#I wanna sing and dance around a bonfire with friends | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

wurm-food · 2 years

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Songbird (Ace x F!Reader)

Summary: "Don’t hold out on me. I wanna hear that pretty song of yours.”

You and the rest of the Spade Pirates rage the night away in celebration. All it takes is a little dancing with your captain to make you want to ditch and make a little magic of your own.

Word count: 2.7k One Piece Master List

CW: NSFW, temperature play, very appropriate use of devil fruit powers, dirty dancing (Ace is horrible at dancing though), cunnilingus, penetrative sex, overstimulation, creampie, mutual pining and friends to lovers (because who would I be without those tropes??)

Notes: this is my first completed smutty fic, so please enjoy! You see the tags, you know what's down below. So please, Minors DNI. Follow this work on AO3!

“We love you, Y/N!” “Yeah, that’s our crewmate!” “Someone get her a drink already, she must be dyin’ of thirst!” Jubilant, drunken cheer erupted from the small crowd before you as you took a triumphant bow and set down your guitar. You looked out to see the rowdy faces of your fellow Spade Pirates sprinkled among the island locals, whooping and hollering, encouraging the hosts of your celebratory party to rage alongside them. Within seconds, a wooden mug of ale floated its way across the throng in front of you. After singing several songs in a row, you welcomed how the frothy, bitter liquid quenched your thirst.

Your crew didn’t intend to leave this island as heroes, but after utterly defeating the cruel band of pirates that called the shots here for so long, the island folk were eternally grateful. Plus, there was no way in hell you’d turn down a free hearty feast and endlessly flowing booze. And after setting the mood for the evening with your songs, it was time for the locals to take over and for you to cut loose as well. Fueled by the crackling bonfire and alcohol in your system, you swayed your hips rhythmically, your feet sliding effortlessly on the sand. The light ocean breeze cooled the slight dampness of your skin, your hair and skirt floated around you as you danced around the party. As you let yourself be caught up in the moment, you felt a warm, familiar arm wrap around your shoulder.

“C’mere, Y/N! You were amazing!” Portgas D. Ace, your beloved captain, pulled you close to his side against his bare skin, nearly toppling the both of you over onto the beach. The smell of campfire and musk mixed with the liquor on his breath was strong, but inviting. You giggle and lightly pat pat the side of his freckled face. “Isn’t that why you begged me to join your crew, captain ?” you teased. Ace tended to be a puddle of affection when he drank and you knew he had a particular soft spot for your singing. That was obvious from the night the two of you met. Him and his crew sauntered into the bar you usually gigged at, your voice crooning the night away as you danced and entertained the other patrons. With every syllable and sway of your hips, you watched his dark eyes be entranced by you, following you across the floor. And despite the fact that dozens of men before him held the same, bewitched look on their face when they watched you, his in particular put its own spell on you too.

Ace stood up straight and put his hands on his hips, trying his very best to feign sternness. “First of all, that’s only partly true. After I saw you deck the shit out of that handsy guy in the face, that’s when I knew I had to have you on my crew.” You chuckled at his recollection. That also happened as well that night. You were used to defending yourself in those situations, but when you knew you were in over your head against several men, you had the wrath of the Fire Fist and his loyal crew on your side. “And second, I didn’t beg. The whole crew did, so don’t blame me.” He shot you a wink, the same wink from that night. After getting kicked out of the trashed bar, you found yourself on the deck of the Spadille with the crew, laughing so hard that tears spilled down your face. Catching his breath, Ace turned to you with eyes burning bright with mischief and joy. “Let’s get you off this tired island. Join us, will ya? It’ll be fun.” And with a wink from his handsome face, your fate was sealed.

“Ok fiiiine . You convinced me. And it was the best decision I could’ve made,” you said with a smile as you raised your beverage to your lips. “Atta girl,” Ace said warmly, joining you in another drink. Your heart couldn’t help but flutter as you watched his head dip back, Adam’s apple bobbing up and down with each gulp. You had already admitted to yourself that you found your captain attractive, but tonight as the bonfire flickered and glowed against his chiseled body, he looked absolutely divine to you. With a satisfied sigh, Ace took your mug from your hand and firmly placed it on a table next to his own. Slinging his tattooed arm back over your shoulder, he pulled you in closer to him, noses almost touching. “Come on, firefly . Dance with me.” You couldn’t discern if he was asking or telling you to dance, but you were too much under this man’s seductive spell to really care.

However, for as smooth of a talker as Ace was, you discovered that he was, in fact, a horrible dancer. Ace stumbled over his own boots, stepping on your toes. “ Oh shi-, oh, fuck, sorry, shi- ,” every step came with an apology as his cheeks and ears became pinker by the second. It didn’t help that you also laughed at his awkwardness, he was just too cute as he tried to meet you in your area of expertise. Ace was the kind of guy who put on a very suave front, but would quickly dissolve to reveal the goofy, dorky man that he was. His coolness was what drew you in, but this side of him? This was the part of him that kept you falling head over heels over and over again. After a few belly laughs at his expense, you decided to take pity on the man in front of you as he tried so desperately to impress you.

“ Here ,” you paused to fix his hat back straight on his head, large doe-eyed disks staring back at you. Your captain was off his game, but fortunately this was your game to play. You turned around and delicately grabbed his muscular arms to wrap around yourself. “Just stand here and hold me. I’ll take the lead, ok?” As you gave a comforting stroke of his arm, you felt the rest of the tension in his body dissipate. He clung to you, resting his head against your own as he melted under your touch.

Boisterous singing and the twang of guitars played the soundtrack to the evening amidst the crackle of fire. Your hips continued setting the pace, swiveling against Ace as his hands slowly traveled down your waist. Rough fingers grazed your midriff that peaked beneath your blouse, igniting your nerves. “Y/N…” he spoke, his hot breath sending goosebumps down your spine. You responded in a low hmmmm as you let his roaming hands spur your growing, swirling thoughts.

“Have I ever told you how glad I am that I met you?” You turned your head to see him out of the corner of your eye. His face lingered close to yours, lips mere millimeters from your skin as if to keep your conversation together a secret. Ace’s sweet sentiment tugged at the strings of your heart, but as you felt his growing bulge press firmer into you, you knew his mind had wandered beyond just your friendship. “Yeah? I couldn’t tell.” you mirthed to the man you bewitched, feeling that oh-so-familiar fire in your core begin to smolder.

Ace gave a low, breathy chuckle and pinched the flesh of your stomach. “You’re so feisty ,” he bemused, “it’s one of my favorite things about you.” His words flowed like warm honey, dribbling over your every conscious thought. And as his digits resumed teasing circles above the waistband of your skirt, your mind converged onto the single wish that he’d explore every inch of you. Sultry, smirking lips grazed your neck up to your ear. “ You’re… going… to be… the death… of me… ” Ace drolly continued his praise, each pause accented by a biting hot kiss like embers. With each intoxicating sensation, the Flame user made you melt under his devil fruit powered touch. Every word had you unconsciously pressing your ass closer to him as you pooled beneath your skirt. Your head fell slack against Ace’s chest to turn your gaze upward to his. His eyes memorized every detail of you, letting one hand travel up the curves of your body to cup your face. You finally spoke.

“Wanna get out of here?” A mischievous smile was all you needed to grab his wrist and run back towards the Spadille anchored closeby. Giggling and tripping over the sand, the two of you couldn’t wait to board the ship to get your hands and lips on each other. Any solid surface against the ship became a point of interest to pull yourselves into each other, tongues begging for entrance into each other’s lips as hands grabbed ahold of hair and clothes. You were both impatient and greedy, allowing yourselves to finally fall head first into the temptations you fought against for so long. Finally reaching the door of the captain’s quarters, Ace took his chance to lift you into his strong arms, pressing you against the door with your legs wrapped needily around his waist.

You crashed onto the mattress below you as Ace wasted no time in taking off your blouse and kneading your breasts in his hands, his knee pressed against your wet core. “Ace- ah ,” you manage to breathe his name from your lips in between wanton moans as your captain trailed those same burning kisses down to your bare chest, leaving light pink marks in his wake. As hot fingers rolled your nipple, he chuckled at your squirming. “C’mon, Y/N. Don’t hold out on me.” Fiery lips enveloped your other nipple, their heat already dizzying you. “I wanna hear that pretty song of yours.”

With each hot lap of his tongue, you felt yourself lose all train of thought. You’d never imagined in your wildest fantasies that the Fire Fist could dial back his flames enough to pleasure you like this. Unconsciously, you bucked your hips against his leg as he continued to tease your overly stimulated breasts. Ace read your body language loud and clear as he looped his fingers around your waistband and pulled your skirt and soaked underwear off your body, continuing to trail hot nibbles down your stomach. He lifted your legs over his shoulders so he was eye level with your wet heat. Beneath thick, dark brows, he looked up at you as he took one long lick across your entire slit, punctuating your clit with a flick like lighting a match. You writhed under his muscle as he explored your folds, warming his tongue with every flick. Every movement was deliberate, learning what made your body squirm under his touch. Your walls began to clench, feeling your impending orgasm sure to hit at any second.

“ I-I’m gonna c-cu- ,” you stutter, barely able to form words. Ace pulled his mouth away from your cunt long enough to speak, jaw coated in your arousal. “Then cum for me, sweetheart” he said before burying his tongue further into you. Each hot ministration pushed you closer and closer to the edge until you simply couldn’t bear it anymore. In a white hot flash, your orgasm washed over you. You felt every nerve in your body become weak as Ace drank from you with a satisfied moan, not letting a single drop of your nectar go to waste. Despite how your limbs struggled for movement, neither of you wanted the night to end here.

Ace sat up and wrapped his arms around you to pull you into his lap, one around your back and the other cradling your head, fingers woven through your hair. As the two of you kissed through the lingering taste of your release, you clumsily unlatched his belt. Ace laughed at your desperation, helping you remove his shorts to release his pre-cum dewed member. “Gods, you’re so sexy like this. Do you really want me this badly, firefly?” You cupped his blushing, freckled cheeks in your hands as you ground your folds along his cock. He looked at you with equal parts hunger and longing, the warmth of his eyes pulling you in lovingly. Horniness be damned , his body, heart, and soul were all that you wanted. With each rock of your hips, his smirk became undone by the low groans he emitted. He was hot, putty in your hands. But above all else, it clicked to you that your infatuation with your captain was something even more than you thought. Lining his tip up to your entrance, you pressed your forehead to his. “I want you , Ace. All of you.”

With a desperate kiss, you lowered yourself onto his length, filling yourself entirely as you whimpered. Your still sensitive cunt desired only oblivion as Ace gripped your ass to fuck you relentlessly, letting your head dip back and mouth hang open. Ace groaned deliciously as you slid perfectly around him. Every dream he’d had of you was put to shame as he watched you fall apart in bliss because of him. You were beautiful and he never wanted to let you go. As he watched your still pink breasts bounce hypnotically, he focused his abilities where you needed it most.

The dizzying heat of Ace’s cock was too much to keep yourself upright as you clung hopelessly to whatever part of him you could grasp. Your weakened limbs collapsed around Ace, grasping his dark hair as you whined, fucked out of your mind. “A-are you ok?” Ace managed to speak between moans, slowing his pace so you could answer. With whatever brain cells you still had, you responded with a lazy mmhmm . “ P-please ,” you whispered, “ don’t s-stop .”

Ace’s cocked twitched inside you at your desperate plea. Despite your overstimulated state, you were insatiable. Without unsheathing from you, he flipped you onto your back. The cold pillow beneath your neck was a welcome comfort as he hoisted your wobbly legs onto his shoulders. Ace took a mental snapshot of you, your hair wet with sweat sticking to your forehead, pupils blown wide with desire, chest heaving lewdly. If he were to die today, he would be complete knowing that the sight of you was his last vision of life. Gripping your hips, he resumed his pace as he folded you in half. Your temperature rose again as you felt another orgasmic wave approach. The new position lended to his hot member fucking your sweet spot relentlessly. Overtaken with ecstasy, your eyes rolled back into your skull as you mindlessly babbled your praise. “Gods yes… Ace- ah , right there.. P-please .” Every syllable you spoke sent Ace hurtling closer and closer to his own climax, hips sputtering to keep up with the chase. As you squeezed around him, he leaned back and moaned, “ F-fuck , Y/N. Y-you… I. ”

The bundle of nerves within you burst as your second release crashed into you like a tidal wave. Your tightened walls milked Ace’s cock as he let himself go, releasing pulsating, hot ropes of cum within you. The two of you fell apart together as you collapsed into one another, riding each other through your highs.

The stars in your vision slowly began to recede as you came back to Earth. You felt Ace’s heartbeat pound against your chest as you lazily twirled his locks in your fingers. You knew he would be asleep soon. Whatever thoughts crossed your mind about love and the future needed to wait. For now, you just wanted to absorb the puddle of the beautiful man before you as you hummed a lullaby. He repositioned himself to lay his head on your chest as sleep began to take him from his waking dream of you.

“Y/N?” he groaned, fighting for a few more waking moments. “Ace?” you responded, still dreamily playing with the man’s hair. He wanted to say those three words that had been on his mind all evening, all this time that he’d fallen for you. But as his vision grew darker, he could only make a simple request.

“ Please stay ,” he spoke in a trailing whisper, eyes no longer strong enough to hold themselves open. You smiled, still caressing his dark waves. “I’m not going anywhere, promise ,” you spoke, allowing him to be carried off to sleep.

Tag list (some of these are manual from my interest post, so hi friends!): @theogonies @nekomacheercaptain @uchihabbynic @spiderheaven @audreys-works @spitfire-of-the-sea @creamsickle-writes Join my tag list!

#one piece #one piece x you #one piece x reader #one piece x y/n #portgas d ace #portgas d. ace #ace #fire fist ace #ace x reader #ace x you #ace x y/n #op fic #op fanfic #one piece reader insert #wurm.txt #wurm.fic #wurm.nsfw

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rocky-the-rockstar · 3 years

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Ive got some asks asking me what I do as devotional acts for my deities so here we go. I especially wanted to do this to give examples of non alcohol or sex related devotions for Dionysus for anyone underage or just not comfortable.

Everyone

Practicing Greek, learning about the language (This seems to especially make Dionysus happy)

Taking care of my mental health

Getting sun and fresh air

Eating

Researching

Telling myths and stories to my friends

Making art

Making moodboards

🍇Dionysus🍇

Eating grapes, grape flavored things, and apples

Doing things purely for fun or enjoyment

Theater

Singing (especially around a fire)

Acting

Dancing

Jammin out to my favorite music

Bonfires

My mom and I do this thing at bonfires where we find really long, staff-like, branches and see who can make the better giant torch and he seems to find that really amusing

Eating lamb and goat

Feasts/really large dinners when we can

Writing skits and little plays

Being comfortable with being nonbinary

My weird as fuck sense of humor, being hyper and batshit crazy

Loving my body and appearance (or atleast trying to)

☀️Apollo☀️

Eating fruit, especially apples

Waking up earlier

Letting more sunlight into my room

Singing

Dancing

Writing poetry

Writing songs

Taking care of birds

Making things out of feathers

Taking pictures in the sun

Watching sunsets and sunrises when the lighting gets all funky and pretty

Making jokes, being playful and happy

Practice guitar

Archery

For everyone else on this list, I am not in direct contact with them or have altars for them, but I still like to do little things to honor them.

🕊Aphrodite🕊

Self love

Dressing up

Doing my makeup and skin care and hair

I wanna start veiling for Her but I haven’t yet

again, trying to love my body and appearance

💸Hermes💸

Laughing a lot

Sports I enjoy (for me its skateboarding and basketball)

Shoplifting tbh

🌳Pan🌳

Respecting nature and animals

Picking up trash, planting plants, etc

Taking care of farm animals

Playing with my goats (goats are just dogs but cooler, change my mind)

Being outside

Playing panpipes and wooden flute

Building forts out of branches

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jungwonenthusiast · 3 years

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hi ! enhypen smut prompt request ! can i have the reader whos a female say #4 with jake or sunghoon whos a hard dom ?? if u can , can u add how the reader and the partner are enemies who got lots of sexual tension so they kinda trease e/o a lot with words and actions ? u dont have to use that plot but thank u♡

A/N: This is one of my favorite works now lol i hope u like it :) <3

Warnings: unprotected sex, rly brief oral (f recieving), degredation

Word Count: 2.9 k

“But it’s a Tuesday,” you tell Jay while zipping up your backpack.

“So?” he says. “Don’t be lame.”

“I’m not lame, just responsible.” you sing your bag over your shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s lame.” he walks with you to the lunch tables. Jungwon and Heeseung are already there chatting it up.

“You guys are coming right?” Jay asks them and they nod. “See? You gotta come.”

“It’ll be fun noona,” Jungwon says. “And you have to come because Heeseung hyung and Jay hyung are probably gonna leave me for girls.” he rests his head on your shoulder for a moment.

“Why don’t you get yourself some girls too.” you suggest and he shakes his head.

“I’m too shy.” he says quietly and you giggle.

“Alright fine, I’ll go.” you finally say and they all celebrate. “Jake’s not gonna be there right?”

“Uhm,” Heeseung looks over to Jake’s lunch table nervously. “I don’t think so.”

“You don’t think so?” you cock an eyebrow.

“He won’t be there,” Jay says. “It’ll be fine.”

You feel someone bump into your shoulder as you walk to history.

“What the hell?” you say and turn around to see who the culprit is. Of course it’s Jake. He shrugs with a half smile. That fucking ass.

After a few more classes you head home and start preparing for the bonfire party. It’s at a beach so you decide to wear your favorite bikini under your shirt and shorts. Your phone begins to buzz and it's a facetime call from Jungwon.

“Hola~” you greet him.

“Hi~” he says. “Can you take me there? My parents are at work.”

“Sure.” you say while putting all of your essentials into a purse.

“Also,” he hesitates. “I think Jake hyung is gonna be there.”

“What? How do you know?”

“I heard him talking about it during p.e.” he says quietly and you groan.

“Fuck, I don’t wanna go anymore.” you say.

“No you have to go, I will die without you.” Jungwon pleads. “It’ll be fun, we'll just stay away from him.”

“It’s gonna be hard to stay away from that giant ego taking up the whole place.” you roll your eyes.

“He’s not that bad noona, he’s actually pretty nice.” Jungwon shrugs.

“Don’t betray me like that,” you scold him. “You’re on my team alright?”

“Okay okay.” he surrenders, giggling.

You pick Jungwon up and give him the aux for the 30 minute drive to the beach.

You guys groove to SZA together.

Jungwon rolls down the window while you're on the highway and sticks his head out like a dog. He kind of is like a dog (in a good way). He’d be a shiba inu.

