#Idk what’s actually falling on them but it’s powdered sugar now

[not-the-coffee-machine4]

my feed could not have had better timing

[hariosborn]

 sirius black fic rec list!!

okay but imagine having sirius black fall in love with you...a concept 😌

the feeling that we’re meeting again by @writesowhatnext

cross house relationships!!!!! literally yall are missing out if you project yourself into the same house as your lover!! you’re missing out on the tension, the passion, the romance!!! and once you get out of hogwarts and that tension is still there!!! post hogwarts sirius!!! hes so hot!!! and grumpy >:) you can never go wrong with slowburn fics!! 

the risk of love by @with1love1anu

ive been following anu for foreeeeeever and she never fails!! her writing is always so good and shes one of my favorite marauders era writers <33 you’ll see as you go down this list - but i love pining fics like im obsesssssed!! ooo and this one has a hint of best friend james and it just makes the story 10x better! 

breakfast in bed by @wondernimbus

when authors are 14 years old but can write flawlessly even though i struggle doing simple short stories in english class 😘not but fr ysa is such a good writer xx. breakfast in bed! what would yall eat 🤔if we’re talking abt english food (like food from england) idk what they eat over there tbh but i would pick roasted potatoes and waffles for breakfast :) wait actually no i wouldn’t, id probably do french toast with powdered sugar, strawberries, and french fries. ik it sounds weird but i had that the other day and i teared up, it tasted so good. but in this fic they have something even better!! have you ever wondered what it would be like to have toast, strawberry flavored muffins, and fruit for breakfast, all from the comfort of your bed, with the one and only sirius black? well look no further bc this fic has that and everything more!! 

godmother by @blisfvll

jen does it again!! coming through with the godmother!reader x godfather!sirius fics <33 (shes on this list three times bc she just writes so much good sirius content 😫) not to be morbid but when im gone i want someone to talk abt me the way sirius talks about the reader 😔i just love the way the sirius talked about her so lovingly and treated her like this ethereal being and painted her like this angel bc that must be so comforting for harry knowing that not only are his parents looking after him but his angel of a godmother is too ♥︎

oh shit + pt2 by @im-a-writer-right 

big brother remus am i right! as the oldest child, i love reading fics where im the younger sibling bc i just want someone to be able to look after me and care for me and be protective abt who i date bc they’re like “ i just don’t want you to get hurt” 😔 but anyways - this was a rlly cute and funny fic! i love snarky sirius and butthead james and overprotective remus and scared of falling for her brothers best friend reader :) if you like those all too you should read this one 😌

warnings by @blisfvll  

i felt like i was watching a short film! i loved this one! its so well written that you can like watch the play by play of everything happening in your head, like its sooo good! im sorry i keep putting so many angsty fics on this list 🥺👉🏼👈🏼 they’re just all so beautifully written and jen is such an amazing writer <33 

just a natural fact by @iliveiloveiwrite 

MILLIE!! YOU DID IT AGAIN!! guys if you are not following millie pls do i freaking love her sh*t and shes so far been on every fic rec list ive made :)) back to the review tho! im a very big fan of those timeskip fics like where theres a scenario for every year at hogwarts - and this one is one of those and i just - AGHHHGH!!! idk if this counts as a slowburn but like as someone who injects themself into the hogwarts timeline and pretends to be studying for her NEWTS when shes really doing AP work - i love reading about study sessions w remus where sirius tries to interject himself so he can be close to you 😊i dont want to spoil anything but like the tagline “Break my heart. Break it a thousand times if you like. It was only ever yours to break.” RUINED ME!! and you know what! i’ll do it again! i will read this fic and let it ruin me three more times and ten more times and however many i feel like! so yes, if you couldn’t tell, i love this one, and you guys should totally read it

die for you by @blisfvll 

i like to torture myself with sad fics so now im passing them along to you so we can all cry together ;( domestic life with sirius is something so very personal to me 😌so ofc i jumped at the idea of being harry’s godparent along w hubby sirius! but do not be fooled by my review - this one is sad - but its totally worth it!!! the things we do for baby harry am i right?? i am right 😌

wrapped around my finger by @remusishotterthansirius

jealous sirius jealous sirius jealous sirius!! oooo and when he growls >:)) i love the idea of being like this unattainable magical being in sirius’s eyes and you’re just like completely unaware of his feelings and it just adds to the mystery about you like imagine him sitting with the marauders by the black lake and him picking at a flower being like “she loves me, she loves me not, she loves me, she loves me not” and then him being all sad and pouty once the petals are all gone and he was left with ‘she loves me not’ :(( but  n e  ways - this was so cute and so masterfully written and i just love everything this author puts out so do not be surprised if you see at least one of their works on every single one of my hp fic rec lists >:))

misunderstandings by @imagineitup

oof this one really played with my heart! you know those fics where someones feelings are painfully obvious and you just want the other person to finally realize so they can both be put out of their misery and then go on to have this cute relationship BUT NONE OF THAT CAN HAPPEN UNTIL THEY COME TO THE REALIZATION THAT THEY ARE CAPABLE OF BEING LOVED!!! i love those fics and this is one of them :)))

thats all for my recs! sorry this ones so short - ive been drifting in and out of life, and school has been hard for me. there was a lot more to this list but a lot of my favorite writers have left tumblr so i dont have as much to share w yall 😔and theres obviously so many more amazing writers out there, im just sharing what i know! i’m thinking of just finishing up the other fic rec lists i have and then im going to move over to anime recs! ive been obsessed w haikyuu lately and theres a lot of fics i want to share with others - so if you guys don’t stick around for that i totally understand - but don’t worry im not making that switch till much later ✌🏼love you all so much! hope you’re all taking care of yourself, but dont worry if you’re not, its always a process so don’t put too much pressure on yourself to get stuff done and make sure to celebrate what you do get done! congratulate yourself when no one else will, and remember i’ll always be in your corner cheering you on! 

happy reading!

- love, hari !!

[im-illegal]

soft asks to get to know people!!Do-em-all?

I KNEW I KEPT THIS ASK IN MY INBOX FOR A REASON I KNEW ID FIND THE ASK GAME AGAIN ONE DAY HERE YOU ARE FINALLY I DID NOT FORGET

1. what song makes you feel better?

currently,,, Old Black Train by The Blasting Company

2. what’s your feel-good movie?

just give me some studio-ghibli

3. what’s your favorite candle scent?

lemon :]

4. what flower would you like to be given?

I saw some trans flag colored orchids once I think those'd be pog

5. who do you feel most you around?

uhhh Here or around a friend i haven't seen around in a while

6. say three nice things about yourself (three physical and three non-physical).

1) I actually really like my long hair

2) I got fuckin eyebrows for days

3) i have. thigh pillows

1) I'm nice or I'd like to think I am

2) I'm good at some things

3) I like the fact that I like hot cocoa

7. what color brings you peace?

a pastel yellow or the colour my blog is rn

8. tag someone (or multiple people) who make you feel good. 

too lazy

9. what calms you down?

hm,, uh,, sometimes playing minecraft, sometimes drawing, watching streams has been pretty calming, and a select set of music and specific podcast episodes

10. what’s something you’re excited for?

honestly I am very exited for ranboo seeing dream in the prison atm

11. what’s your ideal date?

stars n lookin at em probably

12. how are you?

sick and not as in cool

13. what’s your comfort food?

hm,, carbs,, sopapillas w honey n powdered sugar

14. favorite feel-good show?

haikyuu!! maybe,, or adventure time

15. for every emoji you get, tag someone and describe them in one word.

am confusion

16. compliment the person who sent you this number.

you're very lovely and a very good friend

17. fairy lights or LED lights?

uhh LED only if they have very low colour settings otherwise fairy lights because I can't handle a lot of light and they're pretty dim and look nice

18. do you still love stuffed animals?

yes I have a very nice stuffed fox and cat in a noodle cup

19. most important thing in your life?

uhh fuck if i know either my tumblr minecraft im djsjjs idk

20. what do you want most in the world right now?

not to be sick? or at least have a vauge idea of what temperature my body is at I am surving off of being buried under a blanket on one side while my other side has a fan pointed at it

21. if you could tell your past self one thing, what would it be?

know your own strength you'll feel guilty about it later if you don't

22. what would you say to your future self?

does that fic end any good?

23. favorite piece of clothing?

collage sweater that my grandma sent and I kinda took it smells like her house which is comforting

24. what’s something you do to de-stress?

Sleep or listen to the same playlist I made for when im stressed

25. what’s the best personal gift someone could give you (playlist, homemade card, etc.)

uh. hm. idk. uham. a playlist maybe would be. cool. rocks though. or a good stick yeah yeahhhh a stick a good stick

26. what movie would you want to live in?

uhahh howl movin castle

27. which character would you want to be?

calcifer :]

28. hugs or hand-holding?

hugs

29. morning, afternoon or night?

my brain sure wants to say night because I keep falling asleep at 3-4am because thats what is set as my auto-sleep schedule

30. what reminds you of home (doesn’t have to mean house… just things that remind you of the feeling of home)?

warm but a fans still running in the background. petting a dog while half asleep. someone petting /my/ hair while half asleep. shitty mattresses.

[bedlamsbard]

Here’s the second part of the accidental roommates AU -- this is one of those times when I say “second” in terms of when I wrote it, not in terms of the internal chronology, because there are probably two or three months between this part and the previous part.  As usual, please remember that this is concept writing and not a titled, polished fic.  (Also IDK if the timeline with Solo matches up but that’s why it’s concept writing, so I don’t have to do math.)

