#thank you for asking paxie!

[faytelumos]

Into the Black With a Matchstick, pt4

I'm going to be going through the previous three parts and adjusting some language and pronouns (if I haven't already done so by the time this is posted). It won't require anyone re-reading if they don't want to, but it should make things feel more consistent for first-time readers.

@c00kieknight, @hypersomnia-insomniac, @jxm-1up, @midnight--architect, @robinparravel, @thepotatoofnopes, @those-damn-snippets; @tildeathiwillwrite, @thelazywitchphotographer

first previous

allergens: some miscommunication, brief reference to sex

cw: description of a needle (non-threatening)

---

Paxie sighed again, breathing deeply in the shuttle. Klte's suggestion to rest and take off the helmet was a good one. They felt better now, having taken the moment to recuperate. The past two hours had been a flurry. They decided to get back to work, and they stuck their head back into their helmet, allowing the automatic clamp to reseat. Captain Eme would need a break soon, too, undoubtedly. So they should head back to the ship as soon as possible.

The shuttle was still cycling the atmosphere out when their earpiece chirped.

"Go ahead," they said.

"Admiral, we'd like to request a Ghost to come aboard," Kime said. Paxie tried to perk their ears, but the helmet kept them mostly in place.

"Is there something wrong with the Earthlings' vessel?" they asked, maybe a little too worriedly.

"There's an inconsistency in their comms systems," Kime explained. "They wanted to view a star map to reconcile the data, but can't use our devices."

"Ah," Paxie mused. They supposed it wasn't a bad idea. There didn't seem to be an abundance of digital technology in this ship, but it did sound like this matter could be handled with a Ghost's help. "Very well," they said. "I'll have Captain Eme dispatch our Ghost immediately."

"Very good. I'll… prepare the Earthlings for its arrival."

"Actually, Ensign, I'm almost done." The shuttle sounded more or less silent by now, most of the noise Paxie could hear coming from the body of the strange, small ship and up into their suit. "I'll let them know what to expect."

"Very good. Sergeant Klte and I will be sure to leave a path for you."

"Excellent, thank you."

Once the request had been sent along and the blue light shone to indicate the cycle was complete, Paxie opened the doors again. Most of the doorway was taken up by the outer hull of the ship. There was radiation fading on it, and the dings and pocks of micrometeorites. They shivered to think of how desperate this species must have been to leave their planet with such an unequipped vessel.

They lowered their head and squeezed into the open airlock. Since Paxie was too large to fit with both of the Earthling airlock doors closed, the doors had both been manually opened. Paxie wasn't worried about the Xoixe's technology failing to hold the seal from the outside. Even with the awkward shape of the small ship. But if it had been an issue the Earthlings had to solve with their own technology, well….

They hated to admit it, even to themselves. But they would not have felt safe.

Klte and Kime were both out of the hallway that lead to the bridge, allowing Paxie to get most of the way in. This room wasn't made to accommodate as many as The Water's Kiss' bridge. There were four…console stations, and what looked to be a command module in the middle. This is what Harrison and Ramirez were working on.

"Captain Ramirez, Lieutenant Harrison," Paxie said. Both looked up, and Paxie bowed their head lower. "Please forgive my absence. But I do have some positive news."

"Good news is good," Harrison said. Their eyes got wider as they watched Paxie. Ramirez remained stoic as ever. Paxie licked the roof of their mouth.

"We are summoning a Ghost to come help with the technological gap," they announced. Both aliens looked towards Klte with slightly widened eyes. Paxie hesitated. That was a… strange reaction. Both looked back to them, and they kept talking, unsure of what else to do. "Its kind is often a bit… difficult for those who have not seen one before to grasp."

Harrison looked very uncomfortable. Ramirez glanced at them, then back to Paxie. But they also seemed uneasy. Paxie hesitated again. They looked to Kime, but she didn't seem to have any insight.

"Lieutenant Harrison? Do you need to rest?"

"I'm sorry," Harrison whispered. "I just… you work with ghosts?" Paxie tried to perk their ears, and Kime and even Klte seemed to hone in on Harrison.

"You know of them?" Paxie asked.

"We have… legends. Stories." Ramirez looked again to Harrison. They had changed color, going pale—

Klte lunged at the same time as Ramirez, and both of them grabbed Harrison and kept them from falling completely down. Paxie watched, momentarily stunned, as Ramirez took on the burden of Harrison's weight.

Had Harrison died?!

"What's happening?" Paxie barked. "Kime, vitals, we need—"

"I'm okay," Harrison rasped, dumbly grasping at Klte.

Paxie didn't know what to do. They were useless, clogging up the entire hallway, unable to move anywhere fast, watching as Ramirez labored to get Harrison to one of the consoles. They sat them down (what a strange sitting position) and crouched down in front of them. And Paxie struggled to even get near.

Harrison looked half dead. Ramirez had a hand on their neck, and was saying something quietly. The translation protocol couldn't pick it up. But it did hear Harrison.

"It's just a lot," they said. "It's a lot."

Ramirez stood and pushed down lightly on the back of John's head. They shifted, then rested their head on their knees. Bendy creatures, then. Xoixe certainly weren't so flexible.

"He's okay," Ramirez rasped. "He just fainted. It's…." They didn't speak for a moment, reaching into a compartment and getting something out. When they spoke, their voice was raspy. Wet. "Sorry. It's been a long day for us."

"I understand," Paxie soothed. They had felt the same way, and this had been a normal day until two hours ago. They couldn't very well imagine what it was like for these small aliens.

"Thank you," Ramirez rasped. They opened a small, thin container and pulled part of the inside of it out. They handed it to Harrison, who took it and held it loosely in one hand. Then they put their hand on his back and moved it in slow circles.

"What is fainting, Captain?" Kime asked. "Does he need medical attention?"

"No," Harrison groaned. "I'm… I'll be…."

"He's okay," Ramirez said again. "His emotions are very severe right now, and he's dehydrated and hungry. His body is taking in too much stimulus, and it overwhelmed his nervous system." They laughed, quiet and breathy. "His body threw a tantrum." Harrison laughed, too.

"This all sounds very severe," Kime said. Paxie definitely agreed.

"Do you have food?" they asked. "Did you bring any?" Ramirez laughed again.

"We have food and water, we'll be okay."

Paxie quirked their jaw. They didn't understand. Harrison was sick, so sick that his nervous system was… throwing a tantrum? Were these conglomerate creatures? They didn't have the markers for that. But Harrison had looked by all means to have died for a moment, and the two of them were laughing about it. Maybe laughter meant something different on Earth.

Either way, this kind of treatment of crew was unacceptable. Paxie could dismiss the cryogenics ship-wide, as that was a species survival tactic. But they would not tolerate gross neglect of subordinates.

"Captain Ramirez," Paxie ordered. Ramirez looked up, and Harrison followed their gaze groggily. "Your lieutenant is ill, and his needs have clearly reached a point of catastrophe. I demand you give him proper nutrients and rest at once."

The bridge was silent. Both aliens were staring at Paxie. They had their claws raised now, and they were grinding their jaw in agitation. Ramirez's eyes were wide. They were breathing hard, their chest swelling.

"Admiral," Ramirez said, their tone low. "I will yield to your command. But I promise you that my lieutenant's condition is completely survivable."

Paxie watched them both. They weren't sure now if they appreciated Ramirez's command style. Neglectful and dismissive of their crew's needs. Those were terrible leadership qualities.

"I'm okay, Admiral," Harrison said. He stood, slowly, and both Ramirez and Klte seemed ready to grab him if he faltered. To Paxie's shock… he didn't. "Your concern is… heartwarming." Paxie huffed quietly, resisting the need to raise their head, knowing now from experience the ceiling was too low. Ramirez motioned for Harrison to walk in front of them, and the two walked toward Kime. She backed up along the hallway to allow them in. "Don't judge me, but I think I have a crush," Harrison whispered as they left.

"Shut up, they can hear you," Ramirez whispered back. Paxie pinned their ears flat. If Harrison had an injury, especially a crushing one, then they wanted to know about it. They turned off their translator protocol.

"Ensign Kime. Make sure Lieutenant Harrison is getting the appropriate care."

"Yes, sir."

"Sergeant Klte, be sure to be available of he needs help."

"Aye, sir."

---

John kept his head down on the table. He'd managed to finish the new hydration pouch, too. Adina still couldn't stomach the idea of putting anything more than water in her face. And even then, she'd barely been managing to sip her pouch.

"You should really get a hydration pouch," John whispered. "You need the electrolytes."

"I don't want to waste it if I throw up again," Adina breathed.

"You're more likely to throw up if you don't."

She knew he was right. But her tongue was tingling, her back itched all over, her head was throbbing, and every limb felt hollow and staticky. And now ghosts were real and part of this… space federation. On top of everything else.

Adina glanced around the galley again. It was small, only made for up to eight, but the nightmare creature was sharing the space with them. Actually, it probably wasn't nice for Adina to call it that. It had tried to save John's fall, after all. And Adina got the distinct feeling it was watching her to protect John. Because now the admiral of the alien fleet just outside thought she was a heartless bitch who didn't care about her lieutenant.

"Hey," John muttered, looking up. Adina looked back to him. He was still pale, and his eyes were painfully red, and he nodded his head delicately towards the bridge. "Be honest," he breathed, and Adina noticed the nightm—the cave mantis' suit didn't repeat him. "Do you think I have a shot?"

Against her will, Adina pictured John in nothing but an environment helmet and boots, looking at a condom the size of a tube sock with apprehension.