“Whoooo!!” he screams as the wind whips through his hair, you smile.

When you get there you park your car and get the beach towels from the backseat.

“Did you put sunscreen on?” you as Jungwon and he shakes his head. “Why do you never listen to me?”

You get a bottle of sunscreen out of your purse and rub a dollop on his face. He scrunches his nose.

“It feels like you're rubbing cake batter on me.” he complains.

“You’ll thank me when you’re fifty and you aren’t a wrinkly wreck.” you tell him while spreading it over his cheeks.

“Can we be done now?” he whines and you sigh.

“Fine.”

You two approach the crowd of people suntanning, drinking, playing volleyball, and playing in the ocean.

You drop your stuff next to Heeseung’s and Jay’s before looking around for them. They’re playing volleyball with who on the opposing team? Jake Sim.

Jungwon must’ve noticed you shooting lasers through your eyes because he grabs your arm. “Come on, let’s go swim.” he tugs his t-shirt over his head and jogs over to the water.

You follow suit, only feeling a little self conscious about stripping with Jake Sim only so far away. But it’s only because you don’t want to be vulnerable in front of your worst enemy, right?

Jungwon’s already relaxing among the waves when you get to the shore. “Why’d you go so deep?” you call out to him.

“It’s not that deep,” he says back.

You swim around with him for a bit before forcing him to look for pretty shells with you.

He gasps. “Baby crab!” he rushes to pick it up. “Look.” he holds it up to you.

You try to pet it without freaking it out. “What if it bites you?”

“It won’t, we’re friends.”

The sun is nearly gone by the time you’re done shell searching and swimming so you head over to the bonfire. You wrap a towel around yourself and snuggle up to Jay. He scrunches his nose.

“It’s cold,” you defend yourself.

Heeseung hands you a white claw and you crack it open.

“What are we doing now?” you ask but you can’t hear Heeseung’s answer over the sight of Jake, Sunghoon, Sunoo, and Niki sitting right across from you. You notice how the bonfire highlights the muscles in Jake’s chest and arms. The warm orange light washing over him makes it look like he’s glowing. Is this what Apollo would’ve looked like? “Huh?” you ask Hee.

“We’re probably just gonna play dumb highschool games.” he says.

You inhale and take a big swig of your seltzer.

“Truth or dare time~” Bree sing songs. “Sunoo truth or dare?”

“Truth,” Sunoo answers.

“Do you have a crush on anyone and if so, who?” she asks and he rolls his eyes.

“I have a crush on myself.” he says confidently.

“Fair enough, you go now.” she says to him.

“Heeseung hyung, truth or dare?” Sunoo asks.

“Dare,” he replies and Sunoo giggles.

“Give your phone to Jay and let him text anyone anything he wants.”

Heeseung groans and throws his head back. “Oh God.”

Jay cackles an evil laugh. “Gimme.”

Heeseung reluctantly hands Jay his phone. “You’re gonna text Sophie aren’t you.”

Sophie Morales, Heeseung ex. They broke up only a month ago after half a year of dating. This was about to be brutal.

“You know me so well.” Jay smiles.

“Please don’t say anything too horrible.” Heeseung pleads.

“Sophie,” Jay narrates his text message. “I miss you and your huge tits. Also I’m sorry for not telling you while we were dating but your feet are really fucking ugly.”

Heeseung buries his head into his hands, laughing. “Fucking Christ.”

“And your breath stinks,” Jay continues. “At least your boobs are nice.”

This is what I get for befriending males. You think to yourself.

“Alright that’s enough.” Heeseung snatches his phone away while everyone giggles. “My turn since I was the victim. y/n, truth or dare?” “Truth,”

“What’s your biggest regret?”

“Becoming friends with Jay, because he’s insane.”

Jay guffaws. “I’ve been nothing but good to you.”

You roll your eyes.

The game goes on for a bit until it lands on Jungwon.

“Noona, truth or dare?”

You’d usually go for truth, but you didn’t want people to think you were boring. “Dare.”

“I dare you and Jake hyung to talk to each other in private for at least five minutes.” he says, crossing his arms.

Your eyes widen and you look over at Jake, he looks like he wants to drown himself.

“What? Why?” you ask urgently.

“Because I’m tired of you guys hating each other for no reason. Now go.” Jungwon shoos you away.

“Yeah go talk.” Niki says to Jake.

Both of you don’t budge. Jay tugs at your arm. “Come on, Jake and y/n becoming friends!”

The whole group starts chanting. “JAKE AND Y/N BECOMING FRIENDS!”

You had to admit that their enthusiasm was kind of endearing, so you swallow your pride and walk over to the lifeguard tower. You hear him not far behind you.

You climb up the stairs and let your feet hang over the ledge of the patio.

He sits down next to you.

You let a few moments of silence pass before speaking up. “I don’t want to be here as much as you do, so let’s just wait for the five minutes to pass and then go.”

“Damn,” he says. “Do you really hate me that much?”

You roll your eyes. “What do you think?”

“What did I ever do to you?” he scoffs.

“I don’t need to justify my feelings.” you cross your arms.

“Why are you so dense?” he grumbles.

You whip your body over to him. “I’m the dense one?”

“Yeah,” he says proudly. You want to slap the smug look off of his pretty face. Normal face. Slightly, almost, barely good looking face.

“Such a prick,” you mumble, turning away.

“What’d you call me?” he scrunches his eyebrows.

You look him right in the eyes. You never noticed how dark and piercing they were. “A fucking prick. Cause you are one.”

His black hair is still damp and poking into his eyes. His lips are parted and they look so soft that you almost want to kiss him. But he beats you to it.

I should push him away. Push him away you dumbass. You kept telling yourself but you couldn’t do it. His lips felt too good against yours.

Your arms snake around his waist as he lays you onto your back.

You wish you had a hundred hands so you could touch all of him. Two weren’t enough. He feels like silk and he tastes like red velvet.

He pushes your jaw up so he can get to your neck. You exhale as his tongue dances on your skin. He grinds his hips into yours and you let out a small moan. Why are you letting him affect you like this? Idiot.

“I thought you hated me?” he smirks while kissing your chest.

“I do.” you breathe out.

“You sure?” he asks, his fingers traveling down your stomach and into your bikini bottoms.

“Mhm.” you say.

He kisses your collarbone. “People you hate don’t make you wet like this.”

That just makes you throb even more.

“Fuck off,” you say and he backs up.

“Really?” he says. “Because I will.”

You roll your eyes and pull him in by the back of the neck.

“Touch me,” you say and he happily obliges. You knew were in public but it was dark and honestly, you didn’t care.

“Such a slut,” he says while running a finger up and down your slit. “If you wanted me this badly you should’ve said so sooner.”

“I don’t want you asshole.” you breathe out as he circles your clit.

“You just asked me to touch you princess,” he kisses your neck. “I think that’s good evidence.”

You rub your fingers through the back of his hair and tug it back, exposing his neck. He lets out a small moan. You kiss his neck, sucking and nibbling every now and then. When you pull away there’s at least three red blotches that go from his throat to his chest.

“People are gonna see those you know?” he says.

“Whatever.” you roll your eyes.

“Are you marking me or something? Telling everyone that I’m yours?” he boasts.

It’s confusing how your anger is feeding into your lust for him.

“Shut up and fuck me.” you say and he cocks a brow.

“Maybe if you ask nicely,” he kisses your cheek sweetly. You want to wipe it off and slap him in the face.

“Who do you think you are?” you scoff at him.

“Come on dont play with me,” he pushes one finger into you and you moan. “I can tell that you want it.”

It was true. You were practically gushing.

“More,” you say, wanting another finger.

“Where are your manners?” he smirks.

You swallow your pride. “Please?”

“Good girl,” he says and it sends tingles down your spine.

He pulls your bikini bottoms to the side and rubs his thumb up your slit. “Such a pretty cunt.”

Your thighs are already trembling.

“I really thought you’d still be hating me right now.” he says lowly. “Do I make you that weak?”

You snap to your senses for a moment. “Fuck you.”

“I am.” he snickers and you roll your eyes.

“Don’t give me attitude princess.” he warns you with a dangerous smile.

“Or what?” you test him.

“Do you really wanna find out?”

“What do you think you’re intimidating or something?” you ask and he scoffs.

He sits up and grabs your arm. “Get up.”

“What?”

“Get up.” he says sternly and you do.

He grabs your hand, leading you somewhere.

“Where are we going?” you ask, agitated. If you really didn’t want to go you wouldn’t, but you secretly wanted to continue what was going on.

“My car.”

“What? Why?”

“You’ll see.”

“Hey! Where are you going?” Jungwon calls out. “Don’t leave me!” “I’ll be just a second!” you reply with an unsure smile.

“Backseat.” Jake says as you approach his Mercedes.

So bossy, you think.

You sit in the back seat and before you know it he’s pulling you into his lap.

“Let’s continue shall we?” he says and you don’t waste any time getting your lips on his.

He pushes your hips down onto his and you whimper. You were already so wet and this was just making it worse.

“Please, I can’t wait any longer.” you say, not being able to hold it in.

“For what?” he nips at your neck.

“I need to feel you inside of me.” you plead.

“That’s better.” he tugs his shorts down and pulls your swimsuit to the side.

You grab the base of him before slowly sinking down. “Fuck yes.” you moan in relief.

He fills you up perfectly and his tip brushes your g-spot every time you bounce.

“So fucking tight.” he growls, holding onto your hips tight.

Your legs begin to tremble from the pleasure so he grabs you by the waist and lays you on your back.

He snaps his hips into yours and you whine.

He smirks. “Look at you all spread out for me,” he kisses your neck. “Taking this cock deep inside you.”

Your fingers trail down to rub at your clit. “Please don’t stop.”

He flips you over into doggy and tugs your hair, bringing your ear up to his mouth.

“Tell me how bad you want it.”

“Really bad,” you whimper.

He smacks your ass and you let out a small squeal.

“Touch with yourself while I fuck you.” he lets you go and you rest on the door. Your fingers move to play with your pussy.

His hands are tight on your waist as he pounds into you.

You feel your knees start to give out and your cunt start to pulse around him.

He chuckles. “Are you close sweetheart?”

“Yeah,” you exhale. “Please make me cum, please I need it so bad.”

“Why should I think you deserve it?”

“Please, I can’t hold it any longer.” you say and he stops his movements completely.

He gets close to your ear. “You get to cum when I say so okay?”

You accept defeat. “Okay.”

You start to get more and more flustered as he continues to fuck you just right.

“Fuck Jake I can’t,” you whimper and hold onto the car door for dear life.

He pulls out suddenly and you complain before feeling his tongue on you. Your body tenses up from the pleasure.

“You taste so fucking good,” he says and you arch your back, pushing your pussy into his mouth. He moans against you.

After only a couple circles on your clit with his tongue, you’re ready to come undone. You grab onto his hand.

“Wait wait I’m close,”

And before you can utter another word he slams his cock into you and brings his hand around you to rub your clit.

“Cum on this cock sweetheart, I know you can do it.” he encourages you.

He smiles as your moans get louder and more high pitched.

Your legs start to shake and he grabs you tight. He comes up to your ear. “Be a good girl for me won’t you.”

Your eyes roll back as bliss runs through your entire body. He was probably the best lay you’ve ever had.

Your body goes slack as he cums inside of you.

“Fuck,” he growls and slowly pulls out. He picks you up and holds you in his arms as you try to ride out the trembling.

“How am I supposed to clean up?” you ask.

“Maybe you can swim again?” he jokes and you punch him in the arm. “Do you still hate me?”

“One hundred percent.” you say confidently.

“Are you kidding?” he scoffs. “My kids are in you right now.”

You fake gag and he laughs.

#enhypen smut #Jake smut #Jake sim smut

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ackermansupremacy · 4 years

Note

I need some happiness rn Eren Jaeger modern au fluff?

Yeah ofc :’)

Omg this boy is so sweet :(

He 10/10 would be the type to climb thru your window at midnight to take you out

Or just vibe with you and watch a movie

And give you lots of cuddles 🥺

Like you’ll hear a lil tap on your window

“Eren? What are you doing here?” “Wanna get milkshakes?”

He has an old run down car that you guys spend most of your time in

You popped out the back seats to make your own little picnic space in the trunk

Which also doubled as a makeshift bed for those situations-

Eren’s car is his baby so having you IN his car? Instant simp

He loves pointless road trips

He calls them “road journeys” because you guys don’t have a specific destination in mind

He just likes to take you to scenic places where you can dance around like idiots while the music in his lowkey broken radio plays just loud enough for you two to hear

His camera roll is filled with pictures of you

Doing your hair, makeup, watching tv, cooking you name it, hes got a pic of it

He has a habit of always massaging you

Like he’ll always be stroking your legs, head or arms and most of the time he doesn’t even realize hes doing it

Whenever he plays video games he loves for you to sit on his lap or between his legs

If you wanna support him from under the desk he’ll love that too-

BUT THATS BESIDES THE POINT

He loves playing horror games with you there because he knows you’ll be too scared to play

He thinks its the ABSOLUTE cutest thing when you get scared and bury your face in his neck 🥺

He’ll tease you about it after too

“Aw babe you’re such a scaredy-cat”

He gets SO MAD when you beat him at Mariokart

Like he’ll like throw the controller or just straight up stop trying bc his mariokart rage is so bad

Mans flexes you like he got ice on his wrist

His instagram is like empty except pics of you just doing headassery

Hes the type to even post ugly pics of you too 😭

Literally just to make Jean jealous because he’s still single

Omg bonfires with him and his friends 😭

The whole squad will chill at someones house around a fire

Connie will bring his guitar and Sasha will bring those massive marshmallows the size of the palm of your hand

Eren always roasts yours for you cuz he doesn’t want you to get burned

Or too close to Jean

He’ll have his arm around you the whole night while everyones singing the stupid songs Connie learned 5 minutes before

Or while everyone is telling their scary stories

And he’ll kiss you while no ones looking

N whisper in your ear “I love you”

What a sweetheart 😭😭

^ i rlly need to go thru all my posts and add this divider

Aaanywayz sorry that this took so long to get out thanks for requesting i hope you enjoyed!

#aot #snk #eren jaeger #aot eren #eren jeager x reader #eren jaeger imagines #eren headcanons #eren #snk eren #eren yeager

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kayluh1915 · 3 years

Text

Ice Cream Cake

Pairing(s): Pedro Pascal/Female Reader

Words: 3,233

Warnings: None

Pedro (in collaboration with your mother) throws you a party for your birthday, but not for the reason you originally thought.

DISCLAIMER!

So, the beautiful Maggie ( @221bshrlocked ) was talking here on Tumblr about an age gap between reader and Pedro and I am HERE👏🏻FOR👏🏻 IT👏🏻 so expect more of this because she's got me hooked. Blame her... when she gets back from her break! I originally planned for this to be FILTHY, but no matter how many times I tried to work it in, it just didn't fit. So, have some fluff instead! Maybe next time, you filthy whores.

This works as a stand-alone, but I do consider it to be in the same universe as Beautiful People. It isn't necessary in the slightest to read that before this, but it is available if you would like to give it a read.

As always, comments are welcomed and encouraged.

You can also follow me on Twitter if you'd like. My life is boring, but I try.

Enjoy!

Read on AO3

My Masterlist

It’s a warm summer evening. The frogs are croaking, the fireflies are starting to come out, and the crickets are singing as the sun began to dip over the horizon of the mountain. The perfect kind of evening for bonfires, camping, or even some late swimming. All great ways to spend a gorgeous evening. Far better than being pressed up against the glass of the local community center… in your opinion at least. However, for the sweaty fangirls, the chance of even getting a glimpse of your boyfriend was by far the better option.

“Such heathens.” Your mamaw said, rolling her eyes at the crowd outside. “They should show some dignity.”

“You were young too, Mom. Cut’em a break.” You Mom replied, carrying a plate of homemade peanut butter rolls.

“Well, I’d like to think I’d have more respect than to stare and lust over a local's boyfriend on her birthday, famous or not. He ain’t even here yet for cryin’ out loud!” You reached for one of the treats while your Mom was occupied, quickly stuffing it in your mouth. It was just as delicious as always.

“You should call for more security. If they’re like this when the man ain’t even here, I’d hate to see em’ when he does. Someone’s gonna get hurt.” Your Mom thought for a moment, looking back to the crowd outside that had somehow doubled in just that short amount of time alone.

“Yeah, you’re probably right. I’ll get on the phone and let the- Honey, don’t eat all of your aunt Judy’s PB rolls!” Your Mom scolded you once she noticed your stuffed cheeks.

“I dunno what you’re talking about.” You replied, mouth still full.

“It’s the bee’s birthday, Annie. Leave er’lone.”

“Then you can explain to the guests why there’s no rolls left.” The door suddenly opened, the overwhelming chatter from outside piercing the otherwise calm atmosphere of the community center and startling the three of you. You worried for a split second that maybe one of the fangirls had gone rouge and got past the guards or that one of the guests arrived way too early, but it was just your best friend, Emily… thank God.

“Damn, you’d think there was a celebrity nearby or something.” She joked, pointing her thumb back towards the door.

“There isn’t.” Emily’s smirk morphed into pure confusion.

“Whaddya mean? I thought he was supposed to be here around four?”

“Last second table read. Set him back a few hours.” She nodded in understanding, stealing one of the peanut butter rolls from the plate your mom was still carrying. She was about to protest but decided to take the damn treats into the ballroom so they would quit getting swiped in the first place. Even then she had your brother to worry about.

“Well, come on. We gotta go get you all dolled up for your man.” You looked towards the crowd, the mere idea of walking past all of those people green with envy making you nervous. Security guards or not.

“W-we can’t escape out of the back, can we?”

“Nope, they’re lined up back there too. I tired.” You threw your head back with a groan.

“Fuck.”

“There’s security out there, honey. They’ll protect you.” You mamaw said.

“Yeah, c’mon. You don’t wanna start your party in a ratty t-shirt and some jeans, do you?”

Honestly, you didn’t care.

When Pedro asked you what you wanted to do for your 25th birthday, you answered with the what you normally did. Stay home, do nothing, treat yourself to an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, and maybe have Emily come over.

“When’s the last time you’ve done something special for your birthday?” He’d asked.

‘It’s been years. I’m not the party type and I never have the money to do what I actually want. Even a DQ cake is a decent amount of cash for me.” He paused for a moment, obviously thinking.

“... What have you actually wanted to do?” You immediately knew what he was up to.

“Nope! Don’t even think about it! It’s way too much money. Seriously, a DQ cake at home with you is more than enough.” It wasn’t his idea of spoiling you on your birthday, but he agreed. If that’s really what you wanted, then he’d give it to you. Whether you knew it or not, he’d give you the world if he could.

