#and he escapes in a sky carrier

[sugar-cookys]

aldnoah zero s2 ending was so bad that after i binge watched it i dreamt of an alternate ending

[chleem]

Rest of my life

One shot: bf drew x gf yn

Summary: babysitting drew’s niece leads to the realization that you’re the one for him.  

Genre: established relationship, fluff

Warnings: so sweet u get cavities

⋆.˚ don't copy or translate my work

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

“Which girl did you knock up?” 

Is the first thing you say upon entering Drew’s apartment, your eyes landing on Drew, who has a baby securely strapped against his stomach in a white carrier, the baby looking over at you with doe eyes. 

Drew freezes for a second, then shakes his head, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips as he sets a large bag down on the kitchen table. "Oh, y’know, some girl I met on set."

There’s a reason why you and Drew are perfect for each other; the playful banter comes so naturally between you two that it feels like breathing, like there’s no awkwardness in this situation; finding Drew with a baby you’ve never seen before. 

Although, this baby looks oddly familiar. 

“Remember Lils?” Drew asks, as you walk over to him, setting your own bag on the table as well. 

Your eyes light up at the name, recalling the times Drew would show you pictures of his niece. “Oh hi,” you immediately pitch your voice higher, making it soft and playful. The baby, with her big, curious eyes, reaches out her tiny hand, and before you even know it, she’s grabbing onto your finger. 

Her little grip is surprisingly strong, and you can’t help but smile at how adorable she is. “She grew so big,” you comment, looking up at Drew. 

He’s got a soft smile on his lips. “I’know, and I got her for the whole day.”

Your raise an eyebrow playfully at him, “I thought we’re going to the beach today.”

“Yeah, we are,” he emphasizes on that word, his eyes bouncing back between him and Lil. 

Lil lets go of your hand, so you cross your arms at Drew. You roll your eyes, yet the grin on your face gives away your amusement. “Fine. I won’t rob you of your uncle-niece time.”

A chuckle escapes Drew’s lips, and he brings you closer to him by wrapping an arm around your waist. “Lil says it’s okay for you to be there,” his voice, low and playful, as he plants a kiss on your jaw. “Third wheel, you okay with that?”

“Delightful,” you try to sound annoyed at that idea, but really, you looked forward to it. 

Originally, it was a beach date with Drew, but his sister must’ve had some emergency, leading to the sudden babysit. You had no idea that it was going to turn out like this, but you don’t mind. 

Besides, it gives you a chance to see what uncle Drew is like. 

“Aww, don’t be jealous,” he teases, rubbing your elbow, a habit he’s grown into since knowing you. 

“I could never compete with this girl,” you smile down at Lil, whose lips slowly forms an O. You coo at her, playing with her little adorable fingers.

Drew glances down at his watch, snapping you out of the little world you’ve absorbed yourself with Lil in only a few seconds. “Hotdog stand might close. Let’s go.”

“I’m trying the taco one!” You happily chirp, remembering how the last time you went there, a long argument between the two of you resulted in you getting the pizza flavored hot dog. 

“Alright, alright,” Drew assures, taking both of the bags off the table. 

You make an attempt to grab at least one bag from him, but he declines, carrying it all the way to the car himself. 

——

Unknowingly, the whole day at the beach has passed. 

Drew had been so focused on spending time with his niece, he didn’t even notice the way the sky changed. One moment, they were splashing in the shallow waves, building sandcastles, the next, the sun was dipping low.

He walks back to the beach with hotdogs in his hands; buying the snacks now since the crowd has disappeared. 

He replays scenes of today in his mind, thinking about how easy it’s been today. How effortless it felt, spending time with you and Lil. He’d watched you interact with his niece all afternoon—how you encouraged her to explore the sand, showing her the little crabs skittering along the shoreline etc. 

And now, as he makes his way back, he can’t shake the image of you laughing with Lil, your face lighting up when the baby made a funny sound or reached out for you.

He reaches the blanket that the two of you had spread out earlier on the sand, and he glances over your shoulder, expecting to see you playing with Lil. 

Instead, he freezes. 

There you are, holding his niece in your arms. Lil’s fast asleep, her little body relaxed against your chest. 

Drew’s first thought is how cute his niece is. 

His eyes then drift over to you; And that’s when it hits him.

The realization of this moment, the quiet way you’re holding his baby niece, strikes him. His heart skips a beat as he watches you, a quiet warmth flooding his chest. 

The sight of you with her, so natural, so right, feels more profound than anything he expected.

What is this feeling? He thinks.

He tries to shake it off. It’s not just about Lil. It’s about you, the way you make everything feel so simple, so easy. He never expected to see you like this, to see you so gentle, so present.

Is this what love feels like? He doesn’t know. But in that moment, staring at the two of you, something in him clicks. He doesn’t have a name for it yet, but it’s there—this pull, this feeling that maybe, just maybe, everything he thought he wanted was right here in front of him.

“Drew?” 

Your voice is gentle and soft as you call out for him, afraid to wake the baby up. 

Your gaze meets his, and for a second, the world feels smaller. His heart skips again, mind racing around as he scrambles for words in his mind. 

“Hey,” he manages to breathe out, sitting down beside you. He’s careful with his movements, even when handing you your hotdog to your free hand. His lips curl into a soft smile,  almost shy, “she’s out cold, huh?”

He watches as you completely ignore his words, biting down on the hotdog you’ve been waiting for for the whole day. His smile grows; his mind reminded of how easy it is to be around you. It’s not that you’ve said much or done anything extraordinary—just the way you seem to savor the simple things, like food, time spent together—it draws him in every time.

“Good?” Drew asks, teasing hinted in his voice, yet his eyes soften as he waits for your answer. 

“Strange. The pizza flavor’s better,” you comment through chews. 

Laughter erupts in his chest, making you look confusingly at him. You swallow, looking at him with doe eyes. “Let me take her,” he says, his hands reaching for his niece. 

You let him, mainly because of how hungry you are. The exchange is smooth; he now holds Lil in his arms, and you hold onto the two hotdogs, eating away one of them. 

“Y/n?”

You quickly finish the bite, humming at Drew continue talking. He’s looking at you with a soft gaze, almost smitten. He calls for your name, but doesn’t say anything. 

“You want a bite?” You ask, filling in the silence. 

Drew chuckles, and with his free hand, he pulls you by the back of your neck closer to him. He kisses you, slow and soft. You relax under his touch, letting the warm and bubbly feeling flow through you. 

You eventually pull away, needing to catch your breath. Drew’s lips are apart as he stares at you; the look in his eyes making it hard to steady your heartbeat. 

For seconds that felt like minutes, silence lingers between you two, eyes locked into each others’ as if any move, would disturb the calmness of this moment. 

Well, the moment is disturbed, because the smell of poop enters the air, as well as the sound of crying. 

Lil's awake, and in a stinky emergency.

You’re the first to pull away, chuckling as you glance down at Lil. “Shit.”

“Yup,” he purses his lips. You get ready to put the hotdogs down, wanting to help change her diapers, when Drew stops you. “I’ll do it.”

“Do I even have the appetite anymore?” You joke, the smile reappearing on Drew’s lips after hearing that. 

“When do you not?” He comments, setting Lil down and reaching for the diaper bag. 

You hit his arm playfully again, laughter coming out of you. You turn and look out onto the ocean waves, putting the hotdogs down to the side.

This moment right here? You want to remember it always. Remember this beach, this adorable little baby, this hotdog (just important as everything else), and this man, that you’ve found yourself to rely on more than you should. 

You hope Drew feels the same way too; that this moment right now, will forever be engraved in your heart. 

Little did you know; it's already engraved in his, as the moment he fell in love with you. 

The moment he realized, that you’re who he wants for the rest of his life. 

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word count: 1.5k

ִ ࣪𖤐 a/n: my first time writing something of pure fluff...hope you enjoyed reading! i was in the mode for something sweet, craving a bf real bad T_T

and yes, im a creep that stalked his sister's ig to find the name of his niece. im sorry im sorry im sorry

elevator | other

[little-fae-hero]

Linked Universe, The Hero of Hyrule

My headcanons/aus

Art by Atro

Colored version.

Long talk/Ideas under the cut, warning for violence and blood. (Note: I may add stuff over time, but nothing will be deleted from the list)

Twilight. Wind. Time. Legend. Four. Sky. War. Wild.

Hyrule (Legend of Zelda 1 & 2). Other Nicknames: The Traveler, Healer, Medic, Little Lost boy, The Fairy/Fae. The Survivalist.

Hero’s Title: Hero of Hyrule, Hero of the Two Zeldas, Carrier of the Triforce, The Fae born.

God that has claim over his soul: Kishin (Fierce Deity)

Part of First’s soul: Tranquility

History:

All that Link knows is that he was born to a fairy in the kingdom of hyrule, eventually he is separated from her and an old man gives him a sword to help him survive in the harsh world. Eventually his wandering led him to the dungeons and defeated the monsters inside, gathering up the piece of the Triforce of Wisdom and Power. Eventually he defeated the monster known as Ganon and saved princess Zelda.

Of course this wasn’t the end to this adventure, Zelda insisted Link live in one of the villages, though Link didn’t feel very comfortable with it. Most of the village was cold and untrusting especially to outsiders. It was here that Link learned from Impa about the other zelda, who was cursed to sleep until someone would wake her. So this time he is given a quest to find the missing Triforce of Courage and wake the second Princess Zelda. He of course being who he is, he accepts and begins his journey, this time having to fight a dark reflection of himself. Meanwhile Ganon minions are trying to capture him to use his blood in a ritual to bring back the king of evil. After he helps the princess, he learns the Triforce, not having a secured place in the realm it once rested, has now chosen him as a protector and stays with him.It will also turn people hostile when they realize he has power to grant anyone’s wish. As well as monsters still hunting him down. He opts to live on the road, only stopping when he meets one of his Zeldas.

Death: Unknown…

Interesting stuff/Headcanons:

Besides the Triforce, the fae side of Link is known to give hylians an uncanny feeling, so most will either chase him out or ask him to leave.

He’s a good voice mimic, so he can mimic the voice of people and animals, he mainly like’s to use chirps and trills.

Has an iron stomach and can survive off almost anything. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t get sick, and has learned that lesson the hard way.

When he learns a spell it gets soaked into his skin, almost like a marking.

When he starts to get comfortable, his human form will slowly start to shift into his real form, looking more like a dryad then a hylian.

He only really lets his fairy wings out when he truly is safe and comfortable, that can easily be torn and are hard to heal, so it’s a big sign of trust to see them.

Fairy wings are the vulnerable parts of a fae, fae hunters often times will tear and break them to prevent escaping, and Hyrule trusted the wrong person when he was younger (hense why he didn’t use alot of his magic)

They have healed over the many years but they still have scars on them.

Hyrule cannot read, at least not till after Zelda from his first adventure taught him, he’s gotten better and can use magic if he falls short.

In his Hylian form, the first hint to his fae side is a crown of branches he wears, that looking closer grow out of his head. This shows many of the fae and forest his a child of nature.

He trims the branches just enough so they look like a little crown a child may have put on him.

Anything cut off of him will go back to its natural state, Hair? Turns to leaves. Skin? Becomes a bark-like texture. Again he’s still natural and flesh-like but his true form blends into nature better.

Ganon utters a blood curse to Hyrule during his death, meaning should he be captured and blood spilled Ganon could come back.

This of course results in Hyrule being terrified of his own blood, he wears leathers to protect his skin.

Ganon has also shown interest in possessing the boy, dark Link was a side effect when he couldn’t.

This makes Hyrule weary of any magic signatures he can’t identify right away.

He’s actually really good at sewing and repairing stuff sense oftentimes it was either repair it or throw it away.

He doesn’t really feel comfortable in bed since he spent so much of his childhood in a fairy fountain or moving around.

Because of his fae magic, other fae like Time feel comfortable around him, however because Hyrule can’t get a read on Time’s magic he often is silently panicking.

For some reason he feels like he’s seen Legend before, he doesn’t know why.

----

Hyrule is done!

[crying-fantasies]

Affection

Masterlist

Mixed ones are rare ones, no one says it, not out loud, and not exactly in a bad way, it’s only that not even the elders understand how a pair of human and mer could ever have progeny, a healthy one at that.

Many youngsters had their ideas, fueled by the fact that the sky people, like the hoomans, had faces that looked a lot like them, or maybe the other way around. Some crazy ones stated, at the beginning, that the sky people stole the faces of unfortunate mers and used them to pretend to take their side, such ideas were destroyed once a sky person gave birth in the floating caves where the sky people used to live, and all could witness in the strange hatchling, the traces of its little face, the proof was undeniable, and many mers couldn't resist the vision of such tiny being that looked at them from the other side of the water with it’s parents looming around.

“Maybe they come from a star sibling to our planet”.

“Are the old tales true? Our planet was once bigger than it already is?”

“The tales of the great catastrophe are tales, only hatchlings would believe those.”

“How do you explain them? Their hands lack claws but still look like servos. Their eyes may be dull, but they work almost the same as our optics. Their legs are the only remarkable difference apart from those tendrils in their heads.”

