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80pairsofcrocs · 2 years

Text

baby scarab || 45

anon - I love this series so much ah! Imagine while the reader is at work khonshu separates the moon boys into separate bodies again just to be annoying and the reader just comes back from work to see them all arguing over the littlest thing like what movie to watch while they wait for her to get back

~~~

anon - being at a summer bbq for some reason and smacking marc on the cheek with a hotdog wiener bc he’s a weenie 😭

then proceeding to run away as fast as y/n’s little legs can go

~~~

anon - y/n slapping marc with a sausage cos he’s a weenie >:^)

~~~

anon - Hiya! Could you do the reader putting cute stickers on their dad’s stuff like wrapping it around Stevens grandma glasses or sum like that just putting a bunch of cutesy stickers on all of their stuff, Jakes hat, Marc’s phone .ect 💕

Ps. really love your baby scarab series keep putting in whatever drugs are in your writing:)

~~~

A/N : a ton of random requests for a fun filler :)

masterlist - marvel masterlist - series masterlist

A/N : marc is a weenie >:))

please enjoy, and don't be shy if you want to be in the taglist, just ask <3, sorry for the long wait

pairings : steven grant x (platonic)reader, marc spector x (platonic) reader, khonshu x (platonic)reader, jake lockley x (platonic)reader

TW : medicine (pills), spidey stuff, mentions of violence, language, marc being assaulted by a hot dog, mentions of wisdom teeth and pain, let me know if i missed anything.

~~~

you woke up feeling like someone punched you in the mouth a hundred times.

with brass knuckles.

you were already tearing up, you sit up, noticing you were on the couch.

the only sound being the bubbles in gus’ tank, and light breathing.

the breathing made you look down to see that casper was here, and before you had sat up, you were laying on him.

you were in too much pain to be embarrassed, so you got up as quick and careful as you could to make your way to the kitchen, where you found steven making some tea.

he jerks his head to you when he notices you standing there, but the smile on his face turns into worry when he sees that you look like you’re about to start sobbing.

“oh darling, let me get you some medicine” he refrains from walking over and taking your face in his hands, knowing it would probably end up hurting you.

you sit up on the counter with your head in your hands, trying your hardest not to cry.

steven comes back with pain medicine and your medication, so all together you have four pills.

“don’t take those yet, i’ll get you some water” he says and you nod.

you wait patiently for steven to get you a glass of water, and even then you don’t really feel like taking the pills.

it just feels like a hassle, that’s all.

you sit and stare at the pills until you pick one up, and swallowing it painfully.

your whole mouth hurt, so you took the other pain med and decided if you felt like fighting steven on taking your other medication.

the kettle on the stove started whistling, which probably woke casper since you heard movement coming from over by the couch.

steven took the kettle off the stove to pour three cups of tea, the bags already placed in the cups.

he looks to you and raises an eyebrow. “you have to take those” he gives you a stern look and you squint your eyes at him.

“but it hurts”

“but you have to”

“says who?”

“your pharmacist?” casper cuts in, making himself known and walking towards you to nudge the pills in your direction.

you glare at him and maintain eye contact as you swallow the pills with water, making steven lightly clap in the background.

“yay she’s learning to take her medicine the correct way” he quietly cheers sarcastically.

you look around you a spot a balled up towel, so you pick it up and chuck it at steven.

he shields his face while chuckling at you, handing both you and casper cups of tea afterwards.

“it should help ease the pain” he tells you and you nod as a thanks.

“thank you, sir” casper says politely after taking the tea and you snort while steven cringes.

“oh, enough with that ‘sir’ rubbish, it’s steven” he starts. “with a v”

this makes you smile while sipping at your tea, casper nodding at him and doing the same.

you lean back against the cabinets behind you, closing your eyes and trying to focus on anything other than the throbbing pain in your mouth.

steven happened to notice as well as casper. “what would you like to do today, y/n?” he asks and you open your eyes to look at him.

“i don’t know” you whine, hitting your head back on the cupboard.

“how about we have a barbecue on the roof” you hear marc, and that makes you chuckle while casper gives you a confused look.

“marc wants to have a barbecue on the roof” you repeat to casper.

“that’s unique” he says and marc squints his eyes at casper through the barely there reflection of your cup.

“you can definitely stay, but there’s no pressure” steven says to casper and casper smiles at him.

“yeah, i’d like to. i just have to tell my mom” he shrugs, inching away to presumably call her.

you turn back to steven who has a small smile on his face.

“he’s a sweet kid” he says and turns back to drink some of his tea.

he freezes on the spot, making you tense up a bit, wondering what was wrong.

“steven?” you check to see if marc knew what was going on, but he was no where to be seen.

“jake?” you look around, seeing and hearing nothing until steven sets his tea down on the counter and puts both his hands on his head in pain.

“oh lord- not again” he mutters, trying to stay standing up right.

it clicked in your head what was going on. this happened last time when all the bodies were separated.

you hop off the counter to help steven, when he relaxes, signaling that the headache has stopped.

“oh for the love of-“

he’s cut off by casper screaming and running back into the kitchen, hiding behind you and clutching at the back of your shirt.

“the fuck- get off” you pry his hands of you, but still letting him linger behind you.

the source of casper’s scare decides to walk into the kitchen, adjusting his hat.

“where’s the damn bird?” he asks and you shrug, steven doing the same and casper looking between steven and jake frantically.

you turn to see his confusion and sigh. “if you think two is bad wait until the other one gets here” you murmur, hearing a thud coming from deeper within the apartment.

you see your door open, and out comes marc, with a childish pout on his face.

“why?” he asks into the air, trying to get khonshu to talk.

khonshu appears next to you, making you glare up at him, and it makes casper clutch onto your sleeve, to which you move it down to your hand.

“did you get the chills too?” he whispers to you and you give him a look.

“i’m trying to help, idiots” khonshu starts. “spider child told me that barbecues are parties and you need a lot of people”

“you obviously improvised” you shook your head.

“don’t worry it’s just a cranky old god” you tell casper and he nods, leaning down to rest his head on your shoulder, steven ‘aw’ing in the background.

marc elbowed him in the ribs, making him groan, while jake wandered off to go sit on the floor with the cats.

luna was in his lap and pedro was jumping up and batting at his hat, and it was one of the only things that made him actually smile.

well, the cats and you.

he was completely tuning out the world while he played with the cats.

“i saw an old grill up there when me and peter would train” you tell marc and he hums.

“i can make some of your weird vegan stuff too” marc says to steven, who raises an eyebrow.

“pardon me for having a preference” steven scoffs and you chuckle.

“alright, so we hang out here until lunch then?” you ask, the pain in your mouth easing up a little.

everyone in the room except jake either shrugs and nods, which means a yes.

“cool so now what?” you ask, and casper lifts his head from your shoulder once he realizes marc was staring daggers into his soul.

“i can go get the roof set up, and pray nobody goes up there” marc starts. “and jake is coming with me”

“no”

“it wasn’t a question”

“i stay here with the gatos” he argues, and both you and casper start backing away towards your room.

on your way, you see stevens glasses sitting on the counter, so you slip them in your pocket before disappearing to your room, casper basically being dragged by you.

“what are we doing in here?” he asks and you take the glasses out of your pocket.

“giving grandma stevens glasses some style”

“what?”

you sit down on your bed next to the nightstand, opening the drawer to get out your sheets of hello kitty stickers.

casper snorts and goes to sit next to you, while you peel the first one off, that being my melody, and wrapping it around one of the arms of stevens glasses, having the animated face right on the outside.

you look to casper who’s staring with amusement.

“is he going to like that?” he asks and you shrug.

“probably not but it’s not like he’ll do anything about it” you start. “and if anything, they come right off with some water” you say and he nods.

it’s silent for a moment while you wrap more stickers around stevens glasses.

“i’m sorry if you’re uncomfortable” you start. “and for marc. i don’t know what his problem is” you say, referring to when he was glaring at casper.

casper shakes his head, putting a hand on your knee. “i’m not uncomfortable, i understand the glaring but it’s not every day you see three identical people who are also your girlfriends dads” he chuckles.

“i’m dead for sure” that makes you chuckle as well, done decorating the arms of stevens grandma glasses.

“marc will warm up to you i’m sure” you try to reassure him.

casper purses his lips. “but what about jake? he’s scary” he says and you raise an eyebrow.

“he’s really not” you shake your head. “if he tries to scare you just know he buys our cats sweaters and is currently designing a tower for them” you say and he smiles, taking his hand off your knee to hesitantly guide it behind your back to pull you closer to him by your waist.

you sigh in content and lean down so that your head is resting on his shoulder.

you mess with the arms of stevens glasses when steven himself is on his way to the room.

you can hear his soft footsteps, compared to jake and marc’s slightly heavier ones.

you didn’t bother to move though, since you were already facing the door.

steven peaked his head into the room and knocked lightly on the doorframe.

“i’m sorry i interrupted something didn’t i?” he asks with a lopsided smile.

you just shake your head, and lifer your head back up to look at him properly.

“are you sure- wait are those my glasses?” he furrows his brows and comes into the room as you hand them out to him.

“are these your hello kitty stickers?” you nod at stevens question, and he smiles.

“now i match khonshu, that’s amazing” he looks over his glasses and then back to you.

“that was very sweet of you” he starts backing up into the hallway, almost hitting the doorframe on his way out.

“well- marc is on the roof by himself so i better go see how he’s doing, man it’s weird being in desperate bodies” he starts muttering while he walks away from your room, making you chuckle.

it was just then that you noticed that casper still had a hand around your waist, making your face get a little hotter than usual.

you lean up to look at casper, who was already looking down at you.

it just took one look from his eyes to communicate, and start leaning towards each other.

it was a quick kiss, since you heard different footsteps coming towards the room.

casper was quick to pull away once he realized that jake was at the door.

he only knew it was jake because you told him he loved his hats, and never went anywhere without them.

jake leans on the doorframe and raises an eyebrow, looking between the two of you.

“i have a question” you interrupt his train of thought.

“shoot”

“why are we having a barbecue if i can’t have solid foods yet?” you ask, your jaw still sore as it hangs open a bit.

“we have a blender”

“ew”

“you still have half of your smoothie left over, are you okay with just that?” he asks and you nod with a small smile.

your smile just widened when you noticed the hat he was wearing.

“you know theres-“

“i know, you put your stickers on my hat” he interrupts. “it’s cute, but i can’t be seen in public with it. they won’t feel threatened by my presence” he explains and you chuckle.

you knew he wasn’t embarrassed, he was speaking the truth, he had to intimidate almost everyone he met even if they are strangers passing him in the street.

jake nods his head yo the side, in the direction of the living room.

“sígueme” he says, and he leaves towards the living room.

you and casper exchange glances, and get up to go see what he was doing, assuming he wanted you both to follow them.

the sight you saw was expected but not really at the same time.

jake turned to you, with a wide grin on his face.

“i shrunk two of my hats” he says and you look back to pedro and luna, who were grooming each other with small hats on, identical to jakes.

luna had a dark muted blue, and pedro had a dark brown one.

you smile as well as casper, which makes jake grin wider.

“how have they been?” casper asks, referring to the cats.

“muy bueno” jake nods to himself, casper nodding as well.

“that’s good, right?” casper whispers to you and you nod.

over the time you’ve spent with jake, you’ve picked up on a little spanish.

for example, ‘cierra el pico’, means to ‘shut your mouth’ which he yells to you a lot when you’re face-timing with casper.

jake pats casper on the shoulder, looking him dead in the eye while subtly pushing you out of the way.

“gracias por los gatos” he smiles at him, then walks off towards the door.

casper makes a face at you, to which you chuckle, following after jake, making casper have to catch up to you.

“what did he say? i know he said thank you but for what?” he asks you and you hum before speaking.

“he said thanks for the cats” you answer and he hums.

you two follow jake up to the roof after getting your shoes on, and when you got up there you saw marc already grilling stuff, and steven dragging old but good outdoor couches out from somewhere.

“heya kids, look what i found behind all that rubbish” steven exclaims out to you both, gesturing to the pile of garbage out behind the door to the roof.

you nod your head with a smile.

“i know they look a bit worse for wear but they were covered by a tarp so all i had to do was brush the dirt off them” steven shrugs, coming up to you guys.

“now, how’s your mouth feeling? does it hurt? are the stitches still intact?” he rambles, hovering his hands over your jaw as to not hurt you.

“it’s fine, just a little sore”

“well it’s a good thing we got your smoothie in the cooler, the cold should help” he turns around and starts rambling to jake about something, the former rolling his eyes.

you snort and turn to casper. “how are you doing?” you ask genuinely, a bit worried he was lying about not being uncomfortable.

“better” he says honestly, so you both make your way to the couch steven had left right next to the grill marc was busy with.

there was a plate with two raw and probably cold hot dogs, and you chuckle just looking at them.

it’s because they reminded you that marc was still a weenie.

steven had come over while you were in your head, and had been talking to casper, so you took that time to go talk with marc and jake.

“hiya marc how’s it feel to finally have friends?” you ask, and marc makes a face.

“what?”

you point to the raw hot dogs, and he lets out a breath.

“get it? because you’re a weenie?” you start laughing, jake watching with amusement.

marc just glares at you and looks back down at the grill.

“marc” you say, trying to get his attention.

“i swear to god” you mutter, rounding the grill and picking up one of the hot dogs, and that’s when marc decides to look at you.

which was bad timing because then you proceeded to smack him in the face with it.

he stares at you in shock, while jake struggles to hold in his laughter behind him hand.

you set the hot dog down and back up slowly, marc furrowing his brows at you while you sheepishly smile at him.

“hey pal why don’t you just calm down?” you try to convince him, but he just smiles at you a bit too sweetly, making you turn around to get as far away from him as possible.

jake had to cook the rest of the food.

you and marc were too busy.

he chased you around the roof, not wanting to give up until you got what you deserved.

and what did you deserve? he had no idea.

tickles probably.

no, tickles definitely.

but hey, your dads got to bond a little with their very possible future son in law.

so hey, it’s a win win.

~~~

A/N : sorry i didnt update yesterday, i just couldnt have it done in time. also sorry its so short, its just a filler.

hope you all liked it, and pls take care of yourselves out there, okay??