When you and Pedro visited your mother one weekend, she had asked you the same question. Before you could get out the answer you had given Pedro, she'd already replied with her own.

“You know, you haven’t had a proper party in years. We should throw you one.” You tried again to intervene, but Pedro stepped in.

“I’ll help in any way I can. Mi Abeja deserves something special for her birthday.”

So much for your private DQ cake celebration.

You weren’t ungrateful or anything. In fact, you really didn’t mind it. A day of dancing and good food sounded great and you were thankful to have someone like Pedro that was able to give you that. However, seeing all these people stepping on each other just to get one glimpse of the man you love made you long for that DQ cake.

“Pedro’s tee and jeans are fine.” You answered, Emily clicking her tongue at you and grabbing ahold of your arm. She dragged you towards the door and waved to your Mamaw.

“Be back in about two hours.”

Thankfully, you made it to Emily’s car without a scratch, taking in a huge deep breath once you shut the passenger door.

You wanted to choke her.

____________________

Your hairstylist released the last lock of your hair from the curling wand with a whistle.

“Lookin’ good, cutie! Pedro’s gonna faint when he sees you.” She exclaimed, spinning you around so you could take a look at your freshly styled hair. You cupped the curls framing your face and shook it out a little. Not even you could deny how much you loved being dolled up even if it hadn’t been your idea.

“Thanks, Jo. I love it.”

“You’re welcome, baby.” You got up from the chair and walked over to your couch, picking up the gift box Pedro had given you last week. He’d told you to wear it to your party, but not to open it until then.

“Well, open it! Let’s see what he picked out for you.” Emily exclaimed, obviously more excited about it than you were. Even Jo was peeking over as she got her stuff together.

You pulled the ribbon until it fell slack, placing the box back down on your couch to take the lid off. After fishing through a sea of tissue paper, you finally saw it. A black knee-length dress decorated with beautiful roses and daisies and a pair of black heels that had their own blossom.

“Ooooo! How pretty!” Jo cooed, adorning the dress.

“Man, he has a good eye,” Emily added. “That’s beautiful.” You looked over at her with a crooked eyebrow.

“Did you think he couldn’t match colors or something?”

“No, I’m just saying that men usually suck at stuff like this, but he did great.”

After everything was done, you stepped in front of your full-body mirror to take a look at yourself. You hated to admit it, but you actually looked pretty good. Your hair was curled and framed your face nicely as the dress Pedro had got you hugged your body perfectly. You even liked the heels which was a shock. You hated heels, but he had managed to find a pair that weren’t that tall so your feet wouldn’t hurt. It was a very sweet gesture, but you'd still be taking them off before the night was over.

“Shit!” Emily cursed. “Yeah you’re beautiful bitch, we gotta go. You’re going to be late for your own party!” You got back in her car as fast as possible, the heels slowing you down slightly. Despite that, you managed to make it in time, the security guards redirecting you to the upstairs entrance.

“Pedro’s here and they’ve gone wild. You’ll have to go in where the guests come through. There's more of us up there.” Emily complained mildly about having to park farther than she’d like, but you weren’t really paying much attention to her. Since the guard had told you that your boyfriend was finally here, the only thing you could really focus on was getting to him.

You made your way down the stairs slowly but as fast as possible, trying to avoid using the handrails since the decorators had worked so hard on making them look nice. Suddenly, you heard the crowd gathered outside scream, distracting you from your slow descent. You’re glad they did because at the bottom of the staircase stood the man you couldn’t wait to get to, everything but him going out of focus.

He was wearing a maroon button-down tucked into a pair of black dress pants. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, exposing his toned forearms as the black tie sat crooked around his neck. His hair was also slicked back, a few curls defying the gel and coming down to rest on his forehead. His brown eyes were crinkled, his blinding smile causing butterflies to erupt in your stomach almost as much as the trimmed facial hair that framed his jawline.

You continued to make your way down, now using the previously avoided handrails so you could go faster. When you got to the last two steps, he held his hand out for you to take. You gladly did, his calloused hand so large and warm compared to yours. You giggled when the dork pressed a light kiss to your knuckle.

“Are you my Jack for the night?” You teased, earning a snorted laugh from him.

“Nah. Just always wanted to do that. Didn’t think I’d get my chance tonight.” He made sure you came down the last two steps safely, you immediately wrapping your arms around him as soon as your heels touched the tiled floor. You laid your head on his shoulder with a content sigh, Pedro returning the hug as soon as you initiated it, his strong arms holding you tight as he pressed tender kisses to your temple.

“Missed you...” You said quietly, loud enough only for him to hear.

He parted with you ever so slightly to kiss you properly, his lips melding with yours so perfectly that you never wanted to come up for air.

“Alright, alright, break it up you two!” Your dad said, the only thing that saved you from being lost in his lips for the rest of the evening. “C’mon, everyone’s been waitin’ to see ya.” You looked back up at Pedro, smiling wide as soon as you saw that he was staring.

“Stop it.” You laugh. He laughs too, pressing another kiss to the side of your forehead.

“I can’t help it. Mi Abeja looks so pretty tonight.” You reached up to his tie to fix it for him, your eyes focusing on the poorly tied knot that he’d obviously done himself.

“Save it. We have to go greet the family before they blow a gasket.” You said, patting his chest once his tie was finished. He stood next to you and put his hand on the small of your back, gesturing towards the ballroom with his free one.

“Lead the way, honey.”

____________________

The party was well underway by now, the bass of the music thumping hard in your chest as you ate your second piece of birthday cake. It was no DQ ice cream cake, but you couldn’t deny that your aunt Judy could bake.

After the cake was cut, the DJ started playing music, inviting everyone out to the dancefloor. Pedro asked if you wanted to go dance but you turned him down.

“Not yet. I’ll join you once I get my fix on cake.” He nodded, pressing a kiss to your forehead as he left to join your brother and a few of your cousins who were already “cutting the rug” you guessed.

You watched as Pedro loosened up, him and your brother dancing so rediculously that you couldn't help but laugh.

Whether Pedro wanted to believe it or not, he was quickly becoming a Hollywood golden boy. He more than deserved it, but the pressure of it all got to him sometimes and you were ecstatic to see him relaxed for a change.

He’d long discarded his tie, the hair gel barely holding back his curls that started to drape over his eyes that were crinkled up from smiling.

The song they were dancing to ended with one last thud from the bass, the DJ grabbing the mic as soon as it stopped.

“Alright folks, now we’re going to sllooww things down to allow the birthday girl to share a special dance with her love.” You looked up mid-bite of cake, not expecting to be singled out like that.

Pedro walked over to you, offering his hand as the slow song began to play. You quickly swallowed the bite of cake and wiped your mouth off with a napkin, placing your hand in his and allowing him to lead you to the dance floor.

He placed his large hands on your hips, pulling you close and laying his forehead atop of yours as your snaked your arms around his neck. You swayed with him for a bit, the flash of your mom’s camera vaguely registering in your mind, but you didn’t care. It all fades to nothing when you’re with him.

“You’re so beautiful.” He said, his mocha gaze full of adoration when he lifted his head away to look at you.

“You’re not so bad yourself.”

“Even for an old man?” You snickered.

“So nice that any other old man could never compare.” He breathed a laugh through his nose, his crooked smile doing things to you.

You continued to sway to the song, Pedro spinning you around a few times before you settled back into your rhythm. You laid your head on his shoulder after a bit, allowing him to fully take the lead. One of his hands left your hip to come up and hold the back of your head as he pressed gentle pecks atop your head.

“I love you so much.” You smiled on his shoulder, one of your own hands tangling into his dark curls.

“I love you too.”

____________________

Later that night, you and Pedro laid quietly on your bed, his arms tightly wrapped around you as you watched TV together. It was super late and you both were exhausted, but neither of you wanted to sleep. You were quickly losing the battle, however. Your eyes starting to droop as Pedro played with your hair.

“Don’t tell me you’re tapping out already.” He teased, his voice pulling you from the edge.

“M’sorry. S’been a long day.” You felt his chest vibrate with a chuckle, his mustache tickling your cheek as he pressed a kiss to it.

“I had one more gift for you, but I guess it can wait until morning.” Despite how tired you were, you were curious as to what he could have up his sleeve and couldn't resist looking at him over your shoulder.

“What is it?” He laughed.

“Awake now, are we?” He teased, rising up from the sheets with you and getting up. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

It took him longer than you expected and he made quite a bit of noise, but it was well worth it.

He watched your eyes light up with happiness as soon as your gaze landed on the piece of DQ ice cream cake he was holding in his right hand, a single lit candle atop of it. He was also holding a blue gift box with a white bow, but you were more focused on the frozen treat at the moment.

“Aww, Pedro…” You cooed as he set the cake down in front of you with a kiss.

“Happy birthday, my sweet Abeja.” You blew the candle out and licked the ice cream off the bottom, setting it aside and digging into the slice. You groaned at the taste, the mattress shifting as Pedro sat back down next to you.

“Good?” You nodded.

“It’s DQ ice cream cake. How could it be bad?” He let you enjoy your treat, your attention suddenly shifting to the gift box he’d sat down. You pointed your fork at it.

“What’s that?” You asked with your mouthful. Pedro looked to the box and picked it up, gesturing for you to take it.

“Why don’t you open it and find out?” You gave him shifty eyes, setting your fork down to take the box out of his hands. You took the bow off and set it aside, lifting the lid off the box quickly. You froze when you saw what was inside.

Laying atop white tissue paper sat your passport and a Mickey Mouse ear hat. You slowly took the hat into your hands, only just now noticing the sticky note that was stuck on the other side. It read:

“To DisneyWorld we will go for your special day, to create memories that will forever stay.”

You didn’t even realize you were crying until Pedro reached up to wipe a tear off of your cheek.

“How… how did yo-”

“I asked your mom. She said that you’ve always wanted to spend your birthday at Disney but never had the money. I knew you wouldn’t go if I told you about it ahead of time, so your Mom and I worked together to throw you a party so you wouldn’t be suspicious.”

There was no way you could accept something this huge from him. It had to cost him a fortune… weeks of his schedule.

“What ab-”

“Shhh.” He shushed. “None of that. You deserve this, Abeja. You work so hard and barely get anything. Please, let me spoil you just this once.” You wanted to turn it down, the guilt of not helping him pay for it eating you up. Though you knew he was under contract with Disney in the first place and more than had enough money to pay for it, you still didn't want him to think that you were trying to mooch.

However, the look of pure nervousness and adoration on his face melted all of that guilt away.

You sat the hat down and reached for him, hugging him tightly as more tears fell down your cheeks.

“...Thank you.” Pedro let out a breath of air you didn’t know he was holding, his arms hugging you back tenfold.

“No amount of money is worth more than this. I promise you that, honey. You’re worth so much more.”

You ended up falling asleep wrapped in his embrace, the day finally catching up with you. Pedro gently laid down, making sure not to wake you as he situated you to lay atop his chest while he laid on his back. You stirred as he pulled the blanket over the both of you, but didn’t rouse any more after that.

He reached over and turned the TV off with the remote and switched off your lamp, pressing a kiss to the top of your head before drifting off right behind you.

#kayla's rambings #pedro pascal #my fanfiction #ice cream cake

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wille-zarr · 4 years

Text

The Mandalorian: “Kids, Cover Your Ears”

In Fields of White ~ Chapter Seven ~ “Kids, Cover Your Ears”

masterlist / previous chapter / next chapter

pairing: din djarin (the mandalorian) x f!reader

warnings: rated M for language; canon-level violence; near-death experience; angst

word count: 11.9k

chapter summary: not one to wait around on the mandalorian for rescue, you begrudgingly join forces with an unlikely ally, knowing it will take all of your wit and tenacity to outsmart the threats looming against you and the children

story summary: fleeing from the life you wish more than anything to forget, you are left to navigate the galaxy alone as a wide-eyed wanderer. in the process of evading the dangers linked to your previous life, your destiny is forever altered when you cross paths with an intimidating mandalorian and his unusually gifted child.

a/n: this is a repost as the first time i posted it, it didn’t show in the tags. opening italics are a flashback to the previous night. this chapter makes quite the narrative sandwich. begins and ends with fluff, but the middle filling? pure a.n.g.s.t.

also found on: Ao3

In Fields of White

Chapter Seven: “Kids, Cover Your Ears”

“Tell me, Mandalorian,” you laugh, letting your eyes lazily dance along the outline of his gleaming Beskar, admiring the flickering flames reflecting back against it. “I have a question.” You didn’t need a mirror to know that mischievous glint in your eyes had returned. You could simply feel it: the up-to-no-good attitude radiating from within like a blazing warning beacon.

Happy.

You are happy. You haven’t felt this in so long, you’re simply drunk on it.

After several hours singing and dancing at Kuill’s homestead, your spirit- your heart- are bursting with bliss, like they might just erupt wings and soar up of your body, leaving the bounds of the physical realm for the mysterious realm of the Force.

The euphoria has pretty much eradicated any anxiousness you still felt regarding the day’s prior embarrassing events. Though, to be honest, as much fun as the dancing has been, the Spotchka is perhaps the most to blame for your loosened lips.

Which leads you back to your question for the Mandalorian.

He leans forward, resting both hands atop his knees, quiet, patient, and long-suffering as always when dealing with your jestering mood.

“Mandalorian-” you drop down to your knees, directly in front of him- “dance with me.”

He stares, neither speaking nor moving at your request. You might have wondered if he had heard you, except that he is staring directly into your eyes… At least, you assume it’s your eyes. A bit hard to tell with the, you know, helmet and all.

You chuckle again, rolling your eyes. “You know-” you motion circles in the air with your hands- “dancing: when two people grab hands and let the music dictate their movements?”

He jolts his head away, staring down at the dirt.

“I don’t dance.

You bite the inside of your cheek to keep from bursting out into laughter at the frown in his voice. But you lose the fight, the grin stretching across your face despite your best efforts. “The Mandalorian doesn’t dance.” You say it as a statement.

He begins rapidly tapping his fingers against his thigh armor, probably hoping you’d just go away.

No chance of that, Mando.

With a smirk, you reach out and grab onto his upper arm, just below where his armored veneer ends, and you teasingly squeeze.

You open your mouth to smart off again, but the words fall flat when his gloved hand slaps down on yours, pinning it in place against his bicep. Your lips part. At first you thought he might throw your hand off- maybe you broke some Mandalorian code by, you don’t know, touching him or something. But you watch, blinking, as his shoulders relax, falling back into repose.

Yet his hand remains, holding your own hostage.

Neither of you speak.

Maker. This… is awkward. A running theme with your interactions, it seems.

“Well,” you clear your throat, flashing him a cheeky grin, “that’s okay, Din. I guess you got two left feet, huh?” You release his arm, but his own hand keeps yours pinned in place. You’re not sure what to do, so you tug, relieved when he releases his hold.

You leap to your feet, dusting your skirt off in hopes of appearing casual about the interaction. “Fine, so you don’t wanna dance-” you scrunch your nose down at him- “so I’ll just dance with Cara then.”

“Cara?” he grunts.

With one last snicker, you hop away from the Mandalorian, straight to where Cara is conversing with Omera, interrupting their conversation with your request.

“Cara, Din turned me down.” You throw both hands on your hips. “So, will you dance with me?”

“I think I need another Spotchka first.”

“Oh!” Omera laughs, grabbing both yours and Cara’s hands. “Come on!”

The three of you join hands, laughing and snickering as you join the others around the fire in a lively dance.

-------

Few things bring Cara more joy than tormenting her favorite people. But what brings her the most joy? Tormenting Din. And after observing his behavior last night at the bonfire, she has plenty of ammunition to hurl his way.

“Mando,” Cara calls out, increasing her pace to catch back up to her companion. “What’s the big rush?”

This, of course, is a baited question. Cara knows exactly why her Beskar-clad friend is moving faster than a Kowakian Monkey-Lizard that’s being chased by a Hutt.

And it involves one lively, plucky little friend of the Mandalorian.

And what kind of friend would Cara be if she didn’t take the preverbal knife and twist it just a little deeper, tricking him into taking the bait.

“She can wait, you know.”

The hitch in Din’s step brings Cara immense satisfaction. The Mandalorian, even hidden behind all that hard exterior, is damn easier to read than he thinks.

A dangerous, mysterious Mandalorian warrior- brought down by simple childish infatuation.

How amusing. But really not surprising.

He can don as much Beskar as he can physically strap on, harden the soft layer of human skin with an impenetrable shield. And yet, for all the advances in technology, they’ve yet to discover how to armor the heart against the blaster blot of a crush.

“We can’t waste our entire day here, Cara,” Din grumbles, shooting Cara a glance. “We need to get back to the homestead.”

“Don’t give me that look, Mando.”

Din shoots Cara another glare in response.

“Yeah, that look.” Cara grins. The Mandalorian is no fool. And yet, even with all his experience, he really is about as dense as his armor. “Are you really in a rush to return to the homestead-” Cara casually adjusts the rifle slung across her back- “or are you just fretting over your pretty little friend?”

The Mandalorian freezes mid-step.

“If you’re trying to keep it a secret, Mando-” Cara brushes past him and continues walking- “you haven’t exactly done a great job of it.”

Cara downgrades her grin to a smirk as Din’s footfall resumes behind her.

“I don’t know what that liquid is the Sorganians keep offering you-” a harsh huff of air follows- “but you should probably lay off of it.”

Her chuckle turns into a mocking belly-laugh. “Oh, you’re not getting out of this one, Mando,” she snorts. “While she was singing, Kuill tried asking you a question. You didn’t even look at him, much less give an answer.”

The Mandalorian spins around. “He did not-”

“Uh huh. He shuffled off, mumbling something about a ‘love-struck blurg’.”

The Mandalorian continues stalking forward, but he’d have to move much faster than that to escape Cara’s prodding. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Cara.” His tone is a warning, but she’s hardly afraid of him.

“Fine! Fine,” Cara sighs. The Mandalorian is making this way too easy. She really had hoped he’d put up more of a defense.

Cara lets the air hang silent a good thirty or forty long seconds- just enough to let Din think he’s off the hook. “You know,” she blurts, “you could have danced with her last night when she asked you, you damn Bantha-brain.”

“I don’t dance,” he mutters, a twinge of ire in his tone.

Cara huffs. “No, you just stare, apparently.”

The Mandalorian releases a long, heavy sigh, but does not respond.

“She’s pretty…” Cara voice takes on a nonchalant tone, “great personality…”

“And a lot of damn trouble,” he grumbles, hooking a finger in his belt and twisting around to face Cara.

