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#Leia has two and might be about to start a third

happyhauntt · 1 month

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fight or flight — poe dameron.

writing masterlist | askbox

─── summary: you and poe have never seen eye-to-eye. most days, you wonder if you ever will.

─── pairing: poe dameron x solo!reader.

─── warnings: reader is gender neutral, reader is han & leia's child, no use of y/n. lots of snarky banter. this was supposed to be flirty fluff but it turned into an angstfest so, yeah, sorry for that. finn eavesdrops and chewie is sassy bastard.

─── word count: 1.6k.

“YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.”

Poe ducks his head and quickly manages to conceal the wince creeping onto his features just in time, but crouched in the cockpit beside him, Rey still feels his shoulders go stiff. She presses a hand to her mouth in a weak attempt to stifle her laugh, but she’s not quite successful as Poe shoots her a glare.

She doesn’t blame him, really. You are… Well, sort of scary when you’re angry.

There’s more than just a spark of your mother’s fire in you, that’s for sure.

Glancing over her shoulder, she finds you standing in the doorway, regarding the pair of them with a ruthless glare so sharp it might leave a mark.

Rey is suddenly pretty sure that Poe didn’t talk to you like he said he would.

“I go for a nap because I haven’t slept properly in two days after you—” The finger you jab in Poe’s direction might as well be a knife, the way he flinches, “— get us stranded in First Order territory after leading us on a wild goose chase, knock out the comms and the navigation with your, frankly batshit, behaviour which I have spent hours trying to fix, and then I left you with one simple instruction.”

Which… Alright, not all of that is strictly fair, Rey thinks, because at least half of the chaos of the past few days can be attributed to sheer bad luck, and another third can be blamed on decisions made under pressure whose outcomes boiled down to bad or worse.

It’s not really Poe’s fault. Not anymore than the rest of them, at least.

But Rey knows how you feel about this ship. The Falcon is your inheritance, the only real home you have left in the world. It’s all that is left of your father.

You were protective of it even before he died, and since—

Rey clears her throat. “I’m just gonna… go check on Finn.”

Poe’s expression reeks of betrayal as Rey scoots past you to go and find Finn, who’s loitering in the main hold with Chewbacca, but she’s not about to hang around and get caught in the crossfire between the two of you.

She doesn’t have a death wish.

Finn looks just suspicious enough, when she locates him, that she doesn’t even bother scolding him for eavesdropping. She’s about to do the same, after all.

“He told me he checked it was alright before we started reconfiguring the navicomputer.” Rey folds her arms across her chest, frowning in the direction of the cockpit. Your voice is still rattling down the corridor towards them.

Finn clicks his tongue. “Evidently not.”

In the cockpit, Poe pushes himself to stand, resting a hand on the back of the captain’s chair. Your voice is hard as duracrete as you take a step towards him, crowding the small space with so much of your frustration that it feels difficult to breathe.

Poe wonders if the sensors are on the blink, and someone popped an airlock somewhere, because the air feels a little thin. You jab in the chest with your finger, and all he does is blink, suddenly lightheaded.

“I gave you one instruction. I said, the nav systems are rebooting, I’m going grab some shuteye, don’t touch anything. And what do you do?”

“The console was beeping!”

“I don’t care if a damn mynock got in here and started eating it, I said don’t touch it.”

“But it’s alright for Rey to touch it?” He’s being petty, he knows that, but an angry flush has started creeping up your neck, and he wants to know what you look like with your cheeks coloured that delightful shade of pink.

“Rey didn’t break it!” A ragged breath tears from your throat, and you rake a hand roughly through your hair. “She knows what she’s doing. I trust her.”

“And you don’t trust me, is that it?” Something like sadness swirls low in his gut as he waits for your response. It hurts him to ask, even though he’s wearing his bravado like a mask, even though he likes pushing all your buttons because when your eyes flash like that, it’s like standing in the eye of a hurricane or falling in zero gravity.

You’re not friends, he knows that. Not since the day you met, and you pressed a blaster up against his neck in the cargo hold of your old ship and he’d grinned down at you as if getting his life threatened was his favourite pastime.