see you all in a few days :)) <3

~~~

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spectral-kitkat · 3 years

Text

Miraculous Rant.

Where the hell do I begin…

Season 1:

The show was decent in season 1. Some episodes were just mindless filler and probably weren’t needed in the grand scheme of things but they helped us get introduced to the characters, we got to know the plot and the world our characters inhabit. It was good. The love story between Adrien and Marinette was cute and off to a touching and fluffy start.

Season 2:

This season was immediately better than season 1. It had character development, it went more into detail about the lore surrounding the Miraculous and we got to learn more about our characters and their families and the villian’s motives. (HM really went from “I wanna destroy the world” to “I wanna wake my wife from the coma she’s in”).

We got to see new heroes which was fun! We got new characters like Luka and Kagami.

The season finale was epic! The Miraculous team all taking down all the previous villains in the show was awesome. At the end we even got Mari kissing Adrien on the cheek. It was great! (Even though it clearly reset itself in season 3 cause it’s never mentioned again)

I really enjoyed season 2 and it’s probably my favourite out of the 4.

Season 3:

Season 3 was kinda good and kinda bad. We had some great episodes but this is where the show took the wrong turn.

Marinette lost some of her character in season 3. This was the start of her descent into being the Queen of Mary Sues. It’s also where she was crowned the Queen of Stalkers! Her character took a fucking nose dive in this season. We had so many moments that just creeped me the fuck out.

1. The ENTIRETY of Puppeteer 2 🤢🤢🤢 I could not stand that episode. When we reached the dreaded statue scene I physically had to pause it like 10 times. That scene takes about 3 minutes to watch… it took me about 20. I cringed so fucking hard because of the secondhand embarrassment I was feeling. That was not sweet, it wasn’t romantic, it wasn’t the least bit cute… it was a train wreck! It was creepy and stalkerish and it’s a wonder Adrien even spoke to her again after that atrocity!

2. LB delivering the present in Chat Blanc. Two words: STALKER BEHAVIOUR!!! I genuinely could not believe my eyes when I saw LB run her hand across everything in his room and then actually SNIFF Adrien’s pillow. Like WTF!!! 🤮 I’m pretty sure whoever was responsible for that scene clearly thought it was the equivalent of when someone gets their S/O’s jumper or something and it still smells like them. But this turned it up to the nth degree and way passed the line of sanity.

Adrien was extremely under-utilised in this season. He didn’t really do anything. The only episodes we got about him didn’t really focus on him. ‘Felix’ whilst focusing on Adrien’s family didn’t really feature him. ‘Party Crasher’ while a beautiful mess was more about Mari trying to get into the party than the party itself. ‘Chat Blanc’ again focused more on Mari trying to fix her mistake.

We got even more heroes in season 3, not in the right order but they were there. It was fun seeing everyone’s transformations.

Season 3 was also the season of destroying redemptions. The big one obviously being Chloe. Season 2 was setting up this amazing redemption for her and before it could go anywhere it was wiped off the face of the earth during the finale (and don’t worry we’ll get to that dumpster fire later). Gabriel also had any remaining sympathy ripped away from him. How did the guy who stopped Gorizilla from letting Adrien die when he only thought he was CN go from that to using his son like fucking baseball in Chat Blanc when he knew his son was CN. Like I knew you were a shit father but you still cared about Adrien in some way shape or form but after that episode I can see I was clearly mistaken!

Before we get to the finale I want to talk about probably my 2 least favourite episodes from this season: Desperada and Reflekdoll

Desperada:

I fucking hated this episode! The only good thing was Luka getting to be Viperion, other than that this episode was awful!

Marinette was a selfish cringey bitch. Completely ignoring Luka to gush about Adrien to Jagged. Brushing Luka off as soon as Adrien turns up. Immediately cuddling up to Aspik and flirting with him when she needed to focus on the akuma (something which she has told CN not to do many times before)

Adrien, I love you kid but Jesus Christ you were a dumbass in this episode! Aspik’s design was terrible! Aspik himself was awful. I know Adrien tried his best but dude you were given the Black Cat miraculous for a reason! He shouldn’t have tried to be Aspik but even when he did he should’ve called it quits after like 5 resets not 25,913 times.

The only person with a brain this episode was Luka. So well done guitar boy, gold star!

Reflekdoll:

This episode was annoying! It was basically the start of the Marinette can do no wrong streak! When they have to swap miraculous I was happy cause it meant we got to see new outfits and see how they each handle the different powers. It would also serve as a way to get LB and CN to see what their partners role is first hand. Until we actually get to it…

LadyNoire is of course amazing and needs no introduction to using this new miraculous that she’s never used before. She’s cocky and confident and basically just LB in Chat’s costume with his powers.

Mister Bug on the other hand is just useless. He struggles with this new miraculous (like anyone would!) and is stupid and goofy. He has to rely on LadyNoire to solve the lucky charm. They swapped miraculous so shouldn’t that mean that Mister Bug should get the lucky vision and the creative powers that the earrings give him.

Overall Reflekdoll is awful. It was shitty writing and the start of Adrien getting the short end of the stick.

And now the season 3 finale… Just what the fuck. That is my only reaction: what the fuck!

Chloe you poor fucking child! What did they do to you!!! So much potential SQUANDERED!!!!

What was the point in bringing in all these different superheros with unique skill sets, costumes and transformations if you were just going to immediately reveal them to the main villian so they can’t be used again. That’s stupid! If you wanted the shock value that is “Oh no HM knows some of the heroes identities!” Then keep it as only some. Have like Max, Kim and Kagami outside trying to find somewhere to hide but unfortunately they get hit. Or Nino and Alya are hiding but the windows open and they get hit. Have some of the heroes hide so they’re fine! Taking away every ally of LB and CN’s was a stupid move! (Even if they wanted Alya to become a spy have her as part of the like 4 that get revealed or something, it’s not that difficult)

Season 3 was 50/50 for me

Season 4:

So I know season 4 isn’t even halfway through yet but so much is wrong with this season already that I need to vent!

So my biggest problem with this season of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybitch and Rena Rouge, I mean Rena Furtive… shit, Chat Noir! Is that CN is basically pointless! Adrien has been flung over a rainbow and is only remembered when he’s needed as

1. Marinette’s love interest

2. Someone for LB to shout at

3. A plot device

He has basically been sidelined. Partners my ASS!!!

Adrien is being blown off by pretty much EVERYONE! It’s coming to a point where this poor sweet summer child is going to crack! And it is not gonna be pretty… I definitely feel like the writers are leading up to a big fight between CN and LB which will probably end with Chat Blanc 2.0.

I REALLY HATE MARINETTE/LADYBUG!!!! In Season 3 I said it was the beginning of her descent, well in season 4 she’s done it. She’s descended, she has hit rock fucking bottom. She is so unlikable I don’t actually care about her as a person. She has entered full blown stalker territory it’s only a matter of time before she starts killing people for even looking at Adrien! Not to mention that Miss Mary Sue here can’t do anything wrong! She never has to suffer the consequences of her actions, she is always perfect no matter what she does… it pisses me off!)

She’s the Guardian now big whoop. I know what it feels like to be stressed and under pressure so I do understand why she needed to tell someone about it all. I just don’t see why that person had to Alya! Especially considering she has someone by her side every akuma attack going through pretty much the exact same thing. I know she’s worried about CB happening again but as I said before the more she leaves him out the more she is actually pushing that to become a possibility! Plus it makes sense for them to reveal their identities now since LB is now the guardian it’s probably a good idea to know who holds the cat miraculous, she knows everyone else’s identities!

Even if she didn’t want to tell CN her identity she could still explain the situation to him. If she didn’t want to tell him anything (which she doesn’t anyway) then instead of Alya she should’ve talked to Luka! Her boyfriend for all of half an episode (thanks writers…). He’s so sweet and caring and clearly loves her so much! If she wanted someone to confide in then why not choose the person you clearly wanted to date but couldn’t because of that very reason! (Yeah I know it’s kinda a moot point now since Luka knows both identities but still). He wanted to try and comfort her so it would’ve been the perfect moment for it. That way you could still date him and he’d know why you had to suddenly leave dates halfway through! But no break the boys heart instead!

Adrien and Marinette were both such fucking idiots in the first 2 episodes. Like why would you start a relationship with someone when you know your heart isn’t in it! That’s called leading someone on and is a really shitty thing to do to someone! No wonder Kagami and Luka ended up akumatized!

Another aspect of season 4 I don’t like is Rena Furtive. Yes ok having a spy for your side is a good strategy but when said spy basically tells an important member of a duo that the 2 person job doesn’t involve them… it just really ticks me off! Alya you are the sidekick to LB and CN! Chat isn’t!

Miraculous specials:

The Miraculous World specials suck! Shanghai is better than NY but still has its problems. Both specials add nothing to the overall plot/lore of the show apart from trying to set up some weird cinematic universe…

NY special:

One of the worst things I’ve ever had to sit through! The plane scene alone I paused a few times. I want to say well done to Mari for trying to move on from Adrien (especially considering I’m pretty sure she’s dating Luka at this point) but I can’t help but think it’s just to give her character some pointless development that goes nowhere and doesn’t actually develop anything!

LB can pretty much fuck off at this point! I hate her! She put all this shit on CN (like she doesn’t know exactly how that feels). It’s like why does she get to go off on holiday but CN can’t. LB should’ve stayed in Paris for 3 reasons:

1. She’s recently become the guardian meaning it would probably be best that she stayed with the Mircle Box

2. She’s the only one who can purity the akumas

3. If she’s so sure about being the boss then she should take responsibility of Paris and the citizens.

What really pisses me off about her is what she says to CN during the big fight. “I can’t trust you”… surely you could have this conversation afterwards since you’re supposed to be focusing on taking down the villian! Plus everyone bashes Adrien for giving his miraculous up in this episode but look at it from his point of view: His partner and best friend just said she couldn’t trust him which in turn caused him to cataclysm someone and essentially kill them. That’s gonna take a toll on anyone, especially a 14 year old! He probably thought in that moment. “Ladybug needs a partner she can trust and someone who won’t mess up and kill someone. She needs a better partner.” It makes sense he renounces his miraculous! I’m just upset that in doing so he loses Plagg who is pretty much his only friend who actually understands what Adrien goes through at home.

When Uncanny gets CN to come back, LB acts like it’s not her fault in the first place that he feels inadequate! She didn’t even apologise for saying what she did! He apologised for lying about not being in Paris but nope LB wasn’t in the wrong at all and didn’t have anything to apologise for 🙄… (yes the LadyNoir hug was amazing but I just wish it was under different circumstances!)

Also are we not gonna mention Gabriel Agreste almost starting WW3??? He wanted to launch a fucking missile!!!

Shanghai:

As I said before, this special is way better for several reasons.

We got MariChat! (Best side to the love square imo). This special actually had some semblance on a plot. Fei, whilst a bit op, was a cool character. It was nice to see Wang Cheng again.

However once again there were many problems.

A big one being Marinette yet again! (What a shock! 😒 I’ll come back to this). Another was that once again HM’s motivation has changed. How is getting the Prodigious gonna help bring back Emilie??

Back to Marinette… The fact that the words “Huh?! There must be some kind of mistake! I always know what's up with Adrien! … His 5 first names and every corresponding name date, his yearly schedule, even his shoe size! If there were anything to know about him, I would know it!” come out of her mouth whilst she is flipping through his schedule that she keeps in her pocketbook is a hugh red flag!!! That is not cute or adorable! That’s messed up and Adrien needs to fucking run and maybe possibly go into witness protection… Marinette is a full blown stalker! Not to mention the GPS she has (that could just be the find my friends app on iphone but still).

It also is extremely rude of her to use not only her great uncle’s birthday but also a lie about wanting to know her Chinese heritage in order to go to Shanghai to stalk her obsession, I mean crush. This could’ve been avoided if the Dupain-Chengs were going to Shanghai for the purpose of celebrating Wang Cheng’s bday and then Adrien just so happened to be in Shanghai.

Also this means LB left Paris without telling CN! I know CN did the same but again he can’t purify the akumas. Plus he has a reason he couldn’t stay in Paris, Mari just went cause her crush did. Great guardianship there Marinette.

This was also the last time CN actually did something. Even if it was for a short while before LB and her female partner took over (the beginning of a theme…)

Other things:

There are 2 other things that I wanna say but felt they needed a separate bit.

In Furious Fu, Su-Han has a rule book that he uses to tell Marinette which rules she has broken. At the end of the episode he tells her that is she breaks 1 more rule that he will take the Miraculous and the Miracle Box off her, which fair enough but wouldn’t it be helpful to leave the rule book with her?! How can she be wary of not breaking anymore rules when she doesn’t even know what the rules are??

Now the big one: Master Fu…

Where do I even start with him. He is so fucking manipulative!! He is Asian Dumbledore!

He decides to leave these extremely powerful jewels in the hands of 13 year olds! Surely leaving the miraculous to someone in their 20s would’ve been better!

He clearly favours LB over CN even though the Ladybug and Black Cat are supposed to be partners! Wouldn’t it make sense for them both to be in contact with the guardian from the start?? He randomly started introducing rules such as if LB and CN find out each other’s identities they would lose their miraculous… what kind of bullshit rule is that? It also came out of fucking nowhere!

Final Thoughts:

But to summarise all of that: Miraculous is on quite a steep decline but I’m invested at this point and I am genuinely curious as to where the fuck this will go.

Marinette needs professional fucking help before the writers even consider canonising Adrienette cause at the moment she is not what Adrien needs!

Adrien needs to stand up for himself! He needs to pull LB to the side and tell her what he feels and what he’s going through cause he is on the precipice of a breakdown!

(Small point that’s more to do with the fandom: when searching for fanfics it’s really annoying that Adrien Agreste/Chat Noir Bashing is a tag but Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug Bashing isn’t. Why does everyone think Marinette can do no wrong???)

#miraculous fandom #miraculous ladybug #miraculous salt #adrien agreste #marinette dupen chang #marinette salt #master fu salt #ladybug and chat noir #fandom salt #thomas astruc salt #adrien deserves better #miraculous season 4 #miraculous season 3 #miraculous rant

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astro-rain · 3 years

Text

delicate; b.barnes

chapter sixteen — “aftermath”

delicate masterlist

word count: 1.5k

synopsis: steve finds bucky a bit stressed and acting (only slightly) neurotic. he aims to uncover the source of his best friend’s conflict... and he’s not surprised at the answer.

pairings: bucky barnes x fem!reader

[A/N:] ‘doll dizzy’ is 40’s slang for “a boy who is crazy about girls” also this is kind of a filler chapter, sorry :(

The walk back to his living quarters was hazy and slow. His mind went back and forth from scattered to blank, in complete disbelief that what just happened happened. It was surreal; it almost felt like it didn't happen.

It wasn't... supposed to happen. They were supposed to be friends. Conceptually he knew this, but then she was there and she was so close and her hands were on him and she was saying such sweet, gentle things.

Briefly, so Bucky touched his lips lightly with the pads of his index and middle finger. If he focused hard enough, he could still feel it, feel her. Before he could dig himself another grave, the rational part of his brain yanked him back to reality.

Did he ruin everything? After all, it was him that leaned in this time. How different would they be from the last time the two of them got too close? The rumination would've continued, but the voice of a blonde super soldier interrupted his thoughts.

"Buck, you day drinkin' now?" Steve called, jokingly.

"What?"

"You look drunk."

Post fuck up delirium? He bet he looked like an idiot. To be honest, he felt a little inebriated after what he just experienced.

"I can't get drunk."

"Yeah, that's why I'm confused."

"I just..." he trailed off, thinking of an excuse, "was on a run. That's all."

As Bucky walked up to him, he could more clearly see the confusion on Steve's face.

"In those clothes?"

"...yes."

"Whatever you say, pal..."

Bucky didn't have time for so many questions! He didn't even have time to think; he had no idea what he was going to do, what was going to happen. Then Steve started talking again.

"Hey, Sam and I were going to-"

"I gotta go," Bucky interrupted, needing to find someplace to suffer through his thoughts.

"Buck-"

"I'll see ya later."

From there, he left his best friend more confused than when he found him.

—

Bucky paced around his room, his worried, worried mind running in circles. In the heat of the moment, she said she wouldn't leave, but how could she not? And what the fuck was transference? Was that what was actually happening? Even if it was, how could she condone his actions? There was no way she could stay after that! Right?

The rest of the session was so awkward and they left things in such a weird place and Bucky was so confused but also feeling all sorts of other things and-

"Bucky."

He turned to see Steve march through the entryway with a kind of glorious purpose only Steve Rogers seemed to have.

He sighed. "What do you need?"

"What is up with you, man?"

"What?"

"What's up with you? You're acting weird."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are. Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong!"

"You're a terrible liar," he deadpanned with a hint of a smile.

"I'm actually a good liar. I just... got a lot on my mind, okay? So, you can go be a worryin' geezer somewhere else. I'll be just fine."

"Geezer? Did you forget that you're literally older than me?"

"Shut up," Bucky all but pouted, too frazzled to muster up some creative banter. "Punk."

"Just tell me what's wrong, ya jerk."

He knew Steve wouldn't budge. At first he thought, stubborn ass. But then, he remembered how Y/N said Steve's stubbornness was something she really respected about him.

Bucky sighed, giving in and slouching into a chair near his bed. "It's Y/N."

"The... therapist?"

"Yes. The therapist."

"What about her? Did she do something? Is this another Zemo situation?"

Steve's voice got more defensive with each word. Like he was ready to kick someone's ass if need be. Steve Rogers: loyal to a fault. What else is new?

"No! No, nothing like that. Things are just... kinda complicated..."

"Complicated how?"

Yeah, how exactly was he supposed to explain this part? He didn't want to reveal any details and get her fired. Obviously. Steve wouldn't tell anyone anything that would get Bucky in trouble. That much he knew. But with Y/N, he wasn't sure. He decided to play it safe, proving that he was, in fact, a good liar. Or, at least a good only-tell-certain-parts-of-the-truth-er.

"Complicated like she might leave."

"Why would she leave? Are you guys done with the therapy?"

"Not exactly. It's... things between us are... odd."

"Odd?" Steve asked, clearly wanting some kind of elaboration.

"Yes," Bucky said curtly, giving him nothing of the sorts.

Steve stared at him for a moment, and it looked like he was trying to solve a math problem in his head. Bucky almost laughed.

"Buck, you didn't..."

"Didn't what?!"

"She's your therapist!" he exclaimed, although he didn't look very upset. More so surprised.

Now Bucky was starting to lose his composure. "What are you talking about?!"

"Well, I guess you really are getting back your old self because this is probably what he would do."

Did he just get called a man slut?

"What is that supposed to mean?" he crossed his arms.

"You've always been... what'd we used to call it? 'Doll dizzy?' Yeah. It's making a reappearance."

"I-..." Bucky exasperated.

Okay, maybe he was a little doll dizzy back when he was a kid, but now? Certainly not now. That's ridiculous.

"What? You're gonna look at me and you're gonna tell me that I'm wrong?"

"What exactly are you implying?"

"Are you..." he stuttered, slightly embarrassed, thinking of how to choose his words, "being intimate... with your therapist?"

If he wasn't preoccupied with worrying about his psychologist leaving, he might have laughed at Steve's awkwardness.

"What! No! It's not like that!" He felt flustered.

Steve laughed. He fucking laughed. "Then what?"

Bucky rubbed his eyes, groaning in annoyance. "We're... just friends."

Well, they were supposed to be. He's not sure what they were now... or what was going to happen. Beforehand, any cursed feelings he had were just that: feelings. They were in the back of his mind, barely making themselves conscious long enough to be known, long enough for him to be fully aware of them. But now, he felt like an exposed nerve, feeling all too much too fast.

"Just friends?" he raised his brows in disbelief.

"Yeah, just... yeah..."

"I think you guys look at each other a little too long to be just friends..."

Bucky scoffed. "What does that even mean?"

"I saw you two at the bonfire."

"Okay? Whatdya want, a trophy?"

"Yeah, yeah. And whenever she wasn't looking at you, you were gawkin' at her."

"I don't gawk," he rolled his eyes.

"Oh, but you do."

"And since when are you tracking everyone's eye movements?"

"You were subtle, I'll give you that. But I know ya, Buck. And I'm observant."

"Yeah, and I'm screwed."

"Why?"

"'Cause she's probably gonna leave now. I mean, she said she didn't have to, but she'll probably think everything over and end up leaving."

"What, 'cause you looked at her?"

"No, 'cause I kissed her!"

A smile grew on Steve's face. "I knew it."

Once more, Bucky let out a loud and annoyed groan of frustration. "Man, I fucked up. I had a good thing going for me... god damn transference... shit."

"Transference?"

"It's a thing she told me about, it's like... apparently my feelings about something else get transferred to her, so I don't really feel that way about her, but it seems like I do... I think."

"That's... a thing?"

"Apparently- I don't know," Bucky flailed his hands, beginning to pace again. "That's what she told me at least."

"Well... did she kiss you back?"

Bucky stopped moving.

"She did..." he said, while realizing that, yes, she actually did kiss him back and shocked that she... actually kissed him back.

He guessed his mind hadn't caught up to him yet. He hadn't analyzed their actions and each physical change between them. He guessed he was still stuck in that moment. In his head, they were still kissing.

"That's a good sign... right?" Steve shrugged.

Bucky squeezed his eyes shut, brain all but malfunctioning. "I don't know what it is. I don't know anything anymore. I'm a crummy patient..."

"Oh, come on. What happened to Brooklyn's ladies man?"

"He fell off a train."

Steve looked only slightly mortified, but it made Bucky laugh. Comedic catharsis seemed to ease the tension in his chest.

"Look," Bucky started, "she's like the best thing that's happened to me in a long time. And I think I might've ruined it. I just want things to be okay with us... I don't want her to leave."

"Did you talk to her about it?"

"No, we ended the session early 'cause of me. It was... awkward after."

"Well, go talk to her then!"

"I can't, I just left. I wanna at least give her some space."

"You didn't seem to care about space earlier," Steve teased.

Bucky smacked his best friend's arm. "Would you cut it out!"

"Wait, but how did it happen? Like did you just leap up and grab her face? How did it go down?"

"I'm gonna kill you."

"I thought I was the wing man! I need details!"

Bucky turned. "Oh yeah, wingman? How's Sharon?"

Steve shut up.

delicate taglist: @bakugouswh0r3 @thefridgeismybestie @strivingforelegance @ilovespideyyy @xpurpleglitter @bluelakeee @darkacademic2 @nickkie1129 @eclipsedplanet @paradisedixon @crazy-beautiful @coffee--writes @lilithknight1111 @buckybarnesishot310 @softladyhours @alwayssandy @quxxnxfhxll @those-sea-green-eyes @hero-ically @devilswaldorf @cc13723things @maravderofthephoenix @avengersgirllorianna @cataves @thatbitchsposts @talktomeaboutthestars @surrealpsycho @headheartbellarke @bubbly-moonwarrior @bluemoon-icecream @buckeyecreates

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miraculouscontent · 3 years

Photo

Kagami and Marinette deserve so much better.

Anyway, let’s just start literally where this episode starts, because it makes no sense. Remember back in my “Truth” critique where I basically said that the episode seemed like it’d been shoved through multiple drafts and no one checked the final one?

Same applies here.

Like--okay, ”Truth” and “Lies” take place at roughly the same time, which means that the same filler akuma/sentimonsters appear to interrupt Adrimi’s moments just as they did with Lukanette’s, giving its audience a clear timeline of how the episodes line up. The reason this is important is because the writers can’t even keep consistency within singular episodes and then honestly thought that they could do it within two.

“Lies” begins with Marinette talking to Tikki about the grimoire, because apparently she has the non-translated version and there’s a secret to figuring out the code that Tikki believes Marinette will discover eventually.

...Alright, I’m derailing here but I have to add how absolutely stupid Fu was when dealing with translating the grimoire. He was supposed to teach Marinette how to be guardian, yet he didn’t teach her how to read the grimoire (if there’s supposedly a “secret” to it, is he really going to bank on Marinette figuring it out herself eventually instead of just giving it to her and avoid the risk altogether??), kept the translated pages on his tablet without sending them to Marinette as he deciphered them, and took time to write a letter to her in “Miracle Queen” but left no guardian-centric advice for her to work off of, meaning that Tikki had to explain how the Miracle Box worked to Marinette back in “Truth.”

The show goes out of its way constantly to turn everything against Marinette even if it makes all the characters around her look either incompetent or cruel. It’s not that I’m not used to this by now but it’s just infuriating that it keeps trying to raise the stakes and tension when Marinette made such a tiny mistake to cause the issue in the first place, and now we find out that Fu had no back-up plan or strategy, apparently expecting this 14-year-old girl to act perfectly and cover for him.

And of course, instead of leaving the scene off on Marinette being encouraged by Tikki and Marinette showing confidence in herself (i.e: what would’ve been a nice scene), the kwami accidentally fumble with the keyboard in such a way to have Marinette’s computer bring up a news story about Adrien, which leads to Marinette leaning towards her computer and sighing over Adrien and his “amazing life.”

Can I just point out how annoying it is that all the Adrienette moments so far on Marinette’s end have been forced, not just in general (because we’re used to that), but literally forced by the plot so Marinette would talk about him or other characters would bring Adrien up?

“Truth” had Alya insult Marinette to her face over her Adrien crush because Marinette was freaking over something non-Adrien related that they couldn’t have known about, Luka was sent a no-context picture of Marinette’s Adrien wall which led to him lowkey teasing her about it, and then Truth was forced to listen to Marinette’s friends and Tom babble about Marinette’s supposed crush on Adrien even when Truth points out that it’s not a secret, making the “joke” fall absolutely flat.

And now “Lies” comes along and has the kwami drop things and step on the keyboard in the exact way to pull up Adrien stuff for Marinette to fawn over. It’s at this point I’m realizing that - had the kwami stayed inside the box or just not been around in general - Marinette literally wouldn’t have brought up Adrien at all in either “Truth” or “Lies” and now I’m sad. I really don’t want to have a counter for “episodes where Marinette wouldn’t have so much as breathed Adrien’s name if the kwami/someone else wasn’t there to force it.”

So yeah, the episode had to force Adrienette into its Adrimi episode because the show can’t go five minutes without reminding the audience that Adrien exists even though this episode is primarily from his point of view, made worse by this scene’s lack of ability to exist.

See, from the timeline in “Lies” lining up with “Truth,” there is no possible way for this opening scene with Marinette talking about guardian stuff and then fawning over Adrien to happen. There’s an akuma scene in “Lies” that literally is just copy-pasted from “Truth” (it actually does this again with another scene later but that’s not important right now), so that means anything that takes place before said scene in both “Truth” and “Lies” have to line up.

Except they can’t. The akuma scene in question interrupts Marinette’s movie date with Luka in “Truth,” and before that, she had just opened the Miracle Box, wrangled up the kwami, talked to the girl squad over video call, talked to Luka, and then immediately had to leave. There are no cuts or wiggle room anywhere in there.

Therefore, the scene in “Lies” is impossible. Either the scene is supposed to go elsewhere in the episode (we don’t actually know how many days it takes up so it’s hard to say on that front) which just makes the episode even more convoluted, or this means that one would have to pick between the scene in “Truth” and the scene in “Lies” because they literally cannot co-exist.

“Lies” was supposed to coincide with “Truth” and they messed it up in the first scene of the episode.

Then comes Adrien himself, who really shows the series’ clunkiness in focusing on other characters. It’s not that I’m against the show moving away from Marinette to show other people’s point-of-view (I definitely didn’t complain during the Couffaine sibling scene in “Reflekdoll”), but Adrien cannot carry his own episode.

In Marinette’s opening scene, we immediately got details on the grimoire and lore about how reading it actually worked. I didn’t like it and it wasn’t good, but it was new information.

Adrien, meanwhile, spends a large portion of the episode being sad (a very grand and unique plot, my dudes) and giving us information we already know. “Truth” has to come first because “Lies” is half of a follow-up on it, meaning that the audience is already aware that Ladybug has been forgetful and has had to miss out on patrols. It’s just that now we get to see Chat Noir sulking about it and--okay, I am just going to go off, alright?

Firstly, Chat Noir tells Ladybug later on that he “understands” her guardian duties, but he previously mocked her behind her back by using air quotes when he was talking to her answering machine (since she obviously wouldn’t see that). We saw in “Truth” where he admitted that he doesn’t mind her being guardian “as long as it doesn’t change their relationship,” and that’s on display right here with his comments.

Not only is it extremely disrespectful, but for someone who claims to be so loyal and understanding to Ladybug, he sure doesn’t show it.