“Well,” she puffs, intrigued by his reaction, “don’t get your Beskar britches in a stitch. If that’s how you feel, guess it’s a good thing she’s coming with me then.”

He faulters a split second before huffing through the vocoder.

“It is.”

Cara rolls her eyes. There is no talking him through this. Fine, be stubborn. Mando, you are a-

“On Taek,” his voice barges through her thoughts. “Since Taek…” His voice turns slow, languid. “She’s… just inexperienced, in over her head.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean?” His words are careful. He crosses his arms, slowly, methodically.

Cara pauses long enough to gather her thoughts. With a shake of her head, she sighs, “when she was fighting me- sure, she wasn’t very strong or even good at it, but the way she instinctively moved and reacted, she’s been trained before, I’d say. She isn’t clueless.”

“What are you thinking then?” The Mandalorian shifts his weight, angling his helmet to the side.

“I don’t know for sure. But I certainly don’t think she’s exactly what she portrays.” Cara raises an eyebrow. “We should probably run her name through the databases. I’d be curious to see what shows up.”

“I already did.”

“Not surprised,” Cara chuckles. “And?”

“Nothing.”

“That’s impossible.” Cara stops in her tracks. “No one is recordless.”

Din sighs, brushing past her. “I know.”

“False or wiped identity.” Cara can’t help but smirk. “I’m impressed.”

“Just watch her, Cara,” Din mumbles through the vocoder, matching his pace to Cara’s. “And… watch out for her.”

“I’ll leave the ‘watching her’ part to you for now, since you seem to enjoy it so much.”

Even through a dark visor, the long-suffering, please-just-stop gaze was more than apparent to Cara. But, of course, she plans to pretend she hasn’t noticed.

“Mando, you truly ar-”

“Cara.”

The alarm in Din’s voice rips the words from her mouth.

“What is-” Cara freezes. “Hey!” She throws a hand on her hip, the other hand reflectively slapping against her blaster holster.

“This… is where we left the bikes-” Cara blinks, glancing around at the empty alley- “right?”

Din does not answer. He steps forward, swiftly circling around the perimeter, observing the surrounding environment, the neighboring alleys… but finding nothing.

“Were they stolen?” Cara growls, temper beginning to take control. “Damn! I ju-”

“Look.” Din lifts something up off the ground, and Cara’s heart plummets.

“Is that…?”

“It’s her bag.” Din’s voice is measured, dangerously cool. “And her purchases are still inside it.”

Cara sighs, knowing this… didn’t bode well. “She wouldn’t have left it willingly.”

Din angles his helmet to glare out into the far horizon. “No.” He shifts his weight, swinging around to face Cara. “No, she wouldn’t.”

Cara frowns at Din’s fluttering cape as he sweeps past her, stalking straight back towards the shops.

She sighs.

“What have you gotten yourself into…”

-------

“Don’t worry, kids!” you weakly chuckle, knocking your hat back out of your eyes. “Look, this is just a little… fun adventure.” You rest both hands on your hips. “I’ve been kidnapped before, and I’m still here. We’re… going to be just, uh, fine.”

“No!” Large, rolling tears race down Winta’s cheeks. “And- and we’re trapped here! With them! And-”

“Winta,” your voice turns firm. You toss her a warm smile, grabbing ahold of her shoulders. “If I’m not worried-” you pause to brush your hand across her cheek before pulling her close- “then you shouldn’t be either, sweetheart.”

Of course, you are worried. Terribly worried. Nearly freaking-out-wanting-to-shriek-and-jump-out-the-ship worried.

Okay, so panicking. You’re panicking!

You swallow, the dry walls of your throat sticking together, making it difficult to even breathe.

“Yeah, this will be fun!”

You flash Birdie a curious gaze, raising an eyebrow when you discover him grinning with glee. “Birdie, what about the current situation has you so excited?” you can’t help but prod. Damn, you want a slice of whatever has this kid beaming with elation because, kriff it, you might just start crying yourself any minute.

“The Mandalorian will find us,” Birdie chirps, spinning around the hull of the Razor Crest. “And kill them! Just like one of his adventure stories!”

“Birdie!” Winta hisses. “You don’t know that!”

“He will!”

“He might not!”

“But he’s Mandalorian!”

“He might die, Birdie!”

“No, he can’t!”

“YES, he CAN!”

“Kids!” you bark, separating the two of them before hands start flying. Stars, where’s an adult when you need one because you sure as hell don’t feel like being one right now. You kneel down on the ground between them. “Stop this immediately, both of you. Winta, go over there. Don’t talk, even look at each other.”

“Fine!”

“Fine.”

Both kids obey your orders, but that doesn’t stop them from tossing each other angry glares from across the room, each tempting the other to break your order first.

You sigh, roughly rubbing your face with both hands. Stars, what next?

You feel a little tug on your pants. You flash your eyes downwards, smiling wryly at the baby. His expressive eyes are visibly distraught from the heightened emotional tension in the room, and the blanket you had wrapped him in remains tossed over the back of his head like a protective canopy.

“Come on, kiddo,” you sigh. You reach down and toss him up against your shoulder, releasing a tight breath when he tucks his face into your neck for comfort. Such a trusting action would normally warm your heart, but instead, your wry smile turns bitter. These children need you for comfort, for reassurance, to tell them it’s going to be okay. After all, that’s what parents do- they promise everything’s going to be okay.

But that’s just it. You can chant the words over and over and over again until the air runs out of your lungs, your empty chest filling with a baseless hope. But words on their own are meaningless. They cannot change fate.

You- you can’t do it again. You cannot lie to another child.

Your hands begin to shake, the hollow ache of grief bubbling and swirling in your stomach, the excruciating anguish of grief and despair eating away at what is left of your confidence. How can you sit here, swallow back against your fear, and vow to these children it will be okay?

A tiny squeeze on your arm rips you back to reality, back to the children here now. You press your eyes tightly together one last time, throwing away your pressing desire to just break down. Peeling your eyes back open, you sigh at discovering Winta and Birdie pressed against you, wide eyes glued to your face, searching it for answers and guidance.

“Listen, I said it’s going to be okay, and it’s going to be okay.” You flash them a shaky smile followed by a sharp nod. “And that’s that.”

Your smile warms, relief flooding your heart as their faces relax at your promise, however baseless it was.

Maybe that’s all a parent really is. Someone who lies about the truth until you are old enough to face the bullshit for yourself.

“Chins up,” you sigh, jumping to your feet and placing the baby back down on his blanket. With a sharp whine, he takes it up in his hands, crawling back underneath it.

Kid’s got the right idea.

You take this moment to flail your eyes around the room, desperate for a shred of an idea, any idea on how the kriff to get out of this. Unfortunately, the Mandalorian’s weapons are locked away, as the Nar Shaddaa lady assured before leaving you alone with the kids in the hull. Everything- the escape pod, the ramp, all locked down.

Maker. This- your plans- are spiraling out of control. When this whole mess began, you had a few escape scenarios in mind, but they were wild and risky, per your usual style. They had to be scratched the split second the children were involved. You’ve never cared much if you take risks with your own safety. After all, what is life but a game of chance? But it would be a cold day in each of the seven Corellian hells before you ever, ever put a child in harm’s way.

You groan as you are punched with reality: you are completely and utterly dependent on the Mandalorian and Cara for rescue.

And, well, that’s just not good enough. If there’s anything you’ve learned during your miserable existence in this galaxy, it’s that you can never, ever rely on others as a first line of defense.

Gotta take matters into your own hands. You might not be much of a fighter, but, blast it all, these Nar Shaddaa gangsters have made one critical, critical error:

They’ve triggered a mother bear…. And there’s no coming back from that. You will fight for them. If things get out of hand- If things change… You exhale slowly, resigning yourself to your decision.

If there are no other options, you will give them that name- the one once so unfortunately, intrinsically linked to your own.

But you can face that name again for them. The children are worth it- worth throwing everything away for.

You are emboldened by this decision, the protective instincts flooding your system, renewing your resolve to get out of this mess for them.

“Well, kids-” you lower your eyes, meeting three innocent expressions- “ready for a little fun?”

“YEAH!” Birdie shouts, bouncing up and down.

“Shh!” you hiss, swiftly pressing a palm to Birdie’s mouth. “Ready for quiet fun, Birdie. Quiet fun.”

Birdie mumbles something through your fingers as you lead him over to the bunk compartment. With a grunt, you lift him up to sit atop the mattress.

“Winta, bring the baby over. I want you three to stay right here. Do. Not. Move.” You swoop your finger in the air. “And no fighting.”

“I never fight,” Winta snorts.

Birdie jumps up on his knees. “You do too!”

You open your mouth to interrupt another round of squabbling. “Kids, you have go-”

“Girl,” barks a voice from the cockpit. “Get up here. Now.”

You grit your teeth as the snarled demand of the woman from Nar Shaddaa reverberates throughout the hull. The baby whimpers, tucking his head back behind Winta, who doesn’t exactly look that much better herself. The sparkle- the zeal for adventure- has even been ripped from Birdie’s eyes.

“Do not move.” You point a finger again. “Winta, you’re in charge.” Birdie’s mouth drops open, preparing to object, but you slam a hand down on the control switch, entombing the children inside with a snap.

With a heavy sigh, you yank on the brim of your hat to lower it back down on your brows. Biting your lip, you begin to make your way up the ladder, dread building in your stomach at not knowing what exactly to expect.

“Get up here,” barks the woman again.

“I’m here. I’m here,” you respond lazily, your outer rim accent thickening as you slip into your Nar Shaddaa persona. You stroll into the cockpit, hands raised in the air in surrender. “What is- AHG!”

Her hand lashes out, fingers sinking into your upper arm, digging ruthlessly into your flesh. With a harsh shove, she heaves you to the floor. Your knees crash into the metal flooring of the cockpit, and you cry out as your hands catch the brunt of your fall. The pain reverberates through your joints, the ache lingering longer than you think you can bare. Your cry is cut off by your own hand pressing to your lips, not wishing to alarm the children hidden down below.

“Stay down,” the man seated in the pilot’s seat grumbles, flipping switches.

Oh. Oh, you are seething now.

Clenching your teeth tightly together, you begin to raise up off the floor. “This- AUF!” The woman’s boot smashes into your back, sending your head hurling towards the floor. You grit your teeth, raging as hot, sticky blood trails down your cheek from the impact.

“Really? Making us repeat ourselves?” The boot presses harder, pinning your cheek flat against the biting cold of the metal floor. “Stay. Down.”

You squeeze your fists together, so tightly that your fingernails are digging into the flesh of your palm, to keep from snarling back at her. You can’t be stupid- you can’t be prideful. Hold back. Hold on.

“Well-” the woman sighs, lifting her boot- “you are an annoying one.”

“Thank you,” you grumble under your breath, “cultivated talent.”

So much for silence. Hell, your stupid mouth is going to get you killed. This- oh stars. Oh stars, what can you do? How do you get out of this? The children, they-

“Where is she.”

Your heart clenches.

That…that voice- that voice! The holo-communicator!

Din!

“I said,” he growls, low and dangerously measured. “Where is she?”

You’re about to open your mouth when the boot presses down on your back in a silent warning. You bite your lip as hard as you can stand to keep from snarling an expletive.

Think of the children. Think of the children…

“First, Mandalorian,” says the woman, “we need to come to terms on an agreement.”

“Show me her,” the Mandalorian’s voice lowers. “Now.”

Your stomach flutters at the rage lurking in his voice, but you don’t have a chance to think beyond that. A hard hand yanks the back of your collar, dragging you up to your feet as you cough and choke against the grip.

“Fine,” the woman sighs, sounding almost bored with all of this- their terrorizing. She shoves you forward. “Here’s your girl. She’s fine.”

Coughing into your hand, you rapidly blink, your eyes finally coming into focus. There he is- shrouded in the blue light canopy of the holo-display.

Cough- “Man-” cough-cough- “Man-do!” cough.

The Mandalorian steps closer, reaching out as if he could just somehow touch you. You clamber forward, slapping your hands down on the base of the holo-display.

“Mando! They ha-”

“Are you hurt? Is that blood?” His voice is hard, dangerous, even through the crackling audio of the holo-display. “Tell me. Have they hurt you?”

“Din!” you cry, losing every ounce of your cool. “Din, they have the children!”

Dead silence.

Breathing heavily, you continue, “Winta, Birdie, and, oh stars! The baby! The baby, Din!”

The Mandalorian freezes, visor trained on you, his stare melting you down to a little puddle on the floor.

“Oh yes, forgot to mention that,” the man mumbles, leaning back in the pilot’s chair beside where you stand.

The hum of the holo-display reverberates throughout the room, the only noise outside of your harsh, panicked breathing.

“You-” the Mandalorian’s voice burns. “If you put one mark on them-” he takes a step forward- “there is no place you will be able to hide from me.”

“Don’t worry,” the man snorts, “we’re taking good care of them, right?” He shoots out a hand, twisting it around your arm.

“Kriff off!” you snarl, all your pent-up rage exploding like a bomb. You fire an elbow at his face. He catches it, twists you around, and pins it against your back. “Go to hell!” you scream, kicking and stomping your feet. He twists your arm further, and you yelp from the burst of pain.

“Let. Her. Go.”

“Or what?” the man snorts. “You’re not exactly here, are you?”

“Rea, stop antagonizing everyone,” the woman barks, clearly irritated with her partner. “Let her go.”

“Hmf.”

He heaves you forward, and your ribs crash into the edge of the display, sucking all of the air from your lungs like a vacuum.

Your name- you can faintly hear it- over and over and over again- slipping through the stars and fog and mist swirling around in your head.

“I-” you groan- “I’m o-okay.” You press a hand to your ribs, taking deep breaths against the aftershocks of pain. You clench your teeth.

Oh. Oh, you’re going to kill them. By your hand. You will kill them.

“Listen,” the woman takes over, pushing aside her partner, “we are sending the coordinates for a rendezvous point. You have my word-” she smiles, that sickly, fabricated Nar Shaddaa smile- “they will not be harmed further, if you come alone and bring the original datachip you took from Marek. That’s all we want.”

You hold your breath, awaiting Din’s response.

“I’ll do whatever you want.” His voice faulters, lowering even further.

He’s afraid.

“Good. Just remember-” -the woman smiles, that same phony smile- “one mistake-” she rests a hand on your shoulder- “and the deal is off.”

The Mandalorian shifts, twisting his head to find you- to stare you directly in the eyes. You hold the gaze, unblinking, sending him a silent promise through the connection, just wishing, somehow, he could receive the message.

Two seconds…

Three seconds…

Four seconds…

“I understand.”

And the holo cuts off.

-------

“No, no,” you mumble. “I promise. This isn’t blood.” You continue wiping the very-much-actual-blood on your forehead from where it collided with the floor.

“Sure,” Winta grumbles from the Mandalorian’s bed, his blankets thrown over her head.

“No, really.” You wince as you dab at a tender area. “Okay, it is blood. I, uh, was thinking too hard.” Tossing Winta a lopsided smirk, you tuck your legs under as you sit on the floor of the Mandalorian’s Razor Crest bedroom. “I was thinking too hard, and my brain started bleeding, that’s all.”

“Whoa, really?” Birdie grabs onto your shoulder, staring directly at your wound. “That’s weird!”

Winta huffs, but you smile over at her, sneaking her a sly wink. No use scaring the kids. Might as well be a little silly. After all, anything that calms them, it in turn calms you, right?

Rising up from the floor, you toss aside Din’s shirt that you had been using to clean the blood away. “I owe you one shirt, Mr. Metal Man.” You grin as the kids giggle at your words.

Twisting around on your heel, you throw open his drawers, pawing through the mess the Nar Shaddaa operatives left behind in their search for the datachip (and checking for weapons, no doubt). Not that they really made the mess much worse. Din did a fine job of that on his own.

The man lives like a kriffing Rakghoul.

You glare up at the wall, sighing at the bare space left behind from the now-missing vibroblades. “Mando,” you grumble under your breath, just barely loud enough for the kids to hear, “couldn’t you have hidden a blaster in your, oh, I don’t know, underwear drawer?” Your smile blossoms as their giggles turn into full-on roaring laughter.

“Hey, if the Mandalorian asks-” you fling his clothes right and left over your shoulders, adding to the mess already consuming the floor- “the Nar Shaddaa bad guys made this mess.” You lift up a flannel shirt, similar to the one you had “borrowed” previously. “Deal?”

With a sly little giggle, Winta nods her head, lifting the blankets up for Birdie to join her underneath.

You shift to stand, and you pull on Din’s shirt to cover your blood-stained one. A gentle tug on your pants freezes you mid-buttoning. “Oh!” you gasp. Your eyes twist downwards, meeting the expressive orbs of the baby. His little hands are outstretched, pleading to be picked up.

“Of course, baby.” You pull him up against your chest, expecting he wished for more comfort. But instead, he stares, almost mournfully, at you, observing your wounds.

“I’m okay, little guy,” you sigh as you exit the bedroom and pace the hull a few times. He reaches his little three-fingered hands upwards, grasping for your wounds, but you push his hands back down with each attempt.

He squeals in protest. “Shh, I need to think, baby. I’m just a clumsy oaf. I tripped, is all,” you half-heartedly mumble, deep in thought. You need to focus. You need a damn plan.

Your thoughts are barely coherent, sloshing back and forth in your brain like a thousand loose marbles. If you could just… You freeze mid-step, mouth dropping open.

The back of the hull.

You see it.

A gleam.

A shine.

An… idea.

With a burst of a grin, you flip around, racing back into the bedroom. “Kids,” you hiss, dropping the baby back down on the bed. “Come! I need you to make a lot of noise. Scream; holler; just- noise.” Giggling to yourself, you rush back into the hull, freezing mid-way when you don’t hear them following after you. You twist around, discovering them still staring at you, wide-eyed, from the bed.

“Come on!” You wildly motion at them. “Don’t you want to be a part of an adventure?” You throw them a wink.

Birdie is the first to leap to your side, energy fueled by a promise of excitement. “Scream? Scream?” He grabs onto the fabric of your pants, yanking on them as he bounces up and down. “Why! Why!”

“A distraction.” You smirk, dropping down to meet his eye-level. He bursts into giggles as you ruffle his hair. “Think you can handle it?”

“But- but how?” You look over at Winta, finding her standing in the doorway as she bites her finger uncertainly.

You shrug, tossing both hands on your hips. “I dunno; doesn’t matter.” You sweep your hand in the air around the room. “Just scream about the, oh, refresher or something.”

“The refresher?” Winta snorts.

“I DON’T WANNA USE THE REFRESHER!”

“Stars, Birdie!” you hiss, slapping both hands over your ears. Maker, the sound certainly reverberates in this blasted metal ship!

