Tumgik
#so i could hopefully made the stairs look like ramps
simminglytimeladies · 3 years
Text
How does one create a ramp indoors?
1 note · View note
heli0s-writes · 3 years
Text
lights up*
A/N: Stucky (primarily Steve)/Reader. 2k words of idkwhatthisisi’msorry. There was a prompt from six months ago that I wrote this for but I lost the message and I can’t remember! All mistakes are my own, please stop reading if you are not 18+
brooklyn after dark masterlist
Tumblr media
You wake up in scattered shock.
Knee-jerk reaction to fast hands sliding between your thighs, fingers carelessly ticking sensitive skin.
You wake up to a groggy voice, slurred with sleep and raspy-raw.
“Baby,” it croaks from between your legs, “Honey, sweetheart, sugar. Please, please, please let me eat your pussy.”
Wha—
A few disbelieving blinks as you scrabble for your bearings—can’t see shit—still dark—head throbbing.
“Oh god, I wanna sosososo bad,” and then hands are between your knees, spreading your legs apart. “So… damn... tasty. Uh-huh… Come to daddy.”
Who the fuck is—damn it, Bucky.
In the dead hour of four-something when nothing should be moving so intentionally, an unsteady moan tumbles out of him when he starts groping for your ass.
“Buck!” You whisper, kicking your leg to shake him off. Grabbing the covers with one hand, you reach under with the other, swatting his head and trying to get a firm hold on him. Slippery fucking man.
He pauses for a second before his body goes limp, half hanging off the foot of the bed and you groan at his weight. Idiot boy. Two hundred pounds of horny somnambulist dropping like an anchor on your poor legs.
Fiddling now with how to get him back up to his regular spot, you try to do it quietly, the warmth radiating next to your left shoulder a compelling incentive. Even with your wits barely about you, you know better than to wake—
“Whassit? Whas goin’ on?”
Steve. Ah.
“Nothing,” you sigh, reaching over and stroking his arm absently, one foot tapping against Bucky’s waist to urge him upward. “He’s just sleep-talking again.”
Steve makes a groggy noise of comprehension. “Sleep-talking or sleep-fucking?”
“Just sleeping now. Ugh… didn’t mean to wake you.”
He’d come in late again—meetings and paperwork keeping him well after hours. Not even able to do it from home, which would have been nice. At least here you could make sure he was eating, or drinking enough water, or at least be in the presence of good company.
Instead, you and Buck watched a movie, took a few rounds of shots (because he likes the taste and how you look dancing all over the coffee table), fooled around in the kitchen, and turned in around two—Steve nowhere in sight. Some jobs were Captain-Only, which meant you’d have to make peace with being useless.
That’s generally not a task that goes over well. The amount of untamed energy Bucky exudes without Steve’s guidance is… close to being categorized as a natural disaster and trying to stay up with him is always a double-edged sword. Lots of fun, sure, but he requires less sleep than you do and can finagle you into getting piss drunk with a single smirk.  
“Wish you’d been more responsible.” Bone-tired and Steve’s still bossy. His arm is heavy as it snakes over your tummy. “You know he needs direction.”
“Hey, I tried.”
“Issat right? That why your panties’re on the counter? Shirt in the sink, too. Come home close to four and still gotta clean up after the two of you.”
His raspy breath tickles, plump lips crushed just below your ear—enough to start a chain reaction of shudders.
“Go back to sleep,” you huff, embarrassed. It was only a few hours ago so your head’s still a bit fuzzy—vague memory of playful touches before hearing, hop up, baby, from Bucky. And you, tittering and zealous the whole way, kissing him like he’d never been kissed before.
YouTube blinking on the T.V., stuck on some ad because the streaming’s a snail’s pace from when Steve set up the internet and tried to pinch pennies at the same time. Bucky’s specially crafted “Wine, Dine, and Sixty-Nine” playlist refusing to load even half a song afterwards so neither of you could spare your neighbors from hearing all the noises.
Hopefully the laughter was loudest, and not the primal fucking, or the crashing when you slipped off the counter and knocked Bucky on his ass.  
You giggle at that. Years and years together and some nights still feel brand new.
“Have fun without me?”
There’s no real jealousy in Steve’s voice, but there is greed behind the question. A single night away and he acts like he’s never been kissed either.
Your eyes start fluttering when his fingers curl around your hipbone. Je-sus. Hell. It’s too late—early—for this.
You grumble his name, asking him to save it for a couple more hours when your brain doesn’t feel pried free, but, Captain-Only mode activated and he’s not deterred. A bloodhound on a fresh trail.
The hand on your hip turns inward and you’re suddenly aware of him pressed against your body, that hot line of him, pulsing on your upper thigh. He tilts forward, one knee rubbing up your leg. Bucky stirs a little and makes another declaration about how he’s fit for the CEO position of Eating Your Ass, but nothing more after that.
“He do you good?” Steve wonders, apparently not giving a fuck about whether Bucky’s dead or alive down there and instead only worried about repositioning you, rolling you on your side, “That why you’re so happy to get me out of the house? So you two can fool around unchecked as much as you want?”
“Steve, you know damn well—"
His hand slips around the side of your neck, four thick fingers drumming over the ridges of your throat. “Watch your mouth,” he whispers, “before you get yourself into any more trouble.”
He gets mean without enough sleep. And no one would ever guess, but other than working over some poor punching bag that’ll never see the light of day after he gets his hands on it, Captain America likes to fuck it out. You and Buck have properly come out of a few sessions barely alive, feeling like two ends of a slinky that’s taken one too many tumbles down a flight of stairs.
You squirm as he palms your bottom with his free hand, kneading the bare flesh a flimsy pair of sleeping shorts can’t cover.
“Gotta be quiet,” he tells you gently, “Can’t wake him, can we.” Christ help you. What a time to play a game. You mumble under your breath, “Do I have a choice?”
A prod at your already sore entrance, and Steve says, annoyingly convinced, “I think you’ve already made your choice.”
He stills for a second when Bucky flops around on the mattress and then he starts pressing his mouth to your back, your shoulder, other hand holding you steady with expertise. It’s Steve’s favorite position when he wants to be in charge—you, writhing and turned away, usually leaned about 50 degrees and pawing at Bucky’s chest—this morning, feebly snatching sheets instead.
It doesn’t take any buildup. He’s achingly ready; you’re willingly wet. Clothes moved just enough out of the way and his two fingers slide upward, pushing barely to spread you before he quickly replaces it with something much thicker. It’s only been a few seconds. He’s too fast for you to get a word in edgewise, your brain still muddled, body cooperative.
“Huh,” Steve mumbles, slowly feeling his way into position, “A bit fucked loose, aren’t you?”
“Steve,” you hiss in reply, clenching up reflexively the same time mortification bursts across your scrunched- up face. “Don’t say that.”
“Hush, baby.”
“I’m trying—”
“Try harder.” And he’s evil incarnate, you swear. Satan himself packaged up in the neat body of a demigod. He rolls his hips slowly until the tops of his thighs are pressed against your ass, fingers holding so tight you think he’s going to spear right into bone. “Stay still or you’re gonna knee Buck in the cheek.”
You twist your head around, instead, shaking your chin free from his hand, hoping that once he sees your pitiful expression, he’ll find it in his heart to maybe not pound you into oblivion with bells on.
Of course, Steve’s not looking anywhere but down the line of your back and further to where he’s opening you up, bottom lip tucked into his teeth.
You constantly rib him about how he’s making up for all the years he spent with the two working eyes of a mole so now he’ll break his neck to watch. Bucky’s confirmed it multiple times to Steve’s chagrin, cackling at the way Steve goes purple defending himself. You love the stories they tell and retell; you try to spend most your time making up for all those years you weren’t there to find out.
Who isn’t in this relationship? Violently horny like teenagers, the three of you, spending every idle hour mishandling for each other like it’s the first time. Excitement primeval like animals in heat, apparently instinctual enough for one of you to do it in his sleep. Years and years and it still feels brand new.
The bed’s rocking surprisingly moderately for Steve’s usual pace, and it’s a bit heartwarming to know that he’s doing it because he really doesn’t want to wake Bucky, but he ramps up his game. He starts whispering again, meaner, hotter, the damn mouth on Steve Rogers continuing to give you hell this early morning.
He pinches your nipple hard, letting you gasp at the brief sting before he goes back up to your chin, your mouth, and then he puts the entire hand over it.
“Quiet. Not another fucking word out of you. Gotta teach you how to behave this morning, don’t I?” He’s working himself up, working you over, even pulling you back on him by the hips and then wiggling you up and down on him like he’s adjusting you on a saddle. Motherfucker.
Your toes curl, knees grinding, legs folding up to get simultaneously closer and away from him and it feels—it feels so excruciatingly good—the effortless glide of his cock, the burn of friction dragging itself out the more you wriggle. Whatever indelicate sounds falling out of your mouth are getting mashed back in, Steve ramming himself into your body, shaking your brain further loose.
He’s probably louder than he intends to be—you know how he gets when he’s close— bombs could be dropping two feet away and Steve Rogers would hear nothing but the roar of his own wanting, chasing it until he crashes into bits. You’re chasing too, both hands clamped around his wrist, arching your back to near breaking.
“Yeah,” he rasps out, “That’s it, that’s good, baby. Ugnn—back up on me, stay—right there.”
More uneven jerking, he releases your face and starts rubbing your clit, saying, you like it like this? Like me givin’ it to you good like this? And you’re shaking in his arms, the both of you tipping over the edge.
-
“I wasn’t serious,” Steve says later after a few moments, lips all soft and gentle on your neck, rather than fierce like before, “Bout you bein’—” you can feel him shrugging, “Y’know… fucked loose.” He whispers the last part like it’s a sin.
You snort, “You turning decent on me? After railing me to death?”
“You sound pretty lively to me.” He pokes your side, “I just… woke up and remembered how much I missed you last night.”
“I’m not going anywhere. You’ve got both of us here—shit!”
“Steeeeeve,” and the sound of it slaps both you back to reality. Sleep-smashed, more tipsy than any alcohol could make him, Bucky’s giggles break the steady pattern of muffled conversation. His vibranium hand pats around for a new destination, undeterred by the disruption of his previous mission.
You can’t believe it. He’s still asleep.
“Steeeevie,” Bucky mewls again, “Lemme— lemme suck your dick, sweetheart.”
What a menace. Your shoulders start quivering as you poorly hold it back, pfffftppblffpt’s kickstarting Steve into a tizzy right alongside you.
Bursting laughter finally wakes him up. Bucky yelps once, twice, flailing like a cat caught unawares and rolls himself right off the goddamn bed.
Two hundred pounds of newly conscious pervert wallops the hardwood floor and you’re sure the entire apartment complex—if they didn’t hear the ruckus last night—certainly heard it this morning.
1K notes · View notes
Text
Continue - Part 3
Summary: You have been ripped away from your world and tossed into one that is supposed to be pure fiction. You know the stories, how they are supposed to go. Despite your knowledge, you are unable to change the fates of the Fellowship you had grown so close to.
Pairing: Legolas x Modern!Reader
Word Count: 1,957
Warnings/Disclaimers:  Violence, mentions of blood.
A/N: So this one turned into a beast. I wanted to write in some of the Battle of Helm’s Deep to try something different. Hopefully, this worked out, and I didn’t jump all over the place too much.
Masterlist
Tumblr media
“Please, reconsider,” Legolas pleaded with you. “What if the binding magic activates, again? If we are separated, you will be defenseless amongst the chaos.”
You chewed on your bottom lip. He had a point, but still...
Squeezing his fingers, you tried your case again. “Legolas, I understand. I truly do. But I want to help you all on the field, not hide away in the caves. In a battle like this... Every person counts.”
Thunder from the impending storm nearly overshadowed the elf’s sigh. He unlaced a hand and cupped your face, stroking the apple of you cheek with his thumb. “There is that endearing determination, again.” Pulling you forward, he laid his forehead on yours. The tenderness of the action made your heart flutter. “I will not be able to convince you, will I?”
“Not this time, no,” you breathed, a ghost of a smile adorning your face.
With a light huff, Legolas pulled away to help you secure chainmail and light armor. If he couldn’t coax you into staying safe inside the caves with the others who were unable to fight, then he would at least ensure you would have some protection. The goal would be for you to stay by him as much as possible in the upcoming battle, but both of you knew that most likely would not happen.
Just as you remembered from second movie, there was a commotion at the gate. With knitted brows, Legolas took your hand to head outside where you met with Aragorn and King Théoden. Before you stood an elven army, Haldir at the forefront looking as stoic and regal as ever. Relief and hope visibly flooded the Ranger’s body. So much so, that he pulled the elf into a hardy embrace.
Out of all the characters you knew of, the Marchwarden was the only one whose fate was up in the air. There was no mention of his death in the books. Then again, he had not led an army to Helm’s Deep. The second film added drama with his appearance and fall. But… Could that change?
This version of the world seemed to meld the two forms of media together. You had been able to meet Tom Bombadil and his wife Goldberry after leaving the Shire which definitely hadn’t happened in the movies. And then there was the time when Frodo had to be rushed to Rivendell after being stabbed with a Morgul blade. That played out like the film with Arwen cradling his weakened form and speeding away on her horse. You had only caught a glimpse of Glorfindel after meeting Elrond. So maybe… Just maybe…
It wasn’t long after Aragorn released Haldir from the awkward hug that orders to get into position were sent out. Squeezing your hand, Legolas motioned for you to join him with Gimli at the higher parapet where you all could use arrows until the enemy tried to clamber up the walls. Lightning cracked the sky as you reached your station, the accompanying thunder booming off the stone. Your elf had placed you in between Gimli and him. Despite the dwarf not knowing of the magic that tethered you, he cared for you like family. It was almost like you had your own bodyguards.
Checking your bow one last time, you noticed Gimli struggling to see over the wall.
“What’s happening out there?”
“Shall I describe it to you?” Legolas turned his head towards the dwarf who met his gaze with a hum and arched brow. “Or would you like me to find you a box?”
And there was that lopsided smirk that partly caused Gimli’s boisterous laugh. It wasn’t often you saw that kind of smile sneak its way onto Legolas’ face. You bit back a chortle just as the rain plummeted down on the battlefield.
Then the chaos began. An arrow was loosed early into the throng of Uruk-hai and orcs, sending them into a frenzy. Between firing attempts and dodging projectiles, you didn’t notice the ladders hitting the walls.
A sweaty, snarling orc head popped over the edge next to you. It was close enough to smell its rancid, putrid breath. Swallowing your shriek, you took the arrow you were about to notch and shoved it into the creature’s throat. A gurgled screech tore from its mouth as it feel backwards off the ladder. What moment of triumph you had was short lived as a new round of orcs quickly followed. You opted for your sword instead, strapping your bow on your back for later.
Tumblr media
You weren’t sure when you ended up on the ground level. It was all a blur. You were fairly sure you had fallen from the stairs at some point, probably in the middle of defending yourself. You at least remembered laying the mud and scrambling to reach your feet to dodge the next blow before lodging your sword in the orc’s side. Another orc rushed towards you, leaving no time to gather your bearings or look for your companions. After barely managing to take down that opponent, an explosion rumbled from the other side of the keep.
Aragorn.
Adrenaline coursed through you, blood pounding in your ears, as you sprinted off in that direction. By the time you reached him, the ranger was mostly back on his feet. You had only been able to make sure he regained his balance just as an Uruk-hai bulldozed its way to you from the newly breached wall. Jumping away from each other to miss its crudely forged blade, Aragorn and you then lunged forward with your swords, the steel penetrating the thick flesh not hidden away by armor. The Uruk-hai fell into muddy water, its black blood nearly indistinguishable from the muck.
Now focused on containing the breach, a handful of soldiers joined you and the ranger. A mess of Uruk-hai and orc were pouring through the opening. It wasn’t going to be enough. Aragorn called for everyone to start falling back. Just as you were headed off, a flash of red caught your eye. Your breath caught in your throat. Haldir was still on the upper level, making sure his soldiers were able to escape, and he was being surrounded rapidly.
Ripping the bow from your back, you shot at some of the orcs rushing up the stairs. You at least nailed a few of them. Your throat constricted lightly as you fired, either from your exhaustion or the magic warning you about interfering again. You weren’t quite sure at this point. Then, Haldir was hit, his entire world thrown off kilter. He spun wildly to defend himself from the onslaught. An Uruk-hai was readying his blade for the Marchwarden.
Magic be damned. You couldn’t just stand there and watch. Not again.
Sucking in a breath, you closed your eyes and raised your bow. Your chest tingled as you pointed in what you thought was the general direction. Flinging your eyes open, you made a last second adjustment to your aim. Just a touch to the left…
You were able to let go of the arrow just enough to let it fly from your fingers when your lungs froze and muscles locked you in place, leaving you unable to do anything but watch the following events. Your arrow hit the Uruk-hai’s bicep - non-fatal, but enough to cause it to falter. It also recalled Haldir’s focus, enabling him to dispose of his attacker.
He turned to find his savior, his eyes widening upon seeing you. At first you thought he was just surprised, but then you noticed movement in your peripheral. The binding magic still had you rooted to the spot and had ramped up. Your breathing was thin and ragged, vision blurring at the edges. You couldn’t even adjust your gaze to see what was approaching you at such a speedy gait.
An arrow whizzed past your face. A squelch sounded as it pierced the flesh of your supposed attacker. As the orc dropped to its knees, the spell chaining you down released. Gasping and choking on a torrent of oxygen, your burning muscles loosened and you fell back on the tower behind you.
Your head was pounding, muffling out the sounds of the battle still taking place. Warm hands encased your face and lifted your gaze. Panicked blue eyes bore into yours.
Legolas breathed your name. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” you hoarsely replied while nodding, your throat feeling like coarse sandpaper.
The sound of more Uruk-hai and orcs stole your attentions. Legolas let go of your face and snatched up your hand instead, pulling you along with him. The Marchwarden had made it down the stairs and joined you in the retreat. With the three of you, you were able to brute force your way to the inside of the keep.
Tumblr media
Cheers and laughs echoed through the Golden hall. The Battle of Helm’s Deep was over. Saruman had been defeated, locked away in his tower with his lackey Wormtongue. Merry and Pippin were safely back with the company, celebrating the victory with the rest of Rohan. You, however, had chosen to go outside near the beginning of the festivities. There had barely been a moment’s rest between everything. All you really wanted was to decompress.
The cool breeze caressed your skin as you breathed in the clean air, your lips tugged lightly into a smile. You had done it. You had managed to bypass the stupid binding magic that kept you from changing anything. Albeit barely and your muscles still ached from how tightly the curse had wound them, but you still did it.
Leaning on the railing, you looked up at trillions of stars in the night sky. This world was truly beautiful. You could get used to living here if you were never to return to your own. Maybe by then, the curse would ease or end completely.
“Meleth?”
You swung around, facing Legolas who had been standing almost directly behind you.
“Legolas!” you gasped, before sniggering. “You always manage to sneak up on me!”
The elf laughed along with you and joined you at the railing, resting his hand on yours. “Are you well?”
“Never better.” You rested your head on his shoulder. “Thank you, by the way.”
He hummed questioningly while nuzzling your hair.
“Back at the keep. You were right about the binding magic. It did almost get me killed. If it weren’t for you, I may not be here right now.”
Tiny tears began to sting your eyes. This was just as real as your world and you could die just as easily. Legolas and the others had been vital in keeping you breathing. And you just had to try. It was only a fraction of a second that stood between life and death for both Haldir and you. It could have all gone wrong within moments.
Lacing his fingers with yours, he spoke softly, “I will admit, I was terrified when you disappeared. Even Gimli was unable to say what happened. I managed to find you when the air changed again. Seeing you frozen with that orc so close… My heart nearly stopped.” His voice nearly broke at the end.
“I-”
“Just promise me,” he stopped you, turning to where you were facing each other. “Promise me, you will be more careful.”
Gingerly cupping your face with his free hand, his thumb stoked your cheek.
You nodded, “I promise.”
Legolas then kissed your forehead. “Now, you did save the Marchwarden’s life, did you not?” He pulled back, tugging you with him to head inside. “That is added cause for celebration.”
“I guess it is,” you laughed and allowed him to bring you back to the party.
Tag List: @thisbreakableheaven​ @beakami​
212 notes · View notes
neonthewrite · 3 years
Text
Washed Up Winchesters 2
Jacob has brought the waterlogged strangers to shore, where his smaller friends can help them get back on their feet. There's only one issue ... we're not in Kansas - ehhh, Blefuscu anymore!
Cowritten with @nightmares06, the writer behind the @brothersapart multiverse!
Reading time ~10 minutes.
( 1 ) -2- ( 3 ) ( 4 ) ( 5 ) ( 6 ) ( 7 ) ( 8 )
Story Tag
~~~~~
Jacob looked down just in time to see that exhausted lean. He paused his trek through the now-waist-deep water to move his hands even closer to his chest. The tiny knife rested precariously on his knuckle, no longer clung to as a desperate defense by the tiny little person in his hand. Now both of them were out cold, reminding him how much trouble they’d been in when he spotted them.
If he hadn’t rushed out to get to them fast enough …
He didn’t let himself dwell on it. Instead, as carefully as he could, he moved his hands together so he could gently settle the second guy down on his palm next to the first. They lay exhausted and unconscious, hopefully getting plenty of warmth from his hand. For all he knew, they could have been out on the water for hours before he wandered by. That knife tumbled to rest near the first of the two, and he hoped they wouldn’t wake up and decide to put it to use on him.
Hunting monsters. Does that include giants?
On his way back to shore, Jacob kept his eye on the pair of them, but they didn’t stir. By the time the water was barely up to his knees, he worried they might be worse off than he thought.
He was so preoccupied, he missed a small voice calling out for him at first. Back on dry land, with water rushing off of him and almost creating a small lagoon, he didn’t know what approach to take next.
“Jacob! What the hell!”
He finally glanced down to find a familiar, tiny shape waving frantically at him from the seaside cliffs. Those didn’t even come up to half his height, so he squatted down to put himself closer to Chase’s level.
“Chase, they were just floating out there on the water,” he explained. His voice pitched higher with worry, and he held his hand out to the cliff edge for Chase to see.
Chase, normally always ready with a joke or a cheesy remark, was serious as he beheld the bedraggled forms collapsed on Jacob’s hand. “Holy shit!” he hissed, hopping onto Jacob’s fingers like a ramp. He gingerly stepped around the pair and knelt down to see them closer, but frowned. “They were out in the water? How far?”
Jacob leaned closer as if he might see the pair as well as Chase could. “Pretty far. I couldn’t even stand up.”
Chase shook his head and his pitch black hair waved messily. “O-okay. Well. We should probably get them some help. Bring us all back to the house, alright? They probably need blankets, and stuff, or something. I dunno.”
Jacob nodded. “Let me know if they look like they’re gonna wake up before we get there,” he said, before rising to his feet with three tiny people on his hand.
~~~
The first thing Sam noticed, upon waking up, was how dry his mouth was.
Drawing in a raspy breath, Sam turned his head to the side and coughed. His throat was scratchy and dry, as though he'd had no water in hours. Squinting his eyes open, he blinked a few times, the unfamiliarity of his surroundings keeping him confused.
"Dee--" Sam only got the first sound of Dean's name out before his voice gave out and he coughed again. Licking his lips, he tried again, this time forcing out a "Dean?"