Secondly, he leaves her a message about how he’ll take care of patrol, then proceeds to slack off because she’s not there to keep him in check. He sulks around Paris, mumbling about how Ladybug isn’t around and constantly checking his messages to see if she’s replied to him. Chat Noir has shown his “priorities” in terms of heroism before, but patrol isn’t supposed to be about getting time with “““his lady”““ yet that is clearly all he cares about. He even ends the patrol unprompted, either giving up or just generally having not finished, because I don’t believe that the “end” of patrol just happened to be at the place Kagami was.

Patrol is about protecting Paris and scoping things out. Ladybug is trusting him to pick up the slack when she’s not around and he should be picking up slack, yet he has completely failed on that front. This is made worse when considering that the Season 3 finale had Ladybug breaking down to him from guilt and we know that Marinette had a breakdown before that to Luka, yet Chat is doing nothing to lighten Ladybug’s burden, putting up a falsehood on Ladybug’s answering machine to make him look better than he actually is.

Then, thirdly and most importantly/infuriatingly, Chat Noir knows that Ladybug is busy and he knows that she’s taking on a new responsibility, yet he not only jabs at her for “how hurtful it is when she leaves him to patrol alone” (one, cry me a river, and two, I don’t care if it’s a joke, it’s insensitive), but before that scene, he was actively hoping for people to get akumatized so Ladybug would be forced to show up and he could spend time with her. He egged Xavier Ramier on, even asking him if he “missed being Mister Pigeon,” and then looked on with glee as Chloe bullied Sabrina because he thought that an akumatization might happen.

And this is on top of so many other issues with this whole scene. Adrien complains all the time about his schedule and how restrictive his father is, but suddenly - in the episode right after Marinette had to break up with her boyfriend due to her cramped schedule - is lounging around and wasting time. It hurts to see Marinette suffering from all of her responsibilities while Chat’s biggest problem is how little time he gets with Ladybug.

Also, another point on Mister Pigeon is that that’s the akuma that had interrupted Marinette’s movie date and kiss with Luka. I’m not suggesting that Chat egging Xavier on led to him getting akumatized, but I am saying that Chat wanting akuma to happen with no regard for Ladybug’s happiness is yet another point on the list of why I hate the love square. Marinette genuinely forgot about patrol with him - genuinely was forgetting about everything, really - and as a “punishment,” her own partner whined, didn’t patrol properly, and egged on an akumatization that eventually ended up happening which then broke up the little bit of happiness that the universe was allowing her to have.

Oh, and did I mention that he’s also dating Kagami at the time as well because here we freaking go.

Now, I did not get on Marinette’s case for her Adrien wall and stammering because Luka is largely aware of where she stands in the relationship and she only brought Adrien up when someone else did, even when Luka wasn’t around or being mentioned. Adrien, however, I have multiple bones to pick with, starting with how utterly needy he is for Ladybug’s attention.

This guy has tons of friends, all these fans, and could get people to flock to him whether in or out of the mask, but he wants Ladybug, and anyone not Ladybug isn’t good enough. There’s a scene later in the episode where Kagami - his girlfriend, mind you - is pouring her heart out to him, and he gets distracted by Ladybug instead of listening to her. Even when he excuses the distraction, he then gets distracted again even though Ladybug is no longer in the background.

Lying to protect his identity is one thing, but what Adrien does to Kagami goes beyond that. He’s pining after and flirting with another girl and Kagami has no idea. She’s speculated before that Adrien likes Marinette, but she’s mostly left in the dark because Adrien hasn’t told her anything, nor has he confirmed with her whether it’s okay or not for him to flirt with other girls so long as he’s not pursuing them. He could’ve admitted that he was in love with Ladybug but that he wants to try things with Kagami, but he refuses to open up to her or put himself out there.

Except, he technically does, once, when Kagami tells him to pose for her and he strikes his transformation stance, but he caught her completely off-guard and it’s no wonder why she was put off by it or thought it was unnatural. Not only that, but when Kagami tells him that he’s acting like a clown in that scene, we can see by jumping back to “Truth” that Chat Noir fished for Ladybug’s compliments which then led to a line about him talking about how Ladybug enjoyed him acting like a clown; a direct connection.

Kagami didn’t validate him, so he fished for Ladybug to do so because Ladybug was both forced to answer the question and wasn’t able to lie to him. The show has Ladybug state that her most preferred trait of his is his humor but I am certainly not laughing.

Chat Noir even goes further after the fight with Truth (so another copy-pasted scene) by saying that he has the most fun with Ladybug specifically, and this is all while he’s still dating.

Then this guy has the gall to talk during his break-up about how his fun times with Kagami weren’t lies after apologizing to her for his constant lying, as if he’s trying to earn her sympathy when we know that he’s been pining after Ladybug and flirting with her like she were his number one when he already had a girlfriend waiting for him (and who, by the way, had covered for him earlier and was sitting sadly on a staircase outside, feeling abandoned). The episode presents the break-up as if Adrien’s problem was the fact that he had to constantly lie to Kagami due to being busy with hero work (which is already dumb when we also saw him lounging around and complaining about how nothing was happening, meaning he was inadvertently supportive of the idea of having less time with Kagami and more time with Ladybug even if that means Paris is in danger), but the real problem ends up being that Adrien neglected Kagami emotionally and wasn’t able to give her the attention she wanted.

It’s both sad and annoying that Adrien has always sulked about his dad not paying attention to him and then we get Adrien not paying attention to Kagami, looking for Ladybug when Ladybug had already left and Kagami is trying to tell him something very important.

This is what I mean when I say that Adrien can’t carry an episode on his own. He’s incredibly selfish and most of his dialog just involves him complaining about Ladybug or making excuses. Kagami carried the episode more than he did because more details were revealed about her - specifically the fact that she likes drawing - and she’s active in making things happen (being the one to make the excuse to set up their fencing lessons, deciding what they’ll do with their hour of free time, etcetera).

And regardless of what girl he’s interacting with, Adrien can’t respect either of them. I just talked about Kagami and I’ve already talked about how he treats Ladybug when she’s not even around, but now we get to how he treats Ladybug when she is around.

During the climax of the fight with Lies, where Ladybug requires a distraction to safely pull off her lucky charm, Chat Noir decides - without Ladybug’s input - to sacrifice himself yet again.

I have to stress that Ladybug is stressed and Chat has always talked about her plans and listening to her, yet he has a horrible habit of making decisions all on his own and letting Ladybug deal with the fallout. Whenever he has the chance, he’ll throw himself in front of her and take the big hit, presumably with the mindset that Miraculous Ladybug will fix everything so it’s not like it matters.

Ladybug even shouts at him when he hints at what he’s about to do and there was absolutely time for them to talk about it, but Chat Noir just lets himself fall and be bait, even throwing out what is a clear confession (again, while he’s still dating someone else) before he’s knocked unconscious by Lies’ power.

And when Ladybug yells at him for it when everything’s said and done, pounding at his chest and looking absolutely upset over the whole thing? He not only brushes her off, but he boops her nose and talks about how “irresistable” her “angry little pout” is.

He might as well have just said, “you’re cute when you’re angry,” because that’s exactly what he’s implying; that Ladybug’s anger is something “amusing” to him and not something he takes seriously. We’ve already seen it before in “Reflekdoll” and “Oblivio” as well, so this is just a continuation of already-annoying behavior.

Then, instead of Ladybug getting even angrier for it, the episode has her smile at him, which not only isn’t a normal reaction compared to how she’s reacted before, but now gives the impression that she’s being conditioned by the narrative to accept Chat Noir’s behavior in whatever shape or form it takes.

Because think about it: regardless of how upset Ladybug gets over Chat Noir, it never works out for her and she’s forced to either make up with him quickly or just get over it because she can’t be fighting with her partner (meanwhile, like in “Glaciator,” Chat Noir can be as upset as he wants and she’ll apologize first). She presumably would now have the authority to take away his ring by virtue of being guardian, but he’s also been her partner from the beginning and he’s had so much time to get used to the cat. Most likely, she would sooner blame herself for failing to reign him in than blame him for failing as an adequate partner.

There’s nothing she can do. She has to deal with the hand that she’s been dealt and getting angry at him has done nothing; rejecting him has done nothing.

And of course the episode throws everything under the rug in the ending with an insulting LadyNoir scene where Ladybug and Chat Noir talk about the secrets their forced to keep but also how they can trust each other.

Meanwhile, Ladybug has no idea of all the things Chat Noir has done behind her back. She still has no clue about “Copycat,” nor “Syren,” nor any of the stuff he did in this episode that she’ll probably never know about. Factor it in with “Miraculous New York” (whether one considers it canon or not) where she rightfully shouted at him because he betrayed her trust, and here we are one and a half episodes later (since “Truth” and “Lies” take place at similar times) where suddenly they’re all buddy-buddy and Chat Noir doesn’t have to deal with any consequences to his selfishness.

I’m glad that Kagami didn’t forgive Adrien in the end (even if I’m upset that she doesn’t know how bad it really was) because she had every right to walk away and not want to be friends with him. I only wish that Ladybug could do the same thing and never look back, but due to the love square’s status as endgame, we know that can’t happen, and Ladybug will eventually be forced to fall in love with a guy who mocked her responsibilities behind her back, disrespected her authority by opting to tease/flirt with her, continued pursuing her despite her rejections, and hoped for Paris to be in danger just so he could see her.

And... yeah, that hurts. It really does.

#category: salt #episode: Lies #other: ask and answer #other: ml spoilers

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writingtoforgetreality · 3 years

Text

Come Together - Little Movie Star Chapter Five (Jensen Ackles x Daughter!Reader)

[Actors-Masterlist], [Little Movie Star-Masterlist]

Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

Summary: It was finally time to meet the Padalecki’s. What if they did not like you? You were expecting a lot of things but you certainly were not expecting this. Were you dreaming? You had to be.

Words: 1,912

Warnings: language, Jared being a hugger (you’ll understand why I put it here), being uncomfortable, scared of having to go back, surprises, kinda a filler chapter but important for the future of this story

If you like my work & wanna support me: a coffee would be highly appreciated ❤

~2016~

Tonight, the Padalecki’s were coming over. When Jensen broke the news to you, you were excited but equally nervous. Danneel drove the kids over to their grandparents so they would not disturb you during dinner. Not that they ever annoyed you. The exact opposite, actually. You loved having them around. But you were supposed to focus on Jared & Gen tonight.

The thought of them getting to know you scared the shit out of you. They were the Ackles’ best friends, after all, & you wanted to leave a good first impression behind. It took you some time to figure out what you wanted to wear for dinner. It would be held at home so you did not have to overdress but at the same time, you found dressing nicely to be convenient. After changing your outfit one too many times, you settled on a simple look. While it was nothing special, you did feel confident in it. And confidence was definitely something you needed later today.

Spending hours in the bathroom was not planned, it simply happened. You wanted to look perfect. Danneel had told you that there was no need to worry, that they would love you just as you were. Being a fan of them for a long time, you knew they would never judge you by they way you looked. It just was not in their nature. Still, it could not hurt to put effort into your look, right?

When you woke up today, the first thing you did was checking your phone. You knew you should not but sometimes you felt the need to. By now, everyone knew about you. And while the hate comments were becoming less & less, some days, you only noticed the negative responses. Of course, the media had picked up on the fact that you were a new person they could write about. There was not much to report about you, though. Some paparazzi had shot a few pictures of you over the time of you living in Austin. At first, you were creeped out by the idea of being watched 24/7. Now, you were dealing with it way better. When you were seen with Jensen, you posed for the pictures & it was fun to mess with them, really. Besides your first Instagram post, you had been quiet on social media. The hate wave still needed some time to die down & you did not want to add fire to the flame by posting more stuff about your new life. Surprisingly, the articles that had been written about you were mainly positive. Of course, a couple of them were looking for drama but because of your silence on social media, there was not much they could write about.

Walking out of your room after checking your look in the mirror for the hundredth time, you saw that you still had an hour left before they would be coming by. You could ask Danneel if you could help in the kitchen. She had insisted on making the main dish while the Padalecki’s would bring over dessert. Danneel heard you walking in & gasped when she turned around to look at you.

“Wow, (Y/N). You look gorgeuous.” blushing at her words, you thanked her.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” walking over, you could already smell the delicious dish Danneel was preparing.

“You could set the table if you don’t mind?” she asked you & you immediately got to work, grabbing everything necessary to put on the table.

Hey, Dee?” you were at a point where calling her by her nickname did not make you uncomfortable anymore. Yet, if you had to be fully honest, being in Jensen’s presence calmed you more. Comparing your relationship to the beginning, though, the both of you had improved by a lot. And you were grateful that your trying was not for nothing.

“What’s up?”

“Where’s Jensen? Shouldn’t he…I don’t know, be here already?” you knew he was not the person to be late, especially not for something as important as this. Okay, it was just dinner but he was aware of your nervousness even days before. Danneel informed you that he was at the Padalecki’s house & would arrive right in time with them. Okay, good. At least he did not forget about it.

Ever since you had arrived in Austin, Jensen’s filming schedule was all over the place. The crew wanted to give him more time with you & the change in his life. This ended up in him flying back & forth from Vancouver to Austin almost every couple of days. It was exhausting & you had reasoned with him to focus on his work entirely, that you guys would be okay here. But nope, Jensen wanted to be there with his family & you appreciated his efforts a lot. A lot of weekends, he was at conventions all across the country but he always managed to stop by & spend time with you all. He was great.

There was knocking on the front door & you knew it was them. Danneel asked you to get the door & you were silently preparing yourself. You had multiple conversations in your head & hoped that one of them would be fitting. Taking a deep breath, you opened the door. Damn, you knew Jared was tall but he was tall. You were pulled into a bone-crashing hug before any words were exchanged. Right, you knew Jared was a hugger, you had seen enough videos of him admitting that. Still, you were getting used to physical touch & his hug did more bad than good. You hated yourself for feeling that way, there was no need to be scared of hugs.

“Easy, pal. Let her go.” Jensen rescued you by tapping Jared’s shoulder. It was as if he suddenly remembered that you actually were not one for hugs. Pulling away abruptly, he scratched the back of his neck.

“I’m sorry…” he quietly apologized. “I’m Jared. It’s nice to finally meet you, (Y/N).” you could not stay mad at him, the look in his eyes & his smile was enough to forget the uncomfortable hug immediately.

“It’s no problem & likewise, Jared.” stepping out of the doorway to let them in, Gen came into view & she smiled sweetly at you. Not making the same mistake as Jared, she simply shook your hand.

“Hi (Y/N), I’m Gen. You look pretty.” would you ever stop blushing whenever someone gave you a compliment? You were not sure but it was something you could work on, you thought.

“Thank you. It’s good to see you.” keeping your nervousness at bay, you were proud when your voice did not crack. If you acted like this the entire evening, you would be fine.

Jared & Gen walked into the house to greet Danneel & Jensen stopped you before you could follow them. Facing him, you gave him a confused look, not knowing what he wanted from you.

“I’m sorry about Jared. I told him you weren’t one for hugs but that jerk doesn’t listen very well.” Jensen felt bad that the first interaction between you guys was uncomfortable for you.

“It’s fine, Jensen, really. I knew he was a hugger.” a laugh escaped you, one that eased him a little. Now he could tell you were not mad at what happened. It could only get better from now on, right?

Dinner went by fast. It was easy to talk to them & while they did ask you a lot of questions, they were never uncomfortable. They knew where the line was that should not be crossed. At least for the time being.

“So, (Y/N).” Jared started.

“Yeah?”

“I heard a rumor that you’re a fan of Supernatural?” he gave you a smile that showed you that he knew the answer to that question already. You nodded your head.

“Started watching about three years ago.“

“That brings me to my next very important question. Who’s your favorite? Sam or Dean?” oh, he did go down that road, great. You could feel Jensen’s eyes on you & Jared was looking way too confident. Honesty was important, right? Well, then you might as well confess.

“Actually…Cas is my favorite.” you admitted. Both, Jared & Jensen, gasped & acted as if the world just ended. You laughed at their antics. They could be such children.

“That’s my girl.” Danneel spoke up & high-fived you. Yeah, you could get used to that group of people.

Danneel & Gen left Jensen, Jared & you alone, knowing what they were about to tell you. Jared had brought you a little gift. It was one of his hoodies from the newest “Always Keep Fighting” campaign. The one with the “Family Has Your Back” logo. After thanking him, you immediately put it on, loving how it fit you. It was a little too big on you but that made it even comfier.

“We have to tell you something.” Jensen started. Oh no. Usually, when people from your past started a conversation like this, you were sent back the next day. Wait…Would they really do that? After everything?

“O-okay?” hiding your nervousness was not possible anymore. Jared noticed you trembling hands & eased your mind before you got the wrong impression.

“Hey, it’s alright. It’s a good thing, I promise.” again, Jared’s smile had an effect on you. Maybe it was because he was so empathetic.

“Remember when you told me that you enjoyed acting a while ago?” Jensen continued after you nodded, “I managed to get you two auditions. They are online, so I can be there with you this entire time. That is, of course, only if you wanna do this.” your eyes widened at his words. Had you heard him right? He got you auditions? Plural? That was literally one of your biggest dreams.

“So?” Jared asked when you were silent for a few seconds. You just needed time to process everything. But holy shit. Of course you wanted to do this!

“I’d love to! What are the auditions for?”

“One is for being a main character in season 13 of Supernatural & the-“ Jensen was cut off.

“WAIT WHAT?! You’re kidding, right?”

“He so isn’t kidding.” Jared chimed in.

“And the second one?” everything was too much right now. How could you possibly deal with this information without freaking out?

“A role for the next Avengers movie.” Jensen finished. Yeah, sure, why not?

“How? How did you get these auditions for me?” you were shocked to say the least. What was happening?

“We do have some connections.” Jared winked at you & this time, it was you who pulled the both of them into a hug. Jared looked surprised while Jensen just smiled. He appreciated whenever you initiated physical touch, knowing it was not easy for you.

After the talk, Danneel & Gen joined you guys again & you excitedly told them about your upcoming auditions. That was so foreign to you. Having upcoming auditions. Even though they made sure that you understood that they could not guarantee anything, you were more than grateful that they even got you this opportunity. Supernatural & Marvel, both fandoms you loved wholeheartedly. And now you had the chance to be play an actual part if everything worked out. And how you hoped it would. Your life had changed so much lately & it could change even more now.

~to be continued~

Next Chapter

Published (04/17/2021) by Cathy

Tags: @vicmc624, @imaginationisgrowth, @stoneyggirl, @alyispunk, @thevelvetseries, @multifandomlover121, @samsgirl93, @supernatural3002, @diabetes-03, @prettyybubblesintheair, @originalsoulcollector, @vir-tual, @bellero, @sergantbuckybarnes (let me know if you wanna be tagged <3)

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scaredyships · 3 years

Text

Renegades (Din Djarin x gn!Reader) | pt. III

summary: Mando picks out the planet Sorgan for the three of you to lie low on. Things get complicated, Reader gets a glimpse of how hectic Mando's life can be as a bounty for hire, and everybody is confused about feelings.

word count: 14.5k (...help)

author’s notes: Good LORD I was stuck on this for way too long. Between my creative focus being elsewhere and just being completely stuck as to how I wanted some scenes to play out, it took a lot for me to do more than a sentence or two at a time and then forget about it for days or weeks at a time.

This was also hard to write bc I am very uhhh put off by Omera and her original role as the possible love interest and I was trying very hard to remain believable/respectful about her. Cara Dune was also hard to write because of certain actions by her actor, so she's got a little bit of a lesser role.

I'm saying this now, with future chapters I am not going to be going episode-by-episode like I originally intended. I might jump around and have some "filler" things, I may completely skip over some episode happenings, I may diverge from canon here and there, but generally the outcomes will be the same as the show. I cut out the actual battle of Sorgan too bc this is already too long and I am terrible at writing action scenes. :v

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 (you are here) // ao3 link

---

It had been a couple days since you’d set yourself up a space in the hold. At least, it felt like a couple days. You weren’t accustomed to space travel and dealing with the lack of solar cycles to indicate the passage of time, so it was difficult to tell exactly. It didn’t really matter, in the end, but it was still a little annoying.

In that time, you spent most of your time getting to know your way around the Razor Crest’s small layout, what panels and buttons did what, and making sure the child on board was cared for and didn’t get into anything he shouldn’t. Easier said than done, as that kid was surprisingly sneaky and far too curious. He seemed well-behaved, right up until you weren’t looking, and the next thing you knew he was doing something like rooting around in a pile of netting and getting hopelessly tangled, or trying to put things in his mouth to teethe on.

Right now, the kid was up in the cockpit with Mando. Even though you were on board to help out, Mando still seemed to feel better when he was in the same room as the kid versus you being the one supervising, and to be honest it was nice to have a break from babysitting. You had never wanted kids of your own to begin with, and though this kid wasn’t exactly your standard child, it reinforced that at the end of the day, the factor of being able to give the child back to their actual caregiver played a large role in just how tolerant you were of them.

The entire ship suddenly jerked to the side and sent you crashing into the hull wall, your shins narrowly avoiding smashing against the edge of one of the crates lying around. To say you were shaken was a bit of an understatement, despite not a moment later, the normal smooth flight pattern returning and the ship righting itself. Did Mando hit something? Was some part of the ship on the verge of breaking down completely? You did a quick sweep to make sure none of the weapons lockers were damaged and that nothing was in danger of going ogg. You swore, this man had far too much firepower on board and one day it was going to come back and bite him.

Fortunately, everything was where it should be and the only things really out of place was your now-askew space, and your frazzled self. Huffing, you sped over to the ladder and clambered up to the cockpit to see if you could find out what was going on. On your way up, you could hear the low, modulated voice of Mando speaking, very likely to the child with the tone you could pick up.

“Ready to lay low and stretch your legs for a couple months, you little womp rat? Nobody’s gonna find us there.”

“Nobody’s gonna find us where?” Your head and shoulders were poking out of the ladder hatch, arms folding over the edge as you gave the pair a pointed look. You weren’t about to let Mando decide where you were going to camp out for months without you giving some input.

The Mandalorian turning to face you with the child in his lap was almost comical, like they’d been caught doing something they weren’t expecting to be called out on. You didn’t see any sign of concern over whatever had shaken you down below, so you figured you could bring that up later.

You could see a holomap beyond Mando, though it was too far for you to make out any of the text on it. You dragged yourself the rest of the way into the cockpit, righting yourself and coming to a halt just far enough that you could read the screen.

“An outer rim planet.” He leaned aside and let you read the screen’s details. Sorgan, huh. You vaguely remember that name from when you were compiling planets for Mando back when this whole mess started. The details past that escaped you, though. You squinted as you read on. No populations outside of small settlements to speak of, no starports or anything industrial… and it was one of those planets made up of a single biome - swamp.

To be honest, you weren’t thrilled at the idea of actually camping out for so long in such a place. You were so accustomed to being in places that had somewhat larger settlements, and absolutely more tech than this planet likely had, not just for business but simple things like staying entertained. But you were even less thrilled at the fact that this was a swamp planet. You knew not all swamp planets were the same, but the simple holomap readout didn’t indicate any further details about what kind of swamps it was made up of.

You hope above all things it’s not a bog planet like Nal Hutta. Gaseous atmosphere, skies choked by sickly green clouds, brown water, hardly any land to speak of.

You turned and gave Mando a look. “No information about the biome past ‘swamp’?”

He shook his head in that slow, deliberate way of his. You exhaled through your nose.

“Not a fan of swamps?”

“You could say that.” You turned back to the screen, like staring at it might make it give up more information. Maker , you missed your database.

“How far away are we?”

“Not very, maybe an hour or two.”

You stepped back and fell unceremoniously into one of the passenger seats further back in the cockpit. The child, who had been watching you through this whole exchange, seemed to lose his interest once you sat down and went back to looking curiously around at the controls laid out in front of Mando. You could almost see the cogs turning in his head, and you started to suspect he had something to do with the ship going sideways earlier. Probably got a hold of the controls somehow.

“I guess I’ll have a better idea of where we’re going once we get a look at the planet.”

The Mandalorian nodded, and turned back to the controls to pilot you all there.

You had been closer than you anticipated, though it was still not a very short journey. Instead of going back down to the hull, you opted to stay in the passenger seat and simply wait. Jumping to hyperspace was something you had yet to get used to, but after so long of the smooth traveling with the smears of light streaking past the windscreens, you found you could relax a little and rest your eyes.

A jolt in the ship as you exited hyperspace shook you awake. Blinking and sitting up in your chair, you peered out the window at the planet taking up the view.

Deep green. Streaks of blue. White cloud cover. You breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back against the chair back.

“Acceptable?” There was a hint of amusement in Mando’s voice. You smirked at him.

“Yeah, I’m fine with it.” You actually were looking forward a little to seeing just what kind of plant life was on this planet. You could see a fair amount of tree coverage, which meant forests. It had been far too long since you’d seen proper forests, let alone been out in one. You had tried to replicate it with your plant corner back home, but it was never the same. Some time amongst real trees would do you good.

The descent had you watching out the window the whole time, surveying the landscape as its features came into view. It had its marshes and rivers, but equal amounts of coniferous forests and solid land. This place could almost pass for an arboreal biome planet in places. You spotted very few settlements on the way in, too, and what you did see looked to be the most basic of small villages.

Mando landed the Razor Crest some ways away from a small market, hidden amongst ample tree coverage. He locked down the controls and lifted the kid with one arm, removing a small silver ball from his clutches to attach to one of the levers in the array.

“I’m going to go out and find us some lodging. Wait here with the kid. Don’t let him touch anything. I’ll be back.”

He passed the child off to you, with such surety that you’d take him that he nearly dropped the little one on you before you could respond. You grabbed him with both hands in a slight panic, thinking he was about to fall, and in doing so your fingers gripped into the gloved ones already supporting his weight. Even with the barrier between skin-to-skin contact, it was awkward and had your face heating with embarrassment that you’d accidentally touched the bounty hunter. He, however, made no indication of any such reaction, damn that helmet making him unreadable. His hands withdrew once it was certain the child was in your grasp safely.

You and the child stared at each other as you held him out before you, like you weren’t sure what to do with him now. He looked back at you with a similar expression, and you swore there was a hint of some sort of mischief underneath it. Oh, he had definitely been the one to make the ship go off-kilter, no doubt now. And knowing your luck, he was going to do more of the same once Mando left. You’d already experienced him trying to eat trash despite you actively watching him, you knew he was capable of more.

Mando descended the ladder into the hold, and the sound of the ramp opening up reached the cockpit. You looked out the windscreen, watching as the Mandalorian appeared in your field of view just as the sound of the ramp closing itself back up sounded.

And that was all it took.