He’d been trying to steal it. You’re still not sure what happened, exactly, except that there were Stormtroopers firing at your ship — which, honestly, was held together by little more than string and sheer stubbornness at that point — and your mother’s favourite flyboy watching you with a bizarre hope in his eyes, and you’d just… hated him, in that moment.

Hated him for crashing into your life and dragging you, kicking and screaming, back to the life you’d fled. Hated your mother for her good heart and your father for running away. Hated the whole damn galaxy for not killing you when it had the chance.

Poe had wanted you to take him to D’Qar, but you’d spent too long leaving things behind to go back now, so you’d dropped him at the nearest safe outpost and prayed you’d never see him again.

Clearly, the universe had other plans.

It’s been years since that first encounter, but neither of you have warmed to one another since then. There’s very little point, you think. He’s unbearable, always needling at you, picking at all of your defences as if he has a right to know you.

It doesn’t matter. In the end, everyone leaves, one way or another.

You just wish he’d hurry up and do it, already.

You’re not friends, but you’re something more and something less, and the way your lower lip twitches at his question feels like a punch to the gut.

“Why should I?” You blink at him, and a moment later you realise how close you’ve grown, almost chest-to-chest with this man who drives you mad. With a rough swallow, you force yourself to take a step back.

He doesn’t move. Hardly dares to breathe, with his mouth curled into that little half-smirk he knows you hate, because it hurts that you don’t trust him, but it would hurt more if you knew it.

“Why shouldn’t you?”

A scoff. “Well, for starters, I don’t think you’ve ever had a plan that didn’t blow up in your face.”

The familiar howl of Finn’s laughter rolls down the corridor, quickly cut off by a quiet thump and a low, pained groan.

Poe blinks at you. “Excuse me?”

“And you don’t take proper care of the Falcon!” The controls and all their exposed wires serve to prove your point.

Turning on your heel, you march out into the corridor, abandoning him in the cockpit. He stares at your retreating form, unable to kick his brain back into gear for a few seconds, but a moment later he’s striding after you.

“I take care of the Falcon!”

A huff of laughter bubbles out of you, entirely lacking in humour. “Lightspeed skipping.”

“That was one time!” His voice squeaks out of him much higher than he’d like, and as they emerge into the main hold, he clears his throat. “And the Falcon was fine.”

You come to a stop so suddenly that he can almost hear your shoes screeching on the floor. “It was twice, and just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should. That seems like a lesson you should’ve learned by now, but no, you keep pushing it!”

Reckless and stubborn, headstrong and utterly selfless. Not for the first time, you regret being dragged back into this mess. Your life hadn’t exactly been peaceful before — you are your father’s child, after all — but it wasn’t this.

How many more heroes will you watch die before all of this is over?

How much of it can you take?

You watch one of those heroes stare at you, now, and it feels like you’ve swallowed a handful of broken glass.

Behind you, sitting at the dejarik table and making absolutely no attempt to disguise his eavesdropping, Finn leans close to Rey. “You’d never guess they were married, huh?”

He’s whispering, but it’s not exactly quiet.

As if you’re suddenly possessed by the same entity, you and Poe whirl around, mouths agape. “We are not married.”

An uncomfortable heat curls around your spine at the thought of it. Married to Poe Dameron? You cannot imagine anything worse.

Chewie, seated opposite Finn and Rey, makes an exasperated sound. Rey can’t help but snort.

You narrow your eyes at your father’s oldest friend, resting your hands on your hips. “‘Could’ve fooled me?’ Chewie, what are you talking about?”

As your wrath settles upon a new victim, Poe takes the opportunity to slip out of sight, with every intention of hiding in the Engineering Bay on the opposite end of the ship until the danger has passed.

Marching quickly down the corridor, Poe drags a hand over his unbearably warm face and feels like something beneath his ribcage is itching to crawl out. He thinks it might be his heart.

Married to you. Yeah. He can’t think of anything worse, either.

#star wars #poe dameron #star wars fanfic #poe dameron fanfic #poe dameron x reader #poe dameron imagine #star wars imagine #* chapter update.