Then, what others said, really took a whole roundabout when a mer gave birth to a shell-ess egg, nothing had been seen before, maybe in the form of a bigger size frame who didn't have the necessityto in u be their young, but the carrier was of small frame and the youngling came in a thin shell was after the time the carrier was expected to lay any egg, you could see an already formed hatchling that broke free soon after, the youngling was designated Hot Rod, and appart from his strange birth, he looked the same as any other mer, if anything he acted way too much like his sire, a human that lived in the floating caves and almost moved to the sand reef to be near the carrier of his offspring, showing that hoomans were really good mates and parents.

Obviously, the mateless youngsters were the first ones to peek over the water to look at the hoomans of science, their optics dreamy and servos itching to try and hold the feet of the hoomans, try and catch their attention once dancing wasn't enough as the hoomans only clapped their hands in amusement before going back to their work, only once a sky person actively followed a mer, and Powerglide became the target of envy from many, more so when his mate also gave life in the form of two fully formed “babiis” as she called them, they looked just like Powerglide, and their tails were normal.

It gave comfort to the elders. Powerglide was a flier, maybe he preferred to mend his own business, and some weren’t exactly interested in him; it was a loss nonetheless. Chandler was a hunter, a great one at that. His bond to the human caretaker broke the spark of many chasing after his attention, and while Hot Rod was strange in how he acted and talked, there was no denying that he was healthy, growing fast, no mate to talk about as he always failed in the trials, and Optimus was even thinking of giving him the title of Prime in top of all, let him have his pod just because “Hot Rod is the best example that the sky people, no, the humans are of great help for us”.

But Hot Rod, no, Rodimus was way too different, while any other mer would be thrilled to have such an opportunity, Rodimus escaped from it, and some youngsters followed him, and no one seemed surprised when he, just like his carrier, felt for a sky person.

What surprised, was that his mate gave a full clutch of three eggs, their shells weren't perfect, the body of the carrier wasn't prepared for such an ordeal, but the hoomans gave him fertile eggs, three out of three, not even the most sought-after carrier had it easy.

Sky people were worryingly fertile.

More attention was attached, and more were intrigued, more by the fact of how it was possible, and most were curious in how it worked, because hoomans didn't have tails, so they didn't have slits, yet in three different occasions they mated and gave offspring, tiny and cute offspring just like that hooman babii.

And Rodimus, being the little slag that he was, didn't have the same reservations as a new sire should have, showing off his new sparks with pride, they were struggling from side to side, their round faceplate were new, all were tiny, more than most new sparks, they looked more hooman, they were chubby, healthy looking; Rodimus looked proud, he should be, and many of the unmated mers looked at his offspring with several questions that he answered like he was a great sage.

“How did you…?”, most trailed off, not knowing how to phrase it correctly, and Rodimus licked the head of his youngest with affection.

“Do they have…?”, one of the pups started to purr under the light, sleeping in the arms of his sire, many looked, wishing to take them and cuddle them.

Finally, one has the guts to ask, “humans have arrays?!”, all of them closed their interest at the red and yellow mer, who finally stopped the grooming and looked directly at all the curious optics, he almost laughed in their faceplates, where did these morons think his babies came from? “Humans only have one of each,” Rodimus acted uninterested, his mind was flying back to sweet, delicate fingers and your warm embrace, “humans with valves can be carriers and the ones with spikes can be sires.”

Rodimus and his big glossa only made it worse, and before the elders could do anything to stop it, or make them change their minds, as they all saw that in place of dancing and showing their scales, and yes, some of the humans understood, their paids hanging if they touched the local fauna, the elders knew that it wouldn't be enough, as more than one mateless individual had the guts to still go for it, especially with a Prime encouraging them, “humans like strange things”, Rodimus would say like a sage, “and they don't understand subtle, you must go all out”.

Some captured the most strange-looking fishes, rocks, or plants to present to the sky people with white garments, making them fall near them with their trickery, the other hoomans noticed too, and both sides had to talk to limit the mingling, “no touching” the humans were warned, but Rodimus was quick to encourage once more “who said they are the only ones to touch us”.

It was a constant headache, especially when some could catch a young mer dragging down a human to smoother them in affection.

[forever-ev]

Christmas in NYC With a Baby

Word count: 843

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Peter steps out of the car, his boots softly crunching in the snow and opens your daughter's door. She rubs her eyes and waves to her dad.

"Dada?" She whispers tiredly, slowly waking up.

"Hi, baby, how was your nap?" He asks softly, unbuckling her car seat as you step out of the car. You walk to her side too and watch as he gently lifts her up and helps her put on her coat. He slips her boots back onto her feet and puts her on his hip. You walk over to the trunk and pull out her stroller, diaper bag, and a baby carrier.

"Alright, sweetheart, you ready?" He says fondly and she babbles happily. "I'll take that as a yes."

"Do you want the baby carrier or stroller?" You ask him, holding up both.

"Baby carrier for now probably. It's cold, she'll probably want my body heat."

He brushes some of her brunette curls off her face. The baby carrier is handed to him and Charlotte is passed to you so he can get situated. You bounce her on your hip as he straps himself in and you hand her back when he reaches for her. He buckles her in, and you place the diaper bag into the stroller. Charlotte looks up and points her tiny finger at the snow covering the ground.

"Sow." She exclaims and you both chuckle warmly.

"Yeah, Charlie, snow!" You exclaim with her.

Peter begins to walk along the sidewalk with you holding his hand. Charlotte points at some Christmas lights on a building and her face lights up brighter than those artificial lights. Christmas music floats through the air outside and she babbles happily against his chest. You give him a quick kiss as you reach the main event. The large Christmas tree extends high into the sky and glitters against the dark night sky. Charlotte lets out a sound of awe and Peter catches her pacifier before it can fall to the ground.

"Whoa there, Charlie, don't drop your paci!" He slips it into the diaper bag and rubs a hand up her back.

She giggles a little but goes right back to staring in awe at the large tree.

"Tee!" She giggles out.

"Yeah, baby, tree!" You smile at her, "Just like our tree at home."

She continues to babble happily at the tree, and she points at the ice skating rink and looks back at Peter.

"Dada, go?" He chuckles and walks with you to the ice skating area.

"One day we can go there but for now you're too little." He smiles down at her.

She lays her head against his chest again and yawns looking between all the lights and the ginormous tree. He slips her pacifier back into her mouth and looks back over to you.

"Peter! Oh my God, look at the tree!" You look around amazed, and a little chuckle escapes you.

"You've seen the tree every year since you moved here!" He protests lightly.

"I know, but like look at that!" You sigh breathily.

"We only got to catch the end of it this year, didn't we? I think next year we'll just watch it on TV."

You nod and hug him, placing a kiss on the top of your baby's head. The tree finishes it's lighting and Peter carefully transitions Charlotte into her stroller and covers her with a blanket. Peter gently takes your hand in his and begins to push Charlotte's stroller along the sidewalk until you reach the shops. You walk into a comic book store and Charlotte briefly opens her eyes to look around at the shelves. Peter walks over to a display while you stay by the entrance looking at the Legos.

"Hey, baby, look at this! A Spiderman Lego set!" You call out.

He lets out a snort and jokes, "Maybe we should get that for our bedroom."

"That actually might be a good idea." You smile at it, slightly shaking your head, "See anything else good?"

"Yeah. Let's get that Spiderman figurine." He grins over at you, "I think Charlotte is getting tired and I don't want to mess with her sleep too much so let's just pay and get to the car. I can already see her falling asleep." He lets out a quiet chuckle and you both walk over to the checkout counter.

"Big Spiderman fans?" The cashier asks lightly while scanning your items.

"Oh yeah, giant Spiderman fan." You remark, then look over at Peter and wink jokingly after paying.

Peter walks with you right to the car and carefully buckles Charlotte into her car seat while you load up your stuff into the trunk. The drive home is almost silent except for the sounds of the soft snoring of your daughter and the faint Christmas music coming from different houses and buildings around. You end up falling asleep fifteen minutes into the car ride and your snores blend with Charlotte's to create the funniest yet most soothing sound Peter's ever heard.

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[rootedinrevisions]

Friends (with Benefits) Dont: Part 7

AUTHOR'S NOTE: You guys know I couldn't leave you hanging after that last part! There will be one final part coming tomorrow but for now I need sleep and am going to head to bed. Keep an eye out for the final part tomorrow!

SUMMARY: The emotional reunion between you and Jake unfolds on the deck of the aircraft carrier, where anticipation hangs thick in the air as you wait for him to land. When he finally appears, relief washes over you, but the pain on his face is a stark reminder of the danger he faced. Embracing him feels like the world fades away, yet the weight of unspoken feelings looms between you. Later, as he recovers in the med bay, you sit by his side, both grappling with the aftermath of his confession and the silence that followed. In this tender yet complicated moment, you find comfort in each other, setting the stage for a new chapter in your relationship that promises to redefine everything you thought you knew.

4o mini

OTHER PART(S): PART 1 I PART 2 I PART 3 I PART 4 I PART 5 I PART 6

WORD COUNT: 2.9k

WARNINGS: FLUFF.

TAG LIST: SEE COMMENTS BELOW

The salty breeze whipped through your hair as you stood on the deck of the aircraft carrier, heart pounding in your chest. The vast expanse of the Pacific Ocean stretched before you, but your gaze remained fixed on the horizon, straining to catch a glimpse of Jake. Every second felt like an eternity, the anticipation gnawing at you.

You barely registered Rooster’s plane as it swooped in for a landing, the familiar roar of engines drowned out by the anxious thrum of your own thoughts.

People tried to approach, offering words of comfort, but you brushed them off with a shake of your head. You couldn’t focus on anything but the hope—and fear—of seeing Jake again. Memories of his last radio transmission echoed in your mind, and you fought to suppress the wave of emotions threatening to crash over you. What if he didn’t come back? What if the next plane to touch down carried news that shattered your heart? You squeezed your eyes shut, willing the horizon to yield the figure you desperately needed to see.

Minutes stretched on, each passing moment deepening your anxiety until finally, a speck appeared in the sky. The roar of engines grew louder, and adrenaline surged through your veins. It was the search and rescue jet that had been sent after Jake had ejected.

As soon as the plane touched down, you found yourself sprinting across the deck, adrenaline fueling your every step. Your heart raced as you approached the jet, watching intently as Rooster and Coyote helped Jake down, their expressions a mixture of relief and concern.

Jake leaned heavily on them, his face pale and drawn, but your breath caught in your throat when his eyes found yours. A spark ignited in his gaze, and a smile broke across his face, lighting up the shadows that clung to him.

“Hey sweetheart, you miss me?” He called out, his voice laced with that familiar teasing tone, and it was so absurdly silly that a laugh escaped your lips despite the weight in your chest. 

You stood frozen for a moment, torn between wanting to rush to him and the instinct to hold back, afraid to hurt him with a hug. The pain etched on his face was unmistakable, and you hesitated, wanting to make sure he was truly okay.

“Are you going to come over here, or just stand there looking pretty?” he teased, raising an eyebrow as his smile grew, that glimmer of mischief still intact despite the circumstances.

Nodding in response, you finally closed the distance between you, wrapping your arms around his neck as you pulled him close. The warmth of his body against yours felt like home, a balm to your frayed nerves.

Jake let go of Rooster, using one arm to anchor himself around your back, burying his face in the crook of your neck. You could feel the weight of him, the exhaustion pressing down on his shoulders, but in that moment, it didn’t matter. You held him tightly, feeling the rise and fall of his breath against your skin, grounding yourself in the reality that he was here, alive, and safe. No words were needed; the intensity of your embrace said everything you both felt.

You and Jake remained locked in your embrace, time seeming to stretch indefinitely as the chaos of the aircraft carrier faded into the background. The world around you blurred, and all that mattered was the warmth of his body, the scent of him, and the relief flooding through you that he was finally here, in your arms. It felt like a dream, one you never wanted to wake from. But just as you began to lose yourself completely in the moment, a voice broke through the haze.

“Seresin, they’re waiting for you in the med bay,” Admiral Cyclone announced, his tone clipped and professional.

You instinctively began to pull away from Jake, concern flooding your mind at the thought of him needing medical attention. But his grip tightened around your waist, holding you close, as if he couldn't bear the thought of letting you go just yet.

“I know,” Jake replied, his voice steady despite the tension. “But I’ve got one thing I need to do first.”

He exchanged a knowing glance with Coyote, who nodded but warned, “Keep it short, Hangman.”

With that, Jake turned to you, his expression shifting from relief to a kind of intensity that made your heart race. 

“Can I kiss you?” he asked, his voice low and serious, as if this moment meant more than just a casual brush of lips.

You couldn’t help but smile, the warmth spreading through you as you nodded. “Yes.”

Jake leaned in, closing the distance between you as he captured your lips with his. The kiss was soft at first, a gentle reassurance, but it quickly deepened, filled with a desperate hunger and emotion that had been building between you both. His lips moved against yours with a tenderness that took your breath away, and for that fleeting moment, the rest of the world faded away again, leaving just the two of you suspended in time.