The child turned into a complete nightmare the instant it was clear Mando was gone. It didn’t matter what you did - first he fussed and squirmed to be let down, so you did, and the second you turned your head he had somehow managed to get into the pilot’s seat and was attempting to mess with the controls. Every time you picked him up, he fussed again, wriggling and whining loudly, and whenever you set him back down he went straight for whatever he knew he could get in trouble for. You tried to keep this up as long as you could, which proved to be a pathetic five minutes or so. It was like having an extra-smart, extra-naughty loth cat with thumbs on board.

“Okay, kid. We’re going down to the hold. You can’t accidentally start the ship up down there.” You snatched the kid up under his armpits, and though he continued fussing, it was much less, like perhaps he wanted to be in the hold. You knew that the hold had just as much, if not more, for him to get into trouble with, what with the armory down there, but it was better than possibly starting up the engines and taking off.

You awkwardly climbed down the ladder with one arm latched around the child, and once you reached the floor you set him down, hoping he’d behave a little more. How wrong you were. It was like the kid instinctively knew where the controls for the ramp were, because he made a beeline for that panel - knocking whatever he could out of the way just to accentuate his point - and reached his-far-too-short arms into the air like he could possibly reach it if he just tried hard enough. No amount of you trying to redirect his attention or picking him up to set him down elsewhere worked, he would cry and go straight back to the panel and give you repeated looks with big, desperate eyes, like you were a monster for not understanding he wanted to open the door.

“Mando told us to stay here. So we’re going to stay here until he gets back.”

It was when the loud crying started that you knew you had lost the battle.

That alone was one of your top reasons for not desiring children - you couldn’t handle the noise that came with an upset child. Not for any good parental reason like not wanting to see them sad. You genuinely couldn’t stand the screaming, it set you on edge and made you want to scream in turn. And here one was, cries bouncing off the hull walls and drilling into your eardrums with far more force than you could have imagined possible for something so small.

You rushed as fast as you could towards the control panel and slammed the button to open the ramp.

“OKAY! Okay, okay, you win, we’ll go find him.” You glared down at the kid, whose clear face and perked ears indicated the crying had all been an act. You sighed heavily. He’d only known you for maybe a few days and he already knew how to get you to do what he wanted.

“He’s not going to be happy, you know that, right.” The child just tilted his head at you, smug little face seeming to say “no, he can’t get mad at me”.

You wandered back to your area not too far off to get some of your outerwear on - your belt, your ear piece, your blaster, whatever you might need in the immediate future. The neck gaiter you loosely wore got pulled up to securely cover the lower half of your face - it made you feel more secure, somehow, when you were venturing out into strange places. You picked the kid up and awkwardly shifted him to one arm, making your way down the ramp, and hoping you wouldn’t get into too much trouble with the bounty hunter. The kid, meanwhile, happily burbled in your grasp.

With a deep sigh and a roll of your eyes, you marched out onto the planet’s surface in the direction you had seen Mando go.

You were right. Mando wasn’t happy at all.

He had been trudging along, lost in his thoughts about what kind of lodging he should be looking for now that there wasn’t just him, but you and a child to account for, but still attentive enough to his surroundings that when he heard what sounded like distant footsteps crunching through the undergrowth he paused.

It was when he heard the sounds of the child babbling and you calling out to him to wait that his wariness turned to mild panic, and he rushed towards where he could hear your voices, hand staying within reaching range of his blaster. What had happened? He told you to stay back at the Crest and yet here you were, with the child. Had you been discovered, and just barely escaped? Was the Razor Crest captured?

He came to a halt just a few feet from you, surveying you and the child for any signs of distress or damage, stance wary and ready for a fight.

“What happened?” His tone was terse, apprehensive.

You looked wryly down at the bright-eyed child in your grasp, and back up at the bounty hunter. Or rather, somewhere in the general vicinity of him, as you found you couldn’t look directly at him.

“He, uh. Was very upset at you leaving without him.”

Mando’s defensive posture deflated and he tilted his head in a way that you knew he was giving you a disbelieving look.

“I told you to stay put, and the kid throwing a fit is all it took for you to leave?” He didn’t miss the way your mouth tightened into a thin line and your brow furrowed.

“He wouldn’t stop trying to be destructive, and when I tried to move him he’d just scream and go for the ramp! Look, I told you I wasn’t the best out there with kids.” You snapped, glaring into the blank visor.

Honestly, he could tell you were disappointed in yourself for caving so easily, and he probably wouldn’t have fared much better with his own lack of experience with children. But you could have been followed, and now the ship was unattended. The child, however, looked content as ever, his plan having worked. He sighed. It was what it was at this point. At least he was still in range that could lock the ship up remotely with his vambrace controls, which he set to doing immediately.

“Come on, then.” He motioned with a hand as he turned back to the direction he had come from, cape swirling around his form dramatically. You exchanged a tired glance with the smug kid, having half a mind to set him down and make him walk the rest of the way to wherever you were going.

“You’re lucky you’re at least a little cute.”

By the time you get to civilization, you’d let the kid down to walk - just beside Mando, and you just behind the child. Two unlikely bodyguards for an equally unlikely “dignitary”. The towering trees thinned out on the edge of the small market center, man-made structures beginning to appear. The buildings were small, mostly made of wicker and wood, with very little in the way of tech. The people were equally simple, their dress and presentation reflecting their rural occupations.

With the interest of the child in mind, Mando led the three of you into a common house, the busy sounds of kitchen work and the smell of grilling food easily reaching you before you even got to the entrance. It would have been more welcoming, if it wasn’t also accompanied by nearly everyone turning their eyes to your odd trio and whispering amongst themselves. On one hand, you couldn’t completely blame them, as the three of you were like the lead-up to a bad joke come to life. But it still made you very uncomfortable, knowing without a doubt that you were being watched and discussed. You hated the feeling. You self-consciously adjusted the fabric masking your face and furrowed your brow to try and give off the most “do not approach” energy you could, glancing around at the tenants. Not many of them returned your gaze, save a few, including one woman who didn’t at all look like she was from there. Strong, wearing armor and weapons - not to the extent of the Mandalorian, of course. But you could still feel that she wasn’t to be messed with. You averted your gaze quickly.

The child, meanwhile, was bright as ever with this new place he was in. He looked around the establishment, taking in the new scenery and the light filtering in through the gaps of the woodwork with his big eyes. You in turn watched him, as Mando located a table for the three of you. You followed suit and sat at the table, and as you turned to see what the kid was up to, you noticed the little one had locked eyes with a tooka cat beneath the chair of a nearby tenant. The child was curious, but you knew enough about tooka cats to know that the way it was looking back meant it was interpreting the child’s staring as threatening to its peace. Very few animals took maintaining eye contact as anything but a challenge, and this was no different.

“Leave it alone, kid.” You murmured just loud enough that you hoped he’d hear. Your words were too late, as the cat’s lips pulled back and revealed its enormous maw of teeth in a menacing hiss. The child flinched back with a frightened noise, and next thing you knew you were snatching him up by the ruff of his oversized coat and plopping him in the seat beside you.

There was barely any time for any of you to exchange glances when a proprietor approached the table, face weathered but welcoming.

“Welcome, travelers. Can I interest you in anything?”

“Bone broth, for the little one.” Mando motioned with his hand towards the child. You suppressed giving the armored man a skeptical look for ordering the most basic of things for the kid, when it was obvious they had more substantial food in this establishment. It was fine, you told yourself, he had the final say and this wasn’t the place to call him out on his decisions.

“Oh, well, you’re in luck. I just took down a grinjer, so there’s plenty. Can I interest you in a porringer of broth as well?” Mando shook his head. The proprietor turned her gaze to you expectantly.

“No, thank you.” You put your palm out in a placating gesture. Even though the aroma of food filtered through your face covering and had a tempting quality to it, somewhere as public as this was absolutely not somewhere you’d be comfortable trying to eat at. If you could take it to go, maybe. But you had no idea where you’d even be staying at this point, or how much longer you’d be looking for such a place. No, you could wait.

The proprietor nearly began to speak again when Mando cut her off. “That one over there, when did she arrive?”

So, you hadn’t been the only one to notice the intimidating woman across the room. Well, it wasn’t that difficult, with how much she stuck out amongst the residents of the planet. You three were equally as noticeable, and you didn’t miss how the woman was still watching you, though she was trying to be discreet about it. There was wariness coming off of her, you could feel that much.

The proprietor glanced towards where Mando had indicated the strange woman to be, seemingly confused. “Uh, I’ve seen her here for the last week or so.”

Mando continued pressing her for answers she didn’t have. “What’s her business here?”

“Business?” The proprietor looked as confused as ever. “Well, there’s not much business on Sorgan, so I can’t say…” The sound of credits clinking onto the countertop reached in your ears as Mando casually tossed some onto the tabletop. You were too busy watching the woman out of your peripheral vision to pay too much attention to what he was up to. The proprietor mentioned the woman not being a log runner, and offered complimentary spotchka before she left to retrieve the order.

The moment the woman stood and moved to leave the common house, you discreetly rapped your knuckle against Mando’s vambrace. The black T of his visor turned towards you, and you vaguely twitched your fingers in the direction the woman had been moments before. “She’s leaving.” You murmured as lowly as you could so Mando could hear but others couldn’t. You didn’t get any impression of real danger or malice from her, but knowing that the three of you had prices on your heads, you had a feeling the bounty hunter would try to follow her and make sure she wasn’t about to report on your whereabouts to anyone.

Mando stood from his seat, gaze trained on the doorway to the establishment. “Stay here with the kid. I’ll be back.”

And there it was. You exhaled through your nose and looked down at the kid, comically small in his chair and watching as the beskar-clad man made his way to the exit and out of sight.

You wondered how often he went out of his way to pick possible fights like this.

The proprietor returned to the table and placed a small bowl in front of the child, breaking you from your thoughts. The complimentary bottle of spotchka made an appearance, too, but you didn’t pay much mind to it. Alcohol was never something you liked, between it being an acquired taste and dulling your thoughts. You still nodded appreciatively at her before she left to tend to the next table.

Before the kid could finish picking up his bowl, the faintest of sounds reached your ears. While you normally wouldn’t pay much mind to such things in a public place, there was some notion in your mind that it was the buckethead getting into a fight with the woman from earlier. You looked over at your tiny companion, who looked up at you over the brim of his bowl and towards the doorway Mando had left through moments earlier.

“He doesn’t need our help, we’ll just get in the way.”

The kid seemed to take that as a challenge, and hopped down from his seat and began to toddle off.

“Hey, no, we are not going out there-” You jumped up and tried to herd him back towards the table, and you almost succeeded, but the little green thing was surprisingly determined and avoided your awkward movements, both of you caught up in a ridiculous dance. The tenants were watching you and your face heated with embarrassment. You finally scooped up the rapscallion with one arm, narrowly avoiding some of the broth sloshing from his bowl and onto the floor.

“Fine, we’ll go see what’s going on. Just stop trying to run off on me.” You pointed meaningfully at the kid with your index finger, peering into those big dark eyes and hoping he actually listened. He looked back at you with those big bright eyes and perked ears in a way that somehow told you he understood.

You carefully set him back on the ground. “Stay close.”

Exiting the establishment and turning the corner was as far as you needed to go to see just what you suspected - Mando and the woman scrabbling to get the upper hand against the other. It was almost comical, in a way, even though blasters were involved and the situation could very well turn dangerous.

And it nearly did just that when the two fell on the ground with blasters pointed at each other’s heads - causing you to pull your own blaster from its holster - except everything was interrupted by a very loud slurp from the child as he watched from beside you, bowl of broth clutched tightly. The slow turns of their heads and prolonged look from both of them was enough of an announcement of a stalemate as any. You snorted and shook your head slightly at the scene.

“I take it you don’t actually want to kill each other, then.” You slightly lowered your blaster from where it was aimed at the woman. You didn’t miss the way Mando paused in a way that you imagined he was rolling his eyes under his helmet. He turned his attention back to the woman he was still vaguely pointing his blaster at.

“Would you like some soup?”

You all returned to the table you’d had back in the common house. The woman - named Cara Dune, you learned - told you her story. She was a former shock trooper for the former Rebel Alliance working on Endor, with no additional support, and as soon as the ex-Imperials were gone the politics got out of hand and she found herself working to “keep the peace”. Beating rioters and favoring delegates wasn’t what she’d signed up for, so she left, and now had a price of her own for desertion. She recognized Mando as being part of the Guild and suspected he’d come looking for her. She kept glancing curiously at you throughout her explanation, like she wasn’t sure what to make of you tagging around with a Mandalorian bounty hunter and why he was even letting it happen. Sure, the child was an equally puzzling factor, but she seemed to sense he was a touchy subject.

She eventually turned to you after her explanation was finished. “So what’s your story?”

You shrugged, idly adjusting one of your wrist pieces. “He got my house blown up and put me on a wanted list, so this is his way of dealing with the guilt.”

Cara visibly bites back a laugh and tries to hide behind her own cup of broth. You glance over at your companion, whose stiff posture tells you he’s not sure how to react, but he’s definitely embarrassed to some degree.

The ex-trooper downs the last of her broth, and stands from the table. “Well, this has been a real treat. But unless you wanna go another round, one of us is gonna have to move on, and I was here first.” She gives you all a curt nod, and walks away.

Mando leans back in his own chair and looks between you and the kid, who’s working on his second helping of broth. “Well, looks like this planet’s taken.”

The walk back to the Razor Crest was a somber one for you. Now that you had spent some time on the surface, you’d actually taken a bit of a liking to the place. But Mando was right - as remote as this planet was, it could likely only handle one fugitive at a time. Looked like it was back to the ship directory to root through whatever systems it could access. You tried not to let your mind wander off to mourn your lost database again. This was exactly why you compiled lists of multiple options, in case something like this happened and one of those choices fell through.

A tug on your pant leg dragged you from your mulling. You looked down and were met with the concerned face of the child looking back up at you.

“I’m okay, don’t worry about me.” The kid burbled quietly at you in response. That seemed to catch Mando’s attention, as he was now looking questioningly back at you.

“Something wrong?”

You exhaled through your nose, trying to come up with a brief answer that wasn’t too revealing. You weren’t big on talking about your feelings, and you got the impression that neither was Mando, so between the two of you it would be better if it was kept to a minimum.

“Feeling a little useless on the front of hunting for a planet, that’s all.” It was the first time you’d felt this useless in a very long time, to be honest, but you weren’t about to let that part out.

Mando turned back to continue the trek back to the Razor Crest. “We’ll figure something out.” His tone was superficially dull, but you could tell he was trying in his own way to sound reassuring. That counted for something.

Once you made it back to the Crest, which was safe and sound amongst the trees, the two of you got to work - the Mandalorian using the dying daylight to look over the ship for maintenance, while you took up the task of sifting through the planetary database for your next options. Originally Mando wanted you to take the child up with you so he’d be better contained, but after a pitiful look from those big, dark eyes, it was over and decided that he’d watch him. The “watching” very quickly turned into “put the kid to bed”, thank the maker.

It felt like you’d had barely any time to really start your search when you saw what looked like lights on the ground from your view in the cockpit. You slowly stood, watching the lights as they drew nearer. That couldn’t be anything good.

You clambered your way down the ladder and into the hold just as whoever it was pulled up. It was a small cargo sled, one that barely seemed to be holding itself together, with two men of seemingly modest origins on it. Mando wasn’t the least bit concerned about it, as he continued his repairs and ignore them as they tried to get his attention.

“Excuse me, sir?”

Mando didn’t stop working. “There something I can help you with?”

You slowly made your way towards the ramp, taking care to accentuate the sound of your boots hitting the floor and make your presence known, Mando could take care of himself, but if they knew you were here they were less likely to try anything than if he were alone. You shot them a warning glare when they glanced at you, but watching their already-anxious expressions deepen almost made you regret doing so.

“Uh… yeah… raiders.” “We have money.”

You raised an eyebrow at them.

“You think I’m some kind of mercenary?” Mando still made no indication he was going to stop his work for them.

That was enough to get them stammering. First about how they’d read about Mandalorians, and how they thought he was one based on his armor, and if half of what they read was true then they could recruit him for help. One emphasized again, that they had money.

“How much?” Mando had paused his working, turning more attention to these strangers.

“Everything we have, sir. Our whole harvest was stolen.”

“Krill… We’re… krill farmers.” “We brew spotchka. Our whole village chipped in.”

You don’t know what else you were expecting from locals of the planet, but the coin purse one of the men held up as proof of payment was sad to say the least. Krill farming and spotchka brewing didn’t strike you as a very lucrative business anyways, but if that was all they could muster…?

“It’s not enough.” And there was Mando, confirming your suspicions about what his rates were. You didn’t recall him being picky about his bounty, but thinking back, he did go for higher bounties more often than not. It looked like he still held onto that standard despite no longer being part of the Guild. Hell, if you were going by your own rates, what they appeared to have on hand wouldn’t even cover half of your cheapest services.

Mando finished what he’d been doing and made his way up the ramp towards you. The men following him up the ramp was unexpected, but not frightening. They were desperate, and you were getting a better sense of just how much.

“Are you sure? You don’t even know what the job is.” One of them tried to look to you for support. You stared back apprehensively.

“I know it’s not enough. Good luck.” Mando brushed past you, using your form as a barrier between him and the strangers as he retreated further into the hold.

“This is everything we have! We’ll give you more after the next harvest!” You stayed where you were, crossing your arms and staring the men down. You knew you should feel bad for them and try to convince Mando to do something, but with the last time you extended help ending with your entire life up to that point being destroyed, you were too wary to do so.

The two men looked between each other and your standoffish presence. Defeated, they slowly turned to return to their sled, talking to each other as they did.

“Took us the whole day to get here. Now we have to ride back with no protection to the middle of nowhere.”

Mando had only made it a few feet past you by then, so he was definitely within earshot of their conversation. He stopped and turned on his heel, coming up behind you and stopping just behind your shoulder. It took everything in your power to appear unbothered by just how close he stood.

“Where do you live?”

The men paused, turning back to look at the man that had just dismissed them.

“A farm, weren’t you listening? We’re farmers.” The hurt was apparent in the man’s voice.

“In the middle of nowhere.”

“…yes?” The confusion was palpable. You knew where this was going and you weren’t sure you liked it.

“You have lodging?”

The men started to realize where this was going, too, and jumped to provide answers he wanted to hear.

“Yes, absolutely.” Mando briefly glanced at you, as if he was about to ask what you thought. Unfortunately for you, that never happened and he made the decision on his own.

“Good.” Mando motioned to them. “Come up and help.” He motioned to you as well, and began pulling out cargo crates to have them start loading.

You approached the man, once the other men had carried one of the crates far enough that they’re out of hearing range.

“Mando, I don’t know about this. Middle of nowhere or not, Dune’s right, this planet can’t handle more than one fugitive at a time.”

Mando continued moving crates to the ramp. “If it took them all day to get here, they’ll be isolated enough.”

“That kind of distance from civilization, however small, hasn’t stopped bounty hunters before. You of all people know that.” You glared into the T-shape of his visor. You also knew that all it took was enough time for word to get out about sighting a certain beskar-clad Mandalorian traveling with a green child to reach interested ears. For all you knew, it could be happening right now.

Mando stopped his actions to turn and face you fully.

“We can always move on after the job if it doesn’t seem right.”

You sighed heavily through your nose. That seemed to be him trying to tell you he wasn’t about to change his mind. He had been doing this longer than you, you supposed. You glanced towards the closed door of his bunk, where the child was sleeping.

“…fine. But I’ll hold you to that.”

You briskly moved to where your makeshift corner was and started gathering up your own things for whatever sort of stay you were in for. Behind you, you heard Mando exchange a few more words with the men as they loaded the last of the cargo he’d pushed on them onto the sled.

His heavy footsteps approached you. “I’m going back into town for a while.” You turned, and noticed the pouch of credits that one of the men had shown you earlier clutched in his hand. “Stay here to keep an eye on them and the kid. I’ll be back.”

You stared at him for a moment, then nodded slightly. “At least he’s not awake to make me come chasing after you this time.”

You swore you heard a slight snort from beneath that helmet.

He’d returned some time later with Cara Dune in tow, and after rousing the kid the four of you joined the two men on their journey back to their village. The cargo sled, thank the maker, was the only part of the ride, no connections made with another transport like a boat like you were fearing. You didn’t like boats much, the swaying made you anxious. Five people made it a little crowded and awkward, and try as you might to sit as far as you could on some strapped-down cargo, to try and preserve some sense of personal space, you found yourself nearly falling off one too many times.

“That’s a good way to fall off and get left behind.”

You narrowed your eyes as you stared at the beskar-clad man that had basically just talked to you like a parent.

“It’s fine. I don’t want to get in anyone’s way.”

The way he tilted his head was enough for you to practically see the skeptical look he was no doubt wearing on his hidden face. The kid, sitting beside him, watched you intently.

“Nobody’s doing anything but waiting out the ride.” He pointed to a spot on the cargo just in front of him, where there was definitely enough room for you to fit, though it meant if you tried to stretch your legs out they’d be right alongside his. Clearly, he didn’t care about that if he was doing this.

You stared at the spot like it was a trap. Almost as if to prove a point, the sled went over a particularly pronounced piece of terrain and jostled you. You very nearly fell just like Mando had said you would. The only thing that kept you from going completely overboard was your grip on the cargo’s ties, but you still flopped embarrassingly around. You saw the man’s head tilt to the side as if to say “see?”

Defeated and embarrassed, you clambered down into the open area. Thank the maker Cara Dune had decided to try and get some sleep earlier, and the two farmers transporting you were busy navigating. You didn’t think you could handle having them involved in this, admittedly silly, exchange. You kept your gaze down, not daring to even look up at the Mandalorian. The kid, however, earned himself something between a glare and a smirk when you heard a small giggle come from his direction.

You drew your legs up into your new space, both to keep from invading even more of Mando’s space, and to keep out of the child’s space as well. Mando could handle an accidental kick if you absent-mindedly shuffled; the little green one probably wouldn’t fare so well.

Once you’d settled, you leaned back onto the cargo packed behind you and tried to get as comfortable as you could manage. Which wasn’t much. Mando, however, seemed capable of doing it, as he slowly fell backwards and folded his arms behind his head. You didn’t realize how broad he was until now, seeing up close how much space he took up just by doing that. And all over again, you felt like you were in his space, and needed to get out of it out of respect. But there was nowhere to go.

You had to snort to yourself when the child mimicked the bounty hunter and tipped backwards onto his much-softer surroundings, peering up at the dark sky with equally dark eyes. At least he was content to do that.

The sled ride stretched on for the duration of the night and into the morning, the farmers switching shifts partway through. You’d never really fallen asleep all the way, just dozed in the same position you took when you initially settled in. Your eyes had closed, and you became somewhat less aware of your surroundings, but the slightest of unusual sounds or movements still drew enough attention that you’d crack an eye open to see what was happening. All through the hours of darkness and through the light breaking over the land. So when the sled began to approach the village, you could hear it. The sounds of people working, distant voices. Opening your eyes and pushing yourself upright, you turned to look up ahead. In the distance you could see the beginnings of some sort of settlement.

You shifted your attention to the others on the sled. Cara Dune was still sleeping, though you didn’t know how. Mando and the child seemed to be out, as well. It was harder to tell with the bounty hunter because of his helmet, but the way he laid there was convincing.

Reaching over, you lightly grabbed one of the child’s clawed feet and shook it to get his attention.

“Get up, kiddo.”

He blinked awake, eyes squinting in the morning light and mouth working to remedy having gone dry while he slept with it open the night before. His big eyes shifted around to look for his Mandalorian guardian, body relaxing once he located him.

You weren’t going to try and use touch to see if he was awake, though. That could get you stabbed or shot, what with the combination of his reflexes and waking up in a strange place.

“Mando.” You raised your voice, hoping volume alone would do the trick. Fortunately for you, it did. The man shifted and groaned like he had just come alive, his helmet shifted ever so slightly and you could tell he was looking at you.

“We’re there.”

The armored man slowly drew himself upright into a sitting position. As much as he’d tried to get comfortable, he knew he’d be fighting with a back ache for a while after sleeping like he had. It wasn’t anything he hadn’t already dealt with before, with his longer bounty hunts taking him far from his ship and civilization and requiring him to put comfort to the wayside. You, however, had probably not had to relegate yourself to such circumstances. You looked like you hadn’t actually slept, bags present beneath your eyes and a subtle, narrow-eyed scowl he hadn’t seen before on your face. You probably didn’t even know it was there.

The approach to the village was quickly noticed by the villagers, and before you knew it there was a crowd forming to welcome you.

And a lot of them were children.

You could see and hear them immediately. You squeezed your eyes shut and exhaled through your nose for a moment to steel yourself, both for the crowd and the large percentage of it being so young. You hadn’t even had a chance to really get used to the green child you were tasked with helping out with. And these kids could talk .

The sled came to a stop, the slight jarring motion shaking Cara Dune awake. She looked around, mind working to remember the circumstances that landed her in a strange vehicle with equally strange company.

The first thing the children of the crowd did, was fixate on the child companion of yours in the sled. They were all murmuring and giggling amongst themselves, and the kid looked back at them with equally curious intent. None of you had any idea when he was last around anyone of his mentation.

“Looks like they’re happy to see us.” You heard Mando’s voice crackle through his voice modulator. Cara Dune smiled, but all you could do was blink tiredly. You weren’t ready for this.

One of the children, a girl, broke away from the crowd and got closer to the smaller, green child, greeting him personally. You watched the interaction carefully. She seemed to notice, as she quickly made eye contact and ducked away back into the safety of the other village children.

With that, everyone disembarked the sled and began unloading cargo. You slowly rose from your spot, knees protesting from staying folded for so long and making you grit your teeth. You grabbed the pack you’d brought with you, slinging it over your shoulder and hobbling off of the sled to join the others, who were carrying their respective luggage. The child had been surrounded by the village kids, the curiosity on both sides still strong and outweighing the apprehension of the strangers with him.

It was time to be shown where you’d be staying, though. Without any words exchanged, Mando shuffled over to gather up the child, kids scattering, and you, Cara Dune, and he were led to your accommodations.

The village was modest, but cozy. The huts all had a distinct charm to them, with the same woven look as the common house, and reminding you of fishing baskets. Smoke rose from some, and in the distance you could make out man-made ponds where they likely farmed their krill.

You were all led to what appeared to be a building other than a hut. There’s a woman there, apparently putting the last touches on preparing it for guests. When she sees you approaching, she stops fussing with the blinds and turns to face you. You don’t miss how she’s focused in on the Mandalorian, with some sense of hesitation, like she wasn’t anticipating how meeting a Mandalorian in person would be. You couldn’t blame her, honestly.