“Oh, shit!” a voice from somewhere else blurted. Footsteps followed, echoing slightly in the room lit mostly by tall windows on one side. Thin curtains wafted in a slight breeze, creating a gentle but bright view above where Sam lay.
Until suddenly someone was leaning over him to check on him. Sam balked back, deeper into the pillow his head was resting on.
“Hey, dude,” Chase greeted quietly. “Take it easy, okay? Your guy is on the other couch,” he leaned back and glanced over his shoulder to indicate the couch sitting opposite the one Sam occupied. Dean was there, wrapped in blankets and towels just like Sam, after their prolonged dip in the ocean. “It’s uh. We couldn’t get you guys to any beds to rest, so. Couches it is.”
He belatedly realized that he had a glass of water in his hand. “You probably need this, right? Man, I’m glad to see you’re awake. Had us worried there.”
Before anything, Sam glanced in the direction indicated to see Dean sprawled out, a boot sticking out of the blankets wrapped around him. Relieved to see that his brother had survived their short attempt at infiltration, Sam sank down into the cushions, accepting the water and tenderly wetting his mouth so he could talk. "Thanks," Sam managed. The water had helped. He was left with a thousand questions about just how they'd gotten here, though, considering the last he recalled, they had been floating in the ocean, long abandoned by the ship they'd taken out. Trying to condense those questions into one, all Sam could get out was "Who are you?"
Chase grinned. “Name's Chase. This is my house. My friend pulled you guys out of the water clear out in the bay and brought you here since he, ah, doesn't go into town much. Ta-da!” He held his hands open to grandly display the tidy, modestly-decorated living room.
Quickly enough, a more serious look replaced his bemused expression. “Other than, yknow, almost drowning … are you hurt or anything?”
Sam shook his head quickly, then paused to actually check. Other than the general aches and pains that came from hours keeping afloat in the ocean, nothing stood out to Sam as abnormal. “No, but Dean took the fall harder,” Sam admitted. He sipped at the water, then pushed himself up. He needed to check on Dean and make sure there weren’t any injuries.
So far, Dean hadn’t roused or budged since Sam and Chase had started talking. Much like Sam, he was still in the same clothes as when they were on the boat, with the towels and blankets bundled around to keep him warm.
When he got over, Sam checked to make sure Dean was breathing steadily. The leather jacket his older brother was known for was bundled up nearby, drenched with salt water.
“Dean’s not gonna be happy,” Sam commented dryly when he saw the state the jacket was in. He looked over at Chase. “How’d we get here? Last I knew, we were stranded with land too far off to see.”
Chase’s smile was more subdued this time as he tried to figure out how to approach the topic. From what he’d heard, one of these guys was quite freaked out when Jacob had found them, and he didn’t want to cause more upset while they were still in his house. “My friend Jacob actually spotted you and got you out of the water in the nick of time,” he hedged. “He was pretty worried, we had to send him on a walk so he wasn’t just pacing in the backyard wondering if he’d let you drown.”
He glanced at the curtained windows. “Guess you were already passed out when he showed up,” he said more gently. “I can get my sister to go find him, if ya want?”
“Yeah, if you could,” Sam said offhandedly, the importance of Chase’s statement not really sinking in. He wanted to thank their rescuer for himself, as soon as possible.
After, he would need to get Dean up to see what he remembered. They were on a case, after all. If they kept getting held up, by the time they caught up to the ship there’d be a trail of bodies to follow.
They had started out ten steps ahead on this case. How had it all gone so wrong?
"Just a sec," Chase agreed, before retreating to an arched doorway leading somewhere else in the house. He spared Dean one last glance, then nodded at Sam and disappeared through that doorway.
Even out of sight, it would be hard to miss the footsteps moving away. Even tougher to ignore was the shout that followed as Chase called up the stairs. "Hey, Minnie!"
"What?" Her voice from far away would be muffled to Sam, but still easily heard in the otherwise empty house.
"Go get Jacob back here!"
"Why can't you do it?"
Chase sighed in the most put-upon way he could manage. "Because, I have to be a good host and stuff!"
Minnie appeared at the top of the stairs, eyes narrowed and mouth turned down in a frown. "Then why are you yelling at me?" she countered, even as she hurried down to join him. Chase smirked as she had to step around him, before she shoved lightly at his side and made him stumble against the railing.
He followed her into the living room just as she reached it to check on their would-be guests herself. Her stern look softened when she saw that only one of them had woken up yet. "He gave you some water, right?"
Sam was bemused by the sight of the siblings' argument. It reminded him sharply of several arguments with Dean that had gone in nearly the same direction.
“He did,” Sam confirmed, getting Chase off at least one hook. He had a suspicion that it wouldn’t take the kid long to get himself in trouble yet again, much like Dean managed on an hourly basis. “We’re just waiting for Dean to wake up now.”
Minnie nodded, glancing once more at Dean with a small glimmer of concern in her eyes. “Alright. I’ll go get Jacob. Chase,” she fixed him with an almost accusing look, “will get you guys whatever you need.” She could see in his face that he had yet to explain who Jacob was, and if this guy was unconscious when the resident giant showed up, he wouldn’t be expecting his return now.
Chase gave Minnie a thumbs up as she left again, and then wandered closer to where Sam stood by Dean. Privately, he rued how tall both these guys were; they could barely fit on the couches in the living room, and had required every extra blanket he and Minnie could find in the house.
On one hand, they had the right build for sailors. On the other, it would be weird for sailors to be out floating in the bay, so far from shore that only a giant had a chance of spotting them.
“Won’t take him long to wander back here,” Chase said mildly. “Do you, uh. Why were you in the water?”
Sam sat back on his heels, continuing to hover close to Dean. “We’re on a job,” he explained. “It’s… complicated. Suffice to say, we got tossed overboard when our cover was blown.”
There was a lot about that nagging at Sam. His lips turned down as he thought over the events leading up to getting tossed overboard. Nothing, right up until the moment they were grabbed, stood out to him as out of the ordinary. They went undercover all the time, and on that ragtag ship of passengers and personnel, they’d blended right in even in their standard outfits.
“We just don’t know how they found us,” Sam mused.
“You were undercover?” Chase echoed, his eyes widening with intrigue. Jacob would be shocked to find out that he’d somehow rescued a pair of … well, whatever these two were to require undercover work. It was probably super cool. “Dude, so that means me, Minnie, and Jacob are helping out your, uh. Mission?”
Amused, Sam gave a half-shrug. “Uh, I guess?” he said. “It’s not like we’re government agents, after all…”
Dean stirred on the couch, mumbling in his spot. Sam was up in a flash, offering the cup of water before Dean tried to say anything. He remembered the raw, dry feeling in his throat from being stranded at sea for so long and didn’t want Dean to go through that any longer than he had to.
While he watched to make sure Dean didn’t spill the cup, Sam frowned. “We need to make sure no one gets hurt, and this whole thing will just get covered up if anyone else in Blefuscu finds out--”
“Blefuscu?!” Chase blurted, only reining in his volume on the last syllable of the word. He glanced at Dean, still barely conscious, before fixing his surprised look on Sam once more. “You’re from Blefuscu?”
They weren’t even from Lilliput. Blefuscu, the neighboring land across a wide bay, had a storied past with Lilliput. They weren’t really at war anymore, but even with some tense trade moving back and forth across the bay, the two countries weren’t exactly best friends. Chase wasn’t sure he’d even told Jacob very much about Blefuscu yet.
A distant rumble sounded, far enough to seem like a simple gust of wind if one didn’t know what it really was. Jacob must have wandered quite far, but he could cover distances like no one else. As this Sam and Dean were about to find out. “Anyway, uh. I guess you oughta know … Jacob brought you to Lilliput. Surprise?”
34 notes · View notes
heelmcmahon · 3 years
Text
Ring Games ♛ Adam Cole
fem!reader x adam cole
18+ readers
warnings: just smut lol
word count: 3337
- The daughter of Shawn Michaels, Y/N, is a wrestler in NXT. She currently feuds with NXT women's champion, Shayna Baszler in a storyline. Her good friend, Finn Balor is the #1 contender for the NXT championship, currently held by Adam Cole. A mixed tag match has been set up for NXT Takeover: Atlanta, winner takes all, no DQ with both titles on the line.
----------
You do your final stretches before having to walk down the ramp to the ring. This would be the biggest match of your WWE career thus far. You and your tag partner for the night, Finn Balor were hoping to win your respective titles in a hard fought match in the main event. This would be his 3rd title reign and your 2nd. You previously held the title for 89 days before losing it to Shayna Baszler in a ladder match. Your rematch had finally arrived.
You feel a hand on your shoulder whilst shaking off any nerves you may have. You turn your head to see one of your opponents for the night, Adam Cole. Adam was never really a friendly guy to you. He loved to tease you and make sarcastic jokes and snarky comments. There wasn't really any bad blood, he's just an annoying guy to be around. Also, everyone knew how much of a flirt he was. You couldn't help but feel like there was some sort of tension between the two of you. He knew it too. You two are always flirting with each other, you more subtle than him. Your most common form of flirtatiousness was nicknames.
"Hey, Michaels. Don't wine too much when you come up short tonight, it's not easy facing a guy like Adam Cole Bay Bay.", he says. Your ring name is Melody Michaels, after your dad, the Heartbreak Kid, Shawn Michaels. It was hard at first to make a name for yourself in this business without being compared to your dad all the time, but soon you realized you could embrace it and be your own person at the same time. You take a lot of inspiration from him with your moveset. Hopefully tonight will really take your career to the next level.
"Sure, Cole. I'll do my best, just for you." you replied back with a fake smile so he clearly knew you were being sarcastic.
"This outfit you've put together tonight is really something different. I've never seen you wear something like it." He's clearly checking you out since you catch his eyes on your thighs. He was right though. Tonight you had new gear made for the special occasion of main eventing Takeover. You wear a dark purple set. It consists of a top that cuts off a little bit below your boobs with thick straps that cross across your back like an X. The top is sparkly and is lined with rhinestones. The bottoms are high waisted and reach just under your butt. They are super tight and lift a little above your thighs on the sides. They are also coated in glitter and lined with rhinestones. You wear your normal black fishnet tights, black knee pads, and your wrestling boots. You also decide to do your makeup a little heavier than usual. Nothing too extreme but still flawless and noticeable. You're also wearing your signature black leather jacket with a broken heart on the back to carry the legacy of your father. Your hair is curled and hangs low to the middle of your back.
"Yeah well I want to look good when Finn and I win our titles back". You don't look at him when you respond; you stay focussed on your warmup.
"Whatever you say, babe. I'll see you in the ring then." He walks past you but not before sending a wink your way. You simply roll your eyes and dismiss it.
----------
"And his tag team partner, from Chandler, Arizona: Melody Michaels!" The crowd roars as your name is announced and theme song plays. Finn stands by the end of the ramp waiting for you. You share a quick look, nod to each other, and then proceed to the ring. Shayna and Adam stand in the back corner of the ring eyeing you down. Finn walks up the stairs and holds the ropes open for you. You step in and walk with confidence to the front of the ring, facing the hard camera. You hold your arms out and yell words to pump up you and the crowd. You do the same for the right side of the ring and then turn your back to the camera to acknowledge the fans behind you. Finn waits in the ring for you to finish your entrance while Shayna looks around at the crowd with an annoyed face as they chant your name. Adam however can't keep his eyes off you. He has a sly smirk on his face. Your music dies down and you go stand next to Finn, across from Adam and Shayna.
"The following contest is a Mixed Gender Tag Team Winner Take All Extreme Rules Match! And it is for the NXT Women's Championship and the NXT Championship! Introducing first: the challengers. Melody Michaels and Finn Balor!
You and Finn step forward and acknowledge the fans cheering for you. You turn your head to yell in your opponents faces. "Better say goodbye to your title reigns because those championships are coming back to where they belong." Shayna simply rolls her eyes but Adam responds. "Not a chance, babe. Now backup and let the champs get introduced." He says.
You take a step back and think about his words. He is such a flirty jerk, but you couldn't help but feel butterflies when he called you babe this time around.
When Alicia Taylor introduces Adam and Shayna, you watch Adam take a few steps forward and yell at the crowd. Shayna does her signature "Queen of Spades" pose. They turn back around and hold their titles up to the ref. Adam sends you another quick wink, but before you can process it, the bell is rung.
----------
You're about 15 minutes into the match. Finn and Adam lay outside the ring trying to regain some strength after they both went through tables. You and Shayna fight in the ring. You hit her with a fisherman suplex and go for the pin. She kicks out at 2. Before she can get back up, you grab her and put her in her own submission, the Kirifouda Clutch. She is slowly fading, but she reversed it and somehow gets your shoulders pinned to the mat. You also kick out at 2. You both get back to your feet. She charges at you and you use her momentum to send her over the top rope. Shayna now stands on the apron. You run to the ropes to gain momentum and spear her through the middle rope. She hits the floor hard. You throw your hands up and taunt to the crowd. However, when you turn back around, Adam Cole stands in the ring.
"What is it, Cole? Are you gonna punch me?" You ask in a fake pouty voice with a puppy dog lip. You hold your hands around your back in an innocent way.
"I could never hit you, babe. You know that." he says looking down at you.
You find a wave of confidence come over you as the crowd cheers. You respond, "Well, what is it that you want, handsome?" Your hand now rest on Adam's bare chest as you get a little closer to him. His face shows that he is surprised by the nickname you've given him.
"Come on now, Michaels, you know what I want." He takes a step closer to you with a seductive look on his face. Now it's his turn to place his hands on your body. He rests them low on your waist.
Out of the corner of your eye, you see Finn start to make it to his feet again. You play along with Adam while you see Finn slide into the ring. You also take a step closer to Adam and lift your head up a bit (if it's even possible to get closer). Your mouths are just inches away from touching.
"I'm not sure I do, Cole. But I do know one thing, maybe you should turn around."
He looks confused as he turns around. You get out of the way so Finn can hit Adam with a sling blade. Adam lays on the ground and you look down at him, "Sorry, handsome, I guess that's just what happens when you aren't paying attention." You send him a wink.
Finally, Finn Balor climbs to the top rope and hits Adam with the Coup de Grace. Before he goes for the pin, you see Shayna get back in the ring. With your quick thinking, you tune up the band and kick her square in the face with some Sweet Chin Music. You and Finn both go for the cover on your opponents.
1!
2!
3! The bell rings.
"Here are your winners, and new NXT Women's Champion and NXT Champion: Melody Michaels and Finn Balor!"
The crowd is going crazy. You pull Finn in for a hug and then clink your titles together in a celebratory fashion. Shayna looks beyond pissed. Adam on the other hand, has a look of pure anger, but yet a look of lust is written on his face. You blow him a kiss and display a smirk as you and Finn exit the ring. You walk up the ramp with your backs to the titantron as Adam Cole is still staring you down.
You and Finn walk through the curtain and arrive backstage. You two are greeted with hugs, congratulations, water bottles, and towels. You place your titles down on a road case.
"I had such a great time tagging with you tonight, Y/N", Finn says, "Hopefully we'll get another mixed tag match soon."
"I couldn't agree more, Finn! You seriously killed it out there. I'll see you tomorrow for lunch?" you say.
"You know it. See ya then, Y/N". He gives you a long hug and walks towards the men's locker room.
It isn't long before Adam and Shayna come through the curtain. Shayna shakes your hand and you two have a quick and casual conversation about the match and working together. Then, Adam walks your way. With no warning at all, he grabs your hand pulls you out of gorilla. He drags you through the halls of the arena until you reach his private locker room that he shares with the rest of the Undisputed Era. The room is empty since the Kyle, Bobby, and Roddy left after their matches earlier in the show.
Adam pulls you into the room and quickly shuts the door. He wastes no time before pushing you up against the wall. His left hand is placed on your lower back, pulling you close to him so your lower halves are touching. His right hand is next to your head, resting on the wall. Your faces are extremely close together, but there is still a few inches in between you.
"What the hell was that out there? Huh? Explain to me what that was all about?" Adam says, clearly extremely annoyed.
You decide to act dumb and play innocent. "I'm not sure I know what you're talking about, babe." You stare into his blazing blue eyes.
"Don't play dumb with me, Y/N. You distracted me in the ring and I lost my title because of it. So, now you're gonna pay for it." Adam has an intense and serious look on his face but his eyes long with lust.
You reply to him, your faces now closer than ever. Your hands roam Adam's chest and slide over every part of his abs, quickly looking down at them. "Oh? I'm gonna pay for it? How so?" You look up at him again.
"We are going back to my hotel room and I'm gonna fuck you into the mattress until you scream my name loud for everyone to hear." He says.
You answer simply. "I'll meet you at your car in 10." Your hands slide down Adam's arms and you pull away from him, exiting the room, but not before winking at him for the millionth time tonight.
You walk to the women's locker room. You strip out of your sweaty ring gear and put on your casual everyday clothes. You wear a pair of leggings, a cropped yellow top, with white shoes. You pair it with your WWE PC jacket since it is a bit chilly tonight. You grab your large bag and carry it out to the parking lot.
The walk to Adam's car was much easier than you thought it would be. You spot him leaning on the driver door. He looks up from his phone and sees you coming, so he hops into the driver's seat.
---
The car ride back to the hotel was only about 4 minutes. It was silent, but not awkward. You could not wait to get inside and let Adam see and touch every part of your body.
When Adam pulls up to the hotel, you both grab all of your items, walk in, and check in. You walk up to a desk and Adam talks to the lady at the desk next to you. Somehow he finishes checking in before you and walks over to the desk you're being helped at.
"You can just cancel her room", he tells the front desk lady helping you, "she's gonna stay with me tonight," he tell the woman. You shoot him a very knowing look. The front desk lady looks at you and says, "You don't need this room?". You look up at Adam and he's looking down at you. His face looks so serious and stern. He simply states to you, "You don't need that room, Y/N." You look back to the lady at the desk and say, "Sorry, I won't be needing a room tonight." She looks down at her computer screen pushing some buttons. Before she gets the chance to look back up, you are pulled by the arm to the nearest elevator.
Before you can even say one word to Adam about that whole front desk show he just put on, his lips are planted on yours. You hear a ding, signaling that the elevator doors are closing.
With no thinking at all, you kiss him back. Your back is pressed to a wall in the elevator. Adam's hands are set low on your back. You have one on his chest and one in his hair. The kiss is so passionate and full of desire. You both want more. His tongue swipes across your bottom lip. You allow him to deepen the kiss. When he does, a soft sound escapes your lips. This makes Adam crazy. He removes his left hand and places it on your butt. Eventually, his hand rises from your butt to your waist. He plays with the hem of your cropped tank top signaling that he wants it off. Before the kiss can escalate anymore, the elevator doors open. Both of you break the kiss, quickly gather your bags, and move as fast as you can to Adam's hotel room, which apparently you were staying in tonight.
Adam opens the door and you both enter. He pulls you to the bed and pushes you to sit on the edge of the bed. He slowly crawls over you, his hand roaming your body the whole time. Finally, Adam says something, "You're gonna do whatever I say. The only thing I want to hear coming from your mouth is my name. Do you understand?" His voice is very stern. You nod with fake innocence written all over your face, excited for what's to come.
"Good girl." Adam's mouth attacks yours again. His hair drapes over your face like a curtain. His hand reaches for your shirt again. This time, he pulls it off your body. Adam breaks the kiss to pull your leggings and panties off in one go, as you remove your bra. Adam stands up and removes his clothing as well. When he lays back down, you climb on top.
Another strong and sloppy kiss begins. This time Adam shows dominance as he attacks your neck and shoulders instead of your mouth. You let moans escape your mouth. Your fingers are laced in Adam's long hair. Shortly later, Adam gives you a command. "On your back, now."
You remove yourself from Adam's grasp and lay down on the bed. Adam takes in the sight of your naked body. "Damn, babe. I've been waiting for this moment for so long" Adam says. You let out a slight giggle.
Next, Adam gives you no warning and slide one finger deep into your soaking wet pussy. You groan loudly, not expecting the sudden pleasure. Adam seems satisfied with your reaction. He slides in another finger, pumping in out out. Now you're really a moaning mess. Adam takes your vocalness as a sign to add another finger. He slides in and out of your body at a rapid pace. You yell out, "Oh god! Adam! Please!" When Adam feels that you are getting close to your climax, he pulls his fingers out of you. "Good girls get to come, you cost me my title. This isn't going to be easy for you, babe." Adam says to you. You try to catch your breath as ecstasy almost washes over you. You close your legs and wine a bit, not getting the full feeling of overwhelming pleasure.
Adam harshly opens your legs back up. Once again with no warning at all, he slams his cock into you. Now you really scream out. Feeling embarrassed, you drape your arm over your moth in an attempt to keep quiet. Adam notices this and pins your arms on the bed on each side of your head. "Not today, babe, I want you to scream my name so everyone in the building knows who's giving you the best sex of your life."
And with that, Adam picks up the pace. He slams into your body over and over and over, watching you every step of the way. Skin slapping and the bed creaking fills the room. The sounds that escape your mouth make Adam thrust even harder. Suddenly, he rams hard into your g-spot.
"Oh my fucking god! Adam! Don't stop! Oh god!" You moan in pleasure.
"That's right, baby, yell my name. Scream it." Adam lowly groans out.
"Adam, I'm gonna come," you say.
"Not until I hear you screaming my name." Adam says. He thrusts even harder than before, slamming every time directly into your g-spot. Except now, his thumbs plays around with your clit.
"Adam! Adam! Oh my fuck- Adam! Shit!" You finally scream out. Your vision is quickly taken away as your eyes are tightly shut. The ecstasy and pleasure washing over you right now in this moment is unlike any other sex you've had before.
Adam finally allows you to release, "That's right, baby, fuckin' scream it." He releases shortly after  into your pussy. You both ride out your orgasms as Adam thrusts slowly and deeply into your body.
Adam lays on the bed next to you as you both catch your breath.
"Fucking shit, Adam," you say.
He laughs quietly and replies, "I hope you're ready for round 2, tonight isn't gonna be easy for you."
And with that, the rest of the night was spent fucking until daylight. As the night went on, Adam became more and more aggressive. You seriously didn't know if you would be able to walk at all tomorrow. But that's tomorrow's problem, right now you're just focussed on Adam... and will be all night.
77 notes · View notes
generalfoolish · 3 years
Text
Tumblr media
Mavar
Rating: 18+ (minors take a hike)
Warnings: helmet less!Din
Word count: ~1.8K
Pairing: (eventually!!!) Din Djarin x F!reader
Summary: Two Mandalorians go to the grocery store (restock)
A/N: Hey babes! This is number eight of the #mandomay2021 prompt list. Sorry it's a little late! I definitely hit a bump. It's pretty much all fluff. I will continue be taking Din's helmet off as often as I can, I'm a sucker for that face! Feel free to send me hate for the last few lines! Enjoy 💕
Masterlist | Partaylir | Ori'vod
Let me know if you want to be tagged!
Hyperspace was always cold. An experienced pilot, like yourself, knew that. You were expecting the cold, but what Mando gave you was a freeze. No, not Mando, Djarin or Din? You tucked it away, he hadn’t given you his name yet, and Skywalker had interesting ideas of what a “good” nickname made.