* * * * *

You received the news that Jake had been cleared from the medical building, and your heart raced with anticipation. After what felt like an eternity of worry, you made your way to his room, the sterile scent of antiseptic and the soft hum of fluorescent lights guiding you. You hesitated briefly at the door, taking a deep breath before stepping inside.

Jake lay propped up in bed, looking better than the last time you saw him but still weary. His eyes lit up the moment he saw you, a smile breaking across his face that chased away the shadows of the past few days. You slipped into the chair beside him, your heart swelling at the sight of him, finally safe.

“How are you feeling?” you asked, your voice soft but filled with concern.

“Better now that you’re here,” he replied, his grin wide and genuine.

You smiled back but then tilted your head slightly. “No, really. How do you feel?”

He chuckled, his eyes sparkling with mischief. “Like I just got shot out of the sky.”

Your smile faltered for a second, the gravity of his words crashing into you. You rolled your eyes, not ready to let his joke lighten the moment. 

“Is it too soon for that?” He looked momentarily sheepish, realizing that his attempt at humor might not land well. “Yeah, probably. Sorry about that.”

The atmosphere shifted, and the unspoken words hung between you like a thick fog. “We need to talk about... what you said,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper.

Jake’s expression turned serious. “I know. I’m sorry for doing it the way I did. I was worried I wouldn’t make it back this time, and I needed you to know.”

“Jake… I need you to know how much you mean to me. How much I love you.” His gaze softens even more as you speak, the intensity of his focus unwavering. “I love every moment we spend together. Every single one. But when you went down…” Your voice catches, but you push through, the words trembling with the fear you’ve been carrying. “I was terrified. All I could think about was if I’d never see you again. If you never got the chance to come back to me.”

Jake’s face falls, guilt flashing across his features. 

He opens his mouth again, but you’re already leaning forward, softening the moment with a teasing smile. “But if you ever scare me like that again, I swear, I’ll shoot you down myself.”

The seriousness of the moment breaks as Jake chuckles, the sound low and warm. His smile is brighter now, his eyes twinkling with a familiar spark. “You know, I wouldn’t put it past you,” he says, his voice light despite everything.

His smile lingers as he shifts slightly in the bed, wincing a little from the movement.

He pats the small space next to him, raising an eyebrow. “Come here.”

You hesitated, your heart racing at the proximity it would bring. “I don’t know, Jake. Aren’t you supposed to rest?”

He smirked, a playful glint in his eyes. “Rest? Please. I was shot at and had to eject from my jet. Are you really going to deny me holding my girl?”

Your stomach fluttered at his words, and a smile crept onto your face despite yourself. With a small laugh, you shifted closer, carefully lying down next to him. As you nestled against him, you looked up, your eyes meeting his.

“Your girl, huh?” You said, a teasing tone in your voice.

Jake leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to the top of your head. “Yeah…my girl,” he repeated, his voice warm and filled with sincerity.

His arm wraps around you as you settle into his side, your head resting against his chest, listening to the steady, rhythmic beat of his heart.

As you settle against Jake, the warmth of his body easing your frayed nerves, you feel your eyes growing heavier. Every muscle in your body feels like it’s finally starting to relax, the adrenaline and fear of the day slowly draining away. Jake must notice because his hand, still tracing soft circles on your arm, pauses for a moment.

“Hey,” he murmurs, his voice low and soothing. You tilt your head slightly to look up at him, and you catch the soft concern in his eyes, though his smile remains steady. “You should get some sleep.”

You open your mouth to protest, but he shakes his head gently before you can say anything. “I’m fine, darlin’,” he says, his thumb brushing lightly over your arm, a gentle reassurance. “I’m not going anywhere. I promise, I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

His words are a balm to your exhausted mind. You trust him completely, but the fear that gripped you earlier still lingers in the corners of your thoughts. Now, though, it feels distant, fading into the background as the reality of having him here—safe, alive, holding you—grounds you.

You nod softly, too tired to say anything more, and let your head sink back against his chest. Jake’s steady heartbeat becomes the only sound you focus on, each rhythmic thud lulling you closer to sleep. His arm tightens around you just a bit, a silent promise that he’s not letting go, that you’re safe.

“I’ve got you,” he whispers, pressing a light kiss to the top of your head. The tenderness in his voice is enough to make your chest ache, but this time, it’s a different kind of ache—one filled with love and relief instead of fear.

The last thing you feel before sleep takes over is the warmth of Jake’s body, the rise and fall of his breathing beneath your cheek. And for the first time in what feels like days, peace finally settles over both of you. Neither of you speaks another word, but none are needed. In the quiet of the med bay, wrapped up in each other’s arms, you both drift off into a deep, dreamless sleep, safe and content in the knowledge that you’re together.

And this time, there’s no uncertainty, no fear—just the steady, comforting certainty that when you wake, Jake will still be there, just like he promised.

As you drift in and out of sleep, you hear the door creak open, and the soft shuffle of a nurse entering the room. She’s quiet at first, checking Jake’s vitals on the monitor and making a note on her chart. But when she glances over at you, curled up against Jake on the narrow bed, she hesitates.

“Lieutenant,” she says gently, not wanting to startle you. “I’m sorry, but your guest can’t stay in the bed with you. It’s against protocol.”

Jake opens one eye, his expression already shifting to one of mild annoyance. He’s clearly not thrilled about the idea of you leaving his side, and the nurse can sense it. She’s just doing her job, but she doesn’t realize she’s dealing with Jake Seresin.

“I’m fine,” Jake replies, his voice a little gruff from the exhaustion but steady. “She’s not hurting anything by being here.”

The nurse tries again, a bit more firmly this time. “It’s for your safety. We can bring a chair over—”

“I don’t want her in a chair,” Jake cuts her off, his tone growing more insistent. He shifts slightly in the bed, adjusting his arm so it’s holding you a little tighter, making it clear he doesn’t intend to let you go anytime soon. “She’s staying here. With me.”

There’s a brief, tense silence. The nurse looks a bit exasperated but still professional, knowing she has to follow the rules. “Sir, I understand, but—”

Jake sighs, now fully awake, and fixes the nurse with a stare that could stop anyone in their tracks.

“Listen,” he says, using that smooth, authoritative tone that makes it hard for anyone to argue with him. “I’ve just been shot out of the sky, survived an ejection, and had to think about the possibility I’d never see her again. I’m not about to let some rule keep her from staying in this bed with me. So unless you’ve got some life-or-death reason, she’s staying.”

The nurse opens her mouth to respond but then seems to realize there’s no winning this one. She sighs, clearly recognizing the futility in arguing with Jake Seresin when he’s determined about something.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she finally concedes, though it’s clear this isn’t the last of it.

As soon as she leaves, Jake smirks to himself, looking down at you.

“Told you I’ve got your back,” he murmurs, his tone playful, as if the whole exchange was just a minor inconvenience.

But the real showdown comes later in the evening. You’ve been peacefully resting beside him when another nurse—or maybe it’s the same one from before—comes in to remind you that visiting hours are over.

“Ma’am,” she says kindly, but firmly. “It’s past 9 p.m., and you’ll need to leave for the night.”

Jake’s eyes snap open, and he’s immediately back on high alert.

“No, she won’t,” he interjects before you can even respond. He shifts in the bed, the pain in his body seemingly forgotten as he props himself up on one elbow. “She’s staying. I’m not spending the night in here without her.”

The nurse lets out a tired sigh, clearly not up for another round with Jake. “Sir, it's hospital policy. You need to rest for your recovery—”

“Hospital policy,” Jake echoes with a smirk, cutting her off again. “Let me tell you something about that. You know what’s really good for my recovery? Her being here. So if you want me to heal up quick and get out of your hair, you’re gonna let her stay.”

“Sir—”

“I’m not asking,” Jake says flatly, and his tone leaves no room for negotiation. He folds his arms across his chest, wincing slightly as the movement aggravates his injuries, but he doesn’t let it show. “I’m telling you. She’s staying.”

The nurse gives you an apologetic glance, as if seeking backup, but you know there’s no reasoning with him at this point. You’re about to offer to leave to keep the peace, but Jake shoots you a look that says he won’t hear of it.

After another futile attempt to argue, the nurse finally throws up her hands in defeat.

“Fine,” she mutters under her breath, “but if anyone asks, I didn’t see anything.”

As she leaves, Jake grins triumphantly, settling back down with a satisfied sigh. “That’s more like it,” he says, clearly proud of himself.

You shake your head, half-amused, half-exasperated. “You’re impossible, you know that?”

Jake chuckles, wincing slightly from the pain but still smiling. “Only when it comes to you, darlin’. I’m not spending another minute without you if I can help it.”

But of course, the night staff makes another attempt to enforce the rules about an hour later. This time, Jake’s too tired to put up much of a fight, but he still manages to give them one last stubborn retort before they give up for good.

“If you want me out of this bed so bad,” he says with a smirk, “maybe just let her stay and I’ll be out of your hair even faster.”

Eventually, the staff realizes there’s no winning this battle. You stay curled up next to him, feeling his chest rise and fall beneath your cheek as the exhaustion from the day finally catches up to both of you. Jake’s arm wraps protectively around you, pulling you closer.

“See?” he whispers, his voice soft in the dim light of the room. “Told you that you weren’t going anywhere.”

You smile against his chest, your eyelids growing heavier by the second. “You really are impossible,” you murmur sleepily.

Jake chuckles, the sound rumbling through his chest. “But you love me for it.”

"Yeah, yeah I do." You mumble as you close your eyes again.

And with that, you both finally drift off to sleep, content in each other’s arms. Nothing else matters but the fact that you’re together, and Jake’s stubborn determination ensures that’s exactly how it’s going to stay.

[puck-luck]

christmas card 2038

june 25, 2037: topsail, NC. annual hughes family vacation.

Bea was hoping that after six years, family photos would get easier. She’s not asking for much, she doesn’t think– only one nice photo per year for the front of her Christmas card. It doesn’t even have to be that nice. She just wants all four kids to be looking at the camera and, in an ideal world, smiling. The smiling isn’t necessary though. All of her boys inherited Quinn’s ability to smile only when they’re genuinely happy, but not when she asks them to. In fact, their genuine smiles usually fade when she whips her camera out. It’s super frustrating, but they’re perfect, so Bea doesn’t mind all that much.

It’s a futile wish for one great family photo. She always leaves the impromptu (sometimes planned) shoot with a barely concealed eye roll. Quinn is the more patient parent of the two of them, so he tries to take the lead after Bea gives up on photos. The kids, except Patrick, like him better anyway– which does sting a little since Bea literally carried each of them for nine months and birthed them. She’s glad that she has one who will love up on her and cuddle on the couch, though.

Her mistake this photoshoot is that the kids are hungry. They’re at the beach, on their annual beach trip before they go to Litchton and hang out with the Zegras family until Quinn has to head back to Vancouver for the start of the season, and they’re two hours out from dinner. Luke refused to eat his PB&J on the beach today, deciding that he suddenly doesn’t like peanut butter anymore, which is weird because Bea packed a PB&J for him weekly during school this spring and he always ate the whole thing. Because he didn’t eat a lot of lunch, her oldest is crabby.

Her youngest is crabby too. She didn’t take a nap today. She was fighting sleep away like she’s in the UFC, all because she wanted Quinn to hold her while she slept. The thing that she doesn’t understand, only being 16 months old, is that there are three little boys who are also vying for Quinn’s attention. They’re all just as obsessed with Quinn as Bea is and, somehow, he’s a master of the chaos. Usually, he’d strap Daphne to his back in the baby carrier and keep playing with the boys– which would give Bea a break– but they forgot the carrier.

Her second mistake is putting the two crabby kids together. Luke is the only one who is old enough to actually carry Daphne and, on a normal day, he’s very patient with her. He’s like Quinn that way. Today, though, he’s annoyed by the littlest thing. That won’t be solved until he gets his plate of chicken tenders and fries at the restaurant. Unfortunately, the “littlest thing” that’s annoying him is his sister, who is trying to wiggle out of his arms because she’s on an independent kick. Either she wants to stand by herself or she wants to run out of the picture towards Quinn, who is cleaning up all of their beach toys behind Bea. She’s already succeeded in escaping twice and both times Quinn has dutifully returned her to the photoshoot. Despite all of the factors while taking this photo, Bea is determined not to give up before she gets one usable picture.

“Caleb, baby, look at the camera,” Bea calls, snapping her fingers to try and get her three-year-old’s attention. She’s rounding up. His third birthday is in two weeks. It’s just easier to say he’s three now– and it’s a way to prepare her for the actual day. Bea hates that her babies are getting older. She wants them to stay tiny and sweet and darling forever.

The little blonde is distracted, looking up at the sky with an open mouth. He raises one chubby finger, pointing up. “Mommy, airplane,” he observes excitedly. 

“I see it, so cool! Look at me, okay?” Bea musters up some fake excitement– when she’s not trying to take a photo, she’d be happy to look at the airplane with Caleb. He’s been very into them lately, to the point that Bea has a flight radar app on her phone because Caleb would rather look at that than one of the many games she has downloaded. Normal kids find a video to watch, like their favorite TV show, but Caleb always goes for the radar.

