#so i woke up and started reading fanfiction | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

moonlightspencie · 1 year

Text

This Ain’t for the Best

Description: Mutual pining. Classic hunting scenarios. Sharing a bed. Wearing the other’s clothes. Confessions. Friends to lovers. Tswizzle title. Need I say more?

Pairing: Dean Winchester x gn!Reader

Warnings: a little bit of violence, me cramming in every cliché i can because i love the classic fanfiction tropes more than i love breathing

Word Count: 5.9k

A/N: i was kicking my feet and giggling as i wrote this, especially when i snuck in criminal minds AND taylor swift references. i love writing and never beta-reading or editing what i’ve written. catharsis.

Crashing at Bobby’s had its benefits.

First, we had the comfort of knowing where we were going to sleep at night. It was good to have a bed waiting that wasn’t in a motel room.

Second, there was almost always good food around. I had a knack for home-cooked meals, and it was much easier to be appreciated for it when I actually had a stove to cook on.

Third, there were boundless opportunities for Sam, Dean, and I to kick back and actually relax.

That’s how I ended up in the kitchen, laughing with Dean over old stories we’d told a million times before. He reached in the fridge, pulling out two bottles after we’d come down from the most recent remembrance of an old case. He cracked open the top of his beer, then my drink, sliding it towards me on the counter. Sam and Bobby strolled in st that moment, pausing when they saw us.

“You both woke up like an hour ago,” Sam said, unamused.

“6pm somewhere,” Dean and I said in unison.

We looked at each other with a small laugh, leaving Bobby and Sam rolling their eyes. I took my drink and stood a few steps away.

“We should really get going, though, Dean,” Sam stated.

“Where?” Bobby asked.

“We were planning on doing a run to the grocery story. I don’t want us to eat up all your food without repaying you, and we’re almost out of beer,” Sam said, pointedly looking at his brother.

“This one needs more of those little fruity drinks, too,” Dean teased, nodding at the bottle in my hand.

“Hey, it’s still a malt liquor. Just one that I like,” I said with a laugh.

They said their goodbyes, and I started walking into the front room. Bobby watched the door for a few moment after the boys left, then turned in the archway and locked his gaze on me as I sat on the couch.

I looked at the bottle in my hand. “I know y’all are all about beer, but I can’t help if I prefer something with a little flavor.”

“That’s not why I’m looking at you,” he grumbled, fed up with me already. “What in the world is goin’ on with you and Dean?”

“Huh?”

He furrowed his brow. “Don’t act all shy, now. You two have been flirting nonstop lately.”

“What’s new? We’re both pretty flirtatious in general.”

“Not like this,” he said with a shake of his head. “I don’t know the last time I saw that boy blushing, or you getting all flustered like a teenager.”

“I am not,” I scoffed. “Nothing’s happening, Bobby.”

“I’ve known your for five years, now, and I’ve known those boys since they were kids. You stayed in my house for a year, too. You can’t hide this kind of thing from me.”

“I’m not hiding anything. I’m an open book.”

Now, he scoffed. “Yeah, and I’m running for president.”

I rolled my eyes, taking another drink. He came closer, sitting down next to me.

“If you keep denying all this…”

I swallowed, finally resigning. “There’s nothing to do about it, Bobby.”

“Yes, there is. You could tell him.”

“It wouldn’t do any good. You know how he is, he doesn’t want to be tied down. If we don’t make any moves or promises or whatever, a lot less doesn’t get broken.”

He raised a brow. “I do know how he is. For you, he’d make an exception.”

“I don’t think so. Besides, it’s all just flirting for him. Doesn’t mean anything.”

“Are you blind?”

I looked at him, brows raising. He shook his head, picking at the label on his bottle.

“Sorry. I just— I know what I’m seeing, and I really don’t think it’s just a little friendly flirting for him, either,” he said, looking at me again. “I really think you should speak up while you’ve got the chance to. We don’t often get good things with lives like ours.”

“I know. I just don’t want to screw things up.”

“You’re gonna end up screwed if you keep pushing it down, anyway.”

I sighed. He took that signal as a time to change the subject, and for that I was thankful.

“Well, let’s find you the next case, huh?”

The next one was an easy find, and it would’ve been great to break the news to the boys when they got back, if not for a very clumsy Sam walking in the door with a twisted ankle.

“You what?” Bobby asked, incredulous.

Sam sighed, pouting. “I rolled it when I stepped in a pothole.”

Dean shook his head, clearly hiding his amusement as he helped his brother hobble towards a kitchen chair.

“So, no case, then?” I asked.

Bobby perked up. “No, you and Dean can still go. I can take care of Sam.”

“Bobby…” I warned, seeing through him instantly.

“Yeah, that’d be great,” Dean said, cutting off my death stare. “When was the last time we went on a case, just you and me?”

I looked at him.

“Seriously, you guys can go without me,” Sam said. “It might be good for you, Y/N. You seem a little restless.”

“I am not,” I defended.

Bobby chuckled. “Sure, you’re not. But I’m not suggested, I’m telling you. Get out of my house.”

I glanced at him, offended. “I am a delight.”

“You are, but I still want you out. You become much less delightful when you’re antsy.”

Dean laughed. “Come on, it’s only a state over, right? If we start driving now we can make it by sundown.”

I took a moment.

“Alright,” I nodded, heading towards the stairs to gather my things.

The case was a hot mess, to say the least. We couldn’t figure out what we were hunting to begin with, and the only true consistency is that the deaths were messy, leaving each victims with missing livers. It wasn’t until we were at the most recent site of the death that things took a little bit of a turn.

“What do you think?” Dean asked, leaning in my direction.

I shrugged, looking around the house.

“It seems… clean.”

“I mean, I guess. We haven’t found hex bags or EMF readings—”

“No,” I cut him off, gesturing around the living room. “Like physically clean. Nothing is out of place. Look at the mantle.”

I walked over, using my gloved hand to wipe along the surface. I showed him my hand.

“Clean. Not even dust.”

He raised a brow. “And that matters because…”

“Because we’re supposed to be looking for some monster-unknown that never cleans up their messes. Every other scene we’ve been to has been a wreck, so why is the only thing out of place the blood stains on the floor? This is also the first time it’s been in the victims house.”

He paused. “You’ve been watching Criminal Minds again, haven’t you?”

I rolled my eyes, taking off the glove.

“That’s not important right now,” I shook my head, standing next to him again. “And, for the record, it’s helping our case.”

“Right,” he chuckled. “Well, profiler, why don’t you tell me more about what you’re gathering from the scene.”

“Don’t patronize me,” I said with a laugh.

He smirked, placing a hand on my back.

“Let’s get out of here and figure out why things changed.”

We followed dead-end leads all over town, until we hit a lucky streak.

“Check this out,” Dean said, calling me over to the table in our room. “Remember that dive bar our last vic was seen at? Look at this dude’s last social media post.”

I walked over, resting a hand against the table as I leaned in. I looked at the laptop, raising a brow.

“Same place.”

“Same place,” he confirmed. “Wanna check it out? See if anything suspicious is up?”

“You sure you don’t just want to hit the bar?”

He looked up at me with a quirked brow.

“What do you think I am? Drinking on the job. I’d never,” he feigned innocence.

I snorted. “Right. So not you.”

“Leave in ten?”

“Sounds good to me.”

We hit the road soon after, winding up at the bar with our eyes peeled for any suspicious activity. There was plenty for us to see in a seedy town like this, but there was only one interaction that truly piqued our interested. I nodded at the man who was paying a little too much special attention to a woman, drawing Dean’s gaze in that direction. He was equally skeeved out. We kept an eye out for another hour or so before the weird activity took another step into the creep category.

We followed out the man who we caught following the woman, all the way to a neighborhood just outside the city. We made our move as soon as the man walked up to her house.

I followed Dean up to the house, and we started to slink around, waiting for any sign of trouble. I first checked through a window near the front of the house.

“Nothing,” I said, motioning for us to move further.

He took the lead, and we came up on a window that looked into the dining room. He slowly looked inside.

“Oh, you’ve gotta be freakin’ kidding me,” Dean mumbled, pulling his head back from the window.

“What?”

“Well, do you want the chance to play out your little crime show fantasies?”

I raised a brow. He sighed, shaking his head.

“That’s not— well, it is a monster in there, but not our kind of monster,” he said, tilting his head.

“It’s a human?”

He nodded. “Looks like it. Nothing supernatural that I can see. She’s passed out now, but let’s get a move on before he starts in on her.”

He started walking towards the back of the house, but I stopped him before we got to the door.

“Can— How do we do this?”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s a human. We can’t just chop his head off or exorcise him.”

“We could still stab him.”

“But should we?”

He gave me a very unamused look, waiting for me to make my point.

“Can we attempt to just— Kick his ass and leave him to deal with life in prison? Only go for the shot if it’s necessary.”

He softened. “He killed people, Y/N, does he really deserve mercy here?”

“Do you really think the prison system is mercy?” I asked, earning a slight chuckle. “I just feel weird about killing humans unless our lives are in immediate danger.”

“Okay,” he nodded. “Okay, we’ll play it your way. But if anything goes sideways—”

“Then you feel free to shoot him.”

He nodded curtly, then we continued to the door. He opened it carefully, and we stepped inside, checking our surroundings before we headed towards the woman in the dining room. We saw the man first, his back to us as he sat across the table from her.

“Playing house? Really?” Dean quipped, causing the man to whip around.

My gun was pulled before the man had a chance to stand up and react. He looked between us, obvious annoyance on his face.

“You’re not cops,” he stated.

Dean smirked. “No, we are much worse news for scumbags like you.”

“Now,” I started, “you can try and fail to fight your way out of here, or you can sit still while my partner here makes sure you’re sitting nice and pretty for when the cops do show up.”

Dean moved before he had a chance to formulate a response, dragging him out of the chair. The man tried to put up a fight, but it was pretty quickly silenced by means of a fist to the face. Dean left him on the ground after a few minutes and a roll of duct tape.

“Nice,” I commented, then put away my gun.

I moved to the woman at the table who was still passed out. I checked for a pulse, and when I was sure she was still breathing, I started undoing the binding that kept her to the chair. Dean called in an anonymous tip to the police station as I finished up clearing her of everything. She started waking right as I was about to try and move her to the couch.

“Hey, hey,” I said quietly, trying to give a little comfort before her panic set in. “You’re safe now, alright? You’re fine.”

Her eyes opened, and she immediately clung to me when she saw the man on the ground incapacitated.

“What happened?” she asked with a quivering voice.

“Me and my friend Dean saw this guy creeping around your house. We wanted to make sure everything was okay, and when we found out it wasn’t, we found a way in. The cops are on the way now.”

She nodded. “Thank you. Both of you.”

I glanced back at Dean with the ghost of a smile on my face. He raised his brows at me.

“Why don’t we get you to the couch?”

“You’re not staying?” she asked, still in shock.

“No, we gotta leave,” I said, helping her to the couch. “We’ll stick around for a few minutes outside till the cops get here, though.”

“Okay,” she nodded along absentmindedly as she laid on the couch.

I walked back to Dean, motioning for us to go outside. He looked back down at the man for a moment who was still passed out, then followed behind me. We got back to the Impala and waited.

“Weird to be thanked,” I said, watching the house.

He hummed. “Doesn’t happen often, that’s for sure.”

“I can’t believe we were accidentally hunting a serial killer.”

He snorted. “I’m surprised there’s not more crossover when we hunt.”

I hummed in agreement. “I also wonder why things changed so much. From the murders messy and public to being more confined in the homes.”

“Who knows,” he said, shaking his head. “Monsters make a hell of a lot more sense than people do.”

“You got that right.”

Soon enough we saw flashing lights coming down the street. We watched some officers step out of the first car, and a few more get out of an SUV.

“Is that FBI?” Dean asked, looking intently.

“I mean, we just found them a serial killer. They’ve probably been on high alert,” I said.

He nodded, and we watched for another moment as they prepared to go inside.

“Man, those vests are cool as hell in real life, too,” I commented.

“Alright, that’s enough,” he wrapped up the conversation with a laugh.

He pulled off the sidewalk at that, and started driving in the opposite direction of the cops. We decided to stay the night at the motel, neither of us awake enough to get back to Sam and Bobby. He pulled into the parking lot, and we trudged inside.

“At least we aren’t covered in monster guts this time,” I said as I fell onto the mattress.

“Right?” He chuckled. “Cool if I take the first shower?”

“Of course. I’ll be here.”

He shut the door of the bathroom, and I let out a sigh. All of the teamwork bull crap we’d been doing certainly didn’t help my case, but I could at least be thankful he didn’t want to go the bars and find a hookup. I threw my arms over my eyes and sighed.

“Hey,” I heard Dean’s voice call out, his hand on my knee.

I uncovered my eyes. “Sorry. Must’ve dozed off.”

He smiled. “Go take a shower.”

“You sayin’ I need one?” I asked with a quirked brow.

“Yeah. You’re a mess,” he replied, a playful glint in his eye. “I don’t know how I sat in a car with you all day, to be honest.”

I scoffed, getting up. He moved enough for me to get by, but didn’t let me get far before he started talking again.

“Movie tonight?” he asked.

I rustled through my bag, pulling out my pajama shorts.

“Sure.”

“Any requests?”

“Uh,” I started, still looking for a clean top. “Maybe a comedy. We could use something funny.”

“Good point.” He stared for a moment as I kept digging. “You missing something?”

“I can’t find my t-shirt. I thought I packed three in here.”

“Do you want one of mine?”

I paused, considering the offer. One one hand, I wouldn’t have to wear a cami to bed and risk accidentally flashing him in my sleep. One the other, I’d be wearing his shirt and that would be a sure way to get me in my own head. The risks of the first definitely outweighed my lack of self control.

“That would be awesome.”

He walked to his own bag, pulling out a shirt that matched the one he wore and handing it to me.

“I still think wearing our outside clothes to bed worked just fine.”

“Did you ever feel rested doing that?” I asked.

He sighed dramatically. I laughed.

“Exactly my point,” I said. “Most of your well-being has to do with mindset, Dean.”

He grumbled to himself as he settled into bed, and I took that as my chance to get in the bathroom. My shower was quick, especially since Dean used up most of the hot water. I knew I should’ve gone first, but it forced me not to stay in forever. I pulled on his shirt and my shorts, trying not to let myself smile when I saw myself in the mirror wearing his clothes. I walked back into the room before I allowed myself to think too hard.

He looked at me as I walked out, a smile creeping on his face. I fought back my own to raise a brow as I lingered at the foot of my bed.

“What?”

He shrugged. “Funny seeing you in my shirt.”

“Looks better on me than it ever did on you,” I sassed with a smirk, crawling into bed.

“Can’t argue with that,” he noted, still watching me. He cleared his throat a moment later, looking at the TV screen. “Uh, I found something, I think. They had Step Brothers on demand.”

“Oh, perfect,” I said as he clicked play.

We settled into a comfortable silence for a while, and I cuddled into the duvet. After we were halfway through the movie, I gathered the blankets around me even more.

“Is it just me, or is it freezing in here?” I asked, looking over to see Dean still sitting above the covers.

“It’s a little cold,” he shrugged, then looked at me. “I can check the heater.”

I nodded as he got up and crossed the room. He held a hand out, a puzzled look on his face after a moment. He smacked it with his hand, and still felt nothing.

“Hm. Hang on,” he said, moving to the phone. “Hi, I think the heater in here’s broken.”

A pause.

“Ah, great. Okay, thanks.”

He hung up the phone, looking to me apologetically.

“They said the heating’s down in the whole place.”

I sighed. “That sucks.”

He sat back in his bed, looking at me for a moment before he spoke again.

“I know it’s been a while since we had to, but do you wanna come sleep in my bed tonight? I run hot, it might keep you warm.”

“I know. I had to sleep next to you in the summer, and it was like roasting in an oven,” I chuckled.

“See? It’ll work perfect when you’re cold,” he said, standing again.

He pulled the covers back, getting underneath and patting the mattress next to him. I cursed myself for finding this case in the first place.

“Just don’t complain if I kick you in my sleep,” I said, getting out of my bed.

He chuckled. “I’m not worried about it.”

I got into his bed, and he threw the covers over me. He then reached over top of me to grab the remote, pressing play and slinging an arm around my shoulders. I pulled the duvet up to my chin, leaning into his side.

This position put me in a delicate spot, and I found that to be true more and more with every passing minute. Every time he laughed, I felt it reverberate in his chest. Every time he talked to me, I’d look up to see his face inches from mine. Every time he moved, he held me a little tighter.

In short, Bobby was all too correct about me being screwed.

“Hey,” Dean said, voice soft. “You okay?”

“Mm?”

I looked at him, once again trying not to think about the proximity.

“You always laugh at this scene. You didn’t make a sound this time.”

“Oh,” I chuckled, looking towards the screen. “Sorry, I must be exhausted.”

“Is that all? Seems like there’s something on your mind.”

“Alright, Dr. Phil,” I joked.

“Seriously,” he said, squeezing my shoulder. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah. I think I just need some sleep,” I replied, glancing at him again with half a smile.

He quirked a brow, clearly not believing me, but willing to drop the subject.

“Okay. You know you can always talk to me?”

“I know.”

He smiled softly, then looked back at the TV as he shut it off. He settled into bed, still holding onto me. I snuggled into his side, using his chest as a pillow. I felt him breathe deep before he shut off the light.

“Goodnight, sweetheart.”

“Night, Dean.”

I woke up the next morning before he did, and decided there was little harm in remaining there. I shut my eyes, letting myself enjoy the fact that I was still snuggled against him. It gave me a moment to pretend he was mine, at least for the morning. I listened to his breathing, and wondered if he ever dreamt about me in the same way I did about him. As if on cue, his arm tightened around me a little as he stirred. His thumb brushed against my shoulder where his hand had snuck under the sleeve of the t-shirt, though I couldn’t tell if he was really awake until I felt a soft kiss against the top of my head.

At that moment, I decided it was probably best to continue pretending I was still asleep.

He stayed that way for a little while, his hand still against my shoulder, making little patterns with his thumb. It took everything in me not to move when I felt him brush a few stray pieces of hair away from my face, and even more when he let his hand linger against my cheek for when felt like a few seconds too long to be purely friendly.

I wondered if he was always like this when I wasn’t awake. Extra attentive, and sure not to wake me. Maybe that’s why I somehow remained asleep every time I fell asleep in the car that normally jostled me around like a rag doll with his driving. I wondered even more if Bobby was right about something else he’d said days ago: the unrequited feelings might not be so unrequited after all.

I nestled my head against his chest, trying to give him a warning that I was about to open my eyes, and he quickly pulled his hand away from my face. I took in a breath, blinking slowly as I let the light seep in for the second time that morning.

“Morning,” he greeted quietly, his voice still soft and raspy from tiredness.

I smiled. “Morning.”

“You hungry?” he asked, drawing my attention to him.

I nodded, leaning back a little to see him better.

“Very, and I saw a café on the way into town that looked good,” I said.

He smiled softly, shutting his eyes for a moment. Then, he yawned, finally sitting up. He turned and looked at me as I stayed laying.

“How’d you sleep? Warm enough?”

“Thanks to you, yeah,” I replied, stretching. “I’m scared to get out of bed, now, though.”

He patted my leg over the covers, “If you want food, that should be motivation enough.”

“Good point.”

I reluctantly climbed out of bed as he walked into the bathroom to get ready for the day. It was cold, but not unbearable. I decided to throw on some clothes in the room since he always took a while in the bathroom. By the time he was finished, all I needed to do was wash my face and brush my teeth, then we were off.

Breakfast was short and sweet, and we made it back to Bobby’s in record time. We strolled in the door, seeing Sam gimping around the kitchen as soon as we walked in.

“Still letting that ankle beat your ass?” I asked immediately.

He laughed. “Trust me, if I had any control over it, this wouldn’t have been a problem in the first place.”

“Maybe you just wanted out of the hunt,” I said in reply.

“Oh yeah, I loved hanging out and making Bobby bring me ice packs all day. Dream vacation, actually.”

Dean shook his head with a smirk. “You didn’t miss out on much anyway.”

“How’d it go?” Sam asked as he took a seat.

I looked to Dean who was already glancing in my direction. I shrugged.

“We stopped a serial killer, actually,” I noted.

Sam gaped. “And I ‘didn’t miss much’?”

“Just knocked him out and called the cops. Not much fun, anyways,” Dean shrugged. “Oh, we did find maybe the best pancakes I’ve ever had, though.”

I hummed in agreement enthusiastically, nodding.

“They were freaking incredible,” I said, then looked back at Sam. “And they had like, real, fresh maple syrup.”

“Unlimited stacks when you bought the platter, too,” Dean chimed in with a gleeful smile.

“You two sound like an old married couple,” Sam scoffed out with a laugh. “What, did you fall asleep together after reading the newspaper, too?”

“After watching a movie, actually,” Dean corrected, grabbing a beer from the fridge. Then, he looked at me. “Did you want anything?”

“I’m okay.”

Sam looked between us, a raised brow and an amused look on his face.

“You two actually fell asleep together?”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s what you choose to focus on?”

He smiled mischievously, then looked at Dean.

“Making moves on her, now?”

Dean swallowed, glaring at his brother with wide eyes. I furrowed my brow, about to see if I could prod Sam for information, but Bobby walked in before I had the chance.

“Hey, you two. How was the hunt?”

Dean let out a breath. “Not real eventful. I could use some sleep.”

He started walking out of the room, all of us watching as he left. Bobby turned to me first, a questioning look on his face.

“Don’t look at me,” I said with my hands up in defense. “I think Sammy pissed him off.”

“Real smooth, Sam,” Bobby commented.

Sam scoffed, shaking his head. Bobby merely sighed, going to take a seat across from Sam. I looked at them both, hands on my hips.

“Why do I get the feeling you two know something I don’t?”

“Did Dean not talk to you?” Sam asked, looking at me.

“We talk plenty.”

“That’s not what I mean. He said he was gonna talk to you when the next case was over,” he stopped, then looked at Bobby. “Case came and went, and still nothing.”

Bobby shrugged. “Out of our hands, Sam. Told you not to meddle.”

I sighed in annoyance. “You two are children, you know that?”

“Hey,” Bobby said, offended.

“I’m gonna take a walk,” I said finally, turning for the door.

The second I was halfway out, they started talking again, but I couldn’t bring myself to care too much about what they said. Clearing my mind sounded like the best option, and I was determined to do it.

I started walking around the yard, music blaring from my phone to keep me preoccupied as I watched the sky light up with a million different colors. I found an old car with a relatively clean exterior and decided to climb onto the hood. I leaned back, watching the sky as it turned darker, the stars slowly peaking out.