Winta stares at you with large eyes, but you just raise your eyebrows at her. “Go on,” you mouth.

“Um-” Winta walks over and slides the partition covering the refresher open- “you’ve got to, Birdie! It’s the only one!”

“No! It’s stinky and gross, and I hate it!”

Heh. Kid would make a good actor.

“What the hell is going on down there?”

Just as you expected, the Nar Shaddaa operatives immediately check in on all the commotion.

“Um,” you mumble, rushing over and leaning up against the ladder. “The, uh, girl is just trying to help her friend with the refresher. He’s never seen one like this, and he’s…um, scared.”

You bite your lip to keep from snickering when muttered curses swirl down the ladder followed by the snap of the cockpit door clicking shut.

An impish grin stretches across your face, and you knock your hat back, amazed at how easily this is working out. “Well-” you turn to face the children, giving them a pointed look- “did I say stop?”

The children erupt.

And the baby, not one to be left out of the fun, takes it upon himself to begin wailing.

“Good, uh, good.” You cringe at the racket, fumbling over your feet in your hast to race to the back of the hull. “Keep on! Keep going!” You come to a halt, beaming up at your one-way ticket to rescue.

A blaster.

Of course, said blaster might still be clasped in someone’s hand.

And that hand might be frozen in carbonite.

But, hey, that’s a minor issue you’re about to take care of.

Grumbling under your breath, you begin punching away at the controls on the side of the carbonite block, unsure of what exactly any of them do. “Blast!” you hiss under your breath. “Come on, Carbonite Man! Unfreeze!”

You gasp. The block warms under your hand, shifting in color. Stars! He’s either cooking alive or unfreezing! Or is he- OH! HE’S MOVING!

You slap both hands over your mouth, gawking wide-eyed as Carbonite Man leans forward from the block like some sort of horrifying rebirth. So caught up in the terrifying visual, you barely register the kids abandoning their distraction technique to rush over and stand beside you. You stumble forward, reaching out a hand in the man’s direction. “Uh, sir, I- Oh!”

He drops down, coughing and sputtering and shaking against the floor.

“HE’S DYING!” Birdie shrieks against your leg.

“Shh! He’s, uh, fine!”

You hope, anyway. A dead body would be hard to hide.

You come back to your senses, swooping up the blaster the man dropped during the unfreezing process. You twist it around, pointing it directly at him as he coughs and shutters against the floor.

You blink, wide-eyed, as his body abruptly stops convulsing, resting stiff against the floor.

“Is he…?” Winta mumbles, voice quivering.

“Oh, blast!” His dark eyes shoot open.

Winta screams, clasping her hands over her mouth.

He groans, placing a hand on his forehead. The man, maybe in his early thirties, rapidly blinks, his eyes flittering around the room until they freeze, resting on your face.

Oh no.

He’s cute.

Had it been any other scenario, you would have jumped in feet-first flirting. The unruly stubble and the sweaty curled hair plastered to his forehead? Yes, please.

“Well, he-llo there, beautiful.” His lips slowly twist up into a smirk. “What’s a doll like you doing in my bedroom? I think I’d remember you.”

Maker. Why are they always cute until they talk?

“Where the hell do you think you are right now, bud?” you grumble.

He squints his eyes. “Uh… my eyes are actually pretty blurry, and I-” His expression plummets to the ground.

“Oh no.”

“Exactly.” You shove the blaster in his face. “Get up.”

“Wait, was- was I… carbonite?!” He leaps to his feet, throwing his hands in the air.

“Get back,” you growl, jabbing the barrel towards his ribs.

“Shit! Calm down with that blaster, lady!” The brief flash of anger in his face is swiftly replaced with horror. “Wait- where’s… Mandalorian?!”

“Calm down,” you bark, pushing as much authority into your voice as you can muster. “You’re on the Mandalorian’s ship, and you had better listen to me.” You tilt your head to the side, throwing the children a pointed look.

“Kids, cover your ears.”

They reluctantly obey, even the baby as he grasps at the ends of his ears, attempting to fold them down against his head.

“Now, let’s talk business.” You step forward, blaster corralling Carbonite Man up against the wall.

“Blast, blast, blast, wait, lady!” the man laughs nervously, throwing his hands out to the side. “I mean, come on! We can make a deal here, sweetheart.” He takes a step forward.

“Bold move considering I wield the blaster.”

“Drunk on power, are we?” His tone shifts into a smooth blend of irritatingly cocky confidence. “You like being in charge, sweetheart?”

“Maker,” you mutter under your breath. You bite your cheek to keep from losing your cool. After all, the kids will have enough lasting trauma from this situation without you adding to it by shooting this nerfherder in front of them.

“I mean, if you and those kids are his bounty-” he throws them a little wave; Birdie returns it eagerly before Winta slaps his hand down and recovers her ears- “shouldn’t you be pointing that thing-” he motions at the blaster- “at him?”

“Look-” you purse your lips, taking on a defensive stance. You didn’t trust this man to not do something stupid like rip the blaster from your grip, getting all of you killed. You step forward again, and he steps back, pressed up against the wall like a cornered womp-rat.

“Listen,” you hiss, using your authoritative voice again, “long story short, we’re being held hostage here-”

“By the Mandalorian? He took children? That dirty-”

“Just stop!” you groan, rolling your eyes. “And just listen. No, he’s a… a good man-”

“I beg to differ, ma’am.” He lifts an eyebrow, motioning wildly at the melted carbonite block from which he emerged.

“Really? You’re one to talk.” You snort and knock your hat back, shooting him an incredulous glare. “And why exactly is there a bounty on your head? I’m sure you’re just so innocent, such a good man.”

You inwardly cringe. You really are the last person in the galaxy that should be mocking a man fleeing a bounty hunter, all things considered…

“I’ll have you know I am innocent.” He crosses his arms.

“Really.”

“Yes, really.”

He shoots a glance at the children, all three of whom are watching him with intense fascination. Birdie looks like he’s found a new hero- a bit concerning, to be honest.

“Kids, cover your ears.”

“Aw,” Birdie whines, but they obey the demand once again.

“Tighter, kid…. No sneaking a listen…” He shifts back around to face you. “Ah-” the man slips you a wink- “let’s just say I had no idea the heiress was still married.”

“Oh stars.”

“But her partner sure informed me!”

“Dank farrick,” you groan, “you really are a banthabrain.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Enough of this.” You meet the children’s eyes. There’s no use forcing them to cover their ears at this point. They’ve overheard enough drama in just the past few hours to write an entire holodrama. You have to instead focus- focus on getting them out. If this man can be useful towards that goal, then he had better start talking- and talking fast.

“Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?” You smile, crossing your arms but keeping the blaster pointed at his head.

“I’d focus better without that blaster- hey! That’s mine!”

“Two Nar Shaddaa syndicate members are up in the cockpit.” Your lopsided smile drops. “They are holding us to get something they want from the Mandalorian. And if they find you, they will kill you. Catch my drift?”

“Kark. I didn’t ask to be unfrozen and dragged into this!”

“Then get in the freezing bay!”

“Now wait-”

“Are you afraid?” Birdie chirps, rushing over to grab the man’s hand.

“Birdie!” you hiss, jerking forward to snatch him back.

“Kid, to put it simply and in as few words as possible-” he drops down to Birdie’s eye level- “yes.”

Winta races over and grabs his other arm. “We can help!”

“Kids, you’re killing me here,” you groan as you snatch up the baby with your free hand before he can waddle over to join Winta and Birdie. “Look here, uh-”

“Pablo.” He smiles at you, sticking both hands out towards Winta and Birdie to shake. “Nice to meet you.”

They giggle as they take his hands. You lean all your weight to one foot, jutting your hip out. “Carbonite man, Pablo, whatever-” you purse your lips- “whether you want to or not, you’re stuck in the middle of this. You have three options.”

“One-” with the hand grasping the blaster, you lift a finger up- “help us, and I will have the Mandalorian release you.” Second finger. “I can refreeze you. Or three-” you smirk- “you get shot.”

“Dank farrick.”

“Well?”

Pablo turns his head, raising an eyebrow at Winta and Birdie. “Guess I’ll hedge my bets on the Mandalorian’s kindness.”

You release a long breath. Maker, you hadn’t realized how tense you’d been…

“Good. Well then-” you let a smile tickle the corner of your mouth- “got any ideas?”

-------

“No, that’s too dangerous. It’s a stupid plan.”

“Got anything better, little miss genius?” Pablo grumbles.

“Oh, and you’re a genius?” It takes all of your inner strength to keep your voice below a whisper. You feel your face warm with seething anger. “You’re the one who got caught by a bounty hunter!”

“And you’re the one who got kidnapped.”

“Stars!” you growl, shifting further away from Pablo, sliding across the Mandalorian’s bed. “Honestly? I hope they do kill you.”

“Don’t tempt me with a good time.”

You hand is raised in the air, prepared to shove him off the bed when Winta bursts through the doorway of the sleeping quarters.

“Someone’s coming!”

“Kriff!” you hiss, flying to your feet.

“Hey, hey, wait, where the hell-”

“Under the bed!” You slap a hand on the top of his head, shoving it down with force. “Go!”

“I can barely fit,” he growls. “I think I’m stuck- HEY NOW.”

“Move!” you hiss through your teeth, pushing on his ass with both hands.

A few more panicked wiggles, and he slips underneath.

“Here.” You slip him his blaster back. “Don’t make me regret this.”

He peaks up at you with a lopsided smile. “Never, sweetheart.”

You barely make it back into the hull before the female Nar Shaddaa operative steps down from the last rung of the ladder.

“We’ve finalized the last details of the rendezvous with the Mandalorian.” She throws both hands on her hips, rolling her shoulders forward, taking on a much more intimidating presence. “We should be arriving within fifteen minutes.”

Stars! Fifteen minutes… Within fifteen minutes…

Oh Maker…

Swallowing back your anxiety, you stroll over to where the children sit in the bunk compartment, climbing up and joining them. You take the baby up, setting him down in your lap. He stares up at the woman and coos as the other children tuck behind your back.

“And?” You are trying your hardest to use your professional, almost bored tone of voice, the one you used when discussing “business” on Nar Shaddaa.

“I’m just reiterating my earlier point-” she smiles- “that one wrong move, play heroics, and you know how this will end.”

You blink, keeping the mask on your face. “Good, well, thanks for the update.” If you stay calm… the kids will stay calm… If you stay calm… the kids will stay calm…

The woman huffs and does a quick visual sweep of the hull before spinning around, climbing right straight up the ladder again.

Hell.

The unfrozen carbonite block. Tucked away in the back.

The kriff. She didn’t see it. Bloody hells!

You’ll just have to blame Pablo for that one.

You groan, letting your head flop forward against the baby’s head. He coos against the touch, reaching up and clasping both of his hands against your cheeks.

“Baby, I know you miss your daddy,” you sigh heavily, rubbing his ear with affection. “I think you all need naps.”

“You need a nap.”

You twist to frown at Winta. She just shrugs.

Well, she might have a point. After a long day of plot twist after plot twist, well…

You can’t take many more of them.

“Hello, sweetheart.”

Your eyes shoot up, your mouth plummeting to the floor.

“What the kriff are you doing?”

Pablo keeps his blaster trained on you, shrugging at your question. “Sorry, but I intend to do this my way, whether you like it or not.”

You grit your teeth, rage boiling in your stomach- only the fear of alerting the cockpit keeping it from spilling over and consuming Pablo alive.

“I- you- how dare-”

“Save it.” His face falls into the most serious expression you’ve seen from him thus far. He swoops along the wall, angling his head cautiously, peering up the ladder.

“The door’s closed. Stay quiet. Climb.”

“Are you crazy?!” You leap to your feet, marching over with little regard for the blaster trained on your head.

“Get back,” he spits, holding a hand up in warning.

“No,” you growl, ripping your hat off your head and slamming it against the floor. “Shoot me. You won’t! Shoot me, you kriffing coward!”

His hand launches forward, twisting around your upper arm. His fingers dig into the soft flesh beneath the sleeve as he yanks you forward to hiss in your ear. “Don’t do this, not in front of the children.”

The children.

Stars.

You- you lost your temper in front of the children. You peak a reluctant glance over at the bunk, horrified to discover sheer terror etched in their expressions.

You want to throw up.

But your pride, your temper, still speak for you when your lips open. “In front of the children? Says the man pointing a blaster at me,” you say through clenched teeth.

His eyes grow hard, and he shakes his head vigorously. “You’ll thank me later.”

You have no idea what’s about to happen, but your priority is the children. Their safety. Their comfort. Their lives.

You will get them out of this, somehow. Somehow.

“I won’t forget this, Pablo.”

-------

It took Pablo less than thirty seconds to override the locks on the escape pod. Who knew that there was an emergency feature that allowed for it to be manually unlocked? Certainly would have been handy information to have that one time a Gungan was chasing you on his freighter…

“Come on, doll,” Pablo whispers, shoving Winta as tightly against your body as possible. She groans, wrapping both arms around your leg. “I’m tired.”

“I know, babydoll.”

“Ouch!”

“Shh!”

“Maker,” you mumble, barely audible. “Who designs a coffin escape pod that fits one person?” You squeeze the baby against your chest, praying there would be room enough to shut the door with all four of you stuffed inside. He releases a little whine, leaning into you as tightly as possible.

“Listen-” Pablo dips his head down within inches of your ear- “they won’t know you’ve launched. I froze the pod’s system computers from this panel, so you should be safe.”

“How do I know you didn’t screw the pod up?” you sneer.

He cocks his head, dipping in even closer to your ear. You feel his hot breath brush against your ear.

“Trust me.”

“Kriff. Off,” you mouth at him. He has the audacity to smirk.

“What in the Corellian hells are we supposed to do when we land?”

“You’ll figure it out.”

Kriff, you want to smack that smirk right off his face…. You gasp when something cold presses into your one free hand.

“Take it.”

You look down, astonished to find his blaster in your grip. Your eyes shoot back up, honestly baffled by the gesture. This… this leaves him defenseless. “I could blast you right now.” A smirk tickles at the corner of your lips.

“Shoot me.” He grins, a bright, wide grin. “You won’t, you kriffing coward.”

And with one final chuckle, he seals the door shut, plastering the four of you tightly, but safely, within the confines of the escape pod.

“Here we go, kiddos,” you mumble, feeling light for the first time since this whole mess started. Yes. Finally… The kids will be out of danger… A thousand-pound weight lifts from your shoulders, and you sigh, letting your eyes fall shut.

“Let’s fly.”

With a jolt- a jerk, the pod releases, and you take over the controls, begging the force for a safe landing, if for any reason, for the children’s sake.

“He’s going to die, isn’t he?”

“Maybe not, Winta.”

Probably not.

-------

“I hate adventure.”

You reach down into the escape pod, pulling Birdie up to his feet. “Come on now, Birdie. You love adventure!”

“Not anymore!” Birdie screams at the top of his lungs. “It’s stinky!”

“I want to go home!” Winta cries, flopping down on the sand. The baby takes this as his emotional cue, dramatically flopping over into Winta’s lap and launching into high-pitched whining.

“Stars almighty!” You drop down to your knees and throw your hat off your head. “We’re safe! Look, don’t give up now!”

You know this isn’t a fair request. They’re children, for goodness sake. Tired, hungry, stressed children. But you have no clue, no clue, where you are on Arvala. No clue where Kuill’s is. No clue what direction to go or how long it will take. It’s hot, everyone’s hungry… And outside of one blaster pistol, defenseless.

You stare up into the sky, squinting against the blazing, unforgiving sun.

Sigh.

“Come on now.” You lumber back up to your feet, thrusting an arm out towards the horizon. “We’ll get home that way.”

Yes, the direction the Razor Crest was headed when you launched from it. Better than wandering around in circles.

You rest the baby against your hip, the other hand clenching the blaster with a steely grip. The children stumble into a line behind you, eyes drooping and shoulders low. You sigh.

“Let’s sing while we walk, how ‘bout?” you chirp.

They grumble an affirmative. You think so, anyway. Stars, you’re actually jealous of their freedom to show outwardly how they really feel, not have to worry about keeping up a tough face.

Being an adult, to quote Birdie, is stinky.

-------

Eh, everyone’s a critic. The children fall into a heavy silence after you finish the second song, so you give up on the singing. Well, maybe at this point, letting them process the day in silence would be better for them than anything else.

They need the- wait.

You freeze, dropping your body down to the dirt at the top of the hill. You jerk your arm in circles, and the children flop down beside you.

“The Razor Crest!” Winta gasps, eyes widening.

Resting a hand above your eyes, you squint against the sun’s rays, sweeping your eyes around the valley in which the ship is positioned. But what you find is… well.

Not good.

You see no one. Hear no one.

But the ramp is open, and there’s blaster bolt residue all along the sides of the rocks, the far cliff face, and even new marks on the Razor Crest itself. You bite your lower lip to stop it from trembling. At- at least you don’t see their bodies. That’s… good, right? Means they’re somewhere… fighting?

Oh, stars…

You shift back on your heel to stand, anxiously brushing your pants off. “Stay here. Do not move for any-” you point at them and raise your eyebrows- “and I mean any reason.” You are met by sharp nods of agreement.

You sigh, twisting around to slide down the hill towards the ship. Crouching down, you scramble from rock to rock, moving closer in towards the ship. You still hear nothing, not even from within the ship. You pause, frozen in place, for a good three, four minutes, just enough to make sure it was safe enough to approach closer.

If no one is in the ship, you can fly it off. Fly it to Kuill’s, get help, call the Mandalorian, anything.

You cautiously rest one foot at the bottom of the ramp, as if it was triggered with bombs just waiting to go off with one wrong step. You release a puff of air, standing completely motionless as the Arvala wind whips your clothes around. You shake your head, taking several more steps.

All seems good, so now you can-

“WATCH OUT!”

You leap back several feet, clumsily falling off the edge of the ramp with an oof. You don’t allow yourself time to feel pain. You clutch at the arm you landed on, gritting your teeth. Stumbling up, you slip on loose rocks as you race towards cover. Panting heavily, you jerk your head around in circles. You reach down to your waistband, grasping for Pablo’s blaster.

Wait- no, no! The blaster- Pablo’s blaster! You- you must have lost it by the ramp in your panic! Damn!

“LOOK!”

Your eyes tear up to where Winta stands at the top of the hill. She and Birdie are leaping up and down, motioning wildly towards the opposite side of the Crest where you sit. You spin around, expecting the worst.

And finding it.

Seven Corellian hells.

The Nar Shaddaa woman, dusted up and bloodied, is racing towards the Crest.

And she’ll have to pass you to get to it.

“Watch out!”

