#board reattachment

[sosnastudios]

tissue hinge repair on The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley Vol. 1, published in 1853

[sunlightbouquet]

accidentally broke something in an attempt to fix it, my fingers are covered in burns, and i probably inhaled enough fumes to kill a small rodent maybe my life will turn out okay. most fun i've had in ages. should turn on the lil fume thing next time though probably

[ndpreservation]

Well-Meaning Interventions

Here are some frequently encountered DIY repairs that, while well-meaning, are, alas, misguided interventions that exacerbate damage and some alternative approaches that better promote ongoing usability.

While scotch tape is great for wrapping presents and many other tasks, when used on book pages and documents it typically creates problems. The adhesives in clear, pressure-sensitive adhesive tape tend to degrade and discolor over time, resulting in significant damage to the paper. A clear example of degraded tape damage is this 1862 letter from Confederate soldier M.A. Harvey to his wife, “My Dear Eva”.

While this letter would have been relatively straightforward to mend with kozo paper and paste, the tape caused permanent damage, and days of work were required to stabilize the letter so that it could be mended appropriately.

When the boards of a beloved volume become detached, simply applying duct tape to reattach them might seem like a swell solution.

Though duct tape can temporarily reattach book covers, it tends to create significant damage and shorten the book’s lifespan. Similarly, where the spine of a book has become loose or detached, at first glance it might seem that adhering a loose spine covering directly to its text block would be a simple fix.

However, the spines of most modern books are not actually glued to the spine of the text by functional design. Adhering the spine covering directly alters the book’s mechanical structure and impedes its functioning, resulting in stress points that create further damage as the book is used. 

In order to retain loose book covers or spines, consider tying the book with cotton twill tape, positioning the knot along the head, tail, or fore-edge of the book.

Even better, alkaline book boxes from a preservation supply vendor offer protection from further damage or loss while helping to moderate acidic degradation processes. The repair of books that one wishes to remain functional over time is best left to trained conservators or technicians. For further preservation resources, preservation supply vendors, and information on locating a conservator, see the Hesburgh Libraries Preserving Private Collections guide.

Applying leather dressings such as leather conditioner, neatsfoot oil, or shoe polish to leather books hampers their preservation. While one may enjoy the appearance of polished leather spines in a bookcase, in the short term, leather dressings may darken leather and over time tend to further dry out the skin as well as cause stickiness and/or significant discoloration to the leather, known as leather bloom. 

If a leather-bound book is exhibiting signs of leather decay such as red rot (crumbling leather that creates a dusty mess that can transfer to the book pages during use), consider ordering an archival alkaline box for the book or consulting a conservator for further advice on preservation and treatment options. 

Using books as a place to “preserve” newspaper clippings, flowers, etc.

Placing newspaper clippings or other items inside the protective pages of a book might seem like an ideal place to keep the item flat and secure. However, most newspapers are printed on poor-quality paper that quickly becomes highly acidic, and over time this acid will migrate into the pages of the book, chemically degrading and visually staining them. A more effective place to store treasured clippings is within alkaline folders that offer both chemical and physical protection.

[chrissturniolosbitch]

CAUGHT

a/n: this sucks, and i made it at 4am while high.

summary: matt, and y/n are bsf's, and well... matt leaves to get food, comes home, see's y/n touchin herself, and then fucks her😃...

warnings: cursing, sex, language, toys, overstimulation, fingering. idk what else...

a/n: i posted a poll asking what smut i should post TOMORROW.. and yall picked this one butt i wanted to post it today...

--------------------------------------------------------

Me and matt have always been close. We did practically everything together.

growing up with him, and his brothers are memories i will never forget.

matt always was there for me tho. Not saying nick, chris, or anyone else wasnt, its just i always knew matt would help me when i was sad, and would always just in general be there for me through anything

with all his kind actions, and just being with him the most i started catching feelings for him.

i loved everything about him.

His tattoos, his hands, his eyes, his hair, his lips, his body, his waist. Everything.

Chris, and Nick went to madis house to have a sleepover there. Leaving me and matt home alone.

matt, and i played board games, and played fortnite, then we started watching a movie.

after about 45 minutes into the movie matt got hungry.

"Hey im going to get Mcdonald's, do you want anything" He said pausing the movie we were watching, "No ill be fine, and ill stay back im kinda sleepy" I lied.

today all day matt has been so clingy. Not in a sexual way, but in an affectionate way. Trying to show me he loves me as a friend, and wanted to be by me today.

the thought of matt roaming my head. its not that i didnt want to go.

I just wanted to touch myself.

Matt noded, got up, grabbed his keys, and opened the door, "Ill be back soon!" he said before he closed the door, locking it behind him.

As soon as the door shut i got up, and ran to his room.

As soon as i got in his room i dimmed the lights, turned on a playlist, and grabbed my vibrator.

as soon as i layed on the bed I took my fingers, and slowly rubbed my clothed clit thinking of matt, and how good he would feel inside of me, how big his dick was, and how far the buldge in my stomach would go.

i slipped my shorts of, and turned my vibrator on the highest setting getting right into action.

"fuck" i moaned out the familiar sensation making my heart beat out of my chest.

i suddenly stopped and took off my shirt, and bra.

When i took everything off, say it by tory lanez started playing. I always wondered what it would be like having sex to this song.

i reattached my vibrator to my aching clit, and moaned at the feeling.

I about to reach my climax when i heard a faint gasp.

------------------------------------------

(matt's POV:)

I came back home after i got food, y/n said she didnt want anything but i knew she would ask for something of mine, so i got her some.

I got my house key out, and unlocked the door.

As soon as i entered i heard loud wimpers.

fuck is she okay?

is she safe?

I ran upstairs, and called her name. No responce, just more moans, and wimpers.

I got to the door, and opened it. I gasped at the sight infront of my eyes.

Her beautiful body, he fingers touching her beautiful pussy, and the way her head way thrown back because of the immense pleasure she was feeling.

She shot a look at me, "MATT WHAT THE FUCK OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY" she screamed, i was getting harder, and harder by the second.

------------------------------------------

(Y/n's POV:)

matthew stuniolo walked in on me fucking myself.

Matt didnt leave he just stood there, i threw the covers of my bare body, the music still blasting, and shut my eyes tightly hoping i was just dreaming.

Suddenly i felt cold big hands grab my waist through the covers, "Look at me" he said sternly.

I pulled the covers off my head, cheeks flushed from embarrassment, "do you need my help baby?"

Matt Sturniolo, my best fucking friend asking if i needed his help?? who am i to decline this offer??

"matt please..." i cried out, i needed to feel him touching me. He took his middle, and ring finger, and started rubbing painfully slow circles onto my now sopping wet, dripping cunt, "Faster matt fuck, i need your fingers in me" I threw my head back needing more.

After my words he shoved his two finger inside of me harshly causing me to moan loudly from pleasure, "fuck matt, yes" i said rolling my eyes, "You like me touching you like this huh?" He said tilting his head to the right.

"yes matt, fuck. Im so close please let me cum." I said already worked up before i got interrupted, "go ahead baby, cum all over my fingers"

With a tic of approval I let the knot in my stomach go, i released all over his finger.

"fuck oh my god..." I screamed out as matt pulled his fingers out of me, sucking my juices off.

Matt leaned over my body, "c-can i kiss you baby?" he said flicking his eyes, to my lips, and back up into mine. I grabbed the back of his neck, and closed the gap between us.

"m-more" i said wrapping my legs around his waist pulling him closer to me, "what was that baby?" he said leaning back up, starting to take his shirt off.

"fuck. Please matt i need you" i said practically begging for him.

He took off his shirt, and unbuckled his belt taking his pants off. He had a dark grey stain through his light grey calvin cline boxers.

matt leaned back down to kiss my lips, neck, and tits. With that he took his boxers off, his hard aching dick leaking precum.

he hissed at the sensation.

i threw my head back, fuck he was so big.

he took his cock, and started rubbing it through my folds soon he pushed his cock into me, "ugh, fuck yes matt" i said moaning through gritted teeth.

he started thrusting fast, and hard into me not giving me enough time to adjust to his size. I was taking all 8 1/2 inches of him in one swift motion.

"god youre so tight around me. Im not gonna last long" he said, his thrusts getting more sloppy, "fuck matt me neither" i said reaching my climax.

With the speed he was going, and him praising me the knot in my stomach snapped, causing me to cum all over matts lower abdomen, and dick.

soon after me strings of curse words were leaving his mouth as he was cumming inside of me, "shit shit shit" he said fucking our cum back into me.

soon matts motions came to a stop and he plopped next to me, "w-was that good?" he said looking me in the eyes, "that was the best sex ive ever had." i said giggling at him.

"that answers my question then" he said laughing back, leaning into kiss me.

The kiss was so sweet, and told me that he wanted this. That he has been wating to do this.

"So.." i said chuckling.

"Whats wrong baby?" he said kissing me again.

"What are we now?" i exclaimed hoping he wanted to be with me as bad as i wanted to be with him.

"youre all mine baby.." he said as he tuck a peice of hair behind my ear.

matt kissed me once more, "goodnight y/n i love you"

"i love you so much more matty" I felt my eyes shutting before i got my sentence out.

--------------------------------------------------------

I NEED IT IN ALL DIFFERENT POSITIONS!!!!!!

[sanjisboyfie]

๑ keep safe : put a face to the name (28)

one piece x male reader

sometimes you gotta close a door,

to open a window

『 prev 』

the first thing [name] saw when he opened his eyes was usopp nervously peering down at him.

“g’monrin’, usopp,” he greeted with his gravely voice, rubbing his eyes to wake himself up, “are we already leaving?”

”no, no, it isn’t time to go yet,” usopp informed him, instinctively making him slump back down to his original resting position. “but!! please, could you, uhm, come with me?”

“where?” [name] tiredly asked, feeling sleep tempting him to go back to bed.

“well, we know it’s really scary here in the forest, yeah? well, i was wondering, if you wouldn’t mind,” usopp paused, paling when he saw that [name] was so clsoe to falling back to sleep, “ifyouwouldwannacomewithmetomakesurenothingscaryattacksmewhilei’mpeeing!”

there was silence and usopp thought his one and only guardian had abandoned him. but then [name] abruptly sat up and squinted at usopp, fatigue evident in his eyes.

“you better piss fast,” [name] warned, getting up and grabbing ahold of usopp’s hand. he made sure to walk slow enough that the sniper wasn’t too far from his person and then he gently pushed usopp in the direction of some random tree. “go piss, usopp,”

he was so sleepy and out of it that he didn’t hear that dull beating of a hammer into wood. he was almost completely falling over against the tree trunk as he felt himself growing sleepier and sleepier.

but out of nowhere, usopp took him by his shoulders and shook him back and forth.

“ew! usopp, what the hell are you touching me with your pee hands for?!” he shouted, eyes snapping wide open as he remembered why they were out there; in the first place.

“g-ghost! gh-ghosttt!!” usopp helplessly wailed, making [name] only shake his head in disbelief.

“the pissing ghosts only visits children, usopp,” [name] sighed, taking usopp’s hands off of his shoulders by his wrists and guiding the man back to their temporary base, “if you’re done pissing here, let’s just go back to sleep,”

internally, usopp was freaking out! there was totally someone on board of merry, but [name] was too tired to even care about what he was saying. so usopp decided he would bring it up in the morning later, only because he felt bad for suddenly waking [name] up in the middle of the night.

the sniper went back to sleep, feeling more at ease knowing that [name] was protectively spooning him back to sleep. if that ghost somehow crossed over the lake, at least [name] would be there to protect him.

thinking of the shadowy figure only made usopp tremble more where he laid and try completely burying himself into [name] torso, muttering under his breath, “sky island scary, sky island scary!”

when the sun finally shone down on the crew, usopp was raving on about how someone was on board merry. he was sweating profusely as he stared at the state she was in — repaired, albeit very messily.

the mast had been reattached to where it was supposed to be, there were metal plants reinforcing the weak wood to keep it from falling apart, and it was back to its original form (no more chicken head or wings attached). it was weird that these repairs were managed all in one night, but [name] didn’t dwell on it for too long.

similar to nami, he was just thankful that their ship was no longer hanging on by a thread.

“if anything, it’s a blessing, so there’s no point in thinking too much about it,” [name] shrugged. “maybe merry herself took matters into her own hands — after we’ve been such a shit crew to her, she’s grown tired of all your bullshit!” he laughed, holding onto his stomach as that idea was just too crazy to not laugh at.

zoro sweatdropped, “you’re the one who brews up the most trouble on deck anyway, so if anything she’s tired of you,”

“hm, suppose that’s true! sorry, merry!” he cheerfully said, slapping the railing of the ship and walking off with a pleased smile on his face.

after the crew realized that they just had to be grateful for the repairs and move on, their next objective was to find a way to get the ship off of the altar. usopp volunteered himself and chopper up for the job in getting it done, the rest of the crew eagerly watching to see what they had in store.

their first attempt failed while their second seemed like usopp was using chopper as bait for some reason. everyone clammored onto merry, not wanting to be left behind as they had successfully gained the attention of a skyshark. the creature was going to pull merry off of the altar.

now that everything was in order, it was time to execute their plan.

“the search team will go this way, straight south. this right eye should have some ruins in it, so watch out for enemies and bring back some gold!” nami exclaimed with glee, looking to robin, luffy, zoro, and chopper. they were the search team whilst everyone else would stay on merry.

“we will meet at this area here, then we can finally leave as super-rich pirates that can buy whatever we want!” nami said, ironically the expensive bracelets on her wrists clinging together as she exclaimed their plan.

[name] waved the other team goodbye, smiling ear to ear. and when they were finally far enough that robin, chopper, luffy, and zoro were not visible anymore, he walked to meet nami on deck.