“Room for one more?” Dean’s voice asked from behind me.

“Come on up,” I said, scooting over a bit.

He came and sat next to me, looking up at the sky. He let out a slow breath, then looked at me.

“Taylor Swift?”

“You know it,” I replied.

He smiled, turning his head back.

“Stars are coming out,” he commented.

“They are. You should’ve seen sunset, it was gorgeous.”

He scooted closer, leaning his head against mine silently. After a moment, I let myself lean against his shoulder a little more.

“You okay, Dean?” I asked after a beat.

“Of course. Why?”

“I dunno. You just seemed a little off when we got back today.”

He sighed. “Yeah. It’s— It’s nothing.”

“You sound like me, now.”

He chuckled. “Guess we’ve got the same bad habit, huh?”

“Yeah, guess so.”

We stayed there until it got dark enough to really see the stars come out, not moving even when the chill of the night started creeping in. I readjusted my head against his shoulder, preparing myself to speak again.

“Did you really follow me out here just to look at stars?”

I felt him still. Then, after a moment, I sat up a little straighter and looked at him. He glanced back at me, clearly feeling caught out.

“Thought you could use some company.”

I raised a brow, and he smirked, looking away.

“Alright, you got me,” he said, “What gave it away?”

“First off, I’ve known you for years,” I started, nudging him in the arm. “Second, Sam and Bobby were all uppity about the fact that you apparently told Sam you had something to talk to me about.”

“I swear, he can’t keep a secret to save his life when it comes to stuff like this,” he said, rubbing at his face.

“Well, try me,” I said, unable to keep my eyes off of him. He was extra cute all flustered. “I’m a good listener.”

He let out a breath, then looked at me, scanning my face for a moment.

“I know I’ve got a certain type of reputation—”

“You?! No way,” I exclaimed with a smile, my eyes wide.

He laughed. “Exactly my point.”

“You know I don’t care about that, though. Reputations are a one-sided story.”

He hummed. “Yeah. I guess you’re right.”

He sighed, looking back at the sky for a moment.

“I just,” he started, giving a shrug, “I feel like it— Like it makes people feel like I never want anything but a hookup, you know?”

“It makes people feel that way?”

“I’m that easy to read, huh?” he asked, looking at me again with a faint smile. “You. I mean you.”

“I gathered that much.”

He laughed softly, as did I.

“How’d you know?”

“I had suspicions fueled by Bobby. Then you kissed me and started being all affectionate when you thought I was asleep this morning.”

His eyes widened. “You were pretending to be asleep? That’s so not fair!”

“Hey, I woke up snuggled into my own personal space heater, I didn’t exactly want to be up and at ‘em.”

He rolled his eyes, tugging me into his side with an arm around my shoulders once more.

“How long has it been for you?” he asked quietly.

“I don’t even know. I guess I started realizing it a year or so ago.”

“That’s embarrassing for me, then. I knew the second I met you,” he said with a laugh.

“Dean,” I said with surprise. “It’s been half a decade! No wonder Bobby got on my ass about it before we left.”

“Well, hey, Sammy’s been on mine for a couple years. You got off easy up till now.”

I laughed. “I guess so. To be fair, we were flying under the radar for quite a while, though. The incessant flirting the past few weeks is what got us in trouble.”

“Why did you start being extra flirty, anyway?” he asked, resting his cheek against the top of my head.

“I don’t know. I guess I was, like, subconsciously seeing a window. You haven’t been doing your normal bar hookups the past few months, so I thought maybe there was a reason for it,” I paused. “Though, finding out you’ve been crushing on me for five years kind of makes me question that.”

He snorted out a laugh. “Easier to keep my mind off you that way. That sounds terrible. I just— I never thought in a million years you’d think anything of me.”

“Well, when did you realize I might?”

He sighed. “You remember a couple weeks back when we were taking down that vamp nest? You easily could’ve died, and we hugged afterwards, but when I pulled back I… I saw that look in your eyes that seemed an awful lot like how I look at you when you’re not paying attention. I wanted to kiss you, and I didn’t doubt in that moment that you would’ve let me if I had.”

I paused. “Why didn’t you?”

“I was scared. We’ve been friends for so long, and we practically do everything together. I didn’t want to ruin anything on the off chance that I was reading those signs all wrong.”

“You weren’t.”

He fell quiet for a moment. I looked up at him, and he looked back at me as I did. He quickly wet his lips, drawing my gaze downward before my eyes flicked back up to his. His lips parted momentarily. Then…

“We should get back inside. It’s getting cold out here,” he said quickly.

I nodded curtly, pulling away to let him get off the hood first. He gave me a hand, helping me down next. We walked back to the house quietly, saying soft goodnights before we went to separate rooms.

I was all settled in for the night, cozy in my bed with a book in hand. Then, I heard a knock on the door. I grumbled as I got up, annoyed that I had to leave the comfort of a mattress that wasn’t a sure cesspool of germs I didn’t want to think about. I flung the door open.

“Someone better be dying or I’m gonna kick some ass for—”

Dean’s lips crashed into mine, effectively silencing me from my rant. I melted after a few seconds of mental delay, my hands gripping onto the material of his shirt as his cradled my face. I felt him smile into the kiss, drawing my closer with arms that snuck around my waist, holding me tight. He wasted no time in deepening the kiss once he was sure that the signs were all giving him a positive response.

We finally broke apart a few minutes later, breathing heavy with pounding hearts.

“I figured I should stop letting opportunities pass me up,” he said with a nervous chuckle.

I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, good thinking.”

His eyes scanned over me, his chest still heaving.

“You wouldn’t happen to need another space heater for the night, would you?”

“I run cold, what can I say?” I replied with a smirk, and a spark in my eye.

He smiled, walking me into the room with his lips on mine, kicking the door shut behind him.

(EDIT: starting taglists now! let me know if you want to be on any!)

FULL MASTERLIST | BUY ME A COFFEE

#i haven’t written a spn fic in years this felt good #dean winchester #dean winchester fic #dean winchester one shot #dean winchester fanfiction #dean winchester x female!reader #dean winchester fluff #dean winchester x you #dean winchester x reader #supernatural #supernatural fanfiction #delicate #reputation #taylor swift #gender neutral reader

3K notes · View notes

neil-gaiman · 8 months

Note

Hi, Neil! Thank you for helping a writer in distress with your craft. Here is what I mean:

To be honest with you, I started watching Good Omens on a lazy Wednesday night. And prior to that, I didn’t know anything specific about it — except that it was a really good, entertaining TV Show. My friend wouldn’t stop screaming about the finale of S2, but I’m sure you understand.

And so I binge-watched it in the span of a week. With every episode, I fell a little bit more in love with your beautiful world and characters. By the time I also finished it, something was forever changed in me. (No exaggeration).

You see, I have been struggling to write for a year or so now. Words used to flow to me easily, ideas as well, but I woke up one day and I couldn’t find them anymore. No matter how hard I tried. And I love to write fanfiction, I grew up reading it — all the love poured into things we already cherish very deeply. After S2, I had this urge to give it one more try with Aziraphale and Crowley (I hope that’s fine with you!), and I wrote for a whole day. Just a minor take on them, yet it made all the difference. I haven’t stopped writing ever since.

So. . . Thank you again, for reigniting whatever it is that dimmed inside my head. I will never forget it.

I'm proud of you!

1K notes · View notes

that-ikea-alien-plush · 25 days

Text

before i started my deity work with Aphrodite i prayed to her to make me look like my best self and the day after that my hair started to curl randomly (i have no one in the family with curly hair) and i came out as genderfluid and i still was skeptical

then she gave me so many signs

i literally smelled apple chupa chups when i fell asleep (i didnt have anything apple scented in my room and the window was closed)

i was getting angel numbers constantly

i found a literal shell necklace when i went to throw the trash out

and i was still like "nah cus what if its a misunderstanding"

my soulmate was like "bitch youre so oblivious shes literally calling to you about your cars extended warranty"

and so i asked "if Aphrodite is reaching out to me please show me yourself in my dreams"

AND GUESS WHAT

i dreamed about watching a youtube video called "working with Aphrodite: deity work 101" and there was such a beautiful woman in the video she had a dark skin and long black wavy hair and very thick eyebrows and plump lips and i woke up and i was like "wow she was so pretty" and i was STILL skeptical cus i was like "nah maybe its just because i was thinking about her so much" and my soulmate was FED UP with my dumb bitch shit

and so it was time to do a deity spread because you know maybe its okay and if not then well

and i found a deity spread (i now make my own)

i pulled the card

it was nine of pentacles

i checked the deities associated with the card

"oh, thats random"

another deity spread

the strenght

"oh its the same deity"

ok i think somethings not adding up

and then i researched Bastet

"hmm cats yes, oh dancing,hmmm yeah okay"

and i looked at past me crying randomly because i got the urge to get a cat

and i looked at past me smelling incense randomly

and i looked at past me getting literal signs from her for as long as i could and i was like

"oh my god im so sorry i didnt know"

and so i started my deity work with both of them the same night

past me is stupid, oblivious and made mistakes but past me got me to now where i have a happy established relationship with my goddesses and im forever thankful for that

their altars at first were just sitting on my plant shelf

it was messy

Bastet only had my old silver cat statue, my cat tarot deck (which btw shows her character perfectly) and some tigers eye and tourmaline

Aphrodite only had some rose quartz a drawing of her that i made and a pale pink candle

now we're here and their altars are always full of food offerings to the point i had to upgrade their space to the shelf above

they still share an altar but theyre both okay with it

so uh yeah

just wanted to share this weird story of how i started

(then Aphrodite invited Apollo to my space who helped me a lot with my trauma, then i reached out to Dionysus and Marzanna and now we're here 5 ancient gods sitting in my room watching me read gay fanfiction at night)

146 notes · View notes

romana-after-dark · 6 months

Text

Apple

Bisexual!Dark!Santiago Garcia x fem!reader Bisexual!Dark!Frankie Morales x fem!readr Bisexual!Dark!William Miller x fem! reader

Masterlist : Taglist : Read on AO3

Summary: Based on an request. I took a little liberty here and there. You are married to Santi and you and him dabble in CNC scenes. This time, Santi enlists the help of Will and Frankie. Slowly, things start to devolve, and things get heated between the three men that was not discussed prior. This culminates when you try to safeword and you find Will's fingers in your mouth.

Contenant And Warnings: WARNINGS! DDDNE!: CNC FANASY BUT IT TURNS NON CON, DONT BE FOOLED. This is not simple a cnc scene. Safe word is stopped and ignored. Acts happen between the men that while not involving read, reader did not consent to her husband engaging in sexual acts with anyone other than her. Santi is a little mean to Frankie but Frankie is into degrading. Dick too big to take, bisexual madness, calling Frankie a puppy, desperate and needy Frankie, unintentional edging and premature ejaculation, bukkake, penetration before properly wet. IDK I feel like there should be more? LMK if I missed anything.

*I do not take requests, but if you have ideas, I'm happy to hear them and might end up using it if it speaks to me*

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

It all had started out as a simple fantasy, something you played with at night if Santi was gone or asleep; his life keeping him out at odd hours. Google said it was normal, having a rape fantasy; or non con/dub con as fanfiction called it, but in the real world it was just rape. Now, you didn’t want to be raped, let’s make that clear, and your husband was not a rapist, but the two of you had played around with some scenes where you were ‘forced’. Of course, the two of you always had safe words and signals that you weren’t afraid to use. You loved Santi dearly, he was everything to you and you appreciated that you could be open about your fantasies with him.

The idea had also been tossed around of sharing you with the guys. Santi’s best friend, Frankie, and the two Miller brothers were like family to you now, and you couldn’t deny they were all attractive, especially the older brother, Will. Will was tall, not as tall as Benny, but close, and he made up for it with insanely broad shoulders. He was handsome with kind eyes and you couldn’t deny you had wanted him mostly of all. Santi confirmed all the guys found you attractive as well. The sex hadn’t manifested yet, but after sharing a specific fantasy of yours, Santi had suggested this was the perfect opportunity to start.

Now, having all 4 of them would be a lot, so Santi talked to the guys first. Will and Frankie were interested, Benny was out. He said he was in for another scenario, but CNC just wasn’t his scene, no judgment.

The fantasy was simple. A home invasion. You weren’t going to know what day, but you’d go to bed with Santi as usual and wake up to 3 masked men beginning their assault on you. You had a safe word, of course: apple . You’d use that if you needed to.

Finally, the night came. Santi had given no clues as to when it would be, but you had assumed it would be night you didn’t work the next day. Generally, you hated your sleep interrupted, especially when you worked, so Santi planned it when you could sleep in nice and good the next day. Santi kissed you goodnight, cuddling you up in his arms like most nights and you fell asleep in his loving embrace.

You woke up to a gag in your mouth and hands pinned to the bed. You tried screaming, but only half-heartedly. You recognized Frankie’s soft curls around the handkerchief over his face, and knew right away what was going on. It was finally happening.

A firm hand slapped you before gripping your cheeks, forcing you to your husbands eyes. Will must be the one holding you down. “No need for that, bebecita” He chided. “We won’t hurt you if you behave, can you do that?”

This part was discussed, you were to keep quiet so they could take the gag out, allowing you to use the safe word if needed. Frankie was sitting back on his haunches between you spread open legs, looking hungrily between your barely clothed sex in your lacy underwear. You nodded for anti and he pulled down the gag, allowing you to get full breaths in as Frankie caressed your soft thighs.

“Please,” You beg them. “You can take what you want, please don’t hurt me! I have a husband.”

Frankie pulled down his sweat, freeing his massive cock from his pants and god, it lived up to the rumors. Big-dick Morales’s size was legendary, and you were getting wet just thinking about it.

“Oh baby, we’ll be taking what we want, don’t you worry.” He leaned in close, mouth up against your cheek. “You.” He nodded to Frankie, and with his leader's permission, Frankie pulled your panties aside and unceremoniously thrust into you in one go. You gasp, the air knocked out of you as you swear you felt him in your diaphragm. You weren’t properly wet and it stung, Frankies neediness taking over forethought for your preparation… but you adjust. You hear Will chuckle above you.

“Look at her, Fish. She can barely take you, how’s she supposed to take me?”

Oh. What’s that supposed to mean?

Frankie’s thrusts were desperate, his body folding over you in a whine as he ruts into you like a dog, panting like one too. “F-fuck, so pretty, so tight… o-ohmygooood.”

“Fuck her good, Frank” Santi demanded at the bedside. “Stretch her out for Will, don’t fucking cum yet.” What did Santi know that you didn’t? Was Will bigger than Frankie? How was that possible, and how could that even fit? Will’s grip was bruising at your wrists, his hips shifting and you could feel the head of his cock rubbing against where your head lay against his lap.

“Mmmhmm” Frankie moans. “I dunno if I can hold on much longer, Pope… please”

“Fish” Sternly, Santi warns him. “Don’t you fucking dare.” His hand skims over Frankie’s sweaty, bare back.

“Pope, I ca- ooohhhhh ” With a pathetic whine, Frankie’s hips stuttered and stalled inside you, filling you up with his warmth.

“God fucking dammit Frankie!” Santi shouted in faux anger, yanking Frankie off you and shoving him to lay on the. “Lay their and get yourself hard again, you pathetic old man. Will, help me flip her. Frankie’s going to watch.” The pressure from your wrists was released, and before you knew it the pair had moved you to your hands and knee.

Santi slid in without any problems, Frankie having stretched you out good, and Santi wasn’t small by any means either. “Your poor stretched out little hole.” Santi shoved your face in between Will’s legs, forcing you to feel his hardness even though his pants as he pumped you full. “Where’s your husband now, little girl? He still gonna want you after find out you let 3 strange men fuck you?” Above you, you could hear a wet smacking… were Santi and Will… No, he wouldn’t. You hadn’t discussed Santi kissing or touching others… he wouldn't do that without talking to you.

Santi was more deliberate in his movements. As your husband, he knew just where you hit to make out cry out; the sounds muffled by Will, Will’s musk in your nose as he thrust his hips at you for stimulation.

“Desperate girl.” Will mocked you. “I can hear your wet pussy from here.”

Frankie groaned, and Santi turned to see him just where he left him, on his back on the bed with his cock fully hard again in his hand. Santi grabbed your hair, pulling you up. “Will, take off your pants. Frankie, you weren’t very nice, were you? Not making her cum. Come give her a kiss to say sorry.”

Santi was on the verge of making you cum, your wall tightening up quickly as Frankie’s unintentional edging. Frankie crawling over to where Santi had forced your face to turn as he fucked you and did as he was told, kissing you sloppily. He was a good kisser, no holds barred, exploring your mouth with his skilled tongue and it felt like he was trying to devour you. You soon realize Santi’s intentions. Santi always had a plan, you see, every move was deliberate, intentional. You feel a new hand replace Santi’s and open your eyes to see Will’s hand fisted into Frankie’s curls as well. He held you both together as he knelt naked in front of you in all his golden god-like glory, pressing his hard member two your two pairs of lips.

“Fuuuuck” Will groaned deeply. “Yeah, make it nice and wet.” You continued making out with Frankie around Will’s thrusting cock when you finally came.

Everyone could feel when you did, Santi from your pulsing cunt to Frankie and Will from the way your jaw went slack, cumming so hard you collapse onto the bed, leaving Frankie to take Will’s cock.

“FUCK!” Santi pulled out quickly when you came, gripping both your ass cheeks and smacking them as he breathed heavy, trying not to cum. He couldn’t very well cum when he had chided Frankie for doing so. Not when he had a plan. “Enough of that.” By your hair, Santi pulled you up right, sucking bruises into your neck with his still-hard cock nestled between your ass cheeks. “Frankie, get on the ground, on your knees.” He continued playing with your body as Frankie moved, Will taking his place next to Santi. “Such a pretty little captive.” Santi shoved you back down, telling Will to do what he liked and he climbed off the bed.

Santi fisted his hands in Frankie’s hair and soon a room was filled with the soft gluck gluck gluck of Frankie getting throated. “Good puppy.” He praised. What was happening? Since when had your husband been gay? Why was he doing all these things you hadn't agreed too? You would have said yes, of course… but why didn’t he just ask?

Will, however, was taking his time. Always a patient man, he went last for a reason. He took his time undressing you fully, his heavy cock twitching in anticipation. “Beautiful, beautiful….” he murmured in reverence, fingers trailing all the way down your naked body. “I’ll go slow, princess. I promise.” He did, but it was still a lot, even after Frankie. Despite the slow start, when you had managed to take him all in he quickly sped up his actions. Fuck, it hurt. It didn’t stop hurting, tears falling down your checks even after an orgasm painfully opened your body up more. Will’s hands were all over you, groping and slapping and kneading, and it was all becoming too much. You tried to hold off, tried to wait until Will was done, but Will wasn’t going to be done anytime soon, was he?

William Miller was a patient man, after all.

It was too much, as your pillow grew wet with tears of pain, you began to say the safe word as will thumbed them away. “Ap- mmph!” Will shoved his fingers in your mouth and continued thrusting harder. You tried to talk, tried to communicate that you wanted to stop, but Will just laughed. “Putting up suck a pretty fight”

The fight was a part of the scene. Saying no was a part of the scene. The safe word was supposed to break it. You look to your husband, but he’s so lost in Frankie’s mouth he doesn’t notice. Another orgasm breaks, your body betraying you to Will’s assault.

“That’s number three, boys, I think I made up for Frankie.” He continued fucking into you and Santi yanked his friend off his cock, Frankie chasing him even still. “C’mon, puppy boy, other side of the bed.” He tugged the other man up by the collar of his shirt, and by the way he way panting from the face fuck, the puppy nicknamed seemed fitting.

Frankie knelt on the other side of the bed while Santi stood on his side, Will still fucking you. “Everyone ready?”

“Yes” Will, who only now removed his fingers from you. There was no point in safewording now.

“Y-es” Frankie choked out.

Will pulled out of you to your relieved sobs, the pain slowly starting to subside as the three men jerk their dicks in front of you, a chorus of moans from the men surrounding you. Their hot, warm cum coated your body in stickiness, creating a canvas of their own release on your skin.

It took a while for anyone to move, everyone laying on the bed with you as your mind reeled from what just happened. Will couldn’t have heard you, right? He never would had stopped you from saying your safe word if he knew, right?

Eventually, Santi drew you a bath and when he left, Will began stroking your hair. “Did so good, princess. So fucking good for us.” You wanted to vomit.

While in the bath, Santi and Will get Frankie to bed in another room, Will going to sleep with Frankie in his arms. You wouldn’t know that part, of course.

Santi cleans you off of all the cum, drains the bath and dries you off before laying you down in the bed. It was a palace of safety, your marital bed and now it was violated. Maybe you could convince Santiago it was time for a new mattress.

He dressed you in the warmest clothes, making sure you drank more water before laying down with you in his arms, cuddling like you had before this all started. “How was everything, bebita?”

Do you tell him? Do you tell him the man he trusted with his life, the man he trusted with you, the man who had saved him and Benny and Frankie countless times in the battlefield had violated you? How would you prove it? Would Santi believe you? You couldn’t bare it if Santi doubted you… and what if you were wrong? Accusing Will of something like that? Will was a good man, wasn’t he?

And what if you were right? What if Will did it on purpose? What if Santi believed you? How could you ruin one of his closest friendships? For something you weren't even sure was intentional… just like him getting his dick sucked by Frankie… it just happened. Unintentional. Thats it.

“Good, Santi. I’m just tired.”

Santi smiled at you, tucking you into bed and kissing your cheek. “I bet. You get your rest, mi chica perfecta. I’ll be right here.”

It was going to be fine, everything would be okay. It was a mistake, that’s all. A mistake. And him and the guys… it was just tonight. There was nothing to worry about. It was the heat of the moment. You close your eyes, letting sleep take you with Santi’s arms closely around your middle. It had to be a mistake, because Santi would never let anyone hurt you, ever.

What you didn’t know was Will heard you. Frankie heard you.

Santi heard you.

But they couldn’t stop. Not with Will destroying your sweet little pussy. Not with Santi jamming his cock down Frankie’s eager throat like they’d both wanted to for decades. It was all too good. They needed to cum on you, to mix themselves together in that way; a goresque take on blood brothers. All those years, all the sexual tension, the almost kisses, the nights they fisted their cocks to the thought of their friends mouths… but they could never admit it. They could never admit to themselves what they were; they needed a vessel, an interject. Something to conduct it all together so it wasn’t so goddamn blatant.

They needed this.

You needed this.

They needed you.

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

Thank you to the requester for this!!! and for your patience!!!

Remember, if you like my works, please check out tag list and masterlist!

Comments mean the world <3 Reblogs spread the work!

