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simpingwriter · 1 year

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Cal Kestis x Kyra Yarmot

'In the Name of Love' pt.4

(2/2)

A/N: just realized his eyes are green...not blue. And I can't find all the parts I used blue instead anymore. So be assured, I know it better from now on 😔

Finally some action...though only at the end of the chapter. Sorry.

Enjoy! :)

Word Count: approx. 3.200 Words

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Any type of joy was usually strictly forbidden, the few things they did allow were regulated. Your master, part of the council as well, though, knew various ways to avoid getting detected and showed you many things. Games, Toys, quite horrible jokes – you were sure he called them dad jokes, even though he wasn't even a father, since he was a Jedi –, he introduced you to a lot of things other kids also knew..he didn't want you end up as emotionally stunted as some of the former Padawan, the now dead Council a perfect example.

In his eyes, it was even more of a risk that they then – due to these restrictions – were able to get drawn to the dark side. Keeping them away from even the simplest pleasures…at some point you would get curious. It was truly inevitable.

"I think I saw one like that once. But I can't really remember the place, unfortunately." For whatever reason, your hands were still interlaced as he continued counting the sheer impossible amounts of colors of the fairy lights as you felt the indescribable need to poke at the sentence, "Why? Would've wanted to take me there too then?" The redhead laughs lightly, breaking his gaze from the lights, smiling even more than before as he caught you staring at him instead of the lights just in time, a red hot blush rushing to your face, fitting perfectly to your uncanny black scales also covering parts of your face, "Of course I would, you really seem to like them after all!" You didn't expect that answer, you expected a question you could have dodged!

"O-oh, really? You wouldn't have to, Cal…" you mumble embarrassed, too shy to look back near him, his gaze holding something teasing. What if he was just waiting for you to try and stare at his face again? Why were you staring in the first place?!

"Are you okay, Kyra? You're still shaking…I really thought the Poncho would be enough."

You weren't cold, makers dammit!

You were sure you heard his voice somewhere in the background, yet you were just way too busy to not go mad with the forbidden thoughts he seeded right now, was he even implicating anything with what he said!? You only know each other since yesterday, he couldn't possibly mea-

It almost hurt physically at how you stiffened as he wrapped his bigger but not exactly stronger arms around your body. The most physical contact you two had yet and it almost felt like he was trying to protect you from how tight he was wrapping himself around you, yet there was no danger anywhere nearby. Nothing that you sensed at least.

His hands weren't the only things warm, Cal as a whole was like a heated blanket.

Apparently, he noticed your suddenly stiffened body and cursed under his breath, quick to let go of you again, all of his warmth taken away in an instant once more, one of his hands to brush against your folded back wings on accident. Another shiver.

"Kark, I didn't even wait for your answer…i-i am so sorry! I guess you're still uncomfortable around me…knowing me only since yesterday and all. I get it, really, I'm sorry, i won-'' Maker, his little nervous rant made you feel awful, the lights reflecting the massive blush on his face, matching yours perfectly as you knew you would regret this sooner or later…

"Just shut it, Cal…"

The one hesitant step he took away from you moments ago to profusely apologize, you took back towards him, anxiously wrapping your arms around his bigger body. The Jedi stuttered some words you couldn't catch with the muffled tone of them, his face pressed against your hair as he spoke. Meanwhile yours was pressed against his upper chest and while you thought the poncho you wore still smelled of him, you were proven very wrong. His Poncho smelled basically nothing like him anymore, more like washing detergent, as he smelled of some fruit you vaguely remembered the name of and of soldered metal and the like, definitely because of his tinkering at the workbench, mostly with BD. But the fruity part...it must've been from his hair, his shampoo more specifically.

The world seemed to mute itself in his embrace, your worries for once also pushed towards the back of your mind as his closeness suddenly became everything that mattered to you. You had never felt such things. Not even when you hugged your master as a kid or your assigned Clones. Your Clone Troop had been pretty much your only friends back then, all the other Kids distancing themselves from you for your odd appearance.

Why did he feel so good to hug?

"You're crying…" He states worried, but you didn't let him out of your grip just yet, you didn't need him to also see you crying, if he already felt or heard it. 'Emotions led to temptation. Temptation led to darkness. Never let others know yours.'

You karking hated these damned rules with the same burning passion they forbade…yet they were the only thing left to cling to. The last thing left that made you the way you're herr today. Was it for the better or the worse, you never dared to venture down that thought too much. But there were moments of questioning...everything.

"I'm fine, Cal. I just…remembered some things from before the Purge…" You sometimes wished you could've gone without your knowledge of being force sensitive, to not get hunted for blood. To not have to hold your emotions at bay. To not have to remember these bleak days…that also appear to have been the only ones worth remembering.

"Do you ever regret, Cal?" "Depends on how you mean it…" His voice held something...unsure, he couldn't hide it from you – or didn't want to – there were things he definitely regretted, after all everyone had something. He just had to trust you enough to tell you and that was far from yours to control. Just like your trust was out of his.

"Being trained to become what we are today?" "You mean Jedi? We aren't even Jedi, Kyra. Just Padawans…and it's not like we really had a choice, did we?" No, no you didn't.

You shook your head no, to the best of your abilities in his also just as tight grip, like you could simply vanish at any second. Like he was afraid you would still try to run off again, like yesterday.

"I…I can't remember what came before…I was too young, my master told me though that they had freed me, in exchange for something else." You confess heavily, feeling like at least just a sliver of your burden got lifted with you telling him, as stupid as it may sound to someone not in your situation. It most certainly wasn't enough to make yourself feel free of burden. But it was a good start, you wanted-no...needed to have a person of trust again, a person to consult when you were troubled. Just like with them once ago.

And his reaction told you it wasn't the wrong decision, a soft hum felt atop of your head as he deepened the hug furthermore. Close enough now to hear his heartbeat clearly, you're surprised about the quick rate it went about. He definitely shouldn't take your story to heart. "At least I'm not alone then…I was never told where I even came from, always thought Coruscant was my homeplanet, but I began doubting that a good while ago…"

Realizing the conversation became too personal for it to be talked about in literal public, you wanted to pull him along to go back to the Mantis. You could talk about it all night sitting on your beds, devouring one of the many many snacks you bagged today on your shopping spree. Cal had different plans though, shaking his head pleadingly at your pull in the direction of the Mantis, instead steering you off the Market's path and into an empty-of-vistors greenery nearby. Even there, fairy lights decorated the area, being the only lighting to show you the way to a small pond, some smaller water plants swaying in the breeze common for Bardotta.

"Why don't you want to go back to the Mantis? Is something the matter?" You inquire as he let himself fall to the ground near the pond, a heavy thud coming with the pretty careless act as he winced just the slightest bit for not watching himself in his frustration. "If you're asking like this…a bit. I…I don't want Cere to hear everything we talk about." Wait, he didn't want Cere to hear about himself? About you?

Did he not trust her? But you thought she was his current mentor even, from what she let through this morning as they talked about themselves for at least a minute instead of you!

"Yeah, but…isn't she your mentor?" "No…that was someone very different to her. Cere? A substitute in the end, so I don't stay a Padawan forever I guess…" His mood slipped at the moment the subject fully changed to Cere and his apparent distrust of her, his eyes holding a pained expression.

He seems to fight with himself for a moment, trying to begin talking about whatever bothers him, but nothing comes out. You clearly didn't know yet what it was about, but it must be something difficult to talk about with the strength he needed to even begin cutting into it. "Hey, if whatever you're trying to tell me makes you too uncomfortable to even begin about it, you don't need to push it out, we got all the time in the gala-"

Whatever it was, you're sure he would find the trust in you someday to tell you.

He jumps at your gentle and caring words, the darkness of the night coloring his eyes nearly dark green as he stared at you, quickly shaking his head suddenly. His eyes went wide, a realization hitting him, "No. N-no…I can't keep it from you, we potentially do not have all the time in the Galaxy, Kyra. You deserve to know, you need to. You're too good of a person to be kept in the dark…"

Intrigued by his suddenly emotional voice, you drag two soft drinks from the fully packed backpack before sitting down next to him, handing him one into his quivering hands. This time, the brush of his hand against yours went past you entirely, the information he apparently needed to tell currently more important.

Also, he called you a good person…You doubted you were, in the eyes of an actual Jedi…but you couldn't judge yourself, that was the job of other people.

"Cere had a Padawan once."

And with that sentence, he began. He told you everything there was, of his current knowledge.

How she at first only vaguely told him that she had died at the hands of the Empire, that she wasn't able to save her. Cal told you how horrible and devastated felt for Cere at that point, the emotions he went through thinking about him being lucky with just barely escaping all these years ago.

You had also been lucky.

Then he continued, swallowing hard and began the next part with an encounter of one of the Inquisitors. The Second Sister. You had met her, but she wasn't aware that you're Jedi yet at that point. She still hunted you though, for your second status of an extreme Rarity.

But what he told you about her left your jaw slack, not able to swallow or cough up the bubbly beverage you just took a sip of from your bottle, feeling it dribble down your chin and into the fabric of your new top.

The Second Sister's name is Trilla.

Cere's apparently dead Padawan? Trilla.

She told Cal everything under pure spite, the only thing keeping her from further attacking him instead of talking being a laser barrier BD activated just in the last second.

You wanted to ask if it was a coincidence, but from how his story continued, how he worded it, you highly doubted it. He went back to the Mantis after his mission and confronted Cere about what he had been told – of course she at first denied it, telling him Inquisitors only lied to get into his head, to make him vulnerable.

But eventually she gave up.

Cere sold her own Padawan out, let Trilla get her brain fried and now she was out for her own kinds blood.

Cere sold one of her own out.

"And…and that's all, for now. I really hope there isn't more to…Kyra?"

How dare a person sell their own kind out with the knowledge of near extinction…

A less than gentle shake of your shoulders from Cal shook you back to the present, his eyes focused on you with worry, "Kyra…you can't let your emotions lead your decisions. You know that…" "Then why tell me such a horrible thing! How can I even look at her the same way again?!" "The same way I do, Kyra. We got a mission to fulfill, we can't let things like this ruin the only chance we have…"

So he wanted you to act like all he just told you in privacy…that you never heard all that? That Cere was just like you two? That you should still smile at her the same way you smiled at Cal and Merrin? "Does Merri-" "Yes…but she doesn't have a big opinion on it…" You would've thought for someone who lost her whole folk, that she would have more to say on that matter as well…

"Please, please keep that knowledge to yourself, at least for now... I just didn't want to keep you in the dark about it, she would've never told you on her own, just like she tried with me. She planned to take that secret to her grave, hadn't it been for Trilla herself."

Cal's eyes held a form of desperation and, if you squinted…specks of gold. Had they always been there, you were sure he had pure green eyes? You two would've had something more in common then…

"Why are you even trusting me with such a thing already? We met yesterday, Cal. Don't you know you can't just trust anybody anymore these days?" Never really had been able to before the Purge either.

Small Glow Worms now came out of their day-spots, from bushes, the trees and some even from hidden holes in the ground to dwell at the cool breeze, their gentle phosphorescent lights blinking as they were communicating with each other. Having someone to communicate with...

They distracted you both from the current subject for at least a short moment before he sighs, hanging his head into his pulled up knees, "Because…we might just be last of us, if we can't get our hands on that damned Holocron before the Empire does…no matter how dangerous and yes, plain stupid, it is to trust so quick, now it's needed for good teamwork among us. And with you…I can't tell you why, I don't know why…it feels so right. To trust, I mean."

So he felt it too? The weird connection you two seemed to have yesterday, how you worked so well together without knowing each other for very long…

"Maybe the Force wanted us to meet?" You ask in a at first joking manner, but he seemed to take your idea seriously as he fell into his thoughts, "My old Master once told me of the force sometimes helping Jedi not just on their paths, but also to find it in the first place , back then I didn't really want to believe that. But now…perhaps he was right?"

If so, the Force had a severly cruel sense of humor. Could've also warned you in your sleep about the karking Bounty Hunter that jumped your scaled ass but noooo…apparently that was also supposed to happen, huh?

"We can only wait and see where this all brings us, I guess. Next step is getting back my weapon then?" To which he immediately agreed with a nod, strong determination crossing his face as his mood came back up to clink your soft drinks' bottles together for a small but still honest cheer.

"To a great adventure together with new, great Company!" "And of course to a better future!"

Of course you soon lost total track of time, seeming only natural after the heavy subjects had been left behind and a somber atmosphere came into the picture. He let himself fall backwards into the fresh green grass, you soon to follow as you began to admire the clear, peaceful Bardottan night sky. Unlike on planets like Coruscant, or Bracca, like Cal was quick to point out, the sky wasn't full of smog or light pollution.

It was also a nice place for the very rocky place that Bardotta was to 90%. This particular market was on a huge plateau above the cloudy "surface" – one you were certain was only ocean down below... – and one of the few grassy plains open to the public and constantly kept in best conditions to keep the tourists coming back and going back home well pleased.

"The moon looks really big on Bardotta, don't you think?" Cal points out, verbally and literally, arm stretched out to circle the Bardottian Moon, Moudotta. "You're right but that could also be because the…well, the usable surface of Bardotta is much closer to the sky than most planets…?" It was your best explanation, since it was the first logical thing that came to mind. Cal didn't seem to disagree anyways, letting his arm fall back onto his chest limply before he sighed pleased. "Usually I can't even spend a lot of time on restocking missions, the…others, they simply have no patience…"

You heard it out of the hesitation in his voice, he actually meant to say that Cere had not a lot of patience for this. But you two agreed to rest that subject, at least for the remainder of tonight, that's why he worded it differently for the sake of keeping that promise.

"Maybe we can squeeze more time in from now on. If we finish such kind of missions early from now on, we get to see much more of all these planets…", that is if the planet in question is as peaceful as Bardotta.

You wouldn't have been able to have such a nice break at the market from yesterday, that place was a cesspool day and night. If anything, you could've used that planet to get a few new enemies on your ever growing list, some names with a red underline.

"Cal? Kyra? Can you two hear me? You have been gone for quite a long time now, please tell us that nothing happened while you were out there?" It was Cere, her worried voice echoing through the comm on Cal's Shoulder strap. You bit back any bitter comment, not just because of said promise for tonight but also because you promised him with your life that you wouldn't let it shine through that you now knew as well.

Cal of course noticed as your breath shortly hitched in your throat, the start of a scowl sinking back into a more neutral expression at which he nods at you, more than thankful, before he replies to Cere's question. "Sorry, we kinda lost track of time? We're back in a few, don't worry. And no, we aren't bringing trouble along this time, promise!"

Well, he couldn't exactly promise the last bit after you two literally brought ten or more Stormtroopers after you asses yesterday…

He ends the conversation, sighing into nothingness as he began to sit up again, not ready to leave this quiet spot that had been all yours till now just yet. "Guess this is it for tonight? As peaceful as it was to just talk with someone for once…" You ask annoyed, following suit to not keep him waiting for too long, a similarly sour emotion on his freckled face. "Yeah…but it was still an incredibly nice time. I can't thank you enough for coming with me today, Kyra." You had just finished standing up, catching him looking at you with this unreadable expression again. It enraptured your mind enough that you didn't notice yourself walking closer to him.

This was so wrong.

And even if it wasn't…you met yesterday.

"You know what? I must be blind as hell, your eyes clearly aren't the only thing breathtaking about you…" He quietly tells you, eyes flickering across various notable points on your face, even the fangs poking out from under your lips with your mouth hanging open slightly, not needing to be any louder with how close you had been standing to each other by now. Why was it so easy to get closer to him, not just physically but emotionally as well? You just shouldn't trust someone you technically still didn't know that well, not so quickly.

The pain that trust could cause if it was broken…it wasn't worth throwing around with it.

"You know this is against the rules?"