About 4.9K below the break.  Please remember that I don’t warn.

“Hera, I am very disappointed in you.”

Hera did her best not to flinch at the words, sitting with her back poker-straight and her hands folded in her lap.  When Agent Beneke didn’t go on, she said, trying not to let her voice shake, “It isn’t against regulations.”

Her handler regarded her grimly, his mouth set in a moue of disgust and distaste. “I was starting to believe you were less of a slut than other members of your species, Hera.”

This time Hera did flinch. She didn’t trust herself to say anything, so she just sat there, her hands fisted so tightly that her knuckles ached.

Beneked waited for her to reply; when she didn’t, he went on, “No, it isn’t against regulations, but that’s only because the Inquisition is outside the scope of the rest of the Imperial service.  The true Imperial service, not the Emperor’s –”  He hesitated over the words, then finished, “– attack dogs.”

He let the words hang in the air.

Hera said in a whisper, “I’m not a slut.”

He ignored that.  “Of course, I understand that some allowances must be made for your species, but surely, Hera, there were other alternatives. The Lake House – well, I suppose you might have a taste for humans.  Agent Melplith –”

“He wanted to rape me.”

“You misunderstood, Hera –”

“He wanted to rape me,” Hera spat, feeling heat gather in her cheeks. “I might be a Twi’lek, but I’m not stupid.”

Agent Beneke raised his eyebrows in response to that, clearly suggesting that at the moment the matter was up for debate.  He let Hera’s words hang in the air between them for long enough that Hera felt her lekku twitch before he said, “But you were already fucking another man.”

Hera set her jaw and didn’t correct him, since it wasn’t any of his business when she and Kanan had started sleeping together, especially not when she had relied on that illusion to keep Agent Melplith away from her.  All she wanted was to be out of this room and back in Kanan’s, with a door that locked and which not even Beneke would dare to come into.  “It’s not against regs,” she repeated stubbornly. “And my grades haven’t dropped.”

“For now.”  His voice was cool.  “I’ll be contacting the Inquisition, Hera.”

She forced herself not to react, though she guessed that Beneke saw her flinch anyway.  She doubted that he was aware that Kanan was terrified of the rest of the Inquisition.  And even if he was aware – she knew as well as he did that they wouldn’t let Kanan keep a mistress.

“We have an offworld assignment in the morning,” she said, keeping her voice as calm as she could manage despite the fact that she felt like bursting into tears. “May I go, please?”

“Back to him.”  It wasn’t a question.

Hera raised her gaze to him and couldn’t keep the acid out of her voice. “That’s where my things are.”

“You’ve disgraced yourself, Hera,” Agent Beneke said coldly. “Yourself, and me.  I vouched for you to come to the Academy, you know, and you are on the verge of throwing it all away.  You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“May I be excused, please?” Hera said again.

“You may go,” Agent Beneke said, “but after you get back from Garel tomorrow, I’ll see this ended one way or another.  Do you understand, Hera?”

“Yes, sir,” Hera said.

His voice went gentle. “It’s for your own good, Hera.  You don’t understand the danger you’ve put yourself in with this Inquisitor. They’re not like the rest of us. He’s barely human anymore.”

Hera didn’t say anything, and after a moment, Agent Beneke said, “You’re dismissed, Hera.  Good luck on your operation tomorrow.”

“Thank you, sir,” Hera said, and fled the room, trying not to make it too obvious that running away was what she was doing.  She made it all the way back to the officers’ guest quarters without collapsing, ignoring the other officers and cadets she passed along the way.  She opened the door to find Kanan inside, sitting cross-legged on the bed and frowning at a datapad.  He smiled as she came in, lifting his gaze to her – that sweet smile that was just for her, which transformed his handsome, scarred face into something else entirely.

The smile fell away as he saw her expression, and he said, “What’s wrong?”

She took a stumbling step into the room, enough for the door to slide shut behind her.  She didn’t remember falling into Kanan’s arms, but she must have, because the next thing she knew he was holding her as she wept into his shoulder, her whole body shaking with the force of her sobs.  He held her close, rubbing her back with one hand, until Hera’s tears finally trailed off into gasping hiccups.

They were both sitting on the floor, Kanan with his back against the bed and Hera kneeling between his legs.  He still had his arms around her, holding her protectively against him, but he loosened his grip as Hera sat up, wiping at her eyes.

“What happened?” he asked her gently. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m not hurt,” Hera said. She felt dull, wrung out and scraped thin.  “Agent Beneke – my handler – he just got back.  And he heard about us.”

She was surprised, in a way, that someone hadn’t contacted him already, but presumably the same fear of the Inquisition that had kept anyone here from actually confronting them about it had kept anyone from bringing it to Agent Beneke’s attention.

“What happened?” Kanan’s voice was still impossibly gentle, and Hera couldn’t imagine how Beneke could accuse him of being something other than kind.

Hera shook her head and curled back up into his arms, hiding her face against his chest.  I want to go, she thought suddenly. I don’t want to be here anymore.

“We’ve got an op tomorrow,” she said eventually, her voice raw from crying. “We should sleep.”

“Okay,” Kanan said mildly. He ducked his head and kissed her very gently on the mouth, his lips brushing over hers.  Hera put her arms around his neck to hold him against her, unable to bear the idea of never seeing him again.

We could leave.  We could just leave.  I want to leave.

But she didn’t dare say the words out loud, not in the heart of the ISB itself, and the fact that she genuinely didn’t know what Kanan would say to it kept her from even whispering it in his ear.  He was terrified of the Inquisition – far more afraid of them than Hera was of the ISB.

“I love you,” she said against his mouth.

“I love you too.”  He kissed her again.  “It will be all right, I promise.”

Hera shook her head, but didn’t say anything, just curled up in the warm circle of his arms.  She couldn’t imagine it ever being all right.

*

Once the idea had come into her head, Hera couldn’t seem to get it out.  She turned it over and over in her mind the entire way to Garel, sitting in the back of a commuter shuttle with Kanan next to her, his arm comfortably around her shoulders like they were an ordinary couple.  She didn’t dare voice it to Kanan no matter how badly she needed to talk about it with him; there was no way that the shuttle wasn’t bugged, either by the company that operated it or by the ISB.  After what Agent Beneke had said, Hera didn’t trust the ISB not to have them surveilled at every opportunity.  The only place she knew they wouldn’t be watched was in the club itself.

She took Kanan’s hand as they left the shuttle, making their way through the corridors of the spaceport before they finally emerged into the city streets.  He bent his head to hers like any other young lover’s, brushing a kiss over her lips that made Hera shiver, self-conscious in public despite the fact that no one here had any idea who they were.  It wasn’t quite full dark yet, the planet cast in purple twilight as they wandered idly through the tourist district of the city, cutting a slow, meandering path towards the club.  Garel had a thriving nightlife, both licit and otherwise, and after months of barely leaving the Imperial Complex except to go on training missions it was enchanting to see something so different.  Species from all across the galaxy congregated on the world; Hera’s green skin and lekku didn’t warrant a second look from anymore, no more than Kanan’s handsome human features did.  She spotted enough other Twi’leks on the street to guess that there was probably an enclave somewhere in the city – no surprise there, though it hadn’t been in their brief.

Kanan stopped at a food stall to buy her a waffle dusted with meiloorun sugar and himself one with syrup.  They stood in the shelter of a street lamp to eat them, Hera trying determinedly not to get powdered sugar all down her front and mostly succeeding.  Kanan licked his fingers clean of syrup and then grinned comfortably at her.  He looked happier in civilian clothes than Hera had ever seen him before – or at least, outside of their bed – with the comfortable ease of someone who had never been near an Imperial uniform in his life.

Hera leaned up and touched her lips to his.  Run away with me, she almost said.  Let’s just go, let’s leave now.  But she didn’t dare do it, not now, not when any of the beings around them could have been watching them, listening in, evaluating them for the ISB and the Inquisition. Instead, she just said, “I love you.”

Kanan kissed her back. “It will be all right,” he told her.

You don’t know that.  Hera just kissed him again, the napkins she had been using for the waffle balled up in one fist as she put her arms around his neck.  She still felt exhausted and wrung out after the confrontation with Agent Beneke, the hours she had spent crying in Kanan’s arms pricking weariness at the corners of her eyes.

Kanan wrapped his arms around her.  “Are you all right?” he asked softly.

Hera shook her head. “Let’s do this,” she told him.  Once they were in the club, she could be certain they weren’t being bugged – not by the Empire, anyway.  They just had to get that far.

“Okay.”  He kissed her again, then took the dirty napkins from her and stepped aside to toss them in a waste bin.  Hera took his hand again as they made their way to the club, which was garishly lit up even from the outside, a quickly-moving line formed at the door.  Hera and Kanan joined the queue and were inside a few moments later, feeling a low faint hum as they descended the staircase into the club’s open lower level. She flicked a startled glance upwards, spotting the jamming equipment in the ceiling, and felt her shoulders relax for the first time that day.

Kanan noticed, but didn’t say anything, just squeezed her hand.

The sound of the club, the number of people packed into the space, was oppressive.  It made Hera wince, her fingers tightening on Kanan’s hand until she was certain it had to hurt.