@my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @alwaysmicado @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin @meveispunk @miraclesabound @neverwheremoonchild

212 notes · View notes

nerdieforpedro · 3 months

Text

Filthy Hooligans

Lucian Flores x female reader

This fanfiction and my entire blog is 18+ MDNI

Main Masterlist / Lucian Flores Masterlist

Word Count: 1.6k

Summary: Showing up at Lucian's place at 3 am only means one thing. You both know it.

Warnings: Reader (nickname is cupcake) and Lucian are filthy, moisture, smoking, teasing, reference to public sex, exhibitionist behavior, fingering, 2 ass slaps (I think), unprotected P in V (wrap it people!), finger sucking

Notes: I came home from work last night. Fully intended to work on like 4 other WIPs I have. Fell asleep in my chair after eating something in my scrubs, woke up at 3 am. Wrote this, sent it to @musings-of-a-rose to read to over. And here were are. I hope I got the scuzz right. 👀

“I didn’t realize you were full of such bullshit Flores.”

“You’re not going to take that tone with me. I’m telling you not to come here anymore.”

“Is that why you opened the door for me, because I shouldn’t come here anymore?”

It’s your damn mouth. You always have something to say, you can never just accept an answer. Always questioning, always saying something. He needs you to understand that he isn’t saying this because he wants to. Any man in their right mind would enjoy a visit from you at 3 a.m. in nothing but a crimson silk nightgown, black kitten heels and that long black peacoat he remembered buying for you even though you said it was too much. Things are a little too heated right now, he needs to lay low and not have people coming to and from except family, which you care clearly not. Everything about you is loud, which he enjoys. Immensely, finds it entertaining, but not now.

“I opened the door because I can’t have you causing a scene in my building. I don’t need this shit right now.” Flores is barefoot and pacing. The door man knows you downstairs, he’s one of his people who knows you visit usually at night several times a week. He shouldn’t have let you in, Lucian doesn't remember off hand if he told him or not. He needs to follow up on that later.

He always has a slight sheen to him, no matter if it’s cold or warm or he’s actually inside. Hair lightly damp around the edges but still curly on top. His small soft belly jiggles over the top of his gray sweatpants he normally sleeps in. A hand at his temple, massaging it, while his other one holds his cigarette, half ash and falling onto the floor. He’s aware that this isn’t his usual calm, collected and suave self.

“Seems like you need my mouth after all Lucian.” You’re starting your game. Calling his name like that, kicking off your heels, running your cool hands across his heated back. It feels too good. He stops pacing for a moment. “Lu, please. I’ll take care of you and then go.” The idea floats in his mind. To let you do it, have that hot moist mouth of yours, he can lay his head against the back of his couch and not worry about anything while you work. Kissing, sucking, licking, smearing, worshiping at the altar he has between his legs. “Lu-cian~ Lu baby…” Your voice is deepening raspy, lips on the back of his neck, fingers tracing the gold chain that has become his signature over the years. Once he feels your tongue where his hairline starts, he turns to grab your wrists, not too hard, but so you’ll stop.

“You damn siren! Just fucking listen. You. Need. To. Go. Do not come back until I call for you. I mean it cupcake.” Releasing you he curses. This is not what he needs right not, to be worrying about you. Flores needs to be focused on a plan to get out of the mess, find where the leak is. One of the boys messed up, he needed to know which one. He expects to hear you storm out, welcomes it because then he can focus.

“Lucy~” Dammit, he hates when you call him that. It pisses him off, you know it does. He can’t engage. He’ll fall for the trick you’re trying to pull on him. Sticking his cigarette in the ashtray on the coffee table, he goes over to his kitchen and gets a drink of water, gulping it down. Trickles of it slide down his neck, he knows it’s hitting the vein you like to nibble and suck on when you ride him. He’s been half-swollen since you banged on his door. He knew what you came here for, the same thing you’d been coming for the last three months. Lucian doesn’t expect your next move though, to have your silk, up around your waist, you on your knees facing the back of the couch and opening yourself for him. “Lucian, fill me once. Once and I’ll go.” His hands hold tight onto the sides of his marble kitchen island. Watching you. You’re just as bad as he is.

The two of you have been like this since the Burger King parking lot in your car. You’d pulled him in, got on top of him, rode him, told him you liked his gold chain and used a marker you found in your glove box to write your number on his arm. Well you tried to, he was too sweaty once you two finished so that was a good laugh. There was a speed warning ticket that you tore in half and you both exchanged numbers. You were sure your phone was somewhere in your car. He was going to meet his guys to check in and see how collections were going, you said you were going to pick your mother up and take her to the grocery store. Filth to match his grime. Different locations, indoors and outdoors. At times, ripped and stained clothing was all you two parted with. His sweat on your body, lipstick on his chest and neck. Sometimes he wouldn’t wipe it off before he went to his next stop, showing off what he’d been up to.

Flores took his time in walking over to you, watching you wiggle your ass for him. When he was behind you, he spread your thighs wider and inserted two fingers in your dripping cunt, curling them to have you call his name louder. “They slid right the hell in didn’t they? Only been two days since I was last in this pussy. You already want it filled again, don’t you cupcake?” You look over your shoulder and whine, he uses his free hands to swat your ass.

“Hell yes Lucian. I want to leave dripping again.” You grind on his fingers, making him start to pump into you slowly. “Give me your thick cock and stain me again.” A single kiss to the back of your neck is all that Lucian gives you before removing his fingers and replacing them with his cock. He feels you spread, groaning from finally having what you want. His hands take hold of your hips but doesn’t move yet.

“I mean it cupcake. You don’t show up here again without me calling you.” He feels you pushing your hips back and he pinches your hips making you yelp. “Do. You. Understand. Me?” His grip starts to loosen and you feel him pulling out of you.

“Yes! Yes Lucian I understand. Damn. I won’t be here unless you call.” Said almost too quickly to understand, Flores chuckles before making his hips flush with yours, bottoming out within you.

“You’ll only listen with my cock inside of you, it figures, cupcake.” The growl Lucian releases as his pace quickens, has your thighs dripping with your slick and his pre-cum. You’re slumped over the back of the couch, writhing your hips in tune with his. Flores has an idea and takes your elbows in his hands instead of your hips, pounding that much harder into you.

“I’ll listen to whatever you say with this cock of your Lucian,” Your head hands toward your chest, your moans are turning into squeals. He muttered soft curses in between his grunts, releasing one of your arms, placing his hand on your chest, then sliding it up to your neck.

“Will you now? My dirty cupcake, suck my fingers. Maybe I jerked off before you got here.” He commanded. His palm was now on your chin as he inserted three fingers in your mouth, pressing down on your tongue. He felt your walls starting to quiver and knew with his throbs he wasn’t too far off either. With several haphazard thrusts, Lucian gave you your filling as requested. It warmed you from the inside, churned inside of you. The loss was felt when he pulled out this time, removing his fingers from your mouth and pulling his sweatpants back up. He saw you close your legs and stagger when standing up, he debated helping you, assisting you with your shoes, but not your coat. Before you closed it, trickles of his come were visible on your thighs. He smirked.

You wobbled a bit but found your footing on the way to the door. “Don’t wait too long to call Flores. I may have to get some other filling if you’re going to holed up here.” The way you smiled told him that you actually would seek out a replacement for him. The corners of his mouth turned downward.

“You see if they’ll make you wobble like that. I doubt they will cupcake. You’ll be missing this dick. If you don’t answer, there’s plenty of pussy out here.” Lucian took his pack out of his pocket and lighter, firing up another cigarette. The small flame glowed against the visible sheen of his skin and his gold chain that you’ve never seen him without. His lips around the stick making a small ‘o’ as he inhaled, holding it in before his released the smoke from his nostrils, tilting his chin up.

“I’ll probably have to try a few before I find another good fit. And I don’t know what other woman you’d be able to find that can get wet enough to handle you. See you Lu~” He watched you walk out the door and down the hallway to the elevator. You blew him a kiss and he nodded before stepping back into his apartment and plopping down on the couch. He took a long drag of his cigarette and sighed, exhaling the smoke again. He’d need to figure out the leak sooner rather than later, he’s not willing to have blue balls over this shit.

The beads of sweat on Lucian's neck 💦: @laurfilijames @avastrasposts @maggiemayhemnj @mysterious-moonstruck-musings @morallyinept @trulybetty @goodwithcheese @secretelephanttattoo @rhoorl @linzels-blog @yorksgirl @for-a-longlongtime @legendary-pink-dot @magpiepills @alltheglitterandtheroar @beefrobeefcal @pamasaur @angelofsmalldeath-codeine @theywhowriteandknowthings @gasolinerainbowpuddles @megamindsecretlair @daddy-dins-girl @readingiskeepingmegoing @guelyury @missladym1981 @heareball @sin-djarin @gwendibleywrites @katw474 @immarocketman @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin

#pedro pascal characters #fanfiction #pedro pascal fanfiction #pedro pascal #Lucian Flores #the uninvited #Lucian Flores smut #A Nerdie fic #cupcakes need to filled #when they would like #as one does

111 notes · View notes

coriolanussnowslover · 4 months

Text

The Ballad of Snakes, Songbirds, and Sorrow. Part One.

A Coriolanus Snow x Fem!Reader FanFiction.

He saw everything in her, so why is he so intrigued by her.

Word Count 3,381.

* Reader is from a prestigious family in the capital. They have been best friends their whole lives and dating for years now. Cearo means Sorrow. Follows the film loosely, but as canon as possible.

*Warnings: Some Suggestive Themes at the Start. Possessive Behavior. Mentions of pregnancy/ Wanting Children. Not Proof Read.

Masterlist

Part One.

“Coryo?“ She mumbled against his skin, eyes straining upwards towards the young man's face from her position on his chest, chin pressed to his bare chest as sleep evaded them both.

“Hmmmm” he mumbled back, hands wrapped around her waist as he enjoyed the comfort of her skin against his.

“I know I ask this a lot, but tomorrow, once you win the plinth prize, nothing changes between us right?” Her begs for reassurance were something Coriolanus enjoyed. They made him feel wanted. Reminded him that she wanted to be with him, not just forced to be.

“Nothing will ever change this (Y/N). What we have is special, I wouldn't give you up for all the money in the capital.” He kissed her forehead, blue eyes staring down at her sweet face.

(Y/N) Cearo. His childhood sweetheart. His best friend. She was the fuel to his fire. He couldn't imagine a life away from her, let alone a world where they weren't attached at the hip. Through the Dark Times, Through the Academy. He had been graced with her presence throughout his life.

“Not ever for all the chocolate in the capital?” She raised a brow up at him, a smirk evident on her face. She squished her cheek back into his chest, he smiled at the warmth of her skin.

“Never, but don't tell Grandma’am that. She'll be disappointed.” The fake gasp that left her made Coriolanus chuckle.

“You don't think Grandma’am would miss me?” She looked up at him again. Big doe eyes holding a false look of offense only she could muster. He chuckled at her again.

“I dare say she wouldn't even miss me if someone promised her that much chocolate.” They both laughed now, bed shaking slightly with their shared moment.

“Well hopefully we won't have to find out since you've practically already won. Just have to decide what you'll buy first.” She chuckled again, settling back down into his arms.

“I'll probably buy Tirgis a new dress, Grandma’am a box of chocolates, obviously, maybe some new shoes finally.” Perhaps a ring for you. He wanted to say. Coriolauns craved nothing more than making her his in every way possible. He craved the idea of their marriage, promising herself to him for all eternity. His very own first lady of Panem.

“All very fine choices, Coryo. Of course how could I ever doubt you’d not have it all planned out already.” and boy did he have it all planned out. The Plinth Prize was far more than enough to cover his University tuition and make a few frivolous purchases. Maybe not the ring he’d wish to buy her truly but one pretty enough it’d make their peers envious. He could replace it with something more fitting in time. Not that that would matter to her in any way, she was always the sentimental type. The torn up photo of them as children in her mirror compact to prove so.

“Coryo?” He hummed back in response. Blue eyes now closed as he tried to prepare for the morning to come. “You know I love you, right?” Her voice was hushed, another question asked for reassurance, which he loved.

“Of course I do. Why?” He knew her answer. She said it every time he asked.

“Because I do.” She said it so plainly. So simply. He loved it.

“Well get some sleep then lover, we have the reaping tomorrow.” He heard her grunt, knowing the sleep was already taking her out. Tomorrow was to be the start of the rest of his life. He’d have the Plinth Prize. The Girl. The Name. All of it.

“Goodnight darling.”

______________________________________________

By the time he woke up the next morning (Y/N) was long gone. She normally woke up before him to run home and get ready for the day. He’d meet her at her door to walk to school together.

Coriolanus got up and got ready for his day. Cold shower. No breakfast. Lost shirt. The works. Thankfully Tirgis had come through for him and fixed up one of his fathers old shirts for the day. His Grandma’am even gave him two red roses for him and (Y/N). Today was one of the rare days he and his fellow students were not to wear their uniforms at the school, for the reaping, though it only made him worry more for his appearance. Nonetheless, Snow always lands on top, he would remind himself as he walked to (Y/N)’s Family’s Home.

(Y/N) and her family lived in a fair sized home. Two streets down from Sejauns and his family and 4 blocks from him. They lived in a fairly large townhome. (Y/N) and her brother practically have their own floors for their bedrooms. William Cearo, (Y/N)’s younger brother. He was only 12 and he considered Coriolanus his ‘best friend’ whenever he went to visit their family home. She was a good match come time Coriolanus became president. Upstanding student, wealthy family, all he could ask for in a partner. Along with the added benefit she had been one of his only friends his entire life.

As he approached the house out came (Y/N). Deep plum coat, black dress, one she had already had him approve of two nights before, and black heels. All accompanied by the large black leather bag with her initials imprinted on the front that she took everywhere.Her hair was up in a twist on the back of her neck. Pity, he didn't do enough damage last night to keep it down, or at the very least show off what all their peers already knew. She practically skipped down the stairs to him, crashing into his arms and sealing their greeting with a kiss he knew her father would disagree upon.

“Hi Coryo” She smiled as she looked him in his eyes. Her soft gaze made his heart swell. “I brought you a gift!” She exclaimed. Letting go of him to dig through her bag, pulling out a neatly wrapped parchment bundle. “Two blackberry and cream scones. I know they're your favorite and you’ll need something to keep your stomach calm for the reaping.” She held them out to her. Big eyes and even bigger smiles. He’d die without her, he swore it.

“Well it just so happens I brought you a gift as well.” He held out the rose hearing her gasp of approval. “Technically it's from Grandma’am but as I’ve delivered it I am including myself.” He stepped up to her, pinning the rose neatly to her coat lapel.

Another sign she's all mine. His inner thoughts stirred with delight.

“It’s beautiful. I will have to thank Grandma’am for it when I see her next.” She handed him off the scones, neck craned to look down at the rose. “We better start walking before we are late to the reaping. Or at least before Willby sees you out the window.” She looked at the watch he hadn't even noticed she was wearing.

“We’re gonna be a half hour early if we start now darling, you know this.” He protested, yet fell into step with her while unwrapping his treat. He’d never admit that without her spoiles he’d starve to death in class. She always brought him whatever treat her chefs had come up with that morning. Though scones were his favorite. He broke off a bite as she linked her arm through his for their journey. As they walked he got about half way through the second scone when she abruptly held a small glass water bottle to his mouth.

“They're dry.” Was all she muttered as he took a small sip from her water.

“You’re going to be a fantastic mother” Coriolanus chuckled as they continued to walk. Eyes watching her as she shoved the bottle back in her bag.

“Hopefully one day. I always loved the idea of a big family. After university, obviously. Stay at home mom, I’d like at least two.” She looked up at him, judging his reaction he assumed. Coriolanus pretended to think for a moment.

“I can work with two. I’d need at least one boy though, carry on the name obviously.” It was his turn now to judge her reaction. She chuckled.

“Well I can’t control the gender. Although I’d like girls. I think youd be a fantastic Girl dad.” His smile brightened ten fold.

“So you do.” He stated, practically stopping their stroll.

“Do what Coryo?” She stopped with him. Arms still interlinked, both too caught up in each other's eyes. They were only about 100 or so steps from the school now. Coryo took

“So you do want to have kids with me.” He knew the answer. They had talked about all of this before. Kids. Marriage. His strives for the presidency.

“Obviously.” There it was again. The simplicity of her words. “After University and once you’ve married me, obviously. Then while you become president we can announce our first pregnancy, which will not only cause joy for the people of Panem, as everyone loves a good love story, it will also show the county you also have something to fight for as their president.” Ah yes, her plan. She was brilliant. She had plans to major in Public Image and Relations in University. Not a popular choice in their peer group but he had to hand it to her, one she would excel in prominently.

“Oh so you wanna have kids with me for Panem and its citizens?” He watched her eyes roll as she turned to drag him towards the school doors.

“Oh obviously Coriolanus, I only want to have your babies for Panem Mr. President.” They both laughed to themselves as they walked through the doors, arms interlocked. Mr. President, he liked that.

“Snow. Cearo.” Clemensia smiles as she approaches the two. Coriolanus opens his other arm to the dark haired girl.

“Good Morning, Clems.” (Y/N)’s tone is still cheerful but Coriolanus can hear the anxiety start to take over as the reaping nears. (Y/N) hates the games, he knows this. She understands the games keep people in line though.

“Good morning, (Y/N). How is your brother?” Clemensia was terrible at small talk. Her voice made Coriolanus cringe. She sounded venomous even when he knew she was just trying to be considerate.

“He is good. He just got a new train set so he was up all night blasting its horn.”

They walked into the main auditorium and (Y/N) immediately dropped his arm to give Sejaunus a hug as he approached the group. Coriolanus had to hold back a scoff as she did so.Was it hypocritical of him to be jealous as he still had his arm linked with Clemensia? Probably, though he did consider Sejanus a friend but no friend was good enough to touch his girl.

“Good morning (Y/N/N) You look stunning today as usual.. Good Morning Coriolanus. Clemensia.” Sejanus greeted as (Y/N) wrapped herself back into Coriolanus’s arm. He felt better back with her by his side. He nodded back to Sejanus in greeting.

“Spill it, Sejanus!” Arachne’s prissy voice rang towards them. Another voice Coriolanus couldn't stand. In fact he couldn't stand most of the women in his peer group’s voices.

Sejanus shook his head as he scoffed.

“Oh, no, I’m not going to ruin my father’s big day. No one here actually likes him but they do love his money… you know what that’s like, don’t you, Arachne?” Coriolanus felt the shakes of (Y/N)’s shoulder as she silently snickered along with Sejanus’s comment.

Arachne rolled her eyes and ran off to find someone else to bother. As Clemensia walked off to find her seat Sejanus looked at you both.

“Look, I know you have had high hopes for this Coriolanus but… there’s no prize. Not anymore.”

He couldn't tell if you both had the same visual reaction but he could feel his own eyes widen and feel your grip on his arm tighten, head lifting off his shoulder. He stood there searching Sejanus’ expression for any signs of mockery. He looked down at you, hoping maybe you were in on this sick joke. But your expression held fear as you stared at Sejanus.

“What?” he asked, words dark and airy, looking almost angry. (Y/N)’s grip on his arm tightened ever more. He was thankful for it. She grounded him.

“I’m so sorry—”

Before Sejanus could finish his sentence, the trumpets announcing the reaping blared throughout the hall and all the students made their way to their seats. Coriolanus, as much as he didnt want to, slipped away from you letting you sit first before taking the seat to your right. Sejanus sat at (Y/N) 's left, eyes full of pity. Clemensia sat next to him on his right. All turning their attention to Dr. Gaul.

Her speech falls upon Coriolanus’ deaf ears. All his plans were ruined within seconds. No Plinth Prize means no University. No means to provide for his family. No Presidency. God forbid no (Y/N). His thoughts eat at him. No Money. No Power. No Glory. His own fear of failure devours him. He felt (Y/N)’s hand slide across his lap, the movement breaking him from his thoughts. Looking down only momentarily to see it,hands interlocked she pulls his hand to her lap where she cradles it. Rubbing her thumb soothingly along the skin. He knows she can practically hear his thoughts. His grip tightens in hers.

Dr. Gaul introduces Dean Highbottom, an old friend of his dad, inventor of the games.

“I can’t believe they still allow him to speak in public,” Clemensia said to Coriolanus’ right.

Dean was a known substance abuser and an all over terrible person in most everyone's eyes.What his dad saw in him as a friend Coriolanus would never understand. Though what could he say when one of his best friends was District afterall.

“My own twenty-four top prospects. All waiting to hear the results of your hard studying in this prestigious institution, eager to know who’s won that Plinth prize, no doubt. And a golden future, with it.However… I’m here to tell you all that there’s been a change this year.”

(Y/N) squeezed Coriolanus’ hand back as he tensed.

“One last assignment to prove your worth,” Highbottom announced, a grim look on his face. Coriolanus did his best not to shift in his chair. “The esteemed citizens of the Capitol simply aren’t watching anymore. And if the games are to continue at all, there must be an audience, no?” Professor Highbottom smirked, Coriolanus watched him turn, looking over to him and his friends.

“Head gamemaker Dr. Gaul has stepped in to… incentivize patriotic values with her own unique flair, starting with you. The Plinth prize will no longer be determined by who has the best grades.”

Coriolanus sucked in a breath. Heart pounding.

“Instead, it will be decided by who is the best mentor in the hunger games. As the reaping begins, I will allocate each one of the top twenty-four Capitol students a district tribute. A figure behind the scenes—one who must persuade them to perform for the cameras.”

He heard (Y/N) gasp. Archance let out a scoff. Sejanus’ face morphed into one of disgust. Visceral reactions from the crowd.

“Your role is to turn these children into spectacles. Not survivors… victory in the games is only one of the considerations. Your entire future rests on this last project.” Highbottom continued.

Corilanus zoned out again as Archane complained of her chances of getting an unworthy pick. He was fucked. This was God's sick way of tormenting him. He sat near frozen, eyes still staring up at the podium.

“Oh, and I must warn you… anyone caught cheating to give their tributes an unfair advantage… Well, they’d just have no future at all.” Highbottom looked dead at him this time. He knew that his professor never favored him, but at this rate Coriolanus was starting to take it personally. The professor clapped once.

“Here we go! Let the reaping ceremony begin.” Highbottom sat between Coriolanus and Clemensia’s feet on the bleachers. He started calling off the names after each victor was announced. (Y/N) was shaking slightly. She had started picking at the skin around her fingers, a nervous trait he had seen her do many times, normally he would take the time to stop her but at the rate he was about to join her in picking his own.

“Sejanus Plinth, the male tribute from district two.” He saw his friend's eyes darken. (Y/N)’s shocked face turning to face their friend. “You got the pick of the litter.” Archane’s voice snickered. Behind the group.