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helix-studios117 · 3 months

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My Headcanon Star Wars Timeline

This might also double as a "Star Wars: A Beginner's Guide," so if you want, you can also use this as a reference for Star Wars stories you can pick up if you want to get into the franchise; but ultimately, this is not the main point of this post.

Pretty much all Pre-BBY Legends stories: How the Sith and Jedi came to be, how lightsabers were created, the first wars, how everything started out as a high-fantasy before it evolved into proper sci-fi, the fleshing out of the midi-chlorians as entities in Star Wars... it's all so damn fascinating.

KOTOR - KORTOR II: SITH LORDS - SWTOR: The Knights Of The Old Republic games, and it's unofficial third entry in the form of 'Star Wars: The Old Republic,' are stories that take place in an even LONGER time ago in the same galaxy that's far, far away. The first game talks about Revan, the second talks about 'The Exhile' and the third game has both characters be greater-scope forces in the background that influence the events of the game.

The Prequel Trilogy: I never had a problem with these movies. I grew up playing the LEGO games, so I guess it never registered to me that these were bad. But I love the prequels.

The Clone Wars 2003: Unpopular opinion, but this is way better than Clone Wars 2008; no offense to anyone who loves the 3D Show, but the 2003 cartoon is a flashy and high-octane series that NEVER stopped and it had an appealing art/animation style. More importantly, the characters here are far more faithful to their film counterparts than 2008!CW. Plus, Grieveous was a straight BADASS in this show.

Republic Commando (both the book & the game): The book is generally a good read, but the game is basically "What if Star Wars made a Halo game?"

Revenge Of The Sith - Junior Novelization: While RotS is a good movie, the book is... it's just so much better. It goes in-depth into Anakin's descent into complete madness, properly fleshing out his paranoia and his trust in Palpatine; it makes everything he's gone through in the film more believable.

Jedi Fallen Order, Force Unleashed, Force Unleashed II, Jedi Suvivor: These four games, all taking place in-between episodes III and IV, are two sides of the same coin. Both are epic hack-n'-slash games where you play as a lightsaber-wielding force-user. But that's where their similarities end, the Force Unleashed games are power-fantasy games where you are so unbelievably powerful that you can do just about anything; the Jedi games are a more traditional journey from zero-to-hero where you start out weak and the gameplay requires a bit of legitimate skill to properly master.

The Han Solo Books: The REAL origin story of Han Solo. Born of a family of thieves, Han joined the Imperial Navy because he wanted to fly. He meets Chewy and loses his job. Other goofy stuff ensues.

Rogue One: Didn't think a movie that was based ONE LINE IN THE OPENING SCRAWL OF THE FIRST MOVIE was gonna be as good as it was, but here we are.

The Radio-Drama version of the Original Trilogy: I love the movies, but I love the radio-drama adaptation WAY more; as it expands upon and fleshes out the things in the films that left me scratching my head, it has more context to a lot of it's scenes AND it has a bunch of other extra scenes that weren't in the movies that make listening to the radio-drama a fresh experience.

The Mandalorian (seasons 1 and 2): I haven't seen season 3 (I'm sure it slaps, though), but I think this is an awesome sequel show to the original trilogy.

The Courtship Of Princess Leia: I just— this book is so damn funny, I can't wrap my head around it. (Plus, I love Han and Leia as a couple).

The (original) Thrawn Trilogy & Dark Empire: While I'm well-aware that the Thrawn books are pretty much loved by many a Star Wars fan, Dark Empire (I've noticed) is a lot more contested... but I love the Dark Empire SO MUCH. I love the idea of the World-Devastators and Luke turning Dark is awesome.

All of the Post-BBY Books from the Legends continuity: Mara Jade, the Solo kids (Jacen, Jaina and Anakin) and Ben Skywalker are such cool characters that I'm actually depressed that they get de-canonized.

Star Wars Legacy: Cade Skywalker is a very interesting character, as he's a Skywalker who became a hedonistic criminal who doesn't want the burden of responsibility weighing on him by proxy of being a Skywalker, the Empire is actually kind of chill, and everything that we all thought we knew about Star Wars gets flipped on it's head. Legacy, in my mind at least, is an interesting way to end the story of Star Wars.

#star wars

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virtie333 · 9 months

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Let's talk Damerey.