You had hid yourself away in the hull, and that afforded you some reprieve from the tundra in the cockpit. Mando’s helmet was fitted snugly back on his head, and you had just skulked downstairs to wait. The jump to Naboo would be short, and Mando could pilot his ship without your company.
You had scoffed when he had suggested Naboo for the refuel. A Mid Rim planet? For a fuel-up, no less. You had just about bit through your tongue, when he punched the coordinates in. Whatever, you had told yourself, a temperate climate would be nice after the stifling, muggy swamps of Dagobah. You had to remind yourself, though, that it was just another step to what you wanted.
Except, what you wanted might be changing. Or had already changed. You picked at the peeling black paint, and eyed the untarnished silver below. The children on Jelucan, and Mando’s child on Dagobah, had you considering a different path. One you find yourself craving for in the dim, red-washed lights of the hull. A youngling of your own? Or maybe not even that complicated, just a...family. Someone to keep fighting for. You had a creed and a plan, but between you and the storage crates you were perched on, you didn’t think you cared to uphold that creed any longer.
Who was it for? Your kin were all dead. You thought of Mando, the man of ice upstairs, and assumed his kin were likely dead too. It was a common side-effect of living on the Outer Rim. It was an even bigger side-effect of being a mandalorian. You wondered, not unkindly, if he was lonely. If he simply had forgotten how to be.
Then your rising stomach acid, the familiar burn hot on your throat, reminded you that he was plenty friendly to Cara and Luke. Loving to Grogu. You assumed he would be kind to Karga, too. Anyone in the galaxy, except for you it seemed.
You groaned, knowing that wasn’t entirely true. Or, if it was, it was because you had thought he was going to murder you. For the record, you thought, it’s unlikely.
He cleared his throat twice before you noticed, teetering dangerously close to falling from your crate from the startle. He titled his helmet, and you decided it was an apology.
“We’re dropping from hyperspace, and docking, so, if you want to strap in somewhere…” He trailed off, but was vaguely gesturing to your impeccable balance. You snorted in response, but followed him back up the stairs.
He seemed to have thawed in your time apart.
~~
“It is beautiful here, isn’t it?” You mused, your modulated tone not carrying the wonder you felt. Mando only nodded in response, and paid to be refueled. You shrugged and stepped off the ramp. You wished you could deeply inhale, the air seemed clean, even at the Kwilaan spaceport.
You followed the crowd, the intermingling of species a stark contrast to any covert you’d been in. You had always loved the variety of life, and found it lacking in mandalorian culture. Not that it was strictly humans, like you and Mando. It was quite the opposite, as far as you knew. A misread text, a few generations of stuffy “believers,” and a civil war, kept most mandalorians beneath their beskar. Even painted beskar sang of mundanity. Even the light of Naboo reflected off of Mando’s pauldron paled in comparison to the stormy eyes you knew were just below the visor.
Yelling brought your attention back to the market, and you smiled when you saw the bountiful fruit selection. Jelucan and Nevarro had their charms, you were sure, but a selection of fresh fruit wasn’t one. Understandably, Mando’s ship wasn’t stocked with any, and yours hadn’t been either. Luke had shared his meals with you, but Dagobah seemed treacherous. You hoped he would take his X-Wing and Grogu and fly somewhere nicer. A beach planet, hopefully.
Mando gently squeezed your arm, and it brought you back again. You felt heat creep up your neck, and wondered when you had gotten so airheaded. You motioned to the fruit, and paid the merchant for a heavy bag. You tugged Mando’s arm with you to the next stall, and so it went. You flitting around, stocking up for the journey, and pulling Mando along. He stood beside you, not possessively or threateningly, just there. Not that you needed help looking intimidating. The chipped black paint gave you the look of a seasoned warrior.
It was far from the truth, but it helped keep the pickpockets away. When you had finished your shopping, and pulled Mando back to the flow of the crowd heading into the station, he seemed to deflate a bit. You smiled at his hesitancy. When you got to the ship, you watched as Mando toggled his vambrace to shut the door.
“Want to camp out by a lake tonight? We have a long trip ahead, and this planet is too good to pass up.” You spoke confidently, but you flexed your fingers at your side to stop their shaking. He tilted his helmet dramatically to the side, and you waited for the disapproving verbiage. It didn’t come.
“It is getting pretty late…” He told you quietly, and motioned towards the cockpit. You followed, setting the few bags down, and taking the rungs two at a time.
You sat down behind him, and he punched in some coordinates. The ship lifted easily, and you watched the city die down until there was nothing but mountains beneath you. You sucked in a sharp breath when the mountains broke away and revealed a beautiful lake vista. Mando surprised you by setting the ship down, right in the field. You looked at him, sure your helmet betrayed your shock, and he chuckled.
“I thought you might ask, so I checked a few places.” He shrugged, not knowing that the gesture was too much. Too big. Just a few hours ago, you had resigned to never talk to him again. And here he had found you a gorgeous campsite. You rested your hand on his, for a moment, and then took it away. You hoped it conveyed the right message, but you weren’t sure what you wanted that message to be anymore.
You stood slowly, and eased your helmet off. You paused for a minute, and then decided to go all the way. You took each piece of armor off, casting it aside, until you were down to the under clothes. Mando watched silently, and you wondered if it felt sacrilegious to him. Until, he reached up under his helmet, and slipped it off. His hair was messy from the helmet, but the curls still plopped around his face. He was less hesitant in removing the rest. Soon, he was in his dark under clothes. His slight smile was a delicious sight.
“You can bring the blaster.” You joked, as you made your way to the ladder. He fixed you with a glare, and then smirked.
“Of course. Weapons are my religion.” You giggled as you picked the bag of fruit up, and walked down the ramp. Mando was two steps behind you, controlling the ship with his vambrace. You liked that feature, you’d have to have him set yours up. If you ever made it back to your ship.
More and more, you were hopeful you would. You watched as he spread a small blanket out on the soft grass, and you joined him when he clumsily sat down. He laughed, a sharp, barking laugh. An unpracticed laugh, you realized.
“I can’t remember the last time I sat down with the suit.” He explained, grabbing the muja fruit from your hand. You glared, but grabbed a new one, anyway.
“That’s incredible. I can’t wait to have mine off.” You muttered into the skin of the fruit, before taking a bite. You felt his eyes, so you met them. He looked amazed. Or maybe, curious.
“Doesn’t your armor feel natural to you? Like a second skin. Or even your only skin? I feel so exposed right now.” He confessed, taking a bite. You considered it for a moment.
“I...I never felt like I really belonged in the suit at all. It’s stifling to me.”
“Probably because you painted it black.” He told you, his usual deadpan tone ruined by his loping grin.
“Well, I only just did that. It was part of my death rite, I guess.” He lifted an eyebrow, so you continued. “I didn’t think I would still be alive. I had big plans, but then...the Force? No, not for me. Whatever controls the universe, reminded me what life was actually like. My clan was wiped out, and for a while, I couldn’t breathe.”
“I was orphaned when I was young. It was a war. I was rescued. Were you born in?” You nodded, stealing another glance at him. His brow was furrowed, and you wanted to smooth it.
“I’ve never known anything else...but it doesn’t feel right to me. I don’t know, Mando-”
“Mando?” He interrupted, looking bemused.
“Yeah, I don’t know your name.” You took a bite to cover how awkward you felt.
“Yes, you do? Luke said it back on Dagobah.” He reminded you. As if you had forgotten, what the most beautiful man you’ve seen was named.
“Well, you hadn't told me. It seemed too...personal. And you were mad at me.” You told him, matter-of-factly.
“I wasn’t mad at you, ridiculous girl. I was amazed. You just…” He mimicked taking his helmet off. “Without any hesitation. You let me in, just like that.” You felt your ears start to get hot.
“You saw me without my helmet in the covert?”
“That wasn’t deliberate.”
“It could have been.”
“I don’t think it was.” He murmured. It was only then you realized how close you had gotted. Both of you gravitating toward the other, the blanket bunched by your legs, his breath hot and sweet in your nose.
“Din.” He told you, his nose grazing yours, before he pulled back completely.
“Nice to meet you, Din.” You whispered, your mind not as sharp as it was, drunk on his smell. He lifted his fruit to yours, and met your eyes again.
“To names and faces.” He smiled as he waited for your cheers, and you couldn’t string together a thought, let alone a joke.
“To...mavar.” You said plainly, taking a bite of your fruit.
**Mavar: freedom.
19 notes · View notes
25centsoda · 3 years
Text
An Unintended Side Effect 3/?
Piett looked down at the tired boy on the couch and sighed internally. He had a ship to run, and the boy clearly wasn’t going anywhere. But Lord Vader’s demands superseded almost all else, save those from the Emperor, and Piett quite liked breathing, thank you very much.
Sitting down stiffly on the couch next to him, Piett said, “So, Imperial Prince Skywalker.”
Luke tilted his head to better look up at the Admiral. “Unfortunately.”
“While there are, ah, certain downsides,” he said, looking uncomfortable, “surely a position as the Imperial Prince is better than the alternatives.”
“Mmm, no, I’d rather be back with the Alliance and able to think clearly.” Luke sighed. “But I do prefer this to being forced to turn to the dark side I guess. Hopefully if I promise to cooperate Vader will stop drugging me.”
“He has spent considerable resources scouring the galaxy for you, I can’t imagine he’d want to take many chances on you escaping.”
“No, I’d imagine not. Still. Surely I’m not this much of a danger, with him following my every move.”
Piett didn’t seem to know how to respond to that, and they sat in semi-awkward silence for a moment - Luke was too tired  to really feel awkward.
------
Luke picked his way down the shuttle ramp a half-step behind his father, careful not to stumble. It took a lot more focus than it really should have, and the voluminous, heavily stylized robes in every shade of blue really weren’t helping. To add to his discomfort, the cuffs corralling the billowy sleeves made him think of chains wrapped around his wrists.
“Young Skywalker, we meet at last,” the Emperor said, walking up to greet them, his cane clacking on the marble floor.
They all stopped at the bottom of the ramp, and Palpatine reached out a hand to touch Luke’s face. His presence in the Force was like an oil slick, dark and poisoning the air. When the backs of his cold, gnarled fingers touched Luke’s cheek he shuddered and just barely managed not to pull away. He felt the touch of the Emperor’s Force signature inspecting his.
“Lord Vader,” he said, still looking at Luke, “couldn’t keep even your own son under control without resorting to such crude methods?”
Vader didn’t reply, but Luke could tell through their connection that behind his shields he was fuming.
“No matter,” Palpatine said, dropping his hand. Luke shored up his own shields as best he could without being able to properly touch the Force, clumsily stacking them higher. “My dear boy, should you find yourself wishing for an alternative, I’d be more than happy to take you under my wing. Surely you grate under so much time in your father’s company.”
Luke balled his artificial hand into a fist, then forced himself to release it. “I am...honored, Your Majesty, but I’m fine right where I am.”
Palpatine gave him a long, amused look, but turned back towards the palace. “My offer stands as long as you need it, my boy. Come, it is time for the galaxy to learn of its new Prince.”
They wound through hallways grander than anything Luke had ever seen, never stopping to admire anything, although Luke dearly wished to at least linger in the portrait hall they’d passed; surely if he was being forced to wear Nubian makeup then his mother would have warranted a portrait in the Imperial gallery? He’d have to see if he could come back later, even if it had to be with an escort.
When they reached the balcony, Luke stood in the back, blinking in the light, grateful that his father had conceded to let him be on a lower dose for the ceremony. He’d need his wits about him to get through this, especially while trying to make sure the Alliance didn’t think he’d decided to change sides.
“Citizens of the Empire,” Palpatine said, voice surprisingly strong as the speakers carried it across the amassed crowds. “On this, the 22nd glorious Empire Day, I have a gift for you. Your new Imperial Prince.”
He gestured behind him, and Luke reluctantly joined him. Palpatine put an arm around Luke and he held back another shudder as the man’s Force presence seemed to try to seep into his skin, wrapping around him like a blanket, or a viper.
“Luke Skywalker, son of the late Padmé Amidala, who hailed from my own home planet of Naboo. He was stolen away by the Jedi of the Old Republic, and led away by the Rebellion. But now the prodigal son has returned to us! In celebration of this joyous day, and the anniversary of the formation of our beautiful Empire, there will be a ball in the Imperial Palace tonight. For now, however,” he said, releasing Luke, who took the opportunity to take a half-step away, “let the celebrations begin!”
The crowd erupted in deafening cheers and fireworks went off throughout the masses, startling a flinch out of Luke. Music started up from somewhere and TIE fighters screamed in from the air amid the chaos, signaling the start of the parade.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Palpatine said, still facing the crowds.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” Luke said dutifully, staring unseeing at them himself.
“It could be yours, if you chose.”
“I’m fine, Majesty,” Luke said, turning to look for his father. Even Vader was better than this; or, better yet, now that he was on a planet he might have a better chance of escaping than he’d had on the Executor.
“I wouldn’t be so sure, dear boy. You’ll find my Inquisitors quite difficult to evade, should you attempt it.”
Luke stiffened, hands freezing at his sides.
“But go, enjoy yourself. I’m sure there are many who would like to meet with you; don’t let an old man such as myself stop you.”
He felt the echo of Palpatine’s laughter follow him down the stairs.
-----
Although he was stuck standing by Palpatine’s throne, Vader never took his eyes off his son, so he saw the moment Luke collapsed in his latest dance partner’s arms.
Vader immediately left the Emperor’s side and rushed to his son, whose head was in the lap of the man he had been dancing with. Luke’s eyes were closed, but they fluttered open when his father approached, carefully wrapping his presence in the Force around his son.
“Father,” he slurred, reaching a hand up to him before letting it fall back on his own chest.
“What happened?” Vader demanded.
“I don’t know, my lord, he just collapsed,” Luke’s dance partner stuttered.
As Vader pulled Luke into his arms, Luke began speaking again. “Mmm, you’re warm. Not like, personality wise, but your suit is. I wish you were, though.”
Clearly his son was in no condition to stay here. Surely Sideous had his fill of watching Luke mingle with the Imperial elite, and would not protest if he took Luke to bed.
“I wish you were warmer,” Luke continued, eyes now closed. “More like, like a real father. I used to dream about my father, you know, how he’d take me away from Tatooine and we’d see the stars..”
He gestured, uncoordinated, as he said this, then let his hands fall.
“But I guess that’s reality for you, huh? Uncle Owen always said I dreamt too much. And now instead I’m the stupid Imperial Prince, whatever that’s supposed to mean.” Quieter, as he shifted his head closer to Vader’s chest, he added, “I’d settle for being back with my friends right now.”
Vader’s heart ached. He wished he could be a proper father to his son, but Sidious had long ago ensured he would never have the chance. All he could do now was quicken his step and get Luke to a proper bed for the night, and get him off Coruscant, away from Palpatine, as soon as possible.
-------
As Luke slept that night in the Palace, a dark, oil-slick presence slithered its way into his chambers, seeking the boy’s light. Although he shivered in the cold it brought like a fog, he didn't wake.
The dark presence seeped across the floor, and up to Luke. On reflex, the boy threw out a dazzle of light, the best defense he could give in his drugged, exhausted state. The darkness was barely pushed back, but amusement colored it and it conceded, letting the boy have his rest, for now.
It had seen all it needed to.
52 notes · View notes
skepticalcatfrog · 4 years
Text
Every Week on Thursday (Aurora High School)
Introduction Part One Introduction Part Two Masterpost
Summary: When Finian realizes just how much he’s struggling in Social Studies, he turns to Scarlett for help.
Pairings: (Pre-romantic) Scarlett Jones x Finian de Seel
Word count: 4,090
Author’s Notes: Guess who’s back and better than ever with some brand new content! It’s ya girl! I’ve been in a real creative slump you guys, but I finally got something done and I’m feeling GOOD! (Requests for this au are still open, by the way! I can’t guarantee that I’ll do every one I get, but we’ll see.)
Important Author’s Notes: This story contains a character who is disabled. I did do some research, but since I don’t have a disability, it’s virtually impossible for me to be an expert on the topic. If you are more knowledgeable about this than I might be, and you notice an inaccuracy, please let me know what it is and I’ll try to fix it!
January 16th, Thursday
Finian hated Social Studies. It was as simple as that. He figured, why should he have to learn about a bunch of old people when most of them were assholes anyway? Not to mention the fact that he just couldn’t get the hang of it. He could never focus on studying, often found himself spacing out during class, and thusly struggled with tests and quizzes. He managed to keep his grades pretty high, and if anyone were to ask he’d say it was just luck, but in reality he found it insanely easy to get away with cheating.
For some reason, though, he’d decided that it was time to put in some effort. He knew he wouldn’t be able to do it on his own, so he’d concocted a plan. He would get himself a tutor. But it couldn’t be just anyone. No, it had to be someone he trusted. Fortunately for him, he knew exactly who that person would be.
The moment the final bell rang, he was off. Fin’s classmates rarely let him leave first, even though they almost definitely should’ve, so he was usually last. As he maneuvered his way through the hall, he looked around for the girl who would (hopefully) agree to be his tutor. Then he spotted her fiery red hair, and almost instinctively smiled. She was standing at her locker, packing her books into her backpack. He weaved around his classmates as he tried to get to her.
“Scarlett!” He called out, hoping she’d be close enough to hear him. Sure enough, she turned and waved.
“Good afternoon, Finian.” Scarlett said as he stopped beside her. She started walking down the hall, and he followed alongside her. “I’m going to the front door, is that out of your way?”
“Nope, not at all.” Fin lied, hoping she wouldn’t notice.
“Okay then, what’s up?”
“I’ve got a problem.” Fin got straight to the point. “I have a big test coming up in Social Studies, and I know nothing. My head is empty, there’s just clouds and stuff in there. Long story short, I need someone to tutor me.”
“Okay… and why are you asking me?” She raised an eyebrow.
“You’re, like, an expert at Social Studies. Why would I ask anyone but the expert?” Fin said as if it was obvious. Then, worried that he was coming on too strong, he added one more point. “Plus, you’re my friend, so I trust you to not fuck it up. For the most part.”
Scarlett laughed and shook her head. “You really have a way with words, don’t you?”
“It’s my specialty.” He ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to slick it back, but it immediately bounced back again. “So, what do you say?”
“Sure, I’ll do it. I’ve got nowhere better to be anyway.” Scarlett shrugged. “What were you thinking for times and locations?”
“Well, I would say my house, but that’s a no for a few reasons. For example, my siblings and cousins never shut up. Plus my parents would flip their shit if a girl visited who 1, isn’t related to us, and 2, isn’t with my cousin Dariel. I’ve got no clue how he gets girls in the first place, but somehow he does.” Fin said, already feeling like he’d given plenty of unnecessary information. “So do you have any ideas?”
“We could go to the library.” Scarlett suggested. “It’s pretty quiet, plus all the books and things will be useful.”
“Which one, the old dusty one that looks like the set of a horror movie, or the big two-story one in the middle of town next to the movie theater?” Fin asked.
“The big one. It’s newer, so I assume it’ll have more up-to-date information.” Scarlett explained.
“I’ve never been in that one. And who knows, maybe after the boring stuff, we could catch a movie!” Fin winked. He was mostly joking, but not entirely. Apparently Scarlett had taken it as a joke, because she laughed a little, then brought the conversation back to the subject at hand.
“And as for times, I’m free on Tuesdays.” She told him.
Fin shook his head. “I’ve got practice for the play on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. Friday, maybe?”
“Can’t, I’ve got debate club.” Scarlett thought for a moment. “What about Thursdays?”
“That works.” He nodded. “But today is Thursday, so does today count?”
“I’m going to say no, just because it’s too short notice. Next week, though, sure. What about 3:00, just to give us some time to freshen up after school?” Scarlett picked up her bag and started walking, Fin following alongside her even though his mom picked him up at the side of the school opposite the direction they were going.
“Is that your way of telling me you think I look bad?” Fin asked in false indignance.
“What? No.” Scarlett smiled.
“So you think I look good then?” He raised his eyebrows.
“Shut up, Finian.” Her smile widened and he couldn’t help but stare.
Okay, look. Finian definitely wasn’t much of a people person. He barely talked to anyone outside of the tightly knit friend group he’d made himself, unless of course he absolutely needed to. So what are the odds that he’d fallen for the exact opposite kind of person? Scarlett was extroverted, and was great at talking to people, had a smile that could light up a room, and was certainly more popular than Fin was. If it wasn’t for the fact that they were talking to each other at that very moment, he’d be convinced that she didn’t know he existed. He knew he’d never have a chance with her anyway. But still, there was something about her that drew him in, even though he figured it would end in disappointment anyway.
“I guess this is my stop.” Scarlett said as they approached the front door, pulling Fin out of his thoughts. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He waved to her as she left, waiting to move until the door had closed behind her. Once it had, he started on his way to the opposite end of the school, where his mom was most definitely already waiting for him.
January 23rd, Thursday #2
Scarlett had been sitting in the library and waiting for Fin for the past 30 minutes. She wondered if he’d decided to bail. He definitely had a habit of not admitting when he was struggling, so it was a possibility that he wouldn’t show. Maybe she should just leave and text him later, there was no use waiting if he wasn’t ever going to get there. 
She got up and slung her bag over her shoulder, but just as she was about to start walking, the entrance opened. And there was Finian. But he wasn’t in his wheelchair like he usually was, instead using a pair of crutches to get around. She tried not to look too perplexed, figuring it was probably something personal. But he saw right through her.
“What, something on your mind?” He asked as he approached, taking a seat at the table and setting the crutches down beside him.
“No, it’s nothing.” Scarlett shook her head, sitting back down.
“It’s the crutches, isn’t it?” Fin asked, gesturing to the aforementioned objects. “I would’ve gone with the chair, but it’s just that this library isn’t wheelchair accessible. And I didn’t know that since I’ve never been here before, so my dad had to bring me back home to switch them out, which is also why I was so late.”
“But there’s a ramp outside, isn’t there?” Scarlett asked.
“Yeah, but that leads down to the kid’s section. To get up here from there, you have to go up the stairs. And there’s no elevator.” Fin explained. “I don’t usually go with my crutches, if I’m going to be out and about for a long time I’ll use the chair. At school, for example. I really only use these at home, and even there I rarely do.”
“That makes sense, yeah.” Scarlett nodded. “We could go somewhere else if you want, my house is usually pretty quiet.”
“No, no, it’s okay.” Fin held up his hand. “I’m already here, there’s no point in leaving now. Maybe we could figure something else out next time.”
“Okay, if you insist.” Scarlett twirled a lock of hair around her finger. “Anyway, back to the task at hand. What’s your grade in Social Studies?”
“I’ve got an 95, I think.” Fin told her. “Haven’t checked in a while.”
“How have you managed to keep your grades that high if you’re struggling as much as you say you are?” She asked, leaning forward and resting her arms on the table. “You probably don’t even need tutoring if you don’t want it. I’m starting to think this was all a trick just to spend a little extra time with me.”
“Would it be so bad if it was?” Fin smirked. “It’s not, though. I’ve actually been finding other, slightly more against-the-rules ways to keep my grades up.”
“Finian de Seel, do you cheat on your tests?” Scarlett didn’t know whether to be shocked or impressed. She’d only cheated a few times, and every time she’d gotten caught, so if he’d managed to exceed a passing grade just by cheating, that was crazy.
“You got me. For some reason, I never get caught, so I just keep doing it.” Fin shrugged. “But I do want to stop, which is why I asked you to teach me about all of this history shit.”