“[name]! you have to make sure you guard captain usopp at all times, it is your duty,” usopp exclaimed, his chest puffed out with his arms crossed over his chest.

“hey, hey, don’t forget about me either!! if anything happens to me, your debt goes up by 100%!”

“oi…” [name] said, looking at nami, who was grinning at him as if her demand wasn’t outrageous. but then he waved his hand and nodded his head, “yes, yes, knight [name] at your service, you royal asshats,”

usopp and nami cheered at [name]’s agreement, making sanji sulk in the corner as he wanted to be the one to protect nami. he was still going to, obviously, but the fact she asked [name] instead of him made his heart break.

the navigator didn’t pay the chef any mind, only turning to [name]’s figure and saying, “[name] make sure to keep an eye on the weird knight, i’m gonna go get his medicine,” nami ordered him which he hummed to. as she went to the kitchen to retrieve it, he walked up to the head of the ship where pierre, the knight, and usopp were standing.

“i suppose i should share the history of this island and its people with you…” the knight said, eyes flickering from usopp to [name] before continuing on, “until six years ago, i was god,”

[name] groaned and rolled his eyes at that opening statement, pretending to gag as usopp simply said that the old man must have hit his head again to make such bold claim.

pierre bit down on usopp’s head, but spared [name] from the attack.

“this just proves god isn’t real,” [name] sighed, looking at the old man and waiting for him to continue.

“as you know, it is said that upper yard appeared in skypiea 400 years ago. until then, skypiea had been a peaceful sky island with items from the blue sky sometimes riding up the knock up stream and gracing our land. all the vearth on the skyislands came into the sky in this way. but vearth the size of upper yard was an unimaginable miracle. naturally, the sky people were overjoyed and worshipped, naming it a holy ground blessed by the heavens,”

“it’s still funny to me you guys worship dirt,” [name] said under his breath, looking around at the passing forest. the night before, the sky knight informed them that everything that came from the blue sea, which included the upper yard, was named vearth and highly regard by the sky people.

“however indigenous people lived on the upper yard and a battle over its ownership began.”

that statement made [name]’s head snap up and look at the old man as if he were crazy. it was actually a logical thing that he hadn’t completely thought about before. if the island was from the ground, actually being apart of a whole island before shooting up into the sky, it would make sense that there were actual inhabitants before it reached the sky people.

piecing it all together, [name] grit his teeth in anger and frustration. he stood up from his spot on the deck, walked over to the old man, and grabbed him by his robe’s collar, “tell me what you did next,” he said threateningly, eyes glaring down at the old man.

“the shandians, or the guerilla warriors you may be familiar with, were the original inhabitants of the upper yard,” the man said, looking down shamefully.

”[name]! c’mon, he’s injured, you can’t hurt him any more or else chopper will kill you,” usopp said, walking over and trying to calm [name] down. he put his hand on his arm and began tugging on his bicep to let up the grip [name] had on him.

it didn’t work though, seeing as [name]’s strength easily overpowered usopp’s.

“this conversation doesn’t have to be violent! [name], sit back down,” nami interjected, seeing that the old man’s body was being painfully restrained by [name] and most definitely not helping his injuries.

sanji merely lit his cigarette as he watched [name] forecfully hold the old man in place.

“so the people that were living on this island, get their whole world turned upside down when they are shot up into the sky — completely changing their lives — and the first thing you do to them is kick them off of their own homeland? tell me, do i have the right idea or by some miracle, did you welcome them with open arms?”

gan fall gulped at the glare [name] was showing him, feeling himself break out into a cold sweat. not neccessarily out of fear, but rather from the dull pain that was beginning to settle over his entire body.

“that’s right, they did do that. the sky people stole their homeland due to their own greed,” [name] scoffed, dropping the hold he had on the robe’s collar and walking off back to the railing. “the shandians are simply trying to take back their homeland,”

[name] looked at the old man, a sneer on his face, “for how you guys are almost identical to angels, you sure are the devil’s spawn for treating the shandians like that.”

gan fall stayed silent at [name]’s words. he couldn’t really debunk that or say he was wrong, his ancestors treatment of the shandians was pretty terrible. and it was the reason why they haven’t had harmony at all since then.

“but what about enel?” nami asked, being the calmest of the entire bunch at their history lesson, “where does he fall into all of this?”

“when i was god,” cue [name] gagging again, “he suddenly appeared from some sky island, leading soldiers. he made a heavy blow to my “divine squad” as well as the shandian soldiers. then he took control of upper yard. but to the shandians, who god is doesn’t matter. they just want their homeland back,”

“alright, if the shandians just want their homeland back, then why did they attack us the moment we arrived?” sanji asked, thinking back to the mask fighter that beat him, luffy, and zoro with ease. then an angry tick marked appeared on his forehead and he glared at [name] when he remembered just how easily the taller man defeated the warrior.

“members of the divine squad sometimes escape via ship. naturally, the shandians take them for enemies and want to destroy them. they probably thought you were apart of the divine squad and wanted to eliminate you because of that,”

“too bad he was too weak, haha!” [name]’s sarcastic laugh rang through the air making nami sigh, usopp cry out about how scary [name] was, and sanji become only more enraged as he was reminded of the fact that [name] one-upped him in combat already.

gan fall then went on to explain the tyranny that enel had established, making [name] hold his head in exaggeration, “too much information, i feel a nap coming on so i can recharge from such a strenuous exercise of my brain,”

“get serious!” usopp and sanji shouted in annoyance, finding his behavior tiresome.

“to me it sounds like the main issues are: you sky people for being assholes from the get go to the shandians and this new god guy thing named enel, who is terrorizing everyone.” gan fall nodded at how [name] listed the situation accurately, “so then all we need to do is beat some manners into you folks and then take care of this god guy thing,”

usopp wept into his hands, crying out, “quit saying borderline blasphemous things about the god, what if he hears?!”

“hey!” nami shouted, pointing a finger at [name] and looking quite angry. the man got ready for a scolding, looking down at her as she was now pressed almost chest to chest with him, “you’re forgetting!! we have to make sure we secure the gold before we can even think about leaving this place!”

usopp sweatdropped as he realized that nami and [name]’s priorities were surely going to get them into trouble.

“oh, right, sorry, nami, i forgot!” [name] sheepishly said, scratching the back of his head, “can’t leave without it,”

“that’s right,” nami approved with a satisfied nod of her head.

“oh, and this “gold” thing you guys were speaking of all last night…what exactly is it?”

now everyone looked at the old man as if he were the crazy one.

after some seconds of silence due to their astonishment, [name] said “i need some coffee…” and was slinking away from the conversation and turning to go to the kitchen to make himself a cup of his favorite drink.

he hummed the entire time he was brewing the coffee. he felt comforted in the scent that surrounded him, taking a couple of the coffee beans from the casing and popping them into his mouth. his hands worked professionally to brew his own cup, smiling in delight to see that his process was almost done.

he got a cup and saucer from the cabinet, pushing it to be underneath the dripping coffee and clapping in acheivement.

his favorite part of the day was when he got to make his own coffee, without a doubt. he took another handful of the coffee beans before sealing them away and walked out of the kitchen sipping his coffee and then chewing some beans.

just as he gently closed the door behind him, there was a loud bang. and when he looked forward, he saw that a barrel was completely obliterated and that sanji was blown back to the railing of the ship.

“what was that?” he asked, looking at everyone on board with wide eyes, “i left for two seconds to get some coffee and you guys are blowing up barrels. completely uneccessary,” he said, sounding uncharacteistically responsibble. “and sanji looks like a dumbass now, oh! but when does he not? haha!!!”

sanji stomped over and repeatedly kicked [name]’s back, only making the man laugh even more as he wasn’t that fazed by the attacks.

“that was an impact dial. it can absorb and freely release shocks. normally, they’re put onto the palm via gloves or bandages. if they’re powerful enough, a direct hit can kill an average person.”

sanji started going off at the old man while he was just calmly explaining more history of the imapct dials, “there are now extinct rejec dials that release ten times more energy and blasts of these impact dials. but they were a double edged sword, as the excessive shock from using them put the user’s own life at risk,”

[name]’s eyes sparkled as he finished drinking his coffee and went running over to the shell-like dial on the ground, “i wanna try then, it can’t be that bad right? sanji, did you feel anything? because if you didn’t feel anything, i definitely won’t, haha!!”

“quit playing with something you barely understand and help clean up!” sanji said, walking over to [name] with a broom in his hands. he pulled [name] up by his ear and released him when he was finally standing upright.

“what? why do i have to clean if i didn’t even make the mess…” [name] groaned, stubbornly taking the dust pan from sanji and crouching down to the mess so that sanji could push the debris into his pan.

“well, old man, we also heard something called “mantra” what’s the explanation behind that,” sanji asked, moving the broom across the wooden deck to gather all the mess.

“mantra?” [name] hummed in interest, looking up at the old guy, “tell me, old prejudiced, fake god, what’s mantra?”

“oi!” nami and usopp said in unison, deadpanning at the name calling [name] resorted to.

“i’m unable to use it myself so i can’t explain it very well-”

”loser!” [name] interuppted, even though he had no idea what mantra was either.

“but it is said that “mantra” is a listening ability. supposedly, just by living, people give off voices from their body,” [name] tilted his head, trying to apply that explanation with anything he’d heard from his journeys. hearing a voice? from bodies?

he was coming up blank with anything familiar to that definition.

“by listening to them, you can allegedly hear what the person’s body will do next,”

[name]’s head became untilted in thought as that struck a chord of familiarity in him.

“predicting what the person will do next?” he asked, more so speaking to himself than to the crew around him, “hold on, i know what that is — but i never heard it be called mantra,”

nami looked at [name] in interest, noting how serious he was, “do you know someone who has used it? it sounds pretty powerful…”

“i can use it,” [name] bluntly said, “but i never thought about it like listening to voices…to me it was just a gut feeling type of thing. is this what enel uses to keep track of all his little minions?”

the sky knight nodded.

”hm, i never really paid attention to using it in location — i already got something like that anyway, i only use it in combat,” the sky knight hummed in intrigue while the others just exchanged looks with each other.

for how much of a lax and carefree guy [name] is, it’s easy to forget that he has had much more experience out at sea than the rest of them. he had sailed by himself for three long years with no one else watching his back, but himself.

the fact is: there are probably more techniques that he has already under his belt of experience that the crew wouldn’t even be able to imagine. that, plus the fact he was already naturally strong from the get go.

it was odd to think that such an intimidatingly strong figure was casually sailing along with them and acting like a kid more than half the time.

this thought crossed their minds every now and then and now they were only reminded it of it once again.

and as their heads were clouded with how terrifying [name] truly could be, they just didn’t know it, the man himself was silently looking ahead. his body was stiff, it suddenly felt like he was thrown into some sort of hot bath.

he panted, his breathing becoming erratic. he turned his head in every direction to see where this sudden physical reaction of himself was coming from, freezing when it reached a particularly painful point.

nami noticed this first, rushing over to his side, “hey! are you alright?! you’re sweating bullets,” hastily, she pressed her hand to his forehead before pulling away in shock, “[name]! your body is burning up, i mean, it’s boiling hot to touch!”

“just…give me some space,” he requested of her, still looking around to try and pinpoint why he was reacting this way.

he didn’t like this.

it was bringing back some memories.

and if what happens right now somehow even mimics what had happened to him in the past, they could all be fucked.

he held onto the railing to steady himself, ignoring how there was steam rising from where his hand made contact with the wood. quickly, he pulled himself away from it and just tried steadying himself using his balance alone.

“hey, what’s going on, [name]? are you okay? why are you burning up so bad?!” usopp worriedly asked, being held by his wrist by nami so that he didn’t step any closer to [name]. her hand was still dully aching from when she had touched his skin…

“we can’t help you unless you tell us what’s wrong! do you need an ice bath or something?” sanji asked, looking at their crewmate with worry.

it was obvious [name] wasn’t joking around and he definitely didn’t look like he was in a good physical state right now.

“there’s…”

just as he was going to say, “there’s something wrong,” he was cut off when a figure appeared out of nowhere and sat on the opposite railing of the deck. they were shirtless, earlobs dangling inhumanely low due to their gauges, and the thing that caught [name]’s eye was that he was smirking at him directly.

as if he knew that he was [name]’s prime weakness.

“huh? i don’t think that’s a normal reaction from humans,” the mysterious person hummed in amusement, pointing a long finger at [name], “but i feel like that’s a good reaction to when you’re in the presence of god~”

[name] would have pretended to gag once more, but he didn’t have the strength to even do that.

“don’t go mocking our crewmate!!” sanji shouted, rushing forward and meaning to plant an attack right into the guy’s face, but he was blasted backwards by lightning.

and although [name] wasn’t the victim of the attack, he dropped to his knees and coughed up blood. both nami and usopp looked at their “guards” and ran to their sides. nami ran to [name]’s while usopp checked in on sanji.

“what the hell?! [name], you’re skin is…” nami looked at his body, horrified to see what looked like the skin melting off of his flesh.

“fuck!” [name] shouted into the air, making nami and usopp flinch at the loud noise.

“s-s-sanji’s heartbeat…i can’t hear it!! he’s dead! he killed sanji!!” usopp tearfully announced, jaw dropped as he shouted into the air.

“hold on…usopp, that’s the wrong side of his chest…” nami corrected him, making usopp flinch in realization, pressing his head down to the left side of sanji’s chest, and then scream in relief to hear a faint heartbeat.

“he’s alive!!!”

“that foolish man…i’m not here to cause any trouble,” the guy calmly explained, but despite his tone, the crew only grew more weary.

and [name] felt himself grow closer and closer to passing out.

his bones were burning. it felt like someone cut open his flesh and pressed a hot rod right onto his bones. he cursed his body, eyes blown wide open as he tried to get ahold of himself.