“You forget. I'm part of the litter.” Sejanus’ voice held anger. Coriolanus felt bad for him at that moment. He probably knew that boy. Coriolanus saw (Y/N)’s hand move to comfort Sejanus, soothingly rubbing his arm lightly. Sejanus reached up and held his hand over hers to stop her movement, Coriolanus could see it shaking as he rested it over hers. In that moment Coriolanus couldn't find it in himself to be jealous of interaction.

The reaping continued. Female from 3. Male from 3. Female from 4. Male from 4. And so on till the Female from 8, a tiny girl no older than 12, Wovey.

“Female Tribute from Eight. (Y/N) Cearo.” He heard her gasp. Saw tears well in her eyes. Sejanus gasped. The two locking eyes across the girl.

“She's no older than Wilby, Coryo…” Her whisper to him broke his heart. William meant the world to her and if she has already correlated Wovey with him she’s going to have a terrible time mentoring the sweet looking young girl.

They sat in silence the rest of the reaping. His name is not yet being called. Sejanus shifting uncomfortably in his seat. (Y/N) picking at her fingers till they undoubtedly will bleed.

Male from 10, Female from 10. Male from 11, Female from 11. Male from 12, Female from 12…

Lucy Grey Baird.

She was beautiful. Even Coriolanus could deny that. Her dress was covered in colors and her corset decorated in flowers. He had never seen an outfit quite like it before.

“And the runt girl from twelve goes to Coriolanus Snow.” Highbottom announced, even though him and everyone in the room already knew that from the fact he was the last unassigned mentor in the group.

“What is that dress? Is she some sort of clown?” Coriolanus rolled his eyes at Archanes unnecessary comments.

Suddenly on her way from the stage the girl stopped and seemed to have shoved something down another girls dress. The victims screams echoing through the speakers as she rolled in the ground. A snake slithering out from under her dress.

The girl reached the stage and the mayor slapped her across the face. Coriolanus abruptly stood. Startling (Y/N) and their friends in the process. Then the signing started. First a small girl in the back. Then her…

“She's singing? Is she out of her mind?” Archane scoffed again.

“You really must learn when to shut up, Archane.” (Y/N)’s voice spat back at the girl. If Coriolanus wasn't so caught up in his tribute’s performance he would have snickered or at least kissed his girlfriend on the cheek for the snide comment but in this moment he was completely mesmerized by the girl on the screen. Her voice was beautiful, nothing like his Grandma’ams horrible morning renditions of the national anthem. Not like the soft and sweet voice of (Y/N) he would hear as she rocked William to sleep as a baby. No, it was something special. She was something special. As Lucy Grey brought her signing to an end her scream rattled through the speakers of the program.

“YOU CAN KISS MY ASS.” As she bowed with a smile all Coriolanus could think of is how beautiful she looked. She was his ticket to the prize, and she had the perfect potential. He just had to get his songbird to sing again.

#coriolanus snow #coriolanus x reader #coriolanus x you #coriolanus x lucy gray

122 notes · View notes

galvanizedfriend · 2 months

Text

Klaroline Fanfiction Masterlist

It's been a minute since I last updated my masterlist so I decided to go ahead and start a new one. Yokan // ▪ Multi-chapters

. The Wolf Series [I, II, III and Outtakes - Incomplete] When Caroline wakes up shackled, powerless and very far away from Mystic Falls, she knows she's in serious trouble. But when a woman named Sophie Deveraux reveals the reason why she's been kidnapped and taken to New Orleans, she realizes things are far worse than she could've ever imagined.

[The Originals rewriting where Caroline is a witch and gets pregnant with Klaus' child. Seasons 1, 2 and 3 complete, season 4 coming.]

. Vice and Virtue [6/6 - Complete] As the second son of a Duke, Klaus Mikaelson has the means and all the time in the world to indulge in every manner of wild activity with very little respect for the regiment of polite society. That is until his brother decides he's had enough of his vulgar ways and gives him an ultimatum. Caroline Forbes is a young debutante in search of true love and adventure. Except her aunt wishes for her to marry a somber Viscount who's already buried three wives. When their paths cross, they realize they might yet strike a deal that could satisfy their relatives and benefit them both.

[AH Regency!AU inspired by Bridgerton and a dozen other period novels I have been reading lately.]

. Pedulum [2/2 - Complete] This is what Klaus Mikaelson knows: death isn't the end for him. From the moment he is brought into the world to his final shuddering breath, Klaus' life is pretty much the same as everyone else's. The difference lies in what happens after he dies: he goes right back to the beginning, a child in London with the memory of dozens of lives lived before. Nothing ever really changes, including the fact that no matter how hard he tries, he can never save Caroline Forbes' life for too long.

[AH/soulmates!AU with a slight magical twist. Technically a one-shot, chapter 2 is just an alternate ending.]

. We'll Always Have New Orleans [3/15 - Incomplete] Caroline wakes up in a world where everything looks exactly the same, only nothing really is. For starters, she's no longer a vampire, and no one else in Mystic Falls has ever heard of witches, vampires or werewolves - no one except for Klaus, who woke up just as human and twice as angry about it. Their search for answers and a way out takes them all the way to New Orleans, and Caroline could never anticipate how much this crazy fake world was about to alter her reality forever.

[Canon-divergence!AU. Set right after TVD 4x18.]

. Speed Dating [3/4 - Incomplete] Klaus is having a bad month, so Caroline decides it's a great idea to drag him along to a round of Speed Dating. Other men in the room do not approve.

AH/AU fluff that was inspired by an episode of House (yes, it is fluff, I promise).

. Gasoline [2/2 - Complete] "He doesn't apologize, of course he doesn't. He doesn't care. He calls everyone love. It's not meant to mean anything. Except it did, once, and it makes Caroline's stomach churn away inside, as she feels Klaus crawling underneath her skin like he never left at all. I've still got you."

AH/Band!AU. Two years after Klaus walked out on his band - on her -, Caroline finds herself in her least favorite place on earth - New Orleans. She really did try to stay away from him, escaping an event just to keep off his radar. He finds her anyway.

. Like It's Christmas Again [2/2 - Complete] As Christmas approaches, Caroline Forbes, a New York-based event planner, is sent to a quaint small town in Virginia to organize their holiday festival. But her plans are momentarily hindered by the presence of Klaus Mikaelson, the Mayor's brother and a grumpy billionaire lacking in any holiday spirit, who's in town to close the sale of his family's manor - the charming estate she was hoping to use as a venue.

[AKA that time when I committed Christmas fic. AU/AH inspired by a Hallmark movie, I kid you not.]

. Spin [5/5 - Complete] Since she was seven years old, Caroline Forbes has been preparing herself to become President of the United States. But before she gets to the Oval Office, she needs to win the election for senior student president at the prestigious Saint Sebastian High - which would be in the bag if only goddamn Klaus Mikaelson hadn't decided to run against her.

[AH/AU lovers-to rivals-to-lovers The Politician!AU where everyone takes school elections way more seriously than they should.]

. How Far I'd Go [2/2 - Complete for now] Set in TVD S6/TO S2. Unable to control Caroline after she turns her humanity off, Stefan reaches out to the only person he can think of for help.

[Slices of moments of Klaus in Mystic Falls while Caroline has her humanity off.] ▪ One-shots

. The Sound of Settling Klaus hates his job at Mikaelson & Sons. He hates wearing a suit. He also hates his brothers constantly butting into his life. Everything will be better once he gets his much desired transfer to the New York branch. Caroline Forbes is the owner of Mystic Café, and when Klaus accidentally wanders into her coffee shop, his whole perspective changes. [AH/Coffee Shop!AU where Klaus is a lawyer. Fluffity Fluff. Lots of Mikaelsons and some Carenzo friendship.] . The Witch Queen Caroline always knew she was different. She was keyed into her own otherness very early on. Strange things happened around the Forbes women. Her mother never really had to spell it out to her, give it a name. Caroline could always sort of feel it, and then at some point the feeling blossomed into comprehension, and comprehension hardened into fact. And with that came an altogether different kind of certainty: this was not a secret she'd be able to keep forever. One day, no matter how hard she tried to hide it, everyone would find out. And when they did, they would come for her.

. Worst Things Have Happened Klaus Mikaelson is a prince with a very dark secret that threatens to destroy his family's legacy. Caroline Forbes is a sorceress whose job is to make sure his secret remains buried. But would it hurt him to put some clothes on? [Royal!AU, with a magical twist.] . The Unexpected Grace of Falling Apart The whole incident was bound to go down as a funny anecdote to be shared among friends, a Oh, you think you've had the worst hook-up ever? Hold my beer kind of story. Provided, of course, that she never had to see him ever and could just wipe him out of her life and memory for good. Given that they live in different time zones, it shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

That is precisely why Caroline is livid when she emerges from the arrivals area at Richmond airport to find Douchebag, in the flesh - sunglasses indoors and all, like the proper jerk that he is - holding up a sign that readsClarisse.

[AH/AU. It's Tyler's wedding weekend and Caroline is back in Mystic Falls for the first time after the most traumatic and depressing year of her life. And it's about to get even worse as she's made to share breathing space with Klaus, The Worst Guy Ever. Except they might have to join forces to save the wedding, and to the discovery that things might not be what the seem. As Caroline teeters on the edge of a breakdown she'd been trying very hard to conceal, an unexpected savior appears to help her through the haze.]

. love, the monster's got me now [Canon compliant. Set in TVD S03E09 Homecoming.]

"Don't run," he says calmly, sounding almost bored, but with a clear warning. "I'm in the mood for a chase. Little spoiler: you can't outrun me." His eyebrows twitch up when he finally turns around to face her, lips curling into an amused grin. "Tyler's girl," he states, gesturing towards the now empty yard. "You missed out on the celebrations, I’m afraid."

[Or: the missing Klaroline scene between "There's your pretty little girlfriend, Caroline" and "There's a whole world out there waiting for you." Klaus and Caroline meet after Homecoming.]

. When It's Gone Suddenly, Caroline hates how nice the bed feels. How soft the pillows are. How smooth and cool and expensive those goddamn sheets are against her skin. She hates the giddiness in her belly, like she's a stupid schoolgirl when she's not allowed to be one anymore. She hates how right the space between Klaus' arms felt, how easily she molded against him. His lips were as full and as soft as they looked, but his hands were gentler and more reverent than they had any right to be, and Caroline hates it. Hates it, hates it, hates it. She hates that it suits her, hates that she wants it, hates that none of it is hers to keep.

[Set after TVD S04E19 Pictures of You. Caroline hears about Klaus' impending departure after a mysterious letter and decides to have some words.] . Wishing Each Sigh Might Be the Last The first time she sees him, Caroline thinks he's an angel.

[Set in 1800s New Orleans. As Caroline lies dying, she prays for God to send help or end her torment and save her soul. She thinks an angel has come for her. But he's no angel at all.] . Feel the Madness Closing In Set in TO S3. Caroline is in New Orleans when Lucien and the Ancestors make a move against the Mikaelson family - and they know exactly who to target in order to get to Klaus. Paranoia sets in, sending him to a very dark place, and Caroline finally learns the price of being loved so profoundly by a monster. . Issues When Klaus' Hollywood career takes a down turn after a nasty divorce and a viral mug shot, his manager decides his life is not yet miserable enough, bringing in a PR company famous for its high-profile damage control cases.

[AH!AU where Klaus is a problematic movie star and Caroline is a PR agent with no time for his BS.] . Urban Legend "I hate myself for saying this, but I have to agree with Little Miss Sunshine," Caroline cuts in. "This is Whitmore. Nothing ever happens here. Least of all a possession that leads to a massacre of slasher movie proportions."

"Thank you, love," Klaus returns brightly. "Very flattering to be validated by you."

"Bite me, Klaus."

"Find me later, after my shift, and we can see to it," comes the shameless rejoinder.

[Or: Caroline tries to navigate life in college having the worst roommate ever, a douchebag who cannot take a hint and a nosy journalist whom she's definitely not attracted to. Never in a million years.]

#klaroline #klaroline fanfiction #klaus x caroline #klaroline fic #kc fanfiction #kcfic #kc fandom #klaus mikaelson #caroline forbes #the originals rewriting #the vampire diaries fanfiction #yokan writes #masterlist

98 notes · View notes

thatredheadwriter · 2 years

Text

Softer

din djarin x female reader

Your aloof Mandalorian employer, and dare you say friend, is surprisingly considerate when it comes to your monthly cycle.

I just started The Mandalorian and I’m already obsessed. I also just happened to be on my period, and I needed to work through some writers block. So please enjoy fluffy, awkward Din.

This is a SFW oneshot for female reader with Din Djarin of The Mandalorian. This work does not contain smut, however, it may contain mature language or themes, and as a rule, my blog is only for those over the age of 18. As a writer, I will attempt to make accurate warnings for each of my fics, however, I cannot guarantee that I will identify each and every sensitive topic. My works regularly contain swearing, allusions to/mentions of sex, and canon-level violence.

Warnings Include (but are not limited to):

Swearing (English and Star Wars canon languages)

Menstruation (this shouldn’t have to be a warning)

The expectation for men to be dicks about menstruation

Din is the sweetest

Din is kinda stupid and walks in on someone changing

helmetless!Din (just a little)

Mutual pining

Please read at your own discretion and consume your fanfiction responsibly.

You woke up feeling sticky.

The gentle hum of the ship around you was nearly enough to lull you back to sleep, but the stickiness between your thighs and the cold sweat on your skin left you far too uncomfortable to even think about going back to sleep, despite the fact that your watch told you it was far too early for any living thing to be awake.

“Dank farrick,” you cursed, sitting up carefully, sure to duck your head and avoid the shelf above you. With a groan, you slid out of your ‘den’, as Mando referred to it, gathered the blankets you’d been sleeping on, and stalked off towards the laundering unit.

You knew your cycle was due soon, but ever since joining the small crew of the Razor Crest, it was harder to track time. It was the inky blackness of space, the way days would run together. It had nothing to do with your distracting companion, your boss, who stalked around the ship as a brooding pile of armor. The companion you were starting to become strangely attached to.

The laundering unit was empty, thank the Maker. You were just finished shoving the soiled bedding into the chamber and digging around the storage area for the right soap to add, but then a gloved hand clamped down on your shoulder and you yelped.

“Shit, Mando,” you clamped a hand down on your chest to steady your breathing, “How is someone covered in so much beskar so quiet?”

He didn’t answer you, of course, only tilting his helmet at you as he leaned against the wall of the ship. “What are you doing up so early?”

Your stomach churned, only partially from the cramps. There wasn’t much you knew about the mysterious Mandalorian who hired you–hell, you called him Mando, you didn’t even know his name. But you had deciphered he was human, based on his hands. They were the only part of him you’d ever seen without the armor, once when he was tending to a particularly nasty burn you’d picked up trying to fix the main cooling unit. His touch had been surprisingly soft, and you’re loathe to admit you’ve dreamed about it every night since.

But you also knew he was a man. And most men you’d met, even if they belonged to a mammalian species, were distinctly uncomfortable with the idea of menstruation.

“Uh, no particular reason,” you shrugged half-heartedly, finally finding the laundry powder you needed and pouring some into the appropriate compartment of the machine. The bright green bottle of fabric softener was easier to find.

You’d mentioned once how you missed using it, the smell in particular, and on the next supply run, there it was amongst the rations and parts. You hadn’t asked for it, but he’d remembered anyways.

“Why are you doing laundry?” he nodded at the machine. Dammit, he was suspicious.

“Well, it’s just been a while since I washed my bedding. Don’t want to be gross,” you made a face at the last bit. Not only was the conversation making you uncomfortable, but also the growing wetness between your legs. You were grateful for your black leggings and tunic, disguising the mess.

“You washed it eight days ago.”

Shit, why did he have to be so observant?

“Look, maybe I was eating in bed–which, I know, I know, crumbs lead to pests–and I might have spilled a little something is all,” you tried, putting on your best sheepish face. It was working, it seemed, he pushed off from the wall and headed behind you towards the galley. But before you could start the unit, he had slid in between you and it, popping open the door, and pulling out your blanket.

“Blood?” he inspected the fabric.

Suddenly you were pressed against the wall of the ship, gloved hands flying over your body. But not in the way you’d dreamed about that one time. This was clinical, urgent.

“Where are you injured?” he knelt in front of you, searching for any obvious wounds, any signs of pain. The visor of his helmet was tilted up at you, and you had to remind yourself to breathe.

“I’m not injured,” you pushed his hands away from your arms. “Please Mando, I’m fine.”

He stood up to his full height but didn’t let you go. “You’re bleeding, you’re not fine. Tell me what’s wrong now, or I’m taking us to the nearest starport to get you checked by a medic.”

Your face burned. Why did you have to work for the one person in the galaxy as stubborn as you?

“I’m not injured,” you reiterated. “I’m-I’m menstruating,” you mumbled out, staring at the grated floor below you.

“What?”

“Dank farrick! I’m menstruating,” you practically yelled at the shiny surface you’d come to consider as his face.

He immediately took a step back. Great, now he’s disgusted and wants nothing to do with you.

“Look, I’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable, but you’re so kriffing nosey…” you trailed off, crossing your arms across your chest and trying to seem aloof. Not like your damn hormones were making you want to cry and scream and eat all the cold rations all at once.

“I’m not uncomfortable. I’m sorry for prying,” he spoke softly.

“It’s okay,” you chewed on your bottom lip.

“You should go clean up.”

“Yeah,” you nodded, slipping away towards the fresher and made it inside before you broke, the tears streaming down your face. You weren’t sure why. Mando wasn’t mad at you, he wasn’t shunning you. He almost seemed to care.

Stepping into the spray of hot water, you allowed your tensions and emotions to diffuse into the steam around you. As red swirled around your feet and down the drain, you couldn’t help but think about what softness might lay under all that beskar.

Eventually, you cut off the water and dried yourself with one of the threadbare towels hanging by the door. It wasn’t until you were ready to step out that you realized you’d forgotten to get clean clothes to change into. So you wrapped the towel around you and hoped you could get back to your makeshift bunk before you started bleeding everywhere.

But when you opened the fresher door, there was a stack of neatly folded clothes settled right where it would be impossible to miss. And on top, an absorption pad. Your face heated at the thought of your big scary boss going through your quarters to find you clean clothes–clean panties, you realized–and a pad. As horrifying as it was, it was an overwhelmingly sweet gesture, like the fabric softener.

He’d chosen well for you: a pair of soft, loose-fitting pants that tapered at the ankles and an old but soft t-shirt you’d had for ages. You were also grateful he hadn’t brought anything frilly or lacy from your underwear collection, not that there were a lot of options like that, but rather a simple pair you’d chosen to match your skin tone. He hadn’t brought you a chest cover, but you didn’t mind so much. The t-shirt was large enough that you felt modest even without one.

Running a hand through your damp hair, you checked that your blankets were still cycling through the laundry unit before slipping into the galley, making sure to step heavily in your bare feet to announce your arrival. Once you’d almost snuck up on Mando when he’d been eating, sans helmet, and you weren’t anxious to repeat it.

But he wasn’t sitting around the table. No, he was standing in the small kitchen. And something smelled really good.

“Are you cooking?” you asked incredulously, sliding into the bench by the table.

It was easier to read him–at least from behind–when he wasn’t wearing his cowl. You could see his shoulders stiffen before he turned around and fixed you in the icy crosshairs of his visor.

“Yes. It’s an old recipe, the warriors in my covert who have cycles say it helps.”

“Oh,” was all you could say. It was inarguably the nicest thing anyone had ever done for you.

“Here,” he grabbed a steaming cup of something from a nearby workbench and set it in front of you. It smelled of cinnamon and herbs, and reminded you of Mando himself. “Behot shig. It’ll help.”

You took the container in your hands, allowing the warmth radiating from it to seep deep into your bones. It tasted similar to the tea of the last planet you’d been on, but without the sickly sweet aftertaste. A heady buzz settled into your veins and you sighed.

“Thank you.” You finally managed the words you’d wanted to say for the last hour, staring deep into the amber liquid.

He was quiet for a moment, save for the breathing of his respirator and the crackling of whatever was on the stove.

“You’re welcome.”

While you waited for him to finish the meal, you pulled the holopad from its place in the wall and began running your daily diagnostic check.

“The main cooling unit is down again,” you groaned, leaning your head against the wall in frustration. If the cooling unit wasn’t working, the hyperdrive would suffer a catastrophic failure, and you’d be in deep shit. “I could have sworn it was the condenser coil, but I replaced it last week. At this rate, it’s gonna be cheaper to replace the whole unit.”

Mando grunted as he set a plate full of food down in front of you. It looked good, you could smell the spices and the colors were far more vibrant than what you were used to in ration foods.

“I’ll take care of it.”

You narrowed your eyes at him. “Mando, please. I may not be some hardcore Mandalorian warrior lady, but I can still do my job.”

He was silent for a minute. You imagined you were looking right into his eyes, although there was no way to tell. This was a stare-down. And maybe he was stubborn, but so were you.

“Ok,” he agreed quietly, “But take it easy. Let me know if you need anything.”

You didn’t see much of Mando for the day, which wasn’t necessarily odd. But usually, he’d check in on you once or twice throughout the day just to make sure you weren’t ruining his ship or dead. Aside from passing him in the hallway once, you didn’t see him all day. He seemed to be busying himself with a project in the bunkroom, his personal quarters. You’d only been inside a few times, and never more than a few minutes at a time.

It wasn’t until you went to get your blankets from the laundry unit and found it empty that you thought anything of it. Okay, maybe Mando was being nice and put them back in your makeshift bunk. But they weren’t there either. In fact, all of your belongings were missing and the little space between crates that you’d transformed into your own personal nest was closed up.

If ever you were going to lose your cool on Mando, it was now. You’d woken up early, spent damn near three hours shoved in the tiny, unbearably hot compartment next to the broken cooling unit. Your back and stomach were killing you despite the painkillers you’d taken earlier in the day. All you wanted to do was crawl into bed and go to sleep.

That’s how you found yourself close to angry-crying as you pounded on the door to Mando’s quarters. You wanted your stuff, you wanted your blankets, and most of all you wanted to sleep.

“Mando!” you hit the door with the side of your fist as hard as you could, producing a satisfying banging sound. “Where’s my shit, dammit?”

Suddenly the panel slid open and you were able to catch yourself before hitting him square in the chest plate. Not that it would have hurt him, just embarrassed you.

“Come here,” he ordered, stepping aside for you to enter his personal quarters. You eyed him warily, like a mouse entering a lion’s den.