Scarlett blinked slowly. “How long have you been doing it?”
“Since freshman year, when my grades started falling flat.”
“And you retained at least some of that, right?”
“Absolutely none of it.” Fin said sarcastically. “I guess we’ll have to be here all night.”
“Oh, be quiet.” Scarlett laughed. She had to admit, as annoying as he tried to be, she really did enjoy spending time with Fin. “Anyway… should we go find some textbooks?”
February 2nd, Thursday #3
The next week, after a bit of discussion over the previous days, Fin and Scarlett came to an agreement that they should just try going to the de Karran-de Seel house for their tutoring session. They’d already checked out all of the books they needed from their previous trip to the library, and they could use online resources if they ended up needing anything else. Plus, as opposed to the idea as Fin was before, he knew he’d be the most comfortable at home.
That being said, he felt like the short 45 minutes between the moment he got home and when Scarlett was supposed to get there were the most stressful minutes of his entire life. He spent the majority of his time rallying his family into cleaning up the house a little bit. He didn’t give them much information, which might’ve been a mistake in hindsight, but at the time he didn’t really care.
When Scarlett did finally arrive, the first thing she noticed was how loud it was. She could hear all of the family’s conversation from outside. It was never that loud at home. She walked up to the door and knocked three times. A kid answered the door, maybe around 11 or 12 years old.
“Are you Fin’s friend?” The girl asked. She took Scarlett’s hand and pulled her inside before she had a chance to answer. “Fin! Your friend is here!”
As soon as she was inside, the next thing Scarlett noticed was that Fin’s house was seriously populated. She knew that he had a lot of family, but damn. They all turned to look at her when she walked in, but only for a moment before going back to their conversations. None of them seemed to be too eager to talk to her. And every one of them looked exactly like him, with his same white blond hair and big brown deer eyes. Some of them had freckles like he did, others didn’t. The only one who really stood out was the guy who she immediately identified as Dariel. The best way to describe him, in her mind, would be that he looked like a young Severus Snape. And that wasn’t a compliment. He looked up to shoot her a wink, then went back to whatever he was doing on his laptop.
“Oh, you must be Scarlett! Finian has told me so much about you.” A woman who she remembered to be Fin’s mom approached her, leading her further into the house. “He’s in his room, if he hasn’t come out by now then he probably has his headphones on so he can’t hear us.”
As they dodged around family members, Scarlett couldn’t help but wonder if it was like this every day. She had to assume it was, Fin had made it very clear how many family members lived in the same house. She probably wouldn’t be able to survive a whole day in this house, and she didn’t know how he did it. Eventually, they got to a door at the end of a hallway next to the kitchen. Fin’s mom knocked on the door a few times, but when there was still no response after a few moments, she cracked open the door.
The inside of the room looked like an entirely different world. For starters, it was nearly pitch dark. It took Scarlett’s eyes a second to adjust. Not even natural light was coming in, because the curtains were drawn over the only window. There was a light in the ceiling, too, but it wasn’t on. The fact that the walls were painted black didn’t help much with the darkness. Speaking of the walls, they were adorned with a variety of things. 
There were posters for multiple musicals, only a few of which she recognized as ones that had been put on by the school. A bulletin board was hung on the wall, but she could barely tell what it was beneath all of the sketches and blueprints for what she assumed were set designs. A short bookshelf stood along one side of the room. It was stocked with books, but also a bunch of other stuff. Some notable examples were a seemingly homemade robot, a stack of CDs that may or may not have been burned already, a pile of tangled up earbuds, and a small plastic bag full of zippers and loose buttons, among other things. 
The floor wasn’t carpeted, it was hardwood like the rest of the house. The bed was in the corner of the room, and it didn’t look like it had been made in at least a few days. It had two pillows on it, but only one was at the head of the bed and the other was at the foot of the bed. Two beaten up notebooks had been thrown onto it carelessly, one purple and the other yellow. Otherwise, though, the room was pretty clean.
Fin himself was sitting at a desk that was opposite the bed. He had a pair of bulky wireless headphones on, and his face was illuminated by the bright light of the computer he was using. He was typing something up, maybe a screenplay. The music playing through his headphones was way too loud, and she could tell because he was singing along pretty loudly too. She had to stifle a laugh, but not because he sounded bad or anything. He actually had quite an impressive voice. It was just that he must not have known exactly how loud he was being.
Fin’s mother entered the room and gently put her hand on his arm. Despite how careful she was being, he still flinched and the room dropped to silence immediately. He looked up at his mom, slid his headphones off and hung them around his neck. “Uh, hey. What’s up?”
“Sorry I startled you, I thought I should let you know that your friend is here.” She stepped aside to reveal Scarlett, who was still standing in the doorway. She offered a small wave.
Fin’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh. Okay.” He hoped that she couldn’t see the redness rising in his face. She could.
“Alright then, I’ll leave you to it! Just let me know if you need anything.” His mom made her way towards the door, flicking the light switch on her way out. “You have to turn a light on in here sometimes, Finian. Someone’s going to trip on something one day.”
“So… not a fan of lights, huh?” Scarlett moved the notebooks aside and sat down on the bed. With the ceiling light on, she could see everything much better. “What song was that? You sounded really good.”
“You- you think so?” Fin stammered, turning his chair around to face her. His eyes were wide, his mouth hanging slightly open. For a second, he forgot he’d even been asked a question. “Oh, right, the song! It was What I Know Now. From the Beetlejuice musical. It takes some pretty powerful female vocals, but I can usually manage.”
“Well I think you killed it. I know you said that you’re on the tech crew, but have you ever considered actually auditioning for the play?”
“Nah, I’d probably just pass out immediately if I went to an audition. Let’s just say I haven’t taken to performing in front of people yet.” Fin was quick to change the topic. Because the truth was, as much as he did want to perform for an audience, he knew that he would be way too nervous to actually go through with it. He’d rather just go at his own pace. He gestured to the bookshelf, which was holding the textbooks they’d picked up the previous week. “I’ve been skimming through one of those books. It hasn’t been the most fun in the world, but y'know. Anything for the pursuit of knowledge.”
“Which one was it?” Scarlett asked, shifting to look at the books he was pointing at.
Fin left his spot at the desk and went over to the bookshelf. He couldn’t remember the name of the book, so he just picked up the one he was talking about and handed it to her. “This one. I read chapters 22 and 23, like you said to. And I did the questions. They’re in the purple notebook, right there.”
Apparently the notebooks weren’t as thoroughly used as she’d first suspected, because when she opened the purple one, only one page had been used. Both the front and back of it had been used to answer the 16 questions, 8 for each chapter. Aside from that, there were about a thousand doodles in the margins and along the top of the page, including little stick figure drawings of their entire friend group. She couldn’t help but smile at that. She took a second to read his answers.
“These are all right!” Scarlett closed the notebook and placed it back down next to her. “Great job.”
“And get this: I didn’t look up any of the answers.” Fin smiled wider than Scarlett had ever seen. Like, straight-up grinned. Not the usual cocky, teasing smirk. Not any sarcasm. Seeing him so happy, it made Scarlett feel… well, she didn’t quite know what the feeling was. But it was definitely a good one.
“That’s great, Fin!” She reached out and put her hand on his arm. “You’re doing a really good job with this, even just over one week.”
“Thanks. I’ve been feeling a lot better about my grades, like I can actually earn them.” Fin leaned forward to pick up the textbook, then turned around, went back to his desk and put it down there. “My future is bright, Scar!”
“Speaking of grades, what about your test? Are you feeling better about that?”
“Oh, yeah, for sure.” He turned back towards her. “I only read chapters 22 and 23, so we’ve still got the next two to go. Which is perfect! Because the test is on Monday two weeks from now, so we’ll have one more Thursday to go, which gives me time to finish both chapters.”
“Then I’m assuming you want today to be a review day?” She asked, clapping her hands once.
“Ugh, please and thank you. You’re the best teacher ever.” Fin laughed.
Scarlett stood up and grabbed another book from the bookshelf. “We’d better get started then.”
February 9th, Thursday #4
Fin quickly came to the conclusion that having a tutoring session at his house wasn’t bad the first time, but he’d rather not do it again. After Scarlett had left, his family asked him endless questions about her. Including Dariel, who asked if she was single, to which Fin had to begrudgingly reply that she was. In conclusion, he didn’t want to do that again.
In the end, they settled on the last location being Scarlett’s house. It was poetic, in a way, that they were studying to avoid cheating in the house where the principal lived. Which made Fin nervous, for good reason. Despite not wanting to continue cheating, he’d already done it many times, so he could still get in trouble for it.
Extremely luckily, the day was uneventful. Productive, definitely, but nothing particularly interesting happened. That day felt much more structured than the two previous weeks. When Fin had arrived, Scarlett had already set up a study station in the living room. Because everything they needed was already laid out, they got to work right away, and the hour that they had flew by.
February 21st, Tuesday
Fin caught up with Scarlett between third and fourth periods. He’d just gotten his test back, graded. And he had to tell her immediately. He pulled her aside, hoping that people would know not to bump into them.
“Scarlett. You aren’t going to believe this.” He grabbed his backpack, took a folder out of it, and flipped through the papers inside to find the test packet. He held it out for her to see. “83 percent! That’s, like, a B! It’s not much considering what I used to get when I cheated, but-”
“Fin, this is awesome! Even better than all that other stuff.” Scarlett assured him. “And you want to know why? Because this time, you did it yourself.”
Fin’s eyebrows drew together in thought, then a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. “You’re right. This one’s going on my wall, I think.” He decided, turning the paper around to take a look at it himself.
“It should. I’m really proud of you, Fin.” Scarlett leaned down and kissed him on the cheek.
His face reddened and he did that oh-so-endearing broken engine sputter. “I- uh, yeah. Well, y'know, the real reason I asked you to help me with this is because you’re one of the smartest people I know.” He wasn’t even worried about keeping his cool anymore. He’d completely lost whatever train of thought he might’ve had. 
Now it was Scarlett’s turn to be surprised. “Really?” She tried her best to not let him know how big of a deal it was that he’d said that to her. She’d been called a lot of things. Some of them good, others not so much. But no one had ever thought to call her smart. It felt great. Because truth be told, as much as she struggled in some classes, she considered herself really good at some others. It was truly something else to finally have someone appreciate that.
“I mean, yeah.” Fin was starting to come to his senses, but he couldn’t take back what he said. And he wouldn’t want to anyway. “You’re really good at a bunch of crap that I suck at, which is awesome.”
“Thank you, Fin. I really, really appreciate it.” She reached out and ruffled his hair. Then the warning bell rang. “We should probably get to class, shouldn’t we.”
“Definitely. Wouldn’t want to end up in Adams’s office after we put in all this work to not do that.” Fin agreed.
They, somewhat reluctantly, went their separate ways. They couldn’t just skip their next classes, as much as they might want to. They’d get to talk again later. The best part was, though, that they left down the hallway both feeling just a little bit more confident in themselves. And neither of them would be willing to confirm that they thought about each other for the rest of the day. But they wouldn’t deny it either.
Taglist: @taco-taco-belle @ceceism @confusionnoises @bubblegumstardust @incorrectauroracyclequotes (Ask to be on the taglist!)
38 notes · View notes
bexterbex · 4 years
Text
A Soul to Mend His Own | Ch. 11
Tumblr media
Warning, if it hasn’t been obvious in the movies there is Nazi symbolism within the First Order. I will expand on this much more throughout the story. If this is something that bothers you, please just exit the story. The author does not condone any Nazi ideals, this is just for fictional uses only.
A Kylo Ren x Modern! Reader in a soulmate au with some canon divergence. —————————————SLOWBURN————————————–He is already the Supreme leader, searching the universe to find you, his Empress. Your name on his wrist has been the only constant in his life, while you have doubts about his existence and his acceptance of you. He isn’t in the database and why did the name Kylo Ren cover Ben Solo?
Originally posted on my Ao3 Crystallclover (If you can’t find it here)
Chapter 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7a | 7b | 8 | 9a | 9b | 10
Let me know what you think in the comments or my ask box.
Chapter 11: A Room to be Shared
Summary: You decided to take a leap of faith and talk first, “General Hux said you might give me a tour of the ship.”This seemed to take his mind off of whatever was going through his head. “Yes,” he said clearing his throat. “We have time tonight if you would like to?”You nodded in agreement and he had a ghost of a smile on his face.
_______________________________________________________________________
You could feel the pressure of leaving the atmosphere but you did not experience any weightlessness which was disappointing. The ride was silent, no one spoke except for the pilot when informing station control of your arrival. You were very nervous, this being your first time leaving Earth and all. 
The pilot informed you all that it was safe to depart the shuttle. Kylo quickly and swiftly unbuckled himself and reached over to unbuckle you. In a way it made you feel like a child, but it also felt oddly protective. 
Kylo was the first to leave the shuttle, the other officers waited and followed after you. You all descended the ramp and paused at the base. General Hux was right. There was a large battalion of stormtroopers and a large number of officers and pilots waiting for you. They all saluted, Kylo nodded his head and he was off walking again. You were struggling to keep up with his long strides through the handier. Reaching the door he paused and turned to you as if he was now remembering that you were here, he took your arm in his and guided you through the long hallways of the Steadfast. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see two junior officers following you with your bags. 
Throughout your journey in the halls neither you nor Kylo spoke. Officers ducked out of the way and saluted. When you came to a cross-section there was a squad of stormtroopers marching the halls, they paused and saluted while you and Kylo turned down the other hall. Finally, you were in a section that hadn’t had many doors for a while and that no one seemed to be in. You both approached the door. Kylo punched in a code on the panel next to the door and you stepped in. 
The room was quite grand and white, brighter than you expected for a man dressed in all black. The room you entered was very large and had a large bay window showing the stars. There was no furniture in this room except for a podium of sorts that held a melted looking mask. To the right of the doors there were stairs that you could see leading to a bedroom, to the left of the room there were stairs leading to a kitchen. The whole place seemed bare—empty. 
The junior officers just left your bags by the inside of the door and left. You two were alone once again. Kylo let go of your arm, moved away from you and removed his helmet. A podium raised from the ground, this one had a layer of ashes in it he placed his helmet there. He turned to you but stayed silent. You could tell there was something he wanted to say, but he couldn’t find the words to say it. Instead, he grabbed your bags from the doorway and took them up the stairs, you followed him. He paused at the end of the bed and turned to you, unsure. His eyes were nervously darting from you to anywhere but you. He then went to a door on the left side of the room. It opened and revealed another bedroom with a bathroom attached to it. He set your bags on the bed. 
This whole situation was awkward, you could tell there were a million thoughts running through his head but he was unable to speak even one. So you asked, “Shall we have dinner soon?”
This snapped him out of his own thoughts, he nodded and gestured for you to head towards the kitchen. “I’ll have it sent over.” And with that, you saw a data pad in his hands as he quickly sent an order to the ship’s kitchen. In the kitchen of your shared quarters, there was a large dining room table, that you both sat at, beauty and the beast style. 
A few moments passed and just as you were about to speak again the door opened to the main room and a robot appeared with a cart full of food. Impressively the cart was able to traverse the stairs and the droid went quickly to work setting the food that Kylo ordered in front of you. The food seemed familiar but was still not something you have seen before. You wondered about all of the different species of plants and animals that were available to the First Order as food. You both began to eat. 
Kylo again seemed as if he desperately wanted to make conversation but was unable to find the right words. 
You decided to take a leap of faith and talk first, “General Hux said you might give me a tour of the ship.”
This seemed to take his mind off of whatever was going through his head. “Yes,” he said clearing his throat. “We have time tonight if you would like to?”
You nodded in agreement and he had a ghost of a smile on his face. You two finished your meal now with a pleasant silence. “What will we do with the dishes,” you ask. 
“A droid will pick them up while we are on our tour,” responded Kylo. You were both now in the big main room where he picked up his mask again and punched in a few messages to his data pad. Once he was finished and his helmet was on he gestured for you to take his arm again.
This felt nice like you were a princess and he was your prince, your knight. It made your heart flutter and you tried to conceal your blush. You were now out in the hallway, winding and turning until you were at the bridge. You both enter and the chatter you could hear while the door opened died immediately once everyone realized you were there. Generals Hux and Pryde were there, Hux spoke first:
“Supreme Leader, I see that you did decide to give Lady Y/N a tour this evening.” 
“Yes, she requested it,” said Kylo simply. “Would you explain the different aspects of the bridge to her?” And with that Kylo seemed to want to release your arm so you could follow the general. This saddened you a bit but you just followed along. 
“Certainly Supreme Leader it would be my pleasure,” said Hux, he then gestured for you to follow him. “My lady.” And with that, the general took you around the bridge explaining the different roles and introducing you to the officers. You could tell they were all on edge with Kylo there, especially because he was still standing where you left him but he seemed to be following you with his eyes. The officers being nervous as to not mess up, but they seemed more comfortable with the general. Once he was finished explaining everything and introducing you to everyone he returned you back to Kylo and you thanked him.
You took Kylo’s arm again and you left the bridge, you wound the hallways until you came to the med bay. Stepping inside you were met by a man in a white uniform. 
“Supreme Leader.” And he bowed slightly and turned to you. “My lady, my name is Dr. Xero Dabrini. I am the chief medical officer on board the Steadfast. I was informed to give you a tour of the med bay and to give your vaccinations.” And Kylo released your arm again letting the doctor give you a tour. By the end of the tour, he lead you into an examination room.
“Hopefully you will not have to really ever be to the med bay apart from your health check-ups. Now I will be administering all of the vaccines that we require, but first I will check your medical record to see what you are up to date on.” He used a larger data pad to pull up your medical record, you assume that they had it after you had been registered. After confirming your current vaccinations, he pulled out a device that had several needles in it. He prepared your arm with what you assumed to be a sterilizing agent and a numbing gel. You didn’t even feel the shots. He then took something that looked like a radar scanner and held it up to you. “You seem to be in excellent health. Now I have one question for you. May I ask if you are on any form of birth control?”
This question startled you. It was probably just standard procedure but it was also known to him that you were the Supreme Leader’s match. You wondered if this influenced the question because Kylo and you hadn’t spoken much to each other yet and it was not something you were ready for with him. 
“I currently have and an implant in my arm, I just got it three months ago, they are supposed to be effective for three years,” you responded. The doctor nodded and typed something into your medical record. 
“That is very good. The Supreme Leader may request that a First Order one should be put in, but for now, that will be sufficient.” With that, the doctor lead you back out to the main lobby to join Kylo again. You thanked the doctor and took Kylo’s arm again and he lead you down the halls.
You were tempted to ask him about what the doctor said, but knowing you had only spoken with him a little you were sure this wasn’t the time to ask him. He wasn’t expecting you to sleep with him, he gave you your own room. 
You came upon the hanger once again. This time Kylo took you around to the hangar and he talked about the different ships. There was a TIE fighter that was different from the others and he didn’t mention it so you.
“And this one,” you asked making him pause in front of it. 
He looked at you then at the ship. “This is mine. I designed this model when I was new to the First Order. Its faster, with its twin-ion engine and has two SJFS L-s9.6 laser cannons, two SJFS L-7.5 heavy laser cannons, an Arakyd ST7 concussion and mag-pulse warhead launcher and a proton torpedo launcher.” He seemed proud of it even though the vocoder hid what you assumed in his voice. 
“Sounds like only a very skilled pilot is able to fly it,” you said. Through the vocoder, you could hear him clear his throat as he glanced down at the floor. If he wasn’t wearing his mask you swore he was probably blushing at your compliment.
Regaining his composure he asked, “shall I show you one of my favorite parts of the ship?”
You eagerly nodded and smiled at him. One again you were off in the winding halls of the ship, knowing you would have to be guided for a while as it seemed hard to memorize where you were going and because there were no signs anywhere telling you where you were. 
You came upon a door and Kylo punched in a code. The door opened to a large empty room. He guided you in. On either side of the room, there were large windows. On one side it showed you a hangar bay, similar to the one you toured but this one had more cargo and seemed to be where they actually built ship, not just maintained them. On the other side, the windows were open to the stars. Both sides were beautiful in their own way.
Kylo removed his helmet for the first time during your tour. “I come here when I need to think. When I desire to be alone with my thoughts, where no one can disturb me.” 
He let go of your arm but took your hand and lead you to the hangar side. Your heartbeat was a mess. 
“No one is allowed in this room unless it is an emergency. But this room will always be open to you. There is a room like this on every one of the First Order ships. They are all open to you,” he said seriously.
You took this time to look at him in the eyes and appreciate that he was allowing you into a private part of his life. “Thank you Kylo,” and you gently squeezed his hand. Now you could confirm that when he slightly ducked his head that he was blushing, he also gave a small smile too. It made your heart swell.
He then lead you to the star side of the room. “My dream is to share every star in the galaxy with you. That they know how good the First Order is. And that they may know peace and order.”
The first part of that made you blush especially because he gently squeezed his hand as you did his. You two remained standing there staring into space for a few minutes before he put his helmet on once more and lead you out of the room. 
“This will be our last stop of the night,” he said pausing so the doors could open. They revealed a large throne room. In the entrance, there was a long narrow walkway that had holes on either side of it for no other reason than to look impressive. The narrow walkway opened up into a large expanse of the room. Long red curtains were covering the beautiful windows, you thought this was a shame. There were 4 devices, on tin each corner, they reminded you of Tesla coils as they came out of the floor. In the middle of the expanse, there was a large throne, too big for one person, but you suppose that was the point. In the room, there were a number of red guards that reminded you of the Knights of Ren from the pamphlet but were somehow different. 
“This is my throne room. I am not often here as much as my predecessor was, but I can be found here at different times of the day. I prefer to move about the ship and the planet that we are occupying at the time. To be involved with the daily workings of the First Order.”
Kylo brought you to the throne. “Sit,” he gently commanded. 
You were taken back by this, but you followed orders. He stepped back. Seeming too admire the sight in front of him. 
“The throne becomes you,” he said complimenting you. At this, you blushed and stood feeling awkward at the situation. He took your arm once more and lead you back to your chambers.
213 notes · View notes
mangobilorian · 4 years
Text
Novelty | (explicit) ii
Pairing: Mandalorian x Reader
Genre: Smut
Words: 4646
read chapter one or three
Cold. Maker, this is the coldest you’ve ever been in your life. The air bites at your skin, seeping past your flimsy tunic, the clothing rendered useless. You try not to shiver because frankly, you were being overdramatic, but the temperature is the only thing you could focus on. It was either the cold or the dead body at your feet.
Groaning, you close your eyes. Every time you convince yourself to not look, your eyes eventually wander over to the dead Devaronian. He looks so… normal. As if he were simply sleeping. Of course, the blaster shot through his forehead ruins the tranquility.
“Stop looking.” Your head whips up at the Mandalorian’s command. You try to apologize, but no words come out. He just sighs. It’s an annoyed sigh, you can tell. The slight shake of his head, the biting quality of his breath. It stung. But could you blame him? After all, you almost cost him the bounty.
Mando picks up Ras Drun carelessly, hoisting the dead weight over his shoulder before sealing him in some… frost machine. The bounty hunter then heads up the ladder, his feet the last thing you see before he completely ascends.