She burst into laughter, splitting her head with pain and laying over the table. John laughed, too, rasping and hysterical, and they both filled the metal room with a cacophony. When the laughter died down, Adina had both arms over her head, squeezing her skull against the cold, plastic table and whimpering.

She was shaking. She knew if she opened her eyes, she wouldn't even be able to see. She took long breaths, but they were somehow shallow. She felt like her body was falling apart.

"Am I dying?" she whispered. John's hand came down on the back of her neck, cool and heavy.

"You survived the wakeup process," John whispered back. "That's where everything goes wrong."

"I feel like shit," she whimpered. "I've never felt like such absolute shit like this."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and he smoothed his hand over her shoulder. "Maybe we should just get you an IV."

"We don't have time for that," Adina rasped.

"The aliens haven't killed us yet," John uttered. He sounded like he was smiling. Grinning, actually. "Besides, they like me enough. I'll put in a good word and get you twenty minutes to close your eyes."

"My hero," Adina droned. John laughed, then stood.

"C'mon, let's get you hydrated," he said, and he stepped around the table and gently took her by the arms. She rose carefully, keeping her eyes closed, and let him lead her to the med bay. The cave mantis followed behind with minimal noise, but she could still hear it. He helped her sit and then lay back in one of the beds, then started rummaging for the proper fluids.

"What is wrong with Captain Ramirez?" Kime asked.

"She's badly dehydrated," John said for her. She wasn't eager to talk at the moment, and she appreciated his answering for her. "We'll put some fluids in her, and then we can keep trying to figure this out."

Adina eventually opened her eyes when John made some noise from right beside her. The room was a bit blurry, but it was manageable. John set the IV on a small hook in the wall, then tied a length of rubber around her upper arm.

"What is this for?" Kime asked. She was in the doorway now, trapping Adina, John, and the cave mantis in the room. It was as close to the bed as the big alien could get.

"These fluids are going to re-hydrate me," Adina said, and she sat up slightly. She started forming and relaxing her fist repeatedly once John had the band tied across her bicep. "I'm increasing the pressure of the blood vessels in my arm right now, to get a large vein to push against my skin so he can put a needle into it."

The room was very quiet as John bent low, swiping an alcohol pad over the inside of Adina's arm. It burned just a little, and then he gently touched her skin with one hand and lined up the needle with the other. She watched him push it into her, impressed with the steadiness of his hand. He untied the band and stepped back, and she laid her head back with a sigh.

"I'll get something for your head in there, too," he said.

"Thanks."

"C-Captain Ramirez," Kime uttered. Adinia looked up sharply, jarring her head badly, surprised to hear the alien sounding so... scared? She was looking directly at Adina through the domed helmet of her environment suit, but Adina just couldn't read her expression. "Can you not drink water? Are you malformed?" Adina blinked. Then she took another look at the scales on Kime's face. Had the Xoixe never heard of injections? Of intravenous fluids?

"I, my body can't stomach the fluids I need right now," Adina explained. "So I have to bypass my stomach." Kime and the cave mantis exchanged looks.

"You mean to say that you do not require your stomach?" Adina glanced at John, who looked a little bit amused at the disconnect as he injected medicine into the top of the bag.

"I do," Adina explained. "But my stomach isn't doing what I want it to right now. So I'm, uh, removing it from the equation right now. So that I can get back onto my feet."

"Why do you not simply rest?" the cave mantis hissed. Its voice was a bit frightening, halfway between a snake and the chirp of a bat. It made her want to turtle her neck.

"We have too much to do," Adina said, reluctantly meeting its big, black eyes. "I can't afford to take the time right now."

"But your body is failing," Kime said.

"Well, I mean, it might if I kept going like this," Adina relented. "But by doing this, I'm able to stave that off."

"I don't understand," the cave mantis hissed. "You're dying."

"No, I wouldn't say that—"

"Then you do not require water or your stomach to live."

"Well, okay, I do—"

"It's a bit more complicated than that," John said.

"But rather than sleeping and resting your body and mind," the mantis continued, "you are instead piercing your body and adding an outside substance to your flesh, so that you may continue your activities without... sacrificing the time?"

Adina blinked, and she could see John staring at the thing, too.

"It sounds pretty metal when you put it like that," John said.

Everyone in the room flinched when the two aliens' suits made a loud, sharp noise.

"Code black, code black!" another Xoixe voice called over both enviro suit speakers. "Hostile ship spotted, Skel-type destroyer, weapons hot and locked onto the Earth-type explorer! Approaching at factor 3, ten minutes until interception!"

Adina looked directly at Kime, her entire body suddenly seeming to fade away. She was numb all over, and the drugs still in her veins seemed to rev up for a second round. Time slowed. The Xoixe seemed to pale beneath its scales. Part of Adina tried to convince the rest of her it didn't mean the same thing on them that it meant in humans. That the alien's body was reallocating blood flow to muscles out of anticipation of a fight. Out of fear.

"All ships!" Admiral Paxie's voice boomed over both speakers and from down the hall. "Spool FTL drives and make heading for nearest fallback position! Defensive power allocations! Ready automated fighters to scramble!"

---

next

[gemini-writes-kpop]

Got7 ❤❤❤

My first bias: Jaebum!

Your current bias and why: Jackson! Holy cow, you’re gonna see a trend here, but I love rappers that are goofy and sweet!

Favourite song: Just Right!

Favourite MV: Lullaby!

Member you think has the best smile: Youngjae!

Favourite choreography: Lullaby!

Favourite era: Teenager!

Do you own any merchandise: Yes, I have a shirt, album, calendar, poster!

Have you seen them live: No, they were in Texas, and I regret every day not being able to go!

Favourite voice/singer: Jinyoung!

Favourite dancer: I like watching Jackson 👀

Kpop ask game!

[lovwonho]

ur so funny man like fuk you why are you so funny and friendly and nice like damn you think you can just be kind up in these parts?? Like some soft little squishy thing man heck you I can't handle you

ohf ukc

:( ily

[forasecondtherewedwon]

Runaway Ride

Fandom: Never Have I Ever Pairing: Devi/Paxton Rating: T Word Count: 4889

Summary: Kamala gets herself into a pickle, Devi needs to go to her, and Paxton has a car. Problem-solving has never been so simple, but that's how it is when your new boyfriend is Paxton Hall-Yoshida. Throw in a little hand-holding on the highway and this family crisis might just be the best date Devi will ever have.

When they finally took a break from dancing—disconnecting hands from hips and shoulders, lips from lips—Devi stepped away in a dreamy headspace. She almost collided with Jonah, but he didn’t tell her to look where she was going, only offered a shrewd, indulgent smile.

Actually, everybody was treating her like that; every eye that caught hers on her way to the table where she’d left her stuff was unjudgmental, admiring, straight up fairy-godmotherly. Devi hadn’t received this much notice since her dad’s death and her subsequent paralysis. And those looks had been pitying, freaked out. Positive attention was new and cool and she wondered, as she grabbed her phone out of her turquoise clutch, whether her socials would show more of the same when she opened them. Would people have snapped stealthy pics of her and Paxton dancing now that she’d been vaulted into the pseudo-celebrity strata of the high school hierarchy? Would the Insta posts be captioned with hashtags of their ship name? Paxi? Daxton? Vishwall-Yoshumar?

Devi never got to check.

Unlocking her phone, she found two missed calls from her mother. Maybe two wouldn’t have seemed like a whole lot to someone else, but Devi knew that, in order for her mom to risk rudeness by stepping away from the company she was hosting at home not once but twice, she’d need to be pretty frantic. Two missed calls from Nalini Vishwakumar were the equivalent of six or seven from any other mother.

Skirting the edges of the gym as she headed away from DJ Humanoid—that nit-witted saboteur of slow dances—Devi was about to call her mom back when her screen changed to an incoming call from Kamala. She pressed her other hand to her ear and answered it.

“Hey. Do you know what’s going on with my mom? She called me twice and, honestly, she knows I’m at the d—”

“Devi, shut up. Sorry,” Kamala sighed. “But I may have kidnapped your history teacher and now I’m panicking a little.”

Devi stopped in her tracks.

“You did what? Why is the sound weird?”

As she was trying to identify the background noise coming from Kamala’s end, her eyes swept over the crowd of her classmates and landed on Fabiola’s. Her friend had been smiling, mid-sway as she held Eve from behind and chatted with Sasha, but it fell off her face like Devi off Dr. Jackson’s roof. Fab disentangled herself from her girlfriend and crossed the room to stand with Devi. She was frowning, silently asking for an explanation for Devi’s distress, but Devi didn’t really have one yet.

“We’re in his car on the highway,” her cousin was saying. “He was a little drunk, so I’m driving.”

Devi had imagined that Kamala was exaggerating, but no, this was really starting to sound like a kidnapping.

“You better be on hands-free right now,” she lectured. Then, because she wasn’t exactly a paragon of road safety herself—barely an hour ago, she’d walked right out in front of Paxton’s jeep—didn’t wait for confirmation. “What the hell happened? Context, Kamala!”

“Well, as soon as I snuck out of the house—”

“But why did you sneak out?!”

“Devi, I can’t talk about that right now!” Devi’s eyebrows shot up at the clear and abnormal hysteria in her cousin’s voice. “I ran out of the house,” Kamala continued, “totally directionless, and the first thing that popped into my head was Manish’s invitation for me to come to karaoke…”

“Ew, what the fuck, don’t call Mr. K that.”

What? Fab mouthed at her, but Devi shook her head.

“That is his name and what he asked me to call him. Anyway,” Kamala said, sounding strained, “I went to your school and met up with him and now I’m driving his car and I think I might have shut my sari in the car door, but I’m scared to pull over and check because if I stop the car, I’m going to have to confront things and I think I’d rather not do that yet.”

