to ring the bell.

"Done!" Cyrus yelled out, just as TJ said: "Finished!" Cyrus looked around confused as the crowd mobbed them. Oak and Aspen were still trying to figure out the cube, but TJ and Cyrus had tied. Tied. That never happens.

Buffy lifted him as she and the others surrounded him and congratulated him. Cyrus was giddy, he had never won anything sports-related in his entire life. The feeling was new and exciting. He hadn't lost!

"Tied!" Buffy and Andi told him! "You did so good Cy!" Buffy praised.

"Do you know what that means?" Andi said.

"That I didn't lose?" Cyrus asked.

"Yes!" Andi and Buffy both hugged him. Cyrus looked over at TJ who also had a smile on his face and was being greeted by his cabin members.

Later, during the End of Camp Ceremony, Tj and Cyrus sat shoulder to shoulder holding hands as Counselour Moose tallied off the points. Iris' cabin had won over Amber's by 300 points. But it turned out that the tie meant Redwood and Willow tied exactly. They both had won. There would be three trees planted in their honor named Iris, Buffy, and TJ.

"Cyrus! D'you hear that?! We both won!" Tj shook with joy as he took Cyrus' face in his hands and kissed him in front of everyone. Cyrus instantly loved camp.

As soon as camp began, it ended. Cyrus had to say goodbye to his plain roommates, the forest with its freaky animals, the cool waters, even the cat he called Sigmund. For the first time ever, Cyrus felt like he would miss Camp Lowland. Maybe he'd miss it because TJ would miss it. He didn't know, but it didn't matter.

He'd have to go back to Shadyside, with its deadlines and stress, but at least he wouldn't be so alone this time.

"You ready?" TJ said as he took Cyrus' bag for him and held out his hand. Cyrus gave a soft nod and met TJ's hand with his. Cyrus had a yellow flower behind his ear as they walked away from Camp Lowland.

THE END

#andi mack #tyrus #tyrus week #whats hidden can be found #here you go lassys #its done #:( now what will i look forward to? idk #muffy #ambi #my fics #please read it i spent a lot of time #i know aus are kinda overdone but this one is cute i promise #not as good as my other one but good enough for me to post #tyrus fanfiction #tyrus fanfic

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esselley · 7 years ago

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Kinktober #16: Masks

Second Kingdom of Crows ficlet (this is pretty SFW as well)

Masquerade balls were, Kageyama thought, an unfortunate symptom of castle life.

They were entirely frivolous, but didn’t come bundled with any actual fun activities, like sports or practice duels or horseback riding. There was only dancing, dancing, and more dancing, of which everyone was expected to take part. There was, on the positive side, the food, which was always sumptuous and abundant. But every time he tried to get near the banquet tables, he was inevitably cornered by yet one more person, seeking the attention of the young prince, asking him to join them for a quick dance.

Then they would talk. They all talked, and talked, about things he didn’t care about; court gossip and city building plans and prospects of marriage, though he hoped that was a long way off yet. All of it was boring, but the worst part of it were the masks.

There wasn’t a single uncovered human face in the hall. They were hidden by gilding or feathers or metal, animal and celestial and abstract, with just the eyes peering out, glinting from the holes. They whirled around him in their endless dancing, emotionless and still.

Kageyama was not very good at reading people. It was a skill many people told him he would have to learn, before he became king. For once he was, he would be able to take no one at their word. All would want something from him, but be willing to give very little in return.

But Kageyama found it hard to decipher meaning from eyes and voice and body language. And on nights like these, with masks obscuring the faces of all those he talked to, it became harder than ever. All was just words, and words, and noise; laughter too loud, people dancing too close, the smell of wine too strong. He wanted, more than anything, to escape.

“Why don’t you just leave?” someone asked him, and he was shaken out of his thoughts. He turned.

Standing in front of him was someone new, wearing a mask that seemed in opposition to his own simple black one. Their mask was gold, covering the top half of the face, with a pair of soaring antlers that tapered into wicked points. In between the mask’s eye slots was a brilliant golden sun.

Kageyama gaped at them. Mask or not, he knew who it was without a doubt; there weren’t many people that small, with hair that red.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed, as Hinata stepped closer to him, to take his hands and fall easily into another dance. “You can’t be in the castle!”