“Please, come in.” You let Mando lead, watching him walk in and put his cargo down onto the floor. The woman turned and seemed mildly surprised when you entered as well, like she hadn’t really seen you before when you made your approach. Again, you couldn’t blame her - if you’d never met a Mandalorian before, it would be hard to notice anything else. That, and it made sense that should word get out in the village about a Mandalorian arriving, the last thing anyone would talk about would be his companions.

“I apologize… I didn’t realize how many guests there would be.” She glances briefly at you and the child individually. You began to feel guilty about being there at all. Of the adults that were there, you were by far the least useful for the job involving the raiders, and of the resources available for guests you felt like it would be better to distribute them amongst the others before you. The child, too, you felt deserved things before you did. You didn’t miss him looking up at you with his big dark eyes, as if he could sense your discomfort.

“Is, uh, there anywhere else available—“

“This will be fine.”

You give the beskar-clad man a perplexed look when he cuts you off. You were attempting to give the man his space back, surely he would like that better than having you hole up in the same small building?

“It’s not any different from the ship. We’ll make do.” He was looking back at you through that dark visor as if he had heard your thoughts. You blinked.

“Are you sure?”

The curt nod he gave you told you the conversation was over. Well… as long as he was okay with it.

The woman took that as her cue that she could speak again. “I’ve stacked some blankets over there, I can get more should you need them.” She indicated the area she meant. You nodded appreciatively at her.

There’s a very slight sound from the doorway, and both you and Mando turn to see the girl from before that had been talking to the child. She attempted to hide behind the doorframe, bashful about being noticed, but the woman goes to gently pull her back into sight and gently hold her to her side.

“This is my daughter Winta. We don’t get a lot of visitors around here, she’s not used to strangers.” That explains the extra feeling of being watched you’d felt on top of the village at large watching you, this girl must’ve followed along. The woman turned to face her daughter. “This nice man and his friends are going to help protect us from the bad ones.”

Winta looked shyly at you and Mando, and politely whispered a thank you. The woman took her daughter by the hand, leading her outside. “Come on, Winta, let’s give our guests some space.”

Just like that, you were left alone with your usual companions.

You glanced around, seeing that it was essentially just one open room. That wouldn’t do. Whatever Mando told you, you knew he would appreciate having a space to himself. You, also, would appreciate some semblance of privacy.

Speaking of Mando, he hadn’t moved to unpack at all, he continued to stand in place as he tried to process what he’d gotten himself into. He’d done plenty of jobs, with plenty of clients, but he wasn’t at all used to being treated like a “nice man”, as the woman had put it. He didn’t know how he was supposed to fee about it.

His buffering was briefly interrupted when you pushed past him into the barn, and began to root through the blankets that had been left and other supplies that had been pushed off to the side to make space.

“I’m going to build some sort of divide for the room. To at least make it feel like there are two rooms instead of one.” You began draping things over your shoulders and arms as you found them, and looking up at the ceiling and the walls to see what you had to work with. Part of him wanted to tell you to just sit down for now, since he could tell you weren't rested at all from the night before. But he also felt like he wouldn’t be able to stop you from your current activity until you’d finished it. He resigned himself to getting his cargo unpacked.

What he doesn’t know, is you were also trying to distract yourself from your own thoughts. You had noticed how the woman had briefly paused in the doorway as she left to look back - at Mando, and only Mando. You didn’t know why, but something about it bothered you. Was it a look of apprehension and were you offended on his behalf? No, that wasn’t it. It was some other expression that was subtle and layered and happened too fast for you to read. But it still bothered you. You tried to brush it aside and get to working on your new project instead.

Before long you had constructed a simple set of walls from various things you’d found around - you’d taken some sheets from the pile of blankets, and used them in conjunction with some netting and poles to fix them to the walls and ceilings similar to what you had done with your space back on the Razor Crest. A crib had been provided for the child, and you moved that onto the “half” that you’d designated Mando’s space - the larger section, and the one with the window. Your “half” was more like your “third” of the bar’s interior. Really, you didn’t mind. Mando had been busy unpacking and reconvening with Cara Dune to offer any input until it was done, anyways.

Later in the day, you’d more or less finished unpacking what little you’d brought, and Mando was tending to his rifle. You sat on a crate, idly fussing with the settings on your blaster, musing to yourself if you could possibly bother the bounty hunter in the future for something more substantial.

“Knock, knock.”

The woman from earlier stood at the door with a tray of a few plates of food in hand, her daughter in tow. You could see them, but their attention was turned to Mando and the child, who was standing in his crib. “Come in.” Mando’s voice sounded from beyond the divide in the room.

The woman entered, setting the tray down on a nearby surface and picking up a plate from it. Winta stepped forwards shyly, asking if she could feed the child. Mando wasn’t quite sure what to make of that, but he didn’t see a problem with it. “Sure.”

You watched from just around the edge of the divide, as the girl first knelt to feed the child, and then asked if she could play with him. Mando seemed just as fond of dealing with kids as you, hearing his sigh and flat “sure” in response. You smirked at that.

Once Mando had set the child on the ground, Winta immediately darted out the doorway with the child in tow. Mando started to protest, but the woman held him back. You didn’t know why, it was such a simple thing and she was coming from a place of experience where he had none, but for some reason… it made you bristle slightly. You felt like she was overstepping her bounds somehow. You shook your head briefly. She didn’t know any better, it was fine.

The woman then reached for one of the plates of food, to set on a surface closer to where Mando had been maintaining his rifle. “I brought you some food, I noticed you didn’t eat out there. I’ll leave it here for when I go.” Mando awkwardly thanked her, and moved to turn away.

You were hoping she would leave, then, but she didn’t. Instead, she asked if she could ask Mando a question. With his approval, she continued.

“How long has it been since you’ve taken that off?”

Oh, the helmet question. That was bound to happen sooner or later, honestly. You hoped she didn’t say anything too intrusive or insensitive.

“Yesterday.”

“I mean in front of someone else.”

The air felt heavy. You couldn’t quite see from your position where he was looking, but you saw him motion through the window towards what might have been the child and Winta, and other children based on the sounds of play you could hear.

“I wasn’t much older than they are.”

The woman sounded almost horrified that he hadn’t shown his face to anyone since then. The bounty hunter protested, saying that after his parents had been killed, the Mandalorians had taken him in and cared for him as their own.

It’s not like you knew what his past was, or what you expected it to be, but hearing it like this was like a punch to the gut. It was a horrible thing for him to have gone through at all, let alone as a child. You arguably had only just been getting to know him, but the fact that this woman he had never met before was able to get this fact out of him at all, let alone such a personal fact, stung. He had told you earlier that he’d trusted you. That should’ve been enough, and should’ve stopped you from having your thoughts run loose like they were.

“...I’m sorry.” The woman sounded genuinely sad.

“This is the way.”

“Let us know if there’s anything you need.”

Finally, she left. It did not escape you, though, that she hadn’t stopped to see if you had been there to let you know that she had brought you some food, as well, as you also had not left to go get food since arriving. That hurt a little bit, but with the way the prior exchange had gone it probably just slipped her mind. It wasn’t her fault. She was being a good host, she still brought it, didn’t she? You could swear, though, that she seemed to feel some sort of draw towards the bounty hunter and was acting on it in small ways. And you could not figure out why it bothered you.

Once she had left completely, you quietly crept out from behind the divide to retrieve your own plate. Mando was still standing before the window, watching the kids playing with the child. The woman now approached the crowd, no doubt to supervise and make sure they weren’t being too rough. You felt his eyes turn to you slightly.

“I uh… I’m sorry. About what happened in your past. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, but I couldn’t not hear that part.”

Mando inclined his head for a moment, and then looked back up at you. “It wasn’t anything I wouldn’t have told you if it had come up.”

That lifted your mood a bit. Plate in hand, you wandered over to stand before the window, not too close but beside where Mando stood, to watch the kids.

“Looks like he’s having fun.” Mando hummed in agreement, arms folded.

You don’t notice, but the Mandalorian had turned his head ever so slightly to look at you without giving away that that’s what he was doing. He’s usually not the best at reading people, but he could tell that something about the interaction he had just had with the woman had upset you somehow - he also had not missed how she had left after speaking with him and hadn’t tried to see if you were around to speak to you, as well. This was a different kind of upset than what he had seen when you were first on his ship, after your home had been destroyed. He didn’t like it then, and he didn’t like this now. He realized didn’t like seeing you upset, or to be linked to the reason you were upset.

The two of you stood there for a few more moments, watching the villagers and the child play. You cleared your throat.

“Well, I still don’t like eating around others. I’m going to my ‘room’.” Mando felt a small smile flicker on his face at that, as you left and went back to your area.

Once you were there, you had been about to pick up a piece of the food when you heard the tell-tale sound of Mando’s helmet being removed. You didn’t know if it was the closer proximity or the conversation that had just happened, but you retreated even further into your area until you were as far away as possible, like somehow even being too close while his helmet was off was just as bad as seeing his face.

The job turned out to be much more complicated than any of you had thought. Surveying the woods showed that the raiders were in possession of an Imperial AT-ST, a formidable weapon to have even against trained troops, let alone a defenseless krill farm. Cara Dune was especially off-put by it, having seen the mech in action and barely escaping to tell the tale. Mando, blunt as ever, tried to tell the village’s occupants to just leave and find another place on the planet to farm, but that went over horribly - everyone was angry, saying that he’d agreed to the job and that he should keep to it, that they had lived there for generations and it took so long to even get the farm established, and so on. They insisted they could be taught to fight and help take on the raiders, stubborn in not wanting to leave their homes. Somehow, their desperation won over the bounty hunter and ex-shock trooper, and it was decided that the entire village of twenty-odd people would follow Cara Dune’s instructions to modify the village grounds into a battleground to take down the machine, and the raiders in turn.

The biggest hurdle was teaching the villagers how to fight to begin with. Nobody knew how to deal with hand-to-hand combat. None of them - except the woman, whose name was Omera - knew how to fire a blaster.

That also meant that Mando’s entire arsenal he’d brought along with him would be put to use arming everyone.

While Cara Dune was working with melee training her half of the adults, Mando was overseeing the target practice. You were more familiar with firing a blaster than you were with physical fighting, so you were attempting to help in that department, as well. You had certainly fired off your fair share of one-in-a-million hits in the times you’d even had to use your blaster, but you had no idea how you were able to do it. It was just… an instinct, somehow, that kicked in right at the moment it was needed, and would vanish just as quickly before you could even try to comprehend it. Still, though, you could try.

They were terrible.

Shots were flying and only a small fraction were landing anywhere, and of those, even less were hitting their intended targets. Except for Omera. Every shot she fired landed square in the middle of her target, one after the other. You could see Mando watching her closely, nodding when she turned to look expectantly at him with a slight smile.

It makes you grit your teeth and you don’t know why. He’s allowed to be impressed by someone from a backwater planet being good with a blaster. He was allowed to be impressed by her tenacity to defend her village. He was allowed… and whatever this strange feeling was that you had, wasn’t allowed to get in the way. That was up to him.

You had been walking between the villagers, giving them pointers on how to better aim, but once you’d noticed what you had with the widow and Mando, something shifted in you. And unbeknownst to you, Mando was watching you, probably more than he had been watching Omera. Your eerie accuracy with your own blaster when you fired off and hit the targets, the way you went from person to person to curtly correct their poise, the way your eyes flashed as you stood back and looked from trainee to trainee with a calculating, concentrated look to determine who needed fixing where. This was a new side of you he hadn’t seen. It was intimidating… but in a good way. He caught himself being confused by his own thoughts, and reminded himself sternly that he needed to concentrate on training everyone and getting things ready.

That night, the plan would be executed. Luring the raiders out, having the villagers go hand-to-hand with the raiders while Mando and Cara Dune took care of downing the AT-ST. You hoped it would work.

In the weeks following the successful defeat of the raiders and destruction of their AT-ST, you stayed put in the village. You and Mando and the kid didn't have anywhere better to be, and Mando still stood by it being a good place for waiting out the hunt going on for the kid. Unlike Mando, though, you didn't feel completely safe. You still felt like it was only a matter of time before someone came looking. The raiders didn't all get killed, and though they probably hadn't laid eyes on the child, let alone the village's children in general, it would have been difficult for them to miss the beskar-clad man that they went up against. Word was going to get out.

Mando wasn't convinced. There was nothing besides your sense of unease to indicate that sort of thing would happen, and he needed more substance than that to act. And so, you were stuck there for the time being.

So you tried to make do with living during that time.

Mando spent his time being the quiet watchman of the village, keeping his weapons he'd brought along in top condition just in case. It couldn't hurt to stay vigilant. And it helped you be more at ease to know he hadn't completely shrugged off the possibility of danger.

And when he wasn't cleaning his weapons for the millionth time, or making sure the child wasn't getting into too much trouble with the village children, he was watching you.

He noticed the way you'd go sit out at the far edge of the village clearing, by the edge of the water beneath the shade of the trees, scribbling things in the odd flimsiplast book you'd brought along with you. He got curious one day and wandered over to where you were, making the excuse that he was patrolling the perimeter and just happened to be passing by you on his way. He got to see what it was you were doing - you were sketching the huts and ponds, as well as the trees and animals, making notes beside them. You didn't limit your note-taking to sitting out on the edge of the village, either, sometimes you stayed amongst the buildings and watched the locals and made notes about them.

There were more than a few times that the child would break away from the village kids and watch you, too, and there were times you'd tear a page out and let him scribble on it alongside you. It was endearing to watch, though he'd never admit it, how intensely focused the little one would be on mimicking you during those times. He saw you do your best to be social when the rest of the kids would inevitably crowd around the two of you and watch what you were doing, and begin asking questions. They did that to him, too, with his weapons, and he would try to tell them stories he remembered hearing as a child himself. You didn't seem to tell them stories, so much as just facts about how this or that worked, or how things are different on other planets in this or that way. They still seemed to take it in just as well.

When you weren't note-taking, or trying to avoid being swarmed by curious children, you'd be in the village kitchens, taking advantage of having proper cooking facilities outside of the makeshift space on the Razor Crest and trying out local ingredients and recipes. The child was frequently your taste-tester, and he loved every bit of it. There were times that he'd take a bite of something you'd made, and instead of downing the rest of it, he'd look around for Mando, and upon spotting him he'd hurry over with the food in hand, waving it up at him as if to say "try it". He would, of course, wait until he was in the privacy of his own space, but he'd always try it. He had to admit, though he knew the locals had been working with the ingredients for generations and were by no means bad cooks, there was something about your cooking that he liked better. He knew you'd brought along some of your own spices and that you put your own spin on things, but it was deeper than that and he didn't know why.

He notices that though you try to converse with the locals when appropriate, you frequently retreat to be in his presence and just sit quietly. It starts as you just going back to the barn and him happening to also be there, but over time it evolved into you actively seeking him out in moments where he was apart from the others, wherever that may have been. It was… nice.

It was also nice that, on some nights where neither of you could sleep, you would wind up quietly talking about this or that through the makeshift wall in the barn that divided your sleeping areas. The conversations were about mundane things, never lasted long, and were always quiet because of the sleeping child nearby. But it was a new thing for him that he found he liked. For so long he had traveled alone and in complete silence, and while there was still a degree of silence and separation between the two of you, it was different.

The villagers seemed to act like you would just stay there forever. Names were learned, bits and pieces of life stories were swapped, some degree of familiarity was established.

There was absolutely no way anyone could miss how attentive Omera had become to ensuring you all were still tended to, but especially in regards to Mando. He was civil in return, and you swear he had started to open up to her and go beyond just being polite. You, also, did your best to be civil towards her, but it was difficult for some reason. It was not your place to decide who was allowed to be friends with who, or how they responded to such actions. Not your place to feel put off by another person getting close to arguably the only person you knew beyond vague acquaintance-ship.

And this didn’t just feel like someone building a friendship, either. You did not know why it bothered you as much as it did. But here you were.

One day, you, Mando, and Cara Dune were all on the porch of the barn, lounging for lack of a better word. Cara Dune sat reclined in a chair, you on the edge of the porch, and Mando casually leaned back against the wall of the barn. He looked very relaxed and it took you a little more effort than normal not to just stare at the rare sight.

And then Omera appeared.

She had been in the barn doing some tidying up, as hosts do. As she exited, she handed a cup of spotchka to Cara Dune, who thanked her, and then she turned to Mando.

“Can I set you something in the house?” She briefly turned her vision towards you, to indicate the offer was extended to you as well, but it went right back to the bounty hunter before you could answer.

“Uh… thank you. Maybe later.” He mumbled his answer, awkward as ever. The woman looked back at you, and you shook your head to her offer, not daring to try and open your mouth. She seemed satisfied with that, and turned to watch the village children playing with the child. He’d captured a frog, and wasted no time in stuffing it into his mouth and trying to swallow it like a vine snake. The children laughed and groaned in amused disgust. The frog turned out to be too big for the little one and he spat it out, and everyone cackled as the frog hopped away, no doubt startled by nearly being eaten.

“He’s very happy here.” Omera’s voice broke the silence on the porch.

“He is.” The bounty hunter’s voice responded.

“Fits right in.” And with that, the widow walked away. You watched her leave with narrowly-disguised distaste on your face. The kid was still a target for all you knew, and that little comment implying he should continue to stay just made you realize how little they understood about the consequences that could come their way should the hunters find him. Being able to actually be a child was good, yes, but not at the expense of having another event similar to the raiders, one they wouldn’t have time to plan for.

Apparently, Cara Dune had some thoughts of her own.

“So what happens if you take that thing off?” She nodded at Mando, indicating his helmet. “They come after you and kill you?”

Your distaste turned to her next.

“No, you just can’t ever put it back on again.” Cara scoffed at his answer. She looked at you to see if you thought it was as ridiculous as she did, a smirk on her face. You narrowed your eyes at her, and her smirk faded a bit. You’d known, and you respected his cultural beliefs not to badger him like she was trying to do.

“I was gonna say, if that’s it, it wouldn’t be any trouble at all for you to just slip it off and take up living here, raising the kid and sipping spotchka.” She motioned in the direction Omera had left with her glass.

“The beautiful young widow would be more than happy to help with that.” She looked back at you. “Am I right?”

Your skin felt like it would scramble right off your body.

Somehow, hearing Cara Dune confirm that she, too, had seen Omera’s interest in Mando made it all too real in your mind. And she wouldn’t be making such comments if she didn’t think Mando had similar feelings, either.

Why did it bother you so much?

You heard your name, realizing she was actually waiting for an answer from you.

“Yeah, sure.” Your voice was quiet and clipped, a poor attempt to keep your feelings veiled. Cara Dune finally noticed your tense posture, the discomfort very apparent in the line of conversation she’d started up.

She immediately regretted her teasing about the widow. Unlike you and Mando, she was actually able to read people. Mando may have been oblivious to it, but she could see now that you were more fond of the bounty hunter than she initially thought. She’d sensed some sort of dislike towards Omera from you, with how brief you kept your interactions with her, but this made it make sense. Kriff, you were probably oblivious to it, too.

Mando’s modulated voice brought her back to the present. “You know, we raised some hell here a few weeks ago. It’s too much action for a backwater town like this. Word travels fast. You might wanna cycle the charts and move on.”

You leaned your head back, rolling your eyes. “Finally.” You’d only been trying to convince him to do that the moment you’d chased the raiders off. “I thought it was going to take bounty hunters actually showing up to get you to make that decision.”

You swiveled where you sat to look at the man pointedly. He shook his head lightly. You could almost hear the good-natured smirk under his helmet. You couldn’t help but quirk the corner of your mouth yourself.

As forward as Omera was with hinting her interest towards Mando, Cara Dune thought, you weren’t too bad of a companion choice for him, either. You might not be the worse of the two, either, as far as the dynamic between you. As long as the buckethead wasn’t alone.

She looked back to where the kids were all playing. “I wouldn’t want to be the one who’s gotta tell him that it’s time to leave.”

“I’m leaving him here.”

You and Cara Dune stared at him.

“Traveling with me… that’s no life for a kid. I did my job, he’s safe. Better chance at a life here.”

No. You weren’t going to let him decide that easily.

“Mando. Do I need to remind you that the kid is being hunted as much as you are?” He started to protest, but you continued, standing up from your seat to face him fully, crossing your arms. “And, like you said, the fight with the raiders will have drawn attention. We sure didn’t kill them all, some got away. ‘Word travels fast’.”

Mando stared back, at a loss for words, and looked to Cara Dune for backup. She only shrugged, indicating you had a point.

“...if anyone was going to come, they would have done so by now.”

You dropped your arms to your sides, an incredulous expression on your face. Really? Really?

“Mando-”

He held up his hand to stop you. Such a simple motion shocked you enough to derail your thoughts. He really wasn’t changing his mind, was he…? Was he that ready to leave the kid behind?

Was he that ready to be rid of you …?

Leaving the child here meant your current “job” would no longer exist. It meant having to figure out where to go next, how to start next.

You weren’t ready for that.

You looked down at the wood flooring of the porch. You couldn’t figure out how to argue back in a way that didn’t sound selfish. Defeated, you turned away from the beskar-clad man and faced away, looking at the children playing again.

Mando truly felt like this was the best option for the child at this point. He wasn’t anywhere near an acceptable parental figure, and per your own admission you didn’t do well with kids, either. The kid needed other kids to be around, adults that were willing and happy to raise him. You needed to be able to actually settle down somewhere you could rebuild. This tiny village, with its lack of technology, wasn’t it, and it wasn’t on his cramped ship with his stubborn self, either. You deserved better. He didn’t want to say goodbye to the kid, or to you, but it wasn’t about what he wanted.

The three of you solemnly watched the child play with the other village children.

“It’s gonna break his little heart.” Cara Dune muttered.

“He’ll get over it. We all do.”

You didn’t want to agree with him, on that last line. But he was right.

Everyone had finished packing, all that was needed was for it to be loaded onto the cargo sled. The air felt weighted, and it wasn’t from the humidity of the surrounding swamp.

For you, the air got even more oppressive when you saw Mando approach Omera and lead her slightly away from the others to speak to her. You knew he was just asking her to watch after the child. But you could see the way she was looking at him. You could see Mando fidgeting, almost shyly. You could feel your face get tingly. Why was this so hard for you? It wasn’t about you.

You couldn’t hear the exchange, but you could tell Omera was saying something back at him, and the way her expression changed, you almost felt like she was asking him to stay, too.

But then, pulling you from your wallowing in self-pity, you felt the same thing you’d felt back at your old home, just before the bounty hunters broke through and your life as you knew it ended. The intense, physical feeling of wrong, of something in your head thrashing about telling you to run. Telling you to grab the kid and run.

They were here.

You sprinted towards where the village kids were, focusing in on the child, drawing your blaster.

"Mando!”

Whatever had been happening between Mando and Omera was forgotten, the widow spinning around to see what the shouting was, and Mando falling into a defensive stance, hand going to his blaster handle.

Your timing couldn't have been better. As you skidded to your knees to grab the frightened child, the village children scattering in confusion and fear, blaster fire rang out and a scorched blast marked the earth right where he had been sitting. You ran in a crouch to hide behind the nearest barrier you could get to, in this case some of the cargo that had yet to be loaded. The child whimpered and clutched at your clothing, and you clutched him closer, blaster raised in your other hand in case you needed to peek around and return fire.

You heard chatter from the other adults, and peering around the corner of the cargo, you see Cara Dune and Mando rush off int the trees. Omera is quickly herding the children to safety. You stay where you are, slumping against the back of the cargo, knowing Mando won't let whoever's out there get away. You look down at the kid in your grasp, who is looking back up at you with those dark eyes you'd gotten used to.

"I told him it wasn't safe here."

Just as you had warned him, the shots had come from someone carrying a tracking fob for the child. Cara Dune had seen to the demise of the hunter, and the tracking fob was destroyed. If it had been a different situation, you would have been more smug about being right.

But as it currently stood, you needed to get out of there as soon as you could.

The cargo sled was fully loaded, with additional supplies beyond what you’d brought with you, and the child was seated up where he could see out. You sat close by, not wanting to chance having to make a dive for him again. You hadn’t anticipated being so protective, but here you were. The village gathered around to see you off. Cara Dune offered to escort you back, but the decision was made to completely bypass going through town and just go straight to the Razor Crest. For once, you agreed with this decision.

“Well then, until our paths cross.” the two exchanged a firm handshake. She looked back and nodded at you, and you returned it with a raised hand. It was good to know you had an ally out there now.

You’d anticipated leaving by then, but when Winta rushed forward you had to suppress a groan. You were so ready to leave behind the other kids and yet here they were again, prolonging the goodbye process. With little regard for any sense of personal space, she wrapped her arms around the child in a hug. You leaned away a little to give them room. You didn’t expect her to release the child and give you a hug, too.

“I’ll miss you so much.”

You were frozen, your mind having drawn a blank and your body unsure of what to do. It took you a few moments to regain your senses, and you awkwardly put your hands on her shoulders.

“Uh… us too.” She pulled back and gave you both a shy smile, and scampered away back to stand by her mother.

Omera smiled and nodded at you in farewell. You tried to do the same, but you couldn’t guarantee your smile looked anything other than awkward and forced. You were terrible at this.

“Thank you.”

Mando nodded at her as well, and finally, he boarded the sled, and you left the small village.

It was strange, you’d only been on the Razor Crest for a few days before the stay on Sorgan happened and took up the following few weeks of your life, but somehow the ship felt more like home than the village had.

The three of you all sat in the cockpit area of the ship, Mando at the controls, you sitting in one of the chairs with the child in your lap, you idly letting him mess with your hands.

Now that it was just you three, your curiosity was getting the better of you.

“So, Mando… what was Omera saying to you before the bounty hunter attacked?”

Mando flipped a few more switches and dials on the controls and sat back in his chair. “She was suggesting we stay, too.” You mean she was suggesting you stay, you thought to yourself.

“...if the hunter didn’t show, would you have?”

He turned to look at you. “Would you?”

You huffed. “I liked being in the trees, but… too remote for my taste. Too closely packed. Too many kids trying to see what I was doing.” Too much of Omera trying to be friendly with the Mandalorian. You didn’t say that part, though.