"No rules to watch with no witnesses…"

His words send positive shivers through you as he closed the final gap between you two, one hand gently cupping your face as he leaned down to your height, connecting you two on a very different physical level for the first time and all it took were not even 48 hours…

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(Cal is rushing the reptilian heart of his companion without shame-)

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ashtoninbloom · 2 years

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[text]: You do. You feel like you can't say no to any opportunity out of fear that it makes you seem ungrateful for being where you are, or maybe that opportunity is 'the one' that gets you to where you want to be. It's a vicious cycle, especially when you're thrust into the spotlight at such a young age. It changes your life – in both good ways and bad. I will say, I'm glad I paid my dues back then because I don't know if I can handle the demands of certain aspects of my job anymore and I'm grateful for the things I'm able to do now because I built that back then. And I'm well aware that I was able to still be young and a little dumb, whereas I don't know that you had that luxury. It's great that you're able to still be with your soulmate on tour, but I don't blame you for not wanting to be too far from home for too long anymore. Especially when you're looking to grow roots with your family. It's nice being a little settled and feeling like you have somewhat of a routine. It makes the traveling that much sweeter. We're wishing our hardest and anxiously awaiting the call! That's so nice! You'll be able to visit her often? You'll have to send me all the pictures and videos so we feel like we're there with you throughout the entire journey. The happiness I feel right now for you both and this beautiful life you're going to live is so insane. Nothing makes me happier than seeing the people I care about most living their most incredible, amazing, happiest lives. He's hands-down the greatest human I've ever met in my life. Everyone always tells him he's lucky to have found me, but I'm even luckier to have found him. He's restored my faith in so many things and has shown me what true love feels like. He's everything I've ever dreamed of and so, so much more. I could sit here and gush about him all day long. Yes and no. The moment she was put in my arms, I felt this overwhelming desire to protect her. That desire is what drives every decision I make when it comes to her. Now, I can't say we're doing everything perfectly, but she's happy, healthy and safe. There are times where i fumble or feel overwhelmed by it all, but I just love her so much and that's what keeps me going. It's hard to explain but you'll feel it too, one day soon hopefully. No nannies yet and I don't know if it's something we want. We're lucky to have people around us who are able to help us out in a pinch, but we're also lucky that my schedule is a little more flexible these days. And since we work mostly out of Jas' house for JOJA it's easy for me to bring her along. Marriage looks like a dream and the most fun, but I'm not in a rush. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want it but it'll happen when it's meant to. You had to be married for the surrogacy portion? I don't know how I feel about that. It feels a little....antiquated. But I also look at families differently than most people do. She is, not only by us but by our closest circle too. She's the luckiest girl in the world. Hmmm, maybe you can introduce her to them this weekend 😉

[ text ]: that's exactly it. you don't really think you're allowed to say no, not when the opportunities are given to you. they make it seem like saying no would close all these doors and that's how they get you. i feel like you're probably on such a level now that you can take the jobs that excite you, and you can work as much or as little as you want. the sweet spot, basically. you've grown into a savvy businesswoman and you're in charge of your own career and fortune and that's honestly so fucking cool. i'm endlessly proud of you for that, especially since the modeling world can't be the easiest to navigate. most of the tour takes place on a bus, where we gotta sleep in single bunks three feet away from mike and cal. it's not really ideal, even if i'm lucky we get to always be together. i was against having kids at first, honestly. i didn't think i had it in me to be a parent but the more we talked about it and talked about what our future would be like, the more the idea grew on me. now, i can't fucking wait. as soon as we know and have something, you'll be getting so many updates. you're both lucky to then. a true partnership like that is so rare; you balance each other and bring out the best in each other. the right give and take balance. i don't think a perfect mother exists, you're human, learning how to care for little human. she's growing up safe, wanted and loved; she's a very lucky little girl. lucky you get to be home more to enjoy it. a nanny seems like it'd be practical but i don't know if i'd ever be comfortable letting a stranger take care of my child, even if they were properly vetted beforehand and qualified. marriage made the legal stuff required for surrogacy easier. being able to both make decisions about the process legally made it come together faster and it makes sure we have equal rights to decide things for the baby. it's not the easiest system to navigate, so being able to skip some of the red tape was a blessing. marriage is pretty great but it's not necessary to be a family. you and aaron have a solid, happy relationship and that's the main thing. will be my pleasure to do a little a capella rendition for the princess, to see which of those strike her fancy more.

#| &. texts #long post tw

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kindahoping4forever · 3 years

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Feedback // Ashton Irwin

I've been sitting on this fic for a minute so thank you to everyone who's patiently waited for me to post it (shoutout to Sly)! This story was really just me getting inspired and clowning after Ashton's "Down To Earth" IG stream back in April. As always, thanks to @cal-puddies for the invaluable guidance as I tried to pare my writing style down into a pwp format (try being the operative word, 3500 words is still the best we could do lmao).

Warnings: Distracted Boyfriend!Ash, oral sex on a male, moderately rough unprotected sex (on the red leather couch) including mild dirty talk, brief choking and a spank or two.

Word Count: 3535

Masterlist // Ko-Fi and New 2021 Taglist linked above

Let me know what you think!

"Baby! I didn't know you were home!"

You turn around to see Ashton in the doorway of the bedroom, voice as cheerful as the yellow beanie covering his head.

"Didn't hear you come in," he comments, walking over to you.

You slide your arms around your boyfriend’s neck with a sigh. "Rushed up here, phone was about two seconds from shutting off," you explain, greeting him with a tender kiss.

He watches as you kick off your shoes and yank your bra off under your shirt, tossing everything haphazardly in the direction of the closet before flinging yourself on the bed. "Tough day?"

You groan, dragging your hands over your face before extending your arms, encouraging him to join you. “Eh, not great and very long,” you report, giving a satisfied sigh when Ash climbs on the bed and immediately pulls you on top of him, wrapping his arms around you tightly. You do the same and the both of you lay quietly in this prone embrace for several peaceful moments before you break the silence. “How about you, how was your day?”

You feel him shrug under your body. “Can’t complain,” is his simple reply.

“Make anything cool?” You prompt, knowing he’s being low-key because he thinks you need to chill out, not realizing nothing relaxes you more than listening to him talk about his passions.

“Hmm… anything cool...” Ash giggles, hugging you closer. “I dunno, got a good start goin’ on this one track that could be pretty cool, got a nice vibe.”

You raise your head up to look at him and scratch your fingers across his beard, you’re so glad he decided to let it grow again. “Yeah? Tell me more.”

He hums as you continue to rub his face. “Only been at it for a couple hours, ‘s just a track for now, we’ll see what I can do with it,” he breezes, moving your hand from his face to his mouth so he can kiss it.

“Well, whenever you feel like you need a fresh pair of ears, I’d love to hear it,” you enthuse, moving to lay at his side.

He turns to give you a bright grin. “Yeah? A little in-house focus group?” He teases, leaning in for a sweet kiss that starts to get needy the longer it goes on.

You pull off his hat, running your fingers through his long hair as he moves to kiss along your neck. “Don’t know if you know this but I’m a big fan of your work,” you tease back.

He kisses your lips again, biting a bit as he pulls away to quip, “We talking ‘bout my music or something else?”

You giggle, deciding that indulging this frisky mood is exactly how you would like to unwind tonight. You inch closer, pulling him back into a kiss and he responds eagerly, hand coming up to massage at the base of your neck like it always does. For the next few minutes, the only thoughts in your mind revolve around Ashton, how he feels, how he tastes and where you need his mouth or hands on you next.

When you let out a moan at the way his fingers are gripping your skin under your shirt and he doesn’t press himself against you in response, you can tell he’s gotten distracted. You laugh knowingly against his lips, “You’re back to thinking about that song now, aren’t you?”

He looks at you with a sheepish smile. “I was actually still workin’ and came up here just to grab a hoodie when I found you.”

You playfully push him off of you, shaking your head. “Dude, you should’ve told me! You know I’m not one to fuck with The Process,” you admonish, scrunching your nose up at the trail of kisses he pecks over your face as he sits up.

“Nah, my brain needed a break and my girl needed me, it worked out perfectly,” he insists, rubbing your arm affectionately before getting off the bed.

He quickly fishes his desired sweatshirt out of the closet and pulls it on over his t-shirt, mussing his hair even more than you already had. He walks back over, ready to kiss you goodbye when you sit up on your knees to stop him. “I was serious about giving it a listen if ya want,” you say, smoothing his hair down before resting your hands on top of his inside his hoodie pocket. “If you’re not ready that’s fine but just FYI I‘m interested.”

Ash grins at you, squeezing your hands before using them to pull you to your feet. “Aww, you know you’re my fave audience, baby,” he gushes, reaching to grab his hat off the bed. “Let’s go give it a spin.”

“Well. As much as you can ‘spin’ a computer file,” you mutter, trying to annoy him just because it’s fun.

As you head for the door, you hear him snort behind you a split second before he grabs you, sliding his beanie on your head far enough to cover your eyes; you burst into giggles as he playfully bumps into you, passing you in the hallway. “Smart ass,” he grumbles, voice still smiling.

Ash makes it down to the basement first and starts clicking on files and flicking switches, excited to play his work for you. You stop at the foot of the stairs and survey the room with wonder. Multiple guitars - electric, acoustic, bass, 12-string - are strewn across the room, cables run from his computer to the adjacent room where he houses his drums, food delivery containers line the coffee table; he’s clearly been down here since you left this morning.

While he sets up, you make yourself useful, setting the guitars back in their racks, stacking the food trash; when you’re done, you start to drag a chair over to the computer when you notice he’s staring at you like you’ve grown an extra head.

“What are ya mad at me or somethin’?” He scoffs, patting his legs and looking at you expectantly.

You smirk and take a seat in his lap, watching closely as his long fingers fly over the keyboard, hand adeptly working the mouse, making a few final adjustments to the track. You hear a quiet “there we go” under his breath and then he’s settling in, pulling you back against him and rubbing over your thighs as you wait for the song to begin.

It’s a simple demo so far - layered background vocals, drum and bass, some synth, a little guitar line here and there - but he’s right, it’s definitely a vibe. You’re pleased that his reflection is visible in the computer screen, you love seeing him grooving behind you, pursing his lips and nodding his head along to the beat as you feel his fingers tapping along on your waist while he holds you close.

The track is short and before he can even ask your opinion, you tell him to play it again; his face lights up at your request and he proudly complies. When it finishes this time, you shift to look at him and smile. “That’s wild you did that all yourself and in such a short amount of time,” you marvel. “See, I was right, you did do something cool.”

Ashton laughs, kissing the side of your head as he leans forward to reach the keyboard. “You think so? Well, what’s really cool is this…” He starts clicking around again, isolating the different elements and revealing which sounds are electronic and which are live instruments, which section he thinks he’ll write lyrics over tomorrow, where he’s thinking of pasting in more guitar.

You respond when appropriate but mostly you just listen intently, watching fondly as he animatedly details his thought process; this is why you offered to come down here with him, this is the best part about being his “fave audience.” You love his music but more than that, you love how much he loves his music.

He stops mid-explanation of a section to tinker with it, clearly having a brainstorm right in front of you. You curl into his chest, observing quietly as he cycles through effects and begins stacking tracks. He chews his lip, deep in thought as he lets the song play again and you can't help but press a few kisses to his jaw.

Ash continues his work and you continue yours, moving from his jaw to his neck; your kisses eventually become more heated, with you adding tongue and even teeth to the equation. You suck his earlobe into your mouth, wiggling his earring with the tip of your tongue and finally he pulls away, chuckling, "Baby, come on."

You shrug, playing with his hair. "I just love watching you work."

He laughs, "Then goddamn, baby, let me work!" He growls as you nip at his throat and you smile to yourself because you can tell he's already rethinking his request.

"Seems like you shoulda thought about this before you invited a girl down to your basement to listen to some dreamy space pop alien makeout jam," you tease, relishing the feeling of his laughter vibrating his throat under your tongue.

"Can I get you to leave that review when this goes up on iTunes?" He cracks, finally turning his attention to you.

"I might be persuaded," you flirt, humming with victory as he pulls you into a hungry kiss.

Ashton wastes no time returning the affection you showed him, lips devouring yours, hands quickly making their way under your shirt to lazily massage your tits. You’re mid-moan, his fingers just about to make it inside your waistband when suddenly he’s pulling away.

It takes you a beat to realize what’s happened, your body confused by the sudden absence of his touch. You open your eyes to see him busy at the computer again and it’s so absurd to you, you have to laugh.

“Two minutes,” he says half-apologetically, half-distracted, squeezing your thigh but not taking his eyes off the screen.

You smirk to yourself, immediately aware of what your next move is. “Take as long as you need, baby. When genius strikes, you gotta go for it,” you state ominously, not that he notices. Nor does he notice you sliding yourself off his lap and onto the floor between his legs.

You run your hands up and down his thick thighs before letting your touch wander to the front of his jeans, palming over his crotch, happy to find that at least part of him was interested in your makeout session. You can’t decide if you’re more amused or annoyed by his focus but it’s not until your hand is on his cock, freeing him from his pants that he tears himself away from his project.

“Excuse me, ma’am, can I help you with something?”

You lock eyes with him as you stick your tongue out and dramatically lick your hand, coating your palm with saliva before giving his cock a tight squeeze and beginning to stroke him steadily. “I also had a genius idea I was just following through on,” you shrug. “Might take a little longer than two minutes, though, I’m a bit out of practice… my boyfriend’s been pretty busy.”

Ash giggles wildly, both at your joke and your audacity. “You’re crazy, I’m literally about to be done with… fuck…” His retort is interrupted by you, eyes still trained on his, licking long stripes up the sides of his cock, sucking gently at the head before licking your way back down.

“Go ahead and finish your work, baby, I’ll just keep busy until you’re done,” you insist, mischief in your eyes as you look up one last time before taking him into your mouth.

You hear a sharp inhale, a softly chuckled “fuckin’ ridiculous” and then finally, mouse clicks as he attempts to get back to it. You do your best to distract him, bobbing up and down enthusiastically, sucking loudly, humming around him, making sure he knows how much you’re enjoying your task.

It only takes a minute or so for him to get sidetracked by your efforts. “This is a shitty home demo I’ve spent all of 90 minutes on, there’s no way it’s so good you just had to have my cock right here and now,” he insists, struggling to keep his voice steady, not wanting you to hear how affected he is.

You pop off, gingerly playing with his balls as you zing back, “I dunno babe, you guys had plenty of shitty songs on your first album and from what I’ve heard, you did more than alright in the pussy department.”

Ashton’s laughter quickly turns to a strained moan as you slide back down on him, letting him hit the back of your throat. “My bad, didn’t realize I’d shacked up with a groupie,” he jokes. You silently congratulate yourself as you notice him flexing his hand into a fist, knowing he’s trying to keep himself from pressing down on your head.

You pull off him again, making sure to let the spit cascade from your mouth as you smugly reply, “Like I said before: big fan.” Before he can even think about responding, your mouth is back on him.

You’re not surprised he attempts to resume working again; you’re both stubborn, it’s a wonder anything ever gets resolved in your relationship. You can tell he’s trying his best to stay on task but the whispered curses under his breath give him away. As a last resort, he turns the volume on his speaker up a few more notches, hoping the track will drown out the exaggerated choking sounds you’re intent on making.

A few moments later, he reaches down and yanks his beanie off your head. “Fuckin’ bright yellow bouncing over my crotch is hard to ignore,” he grumbles. “All I see is my hat, looks like I’m suckin’ my own dick for all I know.”

You can’t resist continuing to rib him. “How is that not your greatest fantasy? Your favorite person giving you your favorite pleasure?”

He snorts, shaking his head. “I’m sorry, did you want to blow me or roast me?”

You give him your brightest smile and reply, “Unlike you, I’m pretty good at multi-tasking.”

A brief cackle and a clipped “alright” are all you hear before you’re being hoisted up off the ground, thrown over Ash’s shoulder and carried over to the couch across the room. You squeal with surprise and delight as he unceremoniously dumps you on it, briskly strips you both of your clothes and promptly bends you over the red leather.

He nudges your knees further apart, pressing you against the back of the couch. “Of course you’re this fuckin’ wet already,” he teases, breath hot on your neck as he runs himself through your folds. “You think that’s from my cock down your throat or from you winding me up so much?”

Whatever clever comeback you’d thought up dies on the tip of your tongue because suddenly he’s sliding his cock inside you and now that’s all you can care about. You whine as he quickly establishes a vigorous pace, one hand bracing himself against the couch, the other reaching around you, down your torso to reach your clit. “How’s this for multi-tasking?”

A few breathless cries of his name are the best you can manage as he relentlessly plays with you, somehow in perfect rhythm with his rough thrusts, sending your whole body into sensory overload.

“Or how ‘bout this?” He growls, moving his hand from between your legs to your throat, fingers offering just the slightest amount of pressure, knowing it’ll drive you crazy wondering if and when he’ll add more. “Don’t got any more funny jokes for me, baby?”

You moan at his taunting, placing a hand on top of his on your neck, trying to get him to squeeze harder; he refuses and his denial makes you moan even louder. "Jesus, Ash," you pant, pushing back against him to egg him on. “Feels so fucking good.”

You're so caught up that you don't even notice his song is still playing over the speakers until a few moments later when Ashton suddenly pulls out of you, muttering to himself as he grabs the remote from the coffee table and shuts the music off.

Confused, you look back and see him amusedly shaking his head. "Yes, I was still producing that in my head, don’t start," he giggles.

You fall back on the couch, laughing in disbelief. “We’ve gotta get you some hobbies, buddy, that’s insane.”

He snickers, laying you on your back and settling on the couch behind you, pulling your leg over his hip. “I don’t think fucking you counts as a hobby,” he jokes, gripping his cock and slipping it back inside you.