“Where there’s parties, there’s food!” Hinata sang, as though that were good enough reason for risking his very life. Belatedly, Kageyama realized that food always qualified as a good reason for Hinata, whether he was stealing for himself or others.

“If they realize who you are—” Kageyama started to say.

“No one will recognize me,” Hinata reassured him. “I’m just a friendly deer.”

“Stag,” Kageyama corrected.

Deer were docile, easily frightened creatures. It was stags who had the vicious horns, who might run someone through if they threatened the herd. Hinata was no tender doe.

“None of the guards even noticed me,” Hinata said, speaking softly. “I snuck past them, and I came here, because I could see you tonight.”

Kageyama sighed heavily. If Hinata was discovered, they would question who he was, first; but his hair and his stature (and the infiltration of the castle) would make them suspicious instantly of his true identity: the fae thief, enemy of the kingdom. Hinata had made himself very popular in Corvus in recent times, popular enough to earn a one way trip to the executioner if caught.

Hinata grinned up at him. The shape of the mask brought attention to his lips, pink and mischievous and full below the harsh gold. Kageyama knew just how they felt against his own.

“Fine,” he said gruffly, and the grin widened. “You can stay—only for a little while.”

Hinata spun him in a circle for that, joyfully. “Then for my next trick,” he said, “I’ll convince you to run away with me!”

“What—” Kageyama started to ask, because that was not inconspicuous in the slightest, but Hinata yanked him along by the hand, straight through the crowd. It would have looked more suspicious to struggle, so Kageyama did not.

“Are you mad?!” he whispered furiously, and Hinata laughed and didn’t let go or stop. He probably was a little mad, Kageyama knew. But then, they both were.

In a moment they were outside in the cool air, a stark contrast to the overwarm hall. Kageyama gulped down great breaths of it, feeling relieved, and vastly less on edge. Hinata slowed, then.

“And now you’ve escaped,” he said with a smirk. “You rebel.”

Kageyama pushed at him. “You made it sound like we were going to leave entirely.”

“Because you’ll believe anything,” Hinata said, shoving back.

“I’ve learned not to count out your stupidest ideas.”

They elbowed at each other violently for a little while, grunting now and again, only stopping when a stately group of women in huge headdresses drifted by them.

“Come on,” Hinata said, grabbing Kageyama’s hand again to pull him along again. Kageyama stared down at their hands, fitted together. He squeezed Hinata’s a little tighter, and Hinata didn’t let go.

He got farther and farther from the hall, until they found themselves up on the castle ramparts. Stealthily, they dodged the guards posted for watch, hiding around the corner where they couldn’t be seen.

“Told you we’d make it,” Hinata said, sticking his tongue out. “I’m good at this.”

“Right,” Kageyama said skeptically. “Remind me, how goes the rebellion?”

“You say that like you assume it isn’t going well,” Hinata said, cheeks rounding out in what Kageyama recognized as a pout. He scoffed. What kind of rebellion leader pouted? Aware that Hinata was probably armed, while he was not, Kageyama kept that thought to himself.

“It’s never going well,” he said instead. Perhaps not much better.

But Hinata sighed. Carefully, mindful of his gilded horns, he leaned his masked forehead against Kageyama’s chest. “It’d go better if you were with me.”

Kageyama blinked. It was… incredibly unusual, to hear Hinata admit something like this. Admit he might need something from someone.

“Hinata…” he said hesitantly, but Hinata cut him off.

“Let me see your face,” he said softly.

He reached up, before Kageyama could say more, and ran his fingers over the black mask—traced the patterns carefully, over Kageyama’s brows and cheeks and down his nose. Staring all the while, into Kageyama’s eyes. Finally, Hinata lifted it gently away. And then he touched his fingers to Kageyama’s bare skin, exposed now, and Kageyama’s eyelids fluttered, as his breath came short. Hinata had touched him like this before, except everywhere; and it always made Kageyama feel laid completely open.

“That’s better,” Hinata murmured, before he took Kageyama’s face fully in his hands, cupping his cheeks in his palms. He pushed up on his toes—and he kissed Kageyama, slotting their lips together gently, like perhaps Kageyama had forgotten that indescribable feeling.

So Kageyama wrapped his arms around him to return the kiss, and all the fire behind it, as earnestly as he could.