Maker, how were you so careless? It was by complete chance that you met the Mandalorian after the… escapade in your bedroom. It was, after all, a fairly small city, and you hung out at the loading ports often. But out of all the possible places you could be at, you had managed to walk right in front of the Mandalorian’s ship just as a shoot-out began. Yes. A shoot out. Mando was the only one issued Ras Drun’s tracking fob and chain code, but he definitely was not the only person after the Devaronian. In fact, over a dozen trained people tracked Ras Drun to your city in the hopes of being the one to blast his head off. Unfortunately for them, Mando didn’t take his bounties personally. While everyone scrambled to have some heroic revenge on the criminal, Mando simply shot him straight blank then proceeded to shoot everyone else who blocked the way to his ship.
One of those people, however, was you. Scared shitless, you had curled into a ball by the closest object (a medium sized crate), and tried to avoid blaster fire. Hopefully, you’d get out of the situation unharmed with a story to tell your parents. But the Mandalorian had other plans. When he saw your trembling, pathetic form, he almost stopped in surprise. When others saw that he wasn’t trying to kill you, they took it upon themselves to aim your way. So Mando hauled you up, his armor blocking the blaster fire, and shoved Ras Drun’s body into your hands.
“Carry him while I get us out of here,” he had shouted, already taking aim and firing. Muted, you began to drag the body to what you assumed was his ship. The fighting didn’t stop until the ramp closed, the ding of blaster fire ringing against the metal. Mando had the ship flying in what felt like seconds.
And the body of a dead man lay at your feet. Well, it did until Mando froze it. You should be excited right now. At least, that’s what you're telling yourself. You shouldn’t care about the criminal Mando killed, especially since you told him Drun’s information yourself. And you’re finally on a ship for the first time in your life. One step closer to tracing your brother’s steps. The awful brothel girls are gone, the dreariness of that tavern will bore you no more, and the bedroom where you had your first kiss will never remind you of that amazing bounty hunter again. Except… your parents might not see their only remaining child, and you’re now flying through space in said bounty hunter’s ship.
Gritting your teeth, you rub your arms together, trying to generate some warmth at least. You stand up, knees cracking at being seated for what felt like hours when in reality you’ve only been in hyperspace for twenty minutes max. As you turn to the side, you let out a scream. Startled, you slap a hand over your mouth as the Mandalorian stares at you. Maker, how can someone be so silent when they climb down a ladder? Especially in a full suit of armor?
“Thank you for saving me,” you say. No response. Instead, he tosses you a shock blanket which you almost drop in embarrassment. “I… thank you again.” He grunts then heads back to what you assume is the cockpit. Alone again. After a few minutes of standing dumbly, you sit down. No use in angering the Mandalorian if you trifled through his stuff. You close your eyes, willing yourself to sleep. Surprisingly, your fatigue catches up, and you nestle deeper into the floor, already forgetting the Devaronian.
*****
A solid nudge pushes on your shin. You groan, huddling deeper into the blanket.
“Get. Up.” A harsh voice commands, the modulator morphing his words.
Eyes flashing wide, you sit up and see the Mandalorian’s knees. Hastily, you scramble to your feet, not daring to look at his head.
“We’ve just landed on Catonica. Canto Bight.” You nod, head still fuzzy from sleep.
“When will I go back home?” He releases a short sigh.
“Not for a while.” He turns to walk away, but foolishly you grab his arm to stop him. Immediately, he yanks his arm out of your grasp and clutches the base of your throat. Not hard enough to cut off your breathing, but still strong enough to make you wheeze. Without a doubt, he could see the faded purple and red marks littering your neck. The marks he left a week earlier. Before, your hair could hide the evidence but standing in a close proximity made the bruises all too clear. He loosens his grip then lets go.
“Don’t touch me.”
“Could you teach me to fly?” You both say simultaneously.
“I- what? Why do you want to fly?” For the first time, you see the Mandalorian confused. You don’t know how to explain it to him. Why do you want to fly? In simple terms: to get off your planet, trace your brother’s steps, and be more than your parents’ financial advisor. You’ve accomplished one of those goals already, but how do you explain the rest? You’d need to launch into your ‘tragic’ backstory for that, a story that would probably bore the Mandalorian.
“Because… it’s always been my dream to be a pilot. At the very least, I wanted to get off my planet. Thanks to you, I’ve done that. But,” you gulp, eyes averted, “I still want to know how to fly. If you’d teach me, I’d be very grateful.” A minute passes with no response.
“No. I won’t teach you.” He pauses as if he were about to say more, his chest piece rising with another breath. But he simply turns and heads to a cabinet. He opens it to reveal a multitude of weapons. Stars, it was completely excessive to have that many weapons, right? He doesn’t even have enough space on his body to carry that much.
The Mandalorian takes his pick before closing and locking his armory. He pats himself down like he’s double-checking everything then walks to the exit ramp.
“Stay here. I’ll be back in a few hours. Here,” he says as he throws a comlink at you. “Only use it for emergencies.” The door opens with a hiss, and he steps onto the ramp. Without another word, he exits the ship, the ramp closing right after.
Alone. You were alone on the Mandalorian’s ship with nothing to do. At least you weren’t cold anymore. Huffing, you look around. You didn’t get to really observe the interior of the ship. At least you knew where the weapons and the weird freezing capsules were. In the corner was a small cot. Then there were the stairs. Tentatively, you look behind you to ensure that the bounty hunter wasn’t secretly there before climbing up on shaky legs.
You enter a small room with a door at the end. Probably the cockpit. With careful steps, you nudge the door open and see the controls of the ship. There were three chairs, many lights for the console, and giant windows. From here, all you could see was the gray walls of the port bay Mando had parked at. You could only imagine the view if you looked out while in hyperspace.
The temptation to sit in the main chair and play pretend was strong. The idea made you giddy, eager to act like a pilot. But the thought of accidentally pressing a button and ruining the ship sent a shiver up your spine. With a sigh, you leave the cockpit in search of cleaning supplies. It was the least you could do.
*****
The Mandalorian was tired. With absolutely no leads on his bounty, he had to trudge back to the Razor Crest through the flashy casino city. He did not like Canto Bight, and Canto Bight didn’t like him. Under the bright lights, his dirty armor seemed more prominent. People stepped out of his way, and he wasn’t stopped despite being strapped with guns. They understood his purpose there. Mando couldn’t help the frustration that settled in his gut. He didn’t want to stay on Catonica for too long. Only after catching the fourth and final bounty could he return to Nevarro and receive payment.
His failure at getting a lead only made him jittery. And in a blitzy city like Canto Bight, he couldn’t simply find criminals to use as target practice. His bones were tired, but stars, he was restless.  
Mando entered the Razor Crest to see spots of blood on the floor. Almost unnoticeable, but he knew what to look for. What the fuck happened? He hurried further to see you wrapping a bandage around your hand, a med pack open at your side.
“What did you do.”
“Oh...I tried to clean the ship, but my hand got caught on a sharp piece of metal. Just fixing myself off, don’t worry.” You smile sheepishly.
“I’m not worried.” Mando observes the way your smile falters, your blink of surprise, and the shift of your face into neutrality. Fuck. He was too tired to deal with placating your emotions right now. He rifles through the med pack and throws a bacta patch at your lap.
“Thank you,” you mutter but don’t pick up the patch. Maker, he was stupid. Why would you need a bacta patch if you already bandaged yourself? He wasn’t thinking clearly. Instead, all he could think about were the smattering of hickeys lining your throat haphazardly. He knew that if he were to pull your shirt’s neckline down, there’d be even more bruises around your chest. Damn it. All his earlier frustrations went right to his groin the second he laid eyes on your neck. He had to get away from you. But there was nowhere to go on his ship. Maybe the cockpit? He walked towards the ladder but stopped at your voice.
“Mando…? I- I’m really sorry if I’ve offended you. I know that I made life harder for you since you have to deal with me. I never should have been by your ship o-or asked you to teach me to fly,” you ramble on, voice shaky, “And I’m really s-s-sorry about last week. I understand if you think it was a mistake. If you want, you can drop me off at some other p-planet. I’m sure I can find my way back home. And-”
Mando presses a gloved finger to your lips. He sees the tears gathering at your bottom lash lines, the slight tremble of your lips, the curve of your throat straining to contain your emotions.
“It’s… alright. My life has always been hard. And… last week wasn’t a mistake.”
“What? Mand--” he holds up a hand to silence you.
“Actually, I wouldn’t mind if we could have a repeat.” Maker, the breath felt like it was knocked out of your chest. He wouldn’t mind? What’s that supposed to mean? Blood rushes to your head. As for Mando… his blood rushes elsewhere.
He goes through the med pack again, picking up thick bandages. Carefully, he positions them over your eyes, giving you enough time to back away. But you don’t. He leads you to the edge of his cot, the action similar to what happened a week prior.
“I’ll be back,” he whispered through the modulator before leaving to power down all the machines in the hull. After the ship is crowded in darkness, he makes his way back to you, and stands there, simply observing you. Your ankles are crossed, hands folded together in anticipation. He takes off his helmet, the locking mechanism hissing, and sets it down by your feet. He leans in, your warm, shaky breath on his face. Mando slowly captures your lips with his, a small moan escaping your mouth.
Stars, kissing you always felt good. Your mouth was so pliant under his, willing to do whatever he wanted. He places his hands on your hips as you entangle yours in his hair. You were so soft for him, so pretty, so willing .
The longer he kissed you, the more delirious you felt. You jolt when his hands grip your waist then pull you towards him, back arching while your pelvis is that much closer to his. He tugs on your bottom lip with his teeth, biting hard enough to make you wince. His tongue gently runs across the spot where he bit you.
You tilt your head back for some air, the sound of your combined breathing heavy in the silence. With no sense of sight, everything else becomes so much more amplified. The smell of his armor and sweat overlap with the crippling taste of his mouth on yours. Your teeth knock together when he dives back in for another kiss, the slight pain causing you to pull harder at his hair.  
You try to wrap a leg around his waist but a hand stops you.
“No,” he rasps. His voice is much fuller, deeper, and undoubtedly sexier without the damn modulator. The hands on your hips travel downward, igniting fire on your thighs. They pull at the flesh there, pinching and prodding, while Mando’s tongue enters your mouth. Kriffing hell, this felt so good . If last week had been  a dream, today was heaven. His tongue runs over your teeth before swirling around yours. Since when has the Mandalorian been so good at making out? He separates from you, head dipping down to your neck, no doubt to put more bruises there.
The kisses, the touches, and the caresses filled your head with a buzz. A euphoric, all-encompassing, addicted buzz. All your life, you’ve never felt wanted physically. Always in the shadow of the much prettier, more experienced girls working around you, it was hard to not feel inadequate. The quiver in your voice at confrontation, your hiding behind loose clothes were all plain manifestations of your insecurities.
Everyone thought you didn’t want attention, but they were dead wrong . Maker, you want attention as much as the next person, maybe more so. You ached to feel wanted, especially as a woman. To have caught the eyes of a Mandalorian, one as strong as the man currently kissing your neck, filled you with pride. And an immense urge to show said Mandalorian just how much you could help him. As inexperienced as you were, you would at least show him your enthusiasm.
Before you could notice, one of Mando’s hands reached your belt. Fumbling with it, you stop him, thumb pressed against his wrist.
“M-mando,” you gasp, his teeth nipping at your collarbone, fingers still trying to take off your belt. “Mando s-stop.” He clearly doesn’t hear you, and succeeds in unbuckling you. “Mando stop!” As if he were burnt, the bounty hunter jerks away, putting at least a feet between you two. You almost whine at the loss of his warmth.
“I-I’m sorry. I should have asked if that was okay. I didn’t kn-,” he cuts off when you hook a leg around his waist. Finally. Tugging at his wrist, he almost collapses on top of you, but stops his fall with a hand on the cot. “What are you doing?”
“Mando, you don’t need to be sorry,” you whisper. “I just… want to show you my thanks right now.” Tentatively, you try to plant a kiss on the column of his neck, but miss and land on his cheek instead.
“How will you do that?” His breathing increases slightly, the thought making your head pound.
“Can I… do this?” You slowly drag your free hand down to the bounty hunter’s waist, gripping at muscle there. “And this…,” your fingertips graze over the tops of his thighs, curving inwards. “What about this?” Gently, you reach out to cup the bulge in his pants. You barely touch it before the Mandalorian grips your hand in his. Tightly.
“I don’t think you know what you’re getting into,” he rasps.
“I know I’m clueless about this stuff. But… I can learn. Please, Mando, will you let me learn?” He sighs, the defeated burst of air answering your question.
“This was supposed to be about you. Not me.”
“Oh, Mando... You’ve done so much for me. Let me repay you? Let me solve your problem.” Without warning, your hand escapes Mando’s, reaches out to his pants, and squeezes at the hardness there. Mando curses at your boldness, but you're stunned. Stars, he is hard as steel.
“Still willing to help me?” His head buries into your neck, not kissing or biting. Is he… snuggling against you? No matter, you have another thing to address.
“Of course,” you purr, attempting to sound sexy, but Mando just chuckles. Face reddening, you reach into his pants. Your fingers fumble around but with Mando’s help, you manage to get his pants down by a few inches. The breathing in your neck only increases, and with that burst of confidence, you grasp him gently.
Maker, he was… hard but warm. Really kriffing warm. In awe, you simply run a finger down a prominent vein.
“Maker, grip harder. ” You wrap your whole hand around his cock, squeezing as tight as you can. “Fuck, stop. Not that hard. Like this.” He places his hand over yours, then loosens his grip so you can imitate his pressure. He slowly guides your hand up to the base of his cock then down to the very tip. He leads you through that rhythm before letting go. The tip of him is wet with some sort of substance, so you gather it in your fingers.
“Shitttt... yeah. Go faster.” You try to increase the speed of your hand, but there isn’t enough lubrication.
“You’re too dry,” you complain. He’s hard as fuck, yes, but still a little dry.
“Spit in your hand,” he groans.
“What? Why-”
“Just do it,” he snarls, hips thrusting into your grasp. You release him, then spit into your palm. Maker, this seems a little gross, but if it brings Mando pleasure, you’ll do it. When you grip him again, the extra lubrication makes it so much easier to glide up and down his shaft.
As you keep up your pace, the bounty hunter steadies your hand, and begins to thrust into your fist. Fast. Stars, he’s going really fast. The warmth, the hardness, the enthusiasm send sparks to your groin. Even though Mando was the one getting a handjob, you felt like the one spiralling into pleasure.
“M-Mando?” He grunts in response, mind too focused on your small, tight grip. “Do you want to… put it in my mouth?” He stills completely. Fuck. Did you say the wrong thing?
“You really want that?”
“Yes… please, Mando,” you whine, “ I really want to suck-” he jerks away from your hand then firmly grips your shoulders. He tugs you off the cot and onto your knees, your back arching instinctively.  Once your knees touch the cold floor, you try to tug his pants down completely, but the armor covering his thighs stops you. Almost annoyed, Mando rips the armor off, the sound of metal clashing the floor making you cringe. You pull his pants down as far as they can go and blindly reach up his thighs.
Impatient, the bounty hunter lays his palm on the top of your head, leading you closer to him. After feeling around, you finally grip his pulsing cock, and Mando sighs at the sensation. A sense of dread begins to fill your stomach: a heavy, weighted feeling. Stars, why were you getting nervous now ? This is what you asked for, right? But your lack of experience makes you question just how well you can do this. Before today you’ve never even seen a naked man, much less have your mouth inches away from a hard cock. You really don’t know what you’re doing.
Before you can back away, Mando seems to sense your nervousness. He leans down to gently cup your face, his thumb tracing circles on your cheek.
“It’s ok if you want to stop.” Sniffling, you shake your head then realize that he can’t even see you.
“It’s not that. It’s just… I don’t know if I can make you feel good.” The both of you stay silent.
“Here,” he says as his thumb caresses your bottom lip, “I can teach you.” He pries your lips apart, and his thumb enters your mouth. His finger slides on the top of your teeth, and the rest of his hand widens your mouth. “Ready?” You moan in confirmation.
“Keep your mouth open.” He takes his thumb out and stands up straight. With a nudge from him, you slowly wrap your lips around the tip of his cock. Your mouth widens the deeper you take him until he’s almost to the back of your throat. You choke at the intrusion, and almost pull back all the way, but a reassuring hand holds the back of your head in place.
“Breathe through your nose. Yeah, like that.” You breathe in and out, adjusting to the feeling and weight in your mouth. And the taste. Maker, the taste is… something else. A little bitter and a little salty, you can almost taste the sweat the bounty hunter has built up over the long day. It did not taste as good as you had fantasized, but what else can you expect from someone with no experience? After a full minute of just… keeping the Mandalorian’s dick in your mouth, he begins to get irritated. He shifts his weight around, waiting for you to do something.
“Use your hands, pretty girl. Like before.” You hum in response, and begin to grip at the areas your mouth couldn’t reach. Mando controls your head to bob at a steady pace. With gasp, you break off and spit into your hand before connecting your mouth to his cock, fingers moving at a faster pace. This is what he wanted, right? He moans at your increased fervor, and you mentally high-five yourself at the success.
“Tongue. U-use your tongue,” he groans. You tentatively run your tongue on the underside of him, up and down. “Yeah. Swirl around the-- fuck-- yes, just like that. Around the tip.”
Emboldened, you trace his tip with your tongue, and the Mandalorian increases his grip on your hair. On instinct, you hollow out your cheeks, forming a sort of suction, and Mando curses.
You try to not get too messy, but your gaping mouth causes drool to slide down your chin. Maker, who knew that blowjobs were so messy? However, the increased lubrication makes it even easier to slide down the bounty hunter’s cock. A thought crosses your mind, and you use a free hand to cup one of Mando’s balls.
He jerks away, almost ripping your hair. You whine at the slight pain.
“Sorry. R-really sensitive there.” You loosen your grip on him, and store that information for later. For now, you simply squeeze him gently and pull downwards. Mando seems to melt on the spot, his moans filling the room. The sound goes straight to your neglected pussy. You don’t mind blowing Mando when you get to hear him like that .
As you play with his balls, you still bob your head on his cock, but the ache in your jaw becomes more prominent. How long were you supposed to do this? It’s amazing to see him like this and be the reason behind it, but he has so much stamina . Maybe if you go faster, it’ll end sooner.
You speed up, mouth running up and down Mando’s slick shaft, ignoring the pain in your jaw. Your increased pace makes you gag more often, not the most appealing sound. But to Mando, it seemed like the sexiest thing he’s ever heard. But the Mandalorian seems to sense your discomfort, so he pulls your head away.
“Just hands for now.” You release his balls in favor of stroking him. Like before, your hand eventually stills so he could thrust into your fist. Unlike before, he’s so much wetter . He’s fucking leaking.
He continues to blurt out obscenities while he uses your hands to pleasure himself. You clench your thighs at the thought. Your tongue still tastes a little bitter, but you’re used to it now. In fact, the idea that you even tasted the Mandalorian’s cock arouses you like nothing else.
Somehow, you can sense when Mando is close. It’s in the way his breathing becomes heavier, the faster pace, and harder grip on your hair.
“Can I-- kriff-- can I cum in your mouth, pretty girl?”
“Yes pleeeease,” you gasp. He sticks the tip in your mouth, then proceeds to stroke himself furiously. Your hands take purchase on his thighs, massaging at the muscles there. You brace yourself for some sort of sign that he’s reaching his climax. Out of nowhere, Mando releases a long groan, and a salty taste hits your tongue.
You cringe instantly at the taste but don’t pull back. Instead, you take more of him in, holding him in your mouth. After he’s done, he begins to pull away, but you stop him. You swallow the liquid in your mouth, gulping down. Mando curses at the feeling. When he tries to pull out again, you let him. Cool air replaces the warmth Mando provided, the drool on your face already beginning to dry.
“Did you really swallow?” You give a noise of confirmation.”Kriffing hell. You’re so good for me. Here,” he reaches down to grab your arms, and pulls you up. Your knees give a pop as they straighten. Without a doubt, they’ll be bruised. He guides you to sit down on the cot.
“My turn,” he says, dropping to his knees. But a yawn stops him.
“Sorry… I’m just really tired. M-maybe next time?” You lay down all the way, maneuvering yourself so your entire body is stretched across the bed. With the ache between your legs, you’d usually be too high strung to sleep.Yes, it’ll be your second nap, but it’s been a long day, and exhaustion caught up to you again.
Mando stands back up and just stares at the darkness. He contemplates turning the lights on, but a soft snore from you discourages him. Grunting, he tugs his pants back on, and feels around the floor for his helmet. Grasped in hand, the helmet swings around as he walks to the ‘fresher. He could really use a shower. Before he enters, he turns around, the ‘fresher light illuminating you. Next time.
Next time, it’ll be his turn.
50 notes · View notes
authorialarcanist · 3 years
Text
Gracidea Blossom Chapter 4: Trouble Clef
(Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, & Platinum x Little Busters!)
Mirror Links: AO3, Pokécommunity, Spacebattles
---
Previous - Next
---
Tumblr media
“…And that’s how we ran out of Pokéballs.” Kyousuke’s face is buried in his hands as he recounts Rin’s training. “Rin, you really are a legendary no-con.”
“Shut up! I don’t want a title like that!” Rin hisses at him over her bread.
After Masato and Kengo’s battle and Rin’s throwing practice wrapped up, the Little Busters have decided to pause for lunch before heading into Mt. Coronet. Although the tunnels leading from one side of the mountain to the other are reasonably well-traversed, it’s still always best to be prepared before heading in. Terra and Sly are sleeping beside Riki on a boulder, while Lennon is curled up in Rin’s lap nibbling on a berry.
“If you want to talk about no control, look at these idiots!” She glares at Kengo, who looks away.
“I tried to stop them when they went past the first knockout, honest…” Riki sighs. As usual for Masato and Kengo, ‘first elimination’ had morphed into an all-out battle until both of their teams had been totally wiped out.
Masato finally snaps under the pressure. “Look, I get it, okay? I got carried away! I’m sorry!”
“Well, I guess it’s alright,” Kyousuke says. “We won’t be able to count on Masato and Kengo in the mountain, but that just means Riki and Rin get to take point!”
“W-w-what?” Riki waves his hands in front of him, trying to get Kyousuke to slow down a moment. “What do you mean, we’ll take point? There’s no way Rin and I are ready!”
Kyousuke shakes his head. “I can step in if any of the wild Pokémon are too strong for you to handle, but the two of you won’t get stronger if I do everything for you.”
Unsure of how to reply to that, Riki just focuses on eating his bread. He’s not sure where all of this talk about strength keeps coming from. He doesn’t care about getting stronger; he just wants to stay with his friends.
“Hey, Kyousuke!” Masato pipes up. “Didn’t you pack any cutlets?”
“What sort of trip do you think this is?” Kyousuke gestures at his backpack. “Does this bag look like it could hold a cooler to you?”
“Come on! How are we supposed to build any muscle without protein?” Masato gestures at Riki. “His training’s gonna be meaningless without giving his body the right building blocks!”
“I’ve got jerky, Masato. That’s the best you’re going to get.” Kyousuke pulls a sealed bag out of his backpack and tosses it to Masato, who catches it with a resigned sigh.
He’s about to pull out a piece of jerky when Kengo snatches his wrist. “Weren’t you talking about how Riki needs protein?”
“Ugh…” Masato stops for a minute, seemingly at war with himself, before finally giving up and thrusting the bag at Riki with both hands. “Fine! Riki, take my hard-earned jerky before I change my mind!”