“Not with that attitude,” you quip, a little more breathlessly than you meant to but with how slowly Ash is rocking into you, you can’t help it.

You tilt towards him, angling yourself to pull his mouth down to yours; you’re feeling overwhelmed and you need him close. His tongue traces over your lips, his kiss the familiar reassurance you need in this moment. “Ash…” You whimper quietly, closing your eyes and savoring the feel of his beard grazing your skin.

“I know, baby, me too,” he soothes, cradling you tighter against him. His hips begin to pick up speed and his hand moves to knead your breasts and tug at your nipples before travelling further down.

Ashton rubs slow, tight circles on your clit, stopping to give your thigh a light smack when you start raising your hips a little too eagerly, bucking up in an attempt to get him to move at a speed more to your liking. You moan first at the realization that he’s going to keep teasing you like this and then again, louder, at the sharp slap of his palm that once again comes down on your skin.

“You’ve got a nice tone tonight, baby, I should get you to lay down some vocals for this track,” he jokes, choking back a moan of his own when your surprised laughter causes you to clench around his length.

You chuckle smugly at him, “Not so funny all of a sudden, huh?”

You feel yourself getting closer so you start rolling your hips along with his, murmuring at the feeling of him deep inside you; you grind against his hand playing between your legs and as he finally amps up the pace, your release becomes closer and closer to reality. Your breathing syncs with his in a needy, staccato rhythm that wouldn’t have sounded out of place in his song.

“Is this what you wanted?” He huffs out. Typically when he asks you that while he’s buried in you, there’s a tone of arrogance or punishment behind it but right now as he holds you, your sounds continuing to meld together, it couldn’t feel farther from that.

“Yes, Ash, god yes…” you breathe, reaching to hold onto him as your orgasm overtakes you.

Ashton keeps driving his cock inside you, whining slightly at the feeling of you pulsing around him. You cry out, not realizing how loud or long your moans are until you hear his voice in your ear, gently lulling you back down.

He’s still moving inside you, hips beginning to stutter and when you hear his breath catch, you know he’s there. You tuck yourself into him, cooing, “Come on, Ash... fill me up, babe.” Three strokes later and he’s pumping his cum inside you, gasping your name. He slows his movements, heavy breath underscored by a contented hum as you caress his bearded cheek.

He leans in and kisses you passionately, completely enveloping you, possibly your favorite feeling in the world. He exhales loudly and keeps holding you, kissing over your face tenderly.

You giggle as he indulges for a moment before reluctantly pulling away, reaching for the takeout napkins on the coffee table; he attentively cleans you up and quickly settles back onto the couch, pulling you on top of him.

You lay together, blissed out, while you play with the necklace hanging down on his chest and he strokes over your hair.

“Hey, sorry I gave you such a hard time,” you smile. “Didn’t realize how much I wanted your attention until I didn’t have it anymore.”

He looks at you, amused. “Honestly didn’t notice you acting any differently.”

You jab his side. “Also sorry I talked shit about your first album, I do actually like it quite a bit.”

Ash cackles, tracing designs on your back. “Oh good, I was worried that was going to be what finally drives us apart,” he cracks.

You snicker, nuzzling your head into his chest. You enjoy a few quiet moments together before he begins softly humming an unfamiliar melody and you smile, knowing his creative wheels are turning again.

You lift your head up again to offer one last apology. “I’m sorry I once again disrupted The Process.”

Ashton laughs mischievously, running his hands down your body. “I mean… overall I’d say this was some pretty valuable feedback.”

————-

Thank you to everyone who has signed up for the taglist, both for the support and the lovely (occasionally hilarious) feedback! If you haven’t signed up yet, the form is linked above! (If you signed up and your name is crossed out or not listed, I was unable to tag you, please check your blog settings and either re-sign up or send me a message letting me know you allow mentions now) @notinthesameguey @cxddlyash @2fangirl4u @cashtonasfuck @talkfastromance4 @itjustkindahappenedreally @saywhatnow07 @mymindwide @suchalonelysunflower @pxrxmoore @findingliam-o @fedorable-killjoys @trix-arent-for-kids @olivia-foster-irwin @saphseoul @calmsweetcreature @onthecliffside-mgc @feliznavidaddycal @himbohood @maggiesupertramp @wiiildflowerrr @karajaynetoday @ashtonangst @sunshineeashton @aladyofalbion @youngblood199456 @xsongbirdx @loveroflrh @fairytrice @calumrose @irwindoll @polycashton @in-superbloom

#5sos smut #5 seconds of summer smut #ashton irwin smut #ashton irwin fic #ashton smut #kindahoping4forever #Feedback #kh4f fic #smut #thank you for reading!#feedback is appreciated #reblogs are gold and reblogs with tags makes you yourself golden #idk why that's a preexisting tag but I'm going with it lmao the point is let me know what you think pls!#this is the last fic I have banked so hopefully my health will chill so I can finish up at least one of those WIPs I've been hyping #also um hello we really don't talk enough about the fact that Ash produced a fucking song live on IG & then just dropped it on Twitter lol #like wtf how blessed were we #and looking like that as well #big sigh

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eddiesblklvr · 3 years

Text

SOMETHING ABOUT HER. | CALUM HOOD

PAIRING: college!calum hood x blackwoman!oc

WARNINGS: asshole calum, strangers to lovers, enemies to lovers, angst, profanity, alcohol consumption, not proofread

SUMMARY: calum hates everyone, except her.

WORD COUNT: 2.0k

MASTERLIST | SKYE’S GUIDE | REQUESTS

nakia groaned as her best friend, cheyenne, stood at the end of her bed. cheyenne, earlier, trudged into her room and begged her to go to her boyfriends house with her. why? nakia had no idea.

“why do i have to go? i’m literally going to be sitting there while you and ashton make out the whole time,” nakia complained, rolling her eyes.

“no we won’t. his roommates are going to be there and you know i don’t like showing pda in front of people. plus, ash invited you.”

nakia let out a long, deep sigh, dropping her head face first onto her bed.

after a few seconds of her dramatics, “fine, but you better talk to me. i don’t know anyone except you and ash,” nakia replied. cheyenne cheered as she walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

nakia stood from her bed and walked over towards her closet to find something to where. she picked out a hoodie from her closet and pair of dark skinny jeans from her dresser, undressing from the oversized shirt she was wearing before dressing in the jeans and hoodie.

she took the bonnet and scarf she was wearing off of her head, tossing them on the bed before walking out of her room and to the bathroom.

she looked in the drawers in the bathroom for her hair brush and the hair products she used to moisturize her curls. before fixing her hair, she took out the skin care products she used and a washcloth to wash her face.

it took her a while but she was finally finished, using her hands to fluff her hair a bit until she was satisfied with the way it looked. she took out her eyelash curler, carefully curing them, and put the object back when she was finished.

"cheyenne!" nakia shouted, putting her hair products away.

"yeah?" the girl called back, walking in the doorway of the bathroom with her phone in hand.

"you ready?" the brown skinned girl asked. cheyenne looked up at her, immediately frowning.

"no lip gloss?"

"oh, shit! thank you," nakia exclaimed causing a laugh to erupt from cheyenne.

it didn't take long for her to line her lips and put clear gloss over them. she walked out of the bathroom and back into her room to get her purse and keys, making sure she has her wallet and lipgloss as well before they left the house.

cheyenne was excited when they'd finally pulled up to ashton's house. she quickly and excitedly jumped out of the car and ran up the stairs towards the front door, turning around to tell nakia to hurry.

"why're you so happy? you see him all the time. it's unhealthy, i think," nakia said as she walked up and stood a little behind cheyenne at the door.

"how would you do? you've been single your whole life," cheyenne rebutted.

"yeah, whatever, bitch." cheyenne laughed just as the door opened, a smiling ashton looking down at the two of them.

ashton greeted the both of them with hugs, giving cheyenne a short kiss on the lips before stepping aside to let them both inside.

calum was lying calmly in his room on his bed before ashton knocked a few times, announcing that his girlfriend and her friend were there. he really had no interest in anyone outside of his room, but ashton wanted him to come out of his room and at least sit with them.

he wasn't really a people person, which is exactly why he only talked to three people and considered those three people his friends.

calum lied in bed for a few more moments, scrolling through his phone, until he finally decided to go sit with everyone in the living room.

before walking downstairs, he quietly observed the two girls sitting on the couch. really, he was focused on the unknown girl looking at something on her phone, her knees up to her chest and her sock clad feet resting on top of the other.

"cal, stop staring and come down," luke called out, already looking up at the black haired man on the stairs.

sighing, calum made his way down the stairs and into the living room. he sat down on the end of the couch furthest away from everyone, not wanting to be too close to them.

"cal, you know cheyenne," he nodded at her in response to her wave, "that is nakia, her friend," ashton finished off, watching intently at their reaction towards each other. nakia was very straight forward and bold. she didn't care what people thought of her, always spoke her mind, and gave the same energy people gave her; somethings cheyenne always liked about her.

the room was quiet as everyone watched calum and nakia's interaction (or lack there of) with each other. after a few seconds of silence, nakia looked up from her phone, making direct eye contact with the man staring back at her. she raised her brow, as if she was asking why he was staring for so long and not speaking.

the two stared at each other for a moment until nakia turned her phone off and sat it down beside her. she put her feet on the floor, crossing on leg over the other and letting out a deep breath through her nose. she placed her elbow on her knee and rested her head in her hand with a slightly unnoticeable smirk on her face.

calum's eyes narrowed slightly as they glared into hers.

"okay," michael breathed out quietly and hesitantly, causing the others who weren't involved in a very intense staring contest to laugh a little. everyone could feel the tension in the room, not knowing exactly why it was there either.

"anyways, i'm kind of hungry so what are we eating?"

"what happened?" cheyenne asked, looking over at the girl beside her.

"what?" nakia asked.

"do you know him?"

"no, he was just staring for a little too long so," nakia shrugged, "staring contest."

"lord, help me," cheyenne whispered to herself, knowing that nakia heard her. "ashton said he's chill once you get to know him. and, of course, you know he has a reputation for being and looking like an asshole."

"i don't care about his reputation. what is he going to do? hit me for staring back? i don't think so," nakia laughed, turning back around where she was stood in front of the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of water.

she heard cheyenne let out a barely audible 'oop’, causing nakia to turn around.

she felt a tad bit annoyed when she saw calum once again staring right at her, no signs of any emotion on his face. even then, he still looked so angry.

subtly, she rolled her eyes, tilting her head to the side, silently asking what he wanted with a raised brow.

cheyenne didn't know what to do. so she laughed, a very loud one, something she did when she was nervous. she knew how nakia could get and she was afraid it would lead to someone getting hurt. no matter how small and sweet nakia looked, she was very heavy handed and did not take disrespect lightly.

nakia walked over to the island in the middle of the kitchen and leaned against it, still maintaining eye contact with calum. staring back at him for a while, she thought she saw a glint of entertainment in his eyes while the rest of his face remained static. her eyes trailed over his figure, checking him out in neither a sexual or insulting way.

she opened the bottle of water as she walked around the island and towards him, bringing the bottle to to her lips to drink. she stopped right in front of him, almost straining her neck to look up at him. she pulled the bottle away from her lips as she swallowed the last drops of water.

"you're in the way," nakia told him, continuing to look deep into his eyes. calum showed no signs of replying as the two continued on with their game. after a few minutes of standing and staring, calum slowly moved over just enough for her to walk through. nakia blinked, looking at him one last time with a look of pure annoyance before walking out of the kitchen and back into the living.

the next time calum saw her was at a party ashton set up. maybe it was their first encounter that has him interested in her, not that he would ever tell anyone that.

the house was packed by the time she had gotten there, once again being dragged out of their shared apartment by cheyenne.

nakia had only settled down when she had gotten some alcohol in her system, putting her at ease. she had been all around the party dancing, singing at the top of her lungs, just having a good time.

later that evening, cheyenne had pulled her downstairs to the basement. she was told that they were playing truth or dare, for whatever reason.

"what the hell are we, high schoolers?" nakia complained, rolling her eyes as she leaned back on her hands, extending her legs out in front of her.

the circle they were sitting in was really big, almost half of the people at the party were down in the basement, playing truth or dare.

"girl, shut up. what else were we going to do?"

"go home and sleep," nakia stated, a look on her face as if it were obvious.

cheyenne rolled her eyes as a random guy told them the rules of the game. pretty simple, “if you don't do a dare or answer a question, you’d have to take a shot”.

there was a bottle in the middle, dictating who would ask and answer questions (or do a dare). the person spinning the bottle would ask and the person it landed on would either answer or drink.

there were a few questions thrown around, as well as dares. things like:

"give so and so a lap dance."

"how many drinks would it take for you to take so and so home?"

nakia thought the game was getting kind of boring, not really paying attention to who was participating until cheyenne nudged her shoulder. nakia looked to her side, a confused expression plastered on her face when looking at her friend.

"it landed on you," the curly headed girl informed her. nakia looked in the center of the circle and sure enough, the bottle was pointing directly at her.

she picked truth, not really wanting to have to get up and move around, something she'd have to do if she'd chosen to do a dare.

"what's your body count?" the girl who'd spun the bottle asked. nakia rolled her eyes, pushing herself to stand up and walked over to the table against the wall where the drinks were. she grabbed a red plastic cup, pouring just enough of tequila before tilting the cup to her mouth and throwing her head back. after swallowing the drink, she sat the cup down and went back to sit down beside cheyenne.

"that was lame. it's a simple question," the same girl said. "is it high?"

"no, i just don't like sharing my business with people i don't know," nakia shrugged, going back to the same sitting position she was in before having to get up, listening as they laughed and talked about her ‘possibly being a virgin’. she didn’t really care though, didn’t see a problem with being a virgin.

at some point, she was getting tired of the game. she leaned over to tell cheyenne where she would be. cheyenne asked her if she was okay or if she wanted to go home, to which nakia replied with a ‘no’ before she got up and went back upstairs, unaware of the asshole australian following behind her.

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unlikelyempathpruneauthor · 2 years

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Nothing lasts forever, nothing stays the same Pt: 4

a/n: HEY HEY! lol sorry for leaving you all hanging, I tend to do that, buttt I'm back.

summary: you guys were at the very beginning of your career and things start to get crazy. fans start to know what's going on and Luke is getting serious with a girl. what happens when luke figures out what is going on with you and cal?

2014

Today was the release of your 3 eps and you were all pretty chaotic at the house today.

At the moment you were calling your mum, “you sure you aren't spreading yourself too thin? Are you guys eating and drinking water?'' She asked, going momma bear on you two, “yes mum we are fine, the stress comes with the job,'' Luke said as she hummed, “yes I know darling, but you don't need to work all the time. I trust you two to take care of one another,” she said as you glanced at luke and nodded, “yeah mum don’t worry, we will,” you said as she sighed, “alright well i love you both, please be safe and lord don't get any tattoos,” she said as you looked at one another with a smirk, “yes mum we won't, don't worry benny is here all the time,” luke said as you giggled and ended the call heading downstairs.

“So, you didn't get any tattoos yet?” he asked as you purse your lips, “uh no, haven't gotten one yet, why?” you asked as he shrugged, “would you want to get one with me? Like… a twin thing?” he asked you glanced at his eyes, “are you for real?” you asked as he nodded softly, “yeah, do you have any idea what we could get?” he asked as you shook your head, “i'm not sure, lu are you serious? When would we get this done?” you asked as he sighed, “not sure our 18th birthday maybe? And also it could be a part of your graduation gift?” he said as you rolled your eyes at him.

He was using this as a way to get a tattoo, your graduation, you ended finishing school overseas and well you finished thankfully, luke on the other hand decided to just drop out of it because he was not being able to do work any of the work, and when you finished he was really proud of you for finishing school and he thought why not get a tattoo.

“Lu, you can still finish school, you know that? And you don't have to do anything for me,” you said as he shook his head, “nonsense, we are getting a tattoo bean, we have a couple months, so whatever you think looks nice, we’ll get it done,” he said walking away leaving you as you shook your head with a smile.

After the release of your ep’s you were now filming your very first ever music video that included other people than just you guys..like an actual crew. You were all so happy that your ep’s were a hit, especially, she looks so perfect. Ash and Micheal had worked on this song together fast one day and we all immediately chose it for one of our main ep’s.

You were getting dressed in your dressing room as lu walked in asking for fashion advice, “y/n! Should i wear this top or this one?” he asked as you looked between both of them and chose the black one, “it's more punk i guess, i don't know, now help me,” you said as you pulled out two tank tops of your own, he looked at both of them and shook his head, “No? No what lu?” you asked as he looked for a t-shirt as you frowned, “what lu i don't want to wear a t-shirt, help me pick out between these two,” you said as he glared at you, “y/n as your brother i don't want to choose a shirt that will make guys want you, but since you asked the black one is nice,” he said as your lips formed a line and you shook your head, “in that case i will wear the red one, i don't want to match with you in a music video, we have enough christmas photos as is,” you said as he rolled his eyes leaving to go get his makeup done as you finished getting dressed.