“Our guy’s not going to be out here on the floor,” he said, bending his head to her ear and keeping his voice low.  “They must have more rooms –”

Hera nodded to the curtained areas off the main space.  She guessed that some of them were probably no more than nooks for couples to retire to, but others were likely to be more substantial rooms for rent, or corridors leading to them, since curtains weren’t much for privacy.

She and Kanan made their way to the edge of the room, wandering along the walls with the air of a couple looking for somewhere to make out.  Several of the curtained nooks were clearly occupied by two or more beings; another turned out to be a hallway leading to the kitchens and another to the refreshers.  They stumbled into a third hallway with the careless ease of drunk lovers, Kanan pressing Hera against the wall as he kissed her, one hand toying with the hem of her shirt.

“Tease,” Hera gasped, only half-joking, and felt Kanan grin against her mouth.  He drew back a moment later, glancing around the corridor before he tilted his head slightly, his eyes slanting half-shut.

“I think we’re in the right spot,” he said.

Hera didn’t ask how he knew, just followed him as he moved cautiously down the corridor.  She knew he had his lightsaber hidden somewhere on his person; she had a comlink but no blaster.  If they were caught, their only two options were talking fast or Kanan killing everyone.

Kanan paused at a curve in the corridor after a few minutes of walking.  Hera peered around the curve, taking in the sight of the six beings standing outside another curtained entryway.  Two were Twi’leks, two Pykes, and two Falleens.  Definitely the right place, Hera thought; that was the Pyke Syndicate and the Black Sun, and the Twi’leks could have been from any number of cartels.  She started to draw back, then froze as one of the Twi’leks shifted position so that she could see his face clearly.

She grabbed Kanan’s hand, dragging him back down the corridor until they were near the floor again. She could feel as much as hear the roar of the crowd and the throbbing beat of the music beyond the thick curtain; the idea of going out there was unbearable.

“What is it?” Kanan demanded. “What’s wrong?”

“Do you want to leave?” Hera blurted out, her voice shaky. “With me?  Leave the Empire, I mean.”

“Who was that?” Kanan asked her. “You saw someone you knew?”

“Will you?” Hera asked him desperately.

He hesitated briefly, then nodded.

“I think my father’s in there,” Hera whispered.

Kanan’s eyes went wide. “What? I – your father?”

“I recognized one of the Twi’leks outside,” Hera said shakily.  She was barely aware of anything except white noise, turning this over and over again in her mind.  Her father was there; she could go home.  Hera hadn’t thought seriously about that in years, hadn’t thought she still wanted it, but now that the thought was lodged in her head it was the only thing she could think of.  “I need to get a message to him, but I can’t just walk up to them –”

“Get one of the waitresses to do it,” Kanan said promptly.  He ducked his head and kissed her.  “Come on.  Let’s go find one.”

*

This is a waste of time, Cham Syndulla thought wearily, but didn’t let it show on his face.  He had the money to outbid the Pykes and the Black Sun, but there was no reason to believe that Free Ryloth might not need those credits more in the future than they needed the weapons for sale now.  And even after all these years part of him still chapped at the fact that he had to sit at the same table as criminal scum like the cartels.  He doubted that they cared, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that the Pyke and Black Sun representatives looked equally smug that a scion of Ryloth had been brought down to their level.  The Crimson Dawn dealer, a scarred human named Vos, had said as much in so smooth a way that the cartel members hadn’t even realized Cham was being insulted.

They all looked up as the curtain was swept back and Gobi stepped into the room. “My apologies for the interruption,” he said. “I have an urgent message for my master and mistress that cannot wait – a family matter.”

“I would never stand in the way of family,” Vos said smoothly. “Please, Syndulla, go – will you be returning to us?”

“Perhaps another occasion.” Cham rose to his feet, offering Alecto his hand. “I am sure we will have another opportunity to do business together.”

“Certainly something can be arranged,” Vos said. “My lady.”

Alecto inclined her head slightly in acknowledgment, but didn’t speak.  She and Cham left Vos and the cartel members to return to their bidding war, joining Gobi and Jaq in the corridor.  The Pyke and Black Sun soldiers regarded their appearance with curiosity.  One of the club waitresses was standing nearby with Jaq, a beautiful Pantoran girl in a skimpy outfit.  She started to speak, but Cham held up his hand until they had gone down the corridor somewhat, around the curve in the hallway and out of sight of the cartel soldiers.

“You’re Syndulla?” she asked.

“I am,” Cham said.  He blinked at her in surprise; his assumption when Gobi had said “family” had been that something had happened back at the fleet with Doriah or Xiaan.  “You have a message for me?”

“There’s a girl in the club who wants to see you,” the Pantoran said. “She said to tell you that she’s from the house with seven fountains.”

Alecto grabbed for Cham’s hand, her nails digging into his bare skin. “Where?” she demanded. “Where is she?”

“In one of the private rooms.”  The Pantoran looked inquisitively at them without moving.

Cham produced a twenty-credit chip without having to be prompted further; it disappeared into the girl’s bustier and she led them out of the corridor and onto the crowded floor of the club, skirting the walls and passing several curtained entrances before she came to a stop outside one of them.  “They’re in here,” she said.

“Stay here,” Cham said to Gobi and Jaq, and thrust the curtain aside to step into the chamber beyond, Alecto just behind him.

*

Hera couldn’t sit. She just paced back and forth across the small room while Kanan watched her from his position on the loveseat, legs crossed tailor-style in front of him. “It will be all right,” he told her.

Hera didn’t respond, just bit her knuckle and tried not to let her wild hope overwhelm her.  If the man the ISB had sent them after came in here instead of her father – or if the Empire – if this was a trick, a trap, another loyalty test and one she had failed –

Kanan raised his head suddenly.  When Hera jerked around to stare at him, he said, “There’s someone –”

The curtain was swept aside before he could finish, admitting a tall, orange-skinned Twi’lek man.

Hera didn’t think, just gasped, “Daddy!” and flung herself into his arms.  An instant later another pair of arms went around her, her mother holding onto her with desperate strength as she whispered, “My baby, my baby –”

Hera started to cry.

She hadn’t thought that she would, but once she started she couldn’t seem to stop, sobbing against her father’s shoulder as he held her tightly.  Her mother kissed her frantically and Hera managed to transfer her death grip from her father to her mother, clutching at her like the child she hadn’t been in years.  Her father put his arms around them both, his lips moving in something that Hera recognized as a prayer of thanksgiving.

An instant later he spotted Kanan, still seated on the loveseat, and drew back sharply, his hand going to the empty holster on his hip.

“He’s with me,” Hera said hastily, pulling herself out of her mother’s tight grip.  “Daddy, Mama, Kanan.  Kanan, these are – these are my parents, Cham and Alecto Syndulla.”

Kanan blinked once, recognizing at least one of the names, but unfolded himself as he stood up, keeping his hands in plain sight.  “Sir,” he said. “Ma’am.”  He hesitated and then added, “You knew one of my former teachers, General Syndulla. Master Windu always spoke very highly of you.”

Cham frowned at him, clearly startled, then his eyes widened with realization.  “You’re –”

Hera didn’t even see Kanan move, but all at once his lightsaber hilt was in his hand where Cham could see it.  Her father’s jaw dropped even as Kanan made the lightsaber vanish again.

Hera was staring too, because while she had guessed that particular secret from a few hints Kanan had dropped over the past months, she had never expected him to actually admit it. From his nervous expression, Kanan hadn’t expected to ever do so either.

“I – see,” Cham said after a moment where he just stared wide-eyed at Kanan.  He glanced at Hera, visibly realized what their relationship was, and swallowed back whatever automatic protest he had to that.

Her mother put her arm around Hera again like she couldn’t bear to not be touching her for even a few moments.  “We’re going back to the fleet,” she said. “You and your friend –”

Hera bit her lip, but nodded. “The – the Empire is watching the club,” she said. “I know there’s another – a team inside, maybe more than one.”

Her father caught the slip but didn’t ask about it, just frowned in thought, then turned to pull the curtain back.  “Gobi,” he said, “go find Vos’s second.  Tell her that they should be on the lookout for Imperial visitors, then meet us outside. I assume Vos has some kind of plan for that contingency.”

“Yes, Syndulla.”

Hera heard footsteps moving hastily away.  Cham said, “We’ll go out the back, the way we came in.”

Kanan flicked a glance at Hera.  She nodded slightly in response; she hadn’t meant to do this when she came in here, but it was happening now.  And Hera – there were a lot of things Hera had wanted for years and had given up hope of ever getting again.  Her family was one of them.

“They might be watching the back,” Kanan offered slowly.

It was a training mission, not a full assault, meant to be observation-only and with relatively little risk for several pairs of cadets.  Hera and Kanan hadn’t been briefed on how many other pairs were assigned to this operation, but she suspected that given the notoriety of Crimson Dawn she and Kanan weren’t the only ones in here.  She had been too overwhelmed on the club floor to look for any of the others.

“I don’t think so,” Hera said, equally hesitant.  It was possible, but because this was only a training mission, meant to test their cadets in the field without supervision, the ISB wasn’t likely to waste agents on something like that.  And none of the cadets she knew were likely to waste time camping out in the back of the club hoping something interesting happened there, rather than coming inside and seeking it out on their own.

“Can you sense them?” her father asked Kanan.

He looked startled to be asked, but shook his head.  “Too many people in here.”