“it’s only physical, it’s only physical,” he repeated over and over in his head as a means of calming himself down. it wasn’t really working, though, as he was still very obviously in immense amounts of pain.

“is that any way to greet an old friend? it’s been six years, former god gan fall!”

[name] stiffened, looking up at the mysterious person and piecing it together.

fuck, his bones were hurting a lot, his flesh felt like it was melting right off, and his mental was in terrible disarray.

this guy must be god enel.

“fuck you!” [name] said through strained breathing and a clenched jaw. blood was beginning to seep out of his eyes, ears, and mouth. it was truly terrifying. the way nami covered her mouth and usopp shook where he stood was enough to show how scared they were.

“god isn’t real — even if he was—”

enel moved swiftly through the air using his abilities, landing himself right in front of [name] with a smirk on his face.

with a single press of his finger to [name]’s head, the h/c haired man passed out with blood pouring out of almost every crevice and pore on his body. his body fell onto the ground with a heavy “thud” and zero signs of him breathing were seen.

“[name]…?” nami turned him over, holding a hand over his chest and feeling his heart no longer beating. she ignored the burning sensation that spread over her hand, taking [name] by his shoulders and shaking him, “[name]!!! [name]!!! wake up!! hey!!! [name]!!”

the forest echoed her cries and screams of panic.

[name] laid face down on the ground with pools of blood surrounding him, his chest turned still as he was no longer breathing, and his skin was still boiling hot to the touch, looking as if the meat of his bone were completely melting.

-

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taglist ! lmk if you want to be tagged/if i forgot to tag you!!! :

@skullr0se, @strawberrii-tea, @triangulartriangles, @anotherlovefool, @sinmp, @3v37773, @taru-nami, @disc0dild0s, @boredwithlifeatthispoint, @kaulitzer, @whotdefak @lcst-at-5ea @zforgottensniper @notplutos @violently-nerdy @cheetosins

[stars-are-shining-bright]

Thinking about Dr. Baron Marius von Raum (neither a baron nor a doctor) today

he used to be a mecha pilot, he has a mechanical hand, he plays the violin, he is the ship's doctor despite not being a doctor when the ship already has a doctor -who is the pilot- and several mad scientists on board, he stayed in prison for 60 years with three of his crew members and he annoyed Lyf every second they interacted, he can summon violins at will, he wanted to sing the entirety of tbi to Lyf to warn them, he died because octokittens ate him, he wears a monogoggle for no discernable reason, HE LİTERALLY HAS A KNEE COLLECTİON BECAUSE HİS CREW MEMBERS KEEP STEALİNG HİS KNEES, and the crew members also make stuff out of his knees, he tried to reattach his knees to himself but it didn't work, he wears knee pads everyday to prevent knee loss, he once gazed out into the sun for weeks and was worshipped after doing so, he wears a helmet, but takes it off during gptvtmk when they mention the opposing army also had spikes on their helmets. he named himself "marius from space" and then decided he would be a doctor and a baron. He even dressed up as toy soldier once.

[just-a-strange-boy]

boiling tempers

He might be an excellent neurosurgeon and your colleague, but Stephen Strange has the talent of winding you up like no other person can. After a surgery nearly goes wrong, you finally clash.

Pairing: Surgeon!Stephen Strange x Male Reader

Warnings: 18+ (Minors DNI), hate sex, rough sex, unprotected, semi-public, mature language, one act of physical violence, mentions of surgery, Stephen being an asshole

A/N: we all feel some type of way about surgeon strange, don't we?

There was not a single human being that annoyed you more than Doctor Stephen fucking Strange.

Maybe it was his stupidly smug face, the cold look of superiority he tended to wear, trying to convince everyone that yeah, he was the best neurosurgeon and yeah, he did perform miracles on the human nervous system and no, your disease just simply wasn't good enough to be treated by him.

Maybe it was his arrogance, the way he put himself above the rest of the hospital staff, his dismissive stance on cases that were not challenging and therefore not deserving of being put on his surgical records.

Perhaps it was the way he talked down to other nurses and doctors alike, the way he never even spared as much as a glance or a tight-lipped “Hello” when crossing familiar faces in the hallway, going along his day like there was no other as good as Stephen Strange.

It irked you that you couldn't even deny him all of the fame and praise he earned, considering the fact that he was actually the best neurosurgeon the country could offer and he did damn good work.

That also unfortunately ensured him the top spot at the Metro General, which was the perfect opportunity to be an absolute dick to others and most turned a blind eye at his behavior.

The directors board of the hospital was most pleased to have Strange as their top neurosurgeon – any hospital would have – but that likely had to do with his abilities and definitely not with his personality. Doctors, students and nurses were in adoration of his surgical skills, marveling how Strange spoke about his work and how passionate he was about taking on cases (if worthy of his attention), and of course mooning over his looks.

Though did anyone of them possibly think he was a great person?

He was a great surgeon, sure. You could admit to that. You had quite a bit of respect for the work he did, unmatched in his capability and passion. An excellent, fast and hard working doctor, definitely admirable for his accomplishments, truly someone to look up to – for as long as he was in his scrubs in the OR, fingers busy with reattaching nerves or scrambling around in other people's brains.

The one and only Doctor Strange sure messed with your brain too.

If that weren't already enough... being around him was simply unavoidable.

Because the doctor was not only head neurosurgeon, making you – after years of studying, going through multiple exams and with a good eight years of work experience under your belt, now a perfectly capable surgical assistant – his stepping rug on every opportunity. No, he also happened to be a friend of Christine's.

How she had come to find someone like Strange even bearable in the first place was a huge mystery to you.

When you had first started at the Metro as a surgical assistant, working alongside resident doctors day by day, Christine had been one of your first good friends here and you quickly learned of her admittedly very silly crush on Stephen Strange.

You had heard more than enough about it. The way he had denied any of her advances straight away. How he had downright refusing to date her, up until the point that she had finally decided to put an end to trying and accepted they were never going to be anything besides friends.

Friendship seemed to work just fine for them. She still continued to spend time with him on the regular, plenty even, and you never really understood why. Her connection to the neurosurgeon was by all means strange – having asked times and times again what she might gain out of it, Christine never really went into detail why she was enduring the way he was. And god forbid, why she was even caring for him in this way.

Who knew what kind of secret Strange was hiding that made him actually likable in her eyes? Whatever it was, Christine kept it to herself. All she ever said was "He's not that bad when you get to know him."

You sure as hell didn't want to get to know him any more than you already did.

It was worse enough that you had to see him all the time.

He was in Christine's presence constantly – loitering around her office whenever they had a second of time to spare or interfering in lunch breaks and conversations you had meant to have with her. Of course, they were colleagues and their shared work was commendable, so in some way it seemed like Strange counted a lot on her opinion – whether it was going over cases together, creating a new surgical procedure, bothering her with preparation for speeches or events.

There was not a day you didn't run into him at the hospital either. As to be expected, you mostly saw him in the OR, where you had to assist him because it was your job, where you had to do his bidding in order to ensure a successful surgery. You never let your opinion of Strange influence the way you worked with him, passing tools from hand to hand. If anything, you've learned plenty about neurosurgery and the surgeon himself in your time assisting him.

But being constantly put on the same shifts with Strange also meant you saw a lot more of him during an entire work week than you would have wanted to. All you got to see of him outside the OR was not convincing you to seek out even more of him.

Plus, you were pretty sure that Stephen Strange had no fucking interest in getting to know you either. He knew you were friends with Christine, he seemed to hold no grudge against you personally, had never complained about the times you worked together at the operating table, but he was as indifferent as he always was with others. Constantly referring to you by your last name. Tending to ignore you whenever you came across each other in Christine's presence. Certainly not going out of his way to be particularly nice to you.

Sometimes you understood.

Neurosurgery was nothing for the faint of heart.

They all took hours and hours in the OR sometimes, remaining up on their feet and concentrated for a really long time. Surgeries were challenging, nerve-wrecking, tiring. Emergencies were most stressful. Of course, everything had to be in place for the head surgeon right in time, everyone needed to be prepared for complications at the worst times, everyone needed to stay focused and ready for the surgeon's requirements.

That was the job you had signed up for and you didn't require Doctor Strange to use a kind tone in the OR. You didn't mind that he scoffed at his staff occasionally or that he wasn't thanking you for doing the basic assistant work.

What you minded was that Strange sometimes used others as a personal punching bag when something wasn't going right, making sure to point out everyone's mistakes, except his own of course.

And this had almost gone terribly wrong.

Though it was neither your teams nor the doctor's fault that the scans had failed to show the true expense of the tumor of your most recent patient, it was a certain someone's fault for wanting to make the impossible possible.

The entire surgical team had advised Stephen Strange not to do it, to not even try to touch that tumor after opening the patient up, but he had been so convinced of his surgical skills that he tried it anyways, wanting to please his own god complex like he just loved to do.

Only a couple of minutes later, though working with a calm and steady hand as usual, he had to calmly admit to his personal mistake and stopped whatever he had planned in his genius mind when he noticed he had underestimated that tumor, having unfortunately triggered some hemorrhage that disabled him to keep on operating. Instead of a resection, he now had to opt for clipping the bleeding, which was a difficult and stressful change of action for the lot of them – not impossible, but looking at the great schemes of things preventable, had he listened.

The team had barely managed to stabilize the patient's condition after he had done his best to fix the mistake.

You could tell that Strange was in a sour mood, his inflated ego having taken quite the damage after realizing that playing god didn't work out for him so well sometimes and needing to admit his personal failure, while he was closing the patient up again, tumor remaining in place.

Even so, you thought he should count himself lucky and were thoroughly relieved that him acting out had not taken this man's life. But you bit your tongue, not wanting to drop a negative comment about what had happened to the surgeon himself, who was already tense and on edge from his failed attempt.

Instead you had decided to say something nice, whatever had made you get this idea.

"I've never seen such a massive tumor. It would have taken hours of preparation to even ensure a partial resection. Let alone a miracle to get rid of it entirely", you so casually mentioned to the doctor as you were getting changed side by side like so often, the only two remaining in the locker room.

You were hardly ever chatty around him, neither was he with you. And yeah, you were very aware he could get nasty in one of his moods, so perhaps opening your mouth to him now wasn't a smart decision. However, you were a fairly decent person, his colleague, showing sympathy when it was due, and you were under the impression that he could use a kind word.

Stephen Strange was arrogant and a downright asshole sometimes, but only human – and like any other person he had made a mistake, a lapse of judgment. While it shouldn't have happened in the OR or almost cost a person's life, there was no way of turning time back to prevent it. He had owned up to it by admitting his defeat and would carry the possible consequences.

"It was the right decision to stop. A good decision. You did what you could. Going on would have been too big of a risk and I'm glad you managed to clip it entirely."

Strange grumbled a little, seemingly ignoring your comment at first and wordlessly slipping out of his scrubs to reveal a sight you knew all too well for getting undressed in the same room quite regularly.

And dear lord, the sight of him only.

You were too defeated after the chaos in the OR to keep yourself from looking. Wasn't it annoying how good he looked too? As much as you hated his smug face, he was a painfully attractive man. Taking good care of himself and his body, certainly fitting in the occasional work-out between shifts. What he lacked in personality, decency for one, this body made up.

Judging by looks alone, couldn't let your gaze wander too often or obvious, the man was likely sporting a big dick too – and to say the least, Strange might not have been very desirable when it came to character, but you were certain he would be a good fuck.

"Bleeding was horrid, yeah, but as I said... a partial resection still should have been possible. But for that I would need a team that backs me up when it gets critical and doesn't retreat when things seem a little more challenging", the surgeon eventually spoke, “Didn't help that everyone was so stressed out all of the sudden, threw me a little off guard.”

As soon as he had opened his mouth, every positive impression or thought you had ever harvested for him seemed to instantly leave the room, the building, the city and Earth itself. His enormous ego was once again infuriating you.

The audacity alone to claim what he had just said made you see red.

Everyone on your surgical team was used to Strange, he was used to all of you. You worked together well, hand in hand, especially when things were tough!

It wasn't any of your jobs to kiss his ass because it suited him better, and that very well included giving him counterpoints in the OR, in order to prevent him from pushing past the limits. Which he had done. Which would have gone wrong hadn't you all been there to assist him in undoing the mistake.

And yet he had just said that, convinced of his god-like ability, accusing your team was at fault, denying that he was fallible like any other human being.

While you had really meant to be nice to him and not to scratch his already vulnerable ego any further, that was one word too much.

Stephen Strange had the talent of winding you up like no one else could.

"With all respect, doctor, you can count yourself lucky that this man is still alive and didn't end up in the morgue like he almost did", you eventually snapped and it sure must have looked ridiculous: you in your underwear, furious with rage, significantly smaller than Strange himself, as you faced him.

No smug look on his face anymore, but a suddenly darkened expression, jaw tensing, his facial muscles twitching in annoyance, Strange went from zero to one-hundred real quick too.

"Watch your mouth", he snarled, sharply addressing you with your last name like he always did, though not looking any less ridiculous in his underwear. He stepped towards you with a somewhat threatening intention, obviously wanting to impose.

Strange was a broad man, healthy, strong, could have easily overpowered you. You noticed that his whole body had gone rigid with tension, fists clenched, muscles visibly tense, and on any other day you might have gladly allowed yourself to admire the sight, but not today.

You both kept your stances.

"Yeah, or what?", you spoke through gritted teeth.

"I'm warning you here", Strange replied, the air between the two of you intense and heavy with both your frustrations. Any more tension and the air might have cracked under the pressure. "Don't push it, boy. Only because you're Christine's friend doesn't mean I won't get you into serious trouble with the board."

"Threatening me now, doctor? Oh, you must really think you're so untouchable, don't you?", you snarled right back at him, almost butting heads together, so close to one another like never before, only a sliver away from actually touching.