Riki waves his hands in a placating gesture. “Why don’t we just split it evenly between the five of us?”
Masato gasps. “Of course! Riki, you’re a genius!”
“No,” Rin says, “you’re just an idiot.”
“Riki, you’ll defend me, won’t you?” Masato looks at Riki hopefully, but Riki’s face contorts sheepishly as he tries to think of any way to contradict the accusation. The pause stretches on to a minute before Masato buries his face in his hands and groans. “Noooo! Not even Riki’s on my sideeee!”
Kengo bonks him lightly on the head with his wooden sword. “If you don’t want to be called an idiot, you should try not being one.”
Kyousuke’s voice is neutral as he speaks up from behind his own lunch. “Oh? Riki, could you remind me whose idea started that Pokémon battle, again?”
“Gkh—” Kengo chokes on his tongue, and after failing to come up with a retort, hangs his head in shame.
“I do believe that makes me the winner here,” Kyousuke chuckles. He reaches over to snag the jerky from Masato.
Rin snatches it out from under his nose. “Says the one who watched that show and then spent a month trying to get Masuda to hit ground types with Thunderbolt.”
“You promised you wouldn’t tell!”
“Give that back! I need protein to live! Proteeeiiiiin!” Masato dives at the jerky, earning a startled high-kick for his troubles as Rin scrambles away. Riki looks on as his friends scuffle, a fond smile on his face.
“Riki, back me up! I’ll give you half of my jerky if we win!” Masato’s hand reaches out to grab Riki and pull him into the fray.
“Woah!” Riki staggers into Kyousuke with a startled cry, and then it’s every man for himself.
——
Once the group has finished recovering, Kyousuke stands up. “Alright then, team. We’re not far from the cave entrance now, so we should make sure we’re prepared for the wild Pokémon inside Mt. Coronet. Rin!” He points to his sister suddenly, startling her. “What do you think we should do to get through safely?”
“Hm…” She thinks for a moment. “You go in front of us to take care of the Pokémon there, Masato guards from the right, Kengo takes care of the left, and you go behind us to take care of the Pokémon there.”
“Amazing!” Kyousuke responds with a shocked expression. “Have I always had these incredible powers of duplication? And when did Masato and Kengo’s Pokémon get healed?”
“I’m sure she meant something deeply meaningful by it…” Riki chuckles sheepishly.
Rin just hisses in response.
“Anyways, that won’t work. Riki, keeping in mind there’s only one of me and that Masato and Kengo are out of usable Pokémon, what do you think?”
“Well… I guess, I could go in front to defend against any land-based Pokémon, while Rin and Lennon keep an eye out for Zubat? I think Ember is the only attack either of us has that would be able to hit a Pokémon in the air.”
Kyousuke nods. “That sounds good to me. I’ll follow behind, and take over if any evolved Pokémon show up.”
Riki looks around, making sure that everybody is ready with backpacks secured and trash packed away. “Then… I guess it’s time for us to move? I’ll keep Terra in front for now, so… Sly, return!” After withdrawing his Bonsly, he turns to Kyousuke for confirmation.
Kyousuke nods. “That’s right. The entrance should be just a short ways further west. We should be able to reach Oreburgh by nightfall.”
He’s not wrong about the cave entrance; once the group is moving again, it takes them under an hour to reach and cross one more bridge from their island to the other side of the river. Riki boggles for a moment at the water far below them, reflecting the misty grey of the sky, and then they’re across the bridge and facing a steep mountainside. In front of them, a jagged entrance has been carved into the rock, leading into the mountain.
“Is everybody ready?” Kyousuke meets Riki’s eyes for a moment, waiting for his small nod before moving on to glance at each of the others in turn. “Once we’re inside the cave, we won’t be able to rest until we’ve reached the other side.”
Masato and Kengo give their assent, and then everybody turns to Rin. She shrinks back, but after a moment she gives a hesitant nod.
“Very well, then! Mission Start!” At Kyousuke’s shout, Riki gathers his courage and steps into the tunnel.
The caves inside Mt. Coronet are brighter than one would expect. Light filters in through the cave entrances and from openings higher in the mountain wall, casting the interior in a dusky half-light. Calm pools of water reflect this faint twinkling from where they lie scattered through the interior. Zubat and Golbat flutter overhead as Riki leads the way into the mountain, and some drop closer to examine the new arrivals. Occasionally a Zubat decides that the group must be prey and swoops in to attack them, but each time one does, Lennon scares it off with a few Embers.
Partway through the cave, the group finds their path blocked by an array of fallen boulders. Riki tries to see if they could slip between them, but between the rocks in front of them and a long pool of water limiting them to a narrow path, there’s no way forward.
Riki turns to Kyousuke beseechingly. “Could you have your Pokémon use Rock Smash?”
“Hm.” Kyousuke examines the blocked path. “I could.”
“That’s great! Okay, let’s go!” Riki turns to move forward, then stops when he realizes Kyousuke isn’t following. “…Kyousuke?”
“Yes?”
“Could you please have your Pokémon use Rock Smash.”
“Yes, I could.”
They stand there for a minute, Kyousuke making no signs of movement.
Finally, Riki speaks up again. “…Will you have your Pokémon clear the way?”
“No,” Kyousuke says, “I don’t think I will.”
“Kyousuke…” Riki glares at him balefully.
“There’s a detour through the middle of the cave. We can take that. It’ll be good experience!”
“Kyousuke, this is the main travel path through Mt. Coronet! As the Champion, shouldn’t you clear the way?”
Kyousuke thinks for a moment. “Hm. That’s probably true. I’ll have to come back and open the path once we’re through.”
Riki gives up. “Ugh… Alright, which way is the detour…?”
At that, Rin shouts incredulously. “You’re going along with him?”
“What else can we do when he’s made up his mind like this?” Riki sighs, and turns around to follow the detour Kyousuke points out. The group skirts around the nearest pool, making their way north until the water at their side gives way to more land, and turns west to find the ramping body of rock that dominates the center of the cave. Long ago, somebody carved stairs into the formation, creating an alternate path for trainers who need it. Several Geodude are sleeping on the stairway, and they wake up when Riki and Terra draw near.
The Turtwig fights them off, but its tackles take a while to weaken them through their tough, rocky skin. At the end of the battle, Terra is a little unsteady on its feet, so Riki sprays it down with some potion and then withdraws it to let Sly take the lead.
The group climbs up the rough stairs to the top of the rock formation, where a flat path has been carved through the jutting rock. Right in the middle of the path, however, is a small pile of sleeping pink Pokémon. They’re round, with stubby limbs and pointed, brown-tipped ears. Riki can make out a sworl of fur on the forehead of one that’s facing him, and a large curled tail beneath two tiny wings on the back of another.
“What do we do? I didn’t see another detour we could take,” Riki whispers.
“They’re just Clefairy, but… I’d feel bad waking them up just for your training. We should be able to sneak past them,” Kyousuke replies.
“Mm. So… we just need to be quiet and work our way around the edge of the path?” Rin’s voice is also hushed.
“Yeah. Just be careful, and we’ll get by.”
“What are you guys whispering about?” Masato pipes up from the back of the group, his voice raised to cross the distance.
Riki shushes him, gesturing wildly at the sleeping Clefairy, and for a moment the whole group holds their breath, waiting to see if they’ll wake up. After a moment, they let out a sigh of relief as one as the Clefairy don’t seem to have woken up.
Rin whirls on Masato. “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING, YOU IDIOT?” Her shout echoes all over the cave for a moment before she catches on and covers her own mouth in shock.
“Oh, no…” Riki slowly turns from where his gaze had followed Rin. The Clefairy, now roused, don’t seem to be pleased at their intrustion. Riki’s eyes move higher as one in particular rises from the middle of the pile, reaching a full height of just over four feet. This Pokémon’s body is larger and more oblong than the Clefairy, and pointed, pink fairy wings flutter out from its back. This is a Clefable, the evolved form of Clefairy.
“Oh, I’m an idiot, am I? Which one of us actually woke them up?” Masato’s voice drips with vindication as he needles Rin.
“I— Shut up! It’s still your fault!”
“Guys, they’re coming at us!” Riki’s voice wavers as he takes a step back from the Clefable. “Maybe you could argue later?”
“R, right! Lennon, Scratch to the right!” Rin finally comes to Riki’s support and her Litten jumps into the fray, raking its claws across the nearest approaching Clefairy.
“Sly! Use Flail on the one on the left!” The Bonsly, already closer to the wild Pokémon, begins to thrash about and rams into any Clefairy that try to get past it.
Still, the Clefable advances angrily. It’s strong enough to hardly notice when Sly’s flailing knocks into its leg, just lightly kicking out to send the Rock-Type tumbling away. The first thing to make it pause is a flash of sound and red light as a Pokéball lands in front of it and bursts open.
“Go, Chaplin!” Kyousuke’s voice rings out over the sound of battle, and the light resolves into a thin section of tree trunk, standing on two legs. Oblong yellow splotches track up its torso to where a branchlike arm sticks out on each side, each tipped with three green spheres. Further up, at the top of the body, are two beady eyes and a wide mouth stretched into a dopey grin. Above the face, one last small branch sticks straight up from the top of the Pokémon’s body, splitting into what look like two cut-off twigs. This is a Sudowoodo, the second stage of Bonsly.
“Use Head Smash!” Kyousuke shouts a command, and with an excited wiggle, Chaplin lowers its head and rams into the Clefable at full force. Even though the impact looks like it should snap off the twigs on top, instead of bending they stay perfectly rigid. Like Bonsly, Sudowoodo aren’t real trees - just Rock-types mimicking them. The Clefable reels away from the impact, dazed.
Riki’s attention snaps back to his own part of the battle. Sly, too, seems to have stopped its assault for a moment to watch its evolved form. A Clefairy takes advantage of its distraction to assail it with a barrage of slaps, but Sly’s rocky skin renders the attack largely ineffective. At a shouted command from Riki, the Bonsly returns the favor, smacking its rocky head down at the Clefairy’s skull. The Clefairy topples backwards and another takes its place. Sly is beginning to be overwhelmed, and Riki can see that Rin isn’t doing much better on the other side of Kyousuke. She’s withdrawn Lennon and has her Chingling squeezing an opponent with its tendrils instead, but more Clefairy are piling past their companion to attack Santa.
“Ah crap CHAPLIN GET BACK!” Kyousuke’s shout draws Riki’s attention to him, and Riki sees Chaplin leap backwards from the Clefable now hovering a short ways above it. The Clefable’s wings push back and it smashes into the ground with a devastating punch, clipping the retreating Chaplin and sending it tumbling head-over-heels. Kyousuke’s Pokémon is stronger than the wild Clefable, but a super-effective move as powerful as Meteor Mash still has to hurt.
Meteor Mash… wait, that’s it! At his sudden thought, Riki shouts a new command to his Bonsly. “Use Copycat!” Sly goes still for a moment, some mysterious instinct freezing the Clefable’s attack in its memory. The Clefairy swarming it seem to sense something, but they back off too late to avoid the hammer-blow from the Bonsly’s head as it imitates the Meteor Mash. Several Clefairy skid away, too weak to fight, and a boulder that happened to be too close splits apart. One fragment of stone bounces into the air like a pop fly, and Riki watches it as it stalls for a moment at the peak of its flight. Sly is standing straighter after the last attack, power surging through it, so maybe it’s ready for… “Sly! Rock Throw!” The chunk of boulder comes down, directly above Sly, and at the last minute the Bonsly swings its head into the rock, sending it flying with a *crack.* The projectile slams into one of the Clefairy attacking Santa, and Rin shoots Riki a thankful nod.
At that moment, Kyousuke’s Sudowoodo stomps the ground, and several chunks of rock fall from the ceiling directly at the wild Clefable. Although it attempts to hover out of the way, the attack is too wide, and it has no choice but to be entombed in a prison of stone. “Well done, Chaplin!” Kyousuke bends down to rub the Pokémon’s rocky head, indicating that he’s helped enough.
Deciding to let Sly rest, Riki throws Terra’s Pokéball past Kyousuke so the Turtwig can help Rin clean up the last of her opponents. A couple minutes later, all of the Clefairy have given up their assault, and the friends resume walking before the Clefable can break out.
They make it to the end of the raised path, and after climbing back to the ground level they sit down next to a pool of water to catch their breath.
Riki pulls out his water bottle and takes a drink, the cool water refreshing his parched throat. He swallows and says, “So how did we do?”
“Not bad,” Kyousuke replies. “The two of you were able to handle yourselves, aside from the one that was far outside your level.”
Kengo nods. “Things like that use of Copycat were just what I meant about recognizing how to use your Pokémon’s strengths. And Rin, acting to restrain and block your opponents was also a good idea - if you’d had one more person who could support you, or if you were comfortable commanding two Pokémon at once in a double battle, you could have taken advantage of the openings you created.”
“Also, don’t I deserve an apology? After all, you were the one who woke them up,” Masato says.
“S-shut up!” Rin glares at him. “I wouldn’t have shouted at you if you hadn’t been loud, it’s still your fault!”
“Come on, Rin! Just one ‘I’m sorry’ can’t be so hard, can it?” Masato grins, approaching Rin as he teases her. “It’s not like I’m asking you to go around saying you think my training routine is the coolest—”
“Like hell!” Rin freezes for a moment, and then bolts away.
“Wah - Rin, come back! Don’t leave the group!” Riki stumbles to his feet and chases after her, trying to keep her in his sights. He follows her down a straight path through the cave, and their surroundings grow gradually brighter. Riki barely has time to register that they’re nearing the exit before Rin skids out of control in front of him. A moment later he also steps on several hard, round somethings, and loses his own footing. For a moment he glimpses something purple jumping out of the way, and then he crashes into Rin and the two tumble to the ground.
“Oww…” Riki extricates himself from the tangle of limbs and rubs his head. After a moment, he feels at the ground beneath him and picks up a small glass bead. “A marble…?” Confused, he looks up and meets a pair of blue eyes.
Their owner cocks her head before speaking in a jovial tone. “Wow, you two surprised me! Why were you running like that in a dark cave? That’s dangerous, you know!” She’s a girl in a white shirt and checkered skirt, as well as a pair of striped knee socks. Her magenta hair is tied into a side-ponytail with four round, pink hair ornaments.
“What I’d like to know is how these marbles got here. We could have gotten seriously hurt!” Riki’s head is still sore, and he glances around him in search of a possible explanation. The only person around seems to be the girl.
“…You shouldn’t run in caves,” she repeats, her tone not changing in the slightest.
“…Did you put these marbles here?”
“…Running in caves is dangerous!”
“More dangerous than spilling marbles everywhere?”
“…Well, who did what isn’t important!” The girl waves a hand dismissively.
“Wh- the culprit doesn’t get to decide that!” Riki climbs to his feet, careful not to rest his weight on any of the hazards. Looking down, Rin seems unharmed, although she’s still dazed from the crash. “Come on, you should clean these up!” He turns away from the girl and starts gathering up marbles.
The girl doesn’t budge. “Where are you going?”
Riki glances back, confused.
“Our eyes met. You can’t do anything until we’ve had a Pokémon battle!” She grins, gesturing from her eyes to his with her left hand.
“Seriously? Nobody actually follows that rule,” Riki chokes out through mounting exasperation.
“Actually, you should do it.” Suddenly, Kyousuke speaks from behind him.
“Gah!” Riki jumps, slipping on a marble again and falling on his rear. “Kyousuke, how the heck did you catch up so fast?”
“I’m nimble. What matters is, this is a perfect opportunity to get some more practice in! Hey,” he calls to the girl, “How many badges do you have?”
“I’m the proud owner of one badge!” She looks extraordinarily proud of herself for someone who just caused a high-speed pileup.
“One badge versus no badges, that should be within an acceptable range of strength. Riki, your mission is to battle her!”
“Ugh…” Riki glares at the girl halfheartedly. “Fine. But if I win, you’re not going to get out of cleaning this up!”
She just shoots him a smug look in return. She holds out a Pokéball in her left hand and presses a button in the center, causing it to shoot out a beam of red light. The beam ends in a pool of water opposite the cave entrance, and expands into the shape of a small jellyfish, with a bulbous top and a flared bottom. When the light clears, it reveals a light blue body with a beak and two beady eyes just sticking out of the water line. Higher up, the bulb is decorated with three clear red domes. A small one faces front in the middle of what one might call the Pokémon’s ‘forehead,’ while the other two are larger and set near the top on either side of the Pokémon. The Tentacool looks around for a moment before the girl shouts “Soap, I choose you,” and it snaps to attention.
“Go, Terra!” Riki throws a Pokéball, and his Turtwig pops out just by the water’s edge. He doesn’t give a command yet, glancing at the girl instead. “…If we’re going to battle, we should at least know each other’s names. I’m—”
“Riki, right. I heard the other boy.” The girl smirks. “My name’s Haruka! And — Poison Sting! — You’ve left yourself open!”
2 notes · View notes
yejiroh · 3 years
Text
Hello!
Heya! So i really really really like your works, so id like to request Tamaki x Reader, where his S/O is very good at like gaming?
She usually plays minecraft and fps games and shes extremely good at it. I’d really like a scenario where they play Valorant, a tactical shooting game just like overwatch and csgo, like usually tamaki plays with like mirio and some of his friends and one of them was busy so mirio decided to invite her to play and ends up carrying the team with an ace or two.      (P.s I dont usually request because i fear that i dont follow the rules properly, but i love love ur works :)  Happy New Year ! )
***
Authors note:
@plutostones​ Hi, how are ya? I just found this, so sorry for the wait. Also, I tagged you because you put this in as a submission, not an ask, so I didn’t know whether or not you’d get the memo. Anyways, thank you for requesting, and thank you for being a fan of my work-it means a lot.  I don’t play Valorant but from what your describing it sounds like Blitzbergade- which i do play. Sorry in adavance if this is not how the game goes, but i did do some research.
And to everyone wanting to request, the requests are open; just read the rules!
Because this was so late, I made it long.  
Suns Out Guns Out!
-PLATONIC- (kinda)
Word count: 2000+
Staring Tamaki Amajiki, Mirio Togata, Nejire Hado, and of course, the lovely Y/n L/n!
***
Three monitors glared at Tamaki, the LED screens too bright for his poorly lit room. Discord, Twitch, and Valorant displayed, his fingers smashing the keyboard loudly, the familiar “clack, clack,clack” ringing in his ears.
It was routine, everyday after school, the five of them: Tamaki, Mirio, Nejire, Yuuyu, and Kirishima would open Valorant, Discord, and Twitch.
“Ah, dammit! Not again!”
“Mirio, calm down; it’s just a game.”
“I just can’t help but to get riled up- sorry.”
“Why are you so mad anyway?”
“This guy- Flippy2252- he keeps killing me every time I get back! And the worst part is, they never run! They just walk in and shoot everyone!”
Tamaki took off his headset, throwing it to the side. Mirio was never one to whine about losing, but having a 22-0  losing streak was pretty rough on anyone’s ego.  Looking at the left monitor, Twitch was going crazy. The live chat was full of onlookers and the 10 players were all at war, angry at Flippy2252 for not letting anyone else get a kill, or Flippy2252 killing people every time with no hesitation.
It was always Flippy2252.
All it took to beat Flippy was an upgrade of armour, right? But neither he, Mirio, Kirshima, nor Nejire had enough credits or was willing to get such an upgrade. They were fine as is. Yuuyu was fine to. Kind of. 
Sighing, Tamaki put the headset back on, holding the attached mic. “Mirio, where’d you go? I knew this game was  hard...let's just call it a night- we have a test tomorrow and the event.”
“Guys, about that, I can’t play tomorrow- I have a cousin coming over .”
Whining, Nejire’s voice piped through the headphones. “Really Kirishima? But tomorrow is what counts!” 
“I know, it’s not manly of me, and I’m sorry guys! But Bakubro said-”
“Bakugou? You’re leaving for your boyfriend, not your family!”
“What? No, He’s NOT my boyfriend! And my cousin IS coming over!”
“Wooow Kiri, I expect this from everyone but you!”
Tamaki looked at the screen, tuning his friends out. The match was over. They had lost.
Again.
***
Rushing up the stairs of the U.A. building, Tamaki and Mirio panted, having overslept and missing the train.
“Wooh! That was a good way to wake yourself up, right, Tamaki?”
“I-I guess. I’m tired now. We should have just not come since we’re this late.”
“Nonsense! We made it on time- hey there’s Y/n!”
Mirio waved a hand out to the person in question, calling out to her.
‘Hey, Y/n! You ready for the test?”
Y/n turned over, making quick eye contact with Tamaki before he covered his face. 
Looking back to Mirio, she gave a sweet smile, putting a fist in the air.
“I actually studied for this one, so heck yeah!” “Good to hear! Hopefully we all get good marks this time, yeah?”
Y/n nodded, looking at her phone-
“Is that a Valorant background?”
“Hm? Oh, yeah! I love that game!”
Mirio smiled. “What a coincidence-”he nudged Tamaki-”We do to! Say, are you any good?”
Y/n chuckled, waving her phone around.”I’d like to say I’m pre-tay good. What about you guys?”
“Well, we’re amazing, don’t get me wrong, there’s just always this one guy who just comes in, kills everyone, and leaves. You can’t even respawn in peace!”
Y/n’s chuckles turned into hollers, knowing exactly who they were talking about.  “Oh god- you mean that Flippy dude? They’re awseome!”
“Yeah, but they don’t give mercy for anything!”
“You’re not supposed to, it’s a gun game. Tell you what, give me your discords and I’ll help you guys. I’ve gotten a couple kills against the dude.”
Was this a blessing? They were just looking for someone! Mirio tooked Y/n’s hand, bowing down, and pretended to wipe a tear away. “M’lady, it would be an honor, for our time in war-”
“We were just looking for another player cause one of ours bailed.” Tamaki muttered, interuppting the poetic Mirio.
Clapping her hands, Y/n smiled again. “Great! Just put your tags in my phone and we can do the event today! Also, good luck on the tests!”
***
Y/n sat down, her computer moniters clocks all set to count the second. Hand on the mouse, she breathed in, watching, waiting.
5...4...3...2...1- She slammed the keys, logging into everything at once. A beep form one; a Discord call. 
“Hey Y/n! You ready?”
“Yeah. Who else is on the team, other then you and Tamaki?”
“Nejire and Yuuyuu.”
She looked at the moiters, nodding. Okay. There’s 10 seconds into the game, okay? We have 3 hours, 45 minutes, and now...37 seconds until the event is done. We split the prize between who got the most kills or who did the most.”
“Okay.”
Just before she ended the call, Y/n quickly added. 
“And I’m Flippy2252.”
***
Tamaki spit his drink. Y/n was Flippy? No way! Slamming the keys, his avatar ran around the map. Now that he didn’t have to worry about Flippy killing him, he could actuallydo something! 
But the event was Capture The Flag, and he wasn’t too good at that. Running up a ramp, he spotted a red name, quickly shooting. But his sniper was no good.  Flippy-no, Y/n- ran up behind him, gunning down the red in her path. Soon she had the flag, and was running away.
“WOOOAHHH!” Mirio hollered through the headset. “I suddenly feel useless in a good way!”
What the heck?
“Mirio, that doesn’t make sense.”
“Weirdo.”
“This  game is as good as ours!”