BLAST.

The kids shriek as the blaster bolts sail over their heads. “DROP!” you howl, leaping up from your position. “DROP DOWN- ARH!” You grasp your left arm, grinding your teeth as the blood begins to pool on the fabric, warm and sticky against your hand.

You spin around, tears dripping from the pain. She’s lifting it again. Aiming.

You dive, screaming as your bad arm crashes into the dirt. No, no. The world falls dark for only a second. But now you’re stuck- stuck behind a rock. She’s coming- coming closer. You can hear her boots, crunching against the rocks and pebbles. Crunching crunching.

Kriff.

You- you can’t breathe. The smell of burned flesh- your flesh- turns your stomach inside out.

No.

This can’t- this won’t be your end.

Tears of terror and pain and resolve flood your cheeks.

You have one option. One chance.

You will get to the Razor Crest first.

One deep breath. Stumbling over pebbles, you push for the ramp. Your eyes are fixed forward. Tuning out any other thought besides-

run.

A bolt whizzes past your right ear. You instinctively jerk left, falling over from the burst of pain blasting from your arm straight to your head.

No, no. You can’t- You have to get up. The children…

Rage seethes in your chest. Damn her. Damn this galaxy.

You belly crawl to the nearest rock, pressing up against it. What can you do? Oh, Maker, what can you do?

You peak your head up. She’s so close. Closer. Lifts the gleaming silver. Aim-

Wait, what?

You gasp, slapping your good hand across your mouth.

You- your eyes… is this real? It can’t… You blink. No, it’s real.

The woman is floating in the air.

“What the hell,” you hiss under your breath. “What th- OH!”

The woman goes blasting off, crashing against the Crest with an audible crunch. Winta screams. You rip your eyes away, staring up at the hill, just in time to watch the baby fall into Winta’s lap.

Oh.

Oh no. No. No.

The baby- the baby used the force.

Complicated. How do things keep getting more and more complicated?

Movement pulls your attention away. The woman is getting up- clutching her side in pain. She releases a guttural scream, eyes flashing flames at you.

Right between you. In the middle. The blaster.

Like a match being lit, you burst forward. The pounding in your ears is like the hum of machinery, pushing you on like you had no say in the matter.

But then she falls, tumbles over her own feet, and you grasp the blaster from the dirt. But she’s on you. A snap against your fingers, and you cry out as the weapon launches from your hand. She kicked it.

She wraps an arm around your neck, but you pull her down with every bit of your body weight- both of you screaming against your injuries and wounds, but neither giving in.

Side leap- roll. You launch at her legs, taking her down. She throws you off- climbing astride. You grab her wrists, tears bubbling in your eyes as the pain in your arm blackens the edges of your eyesight.

You freeze.

You don’t- you don’t feel pain.

It’s cold. Just feels… cold.

With shaking, trembling hands, your clutch the handle of the vibroblade- your vibroblade- jutting from your side.

She jumps up off you, twisting around on her heel. You kn-know… she’s… the children. The children. You think you can… faintly hear them.

It wasn’t smart. But you have to… Gritting your teeth, you yank the knife from your side. Flopping over as you wail, the pain held back like a dam releases all at once.

Face kissed with tears, you wobble up to your feet, swaying against the darkness encroaching your vision.

May the force guide your hand.

You swing back. The knife flies, slips right out of your fingers. Slices through the air.

The Nar Shaddaa operative collapses, the handle of your knife glowing golden in the sun’s rays.

This will be your legacy.

Not your arrests, rebellion, schemes, failures, betrayals.

No.

When you die, your legacy will be the golden knife shining from their back. Your legacy will be the three children that will live on another day.

You’re selfish. You’ve lived a selfish life. But somehow, you think, with the last three minutes of your breath, maybe, just maybe, you have wiped that slate clean.

“Valera,” you mumble. Stars, you see her face. That’s all you want. Yes, to hell with this life. Valera… Bright eyes giggle above your face.

Maker…. You’re hallucinating… You’re… you’re actually dying. Years of close calls, and now you’re dying.

“V-Va-Valera.”

You reach up. But it is not softness nor warmth you feel.

Cold.

Hard.

“She’s going into shock.”

Din.

His voice is a thousand miles away. You are buried a hundred miles below the surface of an ocean. You are only vaguely aware of arms sliding underneath you, lifting you.

You feel no pain. Only a dark light, hovering at the edge, consuming more and more of the bright light. A battle, life and death. And you are stuck between them.

You comprehend a few things. The soft hug of blankets beneath your body. The gentle give of a mattress. A deep voice, muffled above the water’s surface. Soft, affectionate fingers tracing your jaw, cupping your cheek.

You hear your name, clear through the fog, a desperate, pleading voice.

It calls out. You want to answer.

But the darkness wins.

-------

You don’t remember the first time you awaken. Or the second. Nor the third. But the fourth time-

You pry open heavy eyelids, as if the lashes were tied to lead strands. You groan- you feel so heavy, like there’s a pressure boring down on you from some invisible source. You wiggle against the weight; the soreness shoots up your side; your arm-

Oh!

Your eyes shatter the lead weights into a thousand crystal shards, blasting wide open when everything hits your mind at once.

Hell! What- are the kids…? Where are- wait!

You lean forward, lifting up from the bed like some rakghoul emerging from its grave. A mistake. You moan against the ache that quivers up your spine.

“Easy.”

Catching the movement of silver, your eyes tear over to the opposite side of the room... Din’s room. You’re on the Razor Crest.

“Din,” you breathe, groaning as you place your good hand on your forehead. “What- what happened?”

He tilts his head. “You were stabbed.”

“I- I think I figured that part out,” you grumble as you stare down at your body, laying back against the pillows.

He remains silent, moving across the room to stand at your side. He doesn’t go to sit or even speak; he just… stares down at you.

“What?” you grumble, perhaps a bit heavy on the aggression. But hey, you’ve just been stabbed and shot. You imagine you have the right to be grumpy for at least a week or two. Maybe three, if you push it.

“I’m trying to determine-” he reaches down, dusting your forehead with the hint of leather- “if it’s you or the drugs speaking right now.”

“Drugs?” A teasing smile blooms at the corner of your mouth. “Hey, what kind of drugs are we talking about here?”

He lowers down into the chair positioned beside your bed with a grunt.

“It’s you.”

You chuckle even through your aching exhaustion.

“I…” you drop the humor, voice lowering to a mere whisper. “What happened? I don’t remember…”

Din twists his head away from you. You fear he might not answer; you begin panicking, wondering if something horrible happened and-

“When we arrived,” he sighs, heavy, tired, “they refused to show us you and the children. Next thing I know-” he tilts his head- “a man emerged from the ramp saying you were safe and to shoot them.”

Pablo. Some plan! You roll your eyes, perhaps with a smidge of affection in your heart, if you searched very, very hard. Very hard.

“Then we found you,” he whispers, barely audible through the vocoder. He leans forward, resting both elbows against his knees and shaking his head.

“Ka’r’ika, you… ” He reaches out again, dusting of leather against your cheek. “I- you died.”

“I… I did?” Your eyes widen. “I- it’s… really?” You blink, humor taking over for your lack of words. You force a grin. “Damn, that’s… hardcore.”

Din does not attempt to mask the aggression in his tone.

“They died too quickly.” He leans against the mattress, voice dropping in volume. “They deserved to have it dragged out.”

Shivers spike up your spine at his words. Sometimes you forget he’s a hunter, running with his own, perhaps sometimes cruel, set of rules and codes. But quickly… was it quickly? You let your eyes slide shut, trying your hardest to forget to stench of raw, burnt flesh, the children wailing…

You launch forward with a gasp. “The kids! Are they-”

He pushes you back with a firm grip on your shoulder.

“Time has helped.” He leans forward. “Every time they tell the story, the details grow a bit more elaborate. A good sign.”

“Heh, no surprise there- wait a minute, how much time are we talking about here?”

“Three days.” He angles his head at you. “Been taking turns watching you.”

“Stars! Three days!” You blink, biting you lip. “I, uh, I’m sorry. I can go to my, um, own bunk now. I feel better…” You begin shifting, but a firm, yet gentle, hand presses you back down, fingers lingering a few seconds longer than necessary.

You sigh, letting your good arm flop down on your chest.

“Ka’r’ika…”

You turn your head to watch him; he taps his fingers rapidly against his thigh.

“You did well.”

A small smile peaks through your lips, and you slide your hand along the edge of the bed, seeking his. You grasp the cool leather, pleased when he returns the grip.

“We can’t seem to stay out of trouble-” you toss him a lopsided smile- “can we?”

“No,” he rasps. You are happy to hear amusement has returned to his voice. “You can’t.”

“Mando-” you scrunch your nose- “you can kriff right off.”

He laughs… stars, even more beautiful than the first time you heard it. Best watch out, Mando, now you will do everything in your power to pry open that tin can heart of his and pull that laugh out.

Your mood turns, your face dropping.

The baby.

Hell, he… he used the force. Surely the Mandalorian knew, right? How- how could he not? Do you bring it up? Ask? You twist your head, avoiding meeting the dark depths of his visor.

You will wait. You will wait and see if he brings it up.

After all, the children saw it too. They must have told him what they saw…

“What’s wrong?”

You blink rapidly, breath catching in your throat. “Oh, ah, nothing.” Biting your lip, you take a deep breathe of air. “I guess, I just wonder, you know, this is my fault. I should have- could have… I don’t know.” You will not cry you will not cry. “I’m a karking coward.” You bury your face in your hand.

“You’re a lot of things-” you rip your hand away, staring at him as he speaks- “but a coward is not one of them.”

You blink as he continues.

“You protected our children. Killed to do so.” He angles his helmet. “Didn’t run, stayed with me to take a Bateran down.” He blows a huff of air through the vocoder. “And a coward wouldn’t have risked their life for those women on Taek.”

“That was just a gut reaction,” you grumble, feeling your cheeks burn at the Mandalorian’s praise.

“Bravery as an instinct is stronger than a deliberate choice. It means it’s in your nature.” He shifts to stand, hovering over your body before stepping back. “This is the way.”

“Um, oh. Ok-ay.”

Pride, there was pride in his voice.

“Well-” you stop him before he can move further away from you- “what now for you, Mandalorian?”

“Delivering the chip to the client.” He steps over a pile of clothing to stare up at some piping running through the walls. “That should take care of any future issues, for both of us.” He hooks his fingers in his belt, stepping back away from the bed. “I redirected their beacon. Made it look like they were in a completely different sector. Kuill should be safe, protected.”

Your eye twitches, afraid to ask your next question.

“So, where is this chip to be delivered?”

“Nar Shaddaa.”

Oh.

Oh, hell no no nonono.

You didn’t spend months of blood, sweat, and tears running to get away from there only to go back now. No, no. You’re going with Cara. You’re going to Keolith.

Movement from the corner of your eye breaks apart your panicked thoughts.

Din, stepping over another pile of junk, stoops down to pick some of it up.

“It- I…” he pauses, several quiet, long seconds. “I could keep you safe- if you were to stay with me.”

You blink, thinking you hear a light strangle of air slipping under his helm.

“…Until things with Taek are cleared,” he swiftly adds, stuffing some shirts into a drawer.

“Din,” your voice is soft, barely audible. He drops everything to turn and stare at you.

“I’ve been lying to you.”

Silence.

“I- I can’t stay here- not with you, your son, these people.” Your voice grows louder with every word. “It’s too dangerous. And- and I can’t go back to Nar Shaddaa. I had to flee the planet with only the clothes on my back. I’m in a big, hot mess.”

You vigorously shake your head, avoiding looking in his direction. “If there isn’t already, soon there will be a price on my head. It doesn’t matter why. And- shit- I… it’s bad, really bad.” The words spill faster and faster.

“And I don��t mean cheap hunters!” You throw your good hand in the air. “We’re talking private, high-level hunters!” You slap your face into your hand, yanking on your hair as you groan.

“Hell, on Taek- I stalked you. I heard stories of the Mandalorian hunters. Expensive, efficient. I thought you were there for me.” Gulping back against your dry throat, you force yourself to turn and face him.

He stands motionless, watching you. His visor, that damn visor, bores into you like it could dig secrets from your soul.

Oh no.

A hunter. He is, first and foremost, a hunter.

You-you messed up. He wouldn’t- maybe you overestimated… He’s going to turn you in, collect-

“I know.” His voice is soft, gentle.

Your lips part, confusion etched in your furrowed brows.

“I knew you were watching me, trailing me to the cantina.”

Your eyes widen.

“I followed you to the courtyard that night,” he rasps, crossing his arms. “To observe. Maybe question you.”

“Poodoo,” you breathe, eyes wide open in disbelief. “And there I was the whole time thinking I was being sneaky.”

A small gasp escapes your lips when he suddenly steps to the side. He sweeps around the bed, stomping right over the clothes you had tossed on the floor only a few days prior. You startle, digging back against the pillows, holding your breath until he pauses right beside you.

“You’re staying with me.”

“W-what? Didn’t you just hear what I said?” You start to sit up, but his firm grip on your shoulder pushes you back, holding you there as he resumes speaking.

“I’m not letting you leave until it’s safe and this situation is cleared up.”

You know you can’t argue when he uses that tone of voice, but you can try. “But the hunters!”

“Will not hurt or find us. I will- I swear-” he rips his hand away from your shoulder, dropping down into the chair. “You will be kept safe. And- after that… I will return you to Keolith, or whatever you wish.” His voice drifts, softening towards the end.

Tears threaten to spill from your eyes.

But no, you will not cry.

You grab his hand with yours, ignoring the sharp exhale of breath that slips beneath his helm. You desperately wish you could feel, squeeze, the soft flesh hidden away in leather. You want to touch the man inside.

But that thought scares you. It scares you because, you have a feeling, if you were to ask, he would do it for you.

You- you don’t want that kind of power. You can’t handle that kind of power.

“Interrupting anything?”

You rip your hand away, tucking it beneath the blankets.

“Cara!” you laugh, brushing off your discomfort.

“So, you live!”

“It appears so.”

“Feeling okay?” Her voice softens, dropping the jestering tone.

“Yeah,” you sigh.

“Good.” That mischievous glint returns to her eye. “Well, aren’t we going to be just one cozy little group, all together in the Razor Crest.”

“E-excuse me?” You raise an eyebrow.

A new person entering the room rips your attention towards the door.

“It’ll be a tight squeeze, but-” Pablo takes another bite of his apple- “hey! That bed could fit three, easily. Who wants to spoon me?”

“You!” you growl, wincing as you lift up off the bed. “You’re not spooning anyone tonight! How about we just freeze you back!”

Pablo throws his hands in the air, giving you a raised eyebrow.

“Hold the spunk, sweetheart.” He takes another bite of the apple, casually walking closer to you. “I’m a free man. Kids vouched for me. They love me.”

Din releases the heaviest, most long-suffering sigh you have ever heard from him.

Apparently, three days with Pablo hasn’t exactly made the Mandalorian a fan either.

“In exchange for his assistance, I messaged and had Greef wipe his Guild bounty, listed as dead,” Cara chuckles.

“Yeah, saving Mando’s girl got me on the buddy list. And Mando, you wouldn’t have caught me the first time if I wasn’t taken off guard.” He points a finger at Din. “Lemme know when you want a rematch.”

“I-I’m not his girl,” you mumble, heart beating faster at the insinuation. Oh stars… You dare not steal a glance at the Mandalorian.

“Oh good, I was worried,” Pablo sighs. “Didn’t want Mando to find out that you grabbed this tight ass when we were alone in here.”

“Pablo!” you yelp, growling through clenched teeth. Stars, you’ve had enough. “Remember our previous conversation? I’m going to bloody kill you!” You launch a pillow at him with your one good arm that he easily dodges. “Get over here, you coward!”

He flops on the other side of the bed, yelling and covering his face as you smack him repeatedly with a pillow.

“Damn- HEY- wa- ouch!”

“Blast-” smack- “you-” smack- “banthabrain!”

“Stop.” A strong grip pulls your arm back. “You’ll agitate your injuries.”

“I will not travel with him in the same ship!”

“I’m not too excited about it either, sister!”

“Go with Cara then!”

“About that-” Cara taps her chin- “my little craft might have been destroyed in the scuffle with the Nar Shaddaa creeps.”

“Oh.” You blink. “I’m-I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. Wasn’t my ship,” she chuckles.

“We’re dropping them off,” Din sighs, rolling his head back as if to say, “how did I get into this mess?”

“If you can’t handle each other’s presence,” he grumbles, crossing his arms. “I can freeze you both.”

“Grumpy old man,” you snort.

You turn towards Pablo, sticking a tongue out at him. He returns the gesture.

Cara grabs the back of Pablo’s collar. “Come on, let’s let her get some rest.” Cara swoops her hand towards the door. “Din, go get some sleep. I’ll stay and listen for her.” She leans in close to you, raising her hand to cover her mouth. “He wouldn’t leave your side.”

You feel your cheeks burst into flames, and you wish you could bury your head under the covers like the children.

“Fine.” Pablo spins around in the doorframe, tossing you a quick wink. “Later, sweetheart.”

Cara chuckles. “You too, Din.”

Letting his shoulders fall, he shuffles over towards the door, pausing just before the frame.

“Ka’r’ika, wait.”

You lift your eyes. “What is that?”

Your mouth falls open, the familiar golden gleam finally registering in your head.

Your knife.

“You should wield this with honor, Ka’r’ika,” Din rumbles.

You hesitantly reach out, taking it with a trembling hand.

“You earned the honor.”

You raise your head, a small smile on your lips.

“Teach me sometime?”

His hand lifts your chin. Skin, not leather, strokes just below your lip.

“As you please.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

masterlist / previous chapter / next chapter

taglist: (in the comments)

a/n: I know this chapter is incredibly long, so I really appreciate it if you made it this far! :D No, seriously, I really do! I write mostly for my own pleasure. I mean, that’s the “correct” answer to give, right? But I will be the first to admit I also write because I want my readers to feel what I feel- a shared experience. So, if my writing has in any way affected you- made you feel something- feel free to let me know in a comment! :D Think of your comments as the gasoline that fuels the writing lol! Comments here or Ao3 are always loved. 💜

See you next chapter! Where do we go from here, hmm? ;)

And I went ahead and bumped the story up to an “M” rating on Ao3, mostly for the language and violence. Just to be safe. Each chapter will include detailed warnings so you can make the decision on whether to read it or not.

Feel free to check out my bio for links to my masterlist, Ao3 account, and taglist!