“Then we’ll go now,” Cham said firmly.  He pushed the curtain aside and stepped out, revealing a vaguely familiar Twi’lek woman whose name Hera couldn’t remember off the top of her head.  The woman’s eyes widened as she recognized Hera. “We’re going,” Cham told her. “Hera, you remember Jaq?”

Hera absolutely did not remember Jaq, but she had to be either a Syndulla clanswoman or from her father’s old Clone Wars resistance group.

Hera’s mother put an arm around her, like she couldn’t bear not to be touching Hera even for a few moments. She held Hera close against her as they made their way across the club floor, which made walking a little difficult in the crowded space, but Hera wasn’t about to try to make her mother release her.  She looked back several times to make certain that Kanan was following, which he was. Jaq was trailing him, with an expression on her face that made Hera think the older woman wasn’t certain about Kanan’s ability to either stay with the group or take care of himself.

Hera should have been trying to spot the other ISB cadets that she was certain were here, but there were too many people in the club and she didn’t want to let go of her mother, so she let it be. There was nothing she could do about it now, anyway.  The realization was something of a relief.

What she did see were several of the club’s black-helmeted guards standing unobtrusively at the edges of the room, especially as they slipped out into a hallway she and Kanan had passed before.  One of them watched them leave, but didn’t make any attempt to stop them.  Still, Hera found herself holding her breath until they finally left the club and stepped abruptly into the cool dark of a back alley.

Gobi was waiting there for them, along with another one of the guards; this one had the visor of his helmet retracted, revealing monkey-like features.  Both were regarding each other grimly, but looked up as Cham emerged.  The guard waited for them all to emerge from the club, gave Kanan as the one human in the group a dubious look, and said, “The boss says your assistance is appreciated, and he hopes to do business again with you sometime.”

“Likewise,” Cham said, his voice carefully neutral.  He accepted the blaster the guard handed him and holstered it, then took two more blasters to pass back to Alecto and Jaq.  “Tell your boss I’ll be in touch.”

The guard nodded.  His visor slid back into place again, concealing his face.  When he spoke again, his voice came out with a slight metallic quality, “The landing bay has been notified that you’re on your way.”

“Thank you.”  Cham glanced at Hera as though to make sure she hadn’t gone anywhere in the past few minutes, then led the way down the alley.

The private landing bay was only a street away from the club, with a few more of the helmeted guards tucked discreetly just inside the doors, which Cham opened with a keycard. There weren’t individual bays inside, just docking slots.  Hera spotted what were probably the Pyke and Black Sun ships in two of them, along with a sleek shuttle that she suspected probably belonged to Dryden Vos himself. The Syndulla’s Gamble was docked in another slot.

Hera couldn’t help her sharp inhalation.  She had grown up with the Gamble, had expected to pilot it someday; it was a shock to see here and now, as if nothing had changed since the last time she had seen it four years ago.

“We’re almost there, baby,” her mother murmured to her. “We’ll be home soon.”

There were a couple of Twi’leks standing at the foot of the ramp, holding blaster rifles and eyeing the Pyke and Black Sun guards with suspicion; they were being eyed back in turn.  One of them, Hera realized, was her aunt Clotho; she didn’t recognize the other.

Kanan touched her elbow suddenly, and Hera jumped.  Her mother shot a wary glance at him, then at the expression on his face released Hera and stepped a little ways away.

“Don’t,” Hera told him. “Don’t you dare.  You already said you would.”

“My master –”

“I know you don’t want to go back to him.  I know you’re afraid of him.”

Kanan glanced aside, and even in the cool lights of the hangar bay Hera could see the faint scars on his face and neck, at the edge of his hairline.  She took his hands in hers and said, “Don’t leave me alone. Please.”

“You’re with your family.”

“I want you too,” Hera said. “I love you.”

He smiled a little. “I’m not afraid of him for me,” he said. “He’ll knock me around.  He’s done that before.  But if I leave, he’ll come after me, and he’ll kill everyone between us to do it.  That puts you and your family at risk.”

“I think my family’s been at risk for a while now,” Hera pointed out. “And I don’t want you to get hurt either.”  She leaned up and kissed him.  “Also, since we’re in a crime lord’s secret hangar bay, I don’t think they can actually let you leave without shooting you first.”

Kanan smiled a little, but kissed her back. “I can deal with a couple of enforcers,” he pointed out. “But my master –”  He stopped again, agony on his face.

“Please,” Hera said again.

After a terrifyingly long moment he nodded.  Hera kissed him again and then put her arms around him, holding him against her as he buried his face in her neck.  She was fighting back her surge of adrenaline with effort, trying not to let herself be angry at him.  He was frightened.  It wasn’t fair to expect him to be anything otherwise, not after what his master had done to him.

“Hera,” her father said quietly.

She released Kanan so that she could look at him.  He was standing a little ways away, regarding them both thoughtfully, and Hera realized that she had no idea how much of the conversation he had overheard.  But all he said was, “We need to leave.”

Hera took a breath. “All right,” she said.  She reached out for Kanan’s hand, resisted the urge to look behind her – there was nothing to see except the Crimson Dawn enforcers, anyway – and followed her parents towards the Syndulla’s Gamble.

[miscreantahead]

tagged by @samhound ty!!

Copy this and fill in your own answers. Then tag some people to learn more about them.

• Favourite smell - mmm apple cinnamon? sugar cookies? definitely some kind of pastry even though i don’t even like eating them that much they smell sooo goood.

• First Job - A family-owned gyro shop that. it was nice i got tips but i couldn’t handle school and work at the same time so i quit.

•Zodiac sign - Aries

• Favourite pizza - buffalo chicken

• Favorite dog - I wanna say german shepherd but i’ve never owned one-- i only know my friend’s. I know huskies well though so they’re a safe pick and I love them.

• Favourite foot attire - flip-flops or nothing my feet DO NOT LIKE TO BE IMPR I S O  N ED. tennis shoes w/ socks if i have to wear actual shoes.

• Favourite Roller Coaster - MILLENIUM FORCE AT CEDAR POINT IN CLEVELAND i’ve gone around in line 15+ times just riding that shit over and over again i’ve never felt freer i love roller coasters but lots of them give me motion sickness but NOT THE MFING MF. 

• Favourite candy - mmmm idk. chewy sweet tarts i have liked a lot lately. also sweet tarts ropes. i like sweet tarts i guess but not the traditional hard ones at all.

• Favourite ice cream - the only ice cream i like is mint chocolate chip. i can tolerate vanilla.

• Pet peeves - no turning signals when changing lanes, driving under the speed limit when people are behind you, going slow in the fast lane, not paying attention to who has the right of way. lots of driving ones. also chewing loudly or with your mouth open can/will often cause me to actually have to leave the room and cry.

• What are you listening to right now - nothing actually. my sister watching vines in the next room.

• Colour of your vehicle - BRIGHT RED i love it the only thing i’d want more than bright red is a bright orange

• Colour of eyes - green

• Favourite Holiday - christmas im the sappiest shit and i love christmas

• Night owl or day person - night night night i feel alive at night and dead inside in the day, typically.

• Fave day of week - whatever day im off?? i’ve always weirdly liked thursdays tho.

• Tattoos - none yet but there are a couple i might get if i still want them in a few years.

• Like to cook - not very much. actually not at all i hate it, sometimes i make myself do it but i hate it.

• Beer or wine or neither - white wine. ars vitis riesling. im picky and it h as to taste like sugar

• Can you drive a manual transmissions - NOPE i’ve tried like... once and i want to learn and i bet i could but learning usually means fucking up someone else’s clutch so i probably never will.

• Favorite color - orANGE (we’re going to fight, sam.)

• Do you like vegetables - i hate them i like brocolli and green beans and corn is okay carrots are fine but otherwise fuck vegetables. oh lettuce is good. peppers always make me think i could like them but then i want to throw up when i try to eat em. tomatoes are satan but i guess they’re fruit anyway? onions taste good but feel like torture texture-wise so i put onion powder on everything but pick actual onion bits out of everything. texture makes a way bigger difference when im judging food than taste does.

• Do you wear glasses - nope i have super good eyesight and im braggy about it. it’s all i have.

• Favorite season - fall Tagging anyone who wants to, please feel free to say i tagged you because if you’re reading this im tagging you right now.

[nurseynurse]

14 or 19 for nurseydex? (from this prompt list: sleepy-skittles(.)tumblr (.)com/ post/155287327552/50-a-softer-world-prompts) or nurseydex and baking? idk whatever you want i just really love your writing!! esp the NHL future fic that was so cute and funny :)) thank you!

(I’m really really glad you like the NHL one!! It’s probably one of my favourite things I’ve ever written omg,,@ here’s Nursey and Dex baking, set sometime before Bitty and Jack come out to the team heh)

The bowl hit the ground with a deep thud, echoing off the wooden floors as berries and syrupy blue liquid oozed out and puddled around Nursey’s feet.

“Derek Malik Nurse, what was that?” Bitty exclaims, whipping around to find Nursey standing, sheepish, in the middle of the blue puddle. Bitty closes his eyes, lips tight.

“Chill, I can go buy some more berries right now, if you want.” He says, but Bitty’s face is starting to crumple; his eyes crinkle slightly and, for one horrifying moment, Nursey thinks he might cry. “Shit, shit, are you okay? Bits, I’m sorry.” Nursey urges softly, walking over to put a hand on Bitty’s shoulder. He flinches and Nursey drops his hand.