"I'm just saying it how it is. You're a huge asshole, never able to look past your own arrogance, and you'd know how much people actually despised you if you looked left and right sometimes."

"And you're an insolent and incompetent brat. This behavior is entirely unprofessional", Strange spewed, anger and frustration glowing in his eyes, written all over his face, "and I will make sure you're going to regret this."

"You're not any better, Strange", you spoke with sheer despise and must have looked just as frustrated, facing him like this, not backing down, absolutely enraged by his stupid threats and the simple overestimation of his own person.

Brows furrowed, nostrils blowing furiously, so up in each others personal space that you felt his warm, heavy breath on him, standing there in nothing but your underwear, bodies tense with every single second and then... all hell broke loose.

Strange took another step forward, grabbed you by the shoulders and pushed you backwards into the lockers, with a little more force than you had initially expected. The sudden impact made you groan in pain, your back colliding with the cold metal doors, as the other man now held you wedged between them and him.

Your heart leaped in your chest, your breath hitched for a moment. Because you hadn't expected this form of aggressiveness from him, the sheer dominance, getting so physical when it could get him in serious trouble to assault someone in such a way, even as a doctor. Especially as a doctor.

But facing him like this, it wasn't fear that surged through your body. No, definitely not fear. It turned you on.

"Fuck you", you just said, trying to push back and shove him away, slamming the flats of your palms against his pecs. Though when you noticed that you had no way of escaping, Strange's hot and tense body keeping you trapped, him being so much stronger than you were, your brain simply short-circuited.

Instead of struggling against him further, you leaned towards him and clashed your mouths together in a whim, immediately thinking to yourself that whatever you were doing right was really foolish.

You would have expected anything from this unpredictable man, being shoved to the side, being called slurs, perhaps even being truly physically hurt after doing something so ridiculously stupid – but all the doctor did, while seemingly surprised by the action, was pressing his mouth right back onto yours, almost hungrily, teeth digging into your bottom lip.

Strange was responding to your attempt of a kiss, the both of you pouring all of your sheer anger into it. Teeth clashing and biting, tongues plundering each others mouths, he kept you pressed up against the locker with all of his body, his hands holding you in place, nudging his thigh between your legs which definitely added onto your undeniable arousal.

"You're terrible and I hate you", you groaned against his lips once gasping for air, though wasting no time to pull him in close again, hand sliding into the doctor's hair as you tugged hard on it, the other finding his upper back, fingers digging into his shoulders to a point where you knew it was likely going to hurt him.

You were hoping it would leave stinging marks for him to remember this.

"Feeling's mutual", Strange hissed into the kiss, thigh pressing further into your growing hardness, holding onto your waist with a firm grip, fingers digging into your skin so tightly that you almost hoped they would bruise you too.

"Look at you, like a little slut, getting all hard and desperate when someone treats you like deserve it", he continued on, the low gravel of his voice sending shivers up your spine, the bite of his harsh words even more so sparking your arousal.

"Yeah, as if you're not into it", you replied immediately, knowing that Strange was hard too, feeling him pressed up against your leg. Something within you screamed to be taken apart right here, like this, wanted the doctor to use you, to fuck the frustration right out of the both of you. You had no idea why that sounded like such a good idea.

"Why not be a man of your word and put me in my place?", you asked quietly, suggestively, kissing him hard once again, catching his lip between your teeth and biting down, earning yourself a scowl.

When Strange pulled away, you could make out his dark pupils dilating in those icy blue eyes, a gaze full of lust, his lips parted with heavy breaths seeping through, red and swollen.

He didn't reply anything and let go for a moment to grab you hard by the shoulders again, urging you to turn around. You could hardly stop yourself from being shoved into the lockers again, bracing yourself up against them with your hands, back arched, displaying your ass to him quite nicely.

“Remember you asked for it”, he growled then, seeming amenable to give you what you what, pushing his hips into yours. Now you could definitely feel that Strange was hard, pressing up against the curve of your ass.

You reveled in the feeling for a moment, fearing that it might be gone in the blink of an eye, but something told you he wasn't going to let it go now. He wouldn't back down, not after this amount of disrespect.

As it happened to be, without a single precaution, he nearly ripped your underwear off you, leaving you entirely bare and in anticipation of whatever he was going to do to next. You were shuddering, the cold of the room brushing over your body, goosebumps forming, but remained standing steady even as the doctor's hands returned to you.

Skilled surgeons hands, kneading your ass, pulling your cheeks apart, as fingers delved between them, brushing over your needy hole. Even just the touch made your breath hitch, feeling his fingertips circling the sensitive ring of muscles, and god, your cock was already stirring in interest, leaking a pathetic trickle of precum.

How was he turning you on this much?

"Do you have any idea how much you rile me up all the fucking time? How often you make me want to bend you over the operating table? How much I want to teach you a lesson whenever you're getting snappy in the OR? You're such a damn brat, it makes me wanna do all kinds of things to you", Strange mewled into your ear, kissing the spot behind it, moving down to suck hard on your neck again, bruising you, biting you, “I bet you'll look so pretty on my cock. Gonna fuck you raw, would you like that?”

"You owe it to me, Strange", you moaned, surprised by his words. Him? Riled up by you? Wanting to bend him over? Wanting to discipline him? For how long had he been having these fantasies?

He didn't leave you much time to go on wondering. You heard the man spit then, feeling a trickle of wetness being spread around your hole, a single digit easing into you, accompanied by the slight burn of the stretch, though not unfamiliar.

Would have been better with preparation, but this would do. You would let him fuck you like this.

"I knew you were gonna be a real cockslut", the doctor mused but seemed to be a man of his word, spreading more of his spit over your hole, working you open with precise movements, like one would expect from someone with such skilled hands. Two fingers in, you couldn't have cared any less if anyone found the two of you like this. You were gone and beyond as those fingers found your sweet spot, their intrusion leaving a nice burning stretch, then brushing over your prostate, making your cock jolt in response, a moan slipping passed your lips.

"Gosh, can't you just fuck me already?", you begged, thighs already shaking from the stimulation, especially the way he seemed so keen on prodding your prostate all over again.

"Oh, we're getting there and I'll make sure you'll remember it well", Strange growled at you, pulling his fingers back, "Gonna make you feel me all night, all day, all week. Every time you get in here, every time you see me in the OR, you'll think of this.”

It sounded more like a promise than a threat though. You just knew Strange would fuck you unforgettably well. It wouldn't matter how rough or angry it would be, and you craved to feel it all week, even just as a reminder that you had fucked Stephen Strange, out of all people.

"Stop talking so much", you bit back, feeling the tip of the doctor's cock gently nudging your hole, smearing more spit and his own precum all over you, before finally pushing in, the intrusion of his impressive length making you gasp.

The long-awaited stretch of a cock inside of you was sudden and damn, Strange was filling you out good, to the point where you certainly needed a moment to adjust to all his girth and might, finding it hard to breathe.

Balling your hands into fists, you took deep breaths through your nose, but pressed back into him, making sure to allow all of the man in. “G-god, knew you'd have a huge cock”, you huffed out, eyes squeezed shut, knowing that it would do nothing but stroke his ego. However you just didn't care about the size of it anymore now that he was fully sheathed inside of you, leaving you rather focused on the size of something else.

"Fuck, you're damn tight", the doctor groaned, stilling inside of you for a moment, noticing that you needed the time to get used to him, which was in some way almost kind. His large, precise hands came to rest on your waist, holding onto you, absentmindedly stroking the skin there.

"Already regretting this?", he mocked, fingers squeezing into the softness of your flesh, but didn't start moving yet.

"No", you huffed, unashamed to add the next comment as you deemed yourself more than ready, "And you should start moving before I get bored."

That certainly stirred up a fire in Strange again, though perhaps less out of anger and frustration, now shrouded with desire and lust and the challenge to make you feel all of him. He began moving painstakingly slow at first, pulling slightly back before thrusting into you without holding back, and then settled quickly on fucking you hard and deep, filling you out so perfectly, hitting that sweet spot within you immediately.

The two of you were soon enough in a complete trance, Strange's eager and hard thrusts, his cock stretching you out all over again, both of you moaning and groaning and panting heavily, your legs almost giving in as the rapid strokes sent a shudder through your entire body, the metal of the locker doors rattling under the sheer force of your coupling.

You couldn't focus on anything else than the waves of pleasure all through your body, the thought that you liked being used by Strange like this, how glad you were the anger and the frustration was fucked right out of you by the exact man who had riled you up like that in the first place. A man you riled up just as much, who had apparently waited to put you into your place for a long time now.

The grip on your hips was bruising, Strange's mouth must have left marks all over your neck, your shoulders, your upper back, as he kept on latching onto you everywhere he could reach – and you would most certainly feel the sting of being stretched out so wonderfully whenever you would try to sit down the next few days. You found it harder and harder to keep yourself upright, still bracing yourself against the lockers.

As you could feel your orgasm beginning to hit hard, crawling up your spine, white hot flashes etching in your brain, you quickly reached down to grab your painfully hard cock, tugging on yourself as the hard thrusts into you sent you over the edge, your hole clenching around the man's length, eager to keep him in place, trapping him inside of you.

Strange made an ungodly noise as you tightened around him, slumping forwards against your back and coming to his own undoing. With his head coming to rest on shoulder, cock buried within you to the hilt, he spilled himself inside of you, holding onto you as both your orgasms completely ruled over you.

It took you a while to come down from that high. The rush of passion and adrenaline had long passed, your head found some clearance again.

You sighed loudly, breathing hard, sweaty and definitely in need of a shower now. There was a distinctive ache in your body and you grew awfully aware he was still inside of you.

Strange's arm came around your middle and he simply held onto you instead of drawing away. You almost found yourself a little puzzled when the man nuzzled your neck, placing an almost gentle kiss on it, and even more so by the way you weren't fully disliking his embrace.

He asked you an odd question then too. You hadn't expected it. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah... yeah, I think I am", you answered after a moment of silence, only now noticing the mess you had made, your own cum having spurted onto one of the lockers, on the floor, covering your hand too. Even though you were sticky and kinda sore, it made you grin. He'd sure fucked you good.

You were definitely going to feel the burn for days to come and would not forget about your interaction any time soon. You sure hoped that neither would he.

"Are you?", you asked him, not even knowing why you were trying to respond with the same kindness. It didn't match the situation at all, didn't match the smell of sex hanging in the air, didn't match the fact you had literally just fucked your frustration out of each other, the argument entirely dissolved – for Lord's sake, you could feel his cum trickling down your thighs, once Strange eased his hold and pulled out of you, and yet you were chatting each other up so casually.

"More than", the doctor admitted, "I think we settled that argument at least."

You wriggled out of his grip, turning around in his arms, facing the man that now seemed a lot more relaxed and calm, not angry or upset anymore in the slightest, though just as messy and disheveled as yourself.

The tension had just been whiffed away.

"We did", you mused, oddly talkative after just getting your brain fucked out.

You pondered whether to say something else, whether to just shut up and go your ways, whether to confront him about what had just happened and what it would mean for the two of you.

He was still looking at you, questioning, perhaps even waiting for you to add something. So after a slight pause, you did.

"What happened in the OR today was unfortunate. What you said made me angry and sure, you're an arrogant asshole and I don't agree with the things you do sometimes. I get annoyed by you on the regular, but I didn't actually mean it when I said that I hate you. If anything, I'm kind of surprised by you.”

“Why, didn't think I'd dare to fuck you?”, Strange chuckled, probably unsure what you were meaning to tell him – you didn't quite know yourself – and no longer looked at you in disapproval, but like he was in good spirits. There was this cockiness to him again, something to usually disliked, though in the afterglow it more so wanted to make you smile.

“Well yeah”, you shrugged, “Didn't think you'd be interested.”

“I was pissed off after fucking up and then of course it had to be you approaching me. So as I've said... I've been feeling some type of way about you before. I shouldn't have said you're incompetent, because you're not. I find you irritating and annoying. You are a brat, no doubt, and I've wanted to fuck that out of you for a long time. Didn't think you'd let me, especially not that way. It was kinda hot", he replied nonchalantly, bending down to pick up both your underwear from the ground, handing yours over.

“So you're saying you're actually into me?”

“I said I wanted to put you in your place and fuck you, which I just did. But maybe, just maybe, Christine is right after all and I should get to know you."

"Funny. She told me the same thing", you responded, opening your locker to grab a towel and the bag with toiletries, thinking that you would now definitely have to hit the showers, needing to get rid of all your traces, at least the once you could get rid of. Your skin was stinging was his marks and you sure were sore. But damn, hadn't that been just worth it.

It was weird to suddenly see Strange in such a different light.

"Well, considering she might have a point, we cleared the air, we both know the sex will be good... maybe we could go for a coffee sometime?", he asked, picking his own stuff from the locker.

"Asking me on a date now, Doctor Strange?", you wondered, looking him over in all his naked glory and musing whether it would really be a good idea to get to know him beyond the OR, not quite knowing where the change of heart came from all of the sudden. Couldn't have just been the sex, could it?

You had always felt some type of way about Stephen Strange. It usually hadn't been very positive and it didn't help you faced a bunch of conflicting feelings now, not knowing what to make of this.

He would certainly make for another good fuck, you had no doubts about that, and it would be worth it, if going for a coffee together meant getting to fuck him in a proper bed some day. Strange would certainly still make you mad and put you off plenty of times, especially with his attitude and all, but as had been proven today, it definitely ensured some hot sex.

Could it be more than just sex one day? Maybe it was a bit too early to think about that.

"Would it be that weird if I was? I already fucked you, so I might as well go on a coffee date with you", Strange shrugged, looking you over in return, eyes raking over you like he could have devoured you another time right there, right then.

"Look at you being all chivalrous. Do you even know my first name, doctor?", you couldn't repress the cheeky question.