You followed his gaze–well, what you assumed he was looking at–to the wall opposite his bunk. Where before there was just empty space, a blank wall, was a new cot.

Now, new may have been an understatement. It was semi embedded in the wall, like Mando’s own bed, and you could see where he’d cobbled it together from spare parts. The mattress wasn’t anything spectacularly luxurious, but it had been made up with your favorite blankets. Your favorite feature was perhaps the privacy screen.

“This morning reminded me of my promise, when you first joined my crew, that I would get you a proper bunk,” he spoke behind you, watching you admire his work. Behind the modulator, you could almost detect a hint of nervousness.

You turned to face him, biting down on your lower lip to keep from crying. “It’s wonderful, Mando. Thank you,” you whispered. It was truly the nicest thing anyone had ever done for you. He was literally making room for you in his life.

“If you feel you don’t have enough privacy, we can figure something else out. I’ve been-”

“Really, it’s perfect,” you grinned, earlier anger forgotten. “You’re sure you have enough privacy? I don’t want you sleeping with the bucket on just because of me.”

“When it’s dark…” he moved to the control panel by the door, hitting a blue button and plunging the room into darkness. The only source of light was the same blue button on the wall and a green button on the door to the fresher. “You can’t see me.”

“Perfect,’ you nodded, not sure if he could see you.

He hit the button again and you winced as the lights came back on. You stared at each other in silence for a few moments, neither one of you with much to say.

“I, uh, I think I’m going to turn in for the night,” you said awkwardly, wrapping your arms around your middle and trying not to wince as another cramp rolled through you.

“Your things are in your trunk tucked away there,” he gestured to a small compartment where you could see he’d placed your belongings.

“Thanks,” you smiled once more and knelt to gather some sleep clothes.

“You can use the fresher in here if you’d like,” he said almost awkwardly. “I’ll leave you alone now.”

Before he could get out the door, you were on your feet again, grabbing his arm. He was unfamiliar with this kind of contact with you, and you felt like he might snarl at you like a wild animal. But he simply fixed you with his visor’s gaze.

“Thank you. For everything,” you said sincerely, offering a small smile. He grumbled something under his breath and left you standing by your new bed.

Alone again, and finally close to the peaceful oblivion of sleep, you began preparing for bed. First, you went to the fresher to relieve yourself and change your absorption pad before pulling a favorite pair of sleep shorts from your collection. Stripping down to your underwear, you shimmied them up over your hips and began rummaging for a tank top you knew was in there somewhere.

You’d just found the elusive garment and stood up to put it on when the door slid open. A yelp of surprise escaped your lips and you heard Mando say something unfamiliar in Mando’a before quickly shutting the panel back.

“I’m sorry,” he called through the comms unit on the other side of the door. “I brought you something.”

You tugged the shirt over your head and tried to slow your heart rate as you made your way to the wall panel, opening the door to let him in.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated. You could tell from the tilt of his helmet that he was not looking at you. Not even as he handed you a water bottle, a painkiller, and some strange pillow-like thing. It was almost tacky on one side, and the other was metallic, and yet the whole thing was soft and flexible.

“It’s alright,” you set the items on your bed. “I’m sure there’s going to be an adjustment period for…this.”

He nodded, turning to survey the room. It made you giggle, to think that the big bad Mando couldn’t even look at you now. You’d imagined his face a million times, but now you imagined him blushing.

“I’ll leave you alone now,” he grunted, leaving you with your thoughts.

You took the painkiller and drank most of the water. The bed was surprisingly comfortable, and you could feel your eyelids drooping as soon as you slipped in. As you lay on your back, staring up at the rough metal seams and fastenings above you, you wondered what the hell this thing was that Mando had brought you.

Then you remembered. The second bounty he took after hiring you. The locator was taking him towards Hoth and he’d picked up some extra supplies to deal with the extreme climate, including a personal warmer.

You lifted your shirt at the bottom and pushed your shorts down slightly so you could lay the tacky side of the warmer against your skin. It was only a moment later that you found the controls, and you sighed in relief as warmth spread through your lower abdomen.

You hated to move once you finally got comfortable, but you still needed to turn the lights off, so you hauled yourself over to the panel and hit the button before fumbling your way back in the dark. It wasn’t long before you fell asleep. It was so fast that you forgot to draw the privacy screen.

When Din finally returned to his quarters, now your quarters too, he reminded himself, he was careful to listen for movement. He certainly didn’t want a repeat of the evening’s earlier incident.

He’d never been so kriffing embarrassed in his life. Except for maybe later when he caught himself thinking about your tits as he ate his dinner. They were just so perfect and soft-looking. He’d only seen them for half a second, but he knew they’d haunt his dreams for years.

He felt dirty for thinking of you that way. You were his employee, his coworker, his friend. But Din liked caring for you. He wanted to do so much more than he did, than he could, but he knew you wouldn’t allow it. It would be inappropriate for a superior to look after his subordinate like that.

Sometimes he wondered if you harbored anything for him other than friendly cooperation. Like the time he’d come back from his hunt on Hoth half frost-bitten and you’d insisted on staying awake with him until his vitals returned to normal. Or the one time you made him dinner, a secret family recipe you’d called it, and sat blindfolded across from him as he ate, just so you could share a meal with him.

But then he reminds himself that you don’t even know his name. And he doesn’t know much about you other than your name.

So Din resigns himself to maintaining a professional relationship with you as he opens the door to the living quarters. All that’s thrown out the window the minute he sees your sleeping face tucked softly into your pillow, legs curled up in front of you. Soft breaths leave your mouth and he can see the lights of the warmer from under the blanket.

As the door shut behind him, plunging him into darkness, he removed his helmet. He’d been living aboard for so long, that it was easy to find his way to your side even in the pitch black.

He leaned in, placing a kiss to your temple. “Good night, mesh’la,” he murmurs into your skin.

#the mandalorian #din djarin #din djarin fluff #mando fluff #din djarin x reader #din djarin x reader fluff #mando x reader #mando x reader fluff #star wars #the mandalorian fluff #the mandalorian fanfiction #the mandalorian fanfic

2K notes · View notes

peach-and-bugs · 11 months

Note

Love your writing so far. Was wondering if you can do adult van with dialogue 13 please.

🧡Give You My Lovin' - Van Palmer x fem!Reader🧡

Fanfiction master list

disclaimer: don't repost my work. I only post on Tumblr and on Ao3. anything else is stolen and should be removed immediately

Summary: Just a quiet morning with Vanessa Palmer

Warnings: mild angst, mentions of cancer, nudity

Word Count: 1,305

A/N: Hello Lovelies! I decided to speed through my Van requests, as there are only three in total and she's a fun one to write for. Not a lot with this one. It's definitely on the shorter side, so if people really want it id be willing to do a part two, but that would only be per request ;) but nothing else to really say, so as always, feel free to leave questions or comments in my comments or ask box, and happy reading! 🧡

Vanessa "Van" Palmer Tag List:

Yellowjackets Tag List: @frasersgf

General Tag List: @summergeezburr

-🧡-

You woke up with the sun in your eyes and a space beside you, sheets still warm from the now absent body, and the rays of light creeping through fluttering curtains. Van left the windows open again. She was lucky it was summer now. You could hear clanging downstairs along with old music and your partner humming along, singing now and then. You checked the old clock on her bedside which she insisted on you using (god knows why) and read the date it had plastered on it. It was a Saturday, meaning the shop would be relatively empty. A nice, slow day. That’s what you were in the mood for.

Begrudgingly, you get out of bed, feet hitting the cold wood floor below and sending a shiver through you. The summer breeze didn’t help with the goosebumps forming on your skin either. You were reminded that you were still naked from the night before, so you got up and got fresh clothes from your dresser to slip into. A pair of your underwear and one of Van’s old teeshirts that she’d left on the floor once again. You added on a pair of socks and trudged down the stairs, running a hand through your hair to somewhat freshen up as you rub at your eyes. The music has grown louder now and from the staircase, you can see Van humming away as she does last night's dishes. She's clad in a loose tank top and a pair of her old grey sweatpants.

She doesn’t hear you approach despite the creaking of the wooden stairs under you. That or she’s not paying mind to it having grown so used to the sound over the years. You approach her from behind, sleepily snaking your arms around her middle and resting your cheek against her shoulder with closed eyes. You hear her hum with comfort and she turns her head to kiss you. You move accordingly and receive a satisfying kiss on the corner of your mouth, your chin finding a perch on her shoulder. She reached towards the small radio on the windowsill above the sink to turn the music down.

“Well, someone’s still sleepy,” she murmured, a warm laugh bubbling in her voice. You sigh against her neck. You can smell her hair and her shampoo.

“You showered without me,” you comment, putting on a fake frown. Van murmured her apologies, tapping your hand to ask you to loosen up around her. You do and she turns in your arms, her hands finding your hips as you move yours around her neck.

“I can make up for it later,” she promises. You smile and nod without a word before puckering your lips comically while you squeeze your eyes shut tight. It has Van laughing nearly every time, but she can never resist and leans in, kissing you with her familiar sweetness and a warm squeeze to both your sides.

“Did you have breakfast?” Van shook her head.

“Just a bite of those donuts you got the other day,” You hummed, leaning forward and resting your cheek on her chest with closed, still sleepy eyes. She hugged you and you could feel her smile against the top of your head as she takes in a breath and lets go of a long sigh that has your hair fluttering. She rubs your back and you feel her start to sway with you. “Hey, don't fall asleep standing again. I’m not as fit as I used to be,” she whispered against your hairline. A scoff forced its way past your lips.

“Your making cancer jokes now?” your eyes parted open and you began running your fingertips over her collarbones, still swaying softly with her.

“It's how I normalize it. For both of us,” she hummed, turning her head so it was now her chin atop your head. She maneuvered the hand trailing over her skin to hers, entwining your fingers as you moved into a slow waltz-like pose. The hand on your shoulder moved down to the small of your back and you could tell by how she held you that she was relaxed with her eyes closed, listening to Mazzy Star and just enjoying holding you.

“I love you, Vanessa Palmer,” you murmured. She said nothing in response, only kissing your forehead and breathing in your smell. You didn’t often verbalize your love. Neither did Van. You both preferred showing your love for one another rather than telling. Small acts like swaying in your kitchen together were enough for the both of you. But, with the recent news, you felt the need for her to hear you say it.

You needed her to know for sure that she knew she was loved, even when she didn’t think so. And she knew she wasn’t obligated to say it back, because you knew. With every laugh, smile and touch you knew she loved you. You'd grown quiet in her arms you knew she could tell you were thinking about it too hard again. Her hand moved to your hip, thumb tracing over the seam of your top.

“Your shirt’s inside out,” she whispered, pulling you out of your head. You needed a change of subject and thought, which she knew and was not offering. You pulled your cheek from her and tilted your head with a smile, moving on.

“How do you know I didn’t do that on purpose” Van hummed and her brow raised.

“And why would you do that, I wonder?” you faked thought, eyes turning up to look in the sealing as you muttered in thought.

“I dunno. Maybe I wanted you to fix it for me,” you implied, looping your arms around her neck again to press you’re chest flush with her own. “Can you? Fix it for me? please…” you looked up at her through your eyelashes with a sly smile curling your lips. The redhead laughed and rolled her eyes as her hands found the inverted hem of your, well actually her shirt. You eagerly raised your arms as the shirt came over your head, ruffling up your hair as you were left clad in only your underwear, chest bare and clean for her. Of course, that's immediately where her eyes go before returning her gave to yours. There’s an eager amusement that sparkles in those blue eyes and you just have to laugh.

“You wanna put that back on?” you chuckle, reaching for the now correctly inverted shirt which is tightly gripped in her hand.

“No way. I like the view,” she wiggled her brows, throwing the shirt over her shoulder as she does with her dishtowel when she cooks.

“You saw them last night! And every night,” you scoff, crossing your arms, which only accentuates what she already likes and you know it.

“Oh, but I’ll never get enough, buttercup,” she says, whispering your nickname as a diversion. You’re cooing over her sweetness when she wraps her arms around you, lifting you onto the kitchen counter. Her nose finds the crook of her neck and she attacks your jaw, peppering up and down with kisses while she coped a feel of your exposed chest, all the while you giggle and laugh, making music in her ears. You manage to pull her away, face flushed warm to match her own and you look down upon her, your thumb tracing over the apple of her cheeks as you hold her jaw in your palms.

“What am I gonna do with you,” you mused fondly as she leaned into your comforting touch.

“Well I’ve got a couple of ideas,” she grazed her thumb over your nipple and you scrunch your nose with a smile, shaking your head.

“Alright. But at least take me back to bed,”

“Hmmm, gladly. Im still tired anyways,”

#fanfiction requests #fic request #◛⑅·˚ ༘ ♡ kay's at it again♡#yellowjackets fanfic #yellowjackets x reader #yellowjackets #van palmer #vanessa palmer #van palmer x reader #vanessa palmer x reader

233 notes · View notes

chaoticspeedrun · 1 year

Text

MASTERLIST

Hi! I'm Chaos/Chaotic and I'm currently writing for Rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles, to shut up my rants you can block the #Chaos shut up tag!

Ask box status: OPEN

Requests status: CLOSED

Rules for requests!

Discord server!

ROTTMNT "IMYAM" MASTERLIST

A masterlist to post updates, progress, art, questions and playable versions of the game when available.

List of fics, art and games under the cut:

Rise! Leo

Brighter to my eyes - ONGOING

[7 chapters so far]

Leo thinks she won't look at him how he wants her to if the only thing she sees is a mutant turtle, why would she when she has so many people vying for her attention? So he tries to get it with the use of a cloacking brooch.

MASTERLIST OF THIS FIC

Anastasia AU - ONGOING (2/5)

An interactive fanfiction game available on itch.io to be played on browser, no need to download.

It has been years since you woke up in the Witch town orphanage, with memory loss and no place else to call home, now in a quaint place just off the road towards the now Hidden city or city of the Haunted as the locals call it.

But you know there must be someone waiting for you out there, you had a family, the old relic you've held onto promises so, you just have to find it.

LINK TO INTERACTIVE GAME

ONESHOTS

Overworked

Rise! Leo x GN reader, Reader wants to do this huge project themselves instead of relying on their friends, but Leo is dead set on helping them. Fluff and slight angst.

Hold my hand before I break his face

Rise! Leo x Fem reader, Leo and you are getting ready for your date when his ex makes an appearance. Can be read by itself but goes along with the headcanons of Leo with his first girlriend.

Ponytail

Leo was touchy with you, but he only seems to realize when he starts braiding your hair.

HEADCANONS

Leo with his first girlfriend

Rise! Donnie

The little merturtle AU - COMPLETE

[5 chapters]

Prince Donatello was the third of four brothers, the prince of an underwater yokai city, but he has always been searching for something else far more interesting than the mystic arts he is used to, he wants to know everything about the human world, their traditions, their creations...But when he finds himself entranced by a human princess it might just be the last push he needs to make his dream of exploring the land a reality.

MASTERLIST OF THIS FIC

ONESHOTS

Curious

You are an extremely curious person, and Donnie loves indulging you, maybe he loves it so much because it's you he answers to.

Trust fall

Donnie fell in love with you slowly but steadily, he would have trusted you with his life, which is why finding out you were working with a villain was too hard of a hit to take.

[Lovers to enemies to lovers]

HEADCANONS

Donnie with his first girlfriend

Donnie, yokai! reader with a tail

DRABBLES

King Boo! Donnie [For Sweaterrat]

Rise! Raph

ONESHOTS

Break like glass

Raph's been keeping his distance, treating you too softly since the Kraang, you're determined to let him know he doesn't have to.

All Turtles

DRABBLES

Chirps and churrs

Tooth-rotting fluff with the turtles churring in happiness around you and you surprising them with your own adorable reaction.

The way I love you

Tooth-rotting fluff on how they each realize they are falling for their male best friend.

HEADCANONS

Turtles with a shy S/O

438 notes · View notes

wysteria-clad · 1 year

Text

Wintery kisses.

paring: Jake Lockley x fem! reader (established relationship with the moon boys)

genre: fluffiest shit you've ever read

a/n: literally wrote this instead of sleeping rn

-------

There was one rule you were hell bent on not bulging a bit; your boyfriends were not allowed to leave the house without kissing you no matter what.

And when Jake left the apartment without kissing you, that's when it all started.

It was an early, winter morning. Snowflakes were settling down on the Earth gently and softly, coating the pavement and the road with pristine white magic, the lamps by the pavement stood tall and proud, their heads glowing with soft, warm light.

The moment you rolled off to see the empty bed and no sign of—your papi, ahem, Jake, you let out a sound that was a mix of half whine and half groan. Where was he? Did he really leave without kissing you?

This cannot happen.

And so you sprinted down in your sleeping attire as fast as can—a comfy t-shirt, and soft cotton pants, still half asleep, with only your socks on.

"Jake!"

Jake had already started his cab, but he stopped when he saw you sprinting towards him, well, trying to anyway.

"Princesa, what are you doing out here?!" he stepped out the car. He couldn't stand to see you shivering one second. He immediately wrapped his jacket around you. And cursed a whole lot in Spanish. "Y/n/n, are you crazy? You'd get sick!"

"You didn't kiss me."

His face and the tone of his voice instantly changed. A hearty chuckle left his lips. "You were sleeping, princesa"

"I don't care"

Your 'I just woke up annoyed, don't give me shit' glare and the frown on your lips was absolutely cute to your man.

With a wide smile still on his face, he rubbed your arms, then cupped your face softly and planted a kiss on your forehead that lingered for few more seconds longer than the usual quick peck on your head.

"I love you," satisfied now, you wrapped your arms around his torso, a slow smile making it's way on your face, "so much" you nuzzled your face further into feel his warmth.

"Te amo, princesa," he bent down slightly to kiss the top of your head, wrapping his arms around you. He pulled away after few moments, "Now go back to bed, mi amor. It's early and you stayed up late working"

It wasn't really your fault when your boss shoved few extra paper work to you.

You groaned. "It's cold without you," you whined.

"I'll make upto to you, I promise. Now, get back inside, my little snow queen, you are not even wearing warm clothes."

His concern was endearing. "You'd take care of me if i get sick" you joked playfully.

"Don't even joke about it." He can't even bear to see you sick because of the common cold. "Por favor, princesa..."

"Alright, alright" with a grin, you kissed his lips and returned his jacket. Waving him goodbye, you went back inside to carry out your day.

What a lovely day it was.

--------

Taglist:

@twwcs @friendlyneighbourhood-parker @fayes-fics @my-secret-shame-but-fanfiction @devilish-mirage @syrma-sensei @gaymistakeboi @scarabgrant @mintpurplemnm @kittiesluvyou @luke-o-lophus @nana1000night @this-is-me19 @thatdummy-girl @vinsevena @hot-mess-express1 @hotbisexualmess @fandxmslxt69 @beaxtrice @ninebluehearts @moonknightwifey @i-still-dont-like-your-face @toracainz @damnzelsoul @bitchyglitterfox

#wystie-verse #jake lockley fluff #jake lockley imagine #jake lockley x reader #moon knight fluff #moon knight x reader #moon knight imagine #moon knight

551 notes · View notes

kyberblade · 10 months

Text

Back To You (Din x Reader) - Part 17

A/N: This is a heavy one! I channeled my own feelings heavily near the end and I have no regrets. I said what I said. But there is also an inordinate amount of fluff, so…. Do with that what you will. We’re coming up on the end. 😔 Just a handful of chapters left. But don’t worry! I still have allllll sorts of shenanigans planned for these three in the sequels that will follow shortly, so we won’t be without them for long. 😁 I can’t believe we’ve come this far! 🥹 I’m so sorry this chapter took me so long, I was avoiding it because…. Well…. You’ll see. (Also, once again, there is some lore in this that @writerlyhabits wrote in a fantastic short, and I loved it so much, I asked if I could use it.)

(This takes place right where the other one left off and goes to the end of episode 2x6/14, The Tragedy.)

I do not own Star Wars or it’s characters. Sadly. But I carry them in my heart. Does that count for something? My soul says yes.

Warnings: Tooth rotting fluff, Grogu being the cutest thing you ever did see, and Din is once again a warning in and of himself in this one. Typical show violence. Swearing. Space swearing. Grogu is a menace. Arguing? Mando’a. Show dialogue, so spoilers? (But if you’re here, you know how this works.) Lots of angst. Tears. Some canon divergence that has been planned from day one. And I’ve been told to add “emotional damage” as a warning by my beta. 😂🤣 (I’ve read over this so many times, but I’m sure I’ve missed something in the typo department. Any mistakes are my own.)

Word count: 15,303 (I said what I said.)

As always, thanks to @grippingbeskar for encouraging me, looking over this for me, and being the one to introduce me to Din fanfiction in the first place, getting me hooked. You are fantastic and I always love our chats.

Thank you to @fordo-kixed-rex for your endless hours helping me over goodness knows how long since I started this, for going over the probably 75 iterations of this chapter this past week alone, and for reading this over for me and letting me know I’m not crazy.

Previous | Series Masterlist | Next

Xxx

You woke up on the Crest, stretching as much as you could in the tiny bunk compartment. The lights were set to dim, giving you just enough light to see in the small area. Glancing over your shoulder, you saw you were alone, no beskar to keep you company. A quick look up showed the hammock empty as well.

Furrowing your brows, you pushed up onto your palms, leaning on them heavily as you tried to fully wake up. Wiggling your fingers, you smiled, the plush feel of the new bed roll beneath you bringing back thoughts of a grumbling Din lugging it onto the Crest before you left Coruscant a little over a day ago.

“I told you I would, didn’t I?” He mumbled, pulling the old mat out as he threw the new one into the bunk, the soft thud it made on impact an anticlimactic end to his brief tantrum.

“You did,” hands on your hips, you mused quietly with a nod, watching as he slit the straps keeping it bound tight with a knife he kept in his boot.

“Now what do we do with the….” Turning, Din sighed when he found Grogu sitting on the old bed roll, cooing happily. “….old one.”

“Is it really such a bad thing that the Crest has a little more padding?” You asked carefully, leaning toward him slightly. The tilt of his helmet was not amused. “I mean, we do have some bumpy landings….”

Din simply stared at you for a long moment, in which you tried not to break, a smile fighting desperately to crawl up your face and reflect in his visor. In the end, you won, when he turned away before you cracked, stomping up the ladder and into the cockpit.

Scooping up the child, you began that way as well. “Come on, kid. We have places to go.” The engines roared to life. “Jedi to meet.” You set him on the floor of the cockpit when you were high enough on the ladder before pulling yourself the rest of the way up. “Seeing stones to…. See.”

Din snorted. “Oh, that’s nice.”

“What?” You plopped into your seat, watching the child scramble up into his.