He does not look at her, dumbfounded by the plane above him. It’s one of those planes that starts silent and roars long after it disappears over the horizon. Bea swears she only hears these kinds of planes when she’s at the beach– it must be something to do with the water. 

She sees the disaster coming before it hits. Caleb, so enraptured by the departing plane, is startled by the loud sound of the engine. His big eyes go from excited to scared, face crumpling in slow motion. He brings his little hands up to his ears and covers them, stomping in place and wailing in discomfort. He looks to Bea, finally, but she doesn’t want to take a photo of this expression.

He’s on the move before she can snap a picture anyway. He runs toward her, a little wobbly as all toddlers are, and crashes into her legs. He buries his face in Bea’s knees, hiding from the big, scary noise, and she can feel the fat tears that are coming on. 

“Okay,” Bea decides, shoving her phone into the band of her swimsuit bottoms and reaching down to get a grip under Caleb’s armpits. She picks him up with a little bounce and sets him on her other hip. Caleb wraps his arms around her neck and continues hiding, his crying only slightly muffled by her skin. He’s got quite a pair of lungs on him, so Bea tries not to wince as he bawls right into her ear. “I’m calling it. Go get Daddy.”

Luke drops Daphne immediately. She was already just a few inches from the ground, having gone limp in his arms in another effort to slide from his grip and escape. It’s something that Bea would normally berate Luke for, but she’s got her hands full and Daphne is a lot more durable than she seems. She’s very tough, but Bea supposes that’s what happens when you have three older brothers who like to play and roughhouse in Quinn’s shooting room more than their own playroom.

All three of them take off towards Quinn, who is squatting down to get all of their miniature shovels and sandcastle toys into the big bucket. They overwhelm him, knocking him to the ground and dogpiling on. Even Patrick joins in and he’s the one who is glued to Bea’s side 90% of the time. 

Quinn fakes a dramatic yell as he goes down. He’s quick to turn the tides on the kids, his fingers ticking over their laughing bodies until they’re trying to get away. He wraps his arms around all three of them, squishing them all together, and he rolls so that they’re underneath him. Quinn blows a raspberry against each of their bellies before he releases them. 

Bea watches the scene unfold with a little smile on her face, but she’s more focused on patting Caleb’s back and rocking him. “It’s okay, sweetheart. The plane didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Too loud,” Caleb complains tearfully. “Hurt my ears, Mommy.”

“These ears?” Bea asks, turning her head and peppering kisses all over the side of Caleb’s face. It makes him giggle, the best sound in the entire world, and he turns his head away. Bea attacks his other ear then, pecking and nuzzling Caleb’s soft skin until he raises his hands and tries to push her away. Even then, she showers him in a couple more kisses just because she can. 

“Nooo,” Caleb drawls, covering Bea’s lips with both of his hands for good measure. “No more kisses.”

Bea sticks her tongue out and makes contact with his tiny palm.

Surprised, Caleb removes his hands. He’s not crying anymore, but there are tear tracks on his chubby cheeks. 

Bea raises her hand and wipes them away with her thumb. “No more kisses,” she agrees. Instead, she follows Quinn’s lead and blows a raspberry against his neck.

Caleb shrieks out a laugh and hugs Bea’s neck again, turning away from her face and laying his head on her shoulder. Bea wraps her arms around him in a hug and bounces him slightly, humming his favorite song as she rocks him. 

“Everything okay?” Quinn asks, walking over to Bea despite being weighed down by three of their kids. Luke is hanging off his back, arms around Quinn’s neck. Patrick is in one arm and Daphne is in the other.

God, he’s strong. Quinn’s handsomeness is the reason they’ve got four babies already. Bea has got to get back on birth control. The condoms are no fun, but she’ll be damned if there’s a fifth baby in their future. Four is fine– one child for each of their hands to hold– but five is too many. Honey already thinks Bea is crazy for having four, swearing that she’s done after this next one. 

Bea really hopes that Honey pops while they’re in Litchton. She wasn’t able to be there when Hayden was born, since it was during the season and she needed to be in Vancouver, but Bea really wants to be there when Baby #2 is born. She wants to be the first to know if it’s a girl or a boy. She’s hoping for a girl. Honey and Trevor want it to be a surprise.

Patrick reaches for Bea, wanting to be on her hip now that Caleb isn’t crying. Quinn leans in and passes him to Bea, filling her other arm. He pulls her phone from the band of her swimsuit, sliding it into the pocket of his board shorts. With a free hand now, Quinn smooths his palm over Bea’s behind. It always makes Bea swoon when he touches her intimately in such a casual way, but especially since she’s had four babies. He still thinks she’s the hottest woman alive, regularly telling her such once they’ve managed to get all the kids in bed for the night and collapsed into their own. 

Bea thinks that Quinn being a good dad is sexy, but her opinion is nothing compared to how much Quinn dotes on her when she’s being a good mom. Parenthood has its challenges, sure, but they’re doing it together and they love being a team.

“Nothing a little lovin’ couldn’t fix,” Bea replies, tilting her head and waiting for Quinn to meet her lips. 

He does, then pecks a second time because he loves her– it’s something they’ve started doing ever since Luke decided that it’s gross for his parents to say that they love each other. Luke has started to catch onto this secret code too, evidenced by his groaning and how he goes limp on Quinn’s back. He lets his feet dangle towards the ground and, maybe unintentionally but probably not, garrots Quinn in the process. Quinn exaggerates a choke and leans back so that Luke can find his footing on the sand. 

“You guys are gross,” Luke says.

“Hey!” Quinn exclaims, taking his hand off Bea’s ass and catching Luke in a loose headlock. “I’m allowed to be gross with my wife whenever I want.” He leans Daphne forward. “Get him, Ducky. Noogie him!”

Daphne holds herself steady with one hand in the fluffy strands of hair at the base of Quinn’s neck, which breaks Bea’s heart a little bit because of how sweet and gentle she is. She’s such a Daddy’s girl, inheriting Bea’s fascination for the man. Daphne stares at Quinn almost as much as Bea does, probably more often than Bea does since there are three other kids to give attention to. Luke is the worst with attention– he might love his Uncle Luke more than anything, but he pouts a whole lot like Uncle Jack when eyes aren’t on him. Bea thinks it’s because he was their sole child for two years before she had Patrick, and he got used to the attention he’d had as their only baby.

Daphne doesn’t quite understand the concept of a noogie, even though the boys have been trying to teach her this trick since she could make a fist. She kind of just pops Luke on the head, making contact and then waving her fist back and forth the same way she does when she’s trying to untie her shoelaces. She catches his hair in her fist, though, which has to hurt a bit.

Luke, for his part, plays along. “No, Daphne, don’t get me!” He brings his hands to the crook of Quinn’s elbow and pushes, freeing himself. He starts to race up the beach toward the dunes, toward the rented house, and Quinn calls after him.

“You’d better be in the shower by the time I get up to the house!” He calls. “And I’m doing head checks– make sure you wash all the shampoo out this time!”

“Okay!” Luke yells back, scampering up the wooden stairs that lead to the beach.

Quinn turns his attention back to Bea. He pecks her lips once more, then lays a kiss on both Caleb and Patrick’s heads. “Daph and I will finish cleaning up down here. You okay to take care of the boys for a little bit?”

“I take care of all four while you’re on the road,” Bea reminds him with a smile. “I think I can handle three.”

Quinn returns the smile. “Sassy.” His hand returns to her body, same place as before. He gives her ass a little squeeze. “You gonna shower before dinner too?”

“Gotta get this sand off of me somehow,” Bea replies. She shifts the boys in her arms. They’re getting a little restless, poking at each other. These two always bicker– it’s because they’re only a year apart. They’re like Quinn and Jack, or like Cece and Bea. She’d better get up to the house before she’s caught in the middle of a fully fledged fist fight.

Quinn leans in once more, slotting their lips together and holding her there for a second. He tastes nice– like the ocean and a bit of their coconut sunscreen. “Maybe I’ll join you,” Quinn murmurs, patting her behind pointedly before he walks back toward the mess the kids left on the beach. As he walks, he shifts Daphne to his other arm. His voice is soft when he talks to her: “You’re gonna help Daddy, aren’t you, Ducky?” Her hand finds the back of his neck again, keeping him close.

Bea doesn’t know how he’ll manage to join her in the shower, since there are four kids that need to be under constant supervision lest they break something, start fighting, or cause any other problem, but she’ll be happy to let Quinn join her if he finds some solution for that slight dilemma. Maybe they can throw the kids in front of the TV and bring the baby monitor into the shower with them.

[yume-writes]

MCB x TFP Idea: Since I headcanon that Sky Gallop and Blastrain are Fleta Z's Carrier and Sire that divorced after Fleta became a bounty hunter to escape the stifling treatment of his Carrier, I really wonder how the reunion would go.

MCB x TFP crossover

I'll apologize beforehand, I haven't seen the episodes these characters are in (especially in Sky Gallop's case) so they may act a bit occ, but I'll try my best!!!

And before I start I have to say you can really see Sky Gallop and Blastrain's influence on Fleta Z, especially in his gentlemanly gestures

I'm going to put this during the Blue Rouge Arc (Credit to : @/hkgcsecondsblog) So this reunion will take place after Fleta Z has left the bots with Anna

Fleta Z is currently in a tough place, after all the events, Megatron kidnapping Blue Cop, Shockwave's experiments on Shadow X and Mega Trucker, Blue Cop and Jun's experiences with MECH, all of these have taken a toll on him. He takes Anna and himself away from the bots to get away from the chaos and get some peace for once. Once while flying in the sky he notices another plane following close behind him

He's cautious at first, not immediately recognizing it due to how long it's been since he's seen them, but the moment he does he's shocked. What is she doing here!? In this universe?! He lands on the ground and Sky Gallop follows. They both transform and Fleta Z puts himself between Sky Gallop and Anna. He's not too sure on what Sky Gallop's plans are anymore. It has been a while since he's seen his carrier and they didn't exactly part on good terms

Sure, Sky Gallop was a good carrier. Making sure he lived and encouraging his interests, but it was too much sometimes. He'd call her a kind of helicopter parent, he heard the kids use that term before and he found it fit. Every moment of the cycle she wanted to know what he was doing and where he was. She did love him, he knows that, but it never felt like it. Soon more and more arguments broke out and Fleta Z rebelled against her. He became a bounty hunter, a job he was more than good at to escape her

The last time they talked it was over his profession. She didn't like that he was doing that, she wanted him to stop. She demanded he stop. But by this point Fleta Z didn't want to listen, so many times her concern and love felt suffocating and he was through with it. His sire, Blastrain, tried to be a pacemaker between the two, but it was no use. After he left, they divorced Sky Gallop blaming Blastrain for encouraging his wandering which lead to the bounty hunting

And now here they were, in another universe and living new lives apart from one another. What would she do? Sky Gallop for her part looked shocked that Fleta Z was there. When she was brought to this universe she had only seen the bots she came with, Sparkbeat and Flashvector. She never thought she would see her sparkling again especially in this situation. At first she thought she was dreaming, but she could never forget her child, no matter how much time has past

She steps forward and held servo out as she questions, "Fleta Z?" Softly, not quite believing her optics. Fleta Z gives a tense nod and questions back, "What do you want Sky Gallop and why are you here" hardly. Anna looks between the two, confused on who the new bot was and how he knew her. "I, I don't know how I got here, but that doesn't matter. Why are you here?" Turning the question back and not answering the other, she takes in the sight of him

He looks tired, that's what she sees first. 'What happened' She wonders. And then she sees the girl, narrowing her optics at her. 'Why is a human girl with him? We aren't near any cities or towns, so why did he bring her?' Sky Gallop is pulled from her thoughts as Fleta Z responds, "I suppose we are similar in that regard, I have not an idea on how I ended up here." Fleta Z relaxed a bit, Sky Gallop seemed calm

Seeing this Sky Gallop takes a chance and moves a bit closer, still keeping her distance. "While that is concerning, seeing you after so long is much more important to me." She confessed. "Fleta Z," A voice whispered, he almost forgot Anna, "How do you know her?" She whispered as she stared at Sky Gallop from the corner of her eye. Before he could answer, the other bot intervened. "I am his carrier and who are you?" She answered, focusing her attention on Anna

Fleta Z tensed at this and drew Anna back a bit. Sky Gallop noticed, " Why are you so tense Fleta? Do you not trust me?" Fleta Z scoffed, the previous emotions he bottled up from the latest events in this world getting to him. "Why should I? After our last 'talk' I thought you wanted nothing to do with me." She flinched at that, remembering her words. Her anger in the moment had gotten to her and she had let out some things she regrets

"I apologize Fleta, I promise you I never meant to say that." Fleta Z glanced away for a moment before looking back, hardening his gaze. "Are you truly sorry or are you just sorry for letting me know your true feelings?" Sky Gallop looked taken back by that, "Fleta, those weren't my tru-" "They weren't!?" He interrupted, "Your actions spoke much louder than any words, carrier!" He hissed

Sky Gallop flinched back at that, standing still for a moment before putting a foot forward with a look of irritation across her face. "My actions were to keep you safe! I never meant to make you feel like you weren't loved." She evenly spoke. And Fleta Z knew that, but love can mean nothing without understanding. And she never truly understood him

"You," He pointed a digit at her, "kept me locked up! The only times I felt free was when my sire took me out to drive alongside me as I flew!" Fleta Z spat at her. "You didn't do anything for me." He finished

His carrier looked at him in displeasure, she didn't say anything, afraid of what she'd say if she did. She did everything for him, everything and he went to become a bounty hunter. Putting himself in untold amounts of danger. How? How could her love be considered nothing to him?