I ended up being a VERY general fan during the SW sequels. Like...none of the ships bother me. FinnPoe? Fine. Damerey? Fine. Kylo and whomever, sure. I guess. I just want them to live and be happy.

Anyway, when did your Damerey journey start? I think I read at one point they had thought about making Poe and Rey a thing? But I guess the visions of the differing directors didn't allow for it? Did I make that up in my head?

I understand the appeal of that ship as well as FinnPoe or whatever it's called. I mean, it's Poe, so who wouldn't be obsessed lol

Anyway, thoughts?

Also, do you like to stick to Damerey fics for Poe or do you also like xreader with Poe?

Oh, boy. This might take a while.

I can honestly say I've been Damerey a lot longer than I've been a fan of Oscar Isaac. I became Damerey right after The Force Awakens. But here's the thing, I was Reylo, too. What? Okay, let me explain. I love the 'good girl falls for bad boy' trope, but I've always been realistic about it; the bad boy can't be horrible bad and has to become good eventually. I loved the idea of Rey bringing Ben back from the Dark Side, but... what he did to his father (my first love and still the one I compare to all other crushes) is unforgivable. I knew Ben Solo would NOT have a happy ending. Therefore, Rey needed to have her happily ever after with someone else. Finn or Poe? I loved them both, but I do have a thing for pilots, so I chose Poe.

The Last Jedi only increased my interest in both ships. The connection between Rey and Ben was fascinating. But... that last scene between Rey and Poe? I remember commenting to my brother after our first viewing, "They have to be planning something between them after that! Right?"

I went into the last movie wondering which way (if either) they were going to take it. I told myself I would be happy with either, and even if Rey chose no one; after all, she doesn't need a man to make her happy. But I am a hopeless romantic. After the first argument between Poe and Rey, where I nudged my brother (who I saw all 3 movies with) and said "They're just like Han and Leia!", I had hopes.

But... they failed to continue with that bright start. And with the kiss between Ben and Rey at the end, I was pretty much resolved to settle for Reylo. And that was my focus for the first couple of month after the movie. But then something strange happened. A fellow Reylo fan, who had defended the first two movies despite all the hate going on, started bemoaning how 'Rey would never be happy now,' and she 'would never get to have babies,' etc. etc. And that pissed me off. Big Time. She had options, dammit! She could stay single and raise Force sensitive orphans. She had Finn. And of course, she had Poe. So, I wrote Rising, my first fanfic in almost 20 years.

When the pandemic hit, and I ended up working part-time, I decided I needed to continue with this post-movie world I had created. I still had a soft spot for Ben, and it shows up in my early works, but I wanted to make Rey and Poe find their happily ever after. Then something else strange happened. In one of my stories, Kennera, I wrote a scene from Poe's POV. Suddenly, I wanted to know more about the actor who portrayed him. And I found this...

youtube

That was that. I was hooked on this man. I started watching everything I could with him in it. And I continued to write Damerey, falling more and more deeply into that ship. Reylo became less and less interesting to me, and now I could care less about it. Damerey is everything to me. And it's been that way for almost three years now. I just freaking love them with everything in me.

To answer your question about the ship almost becoming canon, yes it almost did. Colin Trevorrow's script The Duel of the Fates almost became the third movie, and it included a lot more Rey/Poe interaction, even a kiss or two. Some say it's why that scene at the end of The Last Jedi was added, to introduce that attraction. But alas, it didn't happen.

If you had asked me two years ago if I had read any Poe x Reader stories, I would have scoffed at you. I am a reader of novels and I write in the same style and always will, so why would I read that? But... I've read several amazing writers that write in that style since then, and I have become addicted. I know I will never write that way, but I will enjoy others.

I think the fact that I don't write that way is the reason why no one on Tumblr (other than a few trusted friends) ever reads and shares my stuff. It's a bit lonely sometimes, but it is what it is.

Damerey forever!