“No, it’s–” Bitty wipes his eye with the back of his hand. “It’s fine, I’m fine, I just…I’m having a tough week. I’m sorry.” Nursey raises an eyebrow.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Bitty laughs weakly.

“No, I’m gonna…I’m going to the store and then I’m gonna pack pack. I, uh, I’m gonna head down to Providence later. For the weekend.” Bitty says and Nursey nods. He thinks it’s pretty cool how close Bitty and Jack are. Not only does Nursey love the guy, he plays for the NHL and that’s, like, the coolest. Bitty looks down. “If you wouldn’t mind cleaning that, though…” Bitty says, grabbing his wallet and keys, before heading towards the door.

“Oh! Yeah, of course, man.” He says and tries to reach the rag on the counter without having to trek blue spots through the kitchen. He never actually hears the door shut, though, because, as soon as Bitty is out of the Haus, Dex takes his place.

“Yo,” Nursey greets, mopping up the sticky puddle. It seems like it’s making even more of a mess than before, a thin residue of sugar clinging to the wood.

“What are you doing?” Dex says, voice accusing, as he leans over to peer at Nursey.

“I dropped this bowl of berries and shit when I was passing it to Bitty.” Dex raises an eyebrow.

“Is that why he looks like he was gonna cry?” Dex asks; Nursey makes a face. “I almost bumped into him when I was coming into the Haus.” He explains.

“Oh, yeah, I don’t know what that’s about.” He says, scrubbing at a particularly difficult spot. He hears the sink running and sees Dex grab another washcloth to wet it. The rag splatters to the floor where Nursey is scrubbing. “Oh. Thanks.” Dex makes an affirmative noise.

“He’s been…off. Lately.” He says vaguely, going to sit at one of the bar stools.

“Yeah,” Nursey says, and sweeps the rag around to make sure the floor was completely clean. “Yeah, what’s up with that?” Dex shrugs. “He said he was having a bad week…but–”

“We should do something for him.” Dex says simply. Nursey looks up; he knows Dex and Bitty have been spending a lot of time together, Bitty teaching Dex how to cook and bake and all that, but he didn’t think Dex would be the kind of person to…do something nice for someone, like this.

“Like what?” Nursey asks, to stop his internal rambling. Dex shrugs again, noncommittal. His eyes are closed and Nursey thinks he looks a little nervous.

“What if we, like, baked him something. Or made dinner Sunday night…when he gets back to the Haus, yanno?” Nursey nods even though Dex can’t see him.

“Yeah, sure, I’m down.”

And it’s Sunday.

“This might have been a bad idea.” Dex groans, bending down to grab the box full of whisks and spatulas that Nursey dropped. Nursey pretends not to stare. The jackass was wearing a pair of tight brown corduroy slacks and Nursey has never felt so attacked in his life; he didn’t even know Dex owned pants that weren’t ill-fitting jeans or sweatpants.

“It’ll be fine,” Nursey assures, going to grab the dry ingredients out of the cupboard; he’ll leave Dex to get the eggs and milk. “What are we making again?” He asks, looking between the baking soda and baking powder.

“I was thinking a torte.” Dex says.

“You know how to make tortes?” Dex shrugs and his cheeks are dusted in pink.

“I know how to follow a recipe,” He says. “And Bitty and I made a blackberry torte a few weeks ago so I know what it’s supposed to look like.”

“Just tell me what to do,” he says, shrugging, and Dex nods brusquely, his cheeks still painted rose.

“Okay, um.” Dex counts out the chocolate, the butter. “Melt this down on the stove–actually wait, you’ll probably burn it.” Nursey wants to feel indignant but, considering he started a small fire trying to make coffee a few days ago, he knows Dex’s accusation is fair. He tries anyways.

“C'mom, dude, I can do it.” He says, grabbing at the butter. “Just…don’t distract me.” He says, hearing the click click click as he turns the heat to high on the stove. Dex lets out a harsh breath through his nose, reaching over the turn the flame down to medium. Rolling his eyes, Nursey shoves him out of the way, regaining his position I front of the stove. “I got this, man.”

“Fine. Fuck, fine.” He hunts through the box Nursey had dropped earlier, finding a wooden spoon, and hands it to Nursey as if it’s a newborn baby. “Stir the butter once it melts and I’ll pour in the chocolate.” He says as he begins roughly chopping the bars into chunks and slivers.

“You look tense.” Nursey informs, giving the unmelted hunk of butter in the pot a tentative push. It glides to the other end of the pot. Dex pushes out another breath through his nose.

“I don’t want you to burn down the Haus while Bitty is gone.” Dex says.

“You’re the one who invited me to help you bake.” Nursey points out, a little bitter now because, what the fuck? Dex didn’t have to ask Nursey to help but, now that he had, Nursey wasn’t just gonna sit there and watch as Dex baked without helping. He chanced a glance back in Dex’s direction, taking in the rigid curve of his back, the swell of his biceps, those fucking pants…on second thought…

“Here,” Dex says, coming over with the cutting board. “Stir.” Nursey does as he was told as Dex scrapes the chocolate into the pot. The skin beneath Nursey’s sweater aches where he can feel Dex, pressed up against him as if it’s the most simple thing in the world. Maybe it is. Maybe Nursey is making everything out of nothing. He stirs, a little too hard, and a few droplets of chocolate spray out of the pot, splattering on Nursey’s hand.

“Ah! Fuck.” He whispers, sucking at the chocolate, wincing at the burn.

“Are you kidding me.” Dex sighs. He sounds exasperated, a little angry, but he’s watching Nursey’s mouth with an expression Nursey can’t figure out.

“It’s fine, just stings a little.” He says, looking at the little welts on his hand. Dex turns down the heat before turning back to the island and rifling through the drawers. Brandishing a tube of Neosporin, he grabs Nursey’s hand, softly inspecting the burn. He dabs a few dots of Neosporin on it; he drops his hand with a roll of his eyes and begins stirring the mixture on the stove.

“Go measure out the dry stuff.” Dex says, gesturing to the recipe open on the countertop. “At least I can be comfortable in the knowledge you know how to read.”

“Shit,” Nursey intones, laughing as he looks for the measuring cups. He’s about to drop a fourth a cup of flour into the mixing bowl when he gets an idea. It’s probably not a good idea but–“Hey, Dex?”

“What?” He turns and, quickly, Nursey flicks a handful of flour at Dex’s face, a powdery mask of blank shock. He blinks, flour falling from his eyelashes. “Oh.” He reaches over, quicker than Nursey can recognize, and grabs an egg, smashing it over Nursey’s head.

“Oh my god!” He shrieks, slapping his hand to his now slimy hair. “Low blow, Poindexter.” He whines, wrinkling his nose before scooping the egg out of his hair and wiping it through Dex’s.

“Oh, gross, that was payback for the flour! We were even!” Nursey runs his fingers through Dex’s hair, cleaning them thoroughly.

“Well, now we’re not.” Nursey says.

“Now we are.” Dex says, hand darting out to grab the baking soda and opening it over Nursey’s head.

“Oh.” The powder falls to the floor, cascading his hair, sweater, shoes, in a fine layer of white. Dex looks triumphant.

“Truce?” Dex sticks out his hand, smirking.

“For the sake of Bitty’s baking supplies, truce.” He says, shaking Dex’s hand. He turns to look at the recipe. “You’re lucky we didn’t even need baking soda.” Dex laughs.

“God bless tortes.”

Forty minutes later, Nursey couldn’t help but agree.

“Holy fuck, I’m glad we made two of these.” He groans as Dex pulls out the second pan from the oven. It’s looks perfect and smells absolutely heavenly.

“I swear to god, if you try to eat this without letting it cool for a few minutes I’m going to punch you.” Dex says and Nursey softly puts his fork back on the counter.

“I wouldn’t even think of doing such a thing.” Dex rolls his eyes, puts the pan on the counter, and runs a hand through his hair. They showered while the tortes were cooking and the soft golden light streaming in from the window made Dex look almost as warm and soft as Nursey felt.

“Honestly, though, these looks really good. If you keep doing this well, maybe I’ll give you a promotion. Official sous chef.” Dex says, laughing. Nursey smiles as him wolfishly, moving to lean against the counter next to Dex.

“Are there any…benefits I should look forwards to?” Dex freezes, squints.

“Depends.” He says and the look on Dex’s face makes Nursey’s skin run hot. “What did you have in mind?”

“Maybe a fuckin’ bite of this torte.” Nursey laughs, shoving his shoulder against Dex’s. They’re close. “Um.”

“Anything else?” Dex’s voice is soft and Nursey can’t keep his eyes from flickering down to Dex’s lips.

“Maybe.” He says and they’re closer than ever. Nursey can feel Dex’s breath fan across his cheek, his chin, his lips. “Gotta get that promotion first.” Dex smiles; Nursey swears he can feel it against his skin. Then, he’s positive he can, as Dex leans in, fisting a hand in the material of Nursey’s sweater sleeve, and presses his lips firmly to Nursey’s. He sighs into the kiss, angling his head to allow Dex more comfortable access. They slot together perfectly and Nursey swears his vision goes splotchy, one hand closed around Dex’s waist, one tightly gripping the counter. Finally, Dex pulls back.

“Okay, you’re definitely promoted.” Dex says, as if nothing happened. Nursey can barely even comprehend Dex’s quip.

“As long as we can do that again, I don’t give a fuck.” Nursey says honestly and Dex positively cackles, hand sliding to the back of Nursey’s neck and hauling him in for another kiss.