The two stared at each other, waiting for one to break. But it was instead broken by the forgotten spectator, Anna. "Fleta Z!" She yelled, startling the two bots. "Don't you remember? We need to find Blue Cop, yeah!?" She questioned, staring intently at him. He took the hint, "Yes Anna, you're right. Thank you for reminding me, it honestly slipped my mind." He turned his gaze to Sky Gallop

"If you excuse me, I do have places to be. I am quite a busy mech." He said, turning around and taking flight. "Fleta-" Her words were cut off as the two took to the sky, her arm outstretched towards them. She didn't follow, she stared until he became nothing but a speck in the sky. She let her arm fall as she stared at the ground

What had happened between the two, what had happened to her sparkling in this world, who was the girl, and could their relationship be fixed? Thoughts like these swarmed her mind, but she wouldn't get an answer

Ok, so I honestly never meant for this to be a short fic, but then I had ideas and it went out of my hands. This is technically my first fic, so it's not that good. Also it's around 10:30 pm by this point so I blame any mistakes on my tiredness. Have a good night!!!

[cozzzynook]

Feeling a bit Angsty so I bring some Sad Starbee

Tiny crying beeps echo along the Hab waking up the sleeping seeker. Starscream with a low grumble strolls over to his tiny fussing sparkling, with a soft smile he gently scoups them up while giving a gentle coo. The seeker gentle rocks the bitty while turning to gaze at the city still cloaked under the night sky. He gives a sigh while begin to feed the bitty with their bottle before speaking. "Yes yes I know...I miss your Carrier too...But he isn't...coming back my little comet, I'm sorry"

Star glances towards his too large berth making his wings droop while he blinks back tears who try and escape his optics. Tiny servos draw his attention away from painful memories, His sparkling has stopped feeding and is nuzzling their little helm along his chest while tiny digits curl around his thumb. Yes Starscream missies his little Bee but he needs to be strong...for the both of them, After all its what he promised his Conjunx on their bonding day.

(Gives you tissues) {Sorry for the angst....hope you enjoyed :>}

😭😭*tears* *takes tissue* thank you….

Why would you do this to me!!!!?? *sobs*

I love it

[sparklypinkflightsuit]

The Containment Diaries: Entry 1

Pairing: Virologist!Bob Floyd x Reader AND Aviator!Bradley Bradshaw x Reader

Apocalypse AU: Loosely based on Stephen Kings ‘The Stand’

Series Summary: A deadly virus has escaped the research compound where you live and work as head Botanist. The military have evacuated and you and a few of the best and brightest have been tasked with finding a cure. Alongside you is your esteemed colleague and Virologist Dr Robert Floyd.

While aboard an aircraft carrier, you meet charming and boyish Fighter Pilot Bradley Bradshaw, and find yourself falling for both men.

As you navigate the cruel new world you’ve found yourself thrust into, who will you choose to keep you from losing your mind?

—————————————

Warnings: Warfare, Military Inaccuracies (I’m but a layman, I have no idea what I’m talking about) Smut, Love Triangle, Angst, Fluff, Alcohol, Breakdowns, Apocalyptic themes, Swearing. I think that’s all!

—————————————

The first siren sounded at 2:46am. The sky was pitch black and the street lamps had not yet turned on for the morning.

You shot out of bed as your phone blared, the message flashing continuously across your screen;

‘Please stay alert for the following announcement.’

You waited as the noise continued its incessant honking, your heart in your throat as you waited.

You had all been prepped for this, an impending warning. Ever since the outbreak a few weeks ago, there had been talks of nuking if they couldn’t contain it, and you had been on edge ever since.

Yesterday the military arrived, but still you were advised that it was only precautionary and they, mostly, had everything under control and contained to the Infectious Diseases unit on the north side.

Your phone flashed again with another message;

‘All personnel to meet at the South Exit. Evacuations to begin immediately. Do not stop to pack personal belongings.’

You shot out of bed and threw on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. The cold New England winters were bitter and wet this time of year.

Although you had been told not to pack anything, you grabbed a small backpack and threw in a few essentials; your toothbrush, underwear, socks, mascara (you wouldn’t go anywhere without at least your eyes on) and then you put on your sneakers before you dashed out the door of the apartment complex.

In the dark streets lining the several apartment blocks in the compound, you saw hoards of your colleagues hurriedly exiting their buildings and swarming towards the south side. Fear and impatience already thick in the air as people pushed passed one another.

The street lamps finally flickered on, usually not doing so until 5am, they must have been manually triggered for this occasion.

You noticed how everyone had the same look of worry, etched into a deep frown on their faces. Hundreds of scared adults wrapped in their warmest civvies.

You made your way down the street as fast as you could without pushing passed anyone, and noticed that the military stood either side, funnelling everyone in the same direction.

“Come on, please. My daughter works on the north side, I need to make sure she got out ok. I’ll come straight back I swear!” A man begged one of the military personnel, who held a hand to the mans chest as he pushed him back, shaking his head.

You didn’t catch the rest of the conversation as you were now being pushed by people behind you, a desperate bid to stay on your feet or be trampled by the nervous crowd.

Eventually you reached the South Exit, a series of heavy gates flanked by guarded watch towers. The compound you worked on was so highly protected that you had to have specific clearance before leaving the compound, and no visitors were allowed.

The military stood in neat lines and directed everyone to sit down in rows, tension thick in the air as everyone wondered what was happening. After what felt like forever, when everyone had filed in, the General pulled out a megaphone and drew everyone’s eager attention.

“Alright everybody, I know you must all be scared and confused. It’s very important that everyone listens and does as they’re instructed, as we have to do this quickly.” He turned around to look at his men and women as they ushered in the last few stragglers.

“I’m going to call out your names in alphabetical order, and with your name I’m going to assign you to group A or group B. Group A, when I call your names, you will get up and form a line to the left. Group B, there will be a heck of a lot more of you, so you’ll form three or four lines over to the right.” He instructed, his arm jutting out in the direction of each group.

Everyone murmured to one another, and you sat nervously as you waited.

Name after name was called out, some you recognised and some you didn’t, people shuffling left and right and forming lines. Eventually your name was called.

You stood. “Group A!” The general instructed, and you moved towards the shorter line, considerably more nervous now than you were before. You carefully stepped over hands and legs as you stumbled through the dimly lit courtyard.

Once you had reached the line, a man in uniform placed a tag around your wrist. You flicked your wrist over and were just able to make out your name in the dark.

“I heard we’re getting shipped out to sea to work on a cure.” The woman in front of you whispered loudly to her friend. You recognised her as Alberta from the Infectious Diseases department.

“Well I’d rather be shipped off than be left here when the bombs go off.” Her friend responded.

Your heart began to pound against your chest as you listened.

“Ladies, I don’t think it’s a good idea to speculate right now. Especially not when you’re talking loud enough for group B to hear you.” A deep voice drawled from in front of the two women.

You recognised the twang and turned to look at Dr Robert Floyd as he reprimanded the two scientists, who said nothing, a sour frown on their faces.

You smiled at him, almost if to say thank you, and Dr Floyd nodded at you with a soft smile back, before turning his attention to the front of the line.

You knew of Dr Floyd from fleeting glances in the hallways of your joint apartment block and the occasional times he’d visited the Botany lab for samples of plants he needed for experimental drugs. Most of all you knew of Dr Floyd through gossip that the women in your department allowed to flow freely.

The female scientists and lab techs were shameless when it came to Dr Robert Floyd, never hiding the fact that they were obviously flirting, hard, every time he passed them in the halls or when he approached them for anything work related.

Dr Floyd was extremely handsome, undoubtedly brilliant, and, probably most endearingly, he was extremely shy around the ladies.

He could be hard on his colleagues when he knew they weren’t doing what they should be, but the moment he realised he was being flirted with, Dr Floyd would shut down and go bright red.

You, on the other hand, were not shy, but tried to stay out of everyone’s way, you were not a fan of conflict which was so often rife in the compound, and you just wanted to get on with your job.

You loved plants and you were brilliant at what you did, and to add to the brains, you were also breathtakingly beautiful, which often caused jealousy in your circles. You tried to make it from one day to the next without getting on anyone’s bad side, but it also made it hard to relax and make friends when the competition was so rife.

There were not that many eligible bachelors in the compound, and even though you were not actively on the hunt for one, some of your colleagues felt that you took attention away from them, so when Dr Floyd paid you that tiny bit of attention, the women in front of you shot you a dirty look.

You stood and waited in the short line for what felt like hours, the line for group B growing ever longer. By the time the sun poked its shining head over the cascading walls of the compound, you were finally being ushered one by one into the trucks.

You noticed group B being ushered into what appeared to be school busses, and you overheard one of the army personnel speaking with some of them.

“Your emergency contacts have been notified, they’ll be there to pick you up. Those of you without an emergency contact will be provided with basic room and board until this is all over.”

You stopped listening as you reached the truck and you were helped up into the back. You were instructed to take a seat along the side bench and you’d be briefed shortly.

You sat down next to an older Doctor you didn’t recognise, who gave you a kind smile. He must have noticed you your nervous expression as he mumbled something along the lines of “We’re in the best place we can be.” To which you forced a smile back. Your pulse was so loud in your ears you could barely focus on anything as people started to file in.

You felt someone settle in next to you, but didn’t realise who it was until he spoke.

“Hope you have some snacks in that bag. I think it’s gonna be a long drive.”

He chuckled softly, bringing you out of your trance.

“Oh.” You grinned after a moment. “No… not unless you want to eat a pair of socks?”

Dr Floyd laughed, the corner of his eyes crinkling.

“Practical, I like that.” He said as he pulled his own backpack onto his lap and pulled out a pair of his own socks. “Snap.”

You laughed unexpectedly, a loud snort escaping you, and you clasped your hand over your mouth as the whole truck turned to look at you.

“Sorry.” You mumbled, but this only humoured Dr Floyd more, a deep grin etched on his face.

“I’m Bob.” He said, sticking out a hand for you to shake. You took it.

“I’m (Y/N), but my friends and family call me Rue.” You introduced yourself.

“Why Rue?” Bob asked.

“It’s a medicinal plant I was obsessed with as a kid. I was always telling anyone who would listen about the ‘Common Rue’ and asking them if they had a headache so I could try and make them medicine.” You chuckled awkwardly.

“Is that why you’re a Botanist now?” He asked you with a furrowed brow as he studied you intently. You were surprised that Bob remembered.

“I guess so. It was either that or art, but I figured Botany would get me into more debt and take up more of my time so I chose that.” You joked, Bob chuckled again.

Just before Bob could respond, one of the army personnel climbed into the truck and addressed your small group.

“Hello ladies and gentlemen. I’m Sergeant Williams. I know this must be confusing, but everything is going to be fine. We’ve selected each of you specifically because you are the best in your field, and we need your help.” He scanned the truck making eye contact with each of you.

“The virus has been contained, for now, however we don’t know that nuking this thing will eradicate it completely.” He continued. As he spoke, people began to murmur to one another.

“I’ll need quiet please.” He instructed sternly, and the truck grew silent again.

“We’re taking you all aboard our largest aircraft carrier out in the south Atlantic sea, it’s safe and secluded and has all the equipment you’ll need.”

“Equipment for what?” Somebody asked.

“A cure.” Sergeant Williams put simply, “We need a cure. Truth be told we’ve never seen anything quite like this before. If Ebola and Rabies had a baby, even that wouldn’t be quite as bad.” He suddenly looked grave as he continued quietly. “We can try to contain this thing, kill it even, but what we haven’t told you is that we’ve been trying to do just that for weeks. We couldn’t risk letting anyone panic, so we cordoned off the infectious diseases unit and isolated anyone who came in contact with it to be sure, but it’s proving harder than it looks…” he trailed off, but soon realised how terrified everyone looked.

“However, that’s why we have our brightest and best on the job. We’ve specially selected each of you based on your knowledge and what you bring to the table, you’ll work together and before you know it this will all be over.”

“But what about our families?” Someone called.

“You’re doing this for your families! If you don’t, who do you think will be able to?” Sergeant Williams began to sweat, and as everyone whispered to one another, you sat with your head against the trucks tarpaulin wall and tried not to be sick. Truth be told, you thought you were not meant to be there. If it was only the best of the best, there was definitely some mistake. Your imposter syndrome well and truly flaring up, you thought about sticking up your hand and explaining there must have been a mix up.

But before you could, Bob turned to you with a reassuring smile, and chuckled.

“No pressure then I guess.”