Once you were all ready you all got into places and started to film. You felt so much excitement, the energy in the room was exactly how you wanted it, your lives were going to change after this. You were finally living your dreams.

“CUT…okay y/n you and Luke have a bit too much eye contact and chemistry, try looking at uhh calum more,” the director said as you nodded, “okay let's roll these two scenes one more time…and ACTION!” he said as you moved over to calum who was singing and looking with a smirk making your chemistry public in the music video and well of course to all your fans.

Weeks later as you were scrolling through twitter you had seen 5sos trending in the hashtags. You quickly sat up in excitement wondering why you were trending in the first place. You were quick to click on it and it had clips of you and Calum in the SLSP music video. You sighed then clicked on the tweets, you then looked at the comments.

@mikeycult2011: Is it just me or are y/n and Calum announcing their relationship in this video?

@calumy/nclub: so i think it's settled, y/n and calum are dating and not holding back.

@hemmotwinsdaily: y/n and calum are def dating, have you seen the behind the scenes?

That comment caught your eye, you clicked on the video with a small clip inserted…

You two were standing next to one another as you danced to the beat, then it moved on to a clip where you were being asked questions, “so y/n is this song about you?” the camera man asked as you giggled, “why?” you said as calum spoke, “its because shes so perfect, that is why we wrote this song..” he said as you giggle, “well who wrote the song?” he asked as cal grinned, “well i didn't, but i sung it..” he said and you looked at the camera man, “he's just jealous that i'm so perfect and he isn't,” you said looking at calum with a smile as he playfull rolled his eyes, “y/n..” he says softly making you smile, and then it cut to the others.

Okay maybe it was a little flirty between you two, but i mean how were they assuming that from one clip. You knew luke would be all over it because as soon as you were getting out of bed luke walked in slamming your door, as you looked at him with wide eyes, “Lu! At Least knock! You can't come in here like that!” you said as he shook his head, “NO there is a reason, you and calum are blowing up on twitter and instagram- uh pretty much everywhere, PEOPLE ARE EVEN SHIPPING YOU!” he yelled as you rolled your eyes, “Lu i was just following directions from the director, it's not a big deal,” you said as he walked back and forth, “what? Of course it's a big deal, we can't have people thinking your dating,” he said as you rolled your eyes, “luke robert hemmings, your being dramatic,” you said as he nodded, “okay fine i'm being dramatic, then why are we meeting with our media team later?” he said as you went pale, “what?” you said as he raised his eyebrows with a glare and walked out.

It was mostly true, there had been a meeting at the label to talk about our album but then Luke went on so they would talk about how we all wanted to continue with this, of course it was routine for us to do this when we release stuff.

As you walked in, Calum was looking for you, but you just looked away because of Luke and when he grew distracted, you sat next to cal. He then whispered, “why is he freaking out?” he asked as your lips formed a line, “uh, its about uh- wait have you seen twitter?” you asked as he shook his head, “no why?” he said as you purse your lips and took out your phone and showed him as he scrolled for a good few minutes as his jaw dropped and looked at you, “yeah that's why he's freaking out and apparently that's what this meeting is about,” you said as he nodded, “oh, but what exactly?” he asked as you shrugged and that's when the team walked in and you were all paying attention to what they had to say.

They pretty much told us all that this happened with every band and or artists, a scandal of some sorts, especially if there was a girl in the band. But you and cal behind the doors were together, you were dating. So how was this going to be resolved without hurting you two and the band.

“Okay, y/n your brother has told us that he wants these rumors to go away, but this is about you, and we suggest that we keep doing what we are doing, which is not say anything about it because this way in their eyes we are not confirming nor denying anything. You two clearly are good friends, and we can keep it that way from now on in the production, it's just how you two continue to act and if it's like this, we are more than happy to keep it that way, it's good publicity with the album coming out,” she said very eager as you looked over at luke who was a nervous wreck of course, but it was your life, “i think we should keep going like this, me and calum are just friends and if people can't handle a conversation between me and cal then they just have to get used to it. And also I think the fans are freaking out a bit just because this was our first music video and behind the scenes,” you said very blatantly as she agreed with you but seemed a tad bit upset but you knew if you agreed to what she said, it would have been worse.

As you and cal were in your booth together for the meet and greet, you two talked before fans were coming in, “i'm tired,” you spoke as cal looked over at you worried, “do you need a break? You can take a nap if you want,” he said as he looked over at Benny as you shook your head, “no i'm not that kind of tired, i'm tired of hiding us. I want to be with you, I just- i want to be with you, I'm tired of lying..” You said as a small sob escaped your mouth as his eyebrows knitted together softly as he held you despite eyes on you two, “I know love, I'm tired too, I know it's not easy, but we will make it, we just gotta let this pass, and well hopefully luke will be okay with this” he said as you nodded, “i hope so, i'm tired of this,” you said as you looked over at him while cal bit his lip, more than anything he wanted to hold you and kiss you but he knew he couldn't do that, especially here..

“Hi! How's it going?” you asked the girl that came through first, as cal was signing some stuff and having his own conversations, “its going good, how are you doing?” she said as you nodded, “it's going well, you gonna go to our acoustic show later? It's gonna be fun!” you said as she nodded, “oh yeah i am, you guys are amazing, when will you be doing stadium tours?” she asked as you looked at cal who shrugged, “i'm not sure when, but when we do you'll be the first to know,” he said with a smile as she nodded saying goodbye as the next person came through and after a while when fans were going over to your brother you and cal looked at one another with wide eyes, “stadium tours?! Like our own, not with one direction? Don't get me wrong they are awesome to open for but could you imagine doing our own?” you said as you laughed as he nodded, “i mean yeah we already have a bunch of ep’s out w-we have a whole selection! And with our album out we could,” he said as you nodded, '' I know! Oh my gosh!” you said as you two freaked out for a whole 5 minutes before talking to fans again.

As you walked down the stairs you had seen the house was quite empty, you looked around seeing no one was there, as you walked into the kitchen you made yourself a cup of tea. As you were waiting cal had crept up behind you giving you a big hug as you freaked out, “cal! Put me down!” you whisper yelled as you slapped his arms, “Cal! I'm serious! What if they catch us?!” you said as he kissed you placing you on the counter top as he grabbed the side of your head and you grabbed his neck. When he pulled away, you got down and slapped him, “Cal! Give me a warning next time,” you said as he smirked as you just stared at him, “cal what am i missing here?” you said as he sighed and kissed you again, “well love, you're brother and our best friends are going to london, which i think leaves us to…do, well anything you like..” he said as you frowned and you had totally forgot that this weekend your brother was going to london and you jumped hugging him and giving him a few more kisses.

As you two laid in bed he smiled admiring you, “what is it?” you asked as he shook his head, “no nothing, just looking at my girlfriend…which reminds me, we have a date tonight,” he said as you looked at him, “We do? What since when?” you asked as he chuckled, “starting right now, don’t worry it's later, which is why i will leave you to get ready, i'll be here to pick you up at 7,” he said as you giggled, “Cal you live one door away,” you said as he kissed you before leaving, “i'll be here at 7,” he said reminding you as you smiled. As soon as he shut the door you were quick to shower so you could plan your outfit and have enough time to do your hair and make up.

Your mom then called you up as you were getting dressed, “hey mum!” you said putting your shoes on, “hey darling- oh are you busy? I can call you back?” she said as you shook your head, “what no mum, i'm not, just getting ready is all,” you said as she nodded, “oh really for what may i ask?” she said with a smirk as you smiled, “a date with cal mum- i know what you're gonna say its too risky with eyes all over me, but i've never actually really gone on a date, so i just wanna experience this once, please?” you said as she smiled as you looked over at her with a frown, “mum what?” you said as she sighed, “i'm really happy you two are finally going on a date, i was gonna ask you if you and cal were up to anything because this would be a good chance to go out together without your brother knowing,” she said as you sighed, “oh mum- you should have just said,'' you giggled as she smiled, “oh darling, you know i'm here for the both of you, joy will be so happy to hear this, please send us pictures,” she said as you giggled.

As you said goodbye to your mum, on cue, cal knocked on your door and you opened it with a smile, you gasped as you saw him with flowers in his hand, “oh cal, you didn't have to get me anything,” you said as he brought you into a hug, “of course i did, love i have been waiting to do this, even if we had to do it like this,” he said as you giggled, “oh cal, i am the luckiest girl in the world,” you said as he brought your lips into his, “and i'm the luckiest guy in the world…now lets go, we have a pretty huge night might i add,” he said as you nodded as you left the house hand in hand getting into the car.

When you arrived you saw that you were downtown and he had been leading you towards an abandoned building, you looked towards it then spoke, “bubs, where are we going?” you asked as he smiled, “it's a secret love, the whole point is that you don't know, i know how you love surprises,” he said as you two walked in and you glared at him playfully, “you better not be planning to kill me,” you said walking up the stairs as he quickly turned at you as he laughed, “love, i'm not going to kill you,” he said as you giggled and arrived to the top of the building..It was a rooftop dinner, Calum had managed to set it all up while you were getting ready and he couldn't be more proud.

You walked up to the top, and you were fascinated with the view, you turned over to him as he admired you. He loves how your smile curved onto your cheeks and your dimples followed, “what?” you whispered as he looked down hiding his cheeks that were currently blushing, “nothing, just…im so in love with you,” he said in a whisper as he brought you close as you looked up at his brown eyes that told you everything you needed to hear, you knew what he meant was forever, you two never said i love you yet, so you knew that this was forever.

“I love you,” you said as he looked at you in awe of what you said, he knew he loved you since he met you, “you..do?” he said as you nodded, “i do, i love you more than words can describe, you make me feel safe. You are my person cal,” you said as he fell in love with you even more than he could ever describe, “i've loved you since the day we met, can't really describe it, but i knew that you would be in my life more than you already were…i can't believe this is our first date, and we have been together for 2 years already,” he said as you smiled, “i know i'm sorry, i promise you soon we will have many more dates to come,” you said as he kissed you and you grabbed onto his neck bringing you in closer.

As you ate dinner the night flew by so fast as you were in the park together walking hand in hand. It was a private park, so no one would be there to spy on you guys. You walked into this flower area, you were amazed by the flowers and how many there were. As Cal pulled you in closer to his chest, you looked up and kissed him. He put his hand in his pocket to get something out. It was a small box, you gasped as you looked at him, “what-” you said as he cut off, “i'm not proposing…yet, but this is just a promise to you, that i'll be here for you forever, no matter what you are first for me now and forever because i love you so much, i would move the sun and moon for you if i could, you're home to me..okay maybe i am proposing..” he said as you smiled with a giggle, he opened the box that revelaved the small ring and placed it on your finger. It was a simple ring, no attention would be brought to it, but you saw that inside it had engravings of the year you started dating, as well as a C in it.

As morning came you woke up to cal sleeping on your chest as you giggled, you laid there a while rubbing his head as you felt his every breath and heartbeat that came through. You smiled seeing how peaceful he was sleeping in your arms. You then heard a loud thump as you jumped quickly heading to the door as you heard through it and the other 3 have finally arrived, you were quick to wake up cal, “babe, cal, wake up. Things 1, 2, and 3 are here,” you said as he moved around and looked at you, “what?” he said as you began to worry, “hemmo, clifford, and fletcher are here!” you yelled slightly as his eyes went wide and was quick to get out of bed he put his clothes on before heading out as he looked like hell coming out of your room.

On his way out he bumped into your brother, “woah, cal you look like hell, what did you do this weekend?” he asked as cal hesitated, “nothing just slept, wrote music, the usual,” he said as luke nodded, “and y/n? What did she do?” he asked as he shrugged, “not sure, but i think her friend came over to hang last night and slept over, but she left a while ago,” he said as he nodded and headed over to your room.

On the other side of that, you were hiding everything that had Calum's name on it. So of course his hoodie, his sweats, the rings, anything that was given to you. Just then you heard a door knock as you ran over to the door and then turned to your room seeing everything was fine, you opened the door and you were faced with luke, “hey!” you said as you opened the door letting him in as he jumped on your bed and laid down, “hey, how was your weekend?” he asked as you gulped and looked at him, “good, one of my friends came over to hang last night and slept over, but she left over an hour ago,” you said as he nodded, “oh thats what calum ment?” he said as you nodded, “yeah, wait was he here?” you said as he nodded, “yeah- wait did you think he went with us?” he said as you nodded, “uh yes? I'm sorry you said that you were going with the guys, so I assumed everyone was going,” you said as you two laughed for a good minute as he caught you up with the news in london.

After the good weekend you were all back in the studio, your manager and well the rest of your team was there to deliver quite the news to you guys. You were going to have somewhat of your own tour, star stripe and maple syrup tour, and one direction had requested your presence in their stadium tour which left you all pretty speechless. You looked over at Calum with wide eyes as you two both said under your breaths, “stadium tour!” as your team was going over everything you were so excited than ever. You were gonna have your tour first before heading to the 1D tour, as well as your album being released before 1D as well. Things were all set for you.

Your tour had creeped up behind you quickly, you were on the road within hours. Right now you were heading over to your show in your tour bus as everyone was scattered doing their own thing.

Luke was next to you as he was on his phone doing god knows what, but you saw him smile a lot, “what are you doing on your phone lu?” you said as he hid his smile and looked at you, “what nothing bean? Just watching some videos,” he said as his smile crept as you squinted, “hemmo what are you doing?” you said getting close to his phone as the name Arzaylea popped up as you looked over at him, “who is Arzaylea? How ever you say that name,” you said as he rolled his eyes, “her name is Arzaylea, and she's is this girl im talking to, no big deal,” he said as your eyes went wide, “no big deal? Seems like it if you're smiling lukey poo,” you said teasing him as he groaned, “y/n stop that! She's just a girl I like, okay?” he said as you giggled, “that's good lu, you're meeting people, that's what it's all about lu,” you said as he smiled, “you think? She's really nice. I think you'll like her if she and I keep it going,” he said as you nodded, “yeah i think she seems nice. If you like her you know I'll be okay,” you said as you smiled knowing your brother was happy.

Once you arrived at your location you were all up and ready to rehearse your setlist for tonight then hang out for the rest of the day since the show was tomorrow. As your team was setting everything up you headed to your dressing room placing everything that you needed out. Just then luke walked in as you looked up, “hey bean, this guy shawn mendes, wants to know if we can hang, i said yes, unless you're not up for it,” he said as you nodded, the name was familiar, “yeah for sure, after rehearsal?” you asked as he nodded leaving you back to what you were doing.

As you were rehearsing you were in the front taking lead, halfway through the end you let Luke take lead as you were playing guitar. You had been practicing for a long time and you were now comfortable playing in front of the fans, they even loved it when you started posting, they couldn't wait to hear you, so far they were amazed by you and the band.

As you took a small break, due to luke needing to pee again, you all dispersed besides you and calum who stayed on stage, “so you excited?” he asked as you nodded, “yeah of course, i mean i'm playing a tour with my best friends and my boyfriend, how good does this get?” you smiled as he smiled, “i would say you're living the dream love,” he said as you smiled. Once everyone was back you all got back to rehearsing before hanging out with a friend of lukes, “oh by the way luke said we are hanging out with shawn mendes? Do you know him?” you asked as he nodded, “yeah he's got some good songs, check him out, but no yeah he's a cool dude,” he said as you nodded back to work. After rehearsing you are almost always allowed to go out for the night before the big show, so now you were out and about meeting Shawn mendes. As you all arrived to this party, you had no idea of, you wondered why you were meeting him at a party, but that's 5sos for ya at the moment.

As you walked in you went through this crowd and at the very end of it was shawn, luke had introduced you all to him as you all waved. As you were all hanging out he sat next to you as you smiled at him, “so you and luke are related?” he asked as you nodded, “yeah he's my twin brother,” you said as he nodded, “so what's it like being famous, is it as good as they say?” he asked as you shrugged, “well yeah i guess it is sometimes, but i never thought of us that way you know? I feel like we're still that band that does gigs every weekend, but now it's turned into more of an everyday thing which is cool,” you said very humbling as he nodded, “that's the dream huh? How old were you when you started,” he said as your conversation took off.

As the four guys looked at you two from afar luke was smirking and looked at the rest of the guys, “what if shawn and y/n date? Would that be the worst thing in the world?” he said as cal looked over at you as his jaw clenched, “i guess not, but should you really be getting in her business?” clifford asked as luke shrugged, “i don't know she was really supportive with me and this girl im talking to and well i wanna be supportive,” he said half drunk as ash looked over at cal who was ignoring all of this, “i don't know maybe they're just talking, they could just be friends?” Ash said as Luke smirked, “oh yeah you're just saying that cus you still like her,” he said as cal had enough and walked away.