Tamaki looked at the Twitch Moniter, smiling.
‘Since when was Flippy on team blue?’
‘Who cares? They’re still kicking ass!’
‘If they’re not on red it’s not even worth watching.’
‘Shut yo bitch ass up, like the fuck you gon do? Its a game the fuck?’
‘Really? Language guys. they can read everything.’
‘they too  focused on the game’
‘FLIPPY IS SO HOT WOOF WOOF BARK BARK AWWOOOGA’
‘Bro chilll you just lke their avatar’
People are weird. Walking into a building, he layed his avatar down. Just one more kill and they’d win the first round, and an Ace at that. 
***
1 minute left in the event, and Y/n still had the flag.
Tamaki followed, gunning down everyone chassing them and shooting at them. 
Capture the flag had never been so chaotic.
10 seconds in, they just had to get to their home base.
“Run Flippy run!”
5
4
3
2
1
A large VICTORY was displayed on theor teams screens, Y/n shreiking with laughter.
“That was so insane!”
“We actually won an event? FINALLY!”
Everyone was sreaming through the headsets, and once again Tamaki took it off, throwing it to the side.
Laying on his bed, he opened his phone, lookjng at a picture of Y/n.
She carried the team, and it was amazing to have won something again. 
8 notes · View notes
Text
What Used to Be
Tumblr media
masterlist
previous part
word count 3.6k
an: there’s a little more fluff in here, any guesses as to where the dream had happened? hm or maybeeee who this mysterious man is?
part 03/??
The journey to Dantooine seemed like it took forever, to him maybe, but after landing the Crest and climbing back down the stairs, he was met with the image of the Child looking at you. More and more he found himself at your side. You hadn’t woken up since your eyes fluttered shut hours ago. He walked over and kneeled beside the cot he had placed you on, and reached out to your hand. He flipped your wrist over and pressed two of his fingers into your wrist.
He could feel your heart beating slowly, but it was there.
He looked over your face, and the Child cooed next to him, which made him tear his eyes from you. Mando rubbed the Child’s head with his gloved hand before using both to pick him up. He walked over to the pod Mando used to carry the Child in and placed him inside, moving the blankets to cushion it as much as he could. Mando turned back to look at you for a moment, and with the click of a button on his wrist, the pod closed and concealed the Child within it. Mando pressed another one so that the pod would follow his movements, and Mando pressed a button for the ramp to his ship to open.
Dantooine was a calm farmers planet. From what he could remember from his history lessons long ago, it was home to the original jedi council during the Old Republic. It was thought to be a holy ground for them, tales of padawans and serenity were often told about this planet. Mando exited the Razor Crest and it was just as he had imagined. The port he had landed in used to be a compound and was converted when the family line died out. Now, it was a small bustling port with different vendors littered around. Mando walked around, getting a lay of the land, and of course earning looks from strangers. His eyes landed on what looked to be a medical vendor, hopefully a full fledged doctor.
As he made his way over, he pulled the sample he stole and held it in his clenched hand. The man behind the counter looked up as he approached, and sat up a little straighter.
“A Mandalorian,” he scoffed, “didn’t know your kind was still around these parts.”
He chose to ignore that comment. 
“Can you tell me what this hypospray contains,” he said calmly. He extended his palm out, revealing what he was holding. The man looked down at the spray, and grumbled as he took it into his own hands.
He looked it over, but within seconds he was handing it back, “without the proper labelling, no I can’t.”
Mando looked at the hypospray, and then back to the man. What a waste of his time. He took the hypospray and put it back into his belt, and turned to walk away, but a voice stopped him.
“You can try going to the old temple, and see if one of the computers there can read the contents,” the man offered. Mando looked over his shoulder to peer at the man, and then moved on. The old jedi temple? Great. But if it held an answer to helping you, he would follow through with it.
There was only one way in and out of the compound, and Mando made his way over to it. There was a person who would open and close the gate, and the only words that exited their mouth was to be weary of the kath hounds. Mando paid no mind to it, and when he walked out into the grassy terrain, he looked around him. In the distance north of him, he could make out what seemed to be a building so he started in that direction.
The Child did change his life. He considered it to be a foundling, and that’s why he was helping to bring it back to its home. Encountering you was not part of his plan, but he couldn’t just leave you where he had found you. And now he couldn’t just let you die. The Child made him care about things he hadn’t necessarily done so in the past, not that he wasn’t a good man (he thought he was) but it was always just about business. Get the bounty puck, get the bounty captured, and then repeat the process. He met many people over the years, but none that made an impact like this. He walked towards the building in the distance, the pod floating beside him. With a click of a button on his wrist, he allowed the pod to open, so that the Child could look around. The area felt safe, despite the warning from the local of Katy hounds. Honestly, he was surprised there were any even left.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, he had to step over the bones of what he could assume had been a predator's snack. The Child peaked over the edge, and its ears fell.
“I know, kid,” Mando commented, mostly to himself, “we’ll be there soon.”
The sun was high in the sky, so he wasn’t worried about encountering anything too dangerous. The pair walked through a path between two large mounds of grass. How the path was still visible, he didn’t know, but they trudged on. The building edged closer, and they were back to an opening before a bridge.
The bridge looked to lead to the obviously rundown building. A large tree had fallen into it, which left a large hole right through it. Suddenly he felt very uneasy about the place. He looked to the Child who was sitting back into the pod, not so curious anymore. Mando took a step towards the bridge, and another, careful of the surroundings.
It looked deserted, felt deserted, just gave off a very ominous vibe. Mando slid his amban rifle off his shoulder so he could hold it in his hands, crossing the bridge to the other side. Only one way went somewhere, and that was around the building. So, that was where they went. Pieces of concrete were broken from others, Mando stepped over them carefully and finally managed to get to a large set of blast doors. He put his rifle back on his shoulder and grabbed a knife from his belt. He would have to pry the pad off the wall to retire the door to open—
Just as his hand was about to start prying the pad off the wall, the doors began to slowly creak open. Mando quickly put his knife back and grabbed his rifle, aiming it into the darkness that was welcoming him. The door obviously hadn’t opened in a long time since it opened slower than a Hutt moved, but Mando was ready. The doors stopped enough that he could fit in, and he turned the light on on his helmet. Taking a careful step forward, he  and the pod entered the darkness. The hallway felt like it was swallowing them, the deeper they went the less he could make out.
It opened to a larger room, holding another tree, the only light that was let in was by the gaping hole in the wall because the fallen tree from outside. The circular room led in two different directions, and Mando chose the path closest to him. He still moved cautiously down that hallway, each step led closer and closer to light. When the hall reopened, he glanced around both sides just to make sure it was safe for him to enter.
Mando put his rifle back on his shoulder, but unlocked the hilt that held his blaster, just to be safe. He made his way into the room and it sloped downwards, where there were a number of chairs all sat in a semicircle. The Child peered through the pod curiously, and Mando looked around the room for some kind of terminal. Farther off into the darkness he could make one out, and he made his way over swiftly.
The terminal was ancient and he was surprised it turned on at all. But it blinked to life and he managed to get the terminal to open a slot for him to put the device into. It closed back up and beeped for a few moments, before displaying a word on the screen. Mando looked it over carefully, panic settling into his mind as he read it over.
There was no remedy.
He stumbled back a couple steps before he steadied himself. He breathed heavily as he tried to think. No, no, no, no this couldn’t be happening. You couldn’t just die this way. He couldn’t let that happen!
A crash from the large room made Mando stop and pull out his blaster, pointing it in the direction the sound came from. In the distance he could see a figure, hooded and in the dark, but he could make it out just fine from there.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Mando called out, his voice kept in an even tone.
“What do you seek from here,” the voice replied. Male. Definitely male. Human most likely.
Mando thought for a moment, but decided to answer, “I need a remedy for a friend of mine, they were poisoned it seems.”
The figure he could tell nodded to themselves. Mando edged forward a step, still pointing his blaster at the figure. They didn’t move, just watched Mando move closer into the sunlight that came in through the only window in the room. Mando stopped, planting his feet firmly, and the figure moved from behind the chairs, still shrouded in darkness.
“I can help you, Din Djarin,” the voice said.
Mando felt his arm lower for a moment. How did they know his name? Mando straightened his arm back to keep his blaster pointed at them.
“How do you know me,” he demanded.
The figure moved from around the chair, and into the sunlight. They were covered in dark grey robes, and carefully they moved the hood from off their head. He definitely did not recognize the man before him. He looked older, long brown hair that was pulled back behind him and a beard along his chin. The man offered him a smile.
“Because of that little one,” he said, offering his hand to the Child, who took a finger in his tiny hands. Mando lowered his blaster slightly, letting him continue, “we’ve been watching you both.”
“We,” Mando repeated, “what do you mean we?”
“Those of us who have passed long ago who are one with the Force now, connected together by the same thing, which connects this child to us as well.”
Mando blinked and the man removed his hand from the Child’s grip. If he was saying what he thought he was saying then that meant—
“Jedi,” Mando said low, and the man nodded. Mando never met a Jedi. But now he could see it. It made sense now.
“Come Din Djarin, let’s go and help your friend.”
—————
Your eyes fluttered open, and you found yourself laying on grass. The sun beamed down on your body, and the long grass blew in the wind. You slowly sat yourself up, your hair falling behind you and the sleeves of your dress touching the ground. You knew where you were, you could tell by the smell in the air, and the sound of water flowing downstream nearby.
Home.
You stood above the grass, looking all around you in a circle when you faced a man right in front of you. You took a step back, and he just smiled at you. He was dressed differently from your people, cream colored clothes and a dark brown robe over him, but his presence here didn’t startle you.
“Do I know you?” you asked him and he shook his head. You furrowed your brows a bit and he motioned for you to walk alongside him. Your feet didn’t give your brain enough time to think before they seemed to move on their own to walk next to him.
“Do you miss it here,” he asked you. His voice was warm and delicate, which made your shoulders relax.
“Everyday, but I’m here now,” you replied smiling to yourself.
“Not for too long,” he said and stopped moving, you stopped and turned to him, the hair blowing through your hair. He took your hands in his, making you face him fully, “I’m here to wake you, and leave you with a message.”
“A message..?”
He shook his head, and clapped your hands together under his, “There’s not much time, but you must help the Mandalorian with his mission. See to it that the Child makes it back home safely.”
You tried to open your mouth to speak, and he shook his head again, “You will know what to do, the Force will guide you.”
The Force?
You didn’t get a chance to ask him any questions, before he closed his eyes and you felt the air escape your lungs. You felt like you were suffocating and your body was about to hit the ground, when suddenly you gasped awake.
You were panting, shooting upwards on the cot you were on faster than a wombat trying to seek its shelter. You stared straight ahead when a pair of hands latched onto your arm, facing you to them. Your eyes met the Mandalorians helmet, and his hands stayed on your arms.
“You’re fine, you’re okay,” he told you as you caught your breath. You blinked at him as you tried to see your surroundings. As you calmed down, he released your arms, and you slowly moved one leg then another to hang off the edge of this cot. Mando stayed in his kneeled position, and you leaned forward to place your hands on your knees.
“What happened?” You grudgingly asked, using one hand to rub a sore spot on your neck. Honestly, you couldn’t remember anything from before you were out cold. The last thing you could wrap your mind around was being left in that room alone with some guy. Slavers. You’d make sure one day that that would never happen to anyone.
“You were taken to Zygerria,” he explained, and pulled something off his belt to hand to you. You took the water canteen and were quick to undo the lid, “I found you nearly passed out on the ground, someone had injected you with a deadly paralyzing toxin.”
You nodded, listening as he spoke and you took a sip of water from his canteen. Your throat felt dry and hoarse, but the water helped a bit. If anything, you felt drained, “You came for me.” You stated it more then asked, but you looked up to meet his visor. Mandos eyes locked with yours behind the helmet, you were staring straight at him, your eyes felt like they were staring into his soul. But they looked like they had a light in them, despite everything going on.
“Yes,” he said shortly and you smiled, looking down at your feet. Mando’s head tilted slightly, watching your reaction.
“Thank you,” you said to him, finally looking back at him. You had really meant it.
“Of course,” he replied, and you smiled for a moment before it fell, and your eyes looked behind him, “is something wrong?”
You hesitated, opening your mouth to speak but then closing it all together. You didn’t know if you could tell him what happened, and he could see that, “what is it?” He asked again.
You sighed and shook your head, “Before I..woke up, there was someone there with me. In my head, or, I don’t know just there with me.”
Mando nodded to ease you to continue and you shrugged your shoulders lightly, fidgeting with the lid of his canteen, “He told me that I had to help you.”
“Help me with what?” Mando pressed, his voice a little firmer. Not that he meant to because your head shot up, your gaze landing on him. You noticed, you definitely noticed. 
“With the Child, he said,” you studied him to see a reaction, and Mando felt himself lean backwards. You watched him stay there for a moment before he stood, and turned his back on you.
“No.”
“No?” You repeated, but he was walking away from you, to a ladder you could only guess lead to the cockpit. Your mouth fell open as you tried to form a sentence.
“Yes. No.” He repeated, and grabbed onto the ladder and pulled himself up a couple of steps.
“Wait, Mando—“ you started and pushed your legs to touch the floor. You noticed your boots had been removed and the thin socks were connecting with the cold metal. You stood quickly, too quickly really, and felt your body sway under the weight. You were about to grab onto something nearby when a large body held you up, a hand catching yours and another on your waist.
You were face to chest with him, and you finally noticed just how tall and big he was. Bigger than you at least. His hands felt gentle on your body and you could almost feel the heat rise in your cheeks. Of course as you looked up into his helmet, you couldn’t see anything, but a part of you wanted to believe he was looking you over to make sure you were okay. How did he got there that fast? You didn’t know.
Mando helped you sit back on the cot, his gloved hand ran up your arm as you eased down and the other left your waist at some point.
“You should rest,” he said, standing fully again and backing away. Before you could argue with him, he was faster up the ladder this time and disappeared. You frowned, and pulled yourself backwards until your back touched the metal wall of his ship.
Nice talk.
—————
You didn’t know when you had fallen asleep, but you woke up to a blanket over your body, and darkness. There was a faint light coming from what you could still only assume was the cockpit. Your body was still folded against the wall, and you had to slowly move your body to stand from the cot. You felt better, but didn’t want to push your luck. There was no heavy Mandalorian to help you this time.
You quietly walked over to the ladder, and gripped one of the bars in your hand. It was harder to pull yourself up then you had thought, but you did it. You were quiet in your movements, and each step you were met with more and more view into the cockpit. There, back to you, the Mandalorian sat in his chair, and next to him was a pod. You finally made it up all the steps, and were about to open your mouth to speak but was cut off.
“You’re awake,” he said over his shoulder. You pressed your lips together and took a step forward.
“Do you have eyes in the back of that helmet?”
“No, just heard you wake up,” he replied and it sounded like that was that. You nodded to yourself and took another step closer to the pod. Mando looked over his shoulder at you but he didn’t tell you to stop. Two tiny green hands outstretched to you, and you gasped quietly. Oh he was adorable. He was grasping at you and you carefully picked him up out of the pod and held him against your body. He cooed happily, and you let him grab one of your fingers.
You turned back to Mando and motioned to the chair closest to him, “May I?”
“Of course,” he replied, and you smiled to yourself as you sat close to him. Mando turned his chair to face you, and was met with the image of the Child playing with your hair. You were smiling down at him and Mando felt himself smile.
“Where are you taking him?” You asked, looking up from the Child and to Mando’s helmet. How you managed to lock your eyes with him every single time was beyond him.
“I don’t know, that’s what I’ve been trying to figure out,” he said honestly. You nodded in understanding, and placed the Child in your lap.
“Please let me help you,” you whispered. You were poking at the Child, but looked back to Mando with a look in your eyes.
He was quiet. The reason why he had walked away earlier is because he didn’t feel as if bringing you along was such a good idea. Despite whatever that Jedi said, because he had said the same to him. When you repeated the words to him, something in him said no. The look on your face as he walked away made a part of him hate what he was doing. And then when he caught you, something had stirred inside him he hadn’t felt since before he was a foundling. Warm.
But then he was hesitant as he found himself under his gaze. Did he need the help? Probably. But the events of the last few days were what was fresh in his mind, and he didn’t know if he could keep not only the Child but you safe as well. But on the other hand, he knew you were a good shot.
“Okay,” he replied finally, and your eyes twinkled under the dark lights of his ship. You nearly beamed at him as you looked back to the Child. You didn’t respond, and he turned back in his chair to face the front. He hoped he had made the right decision.
-----------------------------------------------
tag list - if i missed you please message me to let me know or to be added!
@lillytalebi​ @weirdowithnobeardo​ @heyitsjaybird​ @soitmightgetweird​ 
66 notes · View notes
dopescotlandwarrior · 4 years
Text
Bluegrass-Chapter Nine
Tumblr media
                    A special thank you to @statell​ for all your help and wisdom
Previous Chapters on AO3
Chapter Nine
Claire was on her second day of coaching Runner about his air transport to the upcoming races. So far, all he wanted to do is race her. She was getting nowhere. When the answer came to her it was inspired and she smiled wickedly.
Later, Claire was in Runner's stall as he chowed down on fresh hay. She had 8X10 glossy pictures of some very fine, and fast horses. She taped the pictures to the back wall at Runner’s eye level and waited. She stroked Porcelain. Runner started throwing images at her of him beating these horses.
“Who is that horse? Oh, that’s Sham. He is favored to win the Champagne Stakes.” She threw him an image of Sham beating him.
“This little beauty is Angle Fire and she will beat you too.”
The hay was forgotten as Runner paced, getting more worked up by the minute. He sent an image of him crossing the finish line and the other two horses were way down the track, laying down. Claire laughed at the image and grabbed his face.
“The only way to race them is to ride the airplane. So be a good boy and don’t act up.”
She saw the last image of the sleeping competitors and Runner’s big finish several more times that day. He was stuck on racing them to the exclusion of every other thought. So easy, she thought.
Rupert’s giant king cab waited at the bottom of Claire’s stairs. Jamie stowed her cases and jumped in the front seat listening to Rupert explain what happened to Runner that morning at the airport.
“I’ve never seen a horse more eager to board a plane. He dragged the handler up the ramp and backed into his flight stall in under ten seconds.” They were laughing while Claire looked out the window with a slight smile. I’ve got your number Runner, she thought.
When Nick was picked up, Jamie got in the back seat to pester Claire and slapping his hand made Rupert look at her in the rearview mirror.
“Yer always pretty lass, but with yer hair down like that yer beautiful.”
Claire blushed and thanked him, and Jamie knew Rupert must be under her spell to make such a comment. He kissed her hand and felt like the luckiest man in the world.
Through the flight to New York and for the rest of the afternoon Claire tried to get Nick's attention. She wanted to talk about actually riding Runner as a partner and having input into the way he ran the race. After dinner, she pulled his arm until he stopped and looked down at her.
“Nick, you promised we would talk about techniques I can use on Runner…to help him make decisions, to actually decide for him.” Her voice got smaller as she completed the sentence because Nick was staring at her with irritation.
“Sure Claire, just pick the race you want to lose and go for it. Make him dance like a ballerina if you want, I don’t care because the race was lost as soon as you interfered.”
The blood drained out of Claire’s face and she looked at him like she didn’t know him. She felt humiliated the way he talked down to her and hated his heavy hand in the decisions about how Runner would race. Her anger and hurt feelings made this conversation impossible to continue so she took off toward the hotel.
“What the fuck is wrong with you Nick? Do ye really feel that way, are ye blind to the bond they have?”
Jamie’s face was purple with his rage as he fired off questions to the insufferable trainer. He wanted to rip his skin off for the way he talked to Claire, but found himself looking at a puffed-up self-anointed king of the trainers and his energy to hurt the man blew away.
“I won’t be needin your services anymore Nick, yer fired. I’ll have a ticket delivered to yer room and ye won’t be runnin into Claire on yer way out, by chance or otherwise. Yer done here, now get away from me.”
Nick looked at Jamie like he had lost his mind. He had trained racehorses for twenty years, no one knew this sport better than him.
“It’s a fluke that horse has won what he has. You put a rider with no history of racing on him and bet the farm on a retarded Thoroughbred that got lucky at Iroquise. He’s gonna kill your little girlfriend when he gets twisted up at the gate. Maybe she won't be missed. A guy like you must have a dozen waiting to take her place. That's on you, Jamie. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Jamie drew back and landed his fist in the jaw of one ex-trainer who went down like a sack of potatoes. He was out cold, so Jamie pulled a one hundred dollar bill out of his pocket and asked the Maitra d’ if there was someone to drive him to the airport.
“Tell him to listen for his name so he knows where to pick up his ticket home.”
Jamie’s thighs were burning when he raced back to the elevator and stepped off on their floor. He wanted to cry for Claire and tried to imagine her disappointment. The room was dark, but he could hear her sniffling in the corner. He knelt in front of her and waited, hoping he could fix this.
“I am so sorry mo chridhe. I don’t even know Nick anymore and never expected this. I didn’t know Claire.”
“I knew something was wrong when he never worked with Runner like the others. Nick was never serious about Runner, or me. Just keep him away from me, please.”
“I knocked him out, right there in the lobby, just after I fired him. Paid the Maitra d’ to drop him at the airport.”
Claire touched his cheek, “we have lost someone I felt was a valued member of the team. Runner needs a trainer, so what do we do now?”
“If you had one hundred trainers to choose from, all ages and backgrounds, varied experience with winners, which would you choose?”
“That’s easy,” she whispered through her tears, “I would pick the one that knew the science and didn’t fall back on his excessive, unproductive time on the track. I’d pick the one who used science to win.”
Jamie let Claire rest while he met Air Horse One at the airport and watched his goofy horse almost drag the handler down the ramp. Runner was looking around, nostrils flared, ready to explode until he saw Jamie and whinnied hello. Jamie asked the handler for a few minutes with Runner and felt the big colt pull the stress out of him.
“One more leg of yer journey my friend, and you get dinner and a rest.”
The handler took the rope and Runner resumed dragging him to the trailer where he ran inside and waited for the cross ties to clip to his halter. Jamie looked at Runner and shook his head, wondering why he was in such a hurry.
The alarm seemed ear-splitting at five o’clock in the morning. Claire pulled her riding clothes and boots on while Jamie stood under a hot shower praying for strength. Runner was still percolating high octane energy making Claire laugh at his head twisting in every direction looking for Sham and Angle Light.
Claire looked at the training schedule Nick left behind in his unconscious haste to leave. She read through his scant notes about Runner and compared them to pages of notes on the other horses he worked with. She felt her blood boil and realized she had lost faith in Nick’s training slamming the book closed. She looked at Runner.
“Let’s see how motivated you are today big guy.”
Jamie lifted her foot and held Runner while she adjusted her stirrups before turning into the track to warm up. Thirty minutes later she rode up next to Jamie who was deep in a conversation with a gentleman she didn’t know. She smiled and lowered her goggles. She circled in a canter before she let him go for a one and half mile breeze. Runner stretched into his stride, but Claire could tell his heart wasn’t in it today. She always got this feeling during training. If there was no one to beat, he often asked her why he was running.
When Runner was cooled down, Claire jumped off and secured her stirrups.
“I’ll take care of that Doctor Beauchamp.”