“Kamala,” Devi said in a heavy, careful voice. “You have to pull over. I totally get what you’re saying because it sounds like something I might do—minus the part where you kidnapped Mr. K—” Fabiola’s eyes went dramatically wide as she was adjusting her tiara. “—but this isn’t you. You don’t run away from your obligations and elope with my teachers!”

“Manish and I didn’t elope. It isn’t in any way romantic.”

“For sure though? It’s not?” Devi heard another voice in the car ask.

“Mr. K, back off! Kamala’s in the middle of a crisis!” she shouted. “And please be drunk enough to forget that I yelled at you.”

“Devi, what should I do?” Kamala asked, sounding desperate in a sad way now.

“Where are you?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Ok, well, which direction are you heading in?”

“Um, either north or south.”

“You’re a disaster,” Devi muttered.

“What was that?”

“Uh… I said, don’t drive any faster. Try to read the next sign you pass so you can tell me where you are.”

“Alright,” Kamala said.

Devi tilted her phone away from her mouth so her cousin wouldn’t hear her frustrated sigh. She locked eyes with Fabiola.

“Kamala panicked at her engagement dinner and ran off with Mr. K. They’re either headed for Mexico or Canada, but I’ll know more in a minute.”

Fab blinked.

“Wow.”

“I know. It’s a lot. And this is me talking,” Devi emphasized.

“I don’t know if you would do anything this big. Mainly because you don’t have a driver’s license.”

“True.”

“Santa Barbara in twenty-six miles,” Kamala said in her ear.

“Damn, you made good time.”

“The traffic was quite manageable.”

“Try to calm down a little and get off the highway when you can. Don’t go past Santa Barbara. I’m coming to talk you down in person,” Devi said. “Oh, and don’t answer any of my mom’s calls; she’ll just stress you out.”

“That doesn’t seem very responsible. How about I send her a text when I stop to let her know I’m ok?”

Devi rolled her eyes.

“Suit yourself.”

“Thank you, Devi. But how will you get here?”

“Let me worry about that. Text me when you stop so I know exactly where I’m going.”

“I will.”

“’K. I’ll see you in a bit.”

Devi hung up and sighed massively, slumping into the wall and feeling a streamer crumple against her back. She and Fabiola stared at each other.

“What are you gonna do?” Fab asked.

“Be the hero my family needs, but not the one they deserve.”

“Are you misquoting Batman to justify doing something reckless?”

“First of all, rescuing Kamala isn’t reckless, and second of all, the movie isn’t called Batman, it’s The Dark Knight. Young-ish Christian Bale, hello.”

Fabiola pointed a finger at her own face.

“Young-ish out-of-touch lesbian, hello. At least I was close.”

Devi sighed again while Fab smiled sadly at her in obvious sympathy.

“It’s after ten at night. How am I gonna get to Santa Barbara?”

“Assuming you’re not going to ask your mom—”

“No.”

“Then you need a ride.”

“You need a ride? I’ll drive you.”

It was Paxton, walking up and tentatively taking Devi’s hand while darting uncertain glances at Fabiola. Devi felt her entire face light up.

“You don’t want to know where or why?” she teased.

His expression said those were insignificant details. Wow. Devi’d never had a fantasy where Paxton joined forces with her, bounty hunter-style, to track down a flighty Kamala, but this felt oddly romantic. Passionate even? They’d see where the night took them.

“You wouldn’t wanna leave the dance unless it was serious,” Paxton reasoned. “So, I’ll drive you. You wanna go now?”

“I guess we better. Lemme just grab my…”

“I’ll get it,” Fab said, raising a hand like the nerd she was as she volunteered.

She darted back through the dancers to grab Devi’s things and Devi watched their classmates part for their Cricket Queen. She was so proud of Fab. Also, she felt kinda bad for ditching such a momentous occasion. But Kamala needed her, and would totally do the same for her if she ever went off the deep end and kidnapped a dude while fleeing a proposal. Not that Devi could see herself fleeing a proposal (she glanced at Paxton as she thought this, then quickly away, thinking, Way too soon!). Carrying out a kidnapping? With a sufficiently convincing pro-and-con list, anything was possible.

“Basically, Kamala freaked and drove to Santa Barbara with a drunken Mr. K,” Devi said, because Paxton might not have asked to be informed, but she wanted him to know what he was getting himself into. Beyond that, she wanted to give him the chance to say, No way, Devi. I came here to look hot and dance up on you, nothing more.

“Oh shit,” was what he said.

“Damn right, oh shit. You still want to drive? This is going to take a while.”

She should probably have felt guilty about trying to subtly persuade him with her eyes, but not only was Paxton the least complicated option, he was also her first choice. If she maintained eye contact long enough, Devi figured it might trigger some kind of boyfriend override that made going for a long drive at night just as appealing as staying here and dancing with her butt pressed thrillingly to his groin when the teacher-chaperones weren’t looking.

“As long as we can hit up the bathrooms first. I was going to, but then I got talking to Trent, and then Marcus was doing a handstand…”

“Definitely,” Devi assured him. “Good call. Empty the tank. Oh, actually, that reminds me… how much gas do you have in your jeep? If we need to stop at a gas station, I’ll have to factor that in to the ETA I give Kamala.”

Paxton shook his head at her, smiling in what she liked to think was affectionate amusement.

“I filled it up on the way here. I needed a minute to, uh…” To her epic astonishment, he ducked his head self-consciously, cheeks pinking. “You know. Get my shit together. Up here.” He tapped his temple with his index finger. “I wanted to show up for you, like, completely. You know?”

Right as Devi was at dangerously high risk of sagging to the floor in blissful bonelessness, Fabiola sprang to her side, shoving the rest of her possessions at her.

“Ok, ok!” Devi said, harried.

She had to dump it all on the bathroom counter a minute later anyway, but after she’d done her pre-road trip pee, she came out and gave Fab a better thank-you.

“Your Highness,” Paxton told Fabiola with a nod.

Fab nodded back, smiling wryly.

“Prosecutor.”

“I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship,” Devi assessed, “but we gotta go! Say congrats to Eve for me again!”

“Sure. Drive safe!”

Devi and Paxton pushed through the doors together, striding quickly with his hand wrapped around hers. In the parking lot, she glanced sideways to see him digging his keychain out of his front pocket.

“Oh,” she said, “so I wasn’t just feeling that you were very happy to dance with me.”

Until they got into the jeep, it was too dark to see whether she’d gotten him to blush again, but she liked to think that she had. He was definitely smiling.

They got in and Devi carefully tucked her skirt around her legs, mind on Kamala’s cautionary tale. At least it was until Paxton leaned forward to shrug out of his jacket and she saw his shoulder muscles jump beneath his fitted button-down, his narrow black tie swinging forward. Dang. Fifty shades of Hall-Yoshida.

“Santa Barbara?” Paxton double-checked once he was settled behind the wheel, steering out of the student lot.

“Santa Barbara.”

Until they were on the highway and heading out of Los Angeles, Devi did her best to keep her worry about Kamala’s situation contained to the way she flapped her phone against her thigh. Usually, she was stressing about the problems right in front of her (when she wasn’t blatantly ignoring them, only to have that approach bite her in the ass later), but with whatever was going on with Kamala, she kinda had to look ahead.

Had she wanted Kamala to get engaged to Prashant that badly? Well, the best thing about Prashant was that you never knew when having additional hot relatives would be to your benefit. (Devi was already hoping that Mr. K would get over the more nerve-wracking elements of this night and just remember having fun with her stunning cousin… and that this could possibly translate into at least a month of generous grades, if she could somehow spin these shenanigans as an intentional blind date arranged by herself.) However, an engaged Kamala was wholly different from a married Kamala. She wouldn’t be around to watch nonsensical episodes of Riverdale, or be duped into hijinks, or listen to Devi when her mom was too tired, or bitch about her shitty lab-mates in exchange for sitting through Devi bitching about her complicated feelings on the subject of Aneesa dating her ex. She wouldn’t live with them anymore, and the family that had begun to miraculously fill out after her dad had died would be back down to three. And the other two members of it would be old (Sorry, Mom, she thought) and not at all prepared to champion her dating life or the cleavage-accentuating formal dress currently buoying it.

So, yeah, Devi was looking ahead—eyes glazed over as the yellow lights of cars slipped around them to prevent her vision from fully adjusting to the blue-black sky—and feeling more than a little nervous and scared of the Kamala-shaped hole she’d have in her life if her dazzling, dorky cousin left her house for one she might eventually fill with the most beautiful children the world had ever seen.

Thankfully, Paxton was there. It startled her when he took one hand off the wheel and felt across her lap to grab hers, loosely interlacing their fingers. Devi quit hitting her phone against her leg. She sent off their updated location to Kamala and then let her phone fall flat.

“Did she say where she was?” Her boyfriend’s voice was quiet in the car and she realized for the first time that her head had been too crammed with thoughts to put on any music.

“Carpinteria State Beach. Do you know the exit?”

“We’ll find it.”

“And if you want me to drive while you rest on the way back…”

Paxton laughed.

“No way. Safety first.”

“Says the guy driving one-handed,” Devi countered, not that she was eager to surrender the hand warming hers.

He turned his head just long enough to shoot her a look.

“Whoa, pal, eyes on the road!” she said. (She had a half-baked plan to call her boyfriend ‘pal’ a few times and thereby de-weaponize the word in a memory that still felt like a fading bruise, an almost-gone sore spot in who she and Paxton were before they were openly a them.)

“Sorry,” he said, staring out the windshield again. He grinned. “You look gorgeous.”