From where you were sitting you noticed how angerly he was, you excused yourself heading to the rest of the gang, “hey where’s cal?” you asked as luke shrugged, “oh i think he went out- omg are you and shawn like..talking?” he said as he wiggled his eyebrows, “oh my gosh luke how drunk are you?” you said as ash spoke, “cal went over there,” he said as you nodded, “okay i'm gonna check on him, mike, watch luke please?” you said as you walked over to the door that lead to a balcony. You saw his shadow as you smelled and saw puffs floating around as you stood next to him, “since when do you..smoke?” you asked as he looked over with a frown, “i only do it when i'm stressed,” he said as you nodded, “oh okay..” you said as you looked around as he turned it off and held your hand, “im sorry, i just- with tour i don't know how to control my stress,” he said as you nodded, “it's fine cal, just please be careful with how much you smoke, people get addicted really easily,” you said as he nodded, “i promise,” he said as you nodded and got straight to it, “so why did you walk out so mad?” you asked as he rolled his eyes, “i know your brother is drunk and everything, but he has you already set with a guy? And ash still likes you, i c-cant win can i?” he said as you frowned shaking your head, “cal, hes my brother he says stupid stuff all the time, it doesn't mean he’s always right, and besides, shawn has a crush he was asking me to help him, he’s young as well and needs to be lead, we were him a few years ago. And ashton, he is my friend, nothing else, you already won a long time ago..” you said as he gave you half smile, “you always know what to say in the moment, i swear you have to be rehersing this,” he said as you giggled, “oh cal, i just say what i feel, and that's what i feel okay?” you said reassuring him as you two headed back to the party and had fun the rest of the night knowing that no one would remember it the next day.

….

Near the end of the tour, you were of course doing press or interviews and today, you were doing quite a fun one. You were asking each other some questions that the fans asked on twitter.

You went first asking your brother questions fans were curious about, “okay lukey poo, who in the band is your favorite?” you said reading it as you looked at him and he hesitated a bit, “uhh, for promo reasons i would say calum, but for non promo reasons i would say you,” he said as you giggled, “What- promo reasons? It would make sense for it to be me..” you said as you two laughed.

Next up was michael as you two couldn't even be serious not even for the shot, “i'm sorry michael is just too much…anyway clifford, what is your favorite condiment?” you asked as he shrugged, “what is a condiment?” he asked as you giggled, “its like what you put on food, like ketchup, ranch, mustard..?” you said as you looked over at the interviewer as she nodded, “yeah that's about right,” she said as you looked over at michael who twisted his mouth, “i don't know, i'm not a huge fan of any of those, but i'll say ranch,” he said as you giggled looking over at the camera.

As Ash came up you smiled as he smiled back, “Ok Ashton irwin, who is the best dancer in the band?” you asked as he really thought about it, “i would have to say you y/n,” he said as you nodded and put your hands up in the air, “nice!” you said as he smiled nodding back.

And finally your boyfriend who was far more nervous than you making you laugh, “okay calum, cool guy cal! What is your favorite song to perform?” you said as your eyebrows rose looking up at him, “Can we say unreleased songs?” he said as you shrugged looking over at the guys who nodded, “oh we can, okay this song isn't out yet, but i have to say disconnected,” he said making you laugh.

As you moved on into the interview everyone had their turn with everyone, the same way you did with the guys. Ashton had gone up next as he was currently asking Luke questions. Later on Calum was now asking questions and he was asking Luke, “Okay Lucas, who in the band would you not let date y/n?” he said making a face as all of you giggled, “uhh i don't know, probably none of you guys…yeah none of you guys,” he said very confidently as you were next, “okay y/n, who is your best friend?” he said as you glared at him playfully, “i would say you, i don't know but i mean i've known you longer…sorry michael,” you said as he giggled, “suck it michael,” he said as you two giggled and moved on.

Now it was micheal turn and you were up first, “okay y/n hemmings, who in the band have you had a crush on,” he said as you smirked, “no one,” you said giggling as he moved his head side to side, “doesn't seem like it, wait have you had a crush on anyone?” he asked as you shook your head, “nope no one,” you said, popping the p as he nodded, “hmm okay i believe you,” he said as you giggled.

…

Summer time for you guys had just meant more work, your album was out and you were starting to make your footprint in the US, while touring with 1D once again. You guys even worked on a couple music videos that were from the album which was a success. As the tour with 1D ended you were all able to hang about letting things settle for a bit as fans endugled on the new album and the music videos.

You guys had gotten news that you were attending the VMA’s, just after attentings the ama’s in which you won the new artists award which was shocking to all of you. You couldn't not believe that 2 years into your career you were now winning awards, and honestly you had to thank your fans, they were the reason you were all here.

As you all sat in the living room you were thinking about what you were all going to wear, “wait, what are we wearing? We have to match, cus last time we were very bad at matching, we all wore what we wanted,” you said as luke scoffed, “no you went all out, i thought we decided on black and red, you were the one mismatching by wearing a dress,” he said as you frowned, “it was black, i thought we were supposed to go fancy? Or at least dress nicer than we usually do?” you said with your eyebrows rose while ash and micheal sat there in silence while cal had just walked into the tension of the room, “geez, what's going on?” he asked as michael spoke, “y/n wants us to match at the VMA’s, cuz apparently a black dress was not our style,” he said towards luke as he glared, “what was wrong with the dress? I thought you looked nice?” cal said as you smiled, luke had seen the smile you gave him, it was quite different then the smiles you gave to luke, “thank you! Thats what im saying, lu, i think we should be a little more serious with what we wear,” you said, looking at him as he glared at you but then softened his face, “yeah, okay fine, we will, is red our color still?” he asked as you nodded which then made you all disperse. Besides Luke, he was still going over the interaction you and Calum just had…this would change everything if it was true what he was suspecting.

#calum hood imagine #5sos #calum 5sos #5sos fanfic #5sos imagine #calum hood #calum hood 5sos #calum hood fluff #calumthomashood

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wastelandcth · 4 years

Text

birthday polaroid - cth

summary: making memories on calum’s 25th birthday.

author’s notes: happy birthday to calum! i hope he has a wonderful day and i hope you guys enjoy a little moment in time with our favorite guy. thanks to @lowkeyflop for sending me an idea that inspired this piece.

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Everyone around them knew. The small touches and the laughs shared between one another when they thought no one was looking. Everyone knew from the lasting gazes or the way they always found each other in a crowd. Calum knew that he liked her and if he was being honest, he was absolutely terrified to find out if she felt the same. But everyone knew the truth. They were inseparable and it was no secret that there was something more than just friendship.

When Calum and her first became friends, it was nothing more than hanging out with their friend group and texting every once in a while. Calum couldn't remember when things changed between the two of them. He couldn't remember when his heart started racing every time he thought about her or being near her. He couldn't remember when he started craving her attention. But he wasn't sure if she felt the same way about him. He didn't know if her hands got sweaty and her mouth dry when they hung out. But he really hoped so.

She was in love with Calum. That much she knew. She was in love with the person she'd seen him become in the years of friendship. She was in love with his smile and his laugh and everything about him. She never had any plans to tell him how she felt, that would've been insane. She knew Calum, she knew that relationships were never for him and knew that he was afraid to ever be vulnerable in front of a person like that again. So no, there was no way she was ever going to tell Calum that she was truly, madly, and deeply in love with him.

One thing Calum loved about her was how passionate she was about celebrating life and all the joys that came with being a human. When Calum first started hanging out with her alone, he learned very early on that she always tried to make everyone's day better. Whether it was playing Calum's favorite song in the car whenever he was having a bad day or letting Michael borrow her fuzzy sweater when he was cold and had forgotten a jacket on movie night. But Calum found himself more and more in love with her whenever she was just herself when she was with him and she was carefree. He loved listening to her laugh and then talk about something she was loving that day. He loved watching her eye light up whenever her favorite song played and the way she would dance along to the music in the car.

Usually, on his birthday, Calum made plans to spend it with his friends and close ones. They'd usually go out to brunch and start the day off planning whatever fun activity they had for Cal's big day. Then there was the usual outing to whatever club they'd gotten bottle service at that night. Or there was a party at someone's house which usually ended with too many shots and Calum ending up on social media the next morning replaying the events of the night. But this year, Calum felt like shit. His cold started off as a tickle in the back of his throat, a tickle that wouldn't go away no matter how many times he cleared his throat or how many cups of tea he drank. Eventually, the tickle turned into a sore throat and a runny nose with a cough that forced Calum to make the decision on how his twenty-fifth birthday to be canceled. The day before his birthday, which was usually spent hydrating and what Calum described as the calm before the storm, he sent out the text to cancel any plans in order for him to rest and feel better.

Calum hadn't expected anyone to show up. He'd sent out a text message to his friends the night before that he was sick with a cold and that any birthday plans would have to be rescheduled. If he was being honest, hiding in bed covered with blankets and sipping tea out of a Chewbacca mug was a perfect way to spend his birthday. He hated the idea of growing older and was not looking forward to waking up hungover from partying. But Calum wasn't expecting his doorbell to ring at two in the afternoon on the day of his birthday. So he'd ignored it at first, hoping that whoever had been at his front door would get the hint and leave him alone. Leave him to be a year older by himself while a cold that left his nose stuffed and his throat sore stuck in bed. It wasn't until he heard the familiar tone of his security system pinging, telling him someone had opened the front door, that Calum sensed something was off.

"Duke, please tell me your father isn't passed out in the shower or worse," her voice rang out from the living room, making Calum put down the book he had been reading and make his way out of the bedroom.

"Sweet girl?" Calum asked confused, his dry throat making his voice crack a bit.

"Calum," she mumbled, a small smile on her face as she turned to look at him. She had that addicting smile that Calum loved so much, the one Calum liked to think she only showed when she was truly happy. She was holding multiple things, something that seemed to comically in excess, gift bags, and brown paper bags, and a pink cardboard box had been set on the kitchen counter.

"Happy birthday!" she cheered as she set down everything on the counter, "I know you said you didn't want to celebrate since you weren't feeling good but...it's your birthday and I wanted to bring you some stuff to hopefully make you feel better," she mumbled as she walked over to him and pulled him into a tight hug.

Calum watched as she walked around his kitchen, humming quietly to herself while she waited for the soup she'd brought for him to heat up on the stove. She'd been here since the afternoon, something Calum was more than grateful for, making sure that he'd been drinking enough water and that he was taking medicine to help with whatever cold had decided to hit him on his birthday. As the day went on, with birthday presents unwrapped and many pictures taken on the polaroid that she'd gotten him as one of her gifts.

"A camera?" Calum had asked with a sniffle as he unwrapped the box with a pink bow on top of it.

"You always talk about wanting to capture more memories. I thought that maybe having polaroids would help with that. They're more concrete, not as easily forgotten like in your phone." she mumbled and smiled, taking another bite of the cake they'd both been sharing.

"I love it." Calum nodded, "Take a picture with me?" he asked as he pulled the camera out of the box and started to set it up.

Calum hadn't planned on kissing her. He hadn't planned on capturing the exact moment when he told her how he truly felt about her on a polaroid camera, but his heart was full of love for her and how she'd come over to celebrate his birthday with him even after he tried to kick her out to not get her sick. But Calum hadn't planned to kiss her when she sat next to him and held the polaroid camera up in front of them.

"I love you, you know that?" Calum mumbled softly, his own eyes widening as he met her eyes. Before he knew it, his lips were on hers and a flash went off behind his closed eyelids.

The kiss was soft, exactly like she was, soft and warm and everything Calum had needed. Her hand cupped one of his cheeks, pulling him closer as her eyes closed and she fell deeper into the kiss. Calum's arms wrapped around her waist and his forehead rested against hers as they both pulled away. They both let out a shaky breath, Calum's nose brushing against hers as they sat in each other's arms, eyes closed because they were both too afraid to open their eyes and find out that this was all just a fever dream.

"I...I love you." she whispered, finally breaking the silence and opening her eyes, "I always have loved you." she mumbled.

His tired eyes and red nose made a perfect picture, one she'd save not only in her phone but in her heart too. The small polaroids from that day were laying on the bedside table, reminding her of the sweet boy who was dozing off with his head on her chest. His soft breathing warmed her heart and she pressed a kiss onto the top of his curls, her arms tightening around Calum as she felt him start to drift off.

"Thank you." Calum mumbled against her shoulder, "Made my birthday special, made me finally realize how much I love you." he whispered, letting out a soft yawn.

"You deserved to have a beautiful birthday, Calum. Even if it was just laying in bed and eating way too much cake." she teased and pushed back his curls, pressing a kiss onto his forehead. "I'm glad you love me as much as I love you, birthday boy."

"Mhm, best birthday ever," he whispered, his eyes finally closing as the smile on his face fell and he finally drifted off to sleep on what was the best birthday ever. Maybe, just maybe, being twenty-five wasn't going to be as bad as he thought.

taglist: @hoodhoran @finelliine @moonlightcriess @dinosaursandsocks @mxgyver @calpops @karajaynetoday @notlukehemmo @calumrose @devilatmydoor @lyss-xo @lowkeyflop

#calum hood imagines #calum hood blurb #calum hood fics #calum hood oneshots #calum hood x reader #5sos fics #5sos blurbs #5sos imagines #5sos oneshot #5sos x reader #5sos #calum hood #5 seconds of summer #gemma writes #happy birthday calum!

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ironhoshi · 3 years

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Hey, hey, hey~! I don't know how it happened, but somehow I looked at my follower number and, uh, 700? There are 700 of you out there that have decided to put up with my chaos and I AM TOUCHED! Excuse me while I get emotional for a moment. I started writing fic almost a year ago and it has been a thrilling experience. I have met so many awesome people! This journey has been great and is nowhere near done. Here is to another year of writing and interacting with all of you!!!!

Now, as a present, I have created a one-shot story to celebrate my happiness. Things are still hectic in my life, but this wanted to be written. SO HERE YA ALL GO!

Characters: Boba Fett, Cal Kestis, and Ezra Bridger

Ship: Kesett (I mean...I had to?)

Rating: general (canon typical violence!)

Under the readmore~!

There were two ships, parked side by side out in the canyon, and that was weird. Though he mused while peering through his stolen scope, it was a smart move if they were smugglers. Hidden and out of the way.

Yeah, smugglers or not, he could probably either sell them some of the stuff he had lifted from the Imps or he could just lighten their cargo by questionable means. He had to live and they could just buy more. It would be fine. Ezra lowered the scope and smirked slightly. He had a good feeling about this. He scrambled up from his spot on the ledge while a plan started to formulate in his mind.

It would honestly be easier to just borrow some of their cargo first, then when they were freaking out he could saunter down with some supplies to sell. Haggle the prices higher. Yeah. Good plan. No one thought kids were good at bargaining, but he was. He had lots of practice.

That was exactly why he found himself crawling behind some boulders all so he could get closer to the Firespray-31. The thing clearly had been upgraded, but totally needed a fresh coat of paint or five. Whatever. He just needed to slice past what were probably weak defenses and grab some stuff.

"Easy as catching a loth cat," he muttered before scrambling up so he could bolt towards an access panel. He had waited until he witnessed everyone leave, probably to head to town. Maybe they were going to steal stuff? Yeah, they deserved him swindling them. Anyone that stole from the people of Lothal deserved this.

"Heck, they could be bounty hunters," he said out loud just before prying the access panel free. "Probably up to no good. Honestly? This is mild compared to what I should be doing." His fingers moved quickly while he reworked some of the wiring. Just needed to put the blue one-

A trill informed him that he wanted the green wire. Oh! Right.

He moved the green wire into the yellow port and turned to smile at the small droid that had helped him. "Hey, thanks! Wait a second-" A startled yelp escaped him when he felt a weight at the back of his collar and then his feet were dangling above the ground.

"Looks like I owe you some credits, kid," a gruff voice remarked in what he assumed was amusement. Ezra flailed, attempting to swing his arms behind him to knock the hand holding him free.

"You might get away with calling Cal that, but I am not against removing a limb from you," the modulated voice behind him said. Oh, great. Someone in a helmet had him.

"Boba," another voice called out. Ezra frowned thanks to the strange feeling that washed over him for a mere second. That… that was new and he didn't have time to worry about it. "You owe me too. Now put our guest down before Merrin sees you."

A sound of panic escaped him when he was abruptly dropped. He landed rather ungracefully, his rear smarting from the impact. "Ow, hey! You could have just not dropped me!"

"Mouthy thing. You are either gutsy or just a di'kut-"

"Boba!"