“Very eloquently put.”

You scoffed. “I’d like to see you do better.”

“When the time comes, I will.”

“No, now.”

He huffed out a laugh. “I’m not going after that. ‘Seeing stone to…. See.’ Come on.” He shook his head in amusement, going about the rest of the take off sequence.

“It's because you're afraid. Can’t top that, can you?” Smiling smugly, you fastened the safety belt.

“It’s only up from here,” he mused quietly, making you freeze and glare at the back of his head as he began to lift the ship up off the ground.

Grogu giggled from his seat, letting out a squeal as he clapped his hands.

“I feel ganged up on,” you grumbled, slumping back in your seat, arms crossed over your chest.

“Then have better jokes.”

Narrowing your eyes at the back of his helmet, you could just see his shoulders shaking gently from suppressed laughter. “Watch it, Tin Can.”

Making your way to the ladder leading to the cockpit, you smiled at the muted sound of Din’s voice drifting down through the hatch, Grogu’s soft coos dotted here and there.

Pausing at the bottom, one hand resting on a rung by your head, you waited and listened.

“Grogu.” Din’s modulated voice was the lightest you’d heard in a while. It lilted slightly like he was almost playing with the child.

The kid must have looked up, making Din chuckle before another moment passed and he said the name again with even more mirth to his tone. “Grogu?”

Another soft laugh came from the Mandalorian, Grogu babbling softly for a moment before Din started in again. “Give me the ball.” The kid made a sound of refusal, the rustling of fabric telling you he twisted away, pulling it from his guardian. “Grogu, give me the ball. Come on.” In the silence that followed, a quiet, pleased grunt came from Din when Grogu must have handed it to him. You could clearly picture the man in beskar holding it up teasingly just out of the kids reach. Suppressing a chuckle with a roll of your eyes, but unable to stop the smirk crawling up your face, you leaned your temple against the back of your hand on the ladder rung. “Okay, here we go. You can have it, just like before. Grogu, come on. You can have it. Come on.” A moment of silence before a louder, almost excited, “Dank farrik!”

Your eyes went wide, the child letting out a startled squawk, and you started to scramble up the ladder, stopping below the lip of the hatch, just out of sight, when Din began to backtrack. “Hey, no. I’m not mad at you. You did good.” He sighed heavily, his voice quieting. “I just…. When the nice lady said you had training, I just….”

When he sighed again, you climbed the last few rungs to peek over the edge of the opening, watching the scene unfold.

Din was looking at Grogu from the pilot’s chair, gently handing him back his silver ball from where it sat in the child’s lap. “You’re very special, kid. We’re gonna find that place you belong and they’re gonna take real good care of you.”

As he slowly turned back to look out the viewport, you smiled sadly. It wasn’t what he had said, it’s what he hadn’t. The implied meaning behind his words of the kid belonging anywhere other than with him…. And that he truly believed it, too. At least on some level. No matter how many times you told him the kid looked at him like he was the world, whatever was speaking right now was louder, and the voice Din ended up listening to in the end. You wanted to wrap that voice up with your whipcord and throw it out the back of the ship on the next backwater planet you landed on. You could do that now. Din had finally showed you how it worked.

“This is Tython,” he went on, obviously avoiding the subject. You set your forehead against the back of your hand on the top rung of the ladder, listening as he continued. “That’s where we’re gonna try and find you a Jedi. But you have to agree to go with them if they want you to. Understand?” Lifting up just enough to watch them again, you saw the child looking up at Din curiously, still fumbling his ball distractedly as he listened. The Mandalorian was still looking out the viewport pointedly, keeping his face forward, his shoulders tense. “Plus, I can’t train you. You’re too powerful. Don’t you wanna learn more of that Jedi stuff?”

That made your gut sink. You knew he needed a real Jedi, which you were not, but it still stung every time. You’d meditated with the kid, bonded, had conversations of sorts, and the thought of that just…. Going away…. Hurt. Swiping at an unexpected tear as it fell, you turned your attention back on your two favorite beings in the galaxy.

“I agreed to take you back to your own kind, so that’s what I need to do. You understand, right?”

Making your presence known by taking the last few rungs of the ladder with heavy footfalls, you climbed the rest of the way up into the cockpit, watching as Din’s shoulders relaxed a bit, but his head sat up straighter. Stepping up behind his chair, you set a hand on his shoulder.

Keeping your voice soft, you smiled fondly down at him as you spoke. “Who are you trying to convince, him or yourself?”

He didn’t answer.

Giving his shoulder a gentle squeeze, you changed the subject. “Did you get any sleep?”

Din nodded. “I did.”

“How much? We haven’t been flying that long….”

After a moment of silence he finally said, “Enough.”

Sensing the exchange between him and Grogu still hanging over his head, you leaned forward, wrapping your arms around his neck to rest on his chestplate, and setting your chin on his pauldron. Turning to look at him as best you could this close, you spoke lowly close to his ear. “Well, I slept great. Thank you for the new bed roll.”

He nodded, but you felt him relaxing under your touch, so you went on. “I appreciate you, you know that, right?” His head turned just slightly to try and look at you, but you were too close, so he took a hand off the controls and brought it up to gently grab your wrists, slowly moving his thumb back and forth in absent patterns on your skin.

“Whatever ends up happening with the kid, will be because of you, Din.” His thumb slowed for a second before resuming its pace. “You got him out, you’ve taken care of him, he’s learned from you. Already. No matter how powerful.”

You went to stand up, but his grip on your wrists tightened, holding you to him. Smiling, you cinched your arms a little bit tighter as you sighed, turning your face more into his neck.

“No matter what happens with him, whatever he becomes…. It will all be because of you. It all comes back to you.”

Xxx

Scrubbing at you vambrace, you sat in the main hull, the dull beeps of the Crest as it orbited Tython the only sound.

Grogu had decided that a particularly messy ration pack was his next victim, and when you’d tried to wrestle it out of his grip, the sludge had poured down the beskar protecting your forearm. Clambering down the ladder, you’d dashed to the refresher to rinse your glove of the goo, hanging it on a hook to let the leather dry.

Now you sighed as you got back to your feet from the crate you were perched atop, trudging back into the refresher and slouching over the sink as you rinsed the metal off as best you could, wiping it down thoroughly with a cloth you’d found in a toolbox near the crate and dampened with water.

“Everything come off?”

You startled at the voice, shooting up straight to your full height, your head thumping on a low hanging cabinet in the cramped space.

Rubbing it with a wince, you glared at your beskar companion’s reflection in the mirror as he leaned on the door frame easily, arms crossed over his chest as if nothing had happened.

“Don’t do that,” you hissed. “How many times do I have to-”

“At least a few more,” he mumbled in amusement, shifting his weight as he adjusted where his shoulder leaned into the frame. “Everything-”

“Yeah, it’s all coming off,” you groused, turning your attention back to scrub at the vambrace with extra vengeance. “At least it wasn’t something with jogan fruit in it. Then I would have to paint these,” you teased, smirking. “Have you ever met a purple Mando?”

“There’s a first for everything,” he shrugged, his voice easy, almost lazy.

“Hmmm,” you narrowed your eyes at him in amusement. “But then I wouldn’t match you. How would that make you feel?” Grabbing the scarf Vanth had given you on Tatooine out of your back pocket to dry off the armor, you turned to face Din, a smirk climbing your face. “Admit it. You like people knowing we’re-”

“We’re what?” He cut in, angling his head down to hold your gaze as you stepped up as close to him as you could, the rest of him as still as a statue.

Looking up into his visor, you tilted your head slightly, the smile not going anywhere as you whispered, “You know.”

“I do,” he agreed, nodding before tilting his head to the side to match yours and holding your gaze again. “Do you?”

Eyes flitting back and forth on his visor, head hinged back to keep looking at him, you paused. “A group.”

“A…. A group,” he repeated after a moment, hesitantly, something sarcastic in his voice.

“Yeah. Right?”

Gently shaking his head at you after a moment, he pushed off the frame and turned back toward the hatch.

Grabbing your glove, you followed after him. “What?”

“This isn’t working for me,” he said with a sigh.

“Well maybe you aren’t working for me.”

Din rounded on you, staring at you for a long moment before he grabbed your wrist, spinning you into the ladder up to the cockpit, and crowding you into the bars until you had nowhere to go; nowhere to look but up at him, your head angled back until it thumped lightly on one of the rungs.

“Is that so?”

Leaning your head further back so you could look down your nose at him, you narrowed your eyes. “Maybe it is. Why don’t you try and find out, oh wise and brilliant Mandalorian?”

“Mmmmm….” The sound vibrated from his chest and into yours, sending a pleasant hum just under your skin from your head down to your toes. “Why do you make everything so….”

“Interesting?”

“Difficult.” His left hand came to rest on your hip, sliding around to rest on your lower back, his right still clutching the ladder up by your head, his grip adjusting slightly making the leather of his glove creak in protest.

You laughed softly. “Because otherwise our lives would be very boring,” you teased, reaching out to place your palm on his chest plate, slowly moving it up to wind into his cowl like you always did. Still gripping your vambrace and glove in your left hand, that arm snaked around his neck to pull him closer by your forearm.

When his forehead softly came to rest against yours, you both sighed, shoulders relaxing as your bodies deflated slightly, melting into the other’s warmth. The hand by your head came to rest on you cheek but quickly wound around behind your neck, threading into your hair.

“I came down here to tell you we’re about to start the landing procedure,” his voice was tight, like he really wanted to be saying something else. “But you distracted me.”

You chuckled softly. “So sorry.”

He tugged your hair gently, leaning back just enough to look you in the eyes. “Behave.”

Eyes dancing across the T of his visor, you felt the smile climbing back onto your face. “Of course.”

“I’m serious. This is for the kid. He needs- We need to find his kind.”

The rigidity was coming back into his shoulders, so you tossed the vambrace and glove to the floor, pulling his attention down toward them. He began to ask what you were doing when you placed both hands on the sides of his helmet and made him focus back on you.

“Din. Listen to me. He’s going to be okay. You are going to be okay. This will work.”

He only nodded, a small sigh leaving his chest when you pulled his head back to yours, settling your foreheads together once again.

“Just breathe. It’ll work out. You’ll see.”

His arms around your back and neck pulled you tighter.

“I’m always right. Remember?”

He snorted out a laugh. “Yeah. Sure. Now come on, I left the kid alone in the cockpit before you distracted me. I’m surprised the ship is still in orbit and not careening toward the surface already.”

Xxx

Speeding over the surface of the planet, you watched the green of shrubs and towering red rocks whizz by.

“Looks deserted,” you mumbled, surveying the vast sea of nothingness. If this had once been a sacred place for Jedi, it was long, long ago. Long enough for an age to grow over, covering everything in layers of dust, for plants to spread and conceal any remnants of life. “Sort of reminds me of Arvala-7.”

“Better for us,” Din mused softly, pointing at a distant mountain as the Crest approached. “Looks like that’s the magic rock I’m supposed to take you to down there.”

Grogu looked through one of the lower set windows as the ship flew over, letting out a lilting sound of awe that made you smile.

“Sorry, buddy. I can’t land on the top. Too small. Looks like we’re gonna have to travel the last stretch with the windows down.”

“With the….”

“Jet pack.”

Leaning back in your chair with your arms crossed over your chest, eyes on the profile of his visor, unamused, you stared as he turned to look at you before fiddling with the panel at his side. After a moment you mumbled, “How you still have a cape is beyond me. It should have been incinerated by your jet pack or an angry Jawa long ago.”

“It’s woven with beskar thread.”

Hesitation filled the air, a quiet pause in the conversation before you asked, “Really?” It was just absurd enough that a small part of you believed him. Very small.

Din turned to look at you fully, his voice flat and heavily sarcastic as he tucked his chin to his chest, peering at you through the top of his visor. “What do you think?”

Realization dawned on you faster than a fathier, your face melting into annoyance. “I think you’re a pain in my ass.”

Spinning back to face the viewport with a flourish, his hands in the air after an exaggerated shove against his thighs as if it took all his effort before they came to rest softly back on the control panel, his head tilted just so. “Well good, because that’s what I was going for.”

Glaring at the back of his head, you sunk further into your chair with a huff. “Just get this ship on the ground so I can roll my eyes and walk dramatically away from you as nature intended.”

With a flick of a switch, he’d turned on autopilot, the landing sequence beginning on its own. Din turned back to face you again with another small flourish, spinning in his chair just slightly before stopping himself with his other hand, making you smile softly. It reminded you of the kid. “You’re not going to go up there with us?”

Shaking your head, you sat up straight in your chair again, stretching as you started talking. “No, I need to clean up some things here on the ship.” Relaxing back into the seat, you tucked your legs up close to your chest, wrapping your arms around them, and setting your chin on your knees while you went on. “Some old crates of rations expired and need to be tossed before they go rancid. They’ll either start to smell or the kid will eat one and he’ll get sick and that will smell.” Din chuckled at the sour expression on your face. “I don’t like either option.”

He sighed, shaking his head. “Fine. I can turn on the camera in my helmet and you can watch on the holopad. Stay in communication on our comms.”

That made you sit up straighter just a bit. “You have a camera….? What can’t your armor do?”

He huffed in amusement. “Well, without me in it, it’s useless.” As he sat back in his chair, one hand propped on his thigh, the other lazily on the arm rest, hand dangling off the end without a care, you snorted a laugh as you noticed his chest puff up a bit.

Your head lolled to the side, temple resting against your left knee. “Why did I ask?”

Din simply glossed over your jab, shifting his weight slightly. “So we’ll wait. You take care of the crates, then-”

“No, Din.” Picking your head up to look at him straight on, you lowered your feet to the floor and sat forward, bracing your elbows on your knees and resting a hand on his knee. “Like you said, the kid needs this. I’m fine. I also wanted to check on something on the ship.”

That got his attention. He sat up straighter, his chest deflating as he mimicked your posture, leaning closer to you. “Check on what? She’s running just fine since Nevarro.”

You looked down to the side, patting his knee twice before tentatively explaining, “When they were doing the repairs, you were eating the fruit and I was turned around…. I saw one of them acting…. Shady. I completely forgot about it in everything that happened after, but I want to check out the panels I saw them working on and just give it a once over. Make sure we’re not going to explode on our seventy fifth jump to hyperspace or something.”

He chuckled softly, shaking his head. “I’m sure it’s fine, but go ahead. Those mechanics were probably just nervous to be working on my ship. I made a…. Let’s just say a name for myself last time I left Nevarro.”

With a huff of laughter you leaned back in your chair, looking at him with a lazy tilt of your head. “So I heard.”

Din groaned as he once again mirrored you, leaning back in his chair, his head hitting the rest with a thump. “What did Karga tell you?”

“Nothing. You did.”

His visor snapped down to meet your cocked brow in question. “I did?”

You looked at him incredulously. “Yeah, it was one of the first things after I got on the Crest. You don’t remember?”

He sighed as his head lolled back against the chair again. “I’ve told you a lot of things. I guess it’s gotten lost in the mountain of others.”

That made you pause. “Do you not tell other people these things?”

Din spun back around to face the console. “I don’t tell other people much of anything.”

“Neither do I.”

“Patu.” Din looked over his right shoulder at the kid, shaking his head gently after a moment. You smiled as you looked at the little green face staring back with wide eyes. It was clear what he had meant. Neither do I.

Xxx

You unloaded boxes while Din flew the kid up to the top of the hill with the structure. Looking at the holo projection as Grogu screeched with glee, you saw Din’s visor angle down to the little green ward in his arms, the widest grin you’d ever seen on his face.

Carrying the holopad with you down the ramp and toward the hatch the workers had been stationed under on Nevarro, you felt a matching smile climbing your face at the infectious joy radiating off the kid.

After you set the pad near the landing gear of the ship on the ground, you pried the panel off and gave it a cursory glance for anything out of place.

“Hey, Din? Is there supposed to be a coupling by that bundle of wires closest to the landing gear?”

“No?” He answered after a moment. “Keep the panel open, I’ll be right there to look-”

You stood up straight. “No! No. Take care of the kid, I’ve got this.” Right? Right. It was just a patch job, something they used because they ran out of the necessary parts. “All you would do is take it off and look at it, and that’s all I’m going to do.”

“What if it explodes? I have armor-”

Sputtering, you stopped that train of thought immediately. “It’s not going to explode, stop it. Go.”

Din sighed. “Okay. But be careful.”

“I will. I’ll remove it then set it over with the crates I offloaded. They are way across the clearing. One of them broke when I lifted it and they are definitely bad already.” A shudder ran down your spine as you remembered the rancid smell of the expired packets. Pushing it as far away as you could in favor of more pleasant thoughts, you focused back on the device in your hand. Well, maybe not more pleasant, you thought with a grimace. “That way if it explodes or anything, it’ll be as far away from the Crest as possible.”

“What color was it?”

If Din could see your face right now, he’d make some joke about the comical twist of confusion screwing up your features. Is he asking about the ration packs? “What?”

“The coupling. What color?”

Oh. Of course. Why would he be asking about the- You shook your head. “Metal, like the rest of the interior of the ship.”

He huffed. “No, the light. The blinking light on the top.”

You froze. Staring at the light as it blinked lazily, you began to sweat and swallowed roughly. You hadn't mentioned that. “It went between red and green alternating.” Looking up and across the field at the crates of expired rations longingly, you wished for five minutes ago when the world was simpler, the worst problem to deal with some stinky food.

“Dank farrik!” Din’s voice hissed over the holopad, making you wince before it lowered back down to nothing but business. “Was it ever blue?”

Looking down to the part in your hand, your stomach sank as it flashed blue in your palm. “Yeah.”

Din sighed. “It’s a tracker.” You faintly registered what he was saying, but the word tracker kept echoing around your head on a loop, almost in tandem with the blinking of its light. “It’s not going to explode or anything, at least it shouldn’t, but it still wouldn’t hurt to get it as far away from the ship as possible. I’ll look at it when I come back down.”

Don’t ask. Don’t ask. Don’t ask. “What does the blue light mean, Din?” You couldn’t stop staring at the small offending tattletale in your palm.

“Red’s recording location, green is receiving signal, blue is…. sending.”

You nodded even though he couldn’t see you. Great. “So it’s still active.”

Din hesitated before sighing. “Yes.”

“Osik!” Eyes shut tight, you went to clench your fingers around the device in aggravation, but thought better of it at the last second, stretching them out instead as far as possible while you glared at the device. You wanted to throw it across the clearing. “Should I step on it or something-” (“Shit!”)

“No!” He cut you off before lowering his voice. “No. We don’t want whoever it is to know we’re on to them.” Oh, but I do. Let them sweat a little bit. Let everyone know you don’t mess with- “Hopefully we can trace it back to whoever is getting the signal.”

You tried not to let your mind wander, but you couldn’t help it. Once it started, it was a rapid fire trail down the list of names. Endless possibilities of- But one in particular stood out. One sounded more likely than the rest…. “Din, what if it’s-”

“No,” he said again. “Don’t even start. There’s no way Gideon…. No.” The jet pack powered down. “I’m here. We’ll talk about it later. Just get it as far away from the ship as possible for now in case I’m wrong and it is some sort of explosive-”

“I’d almost prefer that at this point.” You hadn’t meant to interrupt him, but your mind was short circuiting right now, watching the loop of blinking lights repeat every few seconds. Red. Green. Blue. Red. Green. Blue. Red…. And the cycle repeated. Again. And again. And again.

Din laughed softly.

Screwing your eyes shut, the colors still flashed behind your eyelids. Red. Green. Blue…. “Plus you’re almost always wrong, so….”

The laugh melted into a soft growl.

Looking down to the holopad, you saw the camera pan around the mountaintop, a large circular stone in the middle of several taller stones. Whispers started to fill your mind. Nothing menacing, or sinister this time, but just gentle…. Nudges.

A sense of calm, of peace came over you, and the flashing of the tracker suddenly seemed trivial, the flicker of its light no longer a looming omen, but merely another happening in the day.

“Well, I guess this is it,” Din mumbled. “Does this look Jedi to you?”

You snorted as the whispers faded. “Don’t look at me, I just learned how to jump.” Not wanting to walk across the wide expanse of the valley, you looked at the tracker in disdain before floating it across the clearing, setting it delicately on top of one of the crates before you grabbed another crate and the holopad and headed back up the ramp of the Crest. “But just out of curiosity, what exactly makes something look…. Jedi…. to you?”

Din grunted.

The grin on your face kept climbing. “I’m only asking, because, you know…. I mean, you’re surrounded by it, really, so…. The kid…. Me, kind of…. Ahsoka.”

“What do you want me to say?” He sounded exasperated but amused.

Setting the crate down near the opening of the ramp with a huff, you stood up straight, turning back to the holopad with a smirk. “Well you haven’t said laser swords, so I guess that’s a good place to start.” The last crate was at the bottom of the ramp, and you made your way down to it leisurely.

Din grumbled, changing the subject. “I guess you sit right here.” The camera went out of focus as he shuffled the kid onto the top of the large stone in the center before taking a few steps back, the picture clearing back up quickly. You smiled at the sight of tiny Grogu on the large pedestal. “Okay. Here we go.”

Staring at the projection intently, you waited, but not even a voice entered your mind. Only silence stretched on as the kid tilted his head fondly at Din, cooing softly.

“This is the seeing stone, are you…. Seeing anything?”

With a roll of your eyes, you set the holopad on top of the box before picking it up by the handles with a grunt, and trudging up the ramp. “And you got after me earlier….” Making your way back up the ramp before setting your load down with a thud, you grabbed the holopad off the crate and collapsed to the floor, legs spread out lazily in front of you as you tipped your head back into the shade of the hull and out of the sun, laughing softly at Din’s response.

“Don’t start.” He walked around the large orb Grogu sat upon, his visor panning up and down as he surveyed for any clue. “Or are they supposed to see you? Maybe there’s some kind of control or something.“

A butterfly flew by, the child reaching for it with a soft squeal.

Din sighed, the tilt of the camera telling you his weight had shifted, his head cocking to the side in aggrivation. “Oh, come on, kid. Ahsoka told me all I had to do was get you here and you’d do the rest.”

Grogu looked poised to respond, but all three of your attentions were pulled to the sky when a ship flew over, beginning a landing pattern, circling lower and lower.

You were on your feet before you’d fully processed the decision to do so, everything spinning slightly from the speed with which you’d moved. Bracing a hand on the frame of the opening of the Crest, trying to keep the world from spinning any faster, you peered up toward the incoming ship, squinting against the bright sunlight. There was no particular aura around it, nothing menacing, but also nothing safe…. It was just blank. And that was almost more concerning.