—————————————-

- Entry 2 Here -

I don’t have a Taglist for this series but I will be updating my Masterlist as I go 💛

[theoceanoasis]

part 3 of hidden frame au? rodimus and perceptor leave behind the lost light and travel through the stars, trying to find a safe place to stay. during their journey they come across soundwave, out on a personal vacation from earth and sanctuary, and he offers to help them out.

soundwave is outraged over how rodimus has been treated for simply carrying life, which he finds beautiful, and he does what he can to help them find a new place to call home. over time rodimus and soundwave fall in love, with soundwave offering to be the sire so the bitty has a complete family.

They didn't realize at the time both of them relieved they'd managed to escape. But now warnings were popping up all over the place.

"What's happening?"

The ship shuddered making a loud screeching sound and Perceptor turned to him.

"Go to the stasis chambers!"

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine I'm going to try and land our ship."

"Then I'm staying."

He went to sit next to Perceptor, almost falling when the ship jerked again.

"No. You're sparked. If we crash you'll be safer in a stasis chamber then out here."

"Then you should come with me."

"Someone needs to land the ship."

"Then I'm staying."

"Rodimus you are sparked which means you need to think about the sparkling. Just like how I'm thinking about you."

He felt tears in his optics knowing he was right. With a hand on his belly he forced himself towards the stasis pods.

Climbing inside he felt it activate just as they entered atmosphere.

Soundwave who'd been in the area enjoying his desperately needed vacation noticed something strange. He watched as a ship fell from the sky and crashed into a nearby field.

He ran over when he realized it was Cybertronian in design. The door was jammed shut and he had to force it open. Once inside he went to the pilots seat where he found a familiar Autobot.

Perceptor laid across the console and was unconscious but mostly okay. He went to pull him out of the wreck when he smelled something that made him tense.

His head snapped over and he found himself following the scent. His spark beat rapidly in his chest because someone on the ship was sparked and he could only hope they were okay.

He followed the smell to a room that had stasis pods inside. Looking around he found Rodimus inside one and unconscious. His optics widened in shock when he realized he was a tank carrier because he thought they'd been exterminated a long time ago. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen one and when he did they were being executed.

He tried to open the stasis pod and found that it was jammed. Unable to open automatically he had to force it open.

Rodimus fell forward and he easily caught him and checked for damages. Relieved when he was mostly unharmed except for a few dents and scraped paint. He searched the rest of the ship and didn't find anyone else.

Realizing there was no sire onboard he felt angry when he realized they'd likely abandoned him. He thought it was disgusting that someone could abandon their mate and sparkling.

He took Rodimus and Perceptor to his ship. Deciding to end his vacation early and go back home, so the two could get proper medical attention.

Noticing Perceptor waking up. He turned towards the scientist who glared at him while trying to protect Rodimus.

"I'm not going to hurt either of you."

He reassured.

"Where are we?"

"You two crash landed nearby. I found you and I'm bringing you somewhere where you can get proper medical care."

"We're fine."

Perceptor tried to grab Rodimus and he stopped him.

"No you're not and Rodimus is sparked. He and the sparkling need to be looked at."

Perceptor tensed looking nervous and he had a sinking suspicion on why their ship crashed.

"I won't hurt him I promise."

Perceptor gave him a skeptical look but so far he hasn't done anything to hurt them.

"You'll be safe at the compound."

"We're Autobots and your compound is full of Decepticons."

"Autobots have joined us. You are not the only ones who have been dissatisfied on Cybertron."

He could see the Autobot give him a surprised look before he quickly tried to hide it.

"Fine but I'll be watching you and the moment something goes wrong we're out of there."

"Of course."

Perceptor got up and went to check on Rodimus while he took the ship back to the compound he led. When they got there some of his high command gave him curious looks.

"Back from your vacation already?"

"You're supposed to be gone longer."

One of them accused.

"You need a break Soundwave you know what the medic said."

"There was an emergency. I found a crashed ship with two Autobots one of them is sparked."

Immediately everyone snapped into action and a medic was called. They took Rodimus and Perceptor to the medbay where they were both looked over.

Rodimus was fine. His body was still unconscious from the stasis pod. Which had knocked him deeper unconscious when the ship crashed to protect him.

Perceptor was fine besides his arm being injured and hovered around Rodimus, waiting for him to wake up and wearily watching the people around him.

It was obvious to everyone what happened and they gave the two of them space.

He stayed as well watching over the two of them and making sure they were safe. He knew no one would hurt them but he just wanted to make sure.

Inside he was fuming with rage and if he ever met the sires he'd punch them in the face and then attack the rest of the Lost Light. He knew Megatron had fallen but he didn't realize how far.

Staying hidden in the shadows he continued watching the two mechs waiting for Rodimus to wake up. Watching him sleep he decided to help Rodimus anyway he could.

Rodimus and his sparkling would be safe there. He would do everything in his power to make sure they felt safe and welcomed. He didn't deserve to go through this and he never wanted him to experience the pain his crew and the sires of his sparkling put him through ever again.

[tgmsunmontue]

Dance me through the panic - 2/3

Maverick/Cyclone - set in the Take more chances, dance more dances verse (Hangster and polycule Bob/Javy/Nat).

PART ONE

PART TWO

                If Maverick comes back from this alive Beau will ask him out.

                It’s an internal bargain with himself.

                Come home safely.

…            …            …

                “If that bastard dies out there I will personally go and find him, raise him up, just so I can kill him myself,” Hondo mutters and Beau looks at him in surprise. He’s never heard Hondo speak about Maverick like that and he can’t help the little huff of amusement.

                “Get in line.”

…            …            …

                “Now hit your target and come home.”

…            …            …

                “Direct hit. Direct hit.”

…            …            …

                “Now they’re in coffin corner…”

…            …            …

                The chaos and constant chatter over the comms fills him with dread.

…            …            …

                “Get them back to the carrier. Now.”

                He knew Maverick would sacrifice himself to save them. Any of them, their young lives stretching ahead of them. Every single one of them probably reminding him of Bradley, the right age to be his kid.

                He denies search and rescue with lead in his stomach.

                Of course it backfires.

                Hangman goes after him, has to play the fucking hero.

                That level of loyalty, that’s what Maverick has engendered amongst them all, to him and to each other.

                “For fucks sake!”

                He gets a few startled looks, but he doesn’t care, it was going so well. Now he’s got two down and gone.

                He hysterically thinks that at least he doesn’t have to debase himself by asking Maverick out now.

                Bastard.

…            …            …

                “Hangman’s ESAT is airborne…”

                What.

                “Maverick…” Beau says, disbelieving and he really cannot believe it.

                How many times has the bastard done this? That’s his first thought. The man has more lives than a fucking cat. He doesn’t normally let his emotions take precedence over anything, carefully partitioned away for other moments when he can let them all come to the surface but he instructs for Fritz to be released to fly air support, which is just as well when not even a moment later he shoots another jet out of the sky.

                The yells for foul deck fill the comms and then Maverick does a fucking tower flyby and he clenches his jaw in annoyance. God. How can he feel so annoyed and elated at the same time? The fact that Maverick clearly feels that it’s an appropriate course of action after everything is reassuring in an unexpected way though, that the man is clearly alright.

                He exchanges a look with Hondo, who looks elated but also a little shook and he knows the other man considers Maverick a friend. Wonders if he also wants to shake him. They head down to the deck, the flame-retardant spray is kicking up clouds and he watches as Maverick steps out of the wrecked body of the F-14, gets welcomed back by Hondo and the other Daggers. He looks unfairly good, considering he’s just escaped death and an ejection.

                Then he’s there, standing in front of him, eyes bright and grinning widely like it’s just another day. He grasps Maverick’s neck, hot beneath his palm, his jaw tight with tension, aware of so many pairs of eyes on them right now.

                “Sick bay. Go and get checked out. Now.”

                “Yes sir.”

                It’s that honorific that has him pulling away, reminding himself that there are several ranks between them and he’s Maverick’s commanding officer.

…            …            …

                “How is he?” Beau asks the corpsman.

                “Well, considering it’s his second ejection in three weeks his body is holding up surprisingly well.”

                “Second ejection? What the hell?”

                “He’s… it’s in his medical record sir.”

                “I don’t make it a habit to read through everyone’s medical records. I assumed he was clear to fly.”

                “Oh. He was clear to fly sir. While he was ejected previously, it wasn’t a personal harness parachute.”

                That’s just more confusing, but he also knows Maverick was working as a test pilot on something fairly top secret, which meant that they were constant rumors. Of course they turn out to be true and have Maverick at the center of them.

                “I am very glad I do not have to tell Bradley of your untimely demise.”

                “So am I,” Maverick grins at him and Beau can’t help the little twitch of his lips in reply. It’s an attractive smile.

                “You are a difficult man to have under my command Captain.”

                “You’re not my first CO to tell me that, sir.”

                “That does not surprise me in the slightest.”

…            …            …

                Damn it. He’s going to have to ask him out.

…            …            …

                They’ve been back a little over a week, debrief signed and sealed and he can finally get back to the dance studio for his regular class. He can feel himself relaxing as he showers and changes, like he’s washing away work and mentally shifting into a more relaxed mindset ready for some fun. He steps into the studio and can see Bradley talking to someone, steps toward him, apology ready.

                “Evening, sorry I couldn’t be here last week. Work was crazy.”

                Then the person standing with Bradley is turning and it’s no wonder Beau didn’t recognize him, he’s in civvies.

                Lieutenant Seresin.

                For fucks sake.

                Is nowhere sacred?

                “Admiral.”

                “Lieutenant.”

                Beau turns to Bradley, knows his lips are twisted in displeasure but he can’t help it. This is meant to be his safe space and he’s already had Maverick here, and now…

                 “What’s he doing here?”

                “Calm down Beau, you’re not being stalked. Jake’s getting lessons for the upcoming wedding.”

                “I wasn’t aware you were engaged Lieutenant.”

                “Not me sir, Trace and Machado.”

                “Ah. That makes more sense. Good job last week.”

                “Uh. Thank you, sir.”

                “Hmm,” Beau hums, not really sure what else he can say, all the structure of work taken away in this different setting. He’s certainly not going to want to dance with Seresin. “Bradshaw, can I have the first dance?”

                “Certainly Admiral…”

                Beau sighs.

                “I told you not to call me that.”

                “But it’s such an easy way to annoy you… I’ll see you after,” Bradley says to Seresin, and the eyebrow waggle is not subtle at all. Beau is glad for Bradley at least. He likes him. Doesn’t cause him stress or paperwork. Then he’s not thinking about work at all, being forced immediately into a quick jive and into following Bradley’s steps. It’s exactly what he needs.

…            …            …

                A few days later he’s surprised that he has an appointment in his diary with Maverick. Obviously entered in there by one of the admin staff and there are no other notes, which usually means it’s of a personal nature, but with regards to Maverick who the hell even knows. It reminds him very starkly of the fact that he’s still not gone through with the bargain he made with himself and his stomach twists.

                “Captain Mitchell. How can I help you?”

                “Nothing sir. Just… I wanted to let you know that I’m retiring. Thought you might like to know.”

                Beau swallows. Huh.

                “Why do you think I needed to know that?”

                “Well, when I ask you out I want you to know that you’ll no longer be my superior. Or my CO.”

                Beau doesn’t gape, but it’s close. He has years of practice keeping a poker face and he pulls on every single moment of that experience.

                “You…” he clears his throat. “You want to ask me out?”

                “Well. You can’t very well ask me. Not until I’ve retired. But I have a wedding to attend and I’d like you to go with me.”

                “A wedding?”

                “Lieutenants Trace and Machado.”

                “Oh.” The same one Bradley mentioned.

                “And I’ve been told I’m a man better suited to action rather than sitting around waiting for what he wants.”

                Beau’s mind throws up black and white static, he goes to close his mouth but ends up gaping a bit like a fish blowing bubbles. Maverick wants… him?

                “Uh. Then… yes. I’d, hmm,” he clears his throat again. “I’d like that.”

                The smile that Maverick gives him is slow, almost predatory and his skin prickles with awareness as he watches Maverick’s eyes go dark and Beau doesn’t think he’s ever felt quite so… seen. Desired. It’s as terrifying as it is heady.

…            …            …

                There’s so much paperwork and when the recommendation for promotion comes across his desk, he lets out a bark of laughter.

                Maverick an Admiral.

                He’ll hate it.

                He signs the recommendation with a grin.

…            …            …

                “Admiral… what are you doing here?” Hondo asks and Beau rolls his shoulders, looks out across Joe’s Hangar and settles himself into the seat beside Hondo, fully aware he hasn’t been invited to do so but not caring. Well, trying not to care.

                “I’m currently surrounded and this place seems to be the only one without any of the Dagger Squad or Maverick…”

                “I thought, uh, you and Maverick had… come to and agreement. Sir.”

                “An agreement?” Beau repeats, eyebrows going up and Hondo shrugs and inclines his head and Beau huffs a breath. “Yeah. I guess we have. You going to the wedding too?”

                “No sir. I will be on leave spending time with my family.”

                “Hmm. Enjoy yourself. You’ve earnt it.”

                “Everyday sir. Everyday.”