"Don't be silly, I can read a name tag. Though I think, brat suits you just fine", the older man stated, giving you a wink and a cocky smile, before throwing the towel over his shoulder and heading off to the bathroom.

Stephen Strange sure was a man to behold.

[wordy-little-witch]

Oh God Oh man oh jeez

Okay so. Angst. But like.

I'll put trigger warnings for it but this occurred to me at work and I'm just losing my MARBLES but-

TW for mental health issues, SH topics, hurt/comfort

Buggy growing up on a pirate ship probably lead to more than a few bad coping mechanisms- add in the sense of inferiority, his general anxious demeanor, etc, he probably hid a lot of things, even from the people he trusted most- especially from the people he trusted most.

Buggy likely had anxiety attacks or panic attacks fairly often - at first, it was handled with care, but when it became a recurring theme, some started finding it troublesome or obnoxious. When Buggy got to a certain point, he'd slip away to handle it on his own.

The only ones who really noticed or even cared enough to follow after him were Roger, who rarely COULD follow, Rayleigh, who was also often involved in the fall out, and Shanks, who would try but couldn't always get to him. Eventually Buggy, losing his shit and alone, accidently gets hurt during one of the attacks, either by nails or smth else. And suddenly things start... feeling solid. Less blurry, less frantic. Everything narrows down to the sharp-sting-hot lines and the red on his skin.

It becomes smth of a crutch to him.

He takes to wearing wrist bands, gloves, he is a bit more feisty about privacy, but very few clock something being wrong. Only Roger, Ray and Shanks feel like something is slightly off. They notice things going missing, they see how Buggy flinches sometimes with certain movements, but there's nothing concrete. There's red flags but they can't see the flagpoles to chase them back to the source.

Buggy gets in the habit of cutting young.

And then suddenly there is a Devil Fruit on board. A map, a chance, a fortune - he loves this family but he feels they don't love him. He isn't LIKE them. He's not strong like them, fast like them, he's just... Buggy. He's always just been Buggy, and Buggy has never been enough.

He plans to steal away in the night, under cover of darkness, leaving the crew short some money, sure, but they won't have the added weight of himself. He is just an anchor to them.

But Shanks finds him.

Shanks startles him.

Shanks slaps his back, tries to cheer him up, and the fruit goes down his throat, the magic explodes in his stomach, he gets angry, so so so angry, he is seeing red and he's raging and he's falling and-

And he's drowning.

Oh.

It was a real devil fruit.

Well... one way or another... he wanted to leave.

Shanks jumps after him. Shanks saves him. Buggy is soaked, cold, coughing and dizzy, and Shanks is beside him, is warm, and he's tempted, so tempted to lean into it and so he does-

And Shanks is pulled away. He opens his eyes, and the crew is there. Someone had wrapped Shanks in a towel, was fussing over him, someone was cheering for his "bravery" and Buggy-

He's cold.

He staggers to his feet, dripping, and he stumbles towards his room. Roger tries to stop him, grabs his shoulders, but Buggy is dripping with more than just sea water even though the steady streams are just as salted, so he pulls away and he runs.

He dives into their room, grabs his knife, his knees hit the floor and he moves and-

He lost the fruit.

He lost the map.

He lost his whole hand just now too.

No pain, just a split over his wrist, surreal and impossible and he can't- he can't breathe, he- what-

He drops his knife, the hand reattaches and he curls into a ball, hands burying in his hair, and he cries - silent as the grave, he is sobbing, hiccuping and sniffling, pulling his hair and he can't, he can't he can't-

Arms wrap around him, big, warm, the scent of sea air and rum and spiced strawberries, and Buggy clings to his captain as he simply shatters.

Roger sees the scars on his limbs, but he doesn't respond beyond hugging Buggy a little tighter. He doesn't react as he helps Buggy change, as he wraps his kid in his coat and holds him close, as he stares at the far wall and wonders how long and why and why didn't I know?

He doesn't say anything that night - not to Buggy at least.

He does talk to Rayleigh.

He leaves both of his sons curled up together in his own bed, tucked in with his own coat, and he meets Shanks' eyes, nods to the hardened little fire burning within them, a silent conversation of look after him and I Will echoing in the wooden walled room, and he goes to the only other person who will understand the rage, the fear, and they hug one another in silence.

Buggy is not okay. He hasn't been for a very, very long time, but they refuse to let him slip through the cracks, even if they have to chisel their way down to him themselves.

And this? This action, this choice? It changes EVERYTHING.

[ltwilliammowett]

Speaking as an embalmer, I'm also skeptical about the scrimshawed skull. Though admittedly not my skillset, the removal of skulls being more of a taxidermy thing and not something generally practiced on humans except in the context of medical schools, I'm really skeptical about someone's ability to preform the required tasks one the body of a friend to get the skull out of the skulls. Few enough modern embalmers are even comfortable embalming their own family. I find it really hard to think that someone would be able to remove all the skin from the outside AND the brain from the inside of a skull of their friend. And even if they were able to emotionally, I'm not sure that they'd be able to practically accomplish that while out at sea. But like I said that's more in the realm of taxidermy so I couldn't say. The line that goes around the skull on which the ship is sitting is looks like what you would expect from a cranial autopsy, but that's usually done with electric tools. Not sure about how or even if iit would have been done like that in 1868. I'd also be really interested in how the top portion of the skull was reattached. In short, I think you're right to doubt its authenticity. Hopefully this hasn't been too weird or creepy. I find my ability to judge what others might find unsettling isn't as great as it used to be before I started studying this stuff. Oh, and if you're interested in beautifully decorated skulls the Hallstatt Ossuary is absolutely gorgeous if you ever have the opportunity to visit.

Hi, first of all you don't sound creepy at all- I like that because I'm not an embalmer but a sepulchral archaeologist I work with mummies and the dead of all kinds. So hello mate ;) And yes, I know the Hallstatt skulls, I've even worked with them.

I agree with your objections, but let me tell you, whalers were very good at taking whales and other animals apart and processing their bones. And with a surgeon on board, a clean opening of the skull was no problem, which by the way has been around since ancient times, albeit with saws.

Whether one was emotionally capable of removing the skull of a comrade, cleaning it and boiling it is another matter, and at that time the moral concepts were again very Christian and conservative, so it is difficult to imagine that one would have done this to a comrade, especially since what were the men planning to do? To bring the skull to the poor mother or widow and say - well, unfortunately he didn't make it but here's the rest of him, even decorated, you can put him on the fireplace, was nice to meet you ma'am have a nice day-. Not really - but well ... sometimes ... Well, let's not go there, it just sounds too weird.

It's hard to imagine, but collectors at that time had completely different ideas and walked over dead bodies (in the truest sense of the word) to get a great story and a great exhibit, even if they bought a skull and had it decorated by a Sailor or Whaler. So I assume the latter. But a good story sells well and brings in a lot of money. And the Victorians were strange as hell and very morbid, death was something quite fascinating for them and was already blooming in very weird ways. I'm just saying mummy unwrapping parties, memorials of the burial site made of hair and teeth of the dead etc.

[em-writes-stuff-sometimes]

Seven hours of measuring, cutting and gluing—and yes, it really did take me that long. I’m not the greatest at cutting straight lines even with a ruler guide, so I eventually figured out I could use my guillotine to stamp a straight line impression into the book board (it’s WAAAAYYY too thick and dense to cut all the way through), and then cut the rest of the way through with the knife. Made for some of my best work thus far!

The spine is an experiment; usually, I do square backs with 1.8mm book board to complement the 3mm book board I use for the covers (I hate flimsy feeling hardbacks, so I go with the thickest option). Because I’m rounding the spine (I’m finding my text block is so heavy it is sagging, so rounding should hopefully offset that a bit), I went with 600gsm cardstock doubled over and curved slightly. It gives the same overall thickness as my square-back bindings, but much more flex to it. The spine involved a lot of blind dry-fitting and a couple reattempts at figuring out the appropriate hinge gap; had to tear it apart, cut down the spine and then reattach with a slightly smaller gap, which drove me NUTS but was overall worth it.

I feel like this is my most uniform attempt so far! Really proud of those hinges because I paid extra attention to ensuring the bookcloth adhered right, something I overlooked in previous attempts. The underneath is…. A bit foul, but a teeny bit of sanding and the assurance that it’ll be completely concealed by the end has made it worth it.

[mycurrent-hyperfixation]

There’s No Shame In Running: Eddie Munson x Reader (Fix-It Fic) Part II

Summary: Eddie Munson thought that maybe it was okay he was bleeding out in another dimension. That maybe he was meant to die this way after he had finally stood his ground; after he hadn't run away. But then there you were standing above him and he altogether realised that the thought of never seeing your face again completely and utterly terrified him.

Part I

Masterlist

Word Count: 4.1k

Pairings: Eddie Munson x Reader, Eddie Munson x Powered!Reader

Tags: fluff, angst

A/N: Hope you all enjoy! Let me know if anyone wants to be part of the taglist. All feedback is much appreciated xxx

“Mr Munson?”

The man that you had been trying to track down for the past two days finally stood before you, his hands outstretched towards the notice board as he removed Eddie’s vandalised poster and reattached a clean one.  

“Can we talk? My name’s Y/N L/N. I-”

“I can’t imagine we got anything to talk about,” Wayne responded, his back still turned to you. “My nephew is innocent. I’ll put up as many posters as I need until he’s found.”

Finally, he turned around to face you.

“Good day to you.”

And then he was leaving and you didn’t quite know how to stop him. There was so much to say, so much to try to explain and a school gymnasium filled with stranded people was not the most ideal of locations. But his figure only kept getting further away from you.

“I was with him!” you blurted out, earning a few stares from the people around you. Wayne Munson stopped in his tracks. “I was with him when the earthquake hit.”

Wayne slowly turned around to face you. You could see the slight sheen form over his eyes as he tried to hold back his tears. It made it even harder to fight off your own.

“And…where is Eddie now?”

It was clear that he dreaded the question, the fear so prominent in his eyes. The air between you became thick as he awaited your response with bated breath. You leaned closer to him, dropping your voice to a whisper whilst making sure no one was listening in.

“He was badly hurt but he made it out alive.”

Wayne released a deep sigh of relief.

“We took him to a hospital-”

“I checked all the hospitals,” Wayne whispered back.

“We had to take him to one outside of Hawkins to…um…to avoid the police. We admitted him under a different name as well just to be on the safe side.”

And then all of a sudden Wayne Munson’s arms were wrapping around you, his grip so tight that for a minute you weren’t quite able to breath. But you did not pull away as the man sobbed into your neck. A few tears slid down your own cheeks but you hastily wiped them away. When Wayne pulled back there was a small smile upon his lips.

“Sorry,” he said, patting your shoulder.

“That’s alright,” you responded. “Would you like me to take you to him?”

Wayne, not trusting himself to speak, simply nodded in response.  

The drive was slow.  

The traffic was worse than you had ever seen it, family upon family having packed their belongings and left the small town. Music drifted lazily from the radio as you drove, wind rushing through your hair from the open window.  

Neither you nor Wayne spoke much during the drive, but the air between you was comfortable. Periodically you would catch Wayne bouncing his leg up and down relentlessly and you could tell that the length of the drive was killing him, but you didn’t say anything hoping that his nervous ticks might bring him some semblance of comfort. Finally, when you pulled into the parking lot, Wayne practically jumped from the car, his figure following close behind you as you led the way.  

Opening the door to Eddie’s room, the beeping of the various machines that were attached to him was the only sound that filled the space. You stood back as Wayne rushed forwards at the sight of his nephew still unconscious upon the bed. He brought his hands up to clutch at Eddie’s head as if making sure he was actually real before he bent down and engulfed the boy in a hug.  

The scene was so intimate that you felt awkward simply standing in the doorway. But just as you had made the decision to give Wayne and his nephew some time alone, the older man called out to you.

“What did this to him?”

You hesitated, thinking over your answer.

“I don��t think you’d believe me if I told you,” you said. “But I’m afraid you might find out soon enough anyways.”

You could tell Wayne wasn’t satisfied with your answer, but he questioned you no further on the matter.

“Is he going to…” Wayne hesitated. “How long has he been like this?”

“Two days,” you responded, walking further into the room. Every time you glanced at Eddie now lying unconscious within the hospital bed you could never stop the tears from welling in your eyes. Tentatively, you rounded the bed before taking the seat that you had left situated by the bedside.

“The nurses say that he lost a lot of blood,” you continued, reaching a hand out to entwine with Eddie’s that sat limp at his side. “But they don’t think he’ll be in a coma for too long. Hopefully a couple of days at most. They’re still monitoring his wounds for infections though.”

Another chair sat in the corner and Wayne went to retrieve it, placing it on the opposite side of Eddie’s bed. He leant forward to brush a strand of Eddie’s hair away from his face before sitting down, his gaze coming to rest upon you.  

“You care about him a lot.”

It wasn’t a question, and yet you answered anyway.

“I do.”

And although you fought bravely against the onslaught of tears, they eventually won, streaming relentlessly down your cheeks. You tried futilely to rub them away as Wayne looked upon you, a kind smile upturning his lips slightly. 

“I think I love him.”

You weren’t too sure what had prompted you to confess such a thing, especially to a man you had just met. And although you were overwhelmingly embarrassed, you couldn’t quite bring yourself to regret it. For it felt good to finally get the thought off your chest, as if by speaking the words into the air it somehow took a slight weight off of your shoulders. In that moment you seemed to breath slightly easier.  

“Eddie’s a very easy person to love,” Wayne responded. “He was always such a kind kid, even with the way he was raised.”

“I bet he was a handful,” you smiled, continuing to rub against your eyes until your flow of tears began to slow.  

“Oh, he was a nightmare,” Wayne said causing the both of you to laugh. “But if there’s one thing I know about Eddie it’s that he’s not dumb, despite what his school marks might show. He wouldn’t let a nice girl like you get away from him if he had any sense.”