He turned back to face the windscreen. “If I had wanted to settle down somewhere, I would have done it years ago.” He folded his hands over his stomach. “I’m not interested in living the sedentary family life.”

Somehow hearing him say that took a huge weight off your mind. But that still didn’t answer the selfish, nagging question you still had.

“Did you like her?” You still didn’t know why you cared so much. But while your courage was up and you were on this train, you had to get it out. Mando’s head tilted in your direction slightly.

“She was… nice. But I don’t think I liked her at all the way she liked me.” He turned back to look at the expanse of space before the ship. He didn’t want to say it out loud, but he was glad that you all got out of there before he had to tell her that. He wasn’t as oblivious as some thought, he could definitely tell that the widow was harboring some kind of affection towards him. He just didn’t feel the same way back, though. He never did. Besides, even if he did, his idea of how to live was so different from hers that it just wouldn’t work. Living on a farm, having and raising kids, staying in one place? Absolutely not.

You looked down at the child in your lap, tugging on his claws that clutched your fingers, trying to hide the little smile of relief on your face. He perked his ears at you and babbled, seeming to sense you weren’t as weighed down as before.

“You could’ve been free to go start your infochanting back up somewhere, though.” You looked up, a little surprised at the slightly quieter tone to Mando’s voice.

He had come to appreciate your company, but he wasn’t about to directly admit it.

You shook your head and huffed. “Honestly? I don’t mind.”

You looked back down at the kid, gently grabbing the ends of his long ears and fussing with them, making him squeal.

“I’m kind of glad to be back on this bucket of bolts with you.”

You hadn’t made any indication of it, but Mando liked to think you were talking to him just then, and not just the child. Hearing those words stirred something in his chest, and though he couldn’t pin down what it was, he wouldn’t mind feeling it again.

#the mandalorian #din djarin x reader #mando x reader #gender neutral reader #din djarin #mando #reader insert

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mylifeisactuallyamess · 3 years

Text

General Hux x Female Reader

A/N: Oh yeah this is still going 😄 (The poem is not mine! Credit to the person who did write it!) Follows TFA as a bit of a filler. Like I said I am working my way to Hux’s speech 😅

Warnings: Erm, fluff? Hux and Ren with their usual hatred. Not much in all honesty, at least I don’t think so. (Let me know if that needs changing!)

Word Count: 3973

Read Part 5 on AO3 here.

He was reading a report from one of the other ships when the door opened and he looked up in surprise. Phasma entered but she didn’t sit down like normal and Hux placed the pad down.

“We have a situation.” She stated.

“What situation?” He asked wearily, pulling his gloves back on before standing and leading the Captain to the bridge which was abuzz with activity.

“Sir! An unsanctioned departure has been reported from the main hangar, a Special Forces TIE is attempting the leave, communications have not been established with the pilot…” Hux felt anger flood his system. What was happening? Why all of a sudden was everything going wrong? He turned to Phasma, his posture stiff, his hands tightly gripping each other as he fought his rising temper and waited for her explanation.

“It was one of our own. Reports of a stormtrooper leading the prisoner to the hangar and entering a ship.” Hux felt a curse filling his mouth but stopped himself from spitting it out. A trooper? One of his own men was defecting. He felt momentarily rigid, the audacity of this trooper rendered him speechless.

“Who?” He spat, his eyes glaring into her helmet but he could tell by the line of her shoulders she was just as angry as he was.

“I shall run the register and find out,” she snarled. He looked out of the viewport to see the lone TIE fly out into space.

“Well don’t just stand there! Shoot them!” He commanded loudly.

“Sir, they’ve taken out our turbo lasers.” Hux did a quick mental check of his ship's weapons, deciding what would be the best to use.

“Use the ventral cannons.”

“Bringing them online,” reported Mitaka.

“General Hux.” Of course. “Is it the Resistance pilot?” Hux bit back the first thing that came to mind when he saw Ren, if the stupid oaf hadn’t brought him onboard none of this would be happening right now.

“Yes and he had help.” The words made his mouth dry out. He was still not accepting that one of his own men could betray him like this and he was determined to make an example of them. “From one of our own. We are checking the registers now to identify which Stormtrooper it was.”

“The one from the village, FN-2187.” Hux schooled his features to one of indifference, of course Ren should already know that information. It made him question though, if the Commander knew of the troopers mind why he didn’t mention this earlier? Was it to see how Hux would deal with this? Was it to try and undermine him? To shatter Leader Snoke's faith in his abilities? Whatever it was, he wasn’t going to let this slide.

“Sir, ventral cannons hot,” reported Mitaka.

“Fire!” Hux enunciated firmly, his wrath barely contained as more information came to light about what was transpiring.

“General,” he went to stand over with Phasma by the holoprojection where she had pulled up FN-2187’s records. His eyes travelled over the information not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

“FN-2187 reported to my division, was evaluated and sent to reconditioning.”

“No prior signs of non-conformity?” He asked curtly, wanting her personal opinion.

“This was his first offense,” she stated bitterly and Hux could tell she was smarting heavily under that armour.

“General, they’ve been hit.” He moved round to the screen.

“Destroyed?” He asked hopefully.

“Disabled. They were headed back to Jakku, the fighter’s projected to crash in the Goazon Badlands.” Hope flared in his gut.

“They were going back for the droid,” he thought out loud. “Send a squad to the wreckage and double the troops on the ground. Do not come back empty handed but destroy the droid if it cannot be captured.” His gaze slid to Phasma and she nodded in understanding before marching off the bridge to carry out his orders. Ren stepped before him and Hux had to stop himself from rolling his eyes in annoyance.

“Destroy the droid?” The dark presence questioned loudly.

“Leader Snoke was explicit.” Bristled Hux. “Capture the droid if we can but destroy it if we must.” He hated repeating the instructions that were said to both of them like he was talking to a child.

“How capable are your soldiers, General?” Hux didn’t miss the sneer emitting from the black mask.

“I won’t have you questioning my methods,” spat Hux, the venom in his voice evident. Kylo started to move and Hux stepped up beside him, not ready to let this conversation go.

“They’re obviously skilled at committing high treason. Perhaps Leader Snoke should consider using a clone army.” You absolutely pathetic individual! Hux could feel his lip curling as his mind fired off all the insults he could spew at the Commander. He stepped before Ren bringing the larger man to a sudden halt, his gaze staring fiercely into the ridiculous mask.

“My men are exceptionally trained, programmed from birth…”

“Then they should have no problem retrieving the droid. Unharmed.” Ah. So that’s what he was fishing for this whole time. Hux smirked coolly.

“Careful Ren, that your personal interests not interfere with orders from Leader Snoke.” Ren pointed a finger in Hux’s face emphasising his words.

“I want that map. For your sake, I suggest you get it.” He stalked off and Hux was left looking at the bridge of his ship almost vibrating with unmatched hatred. He didn’t miss the threat in Kylo’s words but he was the one who had screwed up here, not Hux. His feet were moving before he could process where he was going, taking him through the corridors of his ship right to your door. He didn’t knock this time, letting himself in and hoping you could forgive the intrusion.

You looked up from what you were reading on your datapad, at the sound of your door opening. It had been hours since you’d seen him but you didn’t think he’d be back any time soon. He strode in, his face impassive and ruddy as he paced the length of your quarters and back to the door. He was agitated, you could see his gloved hands behind his back clenching and releasing with every step he took. His hair was falling slightly loose and his green eyes blazed with annoyance. You weren’t sure what to do, he clearly thought of your quarters as a place he could come when he was this wound up and it made that ball of warmth expand in your chest.

You wanted to speak but you weren’t sure how well it would be received so you settled down and just took the time to admire this fine man strutting up and down your living area. He paused and looked like he was going to say something but thought better of it.

“Can I help in any way?” The sound of your voice made him inhale and his gaze finally alighted on you, his pacing slowing but not stopping.

“No, but being here is helping.” You were burning to ask what had happened, what had got him so worked up and you wondered if Kylo had done something to annoy your General.

“Would you like me to read to you?” You asked calmly, picking the datapad back up. “It’s just some poetry from the core worlds.” You looked up at him noticing the frown that marred his sharp features, but he nodded slightly and you took a breath in.

“Is all we do for nothing?

In the end, I mean.

Is any of it worth it?

Truly?

Don’t you know that only

A few of us reach the stars?” Your gaze drifted to him to see his pacing had stopped but the frown was still in place as he regarded his boots. You continued.

“The rest of us claw at the ground

Below our feet

Wondering why we

Could never quite grasp the moon

Or even touch the clouds.

Why do we continue?

If we cannot gain glory

Why bother attempting?

Why bother a chance with a

Flickering light when

You could gain certainty?

Because only legends get to carve their names in the sky….” You looked up to see he was looking at you now. An intense glower lit his gaze, his hands were fidgeting at chest level and you felt your heart flutter against your ribs. “That’s what you’re going to do,” you said softly. “When Starkiller is ready, your name is going to be carved into the history of the Galaxy.” He stepped forward, his fingers flexing as a heavy breath left his chest. The moment suspended around you both as you stared deeply into each other, the intensity of his expression made your insides quiver. His name fell unbidden from your lips hoping you could convey enough feeling into that single word. Your heart was pounding now, a dull ache inside you at the memory of his kiss from the other day. Your lips tingled and subconsciously you ran your tongue over them which drew his gaze to your mouth but to your disappointment he backed away and you couldn’t stop your heart falling into your stomach. The sound of your door closing after him splintered your heart and you curled your fist in defeat. You didn’t know how to get him to open up, to get him to see he was worthy of your attention.

Hux strode down the corridors, his body flooding with adrenaline, his heart galloping against his ribs accentuating the tight feeling in his chest. Every breath felt like a chore as he struggled to get air into his lungs. His mind could barely gather a worthy thought and the image of your open expression and gaze of pure admiration shook him to his core. He didn’t know what to do with it, this feeling that snaked around his insides whenever he thought of you, and now he had the image of you looking at him like that imprinted in his mind. He wrung his hands together, suddenly finding himself back on the bridge.

“Report!” He barked.

“S-sir….” He looked up at Mitaka noticing the nervous look all over his face and he just knew something had gone wrong.

“Well?” The poor man was shaking in his boots but Hux didn't have time to pussy foot around his Lieutenant today.

“The droid got away.”

“The pilot?”

“Not found.”

“FN-2187?” He asked abruptly, already fearing the answer.

“W-with the droid.” Mitaka licked his lips before continuing, his back almost bowing under the pressure of Hux’s intense glare. “They escaped on a YT model freighter.” Fury swept through Hux like nothing he’d ever felt before, his hands gripping each other tightly as he tried to rein himself in from doing something he’d regret. Is this how his father felt? Whenever Hux did something wrong? The difference was Brendol set his son up for failure, Hux had everything in place so these miscreants could not possibly fail.

“Report to Ren at once.” He ignored the way Dopheld blanched at the order and Hux tried not to think it could be the last time he’d see him. Giving news like this to Kylo Ren was usually a death sentence. But someone had to take the fall for this failure, this failure that had nothing to do with Hux at all. In fact if Kylo had exercised his special abilities on the surface of Jakku none of this would have happened. Hux stood stock still in his office, the urge to sweep everything off his desk was monumental but also a waste of effort, so he fought the urge. Automatically his strung out mind thought of you, the scent of your hair as it brushed past his cheek, the warmth of your body as you leaned into him, the taste of your lips on his mouth, and he realised he owed you a decent dinner. He opened the door to his office only to find the Captain on the other side.

“Yes Phasma?”

“Commander Ren has…destroyed a control panel.” This wasn’t news to Hux, he knew the man would exercise his temper and destroy something on his ship.

“Mitaka?”

“Alive, he’s in the medbay as they had to sedate him.”

“The man is….” He couldn't say what he wanted to say about the huge blundering fool that seemed to just destroy everything he looked at. He bit back the rest of the sentence slipping behind the mask that helped him cope. “Send out to our informants we are looking for this BB unit. Source a description from the troopers that saw it. Now I am off to have dinner. I don’t want to hear from you or Ren or anyone unless Mitaka dies. Also give the heading to go back to Starkiller. Understand?”

“Perfectly.” She smirked, standing aside to let him pass. He strode down the corridor feeling an odd sort of confidence knowing he was coming to spend time with you.

“Back so soon?” You asked when the door to your quarters slid open but when you looked up your blood ran cold. Commander Ren stood just inside your doorway, his entire body seemed to vibrate with a dark energy you could feel and it frightened you. Hux coming in here steaming was one thing, Kylo Ren was an entirely different animal. “Can I help you Commander?” You asked softly not wanting to startle him or show any signs of aggression in case it triggered him. His breath was heavy and ragged as it filtered through his mask. You found yourself wondering what was under the helmet, was he human? Did he wear the mask because races other than humans weren’t generally accepted in the First Order? You tried to keep your expression blank as his hands rose slowly, the hiss and click of his mask sounded loud in the quiet and he pulled it off his head revealing a human face. The first thing you noticed was his shock of dark hair, you weren’t sure why but you weren’t expecting it to be hidden under that helmet, and the length...it showed he had no regard for the First Order regulations. His eyes were bright, a rich honey colour and they were fixated on you, his lips were full and plush, freckles dotted his pale skin and you couldn’t help but trace them to his ears. The tips protruded from his hair giving him a boyish look, he looked so young. So this was Leader Snoke’s apprentice, the wielder of the darkside and wrecker of your husband's ship.

“I had nowhere else to go.” His voice was deep and rich, it’s tones pleasing on your ears but you didn’t believe him for a second. Goosebumps rose over your skin as he reached for you, the tendrils of his power licking up the side of your neck and you shook your head.

“I can feel you.” You almost snapped and he withdrew. Surprise marking his handsome features and you realised he must wear the mask all the time so he wouldn’t be any good at hiding his expressions. “Why do you do it?”

“I want to know more about you.”

“Then just ask?” You didn’t have time for this, you knew Hux could appear at any moment and you didn’t want anything upsetting the General anymore. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“You have a sense of calm about you. It’s appealing.”

“That may be, Commander. But you need to find somewhere else to go.” You saw his gaze turn to the door moments before it opened, a look flickered across his face and his hands tightened on his helmet. Your breath stuttered as Hux walked in, if he was an animal his hackles would have been raised. His shoulders were back pushing his chest out, his green eyes spitting fire at the Commander, their gazes locked in a silent battle. “The Commander was just leaving.” You said loudly leaving no doubt from your tone that he was an unwelcome guest. Hux moved behind Ren breaking the eye contact between them, the taller man looked at you and momentarily he looked lost. It was fleeting, a haunted shadow flying across his expression and it sowed that single seed of doubt in your mind. The mask was slipped back over his head and once again he was the faceless monster that terrorized the contents of the ship. He left without a word and you looked at Hux, one hand was behind his back, the other was clenched before his chest as he surveyed the rushing light of hyperspace out of your viewport. You got up and went to stand next to him, you wanted to reassure him but something told you not to speak at all. You noted the way his jaw clenched over and over again, his thumb flexing over his closed fingers, the way his nostrils flared slightly as he took a breath making his chest heave. The tension in the room was becoming unbearable and you desperately wanted to say something to break it, you wanted him to yell or tell you off, even just look at you. Anything was better than this gut wrenching silence. You toyed with the hem of your outfit trying to distract yourself from what was possibly going through your husband's mind. It was late and you were tired, so he must be utterly exhausted. You turned to him, your sudden movement making him flinch slightly.

“Are you hungry?” He barely shifted to acknowledge your question but you were already moving. “I have some Jogan fruit I can prepare.” You didn’t wait for a reply. Dragging a knife from the stand in your little kitchen area, grabbing a plate and you began to slice the fruit into slices. You pulled a bottle of wine from the cooler and laid it all on the table, but he didn’t move, his back still rigid with whatever feeling he was trying to contain within himself. You broke to seal and poured two glasses, slowly moving back to his side and offering him the glass. To your relief he took it, a soft nod dislodged some of his flaming red hair and it fell across his brow. You eyed it for a moment before commenting. “It looks long,” you said softly.

“Yes, I noticed that this morning.” His voice cracked slightly and you wanted nothing more than to take him into your arms and stroke his hair until he fell asleep but you knew he’d recoil if you did, so you settled for comforting him in the only way you knew he’d accept. Just standing in his presence and silently letting him know he wasn’t alone.

“Who normally cuts your hair?” His feet shifted and for the first time you watched as he ran a hand through it, ruffling more strands and a look of disgust crossed his features for a moment.

“I don’t know, I try not to look at them because…” he trailed off looking down at his glass and it dawned on you, they would have to touch him. You felt your heart expand, what had happened to make him so fearful of something as simple as touching?

“You know, I used to cut my fathers hair. I could give it a go.” He looked at you, both brows raised in surprise as he rolled his lips after a sip of wine, you couldn’t help but smile slightly now he looked like he was relaxing a little. “Only if you want me to….”

“Yes.” His answer seemed to shock him slightly and he took another gulp of wine, his gaze turning back out to the lights and you marvelled at how they reflected in his eyes and darted across his handsome face giving him an otherworldly appearance.

“Now?” You asked hopefully. His fingers fiddled on the glass, his gaze darting to the side and you saw his throat bob as he swallowed hard. “We don’t have to,” you suggested trying to backtrack.

“It needs doing.” He necked the rest of the wine and turned to pour some more.

“Ok well I’ll need it wet, luckily for you I have a comb and some decent scissors from Arkanis.” His face paled and he rocked on his heels slightly, his knuckles whiting out with his tight grip on the glass. You stepped into the refresher and laid a towel for him. “I’ll wait outside, I just need you to wet your hair,” you reassured him. Your entire body ached seeing him react this way and you made a note to question Phasma in more depth about his past. He strode past you without a glance and locked himself in the ‘fresher, you had no idea how long he’d be so you decided to sit and wait at the table. Picking up your datapad you’d barely read a page when the door reopened.

Your breath puffed out of you at the sight of him with wet hair, his tunic was undone at the top and you tried to keep your expression neutral as a rich flush threatened to engulf your body. He was the most handsome you’d seen him and he was letting you touch him. You couldn’t ruin this now. You gently tapped on the chair and he made his way over to you, sitting carefully down, his bare hands tugged on his top like he was uncomfortable, his back was dead straight and the first thing you did was put his glass back in his hand. You stepped behind him seeing the subtle shift in his shoulders as the tension gathered in his neck, the muscles corded and you could see his jaw clenching tightly.

“I’m going to brush your hair,” you stated softly. The comb was dark as it ran smoothly through his stunning hair, you’d never seen a colour like it, so bright and vibrant. The appropriate crowning glory for such a man. “Now I’m going to start cutting, please don’t move.” You bent down using the comb to create a straight line and you just trimmed and blended his hair in as much as possible. For the top you ran your hand through the silky firery strands, trying not to get carried away with the feel of them between your fingers. The dampness was cool on your skin and you bit your lip as you tried to concentrate. You wanted nothing more than to touch his hair all the time, this was the longest you’d been in close proximity to him, physically touching him and it made your heart thud loudly. When you came to the front you saw his eyes were closed, a little wrinkle appearing as he screwed up his nose at the sensation of stray strands landing on his face. You softly blew on his pale skin, close enough to see the gentle smattering of freckles across his nose and cheeks. He flinched but didn’t pull away even if his hands balled into fists. You murmured an apology, running the comb through once more before declaring he was done. You went to brush off his shoulders but he rose suddenly and you caught the way his hands shook as he dusted himself down. He swept them over his shoulders and down his arms before straightening his uniform, his hair freshly washed and cut meant it fell freely across his brow and he ran a hand through it, clearly irritated that it was in his face. His eyes met yours for a moment before he cleared his throat.

“I should be going.” He said firmly, picking up his gloves from the table and heading to the door.

“Goodnight, Armitage.” You turned to gaze at him over your shoulder and he dipped his gaze slightly.

“Goodnight.” He replied through stiff lips before leaving you alone, once again.

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bomberqueen17 · 3 years

Text

coming to you live

So I’ve been working on a thing that started off as like, filler for the Ciri story-- I wanted a plot to flesh out so there’d be something for everyone to kinda look at-- and it ballooned. Anyway, a couple of friends were interested so I shared links to the Google docs of the in-progress works, and that’s been fun. My normal M.O. with stuff like that is that I do the raw composition in a doc, and then paste chunks of it once I’m sure it’s going somewhere into the doc other people can see.

But i have too much going on for that to really be feasible, currently. So sometimes I just compose into those docs, and usually it works because I’m on a different time zone, and whatever, it’s generally low-key.

But last night I realized one invested reader hadn’t been given the link to the other doc that had a lot of the material, so I sent it over, and then sat down to work at the same time, and then the comments the first one was leaving served to summon the other reader back, and before I knew it, i was composing and the things i had composed were being highlighted and commented on while I was still pondering the end of the sentence.

It was hilarious, and not as distracting as you’d think, because instead of toggling to another window when my attention span flickered, I’d be in the comments instead.

Where I screwed up, though, was that it was a friday night and I’d made fancy cocktails both before and with dinner, and then I uh. Well, there was an experiment with a substance only recently made legal in my state. Which I thought hadn’t affected me, so I sat back down and went back to work, and then it very much kicked in.

I haven’t gone back to look at the doc. I know I wasn’t really capable of verbal communication (at one point I informed Dude that the cat was using her paws as a seat. a seat for. a seat for her head. A -- a pillow!) but I was fully convinced I’d retained my writing ability, though my attention span was now in fractions of seconds so I kept having to scroll back up to remember what the beginning of the sentence had been.

I should go see if I wrote anything useful or if it’s gibberish; I did carefully mark the point where the uh the thing kicked in, so I could easily see where things might have gone off the rails.

let’s see....

hey this actually does seem coherent. Well, now we know.

Roche waited a beat, as Iorveth flipped the knife again. “Well?”

Iorveth flipped the knife again, annoyed. “Last night,” he said. He’d flipped the knife enough that Roche had sort of mentally gotten the rhythm of it. “We had a conversation.”

Oh, Roche was absolutely not going to talk about that. He’d assumed that was the deal, that nobody was going to talk about this. That sort of deal tended to be implicit, in the sorts of furtive handjobs in the woods Roche had experienced. He was not breaking that code now. He waited until Iorveth was in the midst of flipping the knife and moved, slamming his shoulder into Iorveth’s chest and pinning him to the wall. The knife clattered out of Iorveth’s hand, and for a moment Roche had him pinned, but then the elf twisted viciously, dropped, and kicked his feet out from under him.

you know. just normal nemesis stuff. handjobs and not talking about it and knives.

“War crimes and murders are different things,” Roche said. “We have to agree on that in order to even have a conversation.”

LOL wtf me

“You can fathom, perhaps,” Iorveth said, bitingly, “how I might not believe you.”

“Well,” Roche said, “if I would lie to you unforced, I can’t think how you’d believe you’d get a better answer with a knife to my throat.”

ok conclusion is, that’s all probably usable, if not quite how i would have written it in another mindset, but it’s inefficient to try to write under the influence. I have fairly vivid memories of carefully turning over and discarding very large ornate words that I realized did not fit with the tone of the piece, as I was composing. We’ll see if I got them all.

I hope people want like 25,000 words of Roche and Iorveth bantering furiously and then having astonishingly tender hatesex because that’s what this story has become. I’m going to have to split it out from the main Ciri story though, so it’s going to be, like the Keira/Lambert/Aiden one, like a weird undercurrent underpinning the events of the other story, LOL.

HA i’ve just realized i had the doc open in two separate windows and was alternating which one I was working into, I think, which would explain why I was disoriented sometimes. I mean, moreso than the usual.

#about the author #my writing #roche/iorveth #the witcher #tw substance use #completely legal drugs guys #what a world we live in #not making a habit of that though

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outrebanx · 4 years

Text

don’t feel (3)

JJ Maybank x female reader

Masterlist

Part one // Part two // — // Part four

Summary: JJ comes to check on you after the disastrous kegger, finding you doing chores in the early hours of the morning

Word count: 1.9k (shorter than the others as its more of a filler chapter)

Warnings: abuse, mentions of abuse, blood, swearing, (nothing else?)

——- I am in no way romanticising abuse if you have any issues with my writing pls message me

A/N: this isnt my best i’m sorry but reading through it i wasn’t sure where to change it, and because its acting as more of a filler it’s not hugely important anyway - but next part should be all fluff i hope so i’m looking forward to writing it :)) // as always feedback is appreciated

“I can explain!” You exclaimed, hands out defensively as your parents stood up from your bed.

Both your mum and dad crossed their arms, the tapping of your mum’s foot being the only noice in the room for a few seconds, “Okay then young lady, explain.” Your mum said expectantly.

“I needed some fresh air, and I knew you were asleep downstairs mum,” you looked at the floor away from her piercing gaze, “so I didn’t want to wake you and left through my window I’m sorry.”

“You ‘went out for some air’ looking like that?” Your dad waved his hand at your outfit and ruined makeup, his eyebrows raised.

“I- um, was wearing this already and I was upset.” You knew your excuse was getting progressively worse, the lies you were telling getting harder and harder to believe, but you still wanted to try.

Without warning your mum’s hand connected with your face, “Don’t lie to us! We’re not stupid.”

You cupped your face in shock, trying to hold back the tears that were already threatening to spill out of your eyes. “I’m sorry, what can I do to make up for it?”

“Stop lying to us for one you little bitch.” Your dad spat at you, grabbing your wrist in an excruciatingly tight grip.

Your mum nodded her agreement, not even caring about the look of pain on your face as your dad began dragging you along towards the bathroom.

“Get cleaned up and then go and clean the pool.”

“But its the middle of the night-“

“You said you wanted some fresh air didn’t you? At leat you’re being helpful by doing this.” He shoved you into the bathroom, ignoring the way you tripped over your feet and fell, hitting the edge of the sink with your head on the way down.

The door slammed behind you, and just like that, the floodgates seemed to open for what felt like the fiftieth time that night. How do you have enough water left in your body for even more crying?

You lifted your hand up to where it had come into contact with the sink, pulling back when you felt a warm liquid, and even though your vision was blurry from the tears - it was obvious it was blood.

“Shit.” You reached for the sink, pulling yourself up from the floor so you could properly look into the mirror behind it.

Realising you had to fix this up before it got worse, you ran the tap, splashing some cold water on your face to get rid of some of the make up and combat the tears, and went into the cupboard searching for a clean piece of cloth to hold up against the wound.

Standing in front of the mirror, a small towel held up against the cut to stop the bleeding, you examined yourself and the only words that could describe you right now was ‘a fucking mess’.

After several minutes you removed the towel, happy to see that the bleeding had slowed almost completely, and so began clearing the rest of yourself up, starting with removing the make up stains across your whole face. Once you felt and looked less like someone who had been crying for the whole night, you quietly left the bathroom and changed into some leggings and an oversized sweatshirt. You didn’t want to go and do some chores at this time of night but you weren’t going to upset your parents again as they had almost gone easy on you tonight.

Heading downstairs you heard your parent’s bedroom door shut, one of them had probably been waiting to make sure you go outside.

You had never liked the shed where all the pool cleaning stuff was stored, it was something about the spiders that lived in there that had always freaked you out, scared one would fall on you if you moved something. Taking a few deep breaths to try and prepare yourself, you stepped into the small wooden building, sidestepping over a broken spade and grabbed the equipment you needed.