He wanted Hinata’s hands on him, he wanted Hinata’s body against his, he wanted to hold onto that warmth and never let go. But if any of that were possible, Hinata wouldn’t have had to come on the one night when nobody would question him hiding his face.

Suddenly, there were raised voices, shouting.

“I think he’s gone that way!”

“Your highness! Are you out here?”

They broke apart, startled. Hinata looked furious, then frustrated, then sad.

“You… you have to go,” Kageyama said. “Now, before—”

“I know,” Hinata spat, and then, seeing Kageyama’s remorse, “I’ll come back.”

“No, you won’t,” Kageyama said. “But I’ll come to you. Your rebellion needs a good kick in the pants.”

Hinata managed to laugh at this, brushing his fingers over Kageyama’s lips. There was the clatter of armored feet on the rampart stones outside, and Kageyama glanced around the corner, beginning to feel alarmed. The guards were mere feet away.

“Get out of here, Hina—”

He turned back, but Hinata was gone.

“I’ve found him—” The guards had turned the corner. “Your highness! Your father has been—”

“Sorry,” Kageyama said, not very sorry at all. “I just needed—a breath of fresh air.”

As he let them lead him back to the hall, he realized something. He hadn’t been able to see Hinata’s face without his mask, though it had been so long since they’d last been together. This was Hinata’s fault, surely; and Kageyama vowed to accuse him of it the next time they met. Newly determined, he vowed to himself: soon.

Soon, he’d breathe freely once again.

More Kinktober? No need to disguise your interest!

#kagehina #hinata shouyou #kageyama tobio #kinktober #kinktober2017 #kagehina fanfiction #haikyuu!! fanfiction #haikyuu!!#esselle writes #tumblr fic #kingdom of crows #essie's hq fic

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purrincesskittens · 8 years ago

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Miraculous Ladybug: Adventures Of Lupine Alpha and Corvus. Chapter 4

Summery: A new girl has started at Adrien’s school. One whose elder brother is just as rich and famous as his father. Adrien gets to know the girl more as his father works with her brother on a new project and finds she is a lot like him. As Chat Noir he continues to work along side Ladybug to keep Paris safe when a new Miraculous Holder appears along with a new enemy. Just who is Lupine Alpha? As their knowledge changes and expands more and more information about the Miraculouses comes to light. As do more miraculous holders.

(Note: I do allow reblogging of this on tumblr alone )

Chat Noir was seriously beginning to worry he had one minute left and was about to transform back any second and he was still tied up, literally, with Ladybug and Lupine Alpha. He was shaking, trembling by that point so nervous and scared about his identity being reveled. This was not how he had wanted things to go when he reveled who he was to Ladybug nor did he expect to have company when it happened no matter how nice and awesome she seemed he still didn’t know Lupine all that well.

“Quick everyone close your eyes. It’s too dark in here to see without the benefit of our miraculous powers so if our eyes are closed when we transform back we won’t see each other from the flash of light and afterwards we can open our eyes since we won’t be able to see anything.” Lupine orders her voice holding a hollow sound to it out of desperation she still had four minutes left herself, make that three as her miraculous beeped again, but she didn’t seem eager to revel herself to them either.

“Good idea.” Ladybug murmurs giving a sigh of relief squeezing her eyes shut. Lupine closed her own eyes just in time too. Adrien gave a sigh of relief as he de-transformed. He was still tied up but at least his secret identity was safe. Plagg gave a low grumble noise and a moan. “I’m so hungry!I may perish if I don’t have any Camembert right away!” Plagg moans pathetically.

A beep from Ladybug’s miraculous signaled the end of her own transformation. Adrien’s eyes were still shut tight not wanting to betray his ladies trust in him by peeking to catch a glimpse of who she was. “Don’t worry milady my eyes were shut the entire time.” He says to reassure her. He heard a relieved sigh come from her. “Thank you kitty."She says earnestly which made him happy just to hear that.

"I need cheese!” Plagg cries interrupting the moment. “Check my pockets I’m currently a bit tied up here so you’ll have to do it yourself.” Adrien says making sure he kept the tone of his voice the same as when he was Chat Noir just encase one of the girls might recognize him by his voice alone. “Still as demanding as always I see.” A tiny voice piped up from beside Ladybug.