You smiled, and with a voice slightly cracking from a fresh wave of tears, said, “Thank you, Mr Munson.”

---

The smell of disinfectant instantly filled your senses upon your arrival to the hospital, the usual chaos of the place having died down now that most of the patients were asleep. Visiting hours were long since over so that you cautiously made your way down each hallway, ducking into nearby rooms and closets as the squeaks of nurse’s shoes passed you by. In one hand you were holding a large pizza box, a bouquet of flowers balanced precariously on top. In the other, your shoes were held firmly between your fingers, your footsteps having been far too noticeable when you had been wearing them.

Just as a nurse rounded the corner, you quickly pushed open the door to Eddie’s room, closing it gently behind you as the nurse walked by. With a small sigh of relief, you turned to look into the room, your eyes instantly coming to land upon the boy in the bed. The space was dark, the only light coming from the window, its blinds still partly open so that the light of the moon shone through.  

“Hey there sleepyhead,” you said with a soft smile as you crossed the room and rounded the bed. Placing the items upon the bedside table, you emptied the vase that you had left there, the flowers inside having begun to wilt. You replaced them with the new ones you had bought, manoeuvring certain stems until the bouquet sat nicely. This time they were red carnations, the petals bringing a touch of colour to the otherwise dreary room. Reaching into your bag, you extracted a candle and some matches, placing the former upon the bedside table and lighting it with the latter so that the room was illuminated in a soft glow.  

You smiled up at Eddie as he came into clearer focus in the light. Leaning forward, you brushed a lock of his hair away from his face, tucking it behind his ear. With a sigh, you reclaimed the seat by the bedside that had essentially become yours, reaching forward to grab the pizza box before propping your feet up upon the edge of the bed, careful not to touch Eddie’s side. Flicking the lid of the box open, you inhaled the scent of the pizza and moaned.

“The nurse said I should talk to you more,” you began, periodically taking bites of your pizza slice. “She said that you could still hear me, which I don’t really know if I believe, but...it’s nice...talking to you again. Even if you don’t answer.”

Your gaze explored Eddie’s face. The bruises on his neck were healing nicely, the skin having turned a sickly yellow with most of the purple areas having disappeared. More colour had returned to his skin, a healthy flush covering his cheeks as his breathing came out deep and even.

“It’s Saturday,” you said, your voice barely above a whisper. “I got all dressed up for our date and you didn’t show. I thought you said 7 o’clock sharp, Munson. It’s not nice to keep a girl waiting.”

Tears began to prickle at the corner of your eyes.

“I suppose I can find it in myself to forgive you though,” you said with a small smile, casting your gaze downwards as you picked up another slice of pizza. You sighed as you ate, a silence engulfing the room. The light of the candle flickered beside you, casting strange shadows across the wall.  

You glanced down at the dress you had adorned, the length coming to rest in the middle of your calves in an attempt to cover some of the bruising your body had sustained from your fight with Vecna. It was a nice dress, one of your favourites, and although the night was chilly you had refrained from adorning a jacket even if Eddie wasn’t going to see it.  

“Sorry I was late, sweetheart.”

Your head whipped up at the sound of Eddie’s voice, croaky and hoarse, his gaze fixated upon you. You couldn’t help the strangled sob that left your lips as you all but threw the pizza box to the floor, jumping up from your seat and leaping onto the bed. Eddie grunted slightly as you engulfed him in a hug, careful of the placement of your hands to avoid the majority of his wounds. His arms instantly came up to wrap around you, his grip slightly weak but his grasp upon you unwavering.

Tears flowed freely down your cheeks as you held each other, some coming down to drip onto Eddie’s hospital gown, wetting the fabric. You were shaking against him, you realised as Eddie somehow pulled you closer against him, the warmth of his skin against yours so entirely soothing that it eased your ragged breathing slightly. When you pulled away, Eddie’s hand instantly came up to rest upon your cheek, the pad of his thumb wiping away some of your tears. He smiled, and it was so wide and so genuine and so very lovely to see again that your tears were refreshed anew.

You smiled into Eddie’s touch as his hand continued to rest upon your cheek, his other hand coming up to brush away the hair that had fallen in front of your face. He looked at you like that in silence for some time, his hands continuing to brush against the skin of your cheek as if trying to decide whether you were real or not.

“Hello,” he said, finally breaking the silence, his voice deep and raspy.

“Hello,” you whispered back, not quite trusting your voice to speak any louder.

And then in that moment you altogether realised you were being quite neglectful to the man in your arms.

“Oh, god. I should get the nurse!” you jumped off the bed. “Can I get you something? Water? You’re probably thirsty so I should get you some water-”

But before you get very far away from the bed you found yourself unable to move any further, a tight grip fixated around your wrist. You turned to Eddie, his face contorted in pain slightly where he had leaned forwards to stop you.

“No,” he croaked. “J-just stay with me. That’s all I need right now”

He pulled you towards him and you willingly surrendered until you were back by his side. His eyes were captivating as they stared deeply into yours, his gaze completely unwavering. The grip he had around your wrist did not relent as he continued to pull you forwards, your knees hitting the side of the bed so that you had to lean over it until your face was inches from his.

“You’re so beautiful,” he breathed. “Have I ever told you that?”

“Oh, maybe once before,” you said back with a smile.

You leaned forwards as far as you could go, practically falling into Eddie as your lips crashed onto his. Where your last kiss had been tentative, hesitant, slow, this time it was desperate and frenzied as you all but devoured each other. Eddie’s hands came up instantly to tangle within your hair, trying to pull you closer. Your own hands fell onto his chest and stayed there, revelling in the feeling of him beneath you so solid and warm and alive.

You deepened the kiss, impatient to taste him once more and needing him closer to you in any way that you could have him. He kissed back just as eagerly, panting into your mouth as he tried to explore every square inch of it. It was as if Eddie was a starved man having been given a feast.

When you pulled away, Eddie whined in protest even though he was slightly light-headed from the exertion of it all. His heart was beating rapidly causing the machine beside him to beep faster. He worried for just a moment that it might alert one of the nurses but then he turned his gaze back to you and all his thoughts were dispelled from his mind. You smiled at him, your lips slightly reddened and he could have sworn his heart skipped a beat even though the monitor beside him said otherwise.

“You should have kissed me sooner,” Eddie said with a wide grin, his heart aching as you pulled away to stand back up. “I bet you I would have woken up.”

“Who says I didn’t try that?” you questioned with a smirk. “Sleeping Beauty was my favourite film as a child, you know.”

He watched on as you made to sit back in the chair beside his bed.

“No. Come here,” he whined, trying to shuffle over as he patted the space beside him on the bed. “Lay with me.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” you said, unable to stop yourself from smiling at Eddie’s disappointed expression. “You’re literally full of holes.”

“We’re all full of holes,” Eddie said, wiggling his eyebrows in such a way that had you stifling a laugh. “Now get over here. Or I swear I’ll get out of this bed and carry you instead.”

“Alright alright alright,” you said, relenting.

With hesitation, you slowly and cautiously sat upon the edge of the bed, making sure not to touch Eddie’s side as you swung your legs up. You were uncomfortable, that much was obvious from your stiff posture and rigid frame as you continued to be hyper aware of the placement of each of your limbs. Eddie whined from impatience before he leaned over, planted his hands firmly upon your waist and pulled you into him.

“Eddie!” you protested, seeing the slight grimace of pain cross his features as your hip collided with his abdomen. Yet he continued to smile down at you, nevertheless.

“Much better.”

You scoffed, rolling your eyes before leaning into his side. You brought one hand up to rest upon his chest, revelling in the faint beat of his heart under your fingertips, whilst your other arm folded beneath you as you laid back against the pillow. Eddie smiled down at you, his hands never leaving your waist.

“Sorry I missed our date,” he whispered into the silent night air.

“You’re here with me now, aren’t you? That’s all I could have asked for.”

Eddie smiled down at you as he leaned his head back to rest fully upon the pillow.

“I wanted to do it all properly though. Buy you flowers and pick you up and open all the doors for you.”

“Well, let’s see,” you said, glancing around the room. “We have flowers.” You pointed to the vase upon the bedside table. “We have the romantic candlelight. And we have a delicious meal.”

You leant forwards and reached down to where the pizza box laid discarded upon the floor. Resting it upon your lap you could already tell that the meal had gone cold, and yet Eddie’s smile widened nonetheless.

“Oh god,” he moaned, instantly reaching over and grabbing a slice.

“Are you allowed to eat? You’ve been on a drip for days and-”

But Eddie had already shoved half of the slice into his mouth and was chewing quite contently. You reached up and wiped at a stray remnant of sauce that adorned his upper lip, smiling as you did so.

“You dressed up as well,” Eddie said, his eyes glancing lazily across your body.

“Of course I did,” you responded, a sly grin upturning your lips. “I wanted to impress.”

“Well you most certainly did,” Eddie replied almost breathless as his gaze continued to linger on your figure.

“I like your dress as well,” you added.

Eddie barked out a laugh as he looked down at his hospital gown.

“I know right,” he said. “Very fashion forward.”

The two of you stayed like that for some time, grinning up at one another as your bodies pressed up against each other, Eddie devouring his slice of pizza in what felt like mere seconds. His hand had not parted from your waist and you couldn’t help but shiver at the warmth that spread across your body at his touch. Without a word, Eddie leaned forwards and pulled the bed’s blanket upwards until you were tucked underneath it with him.

“What happened?” Eddie said, breaking the long silence that had sat between you for some time. “After I passed out?”

The air between you stilled slightly as it became more serious.

“I had to go back and help Max,” you said back, burrowing your cheek into the curve of Eddie’s shoulder as you sank into the bed. “I barely made it in time. Vecna had her all tied up and she was screaming in pain and I thought for a moment that I was too late and-”

You hadn’t noticed that you had started crying until Eddie leaned over and brushed away your tears.

“But Max is alright now?” Eddie asked, his voice soft and wholly soothing.

You nodded your head. “Vecna managed to break one of her arms but I stopped him before he could do anything else. Everyone’s signed her cast. It’s quite cute actually.”

“You are so cool,” Eddie breathed.

You looked up at him and smiled, Eddie’s hand coming up to brush against the length of your jaw.

“So then how did I end up here? You levitate me all the way to the hospital?”

“Not quite,” you chuckled. “I only barely managed to get you back through the portal without collapsing. We, ugh, borrowed Max’s mom’s car. I’ve never seen Steve drive like such a lunatic which is really saying something.”

A silence lingered between you, Eddie’s gaze seemingly fixated on the roof as he laid back against the pillow. His thumb was drawing light circles where it was touching your waist, and although you were quite sure Eddie wasn’t aware he was doing it, you revelled in the touch nonetheless.

“Why aren’t I in handcuffs, Y/N?”

You could tell he had been dreading the question; his voice softer, his body more rigid beneath you as he awaited your response. You propped yourself up onto your elbow so that you could see him better, and the fear that met you within his eyes had your heart aching. Gently, you brought one hand up to cup Eddie’s cheek, stroking your thumb over the curve of his jaw where some stubble had begun to grow.

“Well, for one,” you leaned down and placed a soft kiss over Eddie’s mouth, “we drove you to a hospital outside of Hawkins and admitted you under a different name,” you began.

“Very metal,” Eddie commented as the corner of his lips upturned into a small smile.

“Thank you. I’ve watched enough spy movies to know how to evade the police,” you responded, unable to stop yourself from smiling down at Eddie. “And for two,” you kissed him again, “as we speak the government is covering up this whole mess just like they normally do. So in a few days I’d say you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

“The government?”

“Yeah, some super-secret underground organisation that know all about the Upside-Down and stuff. Oh, and Hopper’s back so he’ll be on your side which will help with the police side of things.”

Eddie’s eyebrows shot upwards, his eyes going wide. He couldn’t quite believe how casual you were being about the whole situation

“Hopper? The cop that died in that mall fire?”

“Yeah. Turns out he was actually kidnapped by evil Russians and taken to a Russian prison. Oh, and the mall fire wasn’t actually a mall fire but-”

“Let me guess,” Eddie interjected. “Some Upside-Down related crap?”

You smiled down at Eddie one last time before laying yourself back against the bed, leaning snugly into his frame.

“Yeah, let’s call it that,” you responded with a sigh.

Leaning up against Eddie, his heat completely encompassing you as you continued to sink into the bed, you were finding it quite difficult to keep your eyes open in that moment. You felt as Eddie shifted slightly against you, bringing his hand around to stroke at the hair around your temple.

“I should probably call your uncle,” you whispered into the silence of the room as your eyelids fell closed. “Tell him you’re awake.”

“Mmm,” Eddie moaned as his eyelids began to grow heavier. “It’s late, he’s probably asleep.” He nuzzled his nose against the top of your head, inhaling your scent as he did so.

“I should call Dustin too. That kids been worried sick.” You voice was barely above a whisper, your breathing having grown deep and peaceful

“Really?” Eddie breathed.

“Oh yeah, he makes me drive him up here everyday,” you responded. “It’s a good thing I’m always going anyway.”

“You came to visit me everyday?”

You could feel Eddie’s gaze upon you again.

“Of course I did,” you said looking up at him, furrowing your brows slightly as if it were the most stupid question you had ever heard.

Leaning over, Eddie connected his lips with your forehead before you pulled his face lower and connected his lips with yours. The kiss was lazy; a slow, gentle thing that somehow still had you breathless as you pulled away. 

“I love you.” It came out as a whisper from Eddie’s lips, almost as if the words had fallen from his mouth of their own volition. 

The grin that grew upon your features was so wide that Eddie thought for just a moment that he had never before seen something so beautiful.

“Maybe the nurse was right,” you whispered back, unable to stop yourself from connecting your lips to Eddie's once more. The taste of him was intoxicating, addictive even so that you weren't quite sure how you had lived your life thus far without him. 