Your pool wasn’t huge like some on this street, but it was still big enough to be a pain in the ass to clean, you threw the equipment on the floor, grabbing a net to remove all the leaves and bugs that had fallen into the water and began the cleaning process.

It took about 10 minutes to remove all the debris, and as you turned your attention to brushing some dirt off the walls, you heard movement behind you. In most situations you would assume this was one of your parents, but for once without a doubt you knew it wasn’t them as you were facing the house and there had been no movement inside.

Your heart was racing, this was like some sort of crime show where you get murdered and left to bleed out in your pool - no you weren’t going to let your thoughts head down that road, it was probably a cat or something, yeah something harmless, you slowly began to convince yourself.

You began to turn around, the brush you were holding close to your chest ready for its debut as a weapon if needed, when your heart leapt out of your skin at the tall figure you were met with.

As you lifted the brush, ready to strike, you realised you knew the figure, his deep blue eyes staring at you, a small smirk playing at his lips.

“What the fuck!” You say, wary you can’t be any louder in case your parents hear, “Did you follow me home or something?”

He held up his hands in surrender, “I didn’t follow you home, but I might’ve asked someone where you lived.”

“That’s not any less creepy JJ if I’m being honest - why did you come to my house?”

“Well I was going to make sure you were okay and maybe play out a rom com situation where I talk to you at your window, but instead it seems to be one of the classic porn scenarios, not that I’m complaining.” He smirked at you.

You roll your eyes in disgust, “Get your head out the gutter. And as you can see I’m fine so please leave.”

“I hear you say fine, but it’s the early hours of the morning and you’re cleaning a pool, as well as some sort of head injury that I can feel by the way, so I’m going with you’re not fine.” He raises his eyebrows at you in question.

Fuck, you’d forgotten about that recent development, annoyed there was now someone you could never hide your pain from, for better or worse.

“I’m cleaning because after my disaster of a night, I couldn’t get to sleep so I thought this would help clear my mind, and its a small cut from where I fell in the bathroom and hit my head because I’m clumsy. That good enough for you?” You were almost proud of how easily you could lie to people, but in fairness you had fell in the bathroom so that one wasn’t exactly a lie, more of an omission of the whole truth.

JJ nodded to himself, “We’re gonna have to talk about it at some point.”

“Talk about what?” You asked, worried he might’ve not believed what you’d said and was making theories about your home life.

“The soulmate thing.”

“Oh,” you breathed out, “yeah probably, although there’s not much to say.”

He let out a small chuckle, “Well this is going to be harder than I thought, you’re not one for being emotional and open are you?”

“Not really no,” you couldn’t help but laugh a little at yourself, “but I understand we might need to get to know each other now.”

“Great.” He stepped towards you, smiling, “Should we start now?”

“We’ve already clarified I’m cleaning a pool, do you need your eyes checked or something?”

He raised his eyebrows at the way your words dripped with sarcasm, “I think my eyes are fine baby, I guess we’ll have to reschedule to tomorrow then.”

“I guess we do.” You respond, trying to ignore the way your stomach fluttered when he called you baby, especially because he was clearly trying to get a rise out of you.

“Alright, can you surf?”

“How will that help us to get to know each other?”

“You learn a lot surfing with someone, and it means we spend most of the day together - so can you surf?”

You consider telling him that you couldn’t, but you were actually pretty good and this could be an opportunity to show him up - and because he was your soulmate you really did want to get to know him, you were just too stubborn to admit it at the moment.

“Yeah I can blondie, hope you’re ready to be put to shame.” You laughed.

“Oh I cant wait,” he smiled at you, “I’ll meet you at the beach at ten?”

“Ten’s good for me, and hey maybe we’ll both actually sleep before then.”

“Alright,” he looked like he wanted to step closer to you but instead settled on a small wave, “I’ll see you then.”

He gave you one last smile before turning away and heading back out of your garden, and as you watched him leave and thought about your “date” tomorrow your heart quickened.

——

As JJ walked away from you he smiled to himself, he had never met someone like you - anyone he’d ever been with he either hadn’t got to know or they didn’t excite him in the way he wanted. The only person he’d ever considered to date was Kie as she knew some of the darkest things about him and stayed around and she joked around with him nicely, but he realised pretty quickly that she was better to have as a friend.

He’d only ever seen you a few times, and in the past week or so at that, but he was loving every minute he spent with you - your fiery attitude and sarcasm seemed to compliment his personality pretty well. And god when you laughed, he felt like there was nothing bad in the world and he wanted to do everything in his power to make you laugh, hopefully brightening your day and definitely making his day better.

There was one thing that he was worried about though, which was you seemed to be injured as often as he was, and you definitely weren’t going to be open about in the same way he hated talking about his dad. What if your family life wasn’t great either? If that was the case, it’d be hard for either of you to heal in the way you wanted with reminders of other people hurting someone you loved.

Loved. He couldn’t believe he was already thinking about that when he barely knew you and was terrified of love and the thought that people wouldn’t love him back. But he’d be an idiot if he let this opportunity pass him by self sabotaging the relationship.

So, with a slight spring in his step at the thought of your date tomorrow, he walked to the chateau, keeping the image of you laughing at the front of his mind.

tag list: @outerbongs @jjaybank @bailspogue @outerbankslut @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch @alexa-playafricabytoto @teamnick @k-k0129 @do-not-talk-to-me-i-am-awkward @thoughtsofthestars @http-cherries @n1ghtsh4d3-67 @thesurfingsnail @lonely-kermit @oopsiedoopsie23 @overly-b @lus-shh @xlittlemissydjx @asaks6082 @copper-boom @danicarosaline @deathcompass @jellyfishbeansontoast @butterfliesinthenightsky @iamaunicorn4704 @my-soul-is-the-moon @diverrdown @thorsangel @saintkore @prejudic3 @ponyboys-sunsets @starrystarkey93 @teenwaywardasgardian @celestialmaybank @kaylinfayezink @pixelated-pogues @otrbnks (i think this is everyone pls tell me if i missed you cos i’m dumb)

#jj maybank x reader #jj maybank #jj x reader #jj maybank imagine #jj maybank angst #jj soulmate au #soulmate au #rudy pankow #obx #obx fic #outer banks imagine #outer banks fanfiction #outer banks #outrebanx #outrebanx - don't feel #john b routledge #pope heyward #kiara carrera

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overanalysingfandoms · 4 years

Text

How I would rewrite Teen Titans

I'm not actually probably going to write this, this would just be the direction I would have taken the show if I had the choice.

My version will have 6 seasons and 2 movies.

Season 1

The exact same, only maybe have Robin and Starfire get together at the end.

I don't really have any major problems with this season

Season 2

Pretty much the same except build up Raven's friendship with Beast boy more e.g. show her supporting him after Terra's gone both times or have her have a moment with him in Titan rising.

Season 3

Oh boy. A lot. I want to change a lot. First of all I want the tone to be a lot more like Deception. Have both Robin and Starfire as his secondaries instead of switching it to just Robin, so they balance eachother out with Robin being harsh and arguing with Cyborg while Starfire is gentle and supportive with him even though she isn't happy about his decision, this would also mean Robin and Starfire's relationship could be built up and tested, whether or not they're dating.

Second of all, motivations, this is my main problem with the season, I think it would have been far better with better motivations from the main hero and villian. Brother Blood has so much potential but since he has such vague motivations and we don't know what he wants he becomes far less interesting, they tried to recreate the Slade and Robin dynamic and it really didn't work. So I would have Blood less focused on Cyborg and more focused on his crime school before beginning to get more annoyed at the Titans for getting rid of his schools. I would have his main motivation to be something generic but believable like using his students to take over the world and using Cyborg as a stepping stone to do it. As for Cyborg I would use the theme they originally introduced in Deception, his struggle with his robot and human sides, and not have it resolved in one episode but rather the whole season, take away his whole 'I want to be a leader' thing and Brother Blood being 'his villian" and instead have him join the Titans East to get back his blueprints which wouldn't be retrieved in Wavelength.

Also have more focus on the og Titans when Cyborg's away to show how it's effecting them.

I would also have Sarah Simms show up at some point in this season and cut out the thing with Jinx in Deception and Sarasimm in Cyborg the Barbarian later on, make it one sided. Maybe have had Cyborg argue with Sarah at the start and be reminded of her by Sarasimm so he goes back to apologise.

That was long, sorry, there's just so much wasted potential in Season 3.

Season 4

Make this season 5. Now this is a massive change but it would be so much better, season 5 felt very anticlimactic after season 4, so if it is instead put before season 4, with a few tweaks it would work a lot better. This would also mean the stakes would be raised each season.

So the changes, so many to make.

First of all have the same episode structure as all the other seasons, some plot, some filler, it's just a better format.

Secondly make the Brotherhood of evil smaller and also have the main villians be on a council instead of the Brain ruling them all (think V.I.L.E. from Carmen Sandiego) this will add more spice to the villians as the brain being the main villian with everyone else as his got boring due to his utter lack of charisma.

Make the Doom Patrol come later on in the season.

Have newer Titans show up in more than one episode to allow them to develop friendships with eachother and so the team up at the end of the season feels more natural. Season 5's finale would also come as more of an emotional gut punch if we saw all the other teams frozen after Trigon takes over.

Season 5

I wouldn't change a huge amount, just a few little tweaks.

Have more emphasis on Slade and I still don't want to redeem him, I think he should stay bad.

Make Raven and possibly Trigon less powerful. I know this sounds strange but a problem I've always had with season 4 is how it treated the other Titans, except from Robin they were mostly didn't do anything about the plot. Have them at least do some damage to Slade and the army when they show up at the tower so they don't seem really weak for example have them used against eachother and defeated one by one so they seem less useless.

Also have the powers Raven has given them have a small effect on Trigon, which gives them some hope (this could be mentioned by Robin in his later conversationwith Raven)

Put more emphasis on Raven's relationship with Beast Boy and have him be another secondary who she comes to for comfort, giving the penny and beast form more meaning later on.

I would also have Starfire, Beast boy and Cyborg have to team up together to beat each of their evil selves instead of just switching.

For defeating Trigon I have a few very specific ideas, have Raven try to defeat him on her own but fail in the final blast in her speech but then look at the penny, take her friends hands as they stand in a circle and all say Azerath Metrion Zinthos together, emitting a huge wave of white light and defeating Trigon together, Raven later saying she couldn't have done it without them.

Also during the start of the second part of the finale have a montage of everyone else frozen in stone before going back to the Titans.

That was a lot for just a few tweaks but oh well.

Season 6

The Starfire season, yay.

Now, I'm not entirely sure what I would do for this season but I have a vague outline and a few ideas.

Have the season focus on Starfire with both Robin and Raven as her secondaries with a subplot about Raven and Beast Boy.

I would have Slade come back working for the Gordanians as a mercenary who has been told to come to Earth and recapture Starfire for them as the first plot episode and the thing that kicks everything off because I just love this idea so much.

I would keep the same format as the rest of the series still, but maybe throw in a couple of space adventures.

I would have a more deep exploration of Tamaran's lore and culture as well as Blackfire's return, maybe as the season's main villian or working with the season's main villian or perhaps just for one episode but I think it would be good to have her back.

I would have the finale have the whole universe at stake, maybe giving the Gordanians or some other bigger alien race we're introduced to later on in the season (perhaps the Psions) have dalek like motivations of wanting to get rid of anything that isn't them and either Starfire or Tamaran is the key to this.

Slade once again doesn't redeem himself and gets away.

That's all I have for that.

Movie 1

Be like a Trouble in Tokyo but for Raven and Beast boy, I have no ideas apart from this.

Movie 2

Have a movie to wrap everything up with Slade.

Have all of the extended Titans help out on this with a focus on Jericho and Ravager.

Have a huge final battle with a lot of personal stakes and have Slade finally captured.

Have a cute little flash forward scene at the end, possibly with all the Titan's children taking over and showing how they've all grown.

Tada!!!

So that's the end and WOW did it take forever to write that.

Hope you enjoyed reading it and feel free to add anything on.

I might do more little rewrite things later, not as long as this bc this took me like half an hour but episodes or other shows or books because this was actually quite fun.

#that is the longest post I have ever made #I won't be doing that again anytime soon #sorry idk how to do read more #teen titans #starfire #robstar #robin #meta #rewrite #rewrite teen titans #beast boy #raven #bbrae #cyborg #sarah simms #cysarah

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duskholland · 4 years

Note

I kinda want a first blurb of them first knowing about eachother. Maybe a toms pov??? Where haz is constantly talking about her and idk, I'd like to see their first impressions (without the bafta incident) play out. Love tfg

yes yes yes yes yes. I love this so much, thank you! parts of this are briefly mentioned in the main story, so getting to finally write out their bad first impressions was so much fun for me.

status: pre-story; tom’s pov // read the fame game!

— tfg blurb night! —

“I’m telling you, Tom, she’s amazing. So talented and funny. Heart of gold, too. I think you’d really get on.”

Tom’s got a very fake, very forced smile on his lips, and he nods vacantly as he listens to Harrison prattle on about his new friend: you. Harrison doesn’t seem to realise that he’s been gushing about you for ten consecutive minutes, nor that Tom tuned out about eight minutes ago.

“Cool,” Tom adds. He’s reached the point where he’s just interjecting a filler word every few minutes, adding to Harrison’s otherwise one-sided conversation.

“Yeah, really cool,” Harrison replies.

Tom’s distractedly staring at his phone, scrolling through Twitter, liking a few tweets as he goes. His eyebrows furrow as he looks at a particularly funny thread, smiling as he likes it. In the background, Harrison’s continuing to speak.

After about a minute, Tom feels Harrison kick him - hard.

“Ow, you prick!” Tom mutters, looking up angrily. The two men are sat at their kitchen table, Harrison’s opposite Tom, arms crossed over his chest. “What was that for?”

“You’re not listening to me!” Harrison whines, frowning at Tom. “I’m trying to tell you a story, and you’re just ignoring me.”

Tom feels guilty as he looks at Haz’s wide, blue eyes.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, putting down his phone. “You’ve just been rambling on about Y/N for ages, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t like me, so it’s hard to stay interested.”

Harrison pulls a face. “What?” He asks, looking at him with confusion on his face. “But you’ve never met her.”

Tom nods. “I know, but I reply to her Instagram stories sometimes, and she opens them and never says anything back.”

It’s quite disheartening, actually. When Tom had got the notification that you’d followed him, he’d seen that as a green light to try and initiate something with you - a friendship, perhaps, or maybe something more. So he’d taken to leaving comments on your posts and always, always, replying to your stories - only to draw up a blank every single time.

“Well, if that’s the only thing she’s done to give you that impression, then I think you’re reading into it too much.” Harrison grabs Tom’s phone from the table and unlocks it, moving it out of Tom’s grasp before he can do a thing. “Here, I’ll give you her number. Just text her when we’re back in LA and see if she wants to meet. I’m sure she’d be down.”

Tom eyes his friend sceptically, gnawing over his lower lip. There’s turmoil in his heart - churning continuously. His desire to pursue a relationship with you fights against the humiliation of being left on read, but after a moment’s contemplation, he sighs in agreement.

“Fine,” Tom agrees. “But only because she’s your friend.”

———

A month later, Tom’s back in America, Harrison at his side. He’s here on promo, hurrying from interview to interview, doing the rounds through the television stations. He’s on cloud nine, but he’s tired, which is why he’d turned down Harrison’s offer to go out to a bar with a few of his friends.

Tom’s alone, and it’s late. He’s scrolling through Instagram, and his eyebrows shoot up his forehead as he opens Harrison’s story and sees you staring back at him. As Tom clicks through the whole thing, there’s only more - you and Harrison, you dancing in the bar, Harrison smiling at you. Tom groans, and when the story runs out, he opens up his texts and goes to his conversation with you.

Maybe ‘conversation’ is a bit too kind. The screen shows two messages, but they’re both from Tom, and both left on read - again.

Tom: Hey Y/N, it’s Tom Holland. Harrison gave me your number, so I thought I’d drop you a message just to say I’ll be in town next week if you were free and wanted to grab a drink? Big fan of your work.

Tom: Hi again, just wondering if you saw my last message…?

Tom groans, tossing his phone aside and pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. He knows - or, rather, hopes - that he hasn’t done anything to annoy you. You’ve never met each other, never communicated - nothing. And yet, you’re continuously avoiding him, and now you’re hanging out with his best mate without him.

It’s bewildering.

The front door slams shut, and Tom sighs as he hears Harrison enter the house with a clatter. He stands up, walking through to the porch where he leans up against the doorframe and watches his friend hop about, trying to pull off his shoes and jacket, and getting stuck in the process - jacket half hanging off, one shoe discarded in the middle of the room.

“Had fun, Haz?” Tom asks, smirking. Harrison jumps, looking up, and Tom scoffs as he takes in how red and bloodshot his eyes are.

“Yeah,” Harrison murmurs, “Fucking great. Just had… A bit too much to drink, I think.” He looks down, glaring at his shoe. “Stupid fucking thing won’t come off.” He waggles his leg, and Tom sighs.

“Stay still,” he mutters, dropping to the floor in front of Harrison. As he unpicks his best mate’s incredibly knotted laces, he asks, “Y/N was there. Did she mention me?”

Harrison hums. “Yeah, yeah. I told her what you said- y’know, about thinking she was rude for ignoring you. She didn’t really like that.”

Tom feels his blood run cold, fingers slacking. “You told her what?”

Harrison blinks down at Tom, shrugging. “Yeah, sorry mate, I realised once I said it that I fucked up. But- but if it’s any consolation, she said it wasn’t intentional. Apparently, she’s just been busy.”

Tom sits back on the floor after he’s pulled off Harrison’s shoe, glaring at his friend.

“But she probably thinks I’m a dickhead now,” Tom complains. He watches as Harrison goes back to wriggling out of his jacket.

“Eh, I mean… I told her you just wanted to be friends, but she was quite hung up on it.” Harrison bites his lip before staggering over to Tom, pulling him off the floor and giving him a rough pat on the back. “Look, mate. You’re both going to the BAFTAs soon, right? Just make up then. It’ll be fine, I’m sure.”

Tom sucks in a breath, and he has to try very hard to bite back a snarky comment.

“Fine,” he mutters. “But Haz, if what you’ve told her has fucked up our relationship, then-”

“Oh, it’ll be fine.” Harrison’s twirling a hand through the air, but behind the carefree drunken buzz, Tom knows his friend is nervous. “You’ll get on great, Tom. You’re so similar.” He nudges him, grinning. “I think you guys could be a lot more than just great friends, you know.”

Tom rolls his eyes but finds himself smiling fondly at his friend nonetheless.

“Let’s get you to bed, then,” he says, wrapping an arm around Harrison. “You’re just talking shit now.”

#:))#tfgblurbs #idk what to tag this as lmao #tom holland x reader #read the main series tho #anonymous

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dis-easedfairy · 4 years

Text

Impulsive Decision Pt.9

Male Path | Female Path

Chapter 9 : Just A Normal Day At The Office

Warnings!: Swearing

Genre: Poly!au, angst, fluff, eventual smut, yandere!au

Pairings: BTS x Reader / Kim Taehyung x Reader / Kim Seokjin x Reader / Jung Hoseok x Reader / OC x Reader / Park Jimin x Reader / Min Yoongi x Reader

Summary: M/n is the owner of a very wealthy and successful company, Barnanby Inc. M/n attends a BTS show, since they happen to be a fan. They make a very impulsive decision to show a loophole in BTS’s security and end up kidnapping BTS and 2 girls. In a fit of panic M/n stashes BTS and the girls in a very luxurious bunker for the time being, but M/n’s world slowly starts to crumble the longer the boys are out of the public’s eye,

Word Count: 8,349 (roughly 30 minutes of average reading time)

A/N: The boys aren’t in this chapter that much purely so I can develop plot and give background info. So, filler. (the gif is basically a hint to next chapter)

Spending my morning on Jason’s couch wasn’t the plan, but the break was almost too sweet to give up. I sat up, reaching over for my turned-off phone. I could hear muffled talking coming from down the hall. I looked over, seeing Jason holding a laundry basket, his phone pressed between his face and shoulder and he came into the living room. I grabbed his laptop off the chair just in time for him to sit on the said chair. He dropped the laundry basket on the floor and got a better hold of the phone.

I reached over to get Jason’s laptop off the coffee table. I opened his laptop and began looking up a few things.

“Listen, we had a plan for the character model! I understand when you program something, something else can mess up but it’s YOUR JOB to fix it! I’ll extend the deadline but that’s it, good-bye!” Jason hung up with a groan.

“I haven’t even had my damn morning coffee yet and these people are going insane.” He grumbled, beginning to sort through his laundry.

“Yeah, sorry about that, but it needs to happen,” I muttered, still researching.

“So your plan is to what? Get Jill’s help but keep the company anyway? How will that work? I get you ARE the owner, but she now has the upper hand to destroy you…” Jason trailed off, folding a pair of pants.

I scoffed, “She THINKS she can destroy me, but if she helps me avoid punishment and makes her lawyers paint a pretty picture as truth, then she’ll HAVE to run with it. If she turns on me and says it was all a lie and I’m a criminal, then she is too, then she gets nothing either. The only one with us listening to the WHOLE conversation was my nephew and no one will take his word because he still thinks Santa Claus can come through the furnace vents in their modern home. ”

“He’s really are losing his mind oh my God.” He mumbled to himself, trying to seem interested in his laundry.

“I love my sister, I really do, but last night… She showed me that she would sacrifice everything if it meant keeping the company and her status. She doesn’t care what I want and isn’t doing this out of the kindness of her heart. She’s doing it for my spot. She’s doing it because she doesn’t want to be removed from the high pedestal my father put her on.” I argued, shutting the laptop.

“What about the guys? What if your sister gets access to the bunker?” Jason questioned.

“She won’t. It surprised me when she knew about it, but the location, locks, and layout will be foreign to her because she doesn’t have access to those. I’m assuming she only knows because our accountant slipped up. The only one who knows the location is you and I. The locks are designed by me and you barely even got the keys last month. The layout is only known by twelve people, Jin, Yoongi, Hoseok, RM, Jimin, Taehyung, Jungkook, Seongmi, Linza, Jeonghun, and only you and I REALLY know the layout of the bunker. ”

“I feel as though you being there with them was a bad idea.” Jason shook his head, judgment was written on his face.

I exhaled, leaning back into the couch, “It really was. ”

“Well, If I would’ve known you had so much shit going on I wouldn't have invited you for a night out with Daisuke and me!” Jason threw an article of clothing back into the laundry basket roughly.

“If anything, it’ll get my mind off everything for a few hours,” I stated bitterly.

Jason let out a sigh, almost irritated, “We can’t be teenagers anymore, M/n.” He said, his voice was too serious for my liking.

I rolled my eyes, “Jason, I know. I get so much crap for being uptight. Maybe I should actually live like a 20-year-old CEO.” I smirked.

“Oh God, please no.” Jason made a face, going back to sorting and folding his laundry.

“Yeah, overpriced alcohol and drunk people telling me I’m attractive aren’t really for me.” I chuckled, sitting up to get the laptop again, this time to check my e-mail for work.

I started replying and even turned on my phone.

“Your sister….” Jason began, making me look up.

“…She used to wear really nice things, yes, but she would’ve never done that to her little brother. She loved you too much for that.” He stated sadly, looking at a single shirt like it was able to replay memories.

I frowned, sighing, “It happens to those who are in power enough, Jason. It happened to my brother, then to my older sister. I hope my little sister doesn’t catch that bug. Lord knows my mother is secretly becoming like that as well. I understand it a little bit. There are competitors who want our company forgotten, so we have to protect our image, but for her to ask for my place instead, just…” I trailed off.

“I just hope it’s because she has kids to think about now. My brother just wanted to be on top. Maybe my sister wants it so her kids have an assurance that they’ll have something too.” I reasoned, going back to my e-mail in hopes to end the conversation there.

Jason scoffed, “As if you would ever cast out your nephews. Lord knows you spoil them even if they aren’t yours.” I felt a twinge of pain in my heart.

“I mean what would your father say about your sister getting the company?” Jason prompted.

“…I have that decision for a reason, so let that reason play out.” I muttered, no longer interested in the work I was doing.

We fell into slightly uncomfortable silence.

“Can you take care of the boys and girls? With my dad’s party coming up and setting everything up for the future, I will be busy and my family will expect me to stay by their side. They’ll know something is up if I’m constantly leaving.” I explained, pulling out my phone and turning the screen on.

“Uh sure, I’ll try to work and things from there. Maybe I’ll set up a tent there or something. ” I chuckled at his response.

“Why a tent?” I questioned with a smile.

Jason smiled, letting out a chuckle of his own, “So I can get cellphone service.”

I only shook my head, I was about to open my mouth to speak but the doorbell rang. Jason looked at me puzzled for a bit. I only shrugged, leaning back into the couch. Jason stood and opened the door.

“I have your truffle pizza and 20 hot wings. Your total is 66,000 won.” The delivery man stated quickly.

Jason looked over his shoulder at me with a glare. I only smirked with a shrug. Jason grumbled something under his breath and took his wallet out of his pocket. He swiped his card in the delivery man’s card reader and took the pizza and wings.

“Have a nice day!” The man said, quickly taking his leave.

Jason mumbled something along the lines of, “I won’t while he’s here.” as he closed the door.

Jason turned to look over at me, eerily calm for a few moments.

“…WHO ORDERS A 66,000 WON PIZZA!? THAT’S 50 U.S. DOLLARS! THATS….”

“6,510 yen.” I helped him out.

“EXACTLY!” He exploded.

“58 U.S. dollars to be exact. ALSO, it was actually 50 U.S. dollars, however, it was an extra 4 for 20 wings since it was on sale I figured why not?”

“…4 dollars for 20 wings? Holy shit that’s a good deal.” He muttered, moving his hands to open the container with wings.

He made a face as if to say ‘not bad’, “They are pretty meaty too, what the fuck.”

“The pizza has a lot of truffles. Never had it before.” I shrugged.

“Then why did you order it!?”

“…I feel like ordering you the most expensive pizza I could find last minute was doing someone justice? Like I personally don’t think I’ve ever said that, but I’m sure someone said they would. Figured I’d be petty for them.”

Jason looked at the pizza then at me, “You’re so fucking weird. If this tastes bad then that someone is getting coal for Christmas.”

Jason walked over to place the food down on the coffee table. I happily helped move things out the way and opened the pizza box and Jason decided to go for the wings first.

“What’s the game plan for today?” Jason asked, mouth slightly full as he spoke.

I gave him a look and shook my head as I picked up a slice of pizza, “You know I hate when you do that.”

“Why? No food is going to fly out and you understand me.” Jason said after he swallowed, shrugging like it wasn’t a big deal.

“No one wants to see your chewed up food, Jason.”

“Then look at my eyes, not my mouth.” I sighed.

“Stop talking about things that annoy you! What’s the game plan?” Jason pressed, his hand moving to get a slice as well.

I ended up at the office, but instead of working, as usual, I was only lost in my thoughts.

I thought if I was far away from my problems, it would just solve itself.

I had to deal with Daisuke.

I had to prep for my father’s party.

I‌ had to deal with nine people in my bunker.

I looked over at my sad excuse for a couch setup. A pillow and a fluffy blanket folded over the armrest. I was going to be beyond busy and I‌ need to avoid the boys for a bit to get things sorted out.

I let out a sigh, “How long will I‌ be here?”‌ I‌ asked myself as I made my way to my desk.

I sat down and tried to focus back on writing out what I could have planned for the game and if there would be more.

It suddenly hit me. I launched myself up from my desk and ran out of my office to find my sister. It might have been easier to just make her come to me but the idea suddenly coming to me clouded any other thought as I ran as fast as I could to the broadcasting department.

Once I got there I could see my sister talking to employees and making sure everything was in order for the new animation to be aired. Some who were talking a small break immediately got to work when I entered.

I proudly went next to my sister and blurted “I‌ can have the game department only.”‌ in an out of breath tone.

Her eyes grew wide, “Excuse me?”‌ She seemed more concerned than confused.

“You have broadcasting, Jae has the toys and shit, Eun will have food and drinks and I’ll have games. We’ll all just decide together!”‌ I couldn’t suppress the excitement in my voice.

Jilly took a quick look around and grabbed my arm to lead me to the hallway.

“What’s going on in that over-active brain, huh?”‌ She asked me while folding her arms.

“We won’t have to fight for the top if we’re ALL‌ at the top. Jieun isn’t old enough yet, so I’m not worried about that side of our company for at LEAST 2 years!‌ Jae has a thing for money but loves the designs we all come up with. You love the bustle of the broadcasting. You are literally our voice, and it’s good that way. I can be in charge of the game department. Any videogames are managed under me and no one will have to come to you about my bullshit because it’s MY bullshit.”