“Really?”

“So gorgeous.” Paxton’s voice was softer this time, the underlying laugh it had carried since she’d offered to drive his jeep drained out of it. It was nearly a sigh.

“Thanks. So do you.”

“You know, I feel fucking awful for hitting you with my car, but I still think I mighta felt worse if I’d walked in and seen you dancing with somebody else.”

Devi twisted their hands, touching the back of his to her thigh so she was sandwiching it between leg and palm for a moment, aiming for reassuring.

“I wanna say I would never be that flaky, but my previous offenses speak for themselves.”

“So does doing this with me.”

“Uh,” she droned, “to recap, you left a fun thing to do a huge favour for me. You’re talking about it like this is my act of redemption. I feel like if you examine it for a sec, you’ll see how I’m actually kind of a dick for accepting your help.”

“I want us to be together,” he said bluntly. “Here we are. Together.”

“It’s that simple?”

“I don’t see why it can’t be.”

“Huh. I think you’re really gonna be good for my tendency to overcomplicate a situation.”

Paxton laughed and unthreaded his fingers from Devi’s. But it wasn’t to release her for pointing out that this date was, in actual fact, the coordinated response to a family crisis; his fingertips moved lightly over her palm, momentarily trapped when her fingers flinched inward in reaction to how it tickled, then traced along the thin skin of her inner wrist. He wasn’t trying to pull away. He was lingering. Though his touch when he sunk his hand into her hair or drew her closer by her waist had always been fairly gentle, it had often had the faint aggression of hastiness to it, clutching her as they made out in her room, always listening for footsteps in the hallway. How Paxton touched her now was pure, exploratory tenderness. It made the hairs on the back of Devi’s neck stand up as a wave of shivers rushed up her spine and crested somewhere around the nape of her neck.

He must’ve felt that wave break, the foamy aftereffects in some tic of her arm or quickening of her pulse while his fingers skimmed gradually up the inside of her arm towards her elbow, because he chanced another quick glance at her.

“That feels good,” she explained.

Paxton looked forward, nodding slowly, and shifted in the driver’s seat.

“Good.”

She thought it must have felt good for him too, knowing he’d made her shiver.

—

The miles were flicking past for Paxton—another, another, another, as fast and steady as the dashed lines painted between the lanes, his arms cutting the water on the front crawl. He wanted Devi, beside him, to believe that he was paying attention to his driving, but he was honestly kinda zoned out. Like that time he’d swum to San Diego, he let his body go through the motions (in this case, twitching the wheel, putting on cruise control when traffic thinned so he didn’t have to focus on the pedals) while his mind floated freely.

Where it floated was to his girlfriend.

At ten years old, he’d been the last kid in his swim class to jump off the 10m board. It was optional—a treat after getting water up their noses turning somersaults below the surface and doing egg-beater legs in between—but all the other boys in the group had done it eagerly, shrieking on their way down to sloppy pencil dives. Paxton had climbed the stairs all the way to the top easily enough, even stepped onto the wide platform, bordered by metal railings and rough under his bare feet. He’d walked out to the end and frozen to find himself so high above the pool.

He hadn’t feared the water, he’d feared the air. Being so exposed on his own at the end of the diving board. Eventually, he’d retreated, then surprised the coach waiting down at the poolside by turning around and taking the jump at a run. Few memories felt as good as the sensation of giving himself back to gravity and letting it reunite him with the water. He’d just had to get past the exposure.

Same thing tonight, going to find Devi at the dance. Holding her hand in his had been him reaching the platform, but when they stood together, just inside the school’s doors, Paxton hadn’t known for sure whether he would take the leap or retreat. And not just for a running start this time, but in a way that turned his sixteen-year-old present self back into one of those nervous ten-year-olds who wimped out and had to take the coward’s way down—descending each step they’d climbed. He might not have run, and yet he hadn’t needed to back up and race into their relationship either. Momentum hadn’t carried them inside for everyone they knew to see them. It had been a calm approach, even if he’d been shaking on the inside when he saw Trent staring at them.

So maybe Paxton had learned something in the last six years, or maybe it was harder to feel exposed with somebody right next to you.

She really did look gorgeous, like he’d said, and because he didn’t want her to worry about his focus if she spotted him gazing at the side of her face while she texted her cousin, the glances he stole were of the knee region. Her dress’s overlay sparkled when the high lights of eighteen-wheelers passed them and the specific teal of the dress itself reminded him of a river he’d swum in once during an out-of-state family vacation. Natural and deep and fresh, and exasperating for his parents because he’d accidentally doggy-paddled himself all the way to a small waterfall and hadn’t heard them calling him back for dinner around the campfire. He felt all that about Devi, except for hoping for a different reaction from his parents when they met her.

Holy shit. He was going to have to introduce his girlfriend to his embarrassing hippy parents. But then, she’d already met Rebecca, so maybe they were set? A sister’s approval should count for a ton.

No, no, no, Devi would have to meet his parents. He was doing this. The two of them were doing this. Paxton exhaled determinedly through his nose and made himself concentrate on the remaining miles he needed to cover. His mind, anyway. His hand continued to stroke and search, covering his girlfriend’s hand with his until he had her fingers tucked away protectively under his own, and then caressing all the way up to the crook of her elbow so suddenly that she made a noise between a laugh and a yelp because he’d unintentionally tickled her. Man, she was cute.

The very end of their journey required the most concentration from Paxton; he finally took back his hand to have both on the wheel as he steered them off the highway and Devi’s got lonely or something, because it chased across to where he was sitting and landed on his thigh. His jaw clenched. He could feel the heat of her palm through his pantleg and congratulated himself on being a driving legend for driving smoothly to where they needed to park for beach access.

Devi had a pink sweater that she put on, but Paxton grabbed his jacket out of the back as well in case she needed it. It was almost midnight and a breeze rolled up off the water, rippling his tie and swishing Devi’s dress. He didn’t have to ask what they should do next—there was just one other car parked nearby and Devi’s cousin was already standing outside of it, raising a hand to wave sheepishly as they got out of his jeep.

“Here,” he said, holding out his jacket for his girlfriend to put her arms through the sleeves. “You guys talk. I’ll be down at the beach.”

Devi turned her back to him as she accepted the jacket, but she glanced over her shoulder with a look of concern.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. You’ll want privacy. I need to stretch my legs anyway.”

“Just don’t swim away, ok?” she requested. “I don’t think I can handle more than one rescue mission per night.”

Paxton could tell by her expression that it wasn’t entirely a joke. He grinned and gripped his lapels, now on Devi, reeling her in.

“I promise. You’d probably take the opportunity to try to drive the jeep home, and I don’t want to risk that.”

“Me committing grand theft auto or me getting hurt?”

“I bet they tested you for smartness,” he said, “but you think they have a test for being a smartass? You’d score high, Vishwakumar.”

“I know, I know, you don’t want me to get hurt.”

She was so infuriatingly flippant, rolling her big brown eyes at him.

“That’s right,” Paxton said plainly. There he was, up on the platform again.

Devi straightened his tie and let her hand rest flat on his chest. He remembered how overwhelmed she’d looked the first time he’d placed her palm there, right on his skin. Even now, it almost made him laugh.

“Ok,” she said, and he was surrendering himself to the sweet strength of gravity, propelled down to the beach while Devi stayed to talk to Kamala.

—

Devi had heard that there were tidepools here, and she was nervous about stepping into one and spearing some aquatic animal on her high heel. Well, she couldn’t magically improve her night vision, but she could take her shoes off and remove the possibility of impalement. They dangled from her fingers as she picked her way down to the beach.

Her boyfriend was sitting in the sand, staring out at the ocean. It just looked so romantic—with the stars the sky was too bright to see at home, and the waves, and the back of Paxton’s white shirt in the moonlight—that Devi decided to slip into the scene without saying anything at all.

A mistake. Paxton gasped and jumped. Apparently, he hadn’t heard her over the noise of the water.

“Sorry, sorry!” she said.

He sighed and smiled, getting to his feet.

“How’d it go?”

“I think it went well. She was feeling calm enough to drive, so she’s on her way home now. She’s gonna cover for me until we get back.”

“That’s good… but what about Mr. Kulkarni?”

“He was passed out in the passenger’s seat,” Devi stated. “I guess he’s kind of a lightweight? Kamala said she’s going to drive back to our school and leave him and his car in the parking lot. She’s planning to call my mom for a ride home. If it were me, I think I’d take the bus and try to sneak back into the house as quietly as possible, but Kamala still has a lot to learn about how to thoroughly dodge your problems.”

“And maybe about how to climb to the second floor of your house from the outside?” Paxton suggested with a meaningful smirk.

She did her best to return it, but the odds were that it didn’t look nearly as sexy on her. Then again, she had moonlight and midnight and well-displayed cleavage on her side.

“How’d you learn to do that so quietly anyway?” Devi asked, tossing her shoes to the sand and stepping forward to boldly wrap her arms around Paxton’s waist.

He’d had his hands in his pockets, but as soon as she’d begun to move towards him, he’d pulled them out. His arms encircled her, his hands on the back of his own black jacket. Although Devi wanted to offer him the jacket back—he felt slightly chilly through his shirt—she didn’t want the two of them to separate. Besides, body heat was a thing. This was practically what it was for. So Devi just pressed herself closer, breathing the scent of the ocean and Paxton’s fading cologne.

“Trent,” he said.

“Yeah, actually, that checks out.”

Were there boundaries between warming someone up while having a conversation and just hugging them? It wasn’t clear to Devi, but it felt good when they both went quiet for a while. She stood unevenly on the cold sand and listened to the thud of Paxton’s heart.