Turning your attention back up toward the mountain top where the other two members of your clan were still investigating, you saw the shiny glint of your Mandalorian come into view on the ledge nearest to the Crest, looking down at the new visitors.

Din ran to the edge of the clearing, his visor turning down toward you, voice clear and calculating over the holopad. “Stay on the ship. We’re coming down.” With a few quick steps he was back in front of Grogu. “Time’s up, kid. We gotta get out of here.”

You saw a pillar of light shoot into the air, continuing high into the sky. Looking down to the holopad, you saw from Din’s perspective the beam of light was actually an energy field protecting the child, emanating from the stone. In the center Grogu sat in a perfect meditation pose, and the corner of your mouth twitched up. You’d been working with him on that.

The whispers were back, swirling around you, soft, kind, inviting, but above it all rose Din’s calm voice, “We don’t have time for this. We got to get….”

Before you could stop him, he tried to reach through the force field, the energy throwing him back across the mountaintop.

“Din!” You took a few steps forward, even though he was all the way up there, out of your reach.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he huffed as he got to his feet, turning back to face the light. “Hey! Snap out of it, kid!”

If the Mandalorian was one thing, he was persistent. “Din, that’s not going to work! It’s-”

“We got to get out of here!” Was your end of the conversation muted? With an aggravated huff you pushed that thought aside. Now wasn’t the time, he was just worried about the kid, you would be, too. You were. But you understood more than he did, the workings of the Force and other things, and that helped put you at ease, whereas he was fighting blind.

The child was at peace, one with the Force emanating from the stone, and you knew so long as he was there, he was safe. Nature would not abandon those it was reaching out to so intimately.

Din’s helmet swiveled to see a heat signature exiting the new ship where it had landed before turning back to the kid. “I’ll see if I can buy you some time. Can you please hurry up?”

As Din began to climb down the mountain, you started up the ramp toward the weapons locker. “I just have to grab another blaster, then I’m on-”

“No,” Din interrupted. “Stay.”

You paused, hands on the handles of the locker, completely frozen in place. So he did hear you. Good. Then he would hear exactly how low your voice dropped as you ground out, “Excuse me?”

“Until we know what’s going on. The kid is safe in that…. Thing, the ship is the next best thing for you until we know more about whoever this is. Probably whoever tracked us.” He sounded beyond exasperated. This was beyond his wits end, Force barriers and ancient temples, but he was trying.

You hesitated. “Keep your comms on. I’m staying on the ship only because we might need a quick get away.”

He was smiling, you could hear it. “Fine. But I’m turning the camera off. Runs down the charge-”

“Are you sure you aren’t a droid?” The locker doors squeaked as you opened them.

He hesitated only a moment, his voice low and unamused. “What?” The projection went dark, but the sound was still clear as ever, now coming from the comm on your belt.

Surveying your options, you grinned. “Nothing. Just trying to change the subject.”

Before he could respond, the sounds of blaster fire rang through the comms. Of course this is right after he cut the live feed. Shoving the holopad somewhere in the back of the weapons locker, you reached blindly for the nearest weapon. When you looked down and realized what it was, you smirked, slinging it across your shoulders. This’ll do.

“I’ve been tracking you, Mandalorian.” The voice was new to you and yet…. Something in the back of your head stood on alert at the sound. It wasn’t bad, it was just something…. Like an old friend had suddenly come back and stood in the next room discussing the weather. Mundane but comforting. Something about it pulling just at the edge of your memory….

“Are you Jedi?” Why does he assume Jedi after two seconds? You really needed to sit down with Din and have a Force Basics class, or something. “Or are you after the child?”

“I’m here for the armor.” That voice…. That niggling in the back of your mind wouldn’t be silenced. You knew this person. Somehow, in some lifetime, you’d crossed paths, maybe for only a moment, but it had been enough that your memory had decided to log it away for future use.

“If you want my armor, you’ll have to peel it off my dead body.” Rolling your eyes at Din’s reply, you double checked your weapons on your belt, freezing at the newcomer’s next reply.

“I don’t want your armor. I want my armor that you got from Cobb Vanth back on Tatooine. It belongs to me.”

Your head was spinning. That voice. It was older, gruffer than the last time you’d heard it, all those years ago on Coruscant. It couldn’t be….

“Are you Mandalorian?”

“I’m a simple man making his way through the galaxy. Like my father before me.”

Suddenly you were twelve years old again, the feeling of beskar stopping you like a wall of durasteel in the middle of the street slamming into you full force. Screwing your eyes shut, you leaned into the feeling. The voices all swelled at once, whispering indistinctly in one loud cacophony. No words in particular stood out until one repeated over and over.

Run.

Run!

As your eyes flew open, the conversation between the two men came back into focus, the newcomer issuing a threat.

“….I have a sharpshooter up on that ridge with a locked scope that will unload by the time my body hits the ground.”

Your feet began moving before you could think twice.

Din’s voice was dangerously low. “I’m the one wearing beskar. As soon as I see that muzzle flash, you’re both dead.”

The other man sounded amused. “I didn’t mean she was going to shoot you. My friend’s locked onto that little companion of yours up on the henge.”

You’d never moved so fast in your life.

A female voice came over the comm. “And if you remember, I don’t miss.”

“Fennec?” The shock in Din’s voice was not missed by you.

“You have a keen ear, Mando.”

They were just around the corner.

“You point that gun away from the kid or I’ll drop you both where you stand.” You heard his whistling birds engage and knew things would be winding down soon. Whether by choice or by violence, that was anyone’s guess.

“And if he doesn’t, I don’t miss, either.” All three heads snapped to you as you walked up from behind Din with your blaster drawn, aimed at the man, a second in your other hand pointed at the woman you guessed to be Fennec, and the rifle you’d stolen from the guard on Corvus slung across your shoulders and resting snugly on your back.

Looks were exchanged in the silence, Din shifting his weight slightly, but you saw his shoulders relax when you took a step closer to him.

The strange man looked resigned. “Let’s all put down our weapons, have a chat. There’s no need for bloodshed.”

Din gestured to the sniper with his blaster. “Tell her to drop the gun.”

“Tell her to drop hers,” Fennec fired back, letting out a soft huff after the man shot her a look. “Please.”

“After you put down the jet pack,” the man amended.

Din hesitated. “Same time.”

Despite saying ‘same time’, he waited until they were disarmed and off the child before he even reached for his jet pack. As everyone set their respective offending items down, you lowered your weapons, holstering them at your sides as you slid up next to Din.

“What are you doing here?” He mumbled, turning his face away from them as he set the jet pack against a large stone.

“It seemed like you might need some help.” Glancing over to the two strangers where they now stood across from you, you stood up taller. The man watched you with a critical eye as Fennec moved easily across the ledge she had been on toward her companion. “Looks like I was right.”

“I had it handled,” he groused, looking at you. “I told you to-”

Your face snapped over to peer into his visor, your reflection in the T doing nothing to dull the fire in your eyes as it blazed. “Din, so help me, you mention me staying on the ship one more time right now, I will throw you back there myself from here,” you hissed lowly, so the others wouldn’t hear. Taking a deep breath, you tried to calm your voice, speaking as evenly as possible. “I can sense the kid, he is perfectly fine right now, safe, and where I need to be is here with you, so just….”

“Okay,” he agreed softly, nodding once at you before turning to the newcomers as Fennec finally made it off the ledge she’d been perched on.

Looking at the man for the first time, really looking, you tried to picture him a little bit shorter, a few years younger, that armor on the ship in much better shape…. Maybe if you squinted it would fit…. A name drifted in from their conversation, Boba Fett, and you tried to apply it to your memories of the armor. You studied his face as the three of them continued to exchange words, long jagged scars criss crossing his bald head; they looked painful. Finally something he said brought you back to the conversation at hand.

“I want my armor back.”

Din sounded exasperated at this point, and you wanted to smile. Everything about him was tired and the weight of it was starting to show. “It goes against the Mandalorian Creed.”

“The armor was given to my father, Jango, by your forebears. In exchange, I guarantee the safety of the child, as well as your own.” Boba looked at you, something in his eyes sparking as they fell to study your vambraces, then the mudhorn on your weapons at your waist before rising back to hold your steady gaze. “And that of your riduur.” (“Partner.”)

Before you could even think to respond, Fennec began.

“The bounty on your little friend has risen significantly. You can buy ten suits of armor for the price on its head.”

You’d had enough. “It is a he, and he has a name.”

She tilted her head at you in a small nod, a smirk starting up her face. “My apologies.”

Boba glossed over the small hiccup and circled back to the matter at hand. “I’d say we’re offering a fair deal under the circumstances.”

A ship suddenly flew overhead, low enough to mean intent, but high enough to keep its allegiance hidden, drawing all of your attention up to follow it before snapping into action.

Din met your gaze, his head tilting to the side just slightly before a small smile was crawling up your face. “I know. Go. I’ll be on the ship.” You reached out, giving his hand a squeeze as he gave you a quick nod, and you went separate ways, him up toward the child, and you to the Crest.

Pulling up short, you turned around, calling for him to stop. “Mando!” He skidded on the loose dirt, almost losing his footing before he recovered and turned to face you, his head once again tilted in question. Lugging his heavy jet pack up from where it rested on the ground, you took a few steps toward him before giving up and pushing it to him with an unseen force. “Don’t forget this.”

It landed against his chest just hard enough to earn an ‘oomph!’ on impact, his arms closing around it to keep it from falling. He nodded, lifting it to attach at his back before turning and flying up to the top of the hill.

You watched him go for only a moment, shaking your head fondly before turning toward the Crest once again.

Boba and Fennec scrambled the opposite way, but didn’t seem to be running away, just to a better vantage point. Deciding to trust them, you continued on to the ship.

Dashing up the ramp, you made it up right before the ramp lowered on the new ship, the voices of stormtroopers filling the clearing as heavy boot falls descended, thudding across the dusty surface of the planet. You hated it. It felt tainted. They shouldn’t be here. This was sacred ground, a special place, once a great temple….

Looking down to make sure your comm was clicked off so they wouldn’t know you were here, you startled when the troopers began dropping rapidly, blaster fire filling the air. Glancing around the corner you’d ducked behind, you saw Fennec perched halfway up the hill, picking them off one by one. Boba was nowhere to be found, but you knew he was close by. You could sense him.

And that’s when you knew.

He felt the same as when you ran into him in the streets of the Uscru district back home, something you didn’t understand at the time, but you did now. A sense of something broken, something healing, something safe, and something entirely good. Yes, he had shadows, dark places you could clearly see, but so did everyone. At his base, he was a good man, and you’d somehow run smack into him again.

Rolling your eyes, you sighed. I wish the universe would quit trying to prove a point so loudly.

Boba popped out from behind a rock right beside Fennec and for some reason, that made you smile. You knew he was there. He gestured to her and she nodded before they moved further down the hill.

If you didn’t have Din and a tiny little ward counting on you, you’d join them. But something inside told you to lay low. At least for now.

You watched Boba reappear like a shadow, slinking around the rocks as if he’d lived here all his life. He took out troopers left and right with the staff that had been strapped to his back. Your eyes were wide as you saw it shatter helmets with each hit.

Your attention was pulled away by an explosion, finding some troopers set up near the base of the hill launching explosives toward Fennec. She was still doing okay, but was having a harder time maintaining fire, ducking behind rocks to try and avoid the flying pieces of gravel. Her fire suddenly stuttered, and you saw her pause, following her line of sight, and you froze.

You didn’t know what it was, but you knew it was big. A trooper swung a massive gun on a stand toward her and opened fire as she scrambled away further up the hill. It’s shots came in rapid succession, hardly any pause between them as they turned the landscape into one giant curtain of sparks and smoke. It followed her as she ran along a ridgeline, something amusing tickling you that even with this massive weapon, they still couldn’t hit the broadside of a hillside. A small wave of relief washed over you as she finally ducked behind a large rock to hide from the blasts.

They kept pelting it with fire, launching their explosives at the rock in an attempt to dislodge it or her, whichever crumbled first, and you saw the rock begin to wiggle after an impact. An idea came into your head, and you saw Fennec disappear behind the boulder, so you reached out to see if maybe you could catch a glimpse and see if you were on the same page. You were.

From there it wasn’t hard to stay connected to her, almost seeing through her eyes as you enacted your plan.

As she braced her feet on the rock and pushed, grunting a “One,” you gave a little nudge yourself, but it barely budged.

She tried again, “Two,” and this time when you pushed a little harder, you saw it wobble forward.

Knitting your eyebrows, you focused on the large gun, causing it to jam. You gave one last push with Fennec’s shouted, “Three!” as she put everything she had into a final shove with her feet, sending the rock careening down the hill. Refocusing your efforts, you tried to guide it as best you could so it hit the most stormtroopers on the way down, including the massive gun at the bottom.

Only one was left, he had an orange shoulder marker indicating he was in change, but just as quickly as he issued orders to anyone left standing, Boba tapped him on the shoulder with his staff, making him turn only to have his feet swept from under him, his armor soon in pieces as he lay motionless at Boba’s feet.

He turned to look at the Crest, and you could feel his longing. Flipping your comm back on in case things took a turn, you stepped into the light. Stepping into the wide opening of the lowered ramp, you crossed your arms over your chest. He closed the distance between you quickly but cautiously. Standing at the bottom of the ramp, he fastened his staff onto his back as he peered up at you.

"I've come for what's mine."

"Well all of this is mine, buddy." You gestured to the interior of the ship behind you with a jerk of your head before aiming your vambrace at him, your flame thrower whirring to life as you held your ground. “I appreciate you protecting the kid, but I still don’t really know you, so just back off. Step away from our home.” He took a step toward you, holding his hands up in surrender when your vambrace whirred faster with a flick of your wrist. “Like I said, everything that’s in here is ours, so-”

"Not that." He pointed at the set of green Mandalorian armor you’d gotten from Vanth where it hung on the wall behind you.

Lowering your vambrace slightly, you looked at him with wide eyes as another wave of that familiarity washed over you. "It's you?"

He looked truly confused. "Me?"

"You." Lowering your arm fully, you stepped closer to him. “It’s really you.”

"Uh-oh." Lifting his hands still in surrender higher for a moment, he set one on your shoulder lightly as he maneuvered slowly around you, cautiously. "What do I owe you?"

Turning to keep him in your sights, you shook your head. "No, I-"

Boba stopped, turning to face you fully, both of you at the top of the ramp, with his arms hanging easily at his sides. "If Fennec ever wronged you, I can assure you she's a changed person now. We're working on-"

You laughed. "No! It's you! Nau ki’bas’ika." Something in you marveled at how those words had sounded so foreign back then, but now…. Now they flew off your tongue as if you’d known them your whole life. The little strings around your heart that bound your clan of three together cinched ever so slightly tighter, which you didn’t even think was possible. Every time it happened, it took your breath away. Every added knot one more confirmation in a long line of things that you were where you were supposed to be. (“Little light bug.”)

Understanding dawned on his features, something soft coming over his eyes. “Te ad'ika...?” He smiled. "My, how you've grown." (“The little one.”)

Din’s voice crackled over your comm. He sounded panicked, and it pulled you right back to the moment at hand. He never sounded panicked. "Do you have eyes?! I can't see them! The kid! He's-"

Looking up at Boba, you gestured down the ramp. "I have to-"

He didn’t even let you finish, gesturing you down the ramp with a nod of his head. "Go."

As you ran toward the beam of light protecting the kid, you’d never felt like the world had moved more slowly. You were moving as fast as you could, practically floating above the ground, defying the laws of physics as you pleaded with the Force to give you the boost needed to make it in time. Please. They were your family. Not like this.

It was a loop in your head as you closed in on the mountaintop, not even out of breath.

Please, not like this.

But for all your physical speed, the world around you seemed to move by in sluggish streaks of blurry colors. Nothing was in focus except the ridge you were trying to reach. Nothing else mattered except for that ridge. More specifically, what was on it. As your jaw set in determination, you leaned into your sprint, pushing even harder to reach the top as soon as possible.

You faintly registered another ship coming in to land by the other, the sounds of blaster fire picking back up again down below as you crested the top, finally seeing Din and the child for the first time in what felt like hours. You let out a breath you didn’t realize you were holding.

Din was laying on the ground, so you helped him to his feet.

“What’s going on? Did you fall?” A cursory glance from head to toe didn’t show any major injuries or cause for alarm, but then again, the beskar would probably hide most things. You reached out to rest your hand on his upper arm, but he didn’t even look at you.

He turned to face Grogu, completely ignoring your question. “That’s it, kid. We got to get out of here!”

Din began trying to push through the barrier again, grunting and struggling as he ignored your protests.

“Stop it! Din, no, it’s not- You’re just going to-”

He bounced back like he’d been launched, shaking his hands almost as if he’d been burned or shocked.

“It’s not going to work,” you finally concluded, unable to help your grin as he rolled his head to glare at you before looking off the edge of the mountain to the ships down below, pressing something on the side of his helmet.

Turning back to Grogu, he huffed. “Okay, I’m gonna protect you.” He said it like it was his choice, like there were other options, and a wall of Force energy wasn’t dictating this whole situation for him. You had to look away so he wouldn’t see your smile. “Just stay there. I’ll be back soon.”

Following where he had been looking down the edge of the rocky terrain, you saw Fennec begin to take more heavy fire. “Din, go help her! They offered to help keep the kid safe, and if we get out of here, we’re going to need that help. Now go!”

He nodded. “Stay with him. Please?”

You couldn’t help the small smile. “Where else would I be?”

Din nodded again, a short, relieved sigh letting his shoulders relax slightly. “Keep your comm on.”

You nodded in confirmation before gesturing him down the mountainside. Once he was gone, you turned to look at Grogu. The Force wall evaporated, leaving the kid in a dazed state as he blinked drowsy eyes and breathed heavily, falling to the side to curl into a little ball, instantly asleep.

Opting to leave him be, since you didn’t really understand giant seeing stones and their way of doing things, you kept watch at the edge, eyes watching down below and ears tuned in to the child behind you.

Din and Fennec fought back to back until an explosion rocked the earth near them, sending troopers flying. Not again, you thought. You began to look around for a rock you could launch down the hillside without tiring yourself out too much, when you noticed a flash of green armor, and you grinned.

When Boba sent rockets flying out of a piece on his knee, you picked up your comm. “I finally found something your armor doesn’t do.”

Din grumbled in response, making your smile grow.

The troopers began to run away after just a few well placed attacks from Boba, and your grin turned into a smug smirk when you saw him twirl his gun like Din had on Corvus.

Your comm crackled before Din’s voice came back over. “At least he can do that properly.”

This time you grumbled.

As the ships took off with all the troopers piled back in them, you made a last second decision after looking at a sleeping Grogu once more. He’d wake up starving. Now that the coast was clear, you were just going to grab a ration pack and hurry back up to be there when he woke up.

Jogging down the hill, you were quick to dash up the ramp of the Crest, grabbing a ration pack before turning to head back up. You paused when your comm went off.

"Mesh'la?"

The connection was staticky, and you could barely make out his one word as you began to walk forward again. "On the ship. I'II be out in a second…. Just had to get the-"

The comms went out with a wave of static, making Din turn to look at the Crest, pressing the button for his comm on the side of his helmet once, twice, but nothing worked.

"Mesh'la?" He tried quietly, knowing you couldn't hear. Before he could push it a third time, a laser bolt shot down from the sky, streaking toward the Crest faster than he could comprehend. "Mesh'la!"

Xxx

Din POV

Everything moved in slow motion, the path of the bolt streaking through the sky something he wanted to look away from but didn't dare to even blink.

Before he could take even two steps closer to his ship, the bolt hit its mark, exploding in a cloud of flames and debris.

The glow illuminated the sky behind the Crest, casting the ship in an eerie glow, the ping of rocks landing on the roof of the ship like rain music to his ears.

He was moving before he had even fully processed what had happened. All he knew was you were somewhere over there, somewhere near the danger, somewhere that was supposed to be safe.

No matter what happened, how he tried, the people in his life seemed to pay for being a part of it. First his parents, then countless others he’d tuned out over the years, telling himself it was easier if he just didn’t have people in his life in the first place. And that was true. It was so much easier not worrying about the kid. Not worrying about you. If both of you were safe. Warm. Fed. Happy.

But it was also so much emptier.

That was a life he wasn’t willing to go back to. Not now. Not after so many months of days filled with…. Just filled. Even in moments of silence, of nothing, of sleep, it was so much more, so much better than anything before. And he wasn’t willing to go back. Not if he couldn’t go back to you.

He slid on his knees on the grass the last few feet to where you laid on the ground at the bottom of the ramp, the wind knocked out of you. You moaned softly, trying to push up onto your elbows. Din maneuvered so he was behind you, letting you lean on him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. I think so?” You grimaced. “What happened?”

“They shot the tracker. Why were you on the ship?”

“I came down for a ration pack for the kid, he’s gonna be wiped out after-” Your eyes went wide and you snapped them up to look at his visor straight on. “The kid!”

Xxx

Normal POV

Once again running faster than you thought you ever could, you leapt across the tops of the stones on the mountainside like they were stairs, charging ahead of the others. Landing on the top, you skidded on the dusty stone before closing the last few steps to the seeing stone, turning to put your back to Grogu, your saber already drawn and ignited, ready.

Above you, four black humanoid shapes came into view, coming straight for the kid. They landed in a circle around him, and you realized they were droids.

“Hey, grease breath, think again,” you said firmly, pulling back to swing your saber, but the one closest to you grabbed your wrist, jerking you to the side and off balance, making you stumble. Your saber slipped from your hand, skittering away from you as the droid flung you the opposite direction.

You tried to reach out with the Force and stop them, but the world started spinning, the explosion and your exertion finally catching up with you, and all you could do was watch with your hand reaching toward him as Grogu sat up wide eyed. He looked at you, a wave of calm washing over you like a breath of fresh air, and it took everything in you not to cry. Even in moments where he was in danger, he was trying to help you not be scared.

Everything blurred through unshed tears as the droid snatched him, all four taking back off into the sky just as Din and Fennec crested the top of the mountain.

“They’ve got the baby,” Fennec said into a comm, and you smiled. At least now she was calling him a baby. “Don’t let them get away!”

“Stop him. I don’t want the child hurt.” Din’s voice was deceiving my calm, but you knew better. This day was catching up with him fast. If you felt like this, you could only imagine how he felt. It was just him and the kid before you even came into the picture. If anything were ever to get to a Din, this would be it.

After that you let yourself collapse back on the ground, exhaustion catching up with you. With your eyes closed you weren’t sure, but you heard footsteps come closer to you, and you assumed it was Din. The soft groan he let out as he knelt beside you confirmed it, and in better circumstances, you’d smile, make a joke about it.

But these aren’t better circumstances.

The kid is gone.