“Tiki be nice to Chat’s kwami.” Marinette says trying to make their kwami’s play nice since they were going to need them once they refueled. “Your kwami’s name is Tiki?” Adrien asks curiously as another beep sounded in the darkness from Lupine’s miraculous giving her two minutes. “Yeah she’s really sweet too. ” Marinette says unable to help but smile thinking of her sweet little kwami who seemed so different from Chat’s.

“Mine’s name is Plagg excuse his manners he gets this way when hungry.” Adrien all but purrs feeling a slight jolt from Lupine but she didn’t say anything so he brushed it off as unimportant. “Tiki I have a few macaroons in my bag for you so you can refuel.” Marinette tells her kwami listening to the sounds of Chat’s kwami riffling through his pockets in the dark.

“Gahh I’m not finding any cheese!” Plagg screams diving out of Adrien’s pockets to hover in front of him even though his eyes were still closed. Plagg could see in the dark fine unlike Tiki who had trouble finding her way into Marinette’s bag to get to the food. “I must be out sorry Plagg. You must have eaten it all and I didn’t have time to restock before transforming.” Adrien apologizes.

A final beep from Lupine’s miraculous signaled that she was at the end of her transformation as well. “Gahh what am I supposed to do with out any Camembert?” The little black cat kwami cries mournfully. Adrien and Marinette felt the wave of magic that signaled Lupine had de-transformed herself now. “Your kwami is noisier then mine and that’s saying something.” Lupine comments with a laugh followed by a yelp. “Hey Accalia stop with the biting!” Lupine growls in the darkness

Adrien frowned opening his eyes now that all of them were de-transformed he couldn’t see a thing as expected. The name Accalia rang a bell in his head for some reason that he couldn’t pin point so he brushed it off to figure out later focusing at the situation on hand. “Your kwami bites you?” Marinette asks curiously she was so used to her sweet little Tiki that she couldn’t understand how Lupine and Chat could have such opposite personality kwamis who were rude and attacked their own miraculous holders.

“All the time the brat.” Lupine mutters darkly giving another yelp as her kwami bite her again. “I need food!” Plagg cries drawing Marinettes gaze towards the sound all she could make out in the darkness though was a pair of small green eyes. “I think I have some cheese bread in my bag from this morning if you would like some. Tiki eats sweets so I usually carry cookies on me but I ate some of a fresh loaf of cheese bread for breakfast and stored the rest away for later. ” Marinette offers kindly giving a giggle as she felt Plagg dive into her bag alongside Tiki to get at the cheese bread with a loud cry of joy.

“Your kwami’s are strange.” Lupine pipes up turning her head to look toward her companions even though she couldn’t see them. “Chat’s eats cheese especially Camembert and Ladybug’s eats sweets especially cookies while mine eats fruits especially Goji, wolfberries.” She says supplying the English name for Accalia’s favorite food. “They all eat different things and I imagine they look different too. Can’t tell in the dark though.”

“Plagg looks like a tiny black cat basically.” Adrien supplies helpfully. “Tiki is I guess kind of like a ladybug she’s kind of bug like and she’s red with black spots so…” Marinette explains describing her kwami who was currently feasting on a macaroon in her bag alongside a ravenous Plagg who was devouring the last of the cheese bread.

“Accalia is a wolf. A tiny little russet colored wolf with thick fluffy fur on her chest and a fluffy tail.” Lupine explains as Accalia floated back up to perch on top of her head munching on a berry she had pulled out of the bag. Marinette tilted her head trying to see the other girl’s kwami but only catching a glimpse of shining gold eyes in the dark.

A burp sounded from Marinette’s side and Plagg reappeared. “Ahh that was good thanks princess for the meal.” He says flying up to nuzzle her cheek in thanks making the girl laugh happily. “I’m pleased to be of assistance Chat’s kwami.” The girl giggles making Adrien jealous that his kwami was being all friendly to Ladybug while he was still tied up.

A small voice that sounded out of the darkness gave both him and Marinette a start. Something with gold eyes floated in front of him suddenly when he blinked. “If we have all eaten enough now I think it’s time we get our chosen ones free of this bind.” Adrien stared at the gold eyes trying to figure out what it was when he suddenly realized where he had seen those eyes before.

Those same eyes or rather that same shade of gold had meet his green ones in jest earlier but only larger and had belonged to the other female of their party when transformed. “You’re Lupine Alpha’s kwami Accalia aren’t you?” Marinette asks voicing the exact same thing that was floating through his head at the moment.