“You never said yes,” he said eventually, quietly.

“Yes to what?”

“I told you I came to the dance as your boyfriend and you never actually agreed to be my girlfriend. We kinda just started making out.”

Devi lifted her cheek from his chest so she could look at him. He didn’t appear disappointed, more like he was making an observation. Maybe he’d been reflecting, out here in the dark, while she and Kamala had talked.

“In my books, that’s an obvious yes,” she said, grinning. “What more do you need?”

She could see him trying not to smile.

“A little atmosphere would be nice,” Paxton said. “Maybe a long drive, or the beach. A full moon. Romance me, Vishwakumar.”

Devi vibrated with silent laughter. Or her heart was just beating really, really freaking hard.

“Sounds like you’ve got some pretty big expectations there.”

“And stars,” he added. “There should be a shitload of stars.”

With that, he took one hand off her back to point far above them. Devi tipped her head back, the light of the stars a friendly blur as she tried to pick one to settle on, just one. Paxton’s face coming forward to hover over hers blotted them out. Her boyfriend kissed her, light and ghosting and then firm and slow.

“On the other hand,” he said, pulling back a little, “I think we were onto something with the making out.”

Devi smiled and dug her toes into the sand to make herself taller, lips at the ready and realigned with his.

“We did set a precedent.”

[sparklingpax]

Sweet Bother, That’s What You Are

A.N: 

(starring my two TFP OCs, Paxie and Sharpflint, who will be getting sketch posts um.........eventually o///o’’)

-HIIIIII So. Potentially the first of many drabbles with these two <3 There’s no official story story, really....just whatever comes to mind if I feel like writing it! ^w^

-I actually managed to find the first time I did a drabble for them, idk, kinda dumb, but thought I’d link in case you were interested ^^’’ 

-This one’s kinda dumb too I apologize but I wanted to write it so

-Sorry for grammar, punctuation, word usage, spelling, etc mistakes......it’s late and I’m falling asleep and my brain is on Full Sunshine Happy Things mode so I’m just trying to dump all that into this story >:3 

-What planet are they on that has metallic trees and rocks?? uM?? uh--ok well,,,,,,same planet as the last one sorry I’m not very creative idk why I need so many trees for my writing anyway lmfao akjdjsd

-So when is this set then?? Ok so. After the war; in this universe here, which is not an au btw (or is it?? idk?? the events are assumed to be exactly the same as prime and other aligned continuity stuff just with these two inserted in the background if that makes any sense at all,,,,) Paxie was from one of the first generations after the war; Sharpflint fought in the war as an Autobot so,,,theres that. 

-May I just note for the record so no one asks or makes assumptions, their relationship is fully inteded to be really good friendship & it’s Not romantic. Sorry if I made it confusing in the writing sdjsdj basically I love writing romantic stuff but for once I want to write a Good Friends dynamic ^w^ hope thats okie!

-Also no Sharpflint is not actually old, he’d be more like a 35-year old and Paxie’s might be 25-ish. If you wanted to visualize it in human years I guess because we’re all........human..? She’s just fooling around 😹✨

-SHOUTOUT TO Y’ALL WHO ENCOURAGED ME TO START POSTING MY DRABBLE IDEAS!! I hope I do not disappoint too much ^^’’ 

-hhhhh & it be Short™ o///o but I hope you like it!!! thanks for reading!!! :)

///

Paxie kicked a stray rock back into its place on the side of the road and pouted. Arms folded behind her back, she did her best to tune out whatever Sharpflint was on about. Why?

“—and Primus fragging heck, Paxie, you know that as your friend—no, respected elder and mentor—I do not want to find your corpse on the side of the highway because you refuse to learn that—”

Yes. That. Because he was lecturing her about how strongly he disagreed with her personal stance in the Natural Form movement. However, she was not truly annoyed at all. It was a peaceful afternoon and she’d managed to convince Sharpflint to ditch patrol to walk with her. 

I’m going to have some fun here--after all, I’m giving up my free day, the one day I don’t have classes!!

Suddenly, one of his words registered in her mind and she got an idea. 

Paxie tapped his arm. He came to a halt alongside her, breaking off abruptly to give her a scathing ‘WHAT.’ However he swallowed that, too when he saw her face.

“You got one thing right, salty engines,” Paxie started, feigning frustration.

Sharpflint narrowed his yellow optics—he absolutely detested that ridiculous nickname.

“Oh?” He muttered back, half annoyed. “Enlighten me.”

Paxie shook her head, heaving a dramatic sigh. “Well, you’re old. But you’re not my mentor—you’re too old to be my mentor. I’d need a spry, young, whippersnapper like myself! In fact—wait—”

She did a shushing motion and looked around. Sharpflint moaned quietly, rolling his eyes hard. He waited for her to continue roasting him.

“Yes…yes, I can hear it!”

He decided to play along, folding his arms as he towered over her. “Hear what, Paxie?”

“Listen!! I can hear the high concentration of salt in your attitude rusting your rotor blades!!”

Frag me, Primus why.

“I can hear it from a mile—”

Sharpflint picked her up, smirking as her words melted into surprised yelping. He hoisted her over his shoulder, gripping her legs as the rest of her body hung over his back, and eyed the tree a small ways ahead of them. His grin grew wider.

“Old, huh?”

“Yes!!” Paxie was laughing now, gasping for air.

“Well, then, I’ll just show you how us elderly were taught to run!”

“FLINT!!!”

He swung her in a circle before racing ahead to the tree, prompting more giggled cries. His eyes glinted while his shorter friend shouted, playfully indignant, and demanded to be put down.

“I’ll snap you in two, you robot stick!!”

“Try it, tiny!! You’d barely leave a scratch!”

“OH—” Paxie narrowed her optics and whacked his green plating, still laughing. “SO SAYS ‘MR. INSULTS ARE RUDE’!! WOW!!”

Sharpflint let out a laugh himself, reaching the tree. Sure I said that, but I never said I couldn’t joke around…

“Hey, what are y—WAHHAHHHHHNOONONO—”

The two mechs had made it to the tree, so Sharpflint naturally tossed Paxie just high enough for her to land in one of the branches. As he’d hoped, she latched on and balled up against the metallic surface, optics wide with shock.

Take that, you adorable little scrap. Sharpflint nodded to himself, placing his hands on his hips and tilting his head back to take in the view. Paxie started giggling again, wailing down at him to help her off the branch .

“I’m only as old as the middle of the Great War!”

“You’re a salty, rusty sack of bolts!!”

Sharpflint sighed, turning away. “You and Mr. Tree can keep each other company until I come back here for patrol….” He pretended to think deeply, then calmly finished, “Four days from now.”

“Fine! You’re only as old as the youngest old bot from the war!!”

“Three days.”

“You’re a not-so-old dork!”

“Hmmm….” Sharpflint let the silence sink in, as if he were actually deeply considering her words. Paxie sighed audibly.

“You’re my favorite old dork--the best friend I could ask for!”

At this, Sharpflint turned and regarded her, beaming down at him. He unfolded his arms, chuckling lightly.

“I was going to let you down anyway, you know..” he said a little more quietly, feeling a little warm after her previous comment. The purple-white mech grinned back down at him.

“I know! I just wanted to say!”

Paxie was his closest friend, even if she was young, and didn’t know how bleak life could be—which was half the reason they ever got into fights in the first place anyway. Sometimes it’s hard to see eye-to-eye with someone who’s led a completely different life than your own. Both Sharpflint and Paxie were aware of that.

All that same, she was sunshine and openness.

Paxie was…simply put, a great friend.

Sharpflint cracked a small smile—not a smirk, but a real smile.

“You want to meet again at Silicon’s tonight?”

“Only if you’re paying!”

Sharpflint heaved another sigh, slumping over. Well, what else was to be expected? After all, the helicopter mech had thrown his friend into a tree. He couldn’t say no.

Well, no, he could, really should...but it would be rude—

“Oh, dear Primus,” he murmured under his breath, continuing to gaze up at Paxie, still hugging the tree branch for her dear life.

“Yay!! Silicon’s!!” Paxie cheered like a young sparkling, then cut herself off as her celebratory motions caused the branch to sway a bit too much. 

“Thank goodness for frequent paychecks…”

But above all, thank goodness for friends. Especially the ones that drive a bot nuts. Paxie, I’d give my life for you. 

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Hey, Paxy! I'm so sorry this took so long for me to get back to you on. I just now realized you'd sent me an ask for wbw! But better later than never, right? ^_^ So: Happy wbw! For your question: this is pertaining to your favorite creature you've created (or adjusted)... what is the history behind them? How did they come to be and are they aware of their history? Queue Post

a;lsdkfj no worries!! i tend to get asks trickling in all day on WBW, so i had plenty to occupy myself with!!! <3<3<3

My favorite creature has probably got to be one of the dragon species I've come up with!! Unfortunately, this is one that I haven't drawn yet (at least not since i changed them up last), but they're called Mae Poisonrings, and they're a species that lives in the canopy of the Godwoods!!

They're essentially your classic huge dragon of the likes of Tolkien or D&D, but they spend their time up in the canopy tending their nests and hunting herds of Dreamdancers or the other as-yet-unnamed large herbivores of the Godwoods! They're named for the bright acid-green gland that sits in the edges of their eyelids like a ring of badly-done eyeliner and secretes a poison that paralyzes the target.

They don't breathe any fire, but can squirt this poison gland like how horned lizards can squirt blood out of their eyes (do not click the link if you don't want to see a video of this ridiculous defense mechanism at play).