Eddie furrowed his brows in confusion but kissed you back just as passionately.

“I love you too,” you clarified as you pulled away, revelling slightly in the beauty of the smile that Eddie offered you in that moment. Eddie brought his hand up to clasp at the back of your neck, pulling you towards him once more until your forehead was pressed against his. 

“Stay with me tonight?” Eddie questioned, his voice soft.

“Okay,” you whispered back. With one last peck, you leaned over and swiftly blew out the candle upon the nightstand.

“That was a bit of a fire hazard,” Eddie mumbled, his eyes already half closed.

“Shut up,” you responded lazily. “I wanted our date to be nice.”

“Trust me sweetheart,” Eddie said lazily. “We’re going to be having so many dates that will be way nicer than this.”

You leaned your head back against the pillow and burrowed further into the crook of Eddie’s neck as his scent engulfed you completely. His hand that was still clasped firmly around your waist pulled you somehow closer towards him until all you could feel was him—his heat, his skin, his life—emanating around you.

And maybe it was because the night was cold and the bed was so very warm, or maybe it was because you could just faintly hear the thumping of Eddie’s heart as you leaned upon his chest; so strong and so soothing and so very much alive. So that in the end it took only minutes for the two of you to fall asleep in each other’s arms. 

---

Taglist: 

@alicetweven​​ @juggernort​ @theh3aven​ @manamitoyota​ @mimiluvsualot​ @cherrypieyourface​ @kaqua​ @c0untryclub​

[swan-of-sunrise]

Taking Care of Business (Chapter Thirty-Four)

Summary: Din is redeemed in the Living Waters but as their group returns to Kalevala, an ambush comprised of Imperial TIE Interceptors forces Clan Mudhorn and Bo-Katan Kryze to seek refuge with Din’s covert.

Pairing: Din Djarin X Fem!Reader

Word Count: 3.5k

Warnings/Disclaimers: None

A/N: Today, we’ve got some more bad-ass flying from Alor’ad and even more fluff for our favorite couple lol thank you for reading, I hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Four The Convert (Previous Chapter)

Din’s eyes flew open and he turned his head to cough up the water he’d accidentally swallowed, barely aware of the hands holding his helmeted head steady and the concerned coos nearby.

“It’s okay, sweetheart, you’re all right. Just breathe…” (Y/N) soothed, adjusting herself so that his head could rest more comfortably on her lap; although the worried line that often formed between her brows was still present, the captain smiled down at him as she continued. “You did it, Din.”

Grogu nodded in agreement and after slowly sitting up with his wife’s assistance, Din looked out at the Living Waters they were seated before and started to regain his breath; he felt lighter, somehow, as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders, and his lips curved into a disbelieving grin when he realized what that meant. “I am redeemed.”

“We witnessed it,” Bo-Katan remarked from her spot across the chamber. “You bathed in the Living Waters. You are a Mandalorian again.” She abruptly stood and began walking towards the tunnel that they came through. “Can we leave now?”

Instead of answering, Din took an empty vial from the pouch at his waist and leaned down, scooping up a fair amount of water and fastening its stopper onto it before tucking it back into his pouch. When he ascended the stone steps, (Y/N) helped him reattach his jetpack and wrap his cowl around his neck. “Grogu, we’re leaving now; can you get into your pram for me, please?” The child leapt into the pram and (Y/N) smiled as she clipped the Darksaber onto Din’s belt for him. “Thank you.”

“And thank you, alor’ad,” Din murmured, placing his hands on her waist and stepping closer to her. “I could never have done this without you.”

“I’m not so sure of that, sweetheart, but you’re welcome.” With another smile, (Y/N) cupped the sides of his helmet and tilted his head down to kiss the beskar covering his forehead.

Bo-Katan turned back to face them and tilted her helmeted head to the side. “Can I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“You see anything down there?”

Din frowned and shook his head. “I saw the chasm passing me as I fell. I didn’t realize it was so deep.”

“It wasn’t; the bombings from the Purge must’ve triggered seismic activities.” The Nite Owl absentmindedly brushed her gloved hands off. “Did you see anything alive?”

(Y/N) looked up from rolling her coat sleeves to fix Bo-Katan with a curious stare. “Alive? Like what?”

“Nothing,” She shook her head and started towards the tunnel again. “Let’s get out of here.”

Din and (Y/N) exchanged a glance before following the Mandalorian through the network of tunnels, confused by her strange questions and unsure of why she was acting so odd after jumping into the Living Waters after him.

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

On board the Gauntlet, Bo-Katan’s Kom’rk-class starfighter, Din watched (Y/N) carefully clean off the scuffs R5 obtained during their lively adventure on Mandalore with a tender grin on his covered face while the Nite Owl flew them back to Kalevala. Grogu fiddled with his small silver sphere as they exited Mandalore’s upper atmosphere and flew through space, and Din decided to be the one to break the oddly-stilted silence.

“Once you bring us to our ship, we’ll be on our way. You will forever have our gratitude.”

He could hear the smile in Bo-Katan’s voice when she replied, “I would invite you all in for a feast, but I’m guessing that helmet isn’t coming off again.”

Din nodded. “This is the Way.”

“This is the Way.”

From his pram, Grogu babbled something that sounded suspiciously like an attempt to form words and Din turned around in surprise; (Y/N)’s eyes were widened in shock but before either of them could say anything, the Gauntlet shook as a blaster cannon found its target and they could see the brief explosion from the viewport. “We took a hit!”

“Something’s coming up on us fast,” Bo-Katan called out as she read the starfighter’s console. “It looks like a squadron of TIE Interceptors.”

(Y/N) leapt up from her seat and hurried over to the nearest monitor. “How close are we to Kalevala?”

“Not far.”

“Get us back there and I’ll reinforce from the N-1.” The captain’s eyes forced on the charts she was scanning as she continued. “Trust me, those TIE Interceptors won’t last long against a Mandalorian and a retired Alliance Starfleet captain.”

Din looked up from his own monitor towards the Nite Owl. “Can you evade them?”

She nodded and increased power to the starfighter’s thrusters. “Our shields aren’t gonna hold; I need you to back them off!”

The Gauntlet shuddered again as Din crossed over to the rear gunner’s seat and began firing at the closest TIE Interceptors. “Where’d they come from?”

“I’ve scugged off a lot of Imperial warlords.”

Din sighed in exasperation and continued firing their rear blaster cannon at their enemies. “They tend to get man when you hijack their ships.”

He could hear the humor lacing Bo-Katan’s voice as she replied, “Now you tell me.” They entered Kalevala’s upper atmosphere and sped through its grey-hued skies, spinning and twirling to avoid enemy fire and save their flimsy shields. “Get ready, we’re comin’ in hot!”

“Dank farrik, you won’t be able to slow down for the drop,” (Y/N) swore and moved to clutch the back of Din’s seat while another hit shook the starfighter. “I don’t remember Interceptors being this much tougher than TIE Fighters.”

“Din, do you have any bright ideas for the transfer that won’t inadvertently kill the captain?”

“Yeah, I’ll fly her down to the N-1 and she can take over from there,” Din answered, blowing up two of the Interceptors before standing and pulling (Y/N) to stand beside the Gauntlet’s bomb bay. “Hold on tight, okay, alor’ad?”

His wife nervously bit her lip but nodded, tightly wrapping her arms around him while he pressed the button to activate the bomb bay doors; once he was certain that her grip on him was secure, he jumped through the bomb bay and free-fell through the wind-swept air. The TIE Interceptors sped overhead after the Gauntlet as Bo-Katan flew towards Kalevala’s high peaks and cliffs and as the castle’s landing pad grew closer, Din activated his jetpack and straightened them both in preparation for touchdown; their landing was less than grateful, with the both of them rolling across the landing pad, but they were quick to jump up and climb into the starfighter’s cockpit while a lone TIE Interceptor began to fire at them. “Brace yourself,” (Y/N) distractedly ordered as she started the engines and slammed the windshield closed, not waiting for an answer before wrenching the controls and shooting off into a perpendicular take-off.

“Persistent, isn’t he?” Din remarked, glancing over his shoulder to see the TIE Interceptor following their climb into the skies of Kalevala.

(Y/N) huffed out a quiet chuckle. “Not for long.” She switched off the engines and let the starfighter fall backwards, turning the engines back on to maneuver into a corkscrew spin that dodged the TIE Interceptor’s blaster cannons; firing a single shot, (Y/N) steered the starfighter out of its nosedive while avoiding the burning wreckage of the Imperial ship, calling into the communication radio, “We made it to the N-1. Heading to you.”

They sped off towards the planet’s many cliffs and navigated a narrow canyon, coming up behind the three TIE Interceptors pursuing the Gauntlet and shooting one of them down. “Thanks for the back-up.”

“Two more to go.”

When they started to approach more outcroppings of peaks emerging from the waters, Bo-Katan ordered through the communication radio, “Go right, I’ll meet you on the other side.”

(Y/N) did as the Nite Owl said, veering right behind a towering rock formation and emerging just in time to shoot down one of the TIE Interceptors unsuspectingly flying past. “One down, one more to go.”

“On it.”

They watched as Bo-Katan suddenly switched off her starfighter’s engines and spun around, shooting the last TIE Interceptor out of the sky and turning her engines back on just before they reached the choppy waters; when she caught up to their starfighter, (Y/N) remarked, “It’s nice to see someone share my appreciation for semi-dangerous flying stunts.”

“Same. Not bad, Captain…for an antique.”

“You take any damage?” Din asked.

“Just shields. You?”

“Not a scratch,” (Y/N) replied, and he could detect the amusement in her tone as she continued. “Not bad for an antique, huh?”

The Nite Owl chuckled. “Touché, Captain, but let’s take ‘em in just to be sure.”

Just as (Y/N) was beginning to relax against Din’s chest, the enemy proximity warning indicator sounded throughout the cockpit. “Hang on, we’re seeing something on the scope.” Din’s eyes flicked up from the scope and glanced out the windshield, his heart sinking into his stomach when he caught sight of the plumes of smoke and fire coming from the direction of Bo-Katan’s castle. “Dank farrik…”

“No!” Both ships flew over the peaks in time to see three TIE Interceptors finish dropping explosives onto the smoldering castle and fly away. “Those mud-scuffers bombed my home!”

Bo-Katan pursued the three ships and began firing on them without mercy as the starfighter’s enemy proximity warning indicator went off again. “Shit…” (Y/N) breathed in horror when more and more TIE Fighters fly through Kalevala’s upper atmosphere. “Bo, we’ve got company!”

The Nite Owl didn’t heed the captain’s warning, so Din tried his hand at talking her down. “Bo, listen to me, you have to get out of there!”

When she didn’t answer, (Y/N) increased their speed and flew through the narrowing gap between the Gauntlet and the squadron of TIE Fighters in an attempt to grab her attention. “There’s too many of them, we’ve got to get out of here!”

Din breathed a sigh of relief when Bo-Katan finally peeled away and followed them up into the clouds, and he started pressing buttons on the console while (Y/N) continued piloting. “That’s a lot of ships for an Imperial warlord.”

“We’re sending jump coordinates.”

“To where?”

“Someplace they won’t find us,” Din replied and when he finished sending the planet’s coordinates to the Gauntlet, he rested a gloved hand on his worried wife’s waist. “Once I prove that I’m no longer an apostate, the Covert will help us however way they can.”

The tension in (Y/N)’s shoulders didn’t loosen until both of their ships left Kalevala and entered hyperspace, and it was then that she leaned against his chest in exhaustion and nodded. “I sure hope so.”

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

Their trip through hyperspace – although relatively short – caused the worn-out captain to fall fast asleep, so Din took over the controls when their ships switched to sub-light travel and flew them down through the familiar planet’s upper atmosphere; they’d had a long and trying day, of course, and he was simply glad that she was getting the rest that she’d sorely needed.

“I’m bringing you to a Mandalorian covert,” Din quietly explained through the communication radio as both ships flew over the rocky mountain ranges. “This is how we have survived in exile.”

“I’m familiar.”

He worriedly bit his lip and thought over how best to broach the subject of the Way to Bo-Katan before stating, “It’s a secret location and you are my guest…”

“They still live by the old ways.”

“Yes. It will go smoother of you keep your helmet on. Trust me.”

Over the communication radio, he could make out the Nite Owl’s incredulous scoff. “Of course.”

Din initiated the starfighter’s landing sequence and as they began their descent, he gently shook (Y/N)’s shoulders and murmured, “Alor’ad? Ner cyar’ika alor’ad, we’re here now.”

“Mm-hmm.” With a tired yawn, (Y/N) started to stir and took a moment to rub the sleep out of her eyes before glancing over her shoulder with a small smile. “Thank you for taking over the controls for me, sweetheart.”

His gloved finger brushed an errant strand of hair out of her face and caressed her cheek. “You needed the sleep; if the covert accepts my redemption, we will be granted living quarters and both you and Grogu will finally be able to rest.”

“You too, Din,” (Y/N) lightly chided, the knowing looking her gaze causing him to let out a relenting sigh. “You’ve had a difficult journey that has more than earned you some relaxation. Besides, I seem to remember you offering to show me how much you appreciated my superior piloting skills.”

That made Din chuckle and shake his helmeted head in exasperation. “I don’t remember saying anything about them being ‘superior,’ but you’re correct, I did make a promise and believe me, I still fully intend on seeing it through.”

The starfighter landed and they climbed down from the cockpit, walking along the shore of the lake to join Bo-Katan and Grogu and continue towards the mouth of the cave. A group of Mandalorians, led by Paz Vizsla, emerged and formed a blockade to halt their progress, and the towering Mandalorian was the first to speak. “Come no further. You are an apostate, Din Djarin.”

Din shook his head. “No longer. I have been to the Mines of Mandalore.”