…            …            …

                Beau doesn’t know if Maverick is being distracting on purpose, or if his own attention span is completely shot to hell and back. He suspects the former, however feels he should be stronger in the face of Maverick’s… well. Everything. But the other man simply seems to be everywhere and Beau finds it difficult to concentrate. The wedding is fortunately in less than a week away, and he has to have an awkward conversation with Lieutenant Trace about the details, because he feels that out of her and Machado she’s the lesser evil. Informing her that he will be attending her wedding as Maverick’s date was… painful. Although he’s not sure who it was more painful for, both of them glad when the conversation ended.

                However he now has details regarding a location, and he can make arrangements to stay if he ends up drinking. Not that he intends to, but he’s always been the one with contingency plans. Plus he’ll be on a date with Maverick and the man has driven him to drink before. Next on his list is ringing his sister and informing her he has a date, because is she finds out any other way than through him, he’ll have hell to pay.

THREE

[brandwhorestarscream]

Tfe skyfire x starscream

I'm actually gonna draw from some previous source material we've made up here, and say that the bitties in question are the jettwins. They're not Skyfire's sparklings, but he's the one that steps up to raise them.

The seekers are all on the run and, if I'm being honest, have probably vacated the entire North American continent. GHOST isn't an international organization, after all, and flight makes travelling and escape so much easier than groundbound mecha like Tarantulas, for example. They've gone somewhere that's pretty much unreachable by humans: the highest point on the planet. Mt. Everest. The temperatures are nothing compared to deep space flight, and there's plenty of wind and solar energy for them to harness to get an energon synthesizer going.

They've been living on the dl for months and building up an actual base for themselves at the peak, when Starscream's newly rigged together scanners pick up a very peculiar signal under the melting ice caps of earth's poles. Looks like a cybertronian cache of sorts! They head out immediately, before anyone else can snipe the findings. Who knows what it could be? It could be incredibly useful, be it medical supplies or something that might be able to get them permanently off this Primus forsaken rock.

You know what happens here. They find Skyfire in cryosleep beneath the ice: with everything on this planet thawing, they were finally able to get an actual read on him despite being here for so long. Starscream is... god. There's so many emotions at once he doesn't even know what to call it. He's relieved, he's overjoyed, he's terrified, he's angry. They excavate him in a hurry and search for any equipment he may have lost at the time of the crash, but it's all beyond repair.

Skyfire is incredibly disoriented. He's so confused, he's so dizzy and his audials are ringing incessantly and why does Starscresm look so different? For him, it's only been a couple kliks since he got the warning that there was a critical failure in his systems and then he was falling. He blacked out, and now he's here. He's so sore though, and none of his systems are functioning properly, and Starscream is damn near hysterical that it's clear he's missed a lot. They get him back to their little camp, get him some energon, let him rest and decompress. The twins are handed off to Skywarp and Nova so the two reunited lovebirds can have a chance to talk. Starscream tells Skyfire the full story, not overwhelming him with details but all the main points. What happened after his disappearance, the whole mess with the war, earth's revolving circus of pitslag, GHOST, and finally... the bitties.

Skyfire doesn't even mind that they aren't his. Starscream suffered so much carrying them, having them forced on him, but is doing everything in his power to love and raise them properly. Sky's an overgrown lovesick puppy and adores Starscream for all that he is, and he falls in love with the twins the first moment he gets to hold them. They're so tiny compared to him, but so wiggly and curious. They're attempting to climb all over him, nomming on his fingers and poking at his face with their tiny baby hands, giggling and chirping as they clamber up on his head because Look How High!!!!! He passes the infant vibe check with ease and the sparklings are immediately smitten with them. Skyfire fondly remarks that they're beautiful, just like their carrier, and quietly mentions that... he knows it's been awhile, but if Starscream will still have him, he'd love to still be with him. Starscream just smiles and calls him an idiot: as if he'd let him get away!

Skyfire is such an incredible sire to his adopted sparklings. Literally the best they ever could have ended up with. Loves them like his own, so attentive and sweet and patient. He honestly coddles them even more than Starscream does, and has such a hard time telling them no 🤭 he hasn't built up an immunity to puppy dog eyes yet, so he's always sneaking them extra treats. He loves to hold them, they fit so perfectly in his arms, he's always volunteering to hold them for naptime rather than laying them down in their little crib. Starscream is happier than Skywarp and Nova have seen him in a long time, and the whole group of them are a perfect happy little family 💖

[adore-laur]

REWIND: PART THREE

——

Three Months Later 

Sticky residue from an hour-old apple juice spill is melding onto the kitchen table, a sugary and sweet mess that hasn't been wiped clean yet. A passable replica of rutabaga and parsnip soup grows cold in a ceramic pot on the stove, steam no longer wafting toward the ceiling. Powdered formula that escaped from a measuring cup dusts the granite countertops, a telltale sign that the morning routine has been rushed. Very, very rushed. 

It's a quarter after nine, and Harry should be at work right now. He should be walking through the hospital halls with his clipboard in hand and a ballpoint pen tucked into the breast pocket of his doctor's coat. He should be hearing gasps and little footsteps sprinting toward him as arms wrap around his knees, instantly brightening the dismal day ahead. He should be making himself a black coffee with a pinch of salt and sitting down in his office decorated with sun and rainbow stickers on the sky-blue walls. He should be giving hopeful hands a lollipop of their choosing after a checkup. 

And yet he's not because Reese hasn't arrived yet. 

She's supposed to be at the house to babysit, but she's nowhere to be found. Friday morning light pours into the kitchen, a beautiful golden hue worth basking in, however Harry can't wait around much longer. He has to go to work. The kids need him. 

An onslaught of calls and texts have already been sent to her, and his fingers are cramping from the number of messages he typed. He can't help but overreact, especially since Marlowe is becoming fussy from all of his running around and mumbling to himself. His face is getting warm with worries that something terrible has happened. 

Harry needs his lifesaver. Where has she drifted off to? 

He's not angry or disappointed. God, he could never bear being upset with her simply because she's never given him a reason to. Maybe she overslept or got her days mixed up. They’re common mistake that shouldn't warrant a freakout. Right? 

Unfortunately, the dark-haired girl who swooped in and eased her way into his bubble is currently making him a jittery mess. 

Reese really was some angel sent to him when he needed her most. Every time he has come home for the past three months, he has never seen his daughter more immersed in what she's doing. Whether it's watching Reese read a picture book or sitting on her hip while she cleans, she's absolutely mesmerized. 

Harry would be lying if he said he isn't mesmerized by her, too. The softness of her voice, for example, is so quiet that he often has to ask her to repeat herself. He doesn't mind, though, since it gives him time to admire the way her cheeks turn cherry red. And when she comes over in her thrifted outfits and stumbles over her words when he compliments her style, there's just a way about her that makes him never want to leave for work. He desperately wants to get to know her. 

But now, he has to go to work and she's not here. What happened to the girl who always arrives ten minutes early? The one who instantly takes his daughter from his arms so he can get ready? The one who doesn't mind adjusting to his daughter's needs without a second thought? 

Harry sighs and checks his phone one more time as he shuffles to his bedroom. He paces around the room and mentally checks off his list of things he needs for the day: Pacifier, hearing aids, squeezable applesauce, four bottles of formula, an extra pair of clothes, the crunch of gravel... 

Wait. What? 

The sound of a car rolling into his driveway breaks him away from his thoughts. His heart goes through the motions of a rollercoaster. Is it her? Is it the mail carrier? Is it an intruder? It's too early for this. 

Harry grabs his heavy tote bag of baby necessities and slings it over his shoulder before making his way back to the kitchen. He slowly treads toward the window above the sink, picking up Marlowe on the way so she doesn't leave his eyesight, and then moves the linen curtains aside. 

In his driveway, Reese's familiar car is parked a bit crookedly. The maple trees shake in the wind and blow orange and yellow leaves onto her windshield, yet he can still make out her figure. He doesn't mean to eavesdrop, but he can't look away when he sees her head leaned back against the headrest with her eyes squeezed shut. She looks to be in some sort of pain; physical or mental anguish, he's not quite sure. Has she passed out? Is she always in this much distress when she comes over to his house? 

Harry closes the curtains and locks eyes with Marlowe. He signs "What do I do?" to her and only gets a tiny hand harmlessly slapping his chest in response. He sighs sharply and kisses her fingers. 

After about five minutes of sitting and then standing up from the kitchen chair several times, the tuneful chime of his doorbell echoes throughout the house. Fixing his hair, Harry twists the doorknob and gently swings the door open. Reese stands on the other side with puffy eyes and rubescent cheeks. A frown seems permanently stuck on her face, her chapped lips downturned enough to make Harry's heart speed up with alarm. Her hair is thrown up in two tight buns, and the coat she wears drowns her body. 

What in the world has caused his bluebird to appear on his doorstep with clipped wings? 

"Reese, is everything all right?” Harry asks cautiously. “Please come inside." 

She breathes out a puff of air and nods quickly. "Yes, I'm fine. I'm so sorry I'm late. I, uh... there was an emergency I had to take care of." 

The contradictory statement throws him for a loop. She claims she's fine, yet there was an emergency? He wishes she would ust be honest with him. 

"An emergency?" he repeats while ushering her inside. Marlowe coos happily and reaches out when she sees who it is. "Are you sure everything's okay? You weren't answering any of my calls or texts." 

The quiver of her lips is quickly hidden by a smile. An extremely fake smile, Harry notices. "I'm fine," she tells him. "I can stay an extra couple of hours if you need me to since I'm late. Again, I apologize." 

Her behavior is strange. She's not herself right now. She looks out of it, like there's static behind her eyes. 

"Reese," Harry says gently, taking a step closer. "Tell me what's wrong. I'm not leaving until I know you're okay." 

"I'm okay, I—" 

"You're not. I saw you in the driveway.“

Her lips quirk to the side as her eyebrows sadly pull together. She shifts her weight on one foot and says, "My grandma is in the hospital. I had to take her this morning because she fell." 

Harry's heart cracks open at the waver in her voice. There's also a pit of bubbling frustration that makes its way through his veins. Is she not comfortable enough around him to tell him when something's wrong? Something as serious as a family emergency? 

He swallows it down and replies, "That's terrible. I'm sorry." 

"You can fire me," Reese whispers, avoiding eye contact. "I understand." 

"What on earth are you talking about?" Eyes widening, he places his hand on her upper arm and bends down to get her to look into his eyes. "Hey, listen to me. You had a family emergency, and I'd be an asshole if I fired you over something like that. You don't need to work today. Take as long as you need." 

"I don't know what to do," she says, shaking her head. "I'm late to work and my grandma is at the hospital alone and my brother is at a friend's house and I haven't told him yet and—" 

"Woah, woah, woah," Harry murmurs as he sets Marlowe on the ground. "Slow down. Talk me through what happened." 

Reese rubs her palms down her face and says, "I was sleeping when I heard a shout of pain. I- I walked into the living room and my grandma was on the floor. She told me she got up from her wheelchair to get something. She's such a stubborn woman and must've fell and hurt her hip. She's in surgery right now." 

Harry removes his hand that he realizes was still lightly gripping her arm. "What hospital is she at?"

"I took her to the Medical Center on Canterbury Lane." 

"That's where I work. C'mon, let's go. I'm driving you." 

"W-what?" she stutters, blinking three times. "What about babysitting?" 

"Marlowe's coming with." He looks down at her and smiles. "Right? Gonna come on a road trip with us?" 

"Harry, you don't have to do this," Reese says hesitantly. 

"I'm not doing this because I have to, I'm doing this because I want to." The soup on the stoves catches his attention when he picks Marlowe back up. "Did you eat anything today, by the way? Here, I made some soup. And can you please grab the stroller from my room?" 

Reese's dazed expression entrances him for a second before she nods and walks past him. It's like a movie is always playing on fast forward in her brain. 

Harry wouldn't mind having a front row seat. 

—— 

Reese is full-on panicking as she sits in the chair in the hospital's waiting room. She thinks that she's going into cardiac arrest. She can feel her heart in her throat as well as other parts of her body. It's definitely not normal. 

It's quite an insensitive thing to think since everyone in the hospital is suffering in more ways than she is, but she genuinely feels like her heart is going to jump out of her rib cage. Which may be an actual sign of cardiac arrest. Which isn't good. Should she go see a doctor? 

Reese hates the hospital. Too many people filtering in and out with melancholy expressions and paperwork in their hands. The ceiling is only one color, so she can't play checkers to distract herself. Even the tiled floors are solid white. It's so drab to the point that it makes her sad that Harry has to work in such an environment. 

Rewind, rewind, rewind! 

She wants to slap herself upside the head. Her brain is all fuzzy and no coherent thoughts are making it through. Harry, on the other hand, seems cool as a cucumber. With a nice black coat over his body, he pushes the burgundy stroller back and forth to rock Marlowe to sleep. Reese supposes he has to be calm, plus he's probably comfortable being at his place of work. It wouldn't help if he was freaking out as well. 

A doctor has already come out and told her that her grandma is still in surgery. Now they wait patiently. It's not necessary to stay, but she feels like something bad will happen if she leaves. She doesn't even know what time it is. If she thinks about it for too long, her mind spirals back to how she was late for work and didn't give any sort of forewarning. She's not sure why she didn't respond to Harry's texts; the nagging feeling of being a burden might have had a part to play in it. 