Grogu is gone.

Opening your eyes as Din helped maneuver you into a seated position like down by the ramp, you put your hand on his wrist, stopping his movements. “I’m sorry.” You could only just barely whisper.

“What?”

Looking up to hold his gaze, you felt the tears finally fall. “I’m so sorry, Di- Mando.” Your eyes flitted over to Fennec briefly, confirming she was close enough to hear, but she was trying hard not to, looking down at the ground as she stood patiently to the side.

“Hey,” Din pulled your attention back to him. “This wasn’t your fault.”

“But it was.” Your voice quivered without your permission. Swallowing in an attempt to clear it away, your eyes darted over every inch of his visor, searching for something you couldn’t quite pinpoint. “If I had just stayed up here, not gone for the stupid snack-” Shutting your eyes tight, you saw Grogu even in the darkness, his wide eyes staring at you as he offered you that last wave of peace, and a fresh wave of grief replaced all the good.

Din didn’t let you finish the thought. “He would have wanted that-”

You didn’t let him comfort you, either. Eyes flying open, you stared at him with brows raised incredulously. “-or let them knock my saber out of my hand-”

He really wasn’t going to let you win. “You’d just been in an explosion-”

“Stop trying to make this okay!” You yelled, eyes screwed shut. Then, quieter, “It’s not okay.”

“It’s also not your fault.” Din matched your quiet tone, his voice calm and collected, and you didn’t know how.

You opened your eyes to glare at him. “It’s not yours.”

“Nope.” Knitting your eyebrows, you tilted your head at him. He eased back on his haunches with a soft groan, moving you gently into a more comfortable position. “I blame Gideon.”

You rolled your eyes before huffing out a laugh. “Well, duh.”

Laughing softly, you closed your eyes again when his forehead came to rest softly against yours. The kid still appeared with every blink, but it was quickly becoming comforting again instead of the heavy weight still on your chest. You’d make this right. Not for yourself, but for Grogu who deserved everything good and kind in this galaxy. And for Din, who deserved everything…. Just everything. You’d make this right for them.

“Whatever ends up happening with the kid, will be because of you, mesh’la,” Din echoed your words to him from back on the ship earlier today. “You’ve fed him, you’ve taken care of him, he’s learned from you. Already. No matter how powerful.” Silent tears raced down your cheeks as he continued to repeat what you’d said. “He’s going to be okay. And it will all be because of you. It all comes back to you.”

Xxx

Staring at the crater that almost was the Crest, smoke tendrils curling into the air, you crossed your arms over your chest as you surveyed the scene.

“It could have been so much worse.” Your voice was barely a mumble, your words barely legible. “They could have gotten the ship. If I hadn’t…. That tracker.” Breath caught in your chest, you tried to calm yourself with a deep, shuddering breath. “They could have gotten you.” Turning to face Din, your eyes wide, you swallowed roughly as you pushed that thought away. Clearing your throat, you found a strength to your voice somehow, small though it was. “I’m just glad you and the kid weren’t in there. I know…. I know he’s gone, and we’re gonna get him back, Din, don’t worry, but….” You shook your head as you looked back at the crater. “It could have been so much worse.”

Din gently dug into the little bag on his belt, your eyes following his almost hesitant movements. He sighed as he slowly pulled out the smallest red flower on a long thin stem. “He…. The kid.” He cleared his throat. “Grogu picked this at the top of the hill, and I think…. I think it was for you.”

Blinking a few times you stared at the small bud. “W-wha…” you cleared your own throat. “What makes you think that?”

“Whenever he’s picked up stuff for you before, the rocks and that beetle on Arvala-7…. He makes a certain noise, well a series of noises that I think is his way of saying your name. It’s always the same. He says it when you tuck him in at night, too.”

You stared at his visor, your voice small as you tried not to let the tears fall. “That’s what that babbling is?” You reached for the flower, taking it delicately with a small smile, your voice smaller still. “My name?” Twisting the fragile stem along your fingertips, you brought it up to smell it, the sweet scent making your lips turn down slightly as your thoughts turned back to the kid. “It’s never sounded more beautiful.”

You turned toward the Crest behind you, looking up at the ship that had seen better days in an attempt to hide your face, swiping blatantly at the tears silently tracking down your face with the palm of your hand.

The ship had not been damaged directly, but flying gravel had ricocheted, denting spots on the hull and causing a few panels to dangle, hanging on by a wire or a single bolt clinging for dear life.

“She just doesn’t want to give up the ghost, does she,” you mused quietly, a small smile turning up your features as you surveyed the tattered walls that had become your home.

Din loomed close behind you, just far enough to technically count as space. But close enough that when you took a deep, steadying breath, you felt a wall of beskar firmly press into your spine.

A soft huff of laughter left his modulator close to your ear as he too tilted his head back to take in the damage. “She hasn’t failed me yet.” His voice somehow got closer. “A lot like someone else I know.”

You smiled, a truly joyful thing, but it quickly melted into something morose, turning down rapidly as new tears raced down your cheeks to join the others. As you tilted your head down into your hands, you felt warm arms come around you from behind, the cold press of beskar against the thin layer of dirt and sweat on your skin doing something to ground you that you weren’t expecting.

“I’m sorry,” you mumbled into your hands. “I’m not like this. I don’t cry. This isn’t-” Lifting your head quickly, your hands coming to rest on his forearms that rested across your chest, you sniffed away the emotions as best you could when you felt the sharp edge of his helmet come to rest on your shoulder. The contrast of the warmth of his body heat under the flight suit where his chin settled in at the curve of your neck, and the cool touch of beskar once again doing something to distract you as his helmet came to rest against your temple with a sigh. “This isn’t me.”

“It’s okay if it is,” rumbled softly into your very bones.

“No.” You swiped at tears angrily again, keeping one hand on his arms before returning the other as well. “He needs me to be strong. You- I need me to be-”

“Mesh’la….”

A stuttering breath caught in your chest as you willed the emotions building again to just try and surface one more time. You dared them. “He’s gone, Din.” A deep breath. “He’s gone.”

Arms wound tighter around you, the press of beskar against your temple more firm, so much so you had to tilt your head to the side to accommodate the pressure. Suddenly you were being turned until your forehead was against his, your hands lost in his cowl as they clutched for a semblance of something familiar. Soft “I know”s and mumbled promises of returns and revenge never ceasing as strong armor clad arms pulled you tighter into himself, every hard line of beskar a welcome familiarity that helped ground you once again.

Sniffling pitifully, you tucked your face further into his cowl to hide. “I’ll be fine. Thank you. I….” Taking a few steadying breaths, you willed your nerves to still. They didn’t listen, but something in you did, and you found the strength to look up into his visor again. “Go talk to Boba and Shand. Figure out the plan. I’ll be over in a minute. Gonna….” Clearing your throat as you released your grip on his cowl, smoothing the fabric as you focused on it instead, you took another deep breath and continued. “Gonna evaluate the damage, see what we need to do to get out of here in one piece. I assume we’ll take her to Peli’s?” Drawing back, hands moving to your hips, you began to study the ship again, tucking the flower from Grogu into your belt. “I’ll make sure we can at least limp there.”

Din hesitated, weight shifting gently from side to side as he studied you.

“Go.” Motioning him on with a jut of your chin toward your new companions, you tried your best grin you could muster. “Just need time.”

He nodded, turning on his heel and walking around to the other side of the Crest, looking over his shoulder back your way only once.

You made it until he was just around the corner, but just barely. As soon as he was, you dropped. On your haunches, clutching your knees close to your chest, silent sobs wracked your body. You bit your hand when stronger ones threatened to take over.

You’d failed.

He was gone.

You weren’t enough.

Shut up!

Tears of sadness quickly turned to anger and the abruptness of it should have flagged something in the back of your mind, but it didn’t. Instead, you just let it roil, let it grow, as it was the only thing that seemed to make the tears stop. You’d always been told anger festered, but this just felt powerful. This felt like a strength you needed right now, and it was what brought you back to your feet, dried your tears, and brought your head back up high.

As you worked your way around the ship, one thought alone consumed your mind. Gideon was gonna pay.

Din was speaking as you came up to the group. “Then that armor belongs to you.” His voice was softer than it had been earlier, and had an undertone of respect. He glanced to the side to look at you, doing a double take, and you wondered why until you caught your reflection in his visor and saw the obvious evidence you’d been crying.

Quickly swiping at your cheek with the back of your glove, you shrugged at him as he tilted his head in question. “I’m fine.”

Boba blessedly circled back to the subject they had been on when you walked up, like he had before. “I appreciate its return.”

With a sigh, Din turned his focus back on the other Mandalorian. “Then our deal is complete.”

Boba heaved a matching sigh, and it almost made you smile. Maybe it was a Mandalorian trait after all. “Not quite.”

You arched your brow. “What do you mean?”

“We agreed in exchange for the return of my armor, we will ensure the safety of the child.”

Din turned his head just slightly to look at you before speaking quietly. “The child’s gone.”

Surprisingly you felt nothing but a twinge of sadness, and that was for Din. The overwhelming feeling that surged through you was anger, and normally it would have had you scrambling for some sort of control, but this time…. This time it only made you smile.

Boba mistook your grin for understanding of his plan and returned your grin before explaining to Din, “Until he is returned to you safely, we are in your debt.”

Din looked at Fennec, and when she nodded in confirmation, he turned toward you.

The words on the tip of your tongue beg to come out. Don’t look at me, I’m the reason he got taken. But you tamp that voice down, you know it’s not true. “Sounds like a plan,” you said instead, hands resting on your hips.

You turned back to survey the Crest once again as they made finer details to the plan, and you only vaguely registered something about following to Tatooine after some minor repairs.

Voices began to swell in your mind, whispers, trying to offer calming things and peace, but you pushed them away. Where were they when the kid was being taken? Shutting your eyes tight, you tried to ignore them, tamp them down, but they swelled even louder, causing the anger in your gut to grow suddenly.

“Mesh’la?”

The voices stopped abruptly for the first time since you’d started hearing them, almost like they’d been strangled, cut off, and you sighed happily.

“Mesh’la, you okay?” A gloved hand gently on your elbow pulled your attention back to the present, making your eyes go wide. These new feelings surrounding you were ones you’d tried to push away time and time again, but now…. Now they fed you, kept you standing under the weight of this massive burden. And that was something to analyze at another time.

“Never better.” You looked up into his visor with a small smile. “So where do we start to get the old girl back in the stars?”

Xxx

The cockpit was silent, aside from the soft whir of hyperspace and the beeps of various instruments.

Staring out the viewport from your seat, you startled when Din finally spoke. “I’m sorry we aren’t going somewhere with fireflies like we had planned.”

You pulled your attention over to where he sat in the captain's seat, finding him staring at Grogu’s empty copilot’s chair. Letting your eyes fall to the empty seat yourself, a single tear racing down your cheek, you smiled fondly. “It’s okay. We’ll make it there eventually.” More silence filled the space until you continued even more quietly. “I’d rather go when the kid can see them, too, anyway. Who knows? Maybe he’d eat some, no matter how hard we tried to keep him from doing so, and he would start to glow.”

A soft chuckle passed the vocoder before his head hung at a broken angle, still staring at the chair as a distinct sniff sounded. He shook his head gently before his chin fell to his chest, his shoulders shaking in silent tears.

“Din….” You were about to unclick your safety belt and go to him when the alarm alerting that the ship was about to drop out of hyperspace sounded.

It was like a switch flipped. He sat up straight. His shoulders rolled back, his head lifted high, and his breathing evened out as he spun around to start taking over the controls necessary as the view through the transparisteel faded from the swirl of hyperspace to the dotted maze of space. The only sign something was wrong was the one deep shuddering breath he took before he cleared his throat, a wet, affected sound, before he finally spoke to you again. “We’re here.”

Xxx

When the ramp dropped down to the dusty earth of hangar 3-5, the prattle of pit droids immediately started in.

You took one step down toward the wave of heat washing over you when you were stopped with a hand around your wrist. Turning, you came face to visor with Din. Arching your brow in question, you waited for him to explain, finally asking an exasperated but quiet, “What?”

“It wasn’t your fault.”

Shaking your head, eyes closed as you scoffed lightly, you began to turn back toward the ramp again. “Din-” But his grip pulled you to a stop again, making your eyes fly open and look down at his hand around yours.

“Stop.” There were so many layers to his single word. You knew he didn’t just mean trying to go down the ramp. He meant blaming yourself. He meant whatever was simmering under your skin since Tython. He meant a multitude of things. Stepping up closer to you, Din tilted his head down to keep his gaze on you, his voice going lower still, almost as broken as you felt. “Just stop.”

Your eyes refused to stay open at that point, fighting back a wave of emotions threatening to make themselves known through tears. Your lower lip trembled in its effort to seal the feelings in, broken things wanting to tumble from you in strings of illegible sentences. “I-”

“No.” He crowded you back against the wall, once again pressing into you, less in an effort to ground you, but more for his benefit this time, his hands cradling the sides of your neck and winding into your hair as he tilted your head back to look into his visor as he went on. “This is his fault. Gideon did this. And he’s the one we’re going after. The kid is smart, he knows it wasn’t- hey, open your eyes.”

Looking up at him through a new swirl of tears, you cursed the swell of emotions and steeled yourself to make it through this conversation.

“There she is,” he said around a smile, his thumb coming to wipe away a stray tear off the apple of your cheek, your brows furrowing at the sensation. His gloves were off.

“When did you-”

He pushed a button on his vambrace, and the ramp started to close, making you do a double take, one of the pit droids squealing as it scrambled to get out of the way.

“What? Din, we need to-”

As the ramp sealed, he pushed another button, setting the interior of the ship into total darkness.

The hairs on the back of your neck stood on end, your stomach doing something stupid as you tried to get your brain to catch up with the rest of your body that apparently knew what was happening already.

After the hiss of his helmet disengaging ended, and a soft thump sounded beside you on the floor, you took a sharp breath in when you felt bare skin come to rest on your forehead. Hairs that stuck out much too long at the sides and the front, long overdue for a trim, tickled your eyelids. A warm breath fanned across your face as he took quick breaths in and out, seemingly lost in the surrealness of the moment like you.

When his fingers found their way back to the sides of your neck, winding their way into your hair once again, you couldn’t help the soft groan you let out, or the renewed one when the puff of air from his chuckle danced across your face.

Din hinged your head back to look up at him once again, even though in the total darkness you could only see the phantom of your imagination.

“Come back to me,” he mumbled, forehead still firmly against yours, his words painting warm breaths across your skin a convincing argument.

“I’m right here.” Your hands snaked up each of his arms, wrapping loosely around his wrists as his fingers slid further into your hair.

He huffed gently. “No, you’re a million miles away.”

“You don’t-”

“Don’t say I don’t understand,” he growled lowly. “Get that out of your head.” After a few shallow breaths, he sighed. “I lost him, too.”

“I was right there, Din-”

“So was I.”

“I left him alone.”

He stepped closer into you, your spine sealing along the wall. “So did I.”

“No, you left him with me.”

Din took a breath like he was going to say something, but stopped short, letting it out on a sigh. “We were both standing right there when he was taken, mesh’la. Those droids would have gotten him regardless. Gideon has been watching us and tracking us, he hasn’t been playing fair.”

“Right. He’s been tracking the ship. You know what else?”

“Mesh’la….” He warned.

“Me. He’s been tracking me. Because of that bounty.” Your hands were in his cowl and you went to push him away but as soon as you started to, you pulled him closer still. Crumbling into the material, your face began to fall, but he pushed it back with his thumbs on your cheeks. “Don’t you see? No matter how you look at this, it all comes back to me.”

A long moment passed before Din spoke softly. “If that’s the case, then it all really started with me.” You blinked up at him, despite not being able to see him. “You have the bounty because of me. He is on the run because of me. Gideon is pissed because of me. It all comes back to me.”

“Din, no. No, you can’t think like that. It’s not-”

“But you can?”

Your mouth snapped shut, hands moving from his wrists to around his neck and into his hair. “You’re so infuriating, you know that?”

His soft huff of laughter painted your skin in warm shades of joy, comfort tinging the entire scene at the seams.

When you speak again, your voice is soft, barely above a whisper, and much breathier than you had intended. “Why’d you take your gloves off?”

Din’s thumbs traced over your cheeks once again, drawing lazy circles as you felt his lips turn up into a smile where he had tucked his face near your temple. “Needed to feel you. Know you’re here.” He let out a long breath into your hair before mumbling, “I think you needed it, too.”

“And your helmet?”

His face pulled away from yours, soon coming back in the form of his forehead on yours, as his words ghosted over your lips. “That? Now that was just for me.”

“Oh really?” You smirked.

“Mmm-hmm,” he hummed, and you could feel his face scrunching up as he grinned once again, all of his features a mere breath away from yours.

“What exactly did you want to get out of it?” You teased, tugging on his cowl.

“Well-” he began, but was cut off by a rhythmic tapping on the hull of the Crest.

A faint, “Mando?” pierced through the darkness, Peli’s voice cutting through the moment like a bantha in a china shop.

Din let out a heavy sigh against your face, groaning in annoyance, chuckling when you couldn’t contain a giggle. “Someday,” he promised.

“I’ll hold you to that,” you teased with a tug on his cowl with one hand before pushing him away.

He groaned as he knelt down to pick up his helmet, letting it seal with a hiss before he turned the lights back on, and lowering the ramp once again. He took a single step down the ramp before stopping when you grabbed his wrist. Continuing down until you wove your fingers with his, you pulled him forward to walk down the ramp with you, hand in hand. Looking over your shoulder with a smile, you mumbled a quiet, “Someday,” only for him.

“Well if it isn’t my favorite little family!” Peli singsonged, arms held out in welcome. Her expression fell slightly after a moment. “Where’s bright eyes?”

The sound of a second ship coming in to land in the hangar pulled your attention upwards, Peli’s immediate confusion and irritation moving her over toward Boba’s ship touching down a few yards away. “I’m sorry. This is a private hangar. You’re going to have to-”

“Peli.” She turned to you, brows raised in question. “They’re with us.”

“What?” Her voice had gone squeaky in confusion.

Not letting go of Din’s hand, you held out your free hand toward her, gesturing her over as Boba and Fennec came down the ramp of his ship. “Come sit with me for a minute.”

“What’s going on?” She walked over quickly. “You’re scaring me.”

Sitting at an overcrowded table covered in parts from at least seven different types of ships, you set Din’s hand on your shoulder as he stood close behind you, reaching both of your hands across the table to take Peli’s hand in yours. “I’m going to tell you something and I need you to keep calm for me.”

She nodded. “I can do that.”

Din squeezed your shoulder. “The kid was kidnapped.”

“What?!” She tried to get to her feet but was yanked back down when you wouldn’t release her hand and she had to sit back down, staring at you with wide eyes.

“It’s okay! We’re gonna get him back.”

“Of course you are!” She said firmly, nodding. “When do we leave?”

You smiled at your friend, tears coming for a whole new reason this time. “No, Peli. We need you to stay here.”

“Like kriff! I can’t shoot hardly worth a damn, and I don’t really know how in the bantha diddle I’m going to help, but dank farrik, we have to get the kid.”

All you could do was blink at her. If you did anything it would be in amusement at her fierce use of bantha diddle.

Din finally came to the rescue. “The person who took him put a tracker on the Crest.” Her eyes flamed as they darted to the ship, and you truly feared for Gideon in that moment. “I need to store it here until this is resolved, keep it off the radar. If she hadn’t seen the tracker and taken it off, the ship would be a pile of debris right now.” Din tilted his head toward you, and Peli turned owlish eyes on you that turned soft in understanding. “Can you sweep it for any more trackers, and house it until-”

“Done.” She held up her free hand, waving off the topic, it was already decided in her mind.

“She also needs a once over. The debris of the explosion did a number-”

“Already being taken care of.” She tilted her head toward her pit droids already well into repairs on the hull of the ship.

As you stared at the large gunship that had become like a home for your little clan of three, you smiled sadly, your voice barely a thing to be heard. “It’s lonely on the Crest without the kid.” Turning to look up at Din to your left, your smile, though still sad, grew just a little. “There's just so many ration packs without him here." The gentle shake of the Mandalorian’s head was encouragement enough to go on. "I miss going to the markets every hour of the day to top up.” Looking back at the ship, you chuckled sadly. “He’d eat a whole bantha if you let him.”

Peli’s hand flipped in your grip, squeezing your hand. “We’ll get the little womp rat back, don’t worry. Mando’s on it.” She did a double take when she saw Boba over your shoulder. “Apparently two Mando’s are on it.” Boba took his helmet off and Peli’s eyes went wide, darting between Din and the new Mandalorian several times before landing on you. “I think my brain just exploded.”

Xxx

As Din picked a few select things to take with him from the Crest, you fiddled with your vambraces, sitting on a crate a few feet behind him.

“So you sent a message?”

He nodded, pulling the beskar spear from the weapons locker and twirling it once with a flourish before attaching it at his back somehow.

Studying him with narrowed eyes to try and understand how, he turned to face you, pushing a button on his vambrace to close the locker.

“Not taking the Amban?”

He shook his head.

“Don’t think you’ll run into any Jawas?”

He grunted in annoyance.

“You’re awfully quiet,” you mused softly, watching him as you buffed your left vambrace with a cloth in your right hand.

“Just thinking,” he hummed.

“About?” You asked after he didn’t go on.

“What to do if Cara won’t help us get Mayfeld out of prison. If Mayfeld won’t flip and help us. If the plan goes, well…. According to plan,” you groaned, “but then we find Gideon and then something goes wrong. If the kid is…. Is already….”

Getting to your feet, cloth and vambraces forgotten, you closed the distance between you, your hand instantly cupping the side of his helmet in your palm to keep his visor on you. “He’s fine, Din.”

“You don’t know. Gideon could have-”

“No. I know, Din. I can feel him. We’re connected, remember?” He let out a short bewildered huff of air. “He’s alright. More than alright. I keep getting surges of….” You smiled, eyes studying the wall behind Din for a moment before coming back to the T of his visor. “Trouble.”

“Then he’s not fine. What do you-”

“No, not that he’s in trouble. He’s causing it.”

Din snorted. “Trouble, huh?” Something proud and smug in his voice.

You nodded. “Along with glee and…. Mischief.” Your face fell into your palm as Din chuckled. “It’ll be a miracle if we get there and the ship isn’t a total wreck floating through space.”

“That would make our jobs much easier,” Din mused quietly, laughter painting his words.

“I’d much prefer Gideon alive.”

Din tilted his head at you in question. “Why?”

Making your way down the ramp, you didn’t bother turning around as you answered, “I have a few things I need to say to his face.”

Xxx

Tags to come!

124 notes · View notes