“This isn’t the four kings. This is a company.”

“A‌ company that will work as long as we all stay in our fucking lanes!‌ Jae is too stubborn to evolve with the company. You won’t take too many creative risks that we need. Jieun will crack under the pressure of handling EVERYTHING. I’m too impulsive or too stuck in my head. But if we all work together we’ll check each other. No fights for the top, no one coming to just one of us for decisions on something the other is working on. No pressure to hold the entire company on our backs. We get our zones and stay in them!”‌

Jilly seemed to look down at the floor, letting my words absorb. After a few long moments, she finally spoke.

“I remember sitting down on the living room floor during Dad’s days off. Our sister helping our mom, Jae being pissed off because Dad just wouldn’t give him a win, and you sitting at the table always learning something new.”‌ Something about her words caused a weight to form on my chest.

She let out a sigh and looked up at the ceiling, “Our father was a strong man. After his will, I tried so hard to understand why he left the company to you. You were so young when he wrote the will. You were still young when he passed. Our mother got into a few fights with him before he died,”‌ She let out a scoff, “Like she was just TRYING to find a reason to be mad at him. And when you got the company, Jae was so angry at you, at Dad. I want it to stop. All the fighting. ”‌ Her eyes landed back on me.

“I‌ even went after you, and I shouldn’t have. This isn’t a competition. I was so upset that you kept it from me and that you would even find yourself in that situation. But yesterday night it finally hit me on how you might’ve felt. I‌ just know you went in with it being a joke that you thought wouldn’t be too serious, and when it was, you weren’t sure what to do. If you reached out to our brother, you would go to jail. He’s too into old-fashioned justice. If you went to mom, she would hide you, but her mouth was too big. Eunnie is still a child. And I‌ would’ve done what I did yesterday. You HAD‌ to hide it.”‌ Her voice seemed to waver as she went on.

I tried to remain completely silent. I could feel a sting behind my eyes, she was starting to understand what kind of stupid I was. Yet there was always a method to my madness.

“I‌ judged you, and thought of our image rather than thinking of you as my brother. I‌ thought of you as a reckless child rather than an adult who was afraid. Our mother wanted you to be a pushover, someone she could dump her problems on. Our brother wanted to knock you down to get to the top and I‌ made you feel like shit when I was supposed to help you.”‌ Actual tears began to run down her face, “You’re my little brother, not my child, and not a fucking punching bag. I shouldn’t have made you feel so judged for something that was an innocent mistake, I’m so sorry, M/n-ie.”‌

She bit her lip, seeming to take a moment to control her emotions before finally saying, “It’s your call. I’ll help, but please, don’t do anything stupid.”

I left a large weight lift off of me.

My sister wasn’t against me. She could never be.

My eyes watered as I waited, wanting to see if maybe she would change her mind.

Her features softened even more, “Oh, M/n-ie. I won’t take it back, I promise. Come here,” She held her arms out and I immediately went into them.

Pressing my face into her shoulder and wrapping my arms around her. As she embraced me back I could smell the comforting scent of her jasmine perfume that she’s been using since middle school. Her hand went up to pet my hair soothingly.

For a moment it was as it should be. A little brother being comforted by his big sister.

“What are you two doing in the hallway?” We heard.

Before I could pull away Jillian held me closer, “Hugging. Like family.” Her voice was almost cold.

“He’s the owner of a company, you shouldn’t be holding him like that. He’s not a child.”

It made sense who it was now.

“Jaeseok, he’s our little brother. It doesn’t matter if he owns a company or not. He felt under the weather so I’m helping.” Our sister shot back, keeping a firm hold on me.

“He’s an adult. If he has problems he needs to deal with them on his own, Jiann.”

Great now my brother and sister were bickering in the hallway. What made this worse was I couldn’t really say anything, due to my face being in her shoulder.

“Family is supposed to help!”

“Family is to help expand the name.”

My sister let out a frustrated groan. I lightly pushed on her hip and she let me go.

I was met with the sight of my brother. He looked well-kempt yet so unkempt. He had on his usual suit, wrinkle-free, and lint-free. His hair looked like he had run his fingers through it repeatedly, and the dark circles under his eyes were impossible to ignore.

“Jae, when is the last time you slept!?” I asked, genuinely concerned.

Jae scoffed, “We don’t all get day-offs whenever we want. ”

I frowned at his response, of course, he would turn this into a fight, “But you should still take breaks. Your hours should give you plenty of time to sleep.”

Our sister tsked, “Don’t snap at our brother because you’re working overtime.”

“You’re working overtime!? I told you not to!” I exclaimed.

Our brother rolled his eyes, “If I don’t do it then who would?”

I scoffed at his clear delusion. These next few days would be hell.

“Why did you come over here for?” Jiann changed the subject.

“Right, our mother wishes to reserve a large building for our father’s birthday. She also would like to invite some of his family to our childhood home.”

There was silence.

“Well tell her she’s out of her fucking mind. The party happens here. This meant everything to Dad. The party happens here and we go back home for the night. Like always. I don’t care who she invites to the party but no one follows us back to our childhood home. That’s for family only. My sons and husband don’t even join us and neither does your wife, what makes her think they’re invited? No.” Jiann was firm, crossing her arms, just waiting for someone to defy her.

“They’re even lucky to be invited to the party itself. They call us entitled pricks but want to be part of us when it comes to social events.” I muttered.

“Exactly my point. No. They don’t get to come back to our family home. They also don’t get family passes as they are here. They don’t get special treatment.”

Jae seemed to nod thinking it over, “I agree. Having them think they can do as they please won’t be good for our company’s image. Or our family’s image. I’ll let security know of their names and faces. I’ll also brief them on how to properly handle them if they cause a scene.”

Like I need more problems.

“What will they do if they DO cause a scene?” Jiann asked.

“Well, we can’t have them be loud, they would draw too much attention we’ll just–”

“CEO-nim!” I heard, making us jump a little.

A woman, looking highly professional jogged up to us, holding documents to her chest.

“Yes?”

“We have another problem. Some of the computers in the game development floor have been damaged. I attempted to get ahold of Mr.Katashi but was unable to.”

Oh great, more problems.

My favorite.

I somewhat had everything under control by lunch. Someone had corrupted a few computers. I had to emergency order new ones and help transfer the files over and had the corrupted computers stored away as evidence. I was walking around the programmers, making sure I was there if there were any signs of any glitching computers.

I was pretty sure that whoever was doing this was selecting a special set of computers, the ones with all the character designs and code that took too long to recreate at this point. I made sure to tell Jason to find the best cybersecurity team he could. I needed to guard this project with my life and I wouldn’t let my father’s dream die with me.

I was pacing back in forth between the row of game developers when I was approached.

It was a nice looking man. He seemed small. Not in height, but in the way he presented himself. He was dressed in a simple dress shirt, straightened pants, and tie. His dark hair was covering his forehead and he looked out of place. Afraid to meet my gaze, afraid to catch too much attention. He was holding files and USB drives but looked like if I said “boo” he would drop everything and run.

He must be new.

“Hello, how can I help you?” I asked in the nicest voice I could.

He played a little bit with the edges of the folders before speaking, “I’m with the cybersecurity team… They sent me to…,” He seemed to be stuck or thinking of what to say, “To set up.” His voice sounded like it could be attention-catching if he tried. Not too high-pitched and had a certain roughness to it.

“Ah! Of course! We had computers and space for your set up in the room next to the security room.” I informed, moving to borrow the post-it notes from one of the developers to write down the code to the mostly empty room, “If any of you have any questions or needs, feel free to call my personal number. It’s close to us all ordering lunch so call the front desk if you have any differences in dietary needs.” I handed him the post-it note with a warm smile.

He quickly took the note, gave me a small bow, and rushed off.

Poor dude.

I moved back to my work at hand, making a mental note to visit them later.

A little later into the afternoon I was in my office, trying my best to look over the security footage. It didn’t look like the files were corrupted manually. No one was there in person but it still gave me a strange feeling. This obviously wasn’t just some teenagers just goofing around. I let out a loud groan, knowing this would kill me until I figured out who did it.

I got up out of my seat and gathered the papers I needed to sign off on and approve. I shoved them all into a folder, grabbed a couple of pens, a few stationery items for organization reasons, and headed off to the cybersecurity room.

Upon reaching the room I began to think about how they would all react seeing their boss watch over them as they worked.

Would they feel pressure?

Would I make them uncomfortable?

I decided to just knock on the door. If I made them uncomfortable they could tell me and I would leave.

As soon as my knuckles hit the door it flung open to reveal the guy before. This time his hair was a little ruffled, pushed back to show off his forehead, and his tie pulled loose.

“Good! Saves me the trouble of having to find you, come in!” He gave me a smirk and went back into the room.

Well, that was a turn of a personality.

The room we had set up for them was all set up into cubicles. At first, I was against it but they had large whiteboards on the cubical walls and had their own privacy. The guy before led me to the end and sat down at his new desk, his screen was pulled up to a jumbled mess of codes that hurt my eyes to look at for too long.

“You were definitely about to be hacked. I’m not sure what they did that they ruined it so badly but we can try to trace him in a few moments.” He explained.

“So what's the next step I should take after this?” I questioned, putting my hand on the back of his chair to lean forward and look at the wall of code.

The man seemed to be thrown off by my question. I wasn’t going to be confident if I didn’t know what the fuck I was doing or what this all meant. He was a professional. I saw it best to ask for his opinion.

“Uh…Uhm…W-Well, the next step is to contact the authorities. This is a crime after all.”

“Isn’t tracing them a crime too though?” I asked, genuinely curious.

“Eh, not really. If I was hacking into their computer for private information then it would be a crime. Like they tried to do here. But I’m just getting the general idea of their location, its pretty public despite what everyone thinks.”

There was a pause.

“…..So how much can I pay you so we aren't public?”

“Hey, dick, we need to talk.” Jason busted into the once quiet cybersecurity room.

I had taken up an empty cubical that was at the very end facing the other cubicles. I could see the door and only the sides were up. I had papers scattered around in semi-neat piles, my hand starting to cramp from all the signing and notes I’ve made.

The small cybersecurity team almost jumped out of their skin upon Jason’s entrance.

I let out a large sigh, “If it has anything to do with I.P. Addresses, VPNs, or how I’m a fucking idiot, I already got that talk, and I don’t want to hear it.”

Jihun, the man who did a fucking 180 in personality held back a laugh at my irritation.

“Do I look like I know anything about computers? It’s not about that, the police are in your office right now waiting for you. ”

“Police? I requested only one detective?” I looked up from my papers.

Jason let out a sigh, “I tried to tell them that but he insisted that he needed his partner.”

I let out a groan, “Fiiinnnne.” I stood up reluctantly and shot Jihun a quick, “I’ll be back.”

As soon as we were out the room, Jason shoved me into the wall.

“Ow! What the fuck was that!?” I asked, my voice higher pitched in shock.

“This is by far the dumbest thing you’ve ever done!” He hissed.

“That’s not true! I’ve done far more idiotic things in my life!” I defended, standing straight in protest.

“You asked for the detective working the kidnapping case to work your hacking case!”

I let out another sigh. I should’ve known he would lose his mind.

“Seung Eunsuk isn’t going to link the two. Relax.” I rolled my eyes.

“And if he does!?”

“Then it’s your fault for being so jumpy. He was pretty opinionated and since he’s newish, he’s going to be fair.” I reasoned as I pressed the elevator button.

“You think that now, but when he has cuffs on you I will be there to say I told you so.” I gave Jason a side-ways glance in judgment.

“…He’s not going to solve THAT problem. You dirty-minded jerk.”

Jason’s eyes widened as I stepped into the elevator, “…You kinky bitch.”

“Detective Seung! I’m glad you can make it.” I announced as I entered the room.

Sure enough, there were two officers in the room. The older officer was the same from last time, only this time he looked more fidgety. Like something was off.

Eunsuk was looking at a paperweight I had on my desk, completely calm. Upon seeing me a small smile lit up his face, “Mr.L/n. Glad to be here.”

I could feel Jason roll his eyes behind me at our teasing remarks, “Please, have a seat. We have a few things to talk about.”

Eunsuk put down the paperweight and patted the older officer’s arm like he was telling him silently to do so as well.

“So, we heard you had a hacking?” Eunsuk questioned, pulling out his notepad and flipping to an empty page.

I made a hum of confirmation as I began to pour them water, “It wasn’t too long ago. They somehow messed up so badly that they corrupted a few of our computers.”

“Any idea where the hack came from?”

“Not yet. Our CyberSecurity team is working on it.”

“If you don’t mind, I’d like to have a few programmers from the police department to come down and check it out as well.”

“I don’t have a problem with that. Just be sure to ask our teams leader, Jihun about it as well.”

“Jihun? May I have his full name?”

“He just goes by Jihun and doesn’t seem to fond of formal speech.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. May we take the corrupted computers in as evidence? That might help.”

“Jihun had the computers sent to their room. You should be able to get at least one or two from him.”

“Understood. Lastly, do you know anyone who would think to do this? Any enemies recently for Barnanby Inc? Piss anyone off?”

“Eunsuk.” The older detective’s voice sounded like a warning. Like I was going to rip Eunsuk’s head off for asking such a question.

“Our company is now the third biggest in South Korea. We have many people jealous, but no one has threatened us or made their hatred obvious enough for us to see.”

Eunsuk nodded as he wrote one last thing then closed his notepad, “Alright, I have a feeling the cyber people will point us in the right direction. It’ll help us narrow it down so much more. We’ll keep in touch?”

I nodded extending my hand out to shake his, “We will, Jason will give you my number as well as escort you to our CyberSecurity room. If you should need me or have any questions, don’t hesitate to call!”

Eunsuk happily shook my hand, “We’ll figure this out, M/n. I promise.”

I had worked well through the morning. When lunch had swung around I was planning on putting it off in all honesty. I hoped the lunch break time would be put to me making a serious dent in my work.

I still had several things to go through and about 3 meetings scheduled back to back. I had been neglecting my work for a little too long that it came back to bite my ass. As I was calling an investor things took a turn, however.

“You want the first-ever game my father developed? May I asked why?” I was taken aback on why this would even be asked.

Ever since my father started to company, his game developing had been long forgotten since he wanted my mother to be the spotlight. No other investor or partner has asked about his work. They were more interested in how well we would market the game and how much income would come from it.

“You said that most games would be inspired by your father’s ideas and unfinished projects. I’d like to see what he had in mind.”

“I understand. If you could, may I have a few days to get it to you? They’re all in our family home, I’m just unsure of where.”

“Of course. I’ll give you a week. That will give me enough time to look over what else you have to offer me.”

“Thank you, Sir. I’ll be sure to make sure your time is not being wasted. I hope you have a great week.”

As soon as I hung up I let out a groan.

I had to go through everything in my father’s office. That didn’t seem too hard, however, my mother just gathered almost everything my dad had and just stashed them in his office. An out of sight out of mind tactic that would be my doom.

As I cussed under my breath I reluctantly grabbed my blazer to pull on like a child who got yelled at his mom for not wearing their jacket outside and made my way to the elevator to go to the parking lot.

I didn’t even know where my father stashed all his games. I just found one of his notebooks with ideas inside of it. Even then I didn’t feel right reading it. Like it was a private thing. Now I had to look through EVERYTHING.

Out of irritation I began to press the parking lot bottom harshly and was jump scared by the doors opening at the lobby.

At the door stood Jason with a cooler bag slung over his shoulder, looking irritated and tired.

“Hey there, Loser. Got any lunch money?” I teased.

Once he looked up he seemed relieved and rushed into the elevator to push a random button to make the door closed. As soon as the door was closed he shoved the bag into my hands with a sigh.

“And this is?” I asked, not fully understanding what was in the bag.

“If it’s body parts, there are better ways to get me to dispose of a body for you,” I added.

He only gave me a tired glare, wordless.

My eyes widened, “IS it body parts!?” I quickly unzipped the bag.

No body parts. Only tupperware with food inside of it.

“It isn’t. That’s disappointing.” I mumbled.

“It’s from the guys. They were worried that you’d skip lunch.” Jason grumbled as he leaned against the wall.

“Oh. Well, that’s nice. I was about to head to grab something then go to my mom's. One less stop.” I smiled, feeling warm inside with the thought of them making my lunch.

“What? Why?”

“I have work still. But an investor asked for my dad’s earliest game, so I have to go through his office to find it. ”

Jason only nodded as the elevator doors opened.

“I’ll be sure to stop by the bunker to talk to the boys.” I promised as I began to exit.

“Good. They ask too many questions. I’ll get a few things off your desk to take to the bunker so you won’t miss work.”

“I appreciate you!” I called as I began to jog to my car.

“YOU BETTER.”

I let out an irritated sigh as my third call to my mom when unanswered. I wasn’t going to play cat and mouse all day because she never liked to be home. So I walked off the porch and to a certain bush to get the spare key.

Once I opened the door I made a b line to my father’s old office and immediately opened a window. The room was almost foggy from the dust in the air. Like an ancient tomb that was too precious to open.

I let out a cough and tried to cover my mouth and nose with the neck of my shirt as I began to search through his desk.

I let out a groan once I realized NOTHING was organized. My mom must have gone through it when he passed and didn’t even consider that anyone would come back in here. I looked around the cluttered room in horror.

Books were thrown about. Papers scattered. Boxes loaded with everything from clothes to old computer parts were placed around the room.

Knowing there was no way around this I began to clean.

Once I had almost everything in its rightful place I still hadn’t found my dad’s games. I figured I wasn’t looking hard enough and began to load everything into my car to look through at the office since I had been there for longer than needed.

I made sure to sit on my office couch as I went through box after box.

It was pretty mundane. It was starting to get really boring until I came across a book. It was a book about animation which was to be expected but a few of the pages had marks in the corner, like quickly scribbled numbers. A few pages were torn out and torn in half.

I frowned as I began to flip through, not really noticing a pattern in the numbers or even knowing what the numbers would be to.

“I HAVE MADE AN ENTRANCE!” A loud booming sound came from my office door.

Out of pure reflex, I chucked the book I was holding at the door.

A loud thud and screech rang through the room as my eyes began to focus on who came through the door.

It was my little sister, cringing away from one side of the door that the book seemingly hit. Her eyes were wide and her mouth parted open in shock.

I let out an almost snort as I held my hands out, “Jieun, my bad! Don’t do that! I get you wanted dramatic effect but holy fuck give me a warning.” I complained.

“Give YOU a warning!? You threw a book at me!” She got out of her shocked position to clench her fists at her sides.

“I thought you were a monster!”

“HOW OLD ARE YOU!?” I giggled at the question.

“Will you forgive me if I eat lunch with you?”

“…It’s 2 pm.” I rolled my eyes.

“All you had to say was ‘no’.” I pouted as I got up to look for the bag Jason gave me earlier that day.

“I dropped by to see how my amazing brother was doing,” I could practically hear the sugar drip from her lips as I began to unpack my food.

“Cut the uwu crap and tell me why you’re really here.” I sighed as I opened the larger container that had rice in it.

She let out a groan and stomped over to plop herself on the couch across from me, “Mom didn’t like that you guys cut Dad’s family out of visiting our childhood home so she’s inviting them to our apartment. One of their brats already occupied my room.”

The irritating thing about this was the fact that our childhood home was already paid for, but my mother refused to live there because it was too much of a reminder to what was. So she insisted to move into a luxury two-bedroom apartment in Gangnam.

I let out a scoff as I poked at the fried chicken that had gone soggy in a container covered in some kind of sauce. Jae was paying for that apartment, yet even HE couldn’t enforce anything, “I bet Jae would love to know that.” I smirked.

“I tried to tell her we don’t want them around us be she went on and on about how we were family and how I should be nice! Can I just please stay with you?” She whined.

I began to think it over as I chewed, “I don’t think you can.”

“Why nooooot!?” I tried not to enjoy her misery.

“I’m not staying at my apartment. So you can stay there, you’ll just be alone and then our siblings will chew me out for leaving a 17 year-old girl alone in an apartment in Gangnam.” I muttered, shoving my face with more food, and then moved to open another container.

“We can just keep a secret!”

“I doubt that.”

“C’monnn! Pleasseee!”

“How about this, you go ask Jilly and Jae about staying with them, if they both say no, then you can have the keys by tonight.” I bargained.

She lit up, “Seriously!?” I nodded, “ILLGOASK!” She nearly yelled and bolted towards the door.

“DON’T RUN TOO FAST OR JILLY WILL SUE MY ASS! I DIDN’T RAISE YOU TO BE AN IDIOT!” I yelled… with my mouth full.

“SORRY! I’LL SPEEDWALK!”

I quickly finished my work to look through old floppy disks and USB drives my father had stocked up. I had told my assistant to push everything back that day.

It was around dinner time when I found a flash drive that caught my attention.

Most of them were files for unfinished games, ideas, and a mess of coding that didn’t make sense to my idiotic brain. But this USB drive had only two folders.

Both were password protected.

Once I clicked on them the command prompt on my computer popped up asking for the password.

I let out a sigh as I entered my mom’s birthday.

Access Denied. The command prompt closed.

I opened and tried my twin sibling’s birthday.

Not it.

I let out a groan and began to enter mine, trying to get it out of the way before I entered Jieun’s birthday which I was SURE was the password if it wasn’t my mother’s.

Upon pressing enter after the last digit of my birthday year the words ‘access granted’ appeared in the command prompt, the small window closed up, and the file opened.

There were 4 documents there.

READ FIRST

LEE ANIMATIONS

GWAN BROADCASTING

AN HAEWON

My fingers itched to click on one of the other files. Two were popular in media. Lee Animations had rebranded to Lee Entertainment a few years back. They hired idols and actors. Their animations were no longer being made by them, they chose to switch to the idol and film business pretty late. Everyone thought they would go bankrupt.

Gwan Broadcasting was a thing before my father even went to America. Years and generations in the company as well as very good dramas and sub-networks under their belt.

An Haewon. The name didn’t even begin to register in my memory.

Against my impulses, I clicked on the ‘READ FIRST’ file.

M/n

You’re reading this because you snooped in my things… OR I handed you this after you finished college but let's be honest with ourselves the first option is more likely.

I hope by now you’ve grown and I’ve handed the company over to you. So just have a drink with me after this because I have a few things to get off my chest.

I didn’t get this company JUST through hard work. I hope as time goes on you begin to understand the circumstances that led me to make the decisions I made and the actions I took.

I won't ask for forgiveness.

Just understanding.

I’ve made the three other files to explain why these three people, these three companies want to see you suffer. To see us suffer.

Against my instinct to be the father you respect and admire, I tried to explain the truth and not what would make me look good.

The second password-protected folder is of the things they wanted from me. Either wanting them back or wanting to steal away.

I love you. I hope by explaining these things you can learn from them and make better decisions for the company and family.

Whatever you decide, just know I fully support it. I would never be disappointed in you. You’ve been the most hard-working out of all my children. You were quiet but your drive to achieve was always there. Even as I write this you’re at our dining room table studying. I still don’t know what the fuck twelve times nine is and to be completely honest I couldn’t care less.

Take care, Mn-ie.

Your Reckless Asshole Father,

L/N Jaeseong

I could feel tears trail down my cheeks as I quickly closed the document and raced to click on the one under it.

“M/N!” The sudden sound of my office door flying open again made me jump.

My siblings have arrived.

Jiann was now in front of my desk, arms folded in anger. She looked like my mother ready to rock my shit.

Jaeseok was holding firmly on our younger sister’s arm as she was pouting, looking at the floor.

“Why are you crying?” Jae asked, making my older sister’s face soften.

“It’s over my dick size, what do you all want?” I quickly replied.

My older sister’s face hardened again, all business, “Did you tell our sister that if we both said no to her staying with us that she could stay at your empty apartment!?”

“I did. Jae, don’t hold too tight her skin is sensitive.” I frowned.

“Exactly, she’s sensitive and you want her in an apartment by herself!?” Jae threw back in my face.

I rolled my eyes, “That apartment is more than secure. It’s not like I live in a crappy apartment give me SOME credit.”

“SHE’S SIXTEEN.”

“She’s going to be seventeen soon. I know that’s not an adult at that age but I was that age when I started taking care of her and started getting ready to take over the company. She’s not a child.”

“Yes! She is! And so were you! Don’t make this a toxic cycle, M/n!” Jiann snapped.

“Don’t be dramatic. It’s not like I have a kid and handed it to her like ‘you’re the mom now’, it’s just a few nights in a secure apartment that she wouldn’t HAVE to stay in if you two got your mother in check. ” My voice was filled with irritation that began to build.

I closed pulled the USB out and put it in my desk as Jiann began her verbal assault, “She’s OUR mother. Just because you helped raise our sister doesn't mean you stop being her son! We’re getting the situation handled.”

“Well until you do, I want my baby sister comfortably living in my apartment.” I snickered as I stood up to try to pry Jaeseok’s hand off of my little sister.

“She can put up with it for a day or two.” Jaeseok growled.

I shoved his hand off and turned Jieun towards the door to leave, “She already did put up with it for a day or two. My sister shouldn’t HAVE to put up with anything uncomfortable in her own fucking home. So I’m taking her to mine since our mother STILL isn’t a considerate enough parent to care about her child rather than fucking leeches. Now if you would excuse me, I’m going to go have dinner with my PERFECTLY CAPABLE sister and then show her where she will be staying. I want you out of my office when I get back and I want the situation handled within 48 hours.” I ordered as I guided Jieun out the office.

“They’re going to get mad at you for talking to them like that.” Jieun warned.

“They’ll have to deal with it. I’m their boss until we split the company. I give orders not sympathy.” I grumbled as I pushed the elevator button.

I had taken Jieun to my apartment. I had ordered us dinner while she unpacked.

The mood was light but had a dark undertone.

It was oddly nostalgic. My sister moving things in my closet to make space for her things because she didn’t feel safe in her own room.

Us alone in the apartment getting our own dinner because we didn’t expect our mom home until the very early hours of the morning.

“I ordered fried chicken. The app said it should be here in a few minutes. I hope that’s okay with you.” I called over as I began to clear off the coffee table.

“Is it yangnyeom?” She called back.

I couldn’t help the smile that came onto my face, “Yes. I even asked for extra sauce because you like the spice.”

“….what about beer?”

I rolled my eyes, “I have some in the fridge you delinquent.”

She let out an excited ‘yay’ and began to put her clothes in my closet in a more excited manner.

“How is school going?”

“Alright, It’s pretty boring though.”

“Boring, how?”

“Well, I only have one true friend and days just repeat themselves.”

“Then join a club.”

“I DID.” I let out a chuckle at her outburst.

She skipped out of the bedroom and bounded over to the fridge, “Who would’ve thought at 16 I would be drinking a beer with my older brother in a penthouse apartment in Gangnam that he’s going to leave me with.” I only shook my head at her.

“Please don’t filter yourself when you tell me how living with mom is REALLY going.” I began as she made her way to the living room with two beers.

“Well, mom is just like she was before. Never rhere. Sometimes she goes out with friends or she just kinda leaves and doesnt say anything.”

“…Does she at least make dinner?”

“Nope. She barely speaks to me unless we’re all gathered together.”

I knew this was going to be a mistake. One that would make my sister and brother furious. My mother would kill me. I knew if my dad were here he would understand at least.

“Okay.” I sighed as I fished in my pocket.

I pulled out the apartment keys and placed them on the table.

My sister looked at them then back at me in confusion, “You can have it. Don’t worry about rent, or money. I’ll handle it. Just please be safe and stick to studying and working hard. The last thing I want is you deciding to fuck off instead of go to school.”

“YOU’RE GIVING ME AN APARTMENT!?” Her eyes twinkled with tears and excitement.

“Yeah, everyone will kill me if they find out so move in slowly. Act like you’re just staying here for a few days. I’ll tell security that you’re staying here now. Just please don’t burn the place down.”

“I would NEVER.” Jieun gasped dramatically.

I gave her a pointed look, “Remember when you tried to be nice to me and make curry and yo–”

“OTHER THAN THAT I WOULD NEVER.”

I only shook my head and reached over for the remote.

Even when I turned on the TV I didn’t focus on it. My mind only wandered to what the following days would be.

After all I left 9 people alone in my bunker with no contact all day. I mean they could wait.

Right?

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