[gutsybitsies]

@omgittybits this is superrr late but: prompt: baker bitty and bittyparse!! HOW DID THIS GET SO LONG?? IDK???

Kent Parson cut down on carbs after playoffs. He’s on the ice less but he’s conditioning more, and he’s in constant contact with his nutritionist slash trainer about his diet and training. Every morning he’s up at 7 am, drinks a glass of orange juice and eats a banana before going on a short jog around his neighborhood. Kent was 5′10 and a natural 165 pounds in a league filled with 6′4 and 200 pound giants, so he’s constantly shoveling steak, protein powder, eggs, fish, and yogurt inside his mouth. He has to put on enough muscle mass during the offseason, because when he starts skating, all that weight would start sloughing off of him because of the grueling schedule. 

That’s why, when Kent was lured into Bit o’ Home by the bright “Grand Opening!” sign on his customary jog, he expected to buy himself something healthy and nutritious. Instead, he found himself laden with two pies, a chocolate smoothie (with zero nutritional value on account of the sugar), and a receipt for a preorder of a custom cake.

And Kent still hadn’t stopped talking.

“So I really want to wow my friends, you know, they’re always chir-teasing me about everything and you know, I’m a kill with kindness kinda guy,” he tried for a smirk. Kent didn’t know what he actually looked like to the cute guy manning the counter and he’s afraid to know. 

“Oh really, you’re a kill with kindness guy?”

“Chyeah, my reputation is on the line here. So do you think that cake is enough?”

Cute Guy giggled. “Well, sir, I ain’t sure if this three tiered strawberry chiffon cake with candy kitten decorations will be done by tonight’s potluck-”

“That’s okay, that’s for next week, there’s another-um-potluck. In the mean time I’ll wow them with these pies tonight.” 

“You haven’t even tried a pie yet, how do you know if they’ll wow your friends?” Cute Guy asked. “You know what, I’m going to give you a slice of each pie, on the house, since you just gave me the biggest order in this shop’s history.”

“You’ve barely been open for a day, you trying to butter me up?” Kent grinned. 

“Depends on whether or not you come back tomorrow for more,” Cute Guy said. 

When Kent left the shop, he looked down at his hands, holding three pie boxes for a potluck that he made up, and a receipt for a cake for another potluck that he made up.

“This is like that time you ordered pizza everyday for two weeks straight because you liked the delivery boy,” Swoops laughed into his phone.

“First of all, it wasn’t the delivery boy, I was just really into pizza, okay?”

“Right. Anyway you’re so tiny, at least this way you have a bunch of food at your house.”

“Shut up, you know I can’t actually eat this many empty calories. I have two steaks and a fuck ton of other food I need to finish today.” 

“You want my help?”

There wasn’t any potluck that night, but Kent’s apartment ended up being invaded by hockey players clamoring for pie. 

The next day, he went on his customary run, but instead of heading back to his apartment for a breakfast shake and bacon, he took a deep breath and stepped into Bit o’ Home. Tinkles of the welcome bell greeted Kent’s ears and he subtly slid into line. Cute guy enthusiastically smiled at him when Kent finally reached him, and today he’s got a pin on his apron (a cute as fuck apron) that said “Eric :D.”

“Hiya, Mr. Kill With Kindness! What can I get for you today?”  Eric asked cheerfully, almost blinding Kent. “I trust the pies went over well?”

“Oh, um,” Kent remembered the orgasmic noises that emanated from his aprtment and how no of it had anything to do with sex. “Yep really destroyed them. That’ll teach Steve Carlsburg a lesson about saying that I never bring anything good.”

Eric giggled again, and Kent swore he could listen to him forever. 

“So um, I’m just here today for a banana protein shake and uh...” Kent looked over the sandwich options, “a Jumbo Roast Beef Panini, a caesar salad, and two eggs benedicts.” 

“Prepping for an intense workout, I see,” Eric rang up his order and said. 

Surprised, Kent gave him a look and Eric laughed again.

“I used to live in a frat house with athletes, I know when someone’s eating up for something intense.” 

“Well, you get out what you put in,” Kent said. 

“If only, the heaviest I ever managed to get was 130,” Eric shook his head, and handed Kent his shake. “The rest of your order will be called out. Feel free to sit and chat!” 

“Won’t your boss get mad at you for this?” 

Eric waved a dismissive hand. “You just missed the morning rush, and I’m the boss! My mission operandi is for this to become a neighborhood fixture. Now you just sit comfortable while I go and refill Agnes and William’s coffee.” 

Kent was so comfortable he was an hour late in his workout routing that day. Swoops complained, but Kent was lost in Bittyland. Eric “Call me Bitty” Bittle used to live in Georgia, went up north to Massachussetts for college, and is now in Vegas for the long haul. 

And Bitty didn’t say this, but Kent is pretty sure he’s gay. Sure, there’s no rainbow flags around the place, but Bitty...Kent mentally slapped himself as he focused once more on spotting Swoops. 

Way to stereotype people, he almost muttered out loud. 

Heading to Bits o’ Home for a heavy morning breakfast became integrated into Kent’s routine. It wasn’t hard, Kent was sucked into Eric Bittle’s orbit the moment he walked into the store.

The day Kent came to pick up the three layered strawberry chiffon cake was the best day yet.

“He likes hockey,” Kent told Swoops as the two of them set out to demolish the cake. “He was wearing Falconer’s gear, and he talked his head off about how amazing the Falcs did last year, and how it was so sad that his ex boyfriend didn’t appreciate the sport as much as he did.”

“So he likes men and hockey.”

“And guess what, Swoops, I’m a man and I’m also hockey. Appreciate hockey, I appreciate hockey.” 

“You gotta set him straight about the Falcs, he’s in Ace territory,” Swoops said. 

Kent ignored him.

“I said, you have to set him straight. About hockey.”

“Parse.”

Kent continues to shovel cake into his mouth.

“I’m so punappreciated.” 

Swoops get a face full of cake after that.

“Hmm, sounds like a handsome guy,” Jack teased.

“You stop that, Mr. Zimmermann. Did you know how hard it was for me not to brag about you when I was talking about the Falconers?”

“That must be such a terrible thing,” Jack said, his chirping tone evident. “Not wanting to use your dear old friend who definitely would not mind being bragged about, especially if it lands you a date.” 

“Oh, you tall, sweet, chirp monster of a young man, don’t you take that tone with me, Mr. Amazing NHL captain!” 

“Haha, anything for you, Bits. At least this one likes hockey, remember Chad?”

“Don’t remind me of Chad,” Bitty snorted. Thinking about Chad reminded him of fonder times. “Jack...”

“Oh, I have George on another line, talk soon, eh?” Jack switched the subject. 

“Of course, I love talking to you, Jack.” 

Bitty stared at his phone sadly. He tucked Senor Bun closer, and turned off his lamp light. He dreamed of smirks and freckles. 

“So get this,” Kent said, as he handed the day’s cupcake to Swoops. “He gave these to me for free. And my shake was on the house today.”

“You know what this means?” Swoops bit into the cupcake and groaned. 

“You gotta ask him out. Go to this baker angel tomorrow and ask him to get coffee or dinner. Put on that nonsense Parson charm or whatever and see if you can get some dick with that.” 

Kent thought about Bitty, shyly looking down at him, cheeks red and warm from the body heat the two of them generate. Bitty’s sweet mouth kissing him, playfully swatting his arm. That one time Bitty came into the cafe in shorts and a tanktop that almost made Kent drop his drink. 

The next day, Kent was a man on a mission. He sauntered into the cafe, called for his usual, and slid into his regular seat. He didn’t make much small talk with Bitty, but ran his lines through his head.

When Bitty called for his order, Kent put on his best smile. Bitty smiled back. 

“So, Bits, you work here everyday?” He said. 

“You see me everyday here, don’t you?” Bitty seemed to get the message though, and his expression turned shy and expectant. It was a cute look on him. 

“Aw, and here I was about to ask you out for dinner on your day off.”

Bitty smiled that smile that made Kent warm inside. “I’d love to.”

“Well, we can’t all be dramatic and kiss the guy we want to date instead of just asking them out,” Bitty said into the phone. “I thought it was sweet.”

“Pretty cheesy,” Jack said. 

“I liked it, he’s a sweet man. And he’s really funny,” Bitty defended Kent. “He’s taking me to this fancy Italian place near the Strip. Picking me up from my place and everything. And he’s been hearing me gabbing on about the shop and my life since the moment he’s stepped into the cafe, it’s time I get to know about him.”

“Are you serious about him? It’s only been three weeks.”

“He’s a good man, Jack,” Bitty insisted.

“I’m sure he is, I’m just worried.”

“It’s just a silly ol’ crush, I’m not falling in love or anything,” He fiddled with Bun’s ears, neglecting to say that he was sure he could.

“You don’t do anything by halves, Bits,” Jack said. Warned. Stated from experience.

“You give me too much credit, Mr. Zimmermann. You know, he still comes up with fake potlucks and parties in order to order more stuff from me? He loves his cat, he has a whole picture album full of her pictures on his phone.”

“Sounds like another Kent I know.”

“Really? How’s Kent Parson doing? You said you were keeping in touch with him?”

“Besides rubbing it in my face that his team won their conference finals? He’s doing fine, he was looking for restaurants the other day.” 

“Lord, and he asked you? That’s the blind leading the blind.” 