The droid chortled before launching itself at the person stepping out of the shadows of the ship. Red hair, ugly poncho, a smirk. His eyes focused on the scars on that face for a moment and then he was staring into eyes full of mirth. This whole situation was weird. In his eleven years on Lothal, he had never been so confused. Why was this all a giant joke for these people?

"I don't know who you are, but if you mess with me- my Uncle, the-" A loud snort escaped the armored person. Ezra frowned and shot them the best glare he could drum up.

"We aren't going to mess with you. I'm Cal, that's Boba, and that's Greez. This little guy is Beedee." A gloved hand patted the droid like it was a loth cat or something. Why were they giving their names so easily?

"Jabba the Hutt," he blurted out.

The whole area went silent for a moment and then suddenly everyone was laughing.

"Alright, Jabba, come on. Greez almost had food ready before you decided to try to break into the wrong ship," Cal said with a smile.

Wrong ship?

There was a right ship to break into?

"I wasn't-"

"Sure, kid, you were just overriding the ramp controls for no reason," the helmet drawled out.

"Is that what I was doing?" He could sense not a single person in the group bought his sudden act of innocence.

Somehow, despite trying to duck away a few times, he found himself sitting at a table with the strangers. They were inside the S-161 "Stinger" XL luxury yacht, which showed signs of a few battles. He chewed slightly on the tines of the spork while he tried to find every escape route he could from his seat between Boba and Cal. The sudden hiss of a seal breaking had him glancing up at the helmet- except the helmet was being removed. Dark hair was braided back tight on the top to a knot while the sides were extremely short. A sneer appeared on Boba's face. Oh, he had been caught staring.

"I'm too old for you, kid."

What? No! Gross!

Cal choked on his drink and reached over Ezra's head to smack the back of Boba's head. Greez merely sighed while slamming a plate of nerf steaks down in front of them.

"Cut it out. You know how I feel about fighting at my table. I tell you, I try to have a nice ship, but you two just want to ruin her."

An echo of apologies and then someone was shoving a plate of meat and root vegetables in front of him. Ezra raised an eyebrow. He didn't trust it. With great care, he poked the meat with the spork. It certainly acted like freshly cooked food… his stomach reminded him just how hungry he was when it did an impressive mimicry of a loth wolf. No one said a word, but Cal did nudge him slightly. He frowned. This was some sort of trick. It had to be.

"Just kriffing eat it," Boba finally ground out. "We aren't trying to kill you!"

Ezra blinked and opened his mouth to argue, but found a spork shoved into his mouth. Creamy root vegetables invaded his tastebuds. Kinda salty, but there was also a heat he was unaccustomed to. He chewed angrily while Cal sighed.

"Boba, you are the worst." The affection that coated those words made him want to gag, but he didn't want to waste the food in his mouth. It was good.

"Never said I was nice," came the rebuttal.

A sort of silence fell while they all ate. A few words when someone wanted more of something, but otherwise no one tried to fill the silence with useless chatter. Ezra felt a sort of gnawing in his chest. More. He wanted more of this. His grip tightened on the handle of his spork while he wished he could spend more meals with his actual parents. Were they eating well? Were they even still alive? This- this moment wouldn't last. These weirdos would leave and he'd just be… stuck.

It was fine.

He would be fine.

An arm suddenly went around his shoulders and he jumped in surprise. Cal was looking down at him with sadness etched into his features. Ezra blinked. Why did his eyes sting suddenly?

"Hey, it's okay."

"Shut up, of course, it is," he snapped before turning his attention back to his half-finished meal. He so wasn't going to talk about his feelings. He was going to eat his nerf steak and that was that.

Greez cleared his throat awkwardly. "So, how long we planetside this time? I mean you going to finish the repairs fast or…"

The arm around his shoulders tightened slightly. "As long as Cere and Merrin can get the part… we should be gone within the cycle. This place is even more controlled than I thought, the intel was a little out of date. Looks like the factory here is fully operational…"

"We could blow it up," Boba suggested so calmly that Ezra wasn't sure he had heard right at first.

"...there are civilians working there," Cal countered. "We'd need a way to get them all out before you play with your toys."

Wait. What?

He glanced between them with wide eyes. They wanted to hurt the Empire?

"I could help!" No one paid attention to him.

"We do it at night. You can wave your hand and do your thing-"

"Really? You know that's not how it works-"

"I can help," he tried again.

"We could do it tonight," Boba said with a shrug. "A few well-placed bombs and then-" He slapped a hand down on the table hard enough that a few utensils danced erratically. Ezra caught his cup before it could tip over. "I'll take the kid with me. He can help set the bombs."

"Now hang on a second," Cal began to protest.

"Yes," Ezra blurted out. "I can fit in the vents!"

Boba grinned and pointed at Ezra as if that somehow explained something. Ezra had no idea what, but Cal sighed before nodding in a sort of resigned way.

"Fine. I'll let Cere know. Greez, you and Merrin are going to have to do the repairs so we can make a quick getaway."

"Why can't we ever just land on a planet and not cause a scene?" Greez threw his hands up in disgust. "We don't have any more room, plus the kid looks like trouble-"

"It's fine. I have room," Boba said. "This would hardly be the worst stray we've picked up. Remember the nexu kit?"

What?

What stray?

"That was one time!" Cal actually sounded defensive for some reason. "Besides, it is up to Jabba."

What was up to him? He blinked in confusion before pointing the spork he was holding at himself. The conversation was like farming. Awful and confusing.

"So what about it, kid? You wanna join our crew? We travel a lot." Boba raised an eyebrow and fixed him with a look.

Had he heard wrong? There was no way. "But… I tried to break into your ship-"

"Oh, so you admit it!" Boba sounded amused.

"-and Jabba isn't even my real name!"

"You don't say." That remark was from Cal and laced with amusement as well. They were making fun of him, somehow, he was sure of it.

"Why would you want me?"

"I've got a good feeling," Cal said. Beedee trilled their agreement.

"I've learned to listen to Cal's feelings." Ezra gave Boba a weird look. All of them were strange! Super strange. What had he gotten himself into?

The discussion, the confusing discussion, was pushed aside for a later time. They had a bombing to plan. It made his head spin with how fast they jumped from one topic to the next.

Turned out they sucked at planning, or at least he thought so. Not that he did much actual planning in his life. He was a bit more of an in-the-moment type of person. That had served him well so far, well, not counting today. Cal was more of a go with the flow and Boba wanted each detail planned out. Ezra was honestly impressed they even made it to the facility by nightfall. He had sort of thought this whole thing was going to fall apart before it even started. Yet, here he was, crouched down next to Boba.

"How do I get cool armor like that?" he blurted out. The helmet swiveled towards him and he just knew Boba was giving him a look. "What? It's just a question," he grumbled in his own defense.

"Kid, you haven't even told me your real name. What makes you think I'm gonna tell you things?"

Okay. Yeah, that was fair.

His thoughts were still on the helmet as he pried a vent cover free. He wanted one. Shame they were nice, otherwise, he wouldn't think twice about trying to steal the thing. He sighed before starting to crawl through the vents. His part was simple. Drop down inside and slice the door controls. He just had to let Cal in and then head somewhere safe.

Easy.

Except…

Nothing ever went his way.

Slicing the door had been easy, getting it open easier, and then a feeling of wrongness hit him. Cold and unnatural-

"Jabba," Cal yelled while running through the now open door. "Get back to Boba!" The next second Cal was yanking a cylinder free from underneath his poncho. A sort of snapping sound and then a loud crackling filled his senses. Ezra could only stare at the blade of light in awe. "Jabba," Cal bit out. "Move!"

And then there was another sound and a red glow washed over the space.

Fear.

He had never felt so afraid in his life.

There was something wrong with the person that stepped forward. Cracked, pale flesh, and burning eyes. Ezra knew he was going to have nightmares.

"No, Jabba, stay. You can die while I capture your Master." The voice tore at his mind. Cruel and violent.

Also, what Master?

Cal spun the light blade and then a second one appeared on the other side of the cylinder. "Your fight is with me. The kid has nothing to do with this."

"Tsk. Don't lie, Kestis. Your true Master would be so upset to learn you are trying to start training others. You know how he covets his things. He despises sharing," the voice was taunting and then the room seemed to explode in orange and red. The blades clashed with a screech. Beedee hopped off Cal and rushed towards him, chattering the whole way.

He was so confused!

"As I've told Vader before; no thanks, I'm good." Cal did something and suddenly the single double blade was two separate ones. They were a blur of movement, harsh colors slicing through the air around them. Ezra didn't think twice about picking BeeDee up. He needed to run...but would Cal be okay? He barely knew the other, and yet, he was concerned. The guy was nice. It would blow if a nice person died!

BeeDee whistled something and he blinked. Oh, right, he still had a charge on him! Perfect idea. Ezra made a run for it, towards a large pile of durasteel beams. He just needed to put it in the perfect spot. BeeDee leaped out of his arms and climbed the pile. A low beep and then the droid was calling out an opening. He moved, squirming and squeezing his way into the tight space. There were probably going to be a few abrasions on him, but that was fine. He’d had worse. He fumbled with the charge, nearly dropping it a couple of times, but somehow managed to stick it to a spot that felt right. He could do this. The sound of those blades colliding together over and over reminded him of two storms meeting over the prairie. Deadly. He struggled to get back out and he popped free with a yell just as a boot connected with Cal's chest. The red-haired man stumbled backward while the cold one grinned.

A mouthful of predator's teeth.

They wanted to tear into his soul.

Ezra didn’t think, no, he just moved. He ran forward, somehow ducking just as a blade sailed through where his head had been. Twist now! He surged up and rammed his shoulder straight into the creep’s gut. Cold anger slammed into him and then a hand was grabbing a fistful of the back of his jacket. He felt himself being yanked backward while Cal swore loudly. The gloved hand was thrown out and then the craziest thing happened- the pale man seemed to be knocked backward by a strong wind. He didn’t have time to marvel thanks to Cal tossing him towards the open doorway.

BeeDee screamed out an order.

He slammed his finger down on the detonator. The explosion was instant and he started to curl up to make himself a smaller target. He never finished, arms were suddenly around his waist. More explosions rocked the area, but he could only watch in fascination. Cal was doing something, ripping chunks of machinery from the area around them somehow. Those twisted and bent shining objects flew one after another into the inferno growing inside the factory.

“You are so grounded,” the modulated voice of Boba informed him loudly.

Grounded?

Hey, no, they weren’t his parents!

He opened his mouth to protest, but instead of words, a large whoop of excitement left him when he found himself flying. Boba had an actual working jetpack? That was beyond cool! Wait, what about Cal? He glanced down at the shrinking factory in time to see a streak of red running after them. Not the terrifying cold type of red, but the type of red that made him think of comfort.

Oh.

Kriff.

He was getting attached.

That wasn’t good. They were going to leave him. That offer to join the crew was just some joke. There was no way they actually wanted him around. Those thoughts weighed his mind down, ruining his chance to enjoy the sensation of flight, the whole way back to the hidden ships. He didn’t say a word as Boba set him down in a cargo hold and he didn’t say a word as he got the word lashing of a lifetime. The words, well, they just sort of washed over him. His mind was far too focused on what would come next to honestly hear the concern.

“Stay here,” came the order, and then he was alone.

The ramp slammed shut and he could hear the engines firing up. His balance shifted, causing him to stumble, and he found himself rushing to strap himself into a jumper seat.

What was going on?

His fingers tightened around the safety harness keeping him in place while the ship whirred around him. Before he could even yell to see if Boba would tell him what was going on, well, the ramp opened midair. The roaring caused his ears to pop. Okay, that was really uncomfortable. He made a face, scrunching his nose in annoyance. This whole day was just not going his way.

Then it happened.

His mouth fell open in pure surprise when Cal appeared on the ramp, BeeDee clinging to him. There was no way the ship was that close to the ground! He started to fumble with the buckles of the harness to free himself. He had to see for himself! Before he could get himself unbuckled Cal was hitting the controls to shut the door. Ezra froze. Oh, kark, the look Cal was giving him was very much not impressed. Why did he feel guilty?

“We are going to talk later.”

Yeah, that definitely didn’t sound good.

BeeDee whistled happily just before Cal vanished towards the cockpit.

“Wait,” he yelled out. “You still have to drop me off-”

And then his stomach lurched oddly. He winced as the nerf steak tried to make a return.

“Hold tight,” Boba’s voice drifted back towards him. “Time to make a fast getaway.”

What was even going on? Ezra squeezed his eyes shut and sent a thought to the stars. Here was hoping they all didn’t die in some crazy space battle- wait, space battle? No, he was too young to get involved in one of those!

It felt like years passed while he waited for someone to come back and tell him it was okay to move. By the time Boba came back to check on him, he had started counting the holes in the grating of the floor.

"Kid," Boba said softly. "We have to wait a bit before I can go back to Lothal. Do you need to comm anyone?"

Ezra frowned and then shrugged. "No one to comm." He wasn't lying. His parents were gone.

Boba frowned for a second before crouching down in front of him. Concern swirled in those eyes. Ezra averted his gaze. He wasn't sure why he did, all he knew was that it made him feel strange. Not quite uncomfortable. Just strange.

"You can stay with us. If you want. We can make frequent trips back to Lothal or we can never come back. Your call, Jabba."

"...Ezra." His voice was barely above a whisper and he wasn't even sure if Boba heard him.

"What was that?"

Yeah, hadn't heard him.

"My name… it's Ezra." A brilliant smile erupted on Boba's face. Ezra flushed in confusion. Why the reaction? He had just said his name! It wasn't something special.

"Well, Ezra, before Cal comes back here and chews you out for your stunt in the factory-"

"I saved his life!"

"-you did, but you put yourself in danger. Not the point right now." Boba waved a hand through the air as if brushing away words. "If you've got nowhere to go, I'll be happy to take you on. Me and Cal. We work with the Mantis crew a lot...so you'd have a family between the lot of us. If you want."

Family.

They weren't actually just going to leave him?

It started as a stinging, a burning in his eyes. His sinuses started to get a weird prickly sensation inside. He sniffed once, twice, and then to his horror some tears escaped his eyes.

"Hey, hey, it's okay." Boba moved quickly to undo the safety harness. Ezra tumbled into his embrace, arms going around his neck. The next words that left Boba’s mouth were unknown to him, but felt comforting anyway. He tightened his arms while he let hot tears fall.

Ezra Bridger had a place to belong if he wanted and that meant the whole galaxy to him.

“Only until I get bored of you,” he managed to finally say. Boba burst out laughing and shifted just enough to press their foreheads together.

“Of course, ad’ika. Just until you get bored.”

#thank you for following me!!!#star wars #star wars au #cal kestis #boba fett #ezra bridger #greez dritus #bd1 #star wars jedi: fallen order #jfo #star wars fan fic #star wars fan fiction #kesett #just a couple of dumbasses adopting a kid #explosions are a given #fluff and angst #I just love them so much #I am shoving kesett at as many people as possible

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fictionwordcounts · 3 years

Text

Together or Not at All [Din x Reader]

Word Count: 8000+

Summary: Normally two Mandalorians working together wasn't a good idea, but sometimes you're forced to make it work; and sometimes you want it to work.

It had been months since you had seen another Mandalorian. It was better for only a few hunters to work at a time, so they hardly crossed paths during a mission. That's why when a Mandalorian showed up in your town, word got around fast.

You had just picked up a bounty puck from an old friend of yours when a group of chattering droids wandered into the cantina. You twiddled your thumbs as they gossiped away, giving you all the information you needed. You could almost laugh at the stupidity of droids. They didn't know or care about what they could be giving away.

You slid your drink down the counter for someone else to enjoy. Normally, you'd take one back to your ship, but this couldn't be one of those times. You had work to do and a bounty hunter to find.

You walked down the street looking for the one person you knew that couldn't resist telling you everything; Even if it was for a price. As you passed by children playing in the streets, their mothers rounded them inside as quickly as they could. They knew your reputation, and though you would never hurt a youngling, it was probably best they stay out of your way. They watched curiously behind their mothers until you had passed their dwelling.

"If it isn't old Wrist Rocket!" Jung Powell's voice rang out signaling you had reached your destination. He called you that because a small missile launcher on your wrist was the only piece of pure beskar you had. It stood out, hence him picking it to distinguish you from other Mandalorians.

He emerged from his workshop and walked over to you. "Here to ask about the new Mando in town, eh?"

"Where are they?" You asked simply.

Jung laughed and squashed a bug underneath his foot. He was always easily distracted. "You know I like ya," he smiled. "But payment's been kind of high this month. Y'know how it is--"

"Fine. I'll get you a payment," you interrupted.

He chuckled and crossed all four of his green arms. "That's why I like you, but it's a bit different this time." You withheld a breath. If Jung wanted you to do something different, it was never good.

"I don't have time to chase down the people you squabble with," you argued.

"It's not a squabble," he countered. "He owes me money, and he won't pay up."