#din djarin x you #din djarin x reader #the mandalorian x you #the mandalorian x reader #the mandalorian #din djarin #din djarin x oc #the mandalorian x oc #star wars fanfiction #the mandalorian fanfiction #din djarin fanfiction #in fields of white #willezarr #wille writes

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november-rising · 3 years

Text

(Note)Books of Love

I watched this week’s Motherland: Fort Salem and Taylor Hickerson’s version of Book of Love hit me. https://youtu.be/JcDAYyl9Y2Q.

I’ve been in a low headspace and this song sparked something. This is a R-O-U-G-H draft. It’s in the same verse of It’s Just So Simple and it’s not a sequel. This will be edited and filled out further later. NOTE: I hear Bucky’s singing voice as a softer - more timid Eliot Spencer/Christian Kane voice.

I hope you enjoy.

Even in the afternoon, it was sticky out, the heat was an affront to his very being. He despised the cold for too many reasons. But damn. This heat was pushing all around him.

There was the barely there breath of the kitchen oscillating fan that Ms. Grace kept on through the summer, throughout her cooking lessons with Bucky. Apparently, his knife skills were worth something - sometimes.

Then there was the prize, the low hum of the window AC unit in her living room; it was so reminiscent of Sam’s nephews’ in-home COVID school room.The perspiring sweet tea that was more sweet and ice than tea and lemon was placed in front of his new friend, Ms. Grace.

This was it.

Another peaceful day. Uneventful, boring even…

So many months and weeks. So many uneventful and boring weeks and months. And he was safe. Bucky was safe.

Louisiana became home to this Brooklyn boy. It fit him - he was allowed to fit into this strip of land, sea and wood. The docks, the people, the weeping willows drifting leisurely.

That’s how it started a week prior. Out on the veranda with Ms. Grace’s twin grandchildren she fostered along the way, Denise and Denziel murmured, humming along to the chords of their guitars.

Bucky smirked at the two while old memories (good old memories) flooded him with panging joy and a buzz through all limbs.

And that’s what it was like before Bucky got the courage to approach the siblings during their creative session.

The fan on it’s worn extension cord length stirred enough of a breeze that enticed everyone inside, pushing the AC unit air as best it could.

“Any new songs, cuz?” Another day. Another query.

Could Bucky be ready?

After eating Ms. Grace’s lunch of Gullah cuisine (Bucky added this term to his new notebook. The notebook Steve started for this whole new world), Bucky smiled. Her family allowed him to learn and be accepted into their haphazard family; Bucky felt embraced.

“Boy, just because we like you don’t mean you get to do whatever.”

“Ms. Grace, if I do whatever, without your permission, you can whip me good and hard.”

“Deal.”

Dishes cleaned and sorted, Bucky stood in the entryway of the living room. “What you got?”

Bucky entered the small, bright room, sitting across from the two young adults. He appreciated these two. These three…

Everyone.

He appreciated everyone and he would never be able to fully convey what this town means to him. These people were the world to him. That one person is the world to him.

Denise smirked. “You listened to everything we sent.”

“Of course.” And some songs were vulgar beyond recompense but he wouldn’t say anything about that.

“And?” they said in unison.

Without missing a beat, Bucky went to his rucksack, pulling out notebooks, scattering them across the wood floor.

The room went silent.

Denise smiled. “You think you can do this?”

Bucky’s fingers brushed against worn bounds, stark book fronts, and wrinkled leather. These were his life. This was it. This was everything laid out. Scrawled in confusion, paper taunt with cheap yet faded ink. Marred with blood and deception

Tilting his head up, Bucky responded, “Yes.”

___

The party had wound down as few folks meandered around the bonfire.

Warm, creaking and crickets.

Hypnotic and still. So very still.

Sam was there.

Of course he was.

Sam was as constant as those notebooks. He was…

Bucky watched as Denziel chatted with others and Denise strummed on her guitar.

The fire hues danced and melted.

Orange, yellow, red, smoke.

Looking across the fire, he was met with Sam’s eyes. A twinkle.

Bucky was scared. He was genuinely scared.

Ms. Grace taught him so much. Her grandkids pushed his fearful ass into practicing guitar and singing.

Rebecca used to say he could hold a tune. He had to do her justice. Bucky would make her proud.

“You ready to wrap up? You do still wanna go on that early morning run?”

Bucky’s eyes snapped up. So enthralled in the chords dancing in his head, Bucky didn’t sense Sam’s voice reaching across, coming so close. “Can you wait a few more minutes?”

Sam ducked his head before looked back at Bucky. “I got a few minutes to spare.”

This was dumb.

Sam’s smile was enough.

If this was as good as Buck got, it was more than he deserved. “Thanks,”

Denziel strode by, patting his arm, “You ready?”

The rest blurred for him. Bucky rose, took the guitar, made the adjustments the twins taught him, and took a deep breath. There was no preamble. There was no introduction or pomp and circumstance.

This, right now, was the reason why Bucky decided to try.

With his sleeves rolled up as best they could, Bucky started to play the guitar.

___

Simplistic.

Earnest.

Thrumming with life.

Easy and open.

Vulnerable.

Sam was enthralled.

Bucky may have started and stopped once to play in front of the community and…

Chestnut strands illuminated to orange, yellow, red and smoke.

This was not hesitation.

“The book of love is long and boring

No one can lift the damn thing

It’s full of charts and facts and figures

And instructions for dancing

But I

I love it when you read to me

And you

You can read me anything

The book of love has music in it

In fact that where’s music comes from

Some of it’s just transcendental

Some of it’s just really dumb

But

I love it when you sing to me”

Sam couldn’t stop. He didn’t want to look away as Bucky leaned back over the guitar, crooning gently.

Ms. Grace, suddenly poised in the fold out chair next to him, nudged Sam. “Open it.”

A rucksack was by Sam’s feet. He knew that was James’. “Ma’am. Where did you get this?”

Sam knew. He had to play the game. He had to see what Bucky wanted him to see.

His books. Worn bounds, stark book fronts, and wrinkled leather. These were his life.

Sam loved reading.

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themadlostgirl · 4 years

Text

Abandoned (3)