Her mind shifts its worry to her brother. Her legs are brought up on the green leather chair so they can stop bouncing with anxiety over whether her brother is going to come home to an empty house. She's insistent that he shouldn't have a phone until he's at least thirteen, so she has no way of contacting him to tell him what happened. Maybe she should pay more attention to who his friends are. 

"Hold my hand, Reese." 

Pause. 

She lifts her head from her knees. His hand is reached out, his fingers delicately bent in offer. The silver ring on his pointer finger reflects off the sunlight that pours in through the large window, and she suddenly realizes she never asked what the symbol means. It's a great distractor. 

"Your ring," Reese says, her words coming out a little raspy. "What's the symbol on it?" 

Harry spreads his fingers out while looking at it. He twists the band so that the symbol faces upwards. "It's sign language for I love you," he explains, flexing his hand. "I got it when I found out Marlowe was deaf, and it's one of the first signs I taught her. Hopefully when she's older, I can get her a matching one." 

Reese tilts her head and admires the engraved metal. "You should. That's really special." 

He looks down and smiles shyly, simply curling his fingers to get her to grab them. When she places her palm in his, he pulls her up on her feet. Reese expects him to let go, but he doesn't. 

"Where do you want to go?" he asks. “We have a couple of hours to kill." 

"I don't know," she replies, enjoying the fact that her hands aren't cold or shaking anymore. "Anywhere but here." 

"Home? My house? Somewhere to get a bite to eat?" 

"You know what? A burger and fries sound like heaven right now." 

Harry's eyes light up in the same way she's seen Marlowe's do. "There's a nice family restaurant downtown if you fancy going there," he suggests. 

The corner of Reese's mouth lifts. "Yes, I would fancy going there." 

When they arrive inside the cozy restaurant situated between two antique shops, Harry takes off his coat and puts it under the stroller, then pulls out a stool for the both of them. 

The yellow sweater he wears fits him snugly. He sits like a schoolboy on the stool, his feet tucked up on the footrest and a posture that makes him look smaller. He starts unscrewing the cap on a bottle of formula, a towel slung over his shoulder where Marlowe's head rests. 

He's petit in every sense of the word. 

After the food and drinks come out, Reese feels the anxiety kick in as she takes the pickles off her burger. It takes her a while to warm up to people enough to initiate conversation, so what is she supposed to talk about with Harry? He's at a completely different stage in his life than her. 

"What're you thinking about?" he asks, twisting the noodles of his chicken alfredo with his fork. 

Reese drowns out the conversations around her and focuses on him. He seems to be the one to always reel her back in. "Everything and nothing all at once.”

Harry chews and swallows. "You're a mind drifter. I've noticed that about you." 

"So I've been told." 

"It's not a bad thing." He scratches his nose and then puts a fist under his chin. "Sometimes reality isn't worth being a part of." 

Reese raises her eyebrows, letting out a laugh. "Cheers to that." 

"Cheers," he says, lifting his glass of half-drunken lemonade. 

"I sometimes want to take my brain out and put it in the washing machine." 

The rinse cycle of her brain is in desperate need of a change. If only it was possible to douse it in detergent and let it spin, erasing stains of painful memories and coming out clean. 

Harry nods and rubs his large hand up and down Marlowe's back, soothing her to sleep. "I feel that. My brain could use a good washing." 

"Do you really feel that?" Reese challenges lightheartedly. "I've always noticed that you're so casual. You have no problem starting a conversation with anyone." 

He bites his lip and laughs a little. "Why do you think I work with kids? They forget what I tell them the next day." 

"Yeah, but with someone like me..." 

He frowns in question. "What do you mean by that?" 

"Someone with social anxiety." Might as well just air her dirty laundry out in the open. "You worked around it so easily, if that makes any sense." 

Lips jutting out in thought, Harry shrugs and says, "I don't think l worked around it. It's just who you are. Friends adapt to each other, right?" 

Friends. Are they friends? Reese recalls the times in the last three months where she has stayed for dinner with him and Marlowe, or when he would come home early some days and ask if she'd like to go to the grocery store with him to find ingredients for a new recipe he wanted to try. 

In retrospect, she supposes they're well-acquainted. She's just been too in her own head to realize it. 

"Friends also eat the other friends' pickle that they don't want," Reese says, stabbing a pickle slice with her knife and holding it out to him. 

Harry smiles, his nose scrunching beautifully, then leans forward to bite it off the knife tip with his teeth. She observes him when he looks out the window and chews, his jaw flexing with each movement. Compared to other people she has met, he's by far the most comfortable to be around. She doesn't feel the pressure to rewind anymore when she's around him. What comes out of her mouth, awkward or not, he handles it with pure intentions. No judgement and no questioning looks when she drifts off into space. 

One day, Reese will learn that life doesn't have a rewind button. It's not a movie. Mistakes will be made, and times will get rough. It's better to take life as it comes. There's no need to pause or fast forward, either. Living in the present is the only time you get. 

Let the tape play how it was meant to. Then when the credits roll, it will be known that everything was worth it. 

—— 

[pennedbyeve]

Autumn days • two

Before I begin, I would like to thank those of you who showed love and support to the first chapter, I have been writing since the third grade, and the importance of representation is extremely important to me, so I am happy to know people are enjoying what I put out, happy start of fall y'all.

Alicia  

THE LIBRARY WAS HER FAVORITE PLACE, in addition to the coffee shop, the solitude, and the ambiance of the library was unmatched, she found herself in a corner darted off not near foot traffic, and she had the perfect view of the city and the afternoon sky from a large window, the colors of the maple leaves on the trees nearby were a rust colored, and her favorite a shade of burnt orange.  

 Mingi promised her he would help her today, since he was off, she never wanted to be a pest or a bother, but he insisted that he helped her with her love story, this was her pouring her heart out onto the paper, her characters, she had created and developed, and she oftentimes wondered if that her fictious world would ever measure up to her reality, of course she had been on dates in the past, but they were all flops – her dream was falling in love with her best friend, or someone she considered a companion, but since she was fairly new to the area, that was nearly impossible, but she held her breath in case something did happen. 

Moments later, after her daydream, MIngi finally at the library in contrast to his coffee shop uniform he had a striped sweater, a dark khaki pair of corduroy pants and some combat boots, he was dressed to impress that was for sure, he placed the drink carrier carefully on the light-colored wood. 

She stood up to give him a hug, though there was a slight height difference between the two of them her head rested comfortably on his stomach.

She stayed there for a few moments, before snapping back into reality. She pulled away, his cologne still lingering in her nose.

“I brought coffee, from what I gathered either writers like coffee a lot, or you just like coffee.” He chuckled.

“It’s a mix of both honestly but come get comfortable.” She motioned to the chair that was in front of her.

As he got situated in the chair, she looked in her purse pulling out the notebook and her pens, and the supplies she knew they would need.

She took a small sip of her coffee, before she started to work on her most recent scene, after a few minutes it felt like her mind was moving at the speed of light as she came up with magic.

“Okay, this is what I got.” She handed him her notebook, it felt like a piece of her was escaping, but there was something special of her showing him the hard work and dedication she had been putting out there  for the last few months.

She watched as he began to read it from the beginning, the battered pages, were all parts of her and her wildest imagination, so it was an unique feeling of allowing someone in, but there was something special about Mingi that she could not even shake even, if she tried.

“Wow.” That was the first thing he said, she looked at his face trying to gauge his reaction, she often knew that people would criticize every little thing, so her heart raced in anticipation.

“Was that a good wow or wow this bad?” She raised her eyebrow.

“You’re talented Alicia, and no I am not saying that either, the way you paint a picture with your words, is truly an art. I am rooting for the characters to be together in the end, I can see where the dilemma comes in though.” He stood up behind her after he handed her the notebook.

Her heart raced even more so with her standing behind her, but she kept it as cool as she possibly could.

She picked up her pen to begin writing, he guided her hand, “Okay, so this paragraph is worded funny, but I understand what you’re trying to say, but I think you can add some umph.” Feeling his hand on top of hers caused her breath to pick up.

“Okay I’ll add to it.” She nodded her head.

He was yet to move, she could not lie she was comfortable, with him being behind her.

“Also there is one spelling error let me see if I could find it again.” He flipped through the pages with his free hand, once he found it, she glided her hand yet again, he pointed to the word and she circled the word.

***

After a few minutes she corrected the errors she did have, she was glad to have him to read and help her draft this and craft this novel accordingly.

“Are you hungry?” He looked over at her, she looked at the time it was a little past one and she was shocked that the time was moving so quickly.

“A little bit, are you?”

He nodded his head, “I am, I know a spot where we can get good food. My treat.” He smiled, she could pinch herself it felt like everything was going well as friends with Mingi and she was grateful to know she had a friend in him.

Moments later, the two of them were at a restaurant, the smells of the unique blends of Korean cuisine filled her nose, she knew she was in for a treat as Mingi and the woman at the counter began to speak Korean to one another.

He turned to Alicia, “You ready?”

She nodded as the waitress guided the two of them to a seat outside with a view of the downtown city lights, everything was beautiful.

He handed her a menu, “Okay I recommend a lot of things, so I hope your stomach is ready, but first we can get some soju if you don’t mind drinking, I will make sure you get home in one piece I promise.”

She had always been interested in Korean culture, so this was something she was excited for.

“I trust you Mingi.”

The two of them had a great time and when they finally made it to Alicia’s apartment she was not ready to leave his company.

“When can I see you again?”

“I’m off on Wednesday.”

“Wednesday it is.”

[commodorebuzzkill]

A bit of distraction for us left-leaning military nerds.

Let's play a game... AND YES, I STOLE THIS SCENARIO FROM THE NAFO GANG ON YOUTUBE, SO SUE ME! You are now in charge of the procurement of military equipment for the nation of Elbonia, a nation that as of now (being around 1956) has had its government overthrown by an authoritarian communist coup (meaning the not fun kind of communism). Headed by El Jeffe, our glorious leader (who has all the meglomaniacal tendencies you'd think he would), the revolutionary army is now looking to fill itself out to a well-rounded modern army and air force with all the bells and whistles. But here's the catch. You are actually a CIA plant, and your job is discreetly sabotage the revolutionary army and revolutionary army air force with equipment that looks cool but is pretty much garbage. If you fail to deliver sufficient coolness, El Jeffe will have you shot. If it actually turns out to be perfectly serviceable, the CIA will have you shot. Thus, the game is this: Select one or more categories of military equipment, and then propose a weapon designed or produced before 1956. This can be something that went into full production, something that died in the prototype phase, or something that never escaped the drawing board. Eastern Block, NATO, Former Axis Powers, doesn't matter, so long as it's before 1956, it's fair game.

I will offer my first entry:

Category: Light Bomber/attack aircraft

The Douglas A2D Skyshark.

Looks a lot like an A-1 Skyraider, don't it? Well, on a basic level, it's a heavily modified Skyraider with a giant turboprop in the front. Said turboprop put out a whopping 5100 shaft horsepower, plus an additional 810 lbs of thrust from the exhaust, attached to a contra-rotating propeller. That means the A2D's top speed is 492 mph! So, El Jeffe, I present you the reliable frame of the A-1 Skyraider, but better in every way! Just look at this big, mean, bruiser of a ground pounder. It doesn't need the giant runways of modern jet aircraft, and the rugged construction and beefy landing gear will allow it to operate from grassy fields. Or even from small aircraft carriers if the glorious navy of Elbonia is provided with them. And now the bad stuff. The Skyshark has about half the maximum bomb load of Skyraider, reduced from 10,500 pounds of underwing ordinance to 5,500. So, that kinda sucks.

But it ain't got nuthin' on the Skyshark's real fatal flaw. That giant turboprop is the Allison XT-40, possibly one of the worst turboprops ever made. The XT-40 isn't really one engine, it's two turboprops coupled together and made to drive a single shaft through a deeply tortured gearbox.

This lead to the destruction or near-destruction of two prototypes. The first XA2D-1 was lost in December 1950, when the starboard power section of its engine failed while the pilot, Cdr. Hugh Wood, was attempting to land. The failed section of the engine failed to de-clutch, and most of the power of the remaining half of the engine ended up going to the compressor of the dead half. Hugh Wood was unable to check the rate of his descent and crashed, unfortunately dying as a result.

Then there was an incident in 1953 when test pilot C. G. "Doc" Livingston was performing dive tests in another XA2D. In the process of pulling out of a dive, his Skyshark made a loud bang, and his front windscreen was covered in engine oil. Doc Livingston then managed with the help of his chase plane to land his now powerless skyshark intact. Upon examining the front of the aircraft, he found that the prop and gear box had wrenched free of his aircraft, yeeting the planes means of propulsion whirling off into the sky.

Not a year after that, the prototype for the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk flew for the first time, putting an end to the misery of the Skyshark program.

So, I can guarantee the CIA that Elbonia won't have much luck with this one. I'd predict lots of engine trouble and maintenance problems all around, with a high accident rate and low operational readiness rate. But since it looks cool, I think El Jeffe will go for it.

And I will pass this one along to @hms-exeter.