"So, a squabble," you huffed.

He waved two of his hands dismissively. "Ok, call it what you want. The point is I'm not very intimidating--"

"You don't say."

"But if you so much as walk in the door, he'll be at your feet with the money. I just know it." You took a moment to weigh out the options. It was just a simple debt collection. You figured it would be an easy job. Just get it over with and find the other Mandalorian.

"Fine," you agreed. "Who owes you?"

"Don't know if you've heard of him. His name's Kole. Never gave a me a last name, but he doesn't live far away."

He gave you the directions to your target, and you went quickly on your way. You needed to get this job over with so you could get the information you needed about the Mandalorian. You were almost jogging down the streets as you relayed the directions in your head. Left. Right. Left again. You stopped your mental GPS when you heard some kind of commotion. You took a deep breath. It was where your target supposedly was.

You armed the rocket on your wrist and slowly walked into the building. A man dropped at your feet and you instinctively aimed at him. He wasn't moving. You kicked his arm to make sure it was safe to continue.

"Who are you?" A voice made you whip around. Standing only a few feet from you was a Mandalorian decked out in full beskar armor. Every system in your body froze, and you had to remind yourself to breathe.

"You're a Mandalorian," you commented, ignoring his question.

"So are you," he added. He took a step towards you and you pulled out your blaster. He raised his hands slightly, but he didn't step back.

"What are you doing here?" you questioned.

"I'm just passing through," he answered. "I didn't know...I thought all the other Mandalorians were dead." You were glad the helmet you wore concealed the shock on your face. Either he was a lunatic or something terrible at happened.

"Why would you think that?" you asked.

He kept a hand raised as he crouched down at the man at your feet. "Because they all died," he quipped. You didn't quite know how to process what he was saying. You hadn't gone back to Mandalore in years, so it wasn't impossible that he was telling the truth. Still, you refused to believe that they were all gone.

He pulled something out of the mans pocket and stepped back once more. "What is that?" you questioned. The only reason you could trust him was the fact that he was a Mandalorian, and at the moment, that wasn't enough.

He crushed the device in his hand, making you wonder what it was even more. "Broken," he responded simply.

You rolled your eyes though he couldn't see it. "You better start talking, because this is my town. I'm not letting another Mandalorian put me out of my job here.

"I'm not here to take your job," he assured you. "I just came for him." He gestured to the unmoving man that was still at your feet. You figured by now that it was Kole. Your target.

"He was my job," you growled. He still hadn't told you why he was there or how the other Mandalorians had died. He wasn't telling you anything, and it frustrated you to no end.

"Well," he sighed. "You better hope your employer will take him in cold." He tried to walk by you and you were quick to block him.

"Move," he ordered.

"Not until you give me answers," you insisted.

"I was going to," he said. "Back at my ship."

"I'm perfectly fine discussing this here," you said pointedly.

"I'm not." He changed his approach, realizing that he wasn't getting through to you. "Believe me, I'm not going anywhere. I've been looking for another Mandalorian for a while. I just need to get something."

You both stared at each other as if you could read the other's expression through the helmets. That was always a problem with Mandalorians. They couldn't communicate without getting physical. The longer you stood there the heavier the tension in the air became.

A squeal interrupted your stare-down, and before you knew it, your blaster was aimed in the direction of the sound.

"Don't!" The Mandalorian cried. You took a moment to take in what exactly you were looking at. A small green creature with abnormally large ears was standing on a counter not far off.

"How did that get in here?" you demanded.

The Mandalorian rushed over to the creature and gingerly picked it up. "I don't know," he huffed. Then to the child he added, "I thought I told you to stay on the ship." It cooed in response and held it's hand out toward you. You still had your blaster raised, so you lowered it slowly and stared at it's three little fingers.

"What does it want?" you asked. Instead of responding, he put the child down on the ground, and it stumbled in it's oversized coat towards you. You tensed up as it got closer.

"What does it want?" you repeated with more urgency. The kid reached your feet and grabbed on to one of your legs. You froze, so you didn't hurt it by moving.

"Don't hurt him, he's just a kid," The Mandalorian said.

"I wasn't planning on it, but you need to get it off of me!" You raised the boot with the creature on it so he could take it off. He set it back on the ground, and it immediately started making it's way back to you. He picked it up with a warning and didn't put it down again.

"That's not....your kid---"

"No," he interrupted. "I just found him."

"A foundling," you whispered as you stepped towards the child.

The Mandalorian instinctively stepped back. "Yes. I've been keeping him safe."

"Hence my target being dead at my feet," you guessed.

He nodded. "Are you a guild member?"

"No, I get my targets from locals," you explained. "Something I intend to keep doing, so you and your foundling might want to make yourselves disappear."

"We're not here to ruin your business."

"You being here is ruining my business," you pointed out. "Right now, I get plenty of jobs. Why shouldn't I? I am the only Mandalorian in this town after all. Add another in the mix? eventually we'll be either splitting the load, or fighting for the best offer."

"I'm not here for the jobs," he said. "If I needed jobs, I could go anywhere. Like I said, the Mandalorians are gone. People will hire anyone. All you need is the armor."

"Speaking of," you said with a nod towards his armor. "You've got a pretty good set. What are the odds of the Mandalorians being wiped out and a single man making it out with full beskar armor? I'd guess pretty slim. Unless of course he helped kill a few so he could keep the spoils."

"I got this armor before they all died," he informed. "High paying customer."

"Must've been quite a bounty."

"Still is," he looked at the kid in his arms. "That's why I have to keep him safe."

You paused to take in what he had said. "That was the bounty?"

"If you lay a finger on him--"

"I'm not interested in the money," you snapped. "I just want to know how you got paid and still got to keep him."

"It's complicated."

You looked back and forth between him and the kid. "Alright. I don't care. Just get what you came for and get off my planet."

***

It had been days since your Mandalorian encounter and he still hadn't left. You would see him around town every now and again, and he was always with that kid. He insisted he was leaving, but he never did. It made you anxious. In just the few days he had been there he had stirred everyone up. You couldn't imagine what would happen if he never left.

You sat on the edge of a rock on the outskirts of your town. He claimed he had his ship parked somewhere around there. You wanted to check it out, but you weren't in any hurry. It was nice to be able to take in the scenery for a moment. You stood and took a deep breath. Calming down for a second was just what you needed. This Mandalorian had you worked up for nothing.

You turned around and froze when you saw the Mandalorian's kid standing right in front of you. For some reason, he always made an effort to find you. You liked to think the Mandalorian told it to, just to get on your nerves.

"Go back to the Mandalorian," you ordered. It titled it's head and continued to stare at you. "The other Mandalorian." It stayed.

"Look, kid, I'm not babysitting you. Go back to the Mandalorian that takes care of you, cause it certainly isn't me." Finally, he started walking. Unfortunately for him, he was walking straight towards the edge of the cliff. You put your foot in it's path and it looked up at you.

"Try the other way," you instructed. You nudged it with your foot away from the edge. It paused there for a moment, then turned around and headed for the edge again. You sighed and picked it up by the back of it's cloak. You really didn't want to touch it at all, but you couldn't leave it to wander off the cliff like that. You held it away from you as you continued to trek through the rocky area. Either you'd find his ship or you'd take the creature back to him directly.

A few moments later you saw smoke rising in the sky. There was nothing in that area for miles. The perfect place to land a ship. You picked up the pace, hoping that it was the ship you were looking for. Sure enough in the middle of the clearing was a broken down ship that looked like it used to be a Razor Crest.

"Please tell me that isn't his ship," you said to the child. It only gurgled in response. You set it down now that it couldn't wander off an edge somewhere, and it started walking to the ship. No wonder that Mandalorian was still there. He hardly had a ship to fly back on.

"Hey!" The Mandalorian came up behind you. "What are you doing?" he demanded.

"You intend to fly back on that?" you remarked. "That wouldn't make it off the ground, much less the planet."

"You think I don't know that?" he huffed. "That's why I've been repairing it these past few days. Don't worry. The kid and I will be out of your little town in no time." He stopped the kid halfway to the ship and carried him the rest of the way. You decided to follow, curious about the inside. You followed the Mandalorian up the ramp and took a quick look around the ship. It didn't take long since it was so small and cramped. You couldn't imagine living in it.

"Are you done with your little tour?" he grumbled when you had made it back to the ramp.

You shrugged. "If you don't want me to look around your ship, you should've had it off the planet."

"Unless you have a spare parked in a garage somewhere, that's not going to happen just yet."

"It might be easier if you didn't have a kid to look after," you pointed out.

"It's not that difficult."

"Oh really?" you smirked. "Is that why I found it about to wander off a cliff?"

You could see him tense beneath his beskar armor. "What?" he said testily.

You walked off the ship with a last comment over your shoulder. "I'll let you get back to work."

You sat outside the cantina with Jung Powell talking business. He always bought you a drink thought he knew you couldn't remove your helmet. He probably did it as a temptation to break your code, but it would never work. Instead he would just drink yours as well as his.

"You did great with the money Kole owed me," he was saying. "But you killing him gave a lot of people cold feet y'know."

You tilted your head slightly. "What about you?"

He reached forward to grab the cup in front of you. "I understand it was all in a day's work," he said through a chuckle. He emptied the glass in one gulp and slammed the cup back on the table. "So, if you're looking for another job, I'm the one to talk to."

"That's why I'm here," you said.

"This one's a bit different--"

"With how often you say that, it's starting to become expected."

"Right, I get that, but this really is something else." He leaned over the table enough for you to smell his breath. "Are you up for a cargo run?"

You leaned back and shook your head. "I'm a bounty hunter, not a mail carrier."

"Not even if the mail includes a high paying customer?" he bribed. You stared at him as you considered the offer. It was almost impossible for you to give up a good payment, and you knew that Jung never let you down when it came to those.

"Where to?" you asked warily.

"A dwarf planet a couple systems away--"

"Off planet?" you interrupted. "No deal."

"Come on, wrist rocket, it's getting harder and harder to get deals that stay on planet," he whined.

"Maybe for you, but I have other sources." You stood up to leave and he was quick to tumble out of his chair and stop you.

"No, no, wait!" he cried. "I promise it's worth your time! Plenty of credits! Probably enough to get you more than just a wrist rocket!" You froze. You couldn't lie and say that it wasn't tempting. Deep down you knew it was because of the Mandalorian, but you didn't listen to yourself.

Instead you turned back to Jung. "What do I need to take and where?"

He smiled and rubbed two of his hands together. "Glad you're on board." He gave you your assignment and you walked away knowing you just made a big mistake. Madnalorians were true to their word. If you said you were going to do it, you have to see it through. Now you took up a job out of what? Spite? It was a terrible idea. However, you pushed the doubt out of your mind and looked towards your goal. The only thing you needed now was a way off the planet.

***

"You want me to do what?" The Mandalorian didn't sound thrilled about your offer.

"I'll give you a cut," you assured him. "I just need transportation off-planet."

"I'm not towing you around to whatever planet you want for a small tip."

"A small tip and the repairs you need to get that ship off the ground," you corrected.

"No thanks. I'll repair it myself." He walked back into his ship, not letting you respond. You stepped back to see his ship was still smoking and hissing and let out a frustrated breath. You knew you could fix it for him, but you wouldn't do it for charity. You weren't getting through to him though. You cut your losses and turned around to leave.

Something grabbed on to your leg and out of instinct, you tried to kick it off. You heard the Mandalorian's foundling squealing so you stopped and looked down. Once again, the creature was holding onto your boot with a iron grip. Normally you'd pry it off and send it on it's way, but as it looked up at you with it's big black eyes, you had an awful idea.

Warily, you began walking it back to the ship. You heard the Mandalorian in the the cockpit so you waited for him to come down. When he did come down and saw you with the creature, he froze.

"What are you doing with him?" he said. You could tell he was tense, and his hand was hovering closer and closer to his blaster.

"Your little foundling won't let go of me," you said with a smirk that he thankfully couldn't see. "I tried and tried, but he just won't budge."

"Sounds like a you problem," he said. You thought you heard a hint of humor, but he was far too concerned about his kid for you to tell.

"It is until I go off-planet to finish out this job, and because I couldn't get him away from me, he tags along. That sounds very much like a you problem," you teased.

The Mandalorian clenched his fists. He scooped the kid off your leg and placed him in his bed. He closed the door and turned back to you. "Leave the kid out of this."

"I can't help what it does--"

"You're not taking him with you." Now he was getting upset.

You felt the kid grab onto your boot again and without looking down at it you said, "I don't think I have a choice."

"How did you--" The Mandalorian tried to take him off again, but the kid stayed put. "C'mon kid, let go."

Nothing.

The Mandalorian tugged harder, but the kid squealed, causing him to stop. He looked from the creature to you. For a second, your stomach flipped at the idea that he might actually kill you just to get his kid back. You quickly pushed the thought aside. He wouldn't. It was against the code.

He stood there considering his options for a while before he finally mumbled, "You'd have to get it to fly."

You smiled and gently took the kid off your boot. "Thank you," you said as you handed it over.

He took it and brushed past you as he said, "Just one trip there and back. No more." That was fine by you. You got exactly what you needed. Now you had to get to work with the repairs.

***

You and the Mandalorian sat in the cockpit ready to test out the repaired ship. His kid sat in his lap since you were taking up it's usual spot, so he carefully reached around it to flip switches and press buttons. He had instructed you not to touch anything, then proceeded to unscrew a small lever and hand part of it to the kid.

"We just repaired this thing, and you think it's a good idea to take it apart for that thing's chew toy?" you inquired.

"I know what I'm doing," he snapped. He pulled up, and the whole ship rumbled beneath you. For a moment you weren't sure it would make it off the ground. Then, with a low creak, the ship rose and started cruising forward slowly but surely.

"Hold on," the Mandalorian instructed. He increased the speed and the ship let out a number of complaints. It started rumbling and shaking uncontrollably, and you grabbed onto the seat so you wouldn't get tossed around.

"What's happening?" you shouted over the noise of alarms and groaning metal.

"It'll stabilize once we break through the atmosphere!" he responded.

"If we make it that far!" you snapped. You looked over at the kid on his lap. He was smiling and bouncing like it was some kind of ride to him. Something you would've found funny if there wasn't a good chance that you would all plummet back to the ground. A few moments later, space came speeding into view and the alarms switched off. Then in a second everything went from chaotic to completely silent.

"Told you," the Mandalorian said. "Now we just cruise over to your dwarf planet. I don't think we'll be able to jump to hyperspace."

"What?" you said louder than you had planned. "That could take us days, and that's if we don't come across any obstacles!"

"You're the one who wanted a ride," he quipped as he leaned back in his chair. "If you change your mind, there's always the eject pods."

It took every cell in your body to maintain your composure. This wasn't even a mission you were particularly thrilled about going on, much less with this Mandalorian. You felt at times that the only thing keeping you both from each others throats was the Mandalorian code, but according to him, all the Mandalorians were dead. What validity was there to that pact?

The creature on his lap kept looking at you with it's huge, pitch-black eyes. You didn't know how to react. It was hard not to stare. It's eyes and ears were oversized, and it's layers of clothes made it look like it was in a squishy cocoon. It was kind of cute. You smiled at it, and though it couldn't see, it gurgled and smiled back.

"How old is it?" you asked. The Mandalorian seemed taken aback by the question. You were almost surprised yourself. You didn't care about the kid. You were just curious.

"I don't know," he said after a while. "Somewhere around 50?"

"Fifty?" you asked surprised.

"Well, he obviously ages slower than we do," he remarked. You looked over at the kid and he looked back at you with wide questioning eyes. The Mandalorian stood up with the kid in his arms, and went to the lower part of the ship. "I'll be right back. Don't touch anything!" His command echoed just far enough for you to hear him. You rolled your eyes and reclined in your seat. You might as well get comfortable.

You had been twiddling your thumbs for almost half an hour, and the Mandalorian still hadn't come back. It was irritating, especially since you couldn't do anything on his ship. It clearly wasn't meant to be a livable space. It was just meant for towing him across the galaxy.

You had thought about traveling beyond your planet before, and the longer you stayed the more you wanted to leave. You had heard that it's the spirit of a Mandalorian to travel from place to place, but you never tried. Now you looked out at the black of space littered with stars. It had been so long since you had seen it.

A small, quiet sound roused you from your thoughts. You turned your seat around to see the kid standing there and staring right at you. A small chuckle escaped your lips.

"What do I have to do to get you to stop following me?" you asked half-jokingly. He babbled as if he was actually trying to respond. He walked closer and raised his arms.

"Sorry, but I don't think your dad would want me picking you up," you warned. It insisted and walked even closer. You rolled your eyes. The Mandalorian didn't seem to be coming back soon anyway. You granted the child's wish and picked him up. You didn't set him on your lap, but rather held him a good distance away from you as if he was toxic.