They don't really have any in-world history, besides being around since one of the Growths of the Millennium Cycle decided that hey, these funky little nuisance lizards should actually be giant dangerous dragons instead about 20,000 years ago. And they're like most real-life animals in that they don't have a concept of time or history, so no, they aren't really aware of that event any more :D

thank you again for the ask!!! i love talking about my weird animals <3

[the-creator-undertale-au]

《The Creator: congratulation to the 3 winners of the Art Raffle ! And thank you all for participing !!!》

Winners:

First place; @elextriblizzard

Second place: @paxi-suru-art

third place: @silver-undertale

Ask me in private what you want. If you don't ask me after 2 day, I will give your prize to an other person

!! CONGRATULATION !!

[jane-fucking-seymour]

Woman’s Best Friend (Pax AU) II Chapter 6

AO3 Link

“Hey, Kit? Can you help me with this?”

Katherine and Pax both looked up at the same time to find Catherine of Aragon peeking into the room. Kat walked towards her, Pax following, and noted the oversized hat and gloves.

“Gardening again?” Kat asks, a bright smile on her face as she follows Catherine outside.

Catherine nods. “Putting in some Orchids. It’ll make a nice addition to the others. And I think you and Paxy here can help,” she says, smiling as she kneels down next to an open area. She pats the ground next to her and, with a nod from Katherine, Pax sits down, tail wagging.

“Ok, Pax, here’s what we’re going to do,” Catherine says, gently petting the dog while nodding towards a few orchids. “Kat picks which ones to put where, Pax helps me put them in.”

Katherine tilts her head in thought, trying to figure out just how that’s about to happen, before her eyes widen with understanding.

“Oh! Okay!”

She looks at the flowers, quick to figure out which will go where, before she hands the first one to Catherine. Catherine smiles and points at the spot where it’s to be planted.

“Okay, Pax!” She says with a grin. “Dig!”

Pax’s tail wags harder as he looks up at Katherine, almost as if he can’t believe he’s being given the command to dig. When Katherine nods, he instantly gets to work, digging right where Catherine tells him to. He has to be pushed a bit away, but his tail wags even more when he sees Catherine planting the flower. He seems to get the hint then, digging until he’s gently pushed back, helping Kat and Catherine plant.

By the time they’re done, the flowerbed looks beautiful and while they both are a bit dirtier than usual, the smiles on their faces is too good to ignore.

“Thank you for the help, you two,” Catherine says, kissing Pax on the top of his head and giving Catherine a side hug. “You know, we should do that more often.”

Katherine nods with a grin. “Yeah, I would really love that, Catherine.” she looks down at Pax, who is being led upstairs by Cathy and Jane for a bath. “He did wonderfully, hm? A great helper.”

“I figured as much, you’ve taught him really well,” Catherine compliments. “Now come on, while he’s getting cleaned up, we can do the same and then make some cookies for the others, hm?”

It was through that interaction that it became known that Pax could basically be taught anything… almost to a fault, which Jane would later learn.

It was a quiet Monday morning. The queens had the day off, so they all used it to get some errands done.

Jane had just finished meal prep for the queens when she heard the tell-tale jingle of Pax’s paws on the floor. With a bright smile, she looks up to find the doggo in question, loyally following his mistress into the room.

Katherine smirks at Jane.

“Hey, Janey!”

Jane stops the needlework and slowly looks up at her daughter. The look of mischief that she sees in the girl’s eye reminds her of Anne…

… which can only mean trouble.

Still, she smiles gently at her girl, giving Kat her full attention.

“Hello love, what can I help you with?”

Katherine is practically giddy as she stands right in front of Jane.

“I taught Pax a new trick!” 

Jane tilts her head curiously, trying to figure out the play here; Anne is hiding in the back, trying to be sneaky, but Jane can also see Anna peeking right above Anne around the corner, then Cathy, then Catherine as well - the last of which was the most surprising part. Anna looks the most worried and Anne slowly brings a phone out to record, and Jane can’t help but think that she’s in for something interesting to say the least.

Jane hums in thought for a moment before she nods, putting her work down and giving her a smile. When Pax comes over, practically begging for pets, Jane is happy to oblige.

“Alright, Kit-Kat,” Jane says, tone light and teasing, “let’s see what you taught Pax.”

Katherine stands up straight, looking down at Pax. Pax’s tail wags as he looks back up at her.

“Okay Pax,” Kat says, smiling at her. “Play Heart of Stone!”

Jane, confused, looks down at Pax, who seemingly is getting ready for something, paws shuffling in place as he lifts his head and-

He howls.

It’s not just a howl; it’s long and high-pitched. As much as Jane hates to admit it, it kind of reminds her of the-

“He can do the whistle tone!” 

Jane rolls her eyes as Anne practically falls over laughing. Pax’s tail wags hard as he’s praised for his new skill.

“Yes, yes, laugh it up, you lot,” Jane says. “Great trick you’ve taught him, Kat.”

Kat chuckles and goes to Anne, watching the video a few times. Cathy and Catherine move away, the spectacle over, and Anna is the one to go and gently poke Kat on the shoulder.

Kat’s grinning from ear to ear at her, but that changes with Anna points to Jane.

Kat’s smile falls as she looks at Jane; her mum was looking at the dog, gently petting his head. Pax has his head in Jane’s lap, looking up at her with what Katherine sees as concern. It’s exactly what he does when Kat’s not feeling too great.

Jane looks completely fine, not even remotely upset, but Kat knows better. She knows what her mum looks like when she’s hiding her emotions, when she’s bottling things up.

It’s exactly what’s happening here, she’s sure of it.

Did she go too far?

Kat sits down next to Jane, gently putting a hand on hers. Jane looks up, a bit startled out of her thoughts, looking down at the hand before she looks back up at Katherine.

“Something wrong, love?”

Katherine bites her lip nervously before continuing:

“I… I think I need to apologize.” Kat says softly. “I’ll get Anne to delete the video.”

“Oh! I, uh-” Jane starts, going red with embarrassment. “No, no, you don’t need to do that, it’s not that big of a deal, love, I’m fine-”

“But you’re not, I can see that,” Katherine says quietly. “I went over a line with it, I’m sorry. I’ll make sure never to use that trick again - and I’ll make sure no one else does, either.” When Jane looks conflicted, Kat gently smoothes out her hair. “You know you can talk to me, right?”

Jane takes a deep breath and nods.

“I’m a bit annoyed by it, honestly,” Jane admits, looking down at the dog and gently scratching behind his ear. “I get that people make fun of it out of love, that people are impressed by it, but I just… I get embarrassed by it.”

Katherine listens intently, nodding once Jane’s done.

“I understand, and I’m sorry for making you feel that way,” Katherine says, gently pulling Jane in for a hug. Jane immediately falls into it, per usual. “I’ll stop from now on. I’m really sorry-”

“It’s fine, Kit-” Jane interrupts, but Kat shakes her head.

“I made you uncomfortable! It’s not alright. But I’ll do better.” She smiles and looks down at Pax, who is clamoring to help Jane relax. When allowed, he jumps up to lick Jane’s cheek, attacking her with affection to help put a smile on her face. He does accomplish his mission, and Jane’s smiling a few moments later.

“Alright, alright, thank you Pax,” Jane says, chuckling as she calms the dog down. “Let’s go get something to eat, hm?”

Pax, with a yip, immediately follows his mistress and her mother.

[notdavidfincher]

omg Greece 😍 where exactly if I may ask? My bf’s been to Crete and Cyprus a lot and we definitely want to spend our next summer holidays somewhere in Greece... any recommendations for a chill beach holiday? And thank you!! - freezing anon from Belgium

ah lovely belgium ❤️ i’m from the peloponnese! now, for recommendations, you said “chill beach holiday” so i take it you want some place that’s not too crowded (like santorini and mykonos for example). in that case the ionian sea is for you! corfu is the most popular island of the ionian islands but you can still enjoy some nice quiet time with your boyfriend, it’s a big island with many small villages and pretty beaches. you can also combine corfu with sivota and parga, they’re located in mainland greece, epirus, and they’re very picturesque places. another option is the paxi island group (paxos and antipaxos), they have some of the finest sand beaches and many millionaires/billionaires prefer those islands instead of other more cosmopolitan islands, because of the peaceful atmosphere and the smaller number of tourists. all these 3 places are in close distance from each other and you can combine two of them together or all of them at once, depending on your budget. the peloponnese has some beautiful beaches too and many tourists visit the peninsula every year, but they usually combine it with visits to historical monuments etc and i’m not sure if you’d be interested in that. i hope that was helpful! have a lovely week and stay warm!

[judith-works]

DuckPiratesInTheSky (AU)

Creator: Judith Work’s (Me) (https://twitter.com/Judith_Works)

Co-Creator: Sora Shipper (https://twitter.com/SoraShipper) (She does not have a Tumblr account)

(Inspired by the chapter "Sky pirates .... in the sky!")

What would have happened if Dewey had not thought to go to his family when he took on the role of "captain" of those pirates? 

What if Scrooge had given the order to return to the mansion? ... 

The family did not even notice the absence of blue on the plane ... Then...

History

This AU will tell the things that would happen after the above mentioned. 

After a few hours of playing with those pirates, Dewey decided it was time to go back to his family. He had to sneak off so he could go ... However, when he got to the place where he remembered perfectly that the plane was there, it was no longer ... 

 ... there was no trace of his family .... 

Scared, I look for others all over the place ... but nothing ... He was forced to continue with the pirates, since he could not stay in the middle of nowhere ... Only ... he could not believe that his family has left him, he knew that he was not so "required" but ... he never thought it would be that bad.