They soon said good night, and Bitty again clutched Senor Bun close and dreamt of blue eyes and freckled smiles. 

“So, Kent, what do you do when you’re not talking to me in my store?” Bitty asked, across from him in the Italian restaurant that Jack had recommended to Kent.

“I play hockey, actually, for the Aces.”

Bitty’s eyebrows almost retreated into his hairline.

“Kent Parson?”

“It was kind of awkward to mention after the third time you talked about how amazing the Falconers were.”

Kent watched the emotions flicker across Bitty’s face; skepticism, surprise, and embarrassment. 

“It’s my fault for not recognizing you, you’d think for all the Aces versus Falcs game I’ve seen that I’d remember what you looked like.”

“That’s fine,” Kent laughed, “I think everyone in the cafe knows about your gigantic crush on their captain.”

“Excuse me!” Bitty blushed, mortified. 

“Fine, your gigantic man crush on him. Does that make it less gay? Want to make what’s between us more gay?” He tangled his foot with Bitty’s, enjoying the way it made Bitty blush. “And besides, I’m much more handsome than Zimms.”

They stumbled back to Kent’s place afterwards, giggling and whispering like children. Kent didn’t do much more than make out with Bitty on his sofa, any attempts to go further derailed by more laughing and little conversations. 

“I have to go back now,” Bitty said apologetically.

“I’ll drive you.” 

“It’s late, you can’t-”

“It’s late, I gotta make sure you’re safe.” 

Kent saw how Bitty almost melted at his words, and kissed him again. “I’ll drive you back even if there’s three feet of snow outside.”

Bitty laughed. “That’s not as romantic as you meant it to be, Mr. Parson.”

“Oh? Tell me how to be more romantic, Mr. Bittle.”

Bitty’s eyes darkened, and he looked at Kent hungrily, before untangling himself. ��If I do, then I’m afraid I won’t be able to get home on time.” 

“Next time, then,” Kent led Bitty to the door. “I’d like this to happen again.”

“Maybe next time I can choose the restaurant, and you don’t have to resort to asking Jack about this. That boy is hopeless- Kent?” Bitty noticed how Kent froze. “Oh, I forgot to tell you, Jack was my former captain in college and we keep in touch. You know, neither of us knew you were Kent Parson when I was talking about you? But he did mention that you asked him about restaurants-are you okay?” 

“I’m okay,” Kent plastered a smile. 

“...I didn’t mean to keep it from you, I just forgot about it during dinner,” Bitty explained, his eyes and voice earnest. But all of Bitty’s rants about how amazing Jack was was flooding into Kent’s mind, and he managed a weak smile and a peck as he saw Bitty off back to his apartment. 

“Well, you know. Sometimes these things don’t work out. It’s only one date, I’m fine,” Bitty reassured Jack.

“I’m still sorry to hear that though,” Jack said. “And he hasn’t called or texted either?”

“I suppose because we saw each other practically every day, I didn’t get his number. And since he hasn’t been coming to the cafe...” Bitty sighed.

“I can give you his number if you want.”

“That’s okay, Jack. If he doesn’t want to see me, that’s fine. Sometimes these things don’t work out.” How many times have he said that? When things with Jack didn’t work out, when family didn’t work out, when Chad didn’t work out. At least with Kent it was quick.

“Bittle,” Jack’s voice was soothing. “It’s okay to let it out.”

“Sorry, it’s just with the shop just opening, and I barely know anyone here, and I thought it would be fun and he was so nice and sweet and I wasn’t expecting anything serious but. It’s just been a lot,” Bitty said. 

“The NHL awards are coming up,” Jack said, “I’ve already planned to come over, but I’ll come earlier, spend some more time with you and you can introduce me around the neighborhood and the people that you do know?”

“That’s kind of you, but I can’t possibly-”

“I’ve driven up to Boston to crash at Shitty’s place for less. He’s pretty much a zombie now, by the way.” Jack pulled out his computer to change his tickets. 

“I know, poor Shitty.”

“Can you stop moping?” Swoops flicked Kent, who was doing reps of leg presses. “Who cares about this guy who dumped you?”

“He didn’t dump me. We only went on one date.” 

Swoops rolled his eyes. “Come on, get up, get up, go take a shower. We’re going to visit the baker. It’s almost closing time, you should be able to get some privacy.” 

“What-no!”

Swoops all but tackled Kent and lifted him, carrying him into the shower. 

“This is a bad idea.” Kent said when they’re almost to the cafe.

“What? You’re gonna march in there and show him the man meat that he missed out on.”

“This is a bad idea because I’m pretty sure he’s in love with someone else and he’s using me as a rebound.” 

“Yeah? As if the person he’s into can beat a fucking pro athlete, where’s all that faith you have in yourself?”

They reached the cafe, only to see Jack Zimmermann in playful banter with a cheery blond. 

Kent  felt his heart broke. Swoops saw his expression, but before he can stop Kent from doing anything stupid, Kent had already marched into the practically empty cafe with a stony expression. 

“Missed me, Zimms? Bits?” 

The two of them stared at him, and Kent was sure of the guilty expression that flitted through Bitty’s face.

“I see you managed to get another NHL captain here once I’m gone,” the words were out of Kent before he could stop himself.

Bitty’s face crumpled and Jack’s hardened. 

“I think you need to leave, now,” Jack said.

“Or what? I mean, Bitty I knew I was a rebound, but I didn’t expect you to snatch Jack up again this fast.”

Jack stood up. “I can’t believe this, Kenny-”

“Oh, and don’t you call me Kenny-”

“-You can’t just come in here-”

“-To this shitty place, just to see you two fucking around-”

“-I moved my trip to Vegas early because you were the shitty person-”

“-and of course the one time I get to have something you have to ruin it-”

“-He’s not a thing you get to have, how can you-”

“-FUCK you, Zimms-”

“-Oh, you can call me Zimms but I can’t-”

“Kent,” Oh, Bitty was in front of him now, with tears threatening to roll down his eyes. All the anger Kent had left him, and all it left was shame. Shame that he was the reason for Bitty to be on the verge of crying. “Did you mean all that?”

“I-no. I’m so sorry. I saw you with him and you were always talking about how amazing Jack was and-” whatever else Kent was going to say was lost as Bitty enveloped him in a hug.

“I’m so mad at you,” Bitty sniffled, as he cradled Kent. “For ditching me and now coming here and accusing me of awful things and I swear to God, if you don’t apologize-”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me.”

“I’m going to forgive you, but only because you’re my only friend in Vegas.” 

Kent looked down at Bitty’s watery eyes.

“I’m so sorry,” he turned to Jack, “I-sorry, Zimms.” 

Jack was still glaring at him, and Kent remembered the time when they were teenagers and he said something that made Jack glare at him the same way.

“Alright, now that we’ve got the apologies sorted out, let’s invite Mr. Swodoba in and I can serve him some pie for putting up with this debacle,” Bitty shooed Swoops in and placed both him and Kent in chairs, before serving them all pie. He still won’t look at Kent directly, and Kent could see that he’s trying to make more conversation with Swoops in order to alleviate the tension in the room. 

“Let’s leave, Swoops. I’ll come back tomorrow,” Kent paused, “If you want that.”

“I’d like that,” Bitty said. 

“Okay. I’m sorry.”

“I know.”

Kent walked into Bit o’ Home.

“Hi, I’d like to buy five pies and place an order for three custom cakes. Strawberry chiffon, all of them layered.”

Bitty crossed his arms. “I don’t condone with wasting food.” 

“I just thought I’d start from the beginning,” he said.

Bitty softened. He took a business card from the counter and scribbled something on it. 

“Maybe start with some texts?” He slid it to Kent, who held his hand for a second longer than necessary. 

“...I’m still buying the pies by the way. I want us to start over, let me apologize.”

“You’re lucky I like you so much.”

“I know.”

“We have to have more talks about what happened.”

“You name the time and place.”

“And Jack wants to punch you.”

“What?”

“Just kidding,” Bitty said. “Jack’s a sweetheart who won’t hurt a flea.”

“Are we talking about the same Jack Zimmermann? Doesn’t matter,” Kent sighed, “I’ll sacrifice myself for just one punch if it means something to you.”

“Oh, you,” Bitty slapped his arm. 