*Finals are almost over! That has nothing to do with this chapter I’m just happy.*

~~~

It had been several days since Pan had left me with that sack of food and the news that my father had traded me away for freedom. I refused to believe it though. It was a lie. It was a lie to get me to stop believing in papa.

The music from Pan’s pipes could take my memories but that didn’t mean I was going to let them go without a fight. I wrote down everything I could remember. I sang shanties every night over the sound of Pan’s music. Tonight was no different. What I sang wasn’t a shanty though. It was something much softer.

“My young love said to me, "My mother won't mind, and my father won't slight you for your lack of kind." And she stepped away from me, and this she did say,” I struggled with the next line, it was right there on the tip of my tongue, “And this she did say...she did say…”

“Ugh!” I flopped back against the sand, “What did she say?”

Papa sang this to me every night when I was little. Or was it every time I had a nightmare? Everything is getting so hard to remember. Did papa sing it to me at all or was it a song one of the others on the ship sang? Or maybe it was a song I had heard at a festival or maybe a tavern?

It feels useless. I can’t even remember the next line of a song!

I pulled the pocketwatch from my pocket and stared at the unmoving hands. Pan’s unwanted words started to echo in my head.

You really do not want to face the truth do you?

No.

You wanna know how I know that he isn’t coming back for you? How I know he abandoned you here?

It’s another lie. Another trick.

He left because I told him to.

Papa wouldn’t abandon me. Papa wouldn’t trade me away!

Adults are so disappointing, especially parents. Selfish enough to sell their own children off to make their lives easier.

“Papa, please,” I whispered to the night air, “Please come back. I know you didn’t leave me here on purpose. You’re gonna come back but it needs to be soon. Please papa...I miss you.”

A soft melody broke through my quiet sobs. I turned around and stared into the jungle. I could practically see the notes floating out from the darkness and wrapping around me. I stood to my feet. Letting the music take me closer to the jungle’s edge.

I followed the song into the jungle. It was trance like but not in the way it had been before. I was more conscious of what I was doing. Choosing to follow it instead of letting myself slip completely under its spell.

After a while I could make out the glow of the bonfire in the distance. The music was coming from the camp as I knew it would be. I could just walk in. Pan had said that I would be welcome. I could join the boys dancing around the fire. I could sit and listen to their stories. We could play games. We could have fun. We could be a family…

Family.

I don’t remember much about about my family. I do remember one thing though. Papa taking me above deck the day after mama died. We stood before the crew and he said that though one of us had fallen it did not mean we were alone. We were a family by more than just blood. We were a family by choice. That was a bond stronger than blood.

Where was that bond now? Where was my family now?

The warmth drained out of me all at once and I stepped away from the camp. I need to get out of here. I need to get away from here!

I started running back through the darkness to get to my camp. I caught a movement out of place among the shadows and stumbled to a stop. There, calmly sitting under a tree and illuminated by a beam of moonlight was Pan. His eyes closed. Was he asleep? Why so far from camp? Why was he out here by himself? He had just been at the camp, hadn’t he?

This was my chance! I crept closer keeping as quiet as I could as I came up behind him. He did not stir. His even measured breaths assuring me he was fast asleep. The music ended tonight. Keeping my grip tight I knocked him on the head as hard as I could with the hilt of my sword. Papa or maybe it was mama always did that to knock people out when they were down.

I kicked him lightly with my foot to make sure he was really out of it then went about looking for his pipes or anything else useful. There was nothing. No pipes. No beans. Not even lint in his pocket!

Fine. If I can’t get rid of the music I can at least get rid of him! I grabbed his arms and started dragging him back to my camp. I silently prayed that he’d stay unconscious long enough for me to get him back which by some miracle he did. I grabbed a length of rope and tied his hands behind his back and bound his legs together. I also wrapped a scarf around his mouth for some personal satisfaction. No big words were coming out of his mouth now.

After I was sure he was secure I hauled him into the rowboat and took either oar in hand. My single person rowing was not the best and the added weight didn’t make it any easier but I had already come too far. I rowed us out until we were in deeper waters. Being out here at night with the mermaids wasn’t the smartest decision I had ever made but I wasn’t in the mood for making smart decisions.

I sat there in the rocking boat staring at the unconscious demon across from me. The moon was bright and full casting everything in pale light. I could make out mermaids bobbing in and out of the water closer to shore. They didn’t seem to be moving any closer. Perhaps they were waiting to see what would happen. So was I.

What was I supposed to do now? Killing him would be the obvious thing to do after all the grief he has put me through. Running him through while he was still unconscious wasn’t right though. Bad form. He deserved to look his death in the eye.

I cupped some water and tossed it in his face to wake him up. He groaned as his eyes cracked open. Then they widened some more as his situation became more clear. He pulled at the ropes binding him but to no avail. He glared at me and tried to talk around his gag.

“Sorry? Have something to say?” I asked, enjoying the irritation on his face.

He continued to grumble until I decided to let him have some final words. I pulled the gag down out of his mouth.

“Why thank you,” He rolled his eyes, “I haven’t been bound and gagged in so long. What’s the occasion?”

“To victory.”

“Mine or yours.” He quirked an eyebrow up at me.

“Isn’t it obvious,” I gestured to the situation, “Out of the two of us which one isn’t being held prisoner?”

“Prisoner? Is that what you think of me, swordfish? I thought this was a bit of fun between friends.”

“We’re not friends. We never have been and we never will be.”

“Never is an awfully long time. You sure you can resist me for that long? I am a lot of fun when you get to know me.”

“I think I know you well enough. Also, I won’t have to resist much longer since I can kill you at any moment. The mermaids are wading nearby and I’m sure they’d love a late night snack.”

“You brought chum for them? That’s awfully sweet for a hoard of bloodthirsty half-fish.”

“Will you stop.” I pointed my dagger at him, “Stop acting like you don’t care. I understand wanting to go to your death with dignity but you can’t be so flippant about it. Look at the situation. This is where you will die. Don’t you care?”

“Oh no, I do care. I care very much and I am impressed by this whole scene you’ve created. Job well done. I’d clap if my hands weren’t tied behind my back.”

“You are really just an ass, aren’t you?”

“Part of my charm.” he winked at me, “Please, proceed, I wanna hear where you’re gonna take this next.”

“I said to stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“Denying your situation. This cannot be having no impact on you.” I grabbed him by the collar, “So stop making fun of me!”

“I don’t know what you mean. I’m exactly where I want to be.”

“Tied up and at my mercy?”

“Obviously. Did you really think it would have been this easy? To sneak up on me and subdue me so easily? To drag me out here without any of my boys noticing?”

“You’re saying that you let me kidnap you?”

“How else would we have gotten here?”

“No. No! I beat you! You’re just trying to turn the situation around so it looks like you have the upperhand when you know I have you cornered! I beat you!”

“Of course you did. You beat me entirely. Here I am, tied up and at your complete mercy. There’s no conceivable way this could be in my favor.”

“Then why are you talking like it is?”

“Is this a trick question?”

“Pan!”

“Let’s look at the facts here, spitfire. You snuck up on me, knocked me unconscious, dragged my limp unconscious body through the jungle back to your camp, tied me up, put me in a boat, rowed me out into the middle of the ocean, and then woke me up to lord your victory over me.”

“And?”

“Do you not see the game you’re playing. I told you once before you don’t want to kill me and here is the proof.”

“All I have to do is stab you through the heart.”

“Yes. So why haven’t you done it yet?”

The realization rocked through me like a tidal wave.

“You had multiple opportunities to. You could have run me through back in the jungle. But then you dragged me through the jungle. You could have killed me when we got back to your camp. You could have thrown me over the side of the boat to drown after you hauled me all tied up in here. You could stab me any moment you choose but still your blade stays holstered. Why do you think that is? You’re bored, swordfish. You are so utterly bored and this game between us is the only thing keeping you from hurling yourself off Dead Man’s Peak. We both know it. You won’t kill me because I am the most fun you’ve had in years! You may not like it but the truth can be hard to swallow.”

I grabbed my dagger and poised it over his heart. “I am going to kill you. I am going to stab this blade through your heart and watch the life drain out of your eyes!”

“Do it then!” He shouted, “Do it! Kill me!”

“I will!” My grip on the handle tightened.

“Come on, do it.” He urged, “Do it! Do it!”

“I--I--” My hand started to shake. “AH!” I stabbed the blade into the wood of the boat.

I couldn’t do it. Why couldn’t I do it?

“Don’t beat yourself up over it, precious.” I felt a hand run through my hair. The ropes binding Pan had fallen away and he had inched forward to pet my head. “It was a good effort. You certainly kept me on my toes and I can say that this has been the most fun I’ve had in ages. But really, do not worry about not being able to kill me. It’s a big thing taking someone’s life, especially for the first time. Although, I would have been very happy to be your first victim if you had the courage to go through with it.”

“Don’t patronize me.” I slapped his hand away. “You could get out the entire time. Why didn’t you?”

“Because I was having fun. Have you not listened to a word I’ve said?”

“What kind of pirate am I that I can’t kill the one person who has given me the most grief?”

“You’re not a pirate, Lady Jones. You’re a Lost Girl.” He held out a hand, “And I am not the one who has caused you your greatest grief. We both know who is really to blame for that.”

I stared at the hand stretched out towards me. A ball of emotion caught in my throat. “He really left me...didn’t he?”

“Yes.”

I took a deep breath and pulled the pocketwatch papa had gifted me so long ago. I opened it up and stared at the inscription. Those unwilling to fight for what they want deserve what they get. “So much of a fight you put up for me.”

I snapped it closed and threw it into the ocean as far as I could.

“I’ll row us back to shore, shall I?” Pan said after a long lapse of silence.

I sat back down staring numbly at my toes as Pan rowed us back to shore. Not a word was uttered. When we got back to shore I sat down at my camp. The only place I felt safe for I don’t even remember how long anymore. It didn’t bring me any calm this time though. All around were reminders. Mementos of a life I was forced out of by the one person I trusted most.

“Precious,” Pan knelt next to me, “You don’t have to stay out here alone anymore. Come back to camp with me.”

I turned to look at him and saw the way he almost flinched when he stared into my eyes. “If it’s all the same to you, I would much rather be alone right now.”

“Of course…” He stood up again, “You know where to go if you change your mind.”

It felt like there was something more he wanted to say but he kept it to himself. I waited until long after he left before any composure I had left me and I sunk into the sand huddling in on myself. Short muffled sobs escaping me as the last dregs of my hope were drowned.

Papa wasn’t coming back for me.

---

(Previous) (Next)

#peter pan ouat #ouat peter pan #ouat #neverland #peter pan x reader #peter pan imagine

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devine-star · 4 years

Text

Left For Dead

Fandom: The Last Of Us 2

Jesse x Male Reader!

Warnings: F slur is used, Homophobic character.

Nothing else! Enjoy!

Y/n rolled over groaning at the sound of knocking at the door "wake up lazy!" a kid's voice called. "Im comin..." he grumbled getting out of bed and opening the door to see the 13 year old girl smiling at him "We're on kitchen duty today Bugs!"

Y/n smiled at the nickname and ruffled her short hair "alright kid, let me get dressed." he closed the door and rubbed his eyes as he walked over to the closet; grabbing a pair of jeans, socks, a t-shirt and his jacket that was resting on the chair.

After a quick look over in the mirror, he headed outside to see June playing in the dirt "Come on ya rat," he said playfully causing her to jump up with a smile.

The walkthrough town was filled with greeting from everyone and chatter with June. "Look," she nudged Y/n "there's your boyfriend" she sang teasingly as she pointed to Jesse who was in a tank top and jeans helping unload some logs from a truck.

Y/n blushed and gently shoved the girl "shut up! He isn't my boyfriend" "You wish he was thouuuugh" she sang pushing her way into the cafeteria.

Y/n let their eyes linger on Jesse's arms and the sweat dripping down his back in the summer heat before blushing harder and making his way inside.

"Bugs!" Seth greeted as Y/n walked into the kitchen "sup boss," he replied with a smile as he grabbed an apron off the hook and slid it over his head tying behind his back.

"Here, cut up these vegetables for me," Seth stepped away from the cutting board and bell peppers and other various vegetables "hey! I could do that!" June said happily.

"Not yet kid," Seth gruffed as he patted her on the shoulder "you're gonna wash the fruits and vegetables as they come in," June pouted "You always get the fun stuff," she hit Y/n's shoulder gently before stomping over to the sink.

In the midst of cutting and cooking the vegetables, Y/n got hot. He slid his jacket off and tossed it to the side before getting back to work; "hey Junnie! Turn some music on will ya?" he said over his shoulder.

After a while, Y/n began dancing a bit while he cut the vegetables and singing to himself. He pushed aside the carrots and grabbed some tomatoes and began cutting but soon stopped with a loud curse "fuck!" he held his finger close to his chest while hissing in pain, he cut himself.

"You always do that," a familiar voice came from behind him, he turned around and saw a very sweaty Jesse.

"Let me see," he said coming closer and holding out his hands, Y/n slowly placed his hurt hand into the hands of his crush with a slight blush.

He then followed Jesse over to the sink and watched as Jesse cleaned his wound with a focus on his face. "I could have cleaned it.." Y/n said softly looking down at the small slice in his finger.

"Yeah but you probably would have hurt yourself, even more, God of Destruction," he teased with a smirk before grabbing a clean stray towel and drying Y/n's hand.

"I am not THAT clumsy," he argued looking down at his hand once Jesse let go of it, "You aren't allowed on runs because Marie is scared you'll DIE" he laughed a bit before plucking up a carrot and popping it into his mouth.

"Hey! Your hands are dirty! Stop!" Y/n said taking the towel from his apron and slapping Jesse on the shoulder a few times. Jesse laughed and raised his hands "Alright alright," he chuckled shaking his head a bit.

"Oh hey, Jesse!" June said popping her head up over the ordering window with a goofy smile "Sup Junnie," he greeted with a wave.

Seth looked through the door "If you aren't assigned here son, ya gotta go," he scolded nodding his head towards the door.

"Fine fine, I'm out." Jesse turned to leave before turning back and winking at Y/n "See you at the bonfire tonight," Y/n blushed and went back to work after putting a bandaid on his finger, his mind running with possibilities of how the bonfire could go.

Later that night, Y/n was leaning against a building, beer in hand, watching the kids run around and the adults all laugh and have fun. "You wanna play tag with us Bugs?" June asked running up to him with a group of kids behind her "Nah you go ahead this time Junnie," he waved off causing her to shrug and run off after slapping a boy called Ian "Tag!"

About 2 hours into the bonfire, Y/n hadn't seen Jesse not one bit he asked around a few times and no one has seen him. Anxiety grew slightly as he realized Jesse was out on the River Route; He was careful but there was always a chance.

Y/n had made his way closer to the fire and was sitting on a bucket bitting his thumb as he stared into the fire with nothing but bad thoughts running through his head. Nothing but images of Jesse being bitten and him turning into a runner or a clicker...

"Fuck!" Y/n called out of fear as a hand was slapped on his shoulder scaring the shit out of him. He snapped his head up and there stood Jesse, hands on his hips with a smirk "Hey Buggie" he said

Y/n jumped up and hugged him tightly "my anxiety.." he mumbled as he buried his face in Jesse's neck.

"Woah...Woah.." Jesse chuckled a bit hugging Y/n tightly before frowning as he felt his neck get wet "A-are you crying?" he pulled away and looked at Y/n with shock "Hey..Hey, I'm okay!" he said calmly with a smile before glancing around "let's get you outta here...Too many people for your anxiety,"

Y/n stumbled his way out of the bonfire, his vision going blurry and black every now and then as a full-blown anxiety attack racked his body. He didn't know where Jesse was taking him or what Jesse was trying to say to calm him down all he knew was that it was hard to breathe and felt like the summer heat was suffocating him.

Y/n was pulled into a building and sat on a couch, the sound of an A/C turning on was noted in his mind as he began tearing his clothes off himself. First his jacket, then his shirt and as he began to remove his pants, two hands stopped him "stop, stop, you dont need to take everything off," Jesse said calmly.

He sat next to Y/n before kind of laying against the side of the couch and pulling Y/n into his chest and pressing his head against his chest.

Y/n gripped onto Jesse as hard as he could as he tried to even his breathing, and focus on Jesse playing with his head and humming softly to him.

About an hour passed before Y/n was calm enough to stop crying and to breathe evenly with small little huffs every now and then.

"What caused that..." Jesse asked softly looking down at him with worry in his eyes. "I thought...I thought you were dead...or got bitten.." he explained closing his eyes tightly "my mind wouldn't stop playing the image of you being bitten and turning and-and" he began shaking his head as tears returned.

"Hey! Stop!" Jesse sat up and held Y/n's head in his hands "look at me, look at me in my eyes!" Y/n opened his eyes slowly before looking up at Jesse, his eyes meeting and seeing nothing but fear and worry reflect back at him.

"I'm okay! Not bitten, I'm here with you!" Jesse said sternly as he gently rubbed his thumbs over Y/n's cheeks. "I'm here with you.." he said softer this time with a gentle smile.

Y/n took a stuttering breath and sighed before smiling gently. "I..I'm sorry," he mumbled searching Jesse's face for any sort of annoyance.

"It's okay, You're one of my best friends, I..I would have reacted the same way.." Jesse said finally letting go of Y/n's face once he realized how close their faces were.

Y/n leaned back trying to ignore the blush that was on his face before taking notice of the one on Jesse's and choosing to ignore it.

"Yeah...We gotta look out for each other.." Y/n mumbled wiping away a fear stray tears before looking towards the clock on his bedside "it's midnight," he noted out loud "Don't you have patrol tomorrow?"

He looked back at Jesse to find him already staring at him when he didn't answer right away, Y/n snapped his fingers "hey," Jesse jumped a bit and blinked a few times "huh?" he looked towards the clock "oh, yeah I do...That's another reason I came to find you tonight."

Y/n narrowed his brows and tilted his head a bit "What?" "Maria wants you to go on route tomorrow with Thomas," he said scratching the back of his neck before sighing "She wouldn't allow you to come with me, says we'd be too distracted..."

Y/n nodded a bit "Oh..Okay.." he slowly stood and stretched his muscles "Thanks for letting me know," "You arent scared?" Jesse asked standing up.

"No, Before I came here, I dealt with millions of those fuckers" Y/n said with a shrug "I'm a good shot," he shook his head a bit before looking over at Jesse. "I may be a bit rusty, but I'll do it," he crossed his arms.

Jesse walked closer and placed his hands on Y/n's shoulders "be careful...I.." he stopped before looking away "care about you," he finished patting Y/n's shoulders and heading out the door.

Y/n couldn't stop his heart as his heart fluttered as Jesse walked out the door, "he cares for me..." he mumbled with a small smile, he hadn't heard Jesse say that much but every time he doe, it drives him crazy.

The next morning Y/n wiped the sweat from his brow as he made his way to the stables, it was early but still, it was hot already. "Morning Bugs"

He looked over his shoulder as June came jogging down the street after him, he slowed a bit so she could catch up. "Hey June," he said sleepily "What are you doing up so early?" She asked.

"I could ask you the same thing kid," he gently bumped shoulders with the surprisingly tall girl. "I got called for stable duty, you?" "Im on route duty,"

June burst into laughter before hitting his shoulder "No! Seriously!" "I was! Why do you think I have my pack with me?" He asked jutting a thumb over his shoulder to the pack on his back.

June stopped with a look of fear "Youre serious?"

For as long as the two have known each other, Y/n hadn't been called for Route duty, but now that he has; June was scared.

"Don't worry JuneBug, We're the two Bugs! can't be separated!" He ruffled her hair as they approached the stables to see all the routes people there.

"Hey Y/n," Thomas said gruffly, he was a man in his mid-30s, never really liked Y/n. "Hey, I'm your route partner today!" he said trying to sound cheerful, "So I've been told," he said rolling his eyes "Pat's in there," he nodded his head towards the stable.

"Wow, grumpy," June said following Y/n into the stables "Yeah, ever since we met he hasn't liked me," Y/n shrugged "Just always tried to be nice but, guess he isn't willing to do the same."

Y/n smiled as Pat came into view, his horse he saved from infected a long time ago. "Hey girl!" he said happily as she snorted and stomped feet at the sight of her owner.

Once everyone was gathered at the gate Jesse began his briefing "Follow your routes, take out infected if you come into contact with anything you can't handle," he glanced Y/n's way "come back,"

The gates opened and everyone was off their own ways, Jesse glancing over his over to catch a glimpse of Y/n trying to make conversation with Thomas as they left "be safe Buggie..." he mumbled before heading off.

Pat clipped and clopped as she walked through the river with Y/n on her back, he wiped sweat from his face with a rag as him and Thomas road into the city.

The sound of infected coming from a nearby building caught his attention "Tom," he called holding out a hand then bringing a finger to his lips. He dismounted his horse and made his way towards a grocery store and peering into a boarded window "infected inside," he mumbled looking back at Thomas.

He stepped back and sighed "Let's get in the-" "You don't call me that," Y/n looked back at Thomas confused "what?" "You call me Thomas, I ain't Tom to you," he glared "Oh okay, sorry, I just figured-" "Figured you could use it cause Tommy lets you call him that?" he rolled his eyes "Call me Thomas or nothin at all,"

Y/n nodded before shaking his head and beginning to search for a way in, "Thomas, over here," he called before pulling himself into a broken window and jumping inside.

He quickly hid behind an overturned vending machine as he heard the infected. Thomas hopped in and hid next to him before he moved to take out a nearby infected.

Y/n did the same taking out the knife Jesse gave him and attacking a clicker from behind. Once done he noticed a half-open door, "over here," he said moving towards it and climbing under it and shimmying through.

He noticed all the infected in the room and quickly turned back and quietly said "come on Thomas, Ill lift this and you crawl through."

But he didn't see Thomas behind him "Thomas?" he whisper-yelled. He then had to quickly move out of the way as he saw a makeshift noise bomb come through the whole. He stumbled to the side as fear raised in his chest "Thomas!" He yelled in surprise.

The bomb went off alerting all the infected of Y/n's position "Good luck getting out faggot!" Thomas yelled laughing before covering the door with the vending machine.

"No! Help me!" Y/n yelled in fear before he began to fight off the infected. This had to be a whole hoard lured into the grocery store by someone or something.

"Fuck!" He cried as he pulled out his gun and began shooting infected one by one, soon running out of bullets. He took out his knife and ran, hiding every now and then.

He let out a loud yell as he was attacked from behind, he stumbled, fell before reaching around and pushing off the infected and stabbing it on the throat.

Y/n fought for his life for around 2 hours before collapsing exhausted.

The silence in the room rung his ears, pain from scratches after being thrown to the ground and shoved against shelves. And he had even accidentally cut his own hand trying to stab an infected in the throat.

Tears streamed his face as he stumbled around collecting what little supplies there was before pushing open a door revealing what looked to be a worn-down hold-up area. It had a bed and a few crates of stuff.

He collapsed onto the bed and groaned in pain, 'why would Thomas do that?' he thought to himself. The last words were spoken to him ringing in his head before he finally caught what the last word was "faggot" Thomas hated him because he was...bi? Gay? Hell y/n didn't know what he was...

But before he could contemplate what his sexuality was, blackness overcomes his senses and he passed out.

Thomas climbed back out of the building hear Y/n scream for help, ignoring it he made his way back over to the horses and unclipped Pat's saddle and pulling it off "get outta!" he called spooking the horse and it ran a few feet before looking back, she didn't wanna leave without Y/n.

Thomas rolled his eyes at the white and black spotted horse before hiding the saddle in the trunk of an abandoned car and sighing.

He then took his knife out and began ripping his own clothes and wincing as he cut himself up and smeared blood all over himself, "that'll do," he grumbled climbing on his horse and heading off towards Jackson once again.

Once he got close to Jackson, he started fake crying, if he wanted people to buy the fact that he and Y/n were actually attacked by a hoard; he had to fake it well.

Once at the Eastside gate he started yelling to open the gate, once inside he got off his horse while fake crying "Y/n was mauled!" he cried out catching Jesse's attention from the stables.

Jesse ran from the stables over to Thomas "What? What happened?!" Thomas looked at him and clung to him "I tried to save him, Jesse! The hoard! I couldn't save him or his body!" he cried.

Jesse pushed off Thomas as he felt his heartbreak "You said you would keep him safe!" he yelled as tears began to run down his face. "I tried!" Thomas yelled back, obviously lying.

"I have to go get him!" Jesse cried rushing to his horse "Jesse stop!" it was Tommy and Maire "he's dead meat out there!" Tommy grabbed Jesse before he could get onto his horse and held him back.

"What's going on? Where's Y/n?" Jesse looked over to see June "June.." he said softly "No...You're lying!" she cried, immediately knowing what was happening. Jesse pulled his arms from Tommy and made his way to June, pulling her into a tight hug "Im sorry June... it was a hoard.." she pushed him away.

"Y/n was a good shot! Always careful! Something must have happened!"

Later that night Jesse sat on the porch of Y/n's house, he was flipping through his sketchbook with tears in his eyes. Something must have happened...Y/n was always careful, he may have been one clumsy son of a bitch but he was careful whenever outside the gates...

Determination filled Jesse's body, he stood grabbing his bag and slinging it on his shoulders and storming off to the stables, he was going to get Y/n.

When Y/n woke it was dark outside, his body was on fire as he slowly sat up. Memories of what happened flooded back and he sighed before standing. But his legs didn't hold him up, he fell to the ground of pain filled his stomach; hunger.

Y/n didn't eat that morning or the night before and Thomas had the route food. He looked around and got on his hands and knees he didn't know what to do...

Jesse gripped the reins of his horse as he looked back and forth with his flashlight, he didn't see or hear any infected. If there were a hoard he would have heard them by now.

He stopped and jumped out of fear as he saw a flash of black and white run across the road by the grocery store up the road. He looked around with the flashlight before slowly moving forward and dismounting his horse once close enough.

He slowly made his way closer to the grocery store then yelled in fear as the white and black spotted horse reared its legs and whined loudly "Pat!" he yelled "Woah girl! Woah Girl!" he called out calming her down and whistling for his horse to come closer.

"What are you doing girl? Where is your saddle?" he asked eyeing the horse who whined and scratched the ground with her head looking towards the boarded-up store.

Jesse looked at her then back at the store and nodded a bit patting her nose gently.

He then climbed inside the same window Y/n had and quietly listened, he heard a body fall to the ground with a thud and moan; infected. He searched the room he was in the noticed the vending machine in front of the door; he pushed it out of the way as quietly as possible and noticed the opening.

Crawling through the opening was kind of hard, once through he pushed the cabinet out of the way and opened the door fully in case he needed a quick escape.

The flashlight shown across the room showed nothing but dead bodies, no live ones. He then noticed an open door on the other side of the room, 'clear it and look for supplies' he thought to himself.

Once inside the room he noticed it was an old holdup, he looked around the room; empty. He walked further into the room then gasped as someone attacked him from behind "hey!" he called out struggling with the person.

Y/n was flipped over the shoulders of the intruder and had a gun pointed at their face. They used one hand to shield the light from the flashlight attached to the person's backpack "Please dont.." he whimpered.

"Y/n?!" he looked closer after the light was turned down "Jesse?" he asked hopefully hoping this wasn't some pain and hunger-induced hallucination.

"You're alive!" Jesse cried pulling him close and hugging him for dear life.

Y/n hugged back tears coming down in streams "you came for me," he whimpered "of course I did, when Thomas came back all cut up and fake crying, I knew something happened..." he said pulling away and holding Y/n's face in his hands again.

"He did this.."Y/n whispered closing his eyes and leaning into his touch "what?" "Once I got through the door to clear the infected, he threw a noise bomb, told me 'good luck getting out faggot' and he ran," Y/n said sobbing softly.

Jesse's anger was almost overflowing but for now, he needed to get Y/n back to Jackson. "Think you can walk? Pat is still outside," Y/n nodded and they slowly made their way outside.

"Where is her saddle?" Y/n asked leaning against Jesse for support. "I don't know, but you can ride with me, I'll lead her back home."

The arrival back to Jackson was filled with rushing to get Y/n medical attention and yelling. Jesse waving a gun in Thomas' face yelling at him for leaving Y/n the way he did.

Once things calmed down, Jesse visited Y/n at home, his injuries weren't serious so he was fed and sent home.

Jesse knocked on the door, that next morning. A soft "come in," prompted him to open the door and peek his head in before going in.

"How you doin Bug?" he asked sitting next to Y/n on the bed. "I'm okay, better now that I'm fed," he chuckled setting down the book he was reading and looking over at Jesse.

"Thomas is being kicked from the town," Jesse said flat out "I.."Y/n looked away with his eyebrows crunched "because of me?"

"Hey, he left you to die," Jesse used his hand to bring Y/n's face to look at him "He might as well have murdered you himself, that goes against all our town rules and morals Y/n"

Y/n nodded gently and sighed looking up at Jesse "Thank you.." he whispered "For looking for me," Jesse smiled a bit and shrugged "I couldn't leave you to die, I.." he bit his lip and looked away.

Y/n felt annoyance fill him, he shifted until he sat up "you what?" he said, he's tired of Jesse doing this "Care for you," he said looking back.

"You always do that..." he said shaking his head and picking up his book again "do what?"

Y/n looked at him before dropping the book back onto the bed and getting out of it limping away from Jesse "You always go 'I...care about you,' like you don't mean it or something, it annoying"

"I do care for you!" Jesse argued, standing and following behind him "Then prove it!" Y/n said turning around and throwing his hands in the air "I just saved your life!" Jesse shouted moving closer.

"That's...that not what I meant.." Y/n said with a cold laugh and crossed his arms leaning against his desk.

"After all these years Jesse...After years of flirting with you..you still don't get it, do you?" Jesse furrowed his brow and crossed his arms and slowly moved forward.

"What do you mean?" he asked stopping in front of Y/n, who refused to look at him. "Look at me," Y/n refused "Look at me" Jesse grabbed Y/n's chin and made him look up and in his eyes.

Y/n couldn't help himself, he lunged forward pressing his lips against Jesse's and wrapping his arms around his neck. He poured his heart and soul out into that kiss hoping that Jesse would understand what he was trying to say.

He slowly pulled away and stared at Jesse's shocked face "Get it now?" his voice was soft and filled with anxiety, hoping he didn't just ruin a wonderful friendship.

Jesse nodded before leaning over and capturing Y/n's lips in another kiss, this time it was fast and needy. Teeth clashed and hands were in hair, Jesse lifted Y/n up onto the desk and moved closer to him, soft grunts leaving the two men in the process.

A knock on the door interrupted them. They pulled away panting for air "Y/n!!" a voice yelled from outside the door, June.

Jesse stepped away and Y/n stepped off the desk, he then limped over to the door and opened it.

June lunged at him hugging him tightly causing him to fall to the floor unexpectedly. "Woah! June!" Y/n laughed and Jesse rushed forward and pulled June off of Y/n "Careful June, he's still sore,"

June looked towards Jesse then back at Y/n, noting their messy hair and flushed faces "And what were you two doing in here?" She giggled smirking a bit "Shut up," Jesse blushed and playfully kicked her from her spot on the floor.

#jesse tlou #The last of us Jesse #TLOU #TLOU Jesse x reader #x male reader #requests open #The last of us 2

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