“You read my mind bugaboo.” Adrien purrs getting a huff and a elbow to the ribs in return making him laugh. Ladybug was still the same as always even when she wasn’t transformed. “Yes I am. Now Plagg if you are through being disgusting we have work to do. Use your sharp teeth to bite through the ropes. Tikki while me and Plagg work on gnawing through the ropes you work on trying to untie them the best you can in the dark.”

Accalia orders taking charge as was her nature to do so. Plagg groaned muttering about being treated like a mangy dog but got cut off with a yelp presumably when the floating gold eyes got close to his green and probably bite him as she seemed prone to doing. It took a while but eventually they were free of their bonds and able to stand again.

All three groaned and stretched out their cramped limbs. “Ahh that’s much better thankyou Acallia. You too Plagg, Tiki.” Marinette cheers gratefully to the kwamis reaching for the closest one to give a little pet in thanks. Adrien did the same or rather he reached for his own kwami to take him back so he could transform again.

A sudden loud rumbling noise overhead had then all looking up. They couldn’t see anything in the darkness of course but it didn’t stop them from trying. “What the…?” Marinette didn’t get the chance to finish her sentence as she was knocked out of the way when bits of dust and dirt began to shower down on them. Her hand closed around the first kwami closest to her which she had been about to pet when the rumbling started.

She fell and rolled across the floor as far away from the sudden thunderous crashing sound that filled the catacombs and away from the dust and dirt that seemd to spill out from where they had been standing a moment ago. Adrien was confused about the sound just as much as Marinette but just like her he didn’t get much time to figure out what it was as he too was shoved away from where they had been standing grabbing onto his kwami as he fell backwards clutching them to his chest tightly as he scrambled backwards as far from the sound as he could.

Lupine didn’t hesitate shoving her companions to either side as hard as she could and snagging a kwami from the air from the approximate area she had last heard the three talking hoping the other two were okay. She had explored enough abandoned creepy places to know the sound of a cave in or a collapse when she heard one.

She flung herself as far back as she could coughing from all the dust that poured in where they had been standing. After a few minutes when the dust settled enough for her to breath again without coughing she climbed to her feet still clutching the kwami she held. “Everyone okay?” She calls out despretly unsure if she had gotten her comrades away fast enough in time and far enough to not have been hurt in the cave in.

“Yeah I’m fine.” Adrien calls out from the other side of what he could now see was a pile of rocks and dirt sitting where they had been standing a moment ago. He yelped when he felt the kwami he still clutched to his chest twist in his grip and bite him hard on the hand fastening tiny jaws around a finger.

Marinette waved the dust away from her face as she slowly got to her feet. “I’m okay too I think.” She calls out eyeing the humongous pile of debris separating her from her partners. The kwami she held in her hand moved which was then she realized something. They were furry. The kwami she held was soft and fuzzy and covered in fur where Tiki was not.

J.J. sighed in relief knowing that she had manged to save her new friends and partners in time before the tunnel collapsed on them. She allowed herself to relax taking in deep calming breathes running her fingers over the kwami she held to calm herself further just as she always did with Accalia when something happened that upset her anxiety. She paused realizing something. The kwami she held hadn’t bite her yet like Accalia always did and two they were smooth and not covered in fur at all.

All three miraculous holders fished in their pockets and pulled out their cell phones which were miraculously intact and unscathed from all that activity and roughhousing. They all hit the button to turn it on lighting up the screen so they could now see in the dark somewhat before turning it to shine it down on the kwami they held.

Staring down all three gave a shriek as they all stared at the wrong kwami. Adrien grimaced and tried desperately to pry the small wolf kwami off his hand shaking it to try and make Accalia let go. Marinette was freaking out inside her head as she held the tiny black cat kwami in her open palm. Plagg stared up at her with green eyes seemingly unperturbed by all this. J.J. gave a small whimper noise in the back of her throat as she locked eyes with the tiny red bug kwami she held. Tiki looked up at J.J. with a serious expression on her face. “We are so dead.” Was all J.J. manged to get out finally after a long pause a sentiment that was held by all three.

#miraculous: tales of ladybug & cat noir #new miraculous holder #plagg #tikki #chat noir #ladybug #marinette cheng #adrien agreste #oc #kwami swap #wolf kwami

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