(Draw whit Paxy) 

On the other hand ... All those present on the plane felt like something was missing, however they could not perceive well that it was

Four fucking flight hours and nobody noticed that one of the children was missing. T

he first to realize when they arrived was Donald, because as soon as they returned to the mansion he asked where he was, not seeing him with his brothers. Without waiting for anything, everyone returned to the place, hoping to find the missing triplet .... 

However ... For obvious reasons, the child was no longer there ... Things went down between Donald and Scrooge again for "losing" another family member. 

But ... There was nothing left ... Nothing but Dewey ... It could take days, weeks ... months ... Or years ... But, they had to find it ... They wanted to find it. 

 Just the triplet that looked more like his mother.

He had to get away from their lives just like her.

Well, I really just post this to who since I speak Spanish and I'm not very good with English (I put everything to the translator, excuse my life) 

 This AU already has 5 chapters (published in amino, in Spanish) 

 Slowly I will go "translating" them and uploading them to who also 

 thank you for your attention, see you soon nwn

[whimsicalworldofme]

In Five Years Time

A little over five years have passed since the end of the war and Poe and Ava’s rescue of Ben from the Republic prison, and life is good.

(This is it guys. The final chapter. It’s more of an epilogue really. Anyway...thank you for reading my story! It’s been really fun the last two months, posting things and seeing your reactions in real time. I’m glad we’ve shared this adventure together!)

Word Count: 1977

Content Warnings: None

As the warmth of Spring washed over Paxis, the residents of the city of Organasville turned their attention to their fields. Temmin had managed to build an increasingly successful farm which started to employ more and more residents as the size of the fields grew. It wasn’t easy work, but everyone saw it as work worth doing. Snap Farms fed the entire city most of their fruits and vegetables. And he’d expanded to dairy animals and meat birds, though never Porgs, which had become popular pets among the children. Chewie’s flock of them which had snuck back from Achtoo had started to become a problem but the children on base loved them and kept them as pets. That too had in turn become a big business for the people of Paxis.

               Ava’s family hadn’t escaped the Porg obsessions. All of the Dameron children had one, except for Poe and Ben, who at only two months old, had no need for pets. Poe had been right that they would fill their house with kids. Seven months after they rescued Ben, they’d welcomed little Kes into the family. He was Poe’s son through and through, from his vibrant brown eyes and cocky smile, to his risk taking and limitless affection. A little over a year later they had Rora, quiet and gentle like Ava but commanding and firm. And then the second set of twins, boys this time. Both Poe and Ben had had their reservations, giving the twins their names, but in the end, Ava won with the argument that since she’d suffered the excruciating pain of bringing them into the world, she was going to pick their names. It was hard to tell the littlest boys’ personalities yet. They were both clever, that was for certain, and quiet, which was welcome. Rora had been quiet too, which was a very nice balance to the riotous, raucous ways of their eldest siblings.

               That afternoon, Ava was planting their family garden. Temmin plowed the patch in their backyard for it each year when he plowed his own fields and it had been sitting for a few days just waiting. The problem was wrangling the children to help. Kes didn’t want to wear shoes. Rora cried because she didn’t want her Porg, Sir Screech, to be left out even though Ava explained to her red-faced child that Sir Screech would eat the seeds and therefore couldn’t come. Leia and Shara had opted to spend the day working with Poe, Ben, and Luke in their workshop. They had named it Dameron, Solo, and Son, and their reputation had spread through the Republic as being the best place to get speeders and light ships. Leia had taken a shine to the business side of things, the negotiations, making sales, while Shara really enjoyed the actual mechanics of building and repairing ships.

               “You’re going to have to change the name when the girls are old enough if they decide they want in on the business,” Ava teased Poe.

               “So, we’ll change it,” he beamed. “Dameron and Solo Family Ship Builders Has a good ring to it.”

               Poe had gone completely grey in the past five years which prompted a lot of good-natured ribbing from both Ben, who wasn’t grey at all, and Snap who had gone grey himself. But Ava liked it and insisted that he shouldn’t dye it even though it was an option he sometimes considered.

               “I don’t know,” he had stood in front of their bathroom mirror that morning, brushing at his curls with his fingertips as though looking for any remaining strands of jet colored hair. “You don’t think I look like a geriatric?”

               “You aren’t even forty,” Ava slipped her arms around his waist and kissed his cheek. “And grey is very sexy on you.”

               That had resulted in a very…physical affirmation of just how sexy she found him, which delayed the whole process of the morning. It wasn’t until after lunch that Ava marched her little troupe of helpers out into the garden to show them how to plant the seeds neatly in their little rows. She’d caved on Kes’ demands to go barefoot but Sir Screech was notably absent, though Rora just sniffled at the injustice.

               They had hit a stride about ten minutes in though it was slow going, since her kids had a million questions and felt the need to go slow and lay the seeds individually and just the right way. Kes’ attention was shot though when Finn came over, holding hands with his four year old daughter Hannah, a little girl with her mother’s vibrant brown eyes and her father’s tight curly black hair in three buns running down the middle of her head, and on the other side, toddled his two year old, Lee, who had his broad nose, round cheeks, and brilliant smile.

               “Mama Uncle Finn is here!” Kes shouted gleefully, standing up straight and pointing. “Hi Uncle Finn!” He stopped pointing and waved instead. “Hi Hannah! Hi Lee!”

               “Kes whatcha doing?” Hannah called back. “Daddy I’m gonna go see Kes.” She stated before letting go of Finn’s hand and running to her favorite friend and catching him up in a hug. They always greeted each other like they’d been apart for years, even though they saw each other pretty much every day.

               “We’re planting seeds. I’ll show you how,” Kes took Hannah by the hand and went to the next row with his little packet of seeds and began to instruct her on how to plant like his Mama had said.

               “Afternoon, Sis,” Finn kissed her on the cheek when they hugged hello. “Hope you don’t mind a few extra hands. Though I don’t know how much help we’ll be,” he chuckled.

               “Well we’ve already had two tantrums and a meltdown this morning,” Ava laughed. “So, nothing can really hinder us much more. And we love having you here. Hi Lee,” she bent down and tickled the little boy’s tummy, making him giggle.

               It took another hour and a half to get the whole garden planted and Ava was grateful that it didn’t take any longer because the children’s attention and energy were both vanishing rapidly. Ava insisted that Finn and his kids come inside for a snack before sending them home and sending her own kids up to their rooms for a nap. She checked on the babies, who were under the careful watch of C-3PO. Luke and Ben had come up with a new program update for him to help him pick up on social queues a little better and to understand babies’ needs. Ava still didn’t leave the babies with him long term, just when she had to go outside and couldn’t bring them with, or if she had to run into the city, which had grown up from the original base. Otherwise she had Finn and Rey watch them.

               With the kids napping, Ava had time to work on ideas for the next lesson she was going to teach her Jedi students. She and Rey had taken on a few more students in the past few years. There wasn’t any political or social motive for their doing so. They simply agreed that if there were people out there in the galaxy who suddenly found themselves able to connect to the Force and they wanted some guidance, someone should be there to provide it. Six whole families had come in the last two years so that one of their members could learn to control their connection. She’d planned out some exercises and started on dinner by the time the rest of the family arrived home.

               BB-8 and R2 zipped right into the living room, alongside Shara and Leia, to join Kes and Rora who were making little cities with building blocks. The babies were in little bassinets where Ava could see them just outside the kitchen.

               “Honey we’re home,” Ben snickered, announcing their arrival as he came around the corner from the foyer, followed by Poe and Luke. They smelled of grease and oil and were all utterly filthy. She had gotten used to it though. She enjoyed when her men came home after a long day of working together. They were always so pleased about what they were working on and loved to talk about their most recent projects.

               “How is the new speeder coming?” Ava asked, smiling as Ben kissed her on the cheek in greeting. He had changed so drastically for the better in the last five years. It had been countless sleepless nights of staying up with him through the nightmares. Endless days of building his confidence and ensuring him that they wanted him there with them. They assured him regularly that his past was in the past and it seemed now he finally believed it. There were still days when the sorrow hit, when he thought of Han and was torn up with guilt, or Leia and felt a sharp emptiness consuming him. Being surrounded by his family helped.

               “We’re trying to increase the max speed on it,” Ben scratched his head and went to the sink for a cup of water as Poe stepped forward, kissing his wife on the lips.

               “The engine is meant to go faster but the frame is dragging it back,” Luke added. “We have to find a way to compensate for the weight without losing some of the size and features.”

               “I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” she assured him, reaching up and ruffling his hair, which prompted him to groan slightly but he smiled. “Why don’t you three go get cleaned up. Rey and Finn are coming with the kids for dinner in about thirty minutes.”

               “Uncle Ben,” Rora scuttled into the kitchen and grabbed Ben by the hand and tugged at him to go back towards the living room. “Come play with us. You can put the top on the tower,” she pointed at a high, narrow, teetering stack of blocks. “Please?” She pleaded, pulling his arm.

               “All right, sweetheart,” Ben laughed. “I’ll help with your tower but then I need to go wash up.”

               “Come on, Uncle Ben!” Kes waved eagerly for him to get over there as he added another block to the top of the tower, watching it teeter slightly.

               “Mom can Jaina come over for dinner?” Luke asked, filling and then gulping down a cup of water.

               “Of course,” Ava beamed. “You know she’s like family.”

               “Pushing,” Poe cautioned under his breath, holding her from behind.

               Jaina and Luke had officially begun dating a few years prior and while nineteen was young still, Ava was hoping to add a daughter-in-law permanently to the family in the near future. Luke had a level head on his shoulders and plans for his future. He’d become a fine young man and Ava was excited to see what his future held, unaffected by war.  