“Impossible. The mines were collapsed in the Purge, the planet is cursed.”

“These are lies meant to keep us in exile,” Din insisted, noticing several Mandalorians exchanging glances with one another and hearing their faint whispers.

Unlike the others, Paz remained unconvinced. “How do we know that it is not you who is lying?”

(Y/N) took a step forward and bravely stared down the much-larger Mandalorian before her. “Because I was there with him. It was a dangerous journey, but we were able to navigate the ruins of Sundari and reach the Mines of Mandalore.”

“The word of an apostate’s riduur means nothing to us.”

As Din’s hand wrapped around the indignant captain’s arm to keep her from angrily starting forward, Bo-Katan interjected, “They speak the truth. I was witness.”

Paz’s helmeted head tilted to the side as he considered her for a moment. “And who are you, Nite Owl?”

“I am Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze.”

The hushed conversations amongst the Mandalorians seemingly intensified and Din could see the Nite Owl attempting to hide her discomfort while Paz scoffed. “Your House has fallen from the Way. You are both apostates.”

“We have been to the Living Waters.” Din’s teeth were gritted in impatience and he reached into his belt’s pouch to pull out the vial of water he’d taken before they departed Mandalore. “I bring proof.”

Paz was silent for a long moment, considering their words and the vial in Din’s grasp before eventually speaking. “We shall see.” He stepped aside and Din nodded shortly, leading the others into the cave and through the tunnels to the Armorer’s forge; his hand traveled down to slip into (Y/N)’s and Grogu softly cooed from his pram, and the knowledge that his family was beside him gave him the strength to walk into the forge and stand across from the Armorer as she worked. The rest of the Mandalorians filtered into the cavernous forge and Paz stepped forward. “Din Djarin claims to have bathed in the Living Waters.”

The Armorer remained focused on her work as she asked, “Is this true?”

“It is. I have proof.”

She slowly turned around and held a gloved hand out; while he crossed the room and placed the vial into her hand, (Y/N) stood beside Bo-Katan and addressed the covert’s de-facto leader. “We were witness. He fell into the depths and Bo pulled him out.”

The Armorer took the vial of water to the forge’s trough and after removing its cork, she held it above the still water and slowly poured its contents out; the trough’s water briefly shimmered with a ripple of blue light before returning to its normal state, albeit brighter than before. “He speaks the truth. These are indeed the Living Waters.” She turned around and the visor of her horned helmet met his. “Din Djarin, you are redeemed. This is the Way.”

“This is the Way,” The other Mandalorians echoed while (Y/N)’s hands squeezed one of his own.

“And Bo-Katan Kryze, by Creed, you too are redeemed.”

The three of them looked over at the Armorer in surprise and the Nite Owl shifted in discomfort. “…But I do not walk the Way.”

Din’s brow furrowed as he watched the Armorer slowly cross the forge. “Did you bathe in the waters?”

“I did.”

“And have you removed your helmet since?”

Bo-Katan shook her head. “No, I have not.”

“Then you may join our covert and live as your ancestors once did,” The Armorer concluded. “You may leave anytime you wish. Until then, you are one of us. Welcome, Bo-Katan of Clan Kryze. This is the Way.”

“This is the Way.”

The Mandalorians gathered around Din and Bo-Katan, clapping them on the shoulders to welcome them both into their covert, and Din couldn’t help but to breathe a sigh of relief; his brothers and sisters-in-arms, the only family he’d truly known, hadn’t rejected his redemption and he was free to raise his foundling as a true Mandalorian. In his near-elated state, he hadn’t noticed (Y/N) moving to stand near the cavern’s wall alongside Grogu’s pram but once he did, he immediately registered the conflicted expression she was struggling to hide behind a happy smile.

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

Just as Din predicted, they were given living quarters within the covert’s tunneled-out home and plenty of food for the three of them; Grogu finished his rations in record-time and promptly fell asleep in his closed pram, and both Din and (Y/N) were finally able to enjoy an evening of peaceful calm that resulted in their tired limbs tightly intertwined around one another and lazy caresses along their heated skin.

“I’ve missed this,” Din murmured, his bare fingers tracing (Y/N)’s cheekbone and caressing the smile lines etched into the skin around the corner of her eye. “I’ve missed being able to see your beautiful face with my own eyes.”

The captain smiled and continued mapping out the many raised scars that littered his chest with her soft fingertips. “The last place we were able to be with one another like this was on Naboo. It feels like ages ago…” She bit her lip, an anxious gesture that told him that something was weighing on her mind, and she was silent for a moment before finally speaking up. “Can I ask you a question, Din?”

“Of course. What is it, alor’ad?”

“How’re you able to forgive your covert so easily for exiling you, and how are they able to move past everything like it didn’t happen?”

Din’s fingers stilled as he considered his wife’s questions. “I suppose it wouldn’t make much sense to someone who wasn’t raised as a Mandalorian, but…This is the Way. After the Purge, our people are smaller in numbers than we’ve ever been before and if we were to stop following the Way, then the Empire would’ve succeeded in killing us off and burying our culture forever.” He rolled onto his back and studied the jagged rocks that made up their bedroom ceiling. “The Creed teaches us redemption, that there’s always a path back for those who lose the Way; I sought to redeem myself in the eyes of my brothers and sisters-in-arms and when I succeeded, they were bound by our Creed to accept my redemption. It’s our mutual respect and honor for the Way that allowed me to forgive them and for them to welcome me back with open arms.”

Scooting closer, (Y/N) rested her head on his shoulder and draped an arm around his waist. “I may not understand the Way like you do, but I can see that this covert’s your family. Family can be challenging, but they still forgive one another.” The bedroom was filled with a heavy silence and while Din patiently waited for her to continue, he trailed his fingers up and down her spine. “Before you and Grogu came along, I hadn’t had a family since I was twelve years old. The loneliness I experienced is something that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy; I’m just…I’m glad that you were never forced to live like that.”

The slight tremble in the captain’s voice as she uttered those words and the way that her arm tightened around his waist nearly made his heart break; he recalled the thoughts he’d had back on Nevarro about his wife’s turbulent past and while they’d filled him with a sense of sadness, it was nothing compared to hearing her speak on them herself. “I know they’re not what some would consider to be a normal family, but this covert…if you give them a chance, you’ll see how loyal and embracing they are towards their own.” Din brought his free hand up to coax her into looking at him. “And through our riduurok, ner cyar’ika alor’ad, you are now their own. This is the Way.”

(Y/N)’s eyes filled with tears as she smiled and propped herself up to capture his lips in a slow and passionate kiss.

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

Mando’a Translations:

Alor’ad-Captain Ner cyar’ika alor’ad-My darling captain Riduurok-Love bond, marriage agreement

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading and commenting! Oh, and I’ve created a Spotify playlist of all my favorite music from the world of Star Wars, so if you’re interested in checking it out the link is down below!

Spotify Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2KuSKJhVOPPvxdJ9YHeo4M?si=2977ff31bf0c4bdd

Chapter Thirty-Five

Taking Care of Business Masterlist

Tagging: @remmysbounty​​ @sinon36​​ @seninjakitey​​ @thatonedindjarinfan​​ @ginger-swag-rapunzel​​ @mostclevermiss​​ @momc95​​ @welcometothepedroverse​​ @sarahjkl82-blog​​ @elinedjarin​​ @itsnottilly​​ @crowleysqueenofhell​​  @goldielocks2004 @wondergal2001​​ @groovy-lady​​ @impala1967666​​ @fluffy-canada-pancakes​​ @icee228​​​

[unamazing-sheep21]

My own interpretation of Jane Eyre if she was my OC ( also for my CSM AU)

Jane Eyre

Date of birth: 9/9/81, 19 years old

Gender: female, she/her/it

Family: The Reeds ( Aunt & cousins) [debatable], Megara Reed ( Mother, deceased), Ah Huat Lee ( Father, deceased), Helen Burns ( blood sister, devil, currently acts as her heart)

occupation (s): Pre-school teacher, private devil hunter, Public Safety Devil Hunter division 6

Contracts: Canon Devil ( Helen Burns)

Jane had a soft spot for devils, not because they were good but because she always thought of herself as one. She was treated like one by everyone she knew, so in her mind she was just like them. Her aunt Reed and her cousins would lock her up in the boiler for prolonged periods of time and beat her up when she tried to escape. When they went on family trips Jane would be locked in the house for days and she had to resort to stealing and tissues for food. Soon enough, the neighbours found out about poor Jane’s treatment and CPS was called.

Bribed with money, they let Aunt Reed go off with no charges as long as she sent her to school. So off to boarding school it was for Jane. Lowood was a good enough school, Jane could follow the lessons and the beds were a great deal warmer than the concrete floor she had at Gateshead. Every month or so there would be a devil or criminal attack near the school, it was near a ghetto. But that just kept things interesting for Jane, she loved watching the devil hunters fight, so she didn’t mind it.

But Lowood was lonely and quiet most of the time, and it was getting on Jane’s nerves.

Until she met a small bird with a cannon on its head, it said its name was Helen, and that she’d been there since before the school existed. Lowood was said to be hundreds of years old, so naturally Jane was curious. The wise bird had the voice of a girl-child but had the knowledge of a 1000 year old man. Soon Jane would find that Helen was the Canon Devil itself. Weakened by the lack of war for the last hundred years. The two of them became good friends, and Helen was the fist- thing- to acknowledge Jane. Helen was Jane’s whole world.

Jane and Helen would go out to hunt smaller devils on their own when night struck, and Jane would let Helen ride on her shoulder when classes were out. Jane slowly brought up her own savings after selling the flesh of smaller devils, and her smart brain was bringing her good grades. So things were going great for Jane and Helen. Jane found out a spray paint and would occasionally paint portraits of random people on walls.

Until Jane fell sick.

Jane had tuberculosis, probably in its most fatal state. Helen was there for every second when she was in bed. But there was no saving her as she was now. Immortal being that she was, and devil that she was, Helen struck up a contract with Jane.

“ I’ll become your heart, and in exchange, keep on existing”

So Jane lived on until she graduated. Eventually, and miraculously, striking a job as a kindergarten teacher. She worked surprisingly well with small children, considering her background. But she was still better and hunting devils.

Now immortal - her limbs would reattach if they fell off- she started to hunt larger and larger devils to pay the bills her job wouldn’t. But unbeknownst to her “ news is boring” person, a war was starting.

A war on terror. Far away, in Iraq after 9/11.

Fear of war started to spike up again, and thus so did the fear of cannons. Once, when Jane transformed into her cannon form, she accidentally injured a civilian in the torso. Not knowing her own strength before and horrified by it, Jane ran to turn herself to the Public Safety Devil Hunters bureau so that they could contain -or kill- her. She got recruited instead.

And that’s how she met Edward Rochester.

[terraintaz24]

BIOMECH TOWER

Got past my creative block after watching a bunch of movies and vegging out; I am reminded of the Eureka principle, let me not forget again.

Rebased the gun subassembly and devoted some time to the adjacent structures: uprightventything and manifoldlookingthing. Stuck some chipboard slats in the UVT to achieve the vent look, put some saw-cut xps into the connector port of the MLT to also look venty. Stuck the UVT and MLT to the base, later will trim the excess chip board around the outside before attaching to the cryopak cube. Added the little printer cartridge to fill some dead space and hide the handle of the gun. Still need to find a graceful way to hide the trigger.

Slapped some drywall spackle all over the cryopak cube, thin as I could. Now I'm impatient for it to dry since once that is done, and the cube is attached to the big plastic platform, this project will really start to come back together. Here's how I imagine the process will go:

Prime and reattach cube to platform

Finish major subassembly primary detail work as necessary

All major subassemblies are primed and fit to the cube/platform

Subfloor details (mostly pipes) are fit to subassemblies and cube/platform

Raised floors are primed and fit to the cube/platform

Access stairs/platforms/ladders are built, primed and fit to raised floors and subassemblies

Major construction is now complete, final details are added as needed

Painting and distressing process; this is a complex step, and will require some careful planning

[thebunnylord]

I headcanon that the engines can open their smoke box doors on their own to look behind them, but they can’t close them themselves and it freaks the passengers out.

The Engines aren’t actually allowed to open their smoke boxes due to it being a safety hazard, just imagine if an engine popped their smoke box open and swung it over the adjacent track and an oncoming train was coming down that same track. There has been way too many incidences of engines getting their smoke box doors ripped off by oncoming trains that the board had to put out a notice stating that all engines must keep their smoke box doors shut unless they are in a safe spot such as a shed or on a track that isn’t next to any other tracks.

Because their smoke box doors also double as their face, it can be very horrifying when an engine does get their smoke boxes ripped off in this manner. There is a story involving an American shunter locomotive, they were working all day and needed a rest, but they couldn’t remember if they assembled the right amount of coaches for the next train, so before they were uncoupled, they popped open their smoke box door to look behind them to double check if they did so.

Unfortunately, they did not see the express train coming down the line next to them.

The line that their door was overhanging.

The train slammed into their door at such a force that it ripped it off its hinges, slammed into the side of the shunter, and was sent flying down the tracks in front of the passengers at the platform. Usually the engine’s faces are made of a durable material making them resistant to cuts and bruises when they crash, but the poor shunter was literally hit in the back of the face so hard that it basically blew out their face. They were able to reattach the door but the poor shunter had both their eyes, nose, and mouth destroyed and was left blind, barely able to speak, and strangely deaf too. In the end, they had to be scrapped as they couldn’t perform their job anymore. This story has been debated by a lot of engines if this is true or not, but it is a cautionary tale of what could happen if an engine isn’t careful when opening their smoke box door.

[blogearthbound]

After treatment - beautiful ledger from 1821. I repaired every signature, resewed it, replaced the leather spine and decided to put on a hollow tube, to help support the fragile pages as well as reinforce the cover/board reattachments. 121 hours of treatment