[canaryatlaw]

alright. well today was fine. I slept until my 1:15 pm alarm went off, probably because it was like 2:55 by the time I actually got to bed last night, but oh well. I had my PT appointment for 2, so I got ready and was going to catch the bus set for 1:46, but then I had to cross the intersection at an inopportune time to make sure I got two pieces of mail in the mailbox, and ended up missing the bus by about 30 seconds, but it was fine because I had enough time to just walk anyway. I should probably give up on the bus method altogether when it really isn’t very far anyway, probably just like 8 blocks or so. So I got there on time, it was fine, I feel like I’m going to end up disappointing my new PT guy because he seemed super optimistic about making progress at first and like, I was not as optimistic lol and nothing’s really changed yet, so idk what he’s thinking. but it was good, I should still probably say something about the exercises, especially given how weak I’ve been proving myself to be lately when it comes to carrying things, so the exercises I’m doing should really be challenging ones. And I should do better about doing home exercises, because I really suck at those at the moment. So that was fine. Walked back afterwards and spent a while building a grocery list based off what was in the fridge and the pantry, and also on some recipes I’d like to make over the next couple of days since I’ll have free time, just stocking up on good ingredients to have on hand for baking and such. I think I’m gonna make caramels at some point soon, it’s been like, a year since I’ve made them lol and they were getting really good. this probably took about an hour, after which I grabbed my cart and walked down to the store. Shopping was fine, I had been really wanting to make a strawberry milkshake lately but was worried it’d be really unhealthy (being that milkshakes are generally like 700 calories) so I was like oh well what if I get some protein powder and if I mix it with like strawberries and ice cream and milk maybe it won’t suck??? so I got some that looked like it might be bearable. I grabbed a piece of flank steak because I wanted to make a beef and broccoli meal at some point, and the piece I got looked fine but the one next to it was starting to turn bad it was really nasty looking.....so I’m definitely going to use mine soon, probably tomorrow lol. I also wanted to get an extract of some sort to use for meringues, because the recipe I used last time came out really well in terms of crunchy and chewy ness, but pretty much just taste like powdered sugar, and the recipe said you can sub in another extract for the vanilla, so I thought I’d look at some alternatives. lots of interesting flavors of extract and such they sell (they legit had a pumpkin spice flavor, lol) but I ended up going with raspberry because I thought that sounded like a good choice. So I got everything and went to check out. There were two people ahead of me on line, an older lady right in front of me and a middle aged lady in front of her. the one at the front had quite the grocery load, and the older lady was like “you buying for a crowd?” and she was like “yes, I have three boys” and then the older lady started talking about her daughter and they talked about their kids and the older lady was saying she was thinking about moving closer to where her daughter was because she missed her and the front lady was like “you should do it, go be by the people who matter to you, that’s what’s most important” and I was really just watching this unfold while thinking about my family who left yesterday and what I’m thinking or hoping or planning for the future. My parents miss me a lot, that much is very clear, and I can’t really blame them, 3 out of 4 kids have never left the house, then there’s me who moved halfway across the country. And I love my family, of course, but I know living with them (mostly living with my brothers) can be bad for my mental health, and I’m in a fairly good state at this point and would not want to mess that up. And I mean, straight up moving back in with them is not really on the table at this point, if I go for the NY job I’d probably be there for the month of July while I do bar prep, but then after the bar I’d assumedly be moving to NYC because there’s no way I’m commuting every single day, and that much I’ve been very explicit about. But I keep coming back to thinking is that really what I want to do? I thought it was, but I’m not sure anymore.....but I’m also not sure if I want to stay here anymore. My emotions have kind of been in upheaval for the past month or so and it’s left me at a point where if I stay here I can’t really predict what my life would be like, and that worries me. sigh, I feel like I come on here and have the same conversation about all of this every night. still nothing on the email front, of course, as I continue to check each day. Sigh. Anyway. I checked out and managed to fit everything inside my cart (when I’m going shopping I’m always concerned I’m going to not be able to fit it all) besides my eggs, which I just carried which was fine. Got home, put the stuff away, and sat at the computer for a bit, and I think it was at this point where I checked to see if grades were posted, and I had a bit of a feeling it was going to be something this time, and I was right- as expected, my legal drafting grade was posted first since the assignments have all already been graded and there was no exam (and it really should’ve been posted sooner than this, but whatever), so there it was, a beautiful B+ in this class that has caused my so much anxiety and fear that I was going to flunk fucking child advocacy legal drafting, the class I should’ve fucking CALI’ed, but was instead thrown into turmoil because the prof hated my writing. I knew I was able to pull it out in the end, but the final is only half our grade, and since I had been getting like, 50% on the other assignments, I was concerned my grade was going to come out to like 75% (47 out of 50 points from the final, then about half of the remaining 50 points, coming out to like 75) which is still like, a C, and I’d very much like to not have any C’s on my transcript, and I didn’t know how this was going to turn out, so it ending in a B+ made me quite happy. I’ve been trying not to add any more B’s to my transcript because I don’t like them (I have two currently), and then 3 B+’s, and the rest are A’s and A-’s, which of course I’m fine with. So I was pleased with this. I have anxious thoughts in my head about yeah but what if you fucked up your civil rights final because you didn’t have the cases printed, but I know that’s bullshit because I can tell when I’m killing it on a test, and I very much felt that I was killing it, even if I didn’t have all the information I should’ve. I feel like I’m gonna end up with an A-, which I would have wanted to be an A, but I can obviously live with it. Remedies I’m not at all concerned with, the entire grade is based on the final and I know I killed it, it’s just going to be a matter of where everyone else falls on the curve, and that can be hard to predict when your grade isn’t actually based on the objective number of questions you got right but on how many everyone else got right, but I’m fairly confident I’ll end up with a good grade. That just leaves Secured Transactions of course, which may have been eclipsed by Legal Drafting at some point as my most worried about class, but it’s still been one I’ve been anxious about. I felt like I had a fairly good handle on the final, as least for not knowing any of the material a week before and shoving it all in my mind that week, but of course that’s also hard to judge because curve and such. If I can pull at least a B+ out of the class I’ll be satisfied. If I end up with a B I’ll be disappointed, but not really that upset about it. If I get lower than that I will be straight up pissed, but hopefully that will not happen lol. Anyway. I spent a little while longer on the computer before deciding to make a blueberry dutch baby for dinner again because I’m low key obsessed with them, so I did that and then got ready to watch The Flash. Not terribly impressed with this week’s episode, it very much felt like a filler episode that didn’t do much to advance the plot other than occupy time before the main climax comes in the finale next week. All the flash time stuff I really didn’t find very interesting, and idk what they’re trying to do with Caitlin and her apparently having meta abilities before the particle accelerator?? like that more or less just sounds like psychosis, and I don’t think that’s what they’re going for. So I guess we’ll see what they do next week, hopefully they’ll at least pull out a decent finale. Overall though I was pretty disappointed by this season, I don’t know what happened but they just really missed the mark. After the episode I forgot for about 2 minutes that Rise was on right afterwards, then switched over to them for their season/series finale. It really sucks that they didn’t get picked up for a second season because I think it had a lot of potential and some very strong storylines I would’ve liked to have seen carried into the next season. I very much dislike that it was now left with “we’re shutting down the drama department” and like, that’s just it, there’s no fixing it, the end of the show is them shutting it down, and like.....that is not a happy ending lol, I’m not sure how they felt about whether they’d get renewed or not but it was a peculiar note to end on. Not gonna lie, I loved teacher dude (whatever his M last name is) basically being like fuck it, let’s put on this whole damn production as explicit as it is because art is art and it deserves to be heard, even when it’s offensive (and as someone who’s seen this particular show on broadway, it’s explicitness is incredibly crucial to the powerful message it conveys). I understand of course why they still decided to do “totally eff’d” and just end it with “totally fucked” because there’s only so far you can toe the line lol. I probably have overly strong feelings on this particular subject, but Lilette’s mom is irresponsible and neglectful and you could make the argument she is even being abusive by forcing Lilette into the role of being responsible for parenting her, which is a recognized phenomena among child welfare behaviors. So obviously I was not terribly keen on that. And Maashous (definitely just checked imdb to make sure I spelled it correctly, and I did), which I’m so sad we don’t get to see more of his story, because there was so much there to explore. but with teacher guy’s daughter obviously being so emotionally compromised over this and just seeing him with the family, man, that’s hard hitting stuff. The show did a lot things right that Glee got wrong, but I guess in the end it just didn’t have the wider appeal Glee did. I’m sad for Auli’i (just checked again on the spelling and I did get it right) because she’s obviously so ridiculously talented and it sucks for a project she’s attached to to get chopped, but I’m sure she has many opportunities in her future. So yeah, lots of different feels there. During one of the commercial breaks the upcoming news advertising said something about a story on at 10 regarding Justin Hartley and a bad fan encounter in Chicago, so I wanted to watch that, but had an hour to kill, so I watched some of The Good Place, and decided it was a good time to try out my strawberry milkshake idea, so I got the strawberries, vanilla ice cream and milk in the blender, and added two scoops of protein powder, which was the recommended dosage. Set it to go and tasted it and it was a big NOPE you can totally taste literally all of it, so I added more strawberries and ice cream to try and help but it didn't work so I ended up having to toss the whole thing which was disappointing, and now I wanted a strawberry milkshake, so I just ended up making a normal one.  At ten I tuned back to the news. the preview was basically like “he had a bad encounter at a Chicago restaurant” and then when they did the actual “story” it was like 30 seconds, basically just saying he was “in town for a convention” (so C2E2 obviously) and was at a restaurant when a fan just like, came up to him and started kissing him????? lol, um, that’s cringey, but they didn’t give any other details or like even name the restaurant so that was kind of lame, but whatever. I watched Jimmy Kimmel, then Seth Meyers while I was waiting for my roommate to get out of the shower. Once she did I started getting ready for bed and now I’m here. Trying to think if there was anything else I wanted to say....nothing formal to do tomorrow other than watch the Riverdale season finale I guess (not like I’m terribly interested in that) so I’ll hopefully finish up cleaning my room and maybe sort through my entire wardrobe and divide it into the categories of currently in my dresser, in storage, and for donation, because I have way too much clothing that doesn’t fit me or I don’t like anymore that I could definitely get rid of. So we’ll see how that goes, hopefully it’ll be productive but I’m also able to get some relaxation in, since this is my one week to relax before bar prep starts, and I have to start at the DV clinic on Friday anyway. But yeah, I think that’s for now. Goodnight babes. Sleep peacefully.