               “I’m going to go shower,” Luke ignored the commentary about his relationship, set his cup in the sink, and hurried upstairs. The little kids kept playing. Ben fulfilled his promise to Rora and completed her tower before ducking into his own room to shower too.

               “Twenty years ago, when you asked me to marry you the first time, did you think this would be the end result?” Ava asked, leaning against her husband, enjoying being held in his sturdy arms. He kissed her on the cheek and sighed in contentment.

               “No,” he admitted. “I never expected seven kids. Definitely didn’t anticipate Ben. Or having an adopted brother, his wife, and their kids living next door. I don’t know if I ever really expected anything other than war for the rest of my life. I hoped. But this is better than anything I’d hoped for. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

               “Yeah?” Ava turned around, smiling.

               “Yeah,” he kissed her happily.

                                                      The End

Last Chapter                      Master List 

[magic-is-something-we-create]

Heyyy pax! 💖✨💖 for the ask game that i made; 6; 8; 9; 10 have a lovely day!

thank you for making it, isabella!! they’re some really nice choices!!!

6: Times New Roman or Georgia?

NEITHER i hate TNR from school and i havent ever used georgia as a font. It’s arial loving hours up in here

8: Writing at 12 pm or 12 am?

well 12 pm is the most common for me, but 12 am gets the funniest dialog/interactions/comics so theres that

9: Is your favorite writing buddy a person or a pet?

If we’re talking writing buddy as in ‘is the room while im writing’ it’s probably my dogs, Nugget and Duke. we do a thing every day called “napsies with paxies” and so they’re always on my bed when i wanna write :D

10: Keep my writing to myself until I die or show it to everyone vaguely interested?

My brain oscillates wildly between both of these, and at any given moment, I am both basking in the excitement of sharing, and regretting every bit of writing that I have ever put out into the world

[whimsicalworldofme]

Welcome Home - Part 1

The returning squadrons of Resistance pilots make it home to Paxis and there’s a lot to celebrate. 

Word Count: 1589

Content Warnings: None

Cheers and applause echoed raucously around the hangar as the returning squadrons climbed out of their ships and were welcomed home. It was late and Ava had left the children at home under the watchful eye of C-3PO and R2-D2. Luke had wanted to stay up but hadn’t lasted. But Poe didn’t seem to mind. As soon as the cockpit popped open on his X-Wing, he had his eyes on her. Despite all the hundreds of faces in the hanger, all the noise and celebration, he found her instantly. He said something she couldn’t hear to BB-8 before he leapt out of his ship and practically slid down the ladder before running to her as she ran to him. He scooped her up as they came together and kissed her fervently, smiling the whole while, completely incapable of containing his joy. Ava clung to him, giggling and beaming, completely unbothered by his flight gear digging into her as he held her close to his chest.

               “I’m never leaving you and the kids ever again,” he promised as he set her to her feet at last and tucked her hair behind her ear. “It’s over. I’m home for good.”

               “I’m so proud of you,” she cupped his face in both hands, studying him.

                She knew every inch of his face, the way his lips curved when he smiled, each line in his brow when it furrowed, including the little vertical lines between his eyebrows, just over the bridge of his nose. She knew the boundaries of his five o’clock shadow even if he was clean shaven. Most of all she knew his eyes, deep, brown, full of adoration and affection, now also full of relief, joy, and peace.

               “You have been fighting so hard for everyone your whole life. You’ve given everything to save us all from the First Order. Now you can live for yourself,” she kissed his cheek.

               “I’m not living for myself,” Poe shook his head. “I’m living for us. You and me. Our kids. I’m all yours now. No more sleepless nights, no more short commlink calls, no more nights together wondering if it’s our last.”

               “I’m very glad for that,” Ava sighed in contentment, slipping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest, avoiding the more uncomfortable bits of his flight gear. He held her, rubbing her back, pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. Even as she stood there enjoying being with him, Ava looked around the room to see other similar reunions. Husbands, wives, partners, a few older kids who had managed to stay awake. Everyone was cheering, laughing, crying tears of joy, hugging, there was even some dancing as someone broke out what looked like a variety of accordion. People were clapping along in time with the natural beat of the tune and several people whooped along.

               “Family incoming,” Finn’s voice announced and soon Ava felt three other bodies press in around her and Poe, one sturdy and muscular, one willowy and slender, the third enormous, furry, and insanely strong as long hairy arms pulled everyone together in a squish. Chewie growled happily and Ava laughed, glad to have all of them home safe. She wished Leia, Han, and Luke were there to see this moment. She imagined this is what they must have felt like on Endor. She hoped that someday, thirty years in the future, Luke, Shara, and Leia wouldn’t have to have endured everything their parents and grandparents had to share a similar moment of triumph and joy.

               Let this peace last, she pleaded silently to the Force. For a moment, her thoughts turned to Ben. She hadn’t let herself think about him during the fighting. She didn’t want to give anything away by mistake, even though she knew he had turned against the Order. But more than that, she didn’t want to be the one this time to feel his life snuffed out if he were killed.

               I’m alive, Ben’s voice murmured in her mind. Don’t worry about me. Enjoy your celebration. Enjoy your life, Ava. Don’t waste your time worrying about me.

               Thank you for everything, she left it at that. For the time being, she would take his advice. Tonight was about the Resistance’s victory and about the start of her and Poe having the normal life they’d always wanted.

               The group hug broke apart. Someone came around with bottles of beer which Poe, Finn, Rey, and Chewie each took. Ava had never been a fan of the taste so she waved it off, which garnered an eyebrow raise from her husband. She just rolled her eyes, knowing what he was thinking. They milled around the hangar and eventually the celebration spilled out onto the quad. People got bonfires going. Food was brought out. Drinks kept coming. Everyone wanted to come by and clap the General on the back, tell him thanks for his leadership, shake his hand, or offer him another drink. Ava was grateful that he kept on with just one beer, insisting he didn’t need another. Her plans for the evening didn’t involve him being too drunk to stand upright. They danced along with the music, which now included flutes and stringed instruments. Poe held her close by the hips when they danced, sneaking kisses whenever he felt like it, making her giggle. She danced with Finn a few times too, though he was more bouncy and fun, whereas Poe was smooth and almost sensual. Even Temmin butted in once, twirling her around with a grace she hadn’t known he possessed. For a moment, Ava felt a pang of guilt, partying while her kids were home without her, but she knew they were in good hands. And they were sound asleep, so she tried not to feel too guilty. After a few hours, things began to die down. People swayed off home, singing songs at the top of their lungs, belly laughing, and shouting out various chants that different squadrons had, like handshakes, to amp each other up during missions.

               “Ava,” Rey pulled her aside while Finn was busy learning a line dance from Poe who was more than happy to give the lesson, laughing merrily at each of his brother’s missteps. “That thing you asked me about before we left,” she sat down on the ground next to her and folded her legs underneath her.

               “I know that he’s alive,” Ava stated, not wanting Rey to feel like she’d let her down or anything. “That’s all that’s important.”

               “The Republic got to him before I could,” Rey frowned. “I tried. I really did. But they took him away. In handcuffs. I’m afraid what they’re going to do to him.”

               Ava frowned, feeling her stomach knot. She knew that the Republic would not be kind to him. They wouldn’t believe him when he said he had been working with the Resistance the last few months. No one in the Resistance knew it anyway. Only Poe, Ava, Rey, and Finn. But there was nothing she could do about it right now. So she would follow Ben’s advice and enjoy the peace. At least for tonight. Tomorrow, she’d start thinking of ways to help him.

               “Thank you for letting me know,” she glanced back up at Rey, laying a hand on her shoulder before bringing her in for a hug. “And thank you for keeping Poe safe out there.”

               “Of course,” Rey hugged her back tightly. “Family looks out for each other.”

               “Family?” Ava questioned with a wry smile when they broke their hug. Rey blushed furiously in the firelight and glanced down with a nod.

               “Finn asked before we went out on this mission,” she confessed. “He said if we made it out alive we should get married. And I said I agreed. So…” a slow grin crept over her lips.

               “Rey that’s wonderful!” Ava squealed in delight and pulled her into another quick hug.

               “What’s wonderful?” Poe asked shuffling up to them, Finn at his side, giving Rey an inquiring look, brow furrowed.

               “Did you tell her?” Finn asked and Rey nodded.

               “Tell her what?” Poe looked miffed to be left out. “What’s going on?”

               Rey looked to Finn who nodded with a big, bright smile.

               “Finn asked me to marry him and I said yes,” Rey explained and Poe lit up brighter than a star.

               “Hey! That’s great news!” Poe clapped his brother on the back before wrapping an arm around his shoulder in a side hug, giving him a little, enthusiastic shake, making Finn laugh. “Congratulations you two! The Dameron family just keeps growing,” he chuckled.

               “We’ll talk details later,” Ava promised Rey before getting up from her seat and drawing Poe’s attention away from Finn, taking him by his free hand. “But for now, I think it’s time to say goodnight. I have a surprise for my husband.”

               “Oh, yes,” Poe nodded eagerly. “My surprise,” he smirked. “Goodnight, kids.”

               Ava pulled him away as Finn and Rey laughed. As they walked, Poe held her hand tightly, his thumb stroking the back of her hand. They didn’t have to speak, they were perfectly happy just being beside one another, sharing that close intimacy that allowed such comfort in silence. When they came to the turn off on the path that would take them to their quarters, Poe instinctively went to turn but Ava tugged him gently to keep going.

               “Where are we-?”

               “Trust me,” Ava replied.

               “Always,” Poe smiled and went along with her.

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