A young man, around twenty she guessed, pulled the reins over his head and smiled at her. “Mister Fraser hired me for your groom while you’re in New York. I will be here before you every day and hopefully, this big guy will grow to like me.”
Claire was stunned. She managed a smile for the pleasant man and offered her hand, pulling her glove off quickly.
“What is your name sir?”
“Ha, it’s weird enough you’re a female jockey, and you’re British too, that’s awesome. Oh, my name is Jason Campbell,” he said shaking her hand.
“Thank you, Jason, very pleased to meet you.”
The boy blushed and walked Runner toward the stalls and wash racks.
Claire walked to Jamie and the man he had been talking to. Both men stood while she sat next to Jamie pulling off her second glove.
“Sassenach, I’ve been talkin to Michael here about needin a trainer for Runner. He watched yer ride and asked me questions I dinna know. Perhaps you can supply the answers.”
Claire looked into the intelligent and questioning eyes of the man named Michael. He was twenty-something with an easy manner about him. Claire surmised this was just a trackside conversation and settled in to answer his questions.
“Do you hand ride him during races, like you did in today’s training?”
“Yes. I carry a regulation whip, but I’ve never needed to use it. Thankfully, because I don’t know how. Runner wants to win, so I let him.”
“Your body position is very different from the norm. I saw that you crouched and ducked your head in the last quarter mile, otherwise your …um…position was different. Why do you ride like that?”
“Let me help you ask the right question. I appreciate your gentlemanly tact sir but what you want to ask is why is my ass so high off the saddle and my hand holding his mane?”
“The Royal Veterinary college studied this position and the monkey crouch finding the open position kept the body weight forward and lessened the burden of the horse moving through space. They used…”
“Forty-five GPS monitors to watch the jockey’s body as the horse moved under him.”
Claire’s eyes went wide knowing this man was familiar with the study. “To be honest, it is my natural position, I mean it happened naturally. No one would show me how to position myself so that’s what I did.”
“No one demonstrated your position in school? How do they keep the doors open?”
“I am a veterinarian. I never went to jockey school, I don’t know any jockeys. I ride hunter-jumpers.”
Michael stared at Claire like she was speaking another language. “I have never heard of something more preposterous, however, I know it’s true, I can feel it from both of you. How utterly remarkable you can compete with world-class jockeys. It’s impressive.”
Yes, well, my wanting to take part in his race suddenly turned our trainer into a jerk and Jamie fired him. I know Runner is ready for the Champagne Stakes. What happens then, when there is no trainer to get him ready for the Hopeful Stakes in three weeks?
“That’s why you don’t use a crop, you don’t know how. The way he ran today I doubt you’ll ever need to.” Michael pushed his chair back so he could see both Jamie and Claire.
“If you don’t mind, may I ask how far you intend to go on the road to the derby?”
“We are going to win the Kentucky Derby sir. It’s Jamie’s dream, then I go back to being a vet.”
Michael sat back in his chair and rubbed his chin thinking. He knew this was a serendipitous moment in time, and he wanted to be a part of this remarkable story, no matter what.
“Can I come too?”
Claire looked at Jamie like she didn’t understand and then smiled at Michael with a questioning face.
���I graduated with a Master’s degree from the University of Michigan last year. I want to train Thoroughbreds and make a name for myself while I change the standard of whipping a horse over the finish line. I have prayed for a miracle and this is it!”
Claire looked at Jamie and laughed.
“I have a proposition for you both, may I explain it please.”
Jamie who had remained quiet for the past twenty minutes looked the man in the eye, “you have our attention, sir.”
“Let me train them, Mister Fraser. Half of my graduate curriculum was preparing me for a horse like Runner. Claire should be an active partner in the race. He seems to run all on his own, but he won’t always. When you start the super six he will be exhausted and whatever means you use to make it fun won’t work anymore. That’s where Claire takes over the race and keeps him going, guides his leads around the turns, holds him back for the first half mile and then lets him go. I want to come with you and train him. If we get to the derby I will write his story, Claire’s story, and mine. It will be a best seller and the world will never forget his name.”
“That’s quite an offer Michael, how do you eat in the interim?”
“Books and magazines.”
Claire recoiled at the thought of eating books and Michael noticed her reaction.
“No, I don’t eat them. My family is in publishing. I am sole heir to Pearson Publishing. I spent some time on the track five years ago and fell in love with Thoroughbreds. I don’t need a paycheck, but I want first rights to publish this amazing story.”
Michael had worked up a sweat in his excitement talking about training Runner. Jamie and Claire were speechless and got carried away with his excitement. Jamie could not untangle all the facts that had just poured out of the man’s mouth but when he looked at Claire, he knew the decision was made.
“Do you have track time this afternoon Claire?”
“Yes, five-thirty. What should I be doing?”
“An hour of breeze, then the short track to work on his leads. Tracks in America are run counterclockwise so he will make the best time on the right lead along the straight track, and change to the left lead around the turns. He isn’t changing leads in the turn and it’s costing him time. “
Claire stood up, “will I see you there?”
“You will see me everywhere Doctor Beauchamp.”
“Well, alright, but enough of the formality. He is Jamie and I am Claire.”
They checked on Runner who was sending Claire images of beating Sham and Angle Light. She laughed and kissed his nose before catching up with Jamie.
Claire lathered under a hot shower and thought about the race tomorrow. She no longer had the fear of death before a race. Her fear now focused on losing the race because Runner was out competed, or God forbid, she made a mistake that cost them the race.
With a big fluffy towel on her head and another wrapped around her body, she sat at the vanity and rubbed lotion into her skin. She could see Jamie behind her on the bed, grabbing some dream time while he could.
He was breathtaking. Easily the most handsome man she ever met. Her eyes swept over his chest and stomach, dipping into the region that brought her intense pleasure and she felt her heart quicken. She pulled the towels off and fluffed her hair as she made her way to him and purposely made little movement on the bed so he wouldn’t wake. She wanted time with his body. To look at every inch of him and touch his secret places.
She kissed his balls before sucking one into her mouth, lightly holding his penis up to watch it get hard. She had no will power to tease. She needed to come and ran her tongue up his shaft and circled the head. She heard him moan and slowly pulled him into her mouth pushing him as deep as she could before she choked. She felt a strong hand grab her hair and force her down on him and then back up until he reached for her and dragged her up on his chest. She could feel his cock pushing against her core, threatening her sanity as he bit her nipple and then feasted on the whole breast.
Jamie was energized and hungry for her. Pulling her to his chest before he rolled off the bed. He kissed her away from the bed and spun her back to his chest as he bent to place his hands behind her knees and lift her, spreading her legs so she was wide open, her pussy hovering above his dick. She reached her hands above her and locked them together behind his neck.
“Look mo chridhe, look at what I’m doin to ye.”
They were in front of the vanity and mirror and she could clearly see her body, wide open and descending on him.
“Jesus Christ, that is hot.”
She was completely dependent on Jamie to move her, set her pace, and open her legs. Claire was breathing hard, staring at the coupling reflected in the mirror. It was something she could never see without his assistance and the erotic view made her pant and moan. She was begging him to make her come when he walked back to the bed and lifted her off of him setting her down on her knees and pushing her head to the bed.
Jamie watched his cock slide into her body and shuttered at the site. When he pushed harder his hips slammed into her ass making it quiver until he was ready to lose it. He loved the erotic image, but he needed to feel the connection by looking into her eyes. He dropped his mouth to her until she exploded in her release. He flipped her over and locked into her energy, her eyes, and what felt like her soul. Jamie took his time as they spoke volumes about love, commitment, and desire without saying a single word. Jamie pumped his hopes and desires into her and clutched her to him. Claire dropped her head into his panting chest and cried.
Michael had lost none of his enthusiasm by the afternoon and stayed close to Claire to coach her through the crucial lead changes that Runner wasn’t used to doing. Claire knew the instant Runner understood what to do. After that, there were two quick reminders and he instantly corrected his lead.
Claire wore her new silks for race day and when Jamie lifted her foot into the saddle, she was the very definition of calm determination. Runner knew it was time to race and shot blinking pictures of him winning as they were ponied to the gate.
Michael stayed up in the stands, high enough to get the whole race on his video recorder. Jamie admired his equipment, all very high tech, and his confidence in this man grew a bit. He had tried to vet Michael, but the weekend made it impossible to reach the registrar’s office at the University of Michigan. He was able to bring up photos of Michael on the internet which proved he was the only son and heir to Pearson enterprises.
Claire stayed quiet in the saddle as the horses were loaded into the gate. Runner would be coming out of gate 3 in a nine-horse race and would face all the old habits of breaking late and hanging back. She wondered if Jamie thought to mention that to Michael.
When the gate slammed open, Claire was off Runner’s back, ready to move. The pack of horses was well away before Runner bolted into his race lane, running a methodical slow race to the first turn. Claire could feel the easier gate as he changed to his left lead in the turn and then engaged his power. It felt like she was flying as he chased up the outside and caught up to the pack. Even with the deafening sound of hooves pounding the dirt she could hear the roar of the crowd as Runner past one horse after another. He told her he would run very fast to catch up to Sham and Angle Light. Claire tucked close to him, no time to hope, no time to pray, Runner became a bullet, coming out of the second turn with Sham and Angle Light twenty lengths ahead, he lengthened his body as his front feet pounded the ground at the same time making each stride a leap to cover ground. Claire felt her heart sinking as the finish line came into view but suddenly Angle Light was fading behind her and she was neck and neck with Sham’s jockey who whipped the horse mercilessly.
She realized that Runner was keeping pace with Sham so he could torture him and she let him know, in no uncertain terms, it was time to win. He did. Claire was screaming at him with her joy and disbelief he had done it again.
“Runner! You big beautiful horse! You won the Champagne Stakes! You won, you won, you won. Thank God, thank you, God!” Runner was still in a gallop as Claire tried to pull him back, slow him down, but he wasn’t listening. When she saw Angle Light ahead, she knew he just had to race by her and flaunt his win. She let him, after which he obediently started to slow down. She looked for Jamie in the stands, and on her second loop, she saw him and Michael at the rail waving. Claire was crying with joy and pulling back on the bit. When a track handler rode in front of them, Runner finally slowed down.
In the winner’s circle, Claire smiled with her tear-streaked face and Jamie and Michael proudly smiled with her. Claire jumped off and let Michael take Runner so she could get lost in Jamie’s kiss and cling to him like he was the most important man in the world to her. Because he was.
In Kentucky, Nick logged into the track at Belmont Park and snorted with disgust. He felt a small flair of pride and happiness at Runner’s win and then logged off. He was moving his training horses out of Highland Brother’s and had little time to waste.
Michael’s enthusiasm never seemed to lessen and Jason the groom was not far behind. Claire saw Jason jumping and waving at her from Runner’s bath and she smiled at him and his happiness. She passed several jockeys as they moved through the facility, each having a curt nod for her as they passed.
Claire was too exhausted to find a restaurant for dinner, so they ordered a pizza, watched a movie, and slept like the dead.
Jamie checked in with Rupert or Angus daily, happy the construction was going so well. He had ordered new locks on all the doors in the compound and had them monitored by a local security agency. When they returned, each of the borders would get their own password and Jamie could print a report of who entered and exited at any time. If the doors were tampered with it would trip a silent alarm and the video surveillance would wake up Jamie’s phone and beep. Each improvement he made brought him that much closer to a peaceful existence.
Having Jamie to herself was like heaven to Claire. They went sightseeing during mid-day, walked for miles and talked about their early lives. It was a struggle for Jamie to hear about Claire’s life as an orphan and he stopped several times to pull her into his arms and just hold her. This time together deepened their bond and devotion to each other.
Michael had changed Runner’s training schedule and Claire was spending more time breezing and working on lead changes. When he discussed new ideas with Jamie and Claire, he always had the latest research to support his changes. He and Claire were in their element and Jamie was excited for them both.
When he held her close and ran his hands down her body, the changes were obvious and worrisome. Her hip bones and shoulders were bony protrusions where she once had soft round curves and she had constant bruising on the insides of her knees. When she kept losing weight Jamie made an appointment with a nutritionist who gave her a list of supplements to take every day, keeping her energy up and stabilizing her weight.
On race day, Claire was feeling so good, and she teased Runner about beating Sham again because he would be racing too.
To Jamie and Michael, it was a smooth transition to the Saratoga racetrack as Runner was getting very accustomed to traveling. Runner looked calm and ready to race during his workout and Claire’s rosy cheeks were a blessing to Jamie’s worried heart.
When Runner bolted onto the track, the other horses were well ahead, as usual, and he came out of the first turn like a bullet, as usual. He took the lead before the second turn and was never caught. An easy win for this horse who was gaining notoriety because he was unbeatable. The day and the race were so perfect and Claire lavished him with praise during his post-race flaunting to Sham. When she came around the turn and saw Jamie it felt like the air evacuated from her lungs. Something was terribly wrong, and she felt confused and scared until she heard the announcement.
“Midnight Runner has been disqualified from the Hopeful Stakes."
47 notes · View notes
tracyinpolaroids · 3 years
Photo
Tumblr media
The transition to 2 wheels
I’m currently sitting at the cafe, taking a break from grading for the semester. It’s only 1 PM, so I think I have some time to pause reading thesis papers and write up a blog entry. You know, to update whoever even finds my life remotely interesting. Or to somehow document the new things that have been going on.
December last year, I made the conscious decision to start bike commuting. I’ve never ridden a bike on the city streets; I don’t even remember the last time I rode a bike prior to getting mine. But the saying really is true, as silly as it sounds talking about this—it really is just like riding a bike.
For the most part, I’ve always been apprehensive about riding a bike outside the confines of our gated village. It never helped that the common perceptions about bike commuting were that it’s dangerous, it’s too hot here, it’s too polluted. Even without being prompted by anyone telling me those things, I came to those conclusions myself as I sat comfortably in air-conditioned cars as I went about my life in the city. I’ve always wanted to try biking to school when I was in college since my house was essentially just 5 minutes away but it was for those reasons that I never really got to try.
Fast forward to 2019, when the Barangay sent notice to constituents in Loyola Heights that there would be road clearing operations in accordance with the blah blah blah. What it essentially meant for us at the cafe was that parking would be tricky between opening hours to 5 PM. There was one occasion where 4 of us were ticketed for parking on the street during the day. That was no fun. November last year, I got my second ticket which sucked even more because the process was a little more difficult now in the time of the pandemic. Long story short, in involved more going around the city hall compound.
That was the last straw for me, really. I couldn’t hang out at my favorite place without worrying about stuff like that anymore. So a week or two later, I got myself a bike. Along with several essential gear and accessories, of course.
It was meant to be my bike
I went to Decathlon with Ryan to check out bikes, and I learned that the bike I was looking to get wasn’t available in my size. (Yes, I learned just a few months ago that bikes have sizes.) I asked when new stocks would I arrive and I was told that they would on the first of December. So on December 1, I went to different bike stores close by to check out what they had. I actually wasn’t planning on visiting Decathlon again, but I found myself parking in Tiendesitas after visiting this one place near White Plains.
Went back up to Decathlon and saw someone trying out the bike I was looking for—a B-Twin Riverside Matte 100—with a “small” tag hanging on it. New stocks! I heard him say he’d reserve it, and the staff talked to each other mentioning it was the last stock of the small-framed Riverside. WHAT. I approached on of them and asked if there were any more in stock. They said they seemed to have run out, but upon checking the unassembled new stock bikes hanging by the side, they found one. It was mine! I asked if I could try it out, and I was so delighted that there was actually a bike that “fit” me, a small girl of 5′2″.
I asked if I could have it reserved, and was told they could only hold it for 24 hours. I was hoping to get it on the weekend when I could ask Ry to come pick it up with me, but the guy suggested that I could pay for it already and it could pick it up whenever I wanted. I immediately said yes.
It was mine!
I didn’t remember biking to be this exhausting
Ryan offered to come with me the next day to pick up my bike, and we did. I was so excited. I decided to take it for a ride the moment I got home. The moment I got home, I was completely exhausted. I could barely move, my body was sore, and I wanted to just lie down for the rest of the night. And that was just after riding less than 5km around the village, for about 20 minutes. Was biking always this exhausting??? I felt so out of shape.
I decided that I had to build up endurance before I could start biking to Katipunan. I’d bike around my village as often as I could, tracking how long and how far I biked. It was promising to see I could bike for longer the more I rode around, and I got to practice letting go of the handlebar with one hand to try and signal, or at least adjust my glasses.
The biggest obstacle—crossing Commonwealth avenue
By the end of the month and on our last day of operations for the year, I mustered up the courage to finally take my bike out. This was to the apprehension of my parents, mostly my mom, who told me I could just bike inside the village. But you know, that wasn’t the point of getting my bike. While I got it over an e-scooter for the exercise, I also wanted to drive less for various reasons—avoiding being stuck in traffic, having one less car on the road, not contributing to pollution, saving money on gas and parking, and encouraging other people to do it by showing them it’s doable by a noob like me.
The day before I took my bike to Katipunan, I thought I would try biking along Commonwealth. It had a bike lane off the main road which was very encouraging for someone like me who’s never taken her bike outside the village. I initially planned on just riding up and down one side of the highway but as I approached one of the pedestrian overpasses, I looked up and though, “Maybe I should see if I can carry this thing over.” I did with a lot of difficulty. But I made it across and I biked around UP.
The second time I biked to the cafe (just last week), I tried to take another route that wouldn’t involve me carrying my heavy hybrid bike up and down stairs. To be brief about it, that route was terrifying and C5 sucks. I also fell off my bike, but that was due to my own stupidity. So today, I took the UP route, i.e. I decided to just carry my bike again.
This is great
Last night as I was thinking about how I’d go to the cafe today, I thought maybe I should just drive since I’m bringing stuff over and I want to bring my laptop too so I can sit here and grade. But then I remembered that day I got my second ticket, when I was sitting here working, and the Barangay with the enforcers showing up. The whole point of getting my bike was to free myself of that experience and the hassle of having to park at Pop-up and then walking to and from the cafe. So I strapped the cafe stuff onto my bike rack, stuffed my laptop into my backpack with a laptop sleeve for extra padding, and off I went.
Really, the only thing I find so unpleasant about my bike commute to and from Katipunan is the carrying of my bike to cross Commonwealth. The day I first biked on Commonwealth, they were painting bike lanes onto the main road with a buffer zone which is very encouraging. I saw a FB post a few days ago about an urban planner or something working with the QC government talking about the new bike lanes on Commonwealth and I expressed that hopefully they also consider improving the pedestrian overpasses by adding ramps for those who need to cross with their bikes. With that solved, I’m golden. It will take some time but for now, I can deal.
On my commute today, I thought about when I would finally be able to commute past Katipunan. Maybe I’ll take it a little a time and hopefully the improvement of bike infrastructure continues.
6 notes · View notes
peakwealth · 3 years
Text
The Golden Age of Jet Travel
Tumblr media
Walking down a gleaming corridor towards the check-in lobby of Hong Kong Airport.
On January 14, 2020, I shuffled through a half empty Hong Kong airport to board Air France 072 to Paris (*). I did so with regret. Hong Kong had been one of my favourite cities for forty years. I had also managed to squeeze in a few detours to southern China, Vietnam and Taiwan, all of which had been on my to-do list for some time. I was anxious to return even before I had left.
Hong Kong itself was in city in flux. It felt subdued and a little bruised after the poIitical strife of 2019. I say 'subdued' but, in fact, the city was in a state of shock as I had never seen it before. Foreboding would be a better word to describe the mood. But aside from the extra security outside the terminal and the relative lack of passengers, Chek Lap Kok airport was operating normally. I had a look at the Boeing 777-300 that was waiting at the gate. I would have preferred the Airbus A 380 operated by British Airways, but what could I do? Hong Kong had long since become a triple-seven kind of airport. The Boeings were standard issue for the long haul, often cramped with as many as 500 seats, cheap fares, no frills.
The plane lifted off, roaring low over the drop-off zone for city buses where I had arrived a few hours earlier. That meant we were going east, the scenic route, especially at night with Hong Kong twinkling below like no other city in the world.
Tumblr media
I checked the flight path on the screen and wrote it down. After the initial climb we banked right and right again to align with our basic heading (northwest, towards Europe). After passing south of Guangzhou, we flew midway between Chongqing and Chengdu, had dinner before hitting the borderlands of Urumqi and entering Kazak air space.
By then, the economy passengers had settled into the gloom of their private discomfort, twisting and turning in a square foot of rental space. Europe finally loomed as we approached Moscow, then Vilnius, Berlin, Cologne and into Paris CDG after enduring 12,5 hours of flight. Many of the cities en route were familiar to me, I had clear images in my mind of Chengdu and steamy Chongqing where I remembered arriving, years ago, after two days and nights on a decrepit river ferry plying the Yangtze river from Yichang, or rather from the nearby Three Gorges Dam. Vilnius was even fresher in my memory, an utterly different sort of city, small, spotless and cool. Reassuringly European.
Early morning Paris looked a little bleak but there was enough time before the connecting flight to have a relaxed breakfast in Terminal 2F (baguette, beurre, confiture Bonne Maman, café crème, all impeccable for EUR 3,5 at McDo).
In Malaga I took the suburban train from the airport, walked home from the station and that was it. The next morning I half emptied my red travel bag and left it sitting beside the stairs, symbolically ready for the next trip. As ever, it was a discreet act of faith, of hope that there would be a next trip.
You can guess the rest. The bag is still sitting there, untouched, unused, untravelled.
Of course, I had realized some time ago that all this flying around could not go on forever, moving billions of people to thousands of cities where they didn't belong or had no legitimate business. It was ultimately unsustainable, but then so was everything else. The throwaway lifestyle, the manic overconsumption, the disposable clothes and junk food. All of it was going to drag our buzzing, overpopulated planet into a catastrophic tailspin. But maybe, hopefully, surely, I could squeeze in some more travel.
That was before the pandemic.
* * *
Tumblr media
The magic of a handwritten airline ticket. This one has an unused coupon, valid for travel from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, sold in 1991. It records that in the first leg of the trip (from Frankfurt) I had been in seat 57 C  - the back of the plane!
The sedentariness has weighed on me. It has spooked me. Having been a happy 'citizen of nowhere' for decades, I miss the nomadic life. Every morning I scan the epidemiological horizon, trying to visualize what the future holds. The prospects have waxed and waned, but are still not good. While I still expect routine airline travel to resume soonish, it risks being mostly on regional routes, within Europe or North America or parts of Asia. But coordinating travel between and beyond those bubbles may prove complicated and probably expensive.
The wrangling over coronavirus passports that would enable travel reflects the global complexity of the safety measures or the differences in risk tolerance from one country to the next. We may be ramping up vaccination in the rich countries, but the vast majority of the world's population risks not being vaccinated for a year or two or three. Their risk is also ours, especially if the virus keeps mutating significantly. All of us remain exposed. Unrestricted global travel may not come back for a long time, if ever. In other words, being in the age bracket that I am, I may very well be stuck.
As a nostalgic reminder of the golden age of jet travel, I am attaching two excerpts from a sound montage I made many years ago. They are called 'For Your Comfort and Safety' and ‘Ladies and Gentlemen'. So please remain seated until the seat belt sign has been switched off.
_____________________________________________________
(*) Air France has suspended its flights to Hong Kong. The flight numbers have been reassigned. AF 072 now goes from Paris to Los Angeles.
1 note · View note