"Are you seriously older than I am?" you whispered almost to yourself.

"Hey!" The Mandalorian's voice cut through the ships low hum and made you jump. You almost dropped the kid so you brought him closer to you by instinct. "What are you doing with the kid?"

"Your kid keeps coming to me!" you explained angrily. "Besides, he's fine." You held the creature out towards the Mandalorian like it was some dull object. He was quick to take it from you, and he sat back down in the pilot's seat. You needed to say something. Anything. You were getting tired of constantly being mad at each other. After all, you were supposedly the last two of your kind. It probably wasn't best to be fighting each other with every word.

"I don't even know what I'm supposed to call you," you mentioned. It was a sudden thought that you had. You currently didn't call him anything. The way you got each others attention was by yelling at the other. Definitely not a good way to end the fighting.

His head moved ever so slightly towards you. "I don't really..." He trailed off and a long moment of silence passed before he spoke up again. "Why don't you just...call me Mando?"

"Mando?" you inquired. "That derogatory nickname that almost every Mandalorian gets?"

"It's not a derogatory nickname. At least, not anymore," he corrected. "I don't have anything else in mind."

"Well, Mandalorians get their nicknames by what they look like or how they act," you pointed out. You looked him up and down. "I guess that would make you 'Beskar?'"

"And what would that make you? 'Not beskar?'" he retorted.

"Ha ha," you replied unenthusiastically. "I'm seriously just supposed to call you Mando?"

"Call me whatever you want," he concluded. "It's not like we're going to be seeing each other after I drop you off." You couldn't argue with that. You certainly didn't intend to see him again, and you were positive the feeling was mutual. You laid your head back against the seat. This was going to be a long trip.

***

Two days since you had left, the dwarf planet finally came into view. You were relieved to be so close to your destination. Of course, the trip wasn't as bad as you thought once you actually talked to Mando without bickering. If you didn't leave room for an argument, he hardly said anything, but the few things he said were actually worth something.

"That's the planet right?" he asked.

"It is," you confirmed. "Are you sure this thing is equipped to land?"

"I guess we'll find out in about five minutes," he replied as he flicked switches and pressed buttons.

"Ship 4119, this is landing pad 7. Do you have clearance to land?" A voice from the intercom made both of you freeze. A small hologram appeared with a symbol that made your blood turn cold. It was the crest of the Empire.

"This is an imperial trade?" Mando hissed under his breath.

"Dank farrik!" you growled. "I'll kill you, Powell."

"Ship 4119, are you reading me?" The voice pressed.

"What do we do?" you whispered.

"Four minutes 'til we land," he started. "We stall." He raised his voice so the person over the intercom could hear. "Yes, I have clearance, but there's some bad interference. Let me switch you over to another channel. Stand by." He switched off the intercom and turned towards you. "That should buy us about a minute."

"Only?" you asked incredulously.

"What did you expect dealing with the Empire?" he scolded.

"I didn't know it was the Empire," you defended weakly.

"We don't have long to figure out what we're doing," he reminded you. "We can't land on the pad so we need to find an alternative."

"It's all trees," you huffed. "The landing pad is our only option."

"Ship 4119, you cooperation is required or you will be terminated."

"The landing pad it is," he sighed. "Hold on to the kid. It's not going to be a smooth landing."

You did as he said and waited. He lowered the landing gear and the ship immediately seized up. The shook and rumbled, and alarms started going off. The voice over the intercom had started a countdown until their "termination". Mando waited until the count of one to expertly roll to the side and half land half crash onto a separate landing pad. Guards were around the ship in moments. Stormtroopers.

"Step out of the ship with your arms up," one commanded.

"They don't know that there's two of us," Mando whispered to you. "I'll walk out as they said, then on my signal, you come in behind and start taking them out." You nodded, and he started to make his way off the ship. You watched him closely for the signal as you readied your rocket. One hit, perfectly aimed, would take them all out.

The signal, followed by your rocket going off, followed by a blinding white light filled the next few moments of your life. When the smoke cleared, there was hardly anything telling you there were stormtroopers there at all. You exited the ship with the kid still in your arms.

"Not bad," you complemented yourself.

"Yeah, yeah, you did good," he brushed off. "We're not entirely out of the woods yet. Spread out and make contact if you find the package."

You stopped. "I thought you were leaving."

"What can I say?" he said with a small shrug. "I'm bored." He threw a small communicator in your direction. "If you come back without the kid, you're as good as dead." Without another word, he jogged off to look for the package. You look down at the kid in your hands, and he tilted his head.

"Yeah, I'm confused too," you murmured. You jogged in the opposite direction already waiting to get off this planet.

What seemed like hours later, Mando contacted you on the communicator. It was pretty choppy, but from what you could tell, he either had the package or he would soon. You breathed a sigh of relief. You weren't comfortable being so close to the Empire.

You quickly found the river you had been following, and began heading upstream. The kid was getting restless. He wanted to walk, but the Mandalorian would have your head if you let him with so many stormtroopers around. So you continued. You thought all would be well, but out of nowhere a gun shot fired right next to your head.

"They're over here!" A stormtrooper yelled through the woods. You found cover and quickly opened your communicator.

"Mando, I'm under attack!" you warned. "South of the ship, not far! Hurry!" Shots were firing all around you and the child started whimpering in fear. You held him close to you as you fired shots blindly into the forest. "Mando!"

Stormtroopers yelled in the distance signaling help was there. You stood from your cover and came helmet to helmet with a camo trooper. He knocked his gun into your hands, sending the kid rolling across the forest floor. You fired your blaster and the trooper dropped to the ground. You heard a sickening splash as you realized the child had rolled towards the river.

Mando caught up with you and noticed you didn't have his kid. "Where is he?" he yelled. You ignored him and plunged head first into the river. The child was so small, it would've been carried away in an instant. When you finally spotted him, he was bobbing downstream with a wide smile. You swam towards him, scooped him up, and placed him back on solid ground. Thankfully there wasn't a scratch on him.

The Mandalorian had made it to you and the kid right as you pulled yourself from the river. You were ready for him to scold you, grab the kid, and walk off, but he picked up the kid and extended an arm to you.

"You alright?" he questioned. You hesitantly took his hand, and he helped you stand.

"Fine," you said quietly. A small hint of a nod from Mando, and you were both walking through the forest back to the ship.

Mando held out a metal rod laced with blue light. "This the package?"

"Yes," you said as you took it from him. "Thank you."

"We can't get back on the Razor Crest," he informed. "It's too banged up."

"What are we supposed to do then?" you asked.

He turned to you. "We need one of those Imperial Cruisers."

***

It had been a whole month since your run-in with the Empire. You and Mando successfully stole one of the Empires aircraft, and made your way back to your planet without a hitch. It was there that Mando offered for you to work with him for a while. You told him you had to think about it, but your mind was already made up. You loved the thrill of going off planet, and you wanted to go again.

You hadn't looked back until now. You were currently making your way back to that same dwarf planet to retrieve the ship you had left behind so long ago.

"Either the Empire will be completely flushed out--" Mando was saying.

"Or they'll have grown ten times their original size," you finished.

"That about sums it up," he confirmed. Working together felt so natural now. It was a wonder Mandalorians hadn't worked together before. They had similar expertise, making it easy to agree to and execute a plan. At least, that was the case for you and the Mandalorian. You found a way to communicate without fighting, and you only grew closer from there.

You liked being around the Mandalorian. You hadn't expected to become so close to him, but you didn't mind one bit. You were both at ease with one another and didn't need a lot of words to understand each other. You both had learned the micro movements that the other would use. A small shift of the helmet. A clench of the fist. A drop of the shoulders. Small things that meant so much.

"So, you run the kid onto the ship as I cover you," Mando said, going through the plan once more.

"I set off a distraction long enough for you to make it on the ship yourself," you continued.

"And we fly off the planet as quick as we can."

"Assuming it will fly," you quipped.

"All of this is assuming they've grown stronger," he reminded you. "I'm not sure the Empire is capable of that at this point."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up," you cautioned. The intercom rang out with the same warning you had received last time.

Mando kept his eyes forward. "Here we go." He ignored the voice and landed the ship on the pad. You picked up the kid and waited for Mando to leave the ship first. He walked out, guns blazing, and you were quick to slip out behind him. A few troopers saw you, but luckily they were terrible shots. You made quick work of them and moved the kid onto the Razor Crest. So far so good. Now you just had give Mando a distraction.

Before you could even think of anything, three TIE fighters let loose a rain of fire on the pad where the Mandalorian was. In a panic you fired a rocket at one, but it just missed the fast moving ship.

"Mando!" you called. "Get in here! We need to move!" You fired at as many troopers as you could without attracting fire to yourself, but it didn't help much. He was practically by himself.

"Fire up the ship and take off!" You heard Mando's voice over the communicator in your helmet.

"I'm not leaving you," you replied.

"Leave the ramp open! Trust me!" Going against your better judgement, you did as he said. The child was confused as to why you were leaving the Mandalorian on the planet, but he stayed with you. You tried to get the ship off the ground, but it wouldn't budge. You diverted power and fuel until you had enough of a kick to get it moving.

"Now would be a great time to get on board!" you informed.

"I'm on my way! Fly!" he responded. You pushed forward as the ship creaked. Would it be able to make it off the planet?

"Lower!" Mando's voice called out suddenly. You pushed the ship downwards and everything lurched forward. Including the child who was more than happy to be around all the buttons.

"Get back in your seat," you instructed him. His ears drooped, but he obeyed and crawled off the control panel.

"I'm on! Close the ramp," Mando said. You closed the ramp and tried to direct the ship upwards. TIE fighters noticed the attempt to escape and started firing making the ship worse.

"We're taking fire!" you yelled. Mando climbed the ladder into the cockpit, and you were quick to move so he could take the controls. The ship slowly climbed while taking shots from the TIE fighters. You couldn't dodge them without using much needed fuel to get away from the planet. The ship was rocking and squealing as it tried to break through the planets atmosphere. You grabbed the child and rushed him down to his bed. He would be safer there than in the cockpit.

"We broke through!" Mando informed you. You climbed back up to where he was.

"Then why are we still shaking uncontrollably?" you questioned.

"Those TIE fighters will be on us in seconds," he continued. "We need to jump to hyperspace."

"This ship can't do that!"

"It'll have to. Where's the kid?"

"He's safe."

"Then hold on." He prepared everything for the jump, but he looked over at you before he started. "It's our only option."

You strapped in as quickly as you could. "Then do it." Mando engaged the hyperdrive. Immediately you knew you were going to crash. The ship's alarms blared and the engine burst into flames. Pulling out of hyperspace, you saw a planet speeding into view, but you couldn't stop the ship in time. You crashed and slid on the icy planet before everything went black.

***

When you woke up, you could only make out the orange light of fire mixing with the blue light of the planet you were on. You tried to blink to make the world come into focus, but your eyes refused to comply. You took off your helmet for a moment and cold wind whipped at your face. The back of your head throbbed and you gingerly touched it. When you moved your hand you saw that it was coated in blood. You were wounded where no one could see.

You slipped your helmet back on before going to find the Mandalorian. You didn't know what to do except find him, so that's what you would do. You didn't have to walk far before you found the crashed ship. You picked up the pace as you called for the Mandalorian. You entered the burning ship and found Mando unconscious in the cock pit. You shook his shoulder until he finally woke.

"Are you ok?" he asked.

"I'm fine," you lied.

"And the kid?" he pressed.

"I don't know," you answered. You both quickly descended the ladder and opened the door to the sleeping pod. The child sat on the bed completely unharmed. You breathed a sigh of relief. You felt as if the kid was your own. You didn't know what you'd do if something happened to him.

"Any sign of the Empire?" Mando questioned.

"None," you replied. "But there's no sign of getting off this planet either. We really messed up."

"There has to be some kind of lifeform on this planet," he insisted.

"I saw the planet. It's all snow and ice. You'd have to be crazy to live here."

"We have to try anyway." He grabbed a blanket off the bed and wrapped the child in it. You all left the ship and stepped onto the freezing planet. Your hopes of finding a way off were low to non-existent, but you followed Mando. He'd find a way.

The longer you walked, the dizzier you felt. Your head hadn't stopped throbbing and you were finding it hard to focus. Whatever you had done to your head was slowly chipping away at you. Your legs felt weak, and it wasn't long before they gave out on you. You crumpled into the snow.

"Y/N!" Mando called. You couldn't register his voice. Where he was. What was happening. The fact that he had used your name though you never gave it to him. It was all just a fleeting thought that was drowned out in the pain. He held you in his arms as he tried to keep you conscious. You felt his hands at the sides of your helmet and you quickly held them away.

"It's against the code," you groaned.

He looked at his hand which was covered in blood from your helmet. "You're bleeding! I have to take it off to help!"

"No!" you insisted. "You can't see my face. You know that."

"I'd rather you live with the shame then die here in the snow!"

"I can't," you breathed. "I've never taken it off in front of anyone." He stopped and looked at you hopelessly.

"It's ok," you said. "Find a way off the planet and take care of the kid." The Mandalorian carefully propped you up in the snow then slightly stepped back. Before you could say anything, or even think of what was happening. He removed his helmet and dropped it at his feet. His brown hair blew wildly in the wind as he bent down to you.

"You..." you barely whispered.

"I'm helping you even if that means breaking the code, but we'll be breaking it together," he said. You felt him lifting the helmet off your head, but you didn't stop him. He placed your helmet next to his in the snow and gently moved your hair aside. You didn't have the willpower to fight what was happening. You let him work as the world grew fuzzy around you. It all seemed surreal. Especially when the next thing you remembered was the child dropping to the ground in exhaustion.

The world was coming back into focus, and the throbbing pain in your skull subsided. You looked up to see your Mandalorian unmasked and holding his child. Your hand instinctively reached for the wound at the back of your head, but there was none.

"He healed you." It was strange to hear the Mandalorian's voice outside of the helmet. It was softer and more real. "I don't know how he does it, but it drains his energy. It was the only way to save you.

You stood slowly, unable to take your eyes from the Mandalorian's. It was strange to think he was seeing your face just as you were seeing his. You thought you'd be more ashamed. After all you had broken one of the most important rules on Mandalore. You both had. But you didn't feel guilt like you had done something wrong. You felt what you could only identify as relief. Relief that you didn't have to hide behind your metal helmet in front of the one you cared so deeply for.

Mando picked up both the helmets, handing yours to you. "We should get moving." You stared into yours, not wanting to put it back on. You grudgingly did, and Mando followed. You both took moment to stare at each others expressionless helmets, then continued through the ice and snow.

When you finally found people, you recognized them as a rebels. There weren't many that were aware of the Empires presence and even fewer would fight. They wouldn't harm you. They brought you into a cave that was partially lined with metal and cement. They hadn't been there long. They were hesitant to let you in at first, but when they saw the child laying unconscious in Mando's arms, they obliged. They took the kid to care for him, and you could tell Mando was tense. You placed your hand on his shoulder and he turned to you.

"He's going to be fine," you comforted. He remained silent. "You...said my name. Back in the snow. Unless I was hallucinating--"

"You weren't" he confirmed. "I saw it on our first trip to that kriffing dwarf planet. I never meant to get used to saying it in my head. I'm sorry."

You shrugged. "I don't think you knowing it puts me in danger."

He took a deep breath. "My real name is Din Djarin."

"You didn't have to tell me--"

"From now on, we do things together or not at all. Deal?"

You desperately wished he could see you smile. "Deal."

***

A week passed on the planet you came to know as Hoth. You needed time to recover and so did the kid. The rebels were working on a way to get you off the planet, and the Mandalorian spent most of his time working to help them with that. He was getting more frustrated every day. You wanted to help him. Tell him they'd find a way soon, but the only option they had was another week of waiting until a ship flew in for supplies.

It was late at night when he came to you. He was broken down and stressed, but he would never tell you so. He hardly said a word to you during the whole week. But now here he was.

He walked over to you slowly and stopped. "I can't find a faster way off this planet," he said, his voice laced with defeat.

"It's alright," you assured him. "What matters is that we will get off. Eventually."

"Eventually," he repeated. "Eventually isn't good enough."

"We're alright here," you soothed. "Nothing's going to happen to the kid here."

"They have trackers," he pointed out. "They'll find him if we don't move--"

"Din," you said, using his name for the first time since he told it to you. You stepped closer so he was only a few inches apart from you. You removed his helmet without any objections from him and set it aside. You did the same to your helmet. You needed to talk to him face to face.

"No one is going to get the kid because we're protecting him," you said. "We protect him together." Din smiled, wrapped his arms around your waist, and pulled you closer to him. Your arms rested around his neck as your lips touched. A kiss was something a Mandalorian could never know. But you both disregarded the rules just so you could know each other's touch not through a casing of metal. And you did it together.

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