Art by @greysmartwolf

#ask box #ivystoryweaver #damerey #jedipilot #poe x rey #my story #oscar isaac #writing #i bet you're sorry you asked!#lol

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sonofthedunes · 9 months

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angsty luke/andrie headcanons part 2 under the cut. as before these are all very depressing, and deal with some heavy subjects (tw for pregnancy loss and death)

because andrie’s force skills have been suppressed for so long, they are incredibly weak-and because they are so weak, she cannot feel luke (or really anyone else) if they aren’t on the same planet. during the events of empire when she is separated from her friends post-hoth, andrie has no idea where they are or if they’re alive for weeks. it is only upon her return to the rebel fleet that she reunites with leia and learns of han’s capture and luke’s maiming.

approximately a month after their wedding, and before they set off to investigate reports of jedi artifacts, andrie makes a request of luke which stuns him-she wants to go back to tatooine and see her family again. they’ve discussed returning before (outside of rescuing han), but it’s always facetious: luke has no ties there anymore, and andrie has quite firmly pushed hers away. after all she’s experienced, though, she feels the need to reconnect, to apologize…perhaps to explain. as she left the farm without a word, so she arrives without one, and asks luke to wait on their ship while she goes ahead. her uncles are astonished and thrilled to see her: after finding her gone four years ago they’d feared the worst, and seeing her face on imperial wanted posters did little to mitigate it. now she’s come back to them, a grown woman and a freedom fighter. they couldn’t be happier. unfortunately, there’s not much else to be happy about. andrie’s great-grandmother died not long after the battle of yavin, the farm is struggling-and zaria launches into a rage as soon as she sees her, branding her ungrateful and unfeeling. she reacts with anger to andrie informing them that she is training to become a jedi…and becomes absolutely apoplectic when andrie reveals that luke skywalker, the descendant of slaves who had so insulted the family, is both her teacher and her husband. though she brings luke into the house so that he might help her clarify, the resulting argument ends in zaria spitting at andrie’s feet and disowning her last living grandchild. and in that moment, andrie finally and forever lets go of her past. she bids her uncles farewell, pays her respects at the graves of her family, and she and luke leave tatooine for good. (as it turns out, luke wasn’t idle while he initially waited: he collected a piece of japor wood which he later used to carve a snippet for andrie, just as anakin did for padmé. she wears it for the rest of her life.)

the initial months after the defeat of the empire are happy ones: luke and andrie finally marry (as detailed in the fluffy headcanons post), celebrate the marriage of han and leia a few days later (luke officiates, andrie is leia’s bridesmaid)…and in about two months’ time leia and andrie both learn that they are pregnant. the new republic is just beginning to emerge. the future seems limitless. but just as leia starts showing, andrie wakes up one morning cramping horrifically, with her side of the bed drenched in blood. there is nothing that can be done-she loses the fetus. of course she’d known it may be possible she’d inherited her mother’s fertility struggles, but to actually experience it firsthand…luke soothes her as best he can, reassuring her that it isn’t her fault and they’ll try again when they feel ready. so the next year andrie conceives…and once more she miscarries. she begins to wonder if, perhaps, it simply isn’t the will of the force for her and luke to have children. and when she loses a third pregnancy in 7 ABY-this time the hemorrhaging so severe that it nearly kills her-her husband readily agrees that this will be the last; he will not keep forcing her to endure this cycle the way her father did to her mother. andrie undergoes an operation soon after. they know this was the right decision, but part of them always thinks wistfully of the family they never have.

we know the next part of the story: luke and andrie establish their jedi temple, take on a group of students (including ben solo), teach them together as andrie ascends to knight and then master. though they can’t have children, they come to regard their padawans as family. the balance between teachers and spouses proves difficult to maintain, but they’d known it would be and work hard at it. they are perfectly content together-and ignorant of the gathering darkness within their nephew. after the temple is destroyed and their students massacred, luke makes the decision to go into exile…alone. from the start he has no intention of taking andrie with him. she begs, pleads on her knees, to not be left alone in the face of what’s coming, but he tells her he knows she can do this. he needs her to protect leia because he can’t anymore. she is the last jedi-he can no longer claim that title, and he is wholly undeserving of her. and as he turns his back to leave, for one awful moment andrie’s anguish and terror consume her, and she draws her saber on the man she loves. of course he easily blocks the swing-he’s luke skywalker, he’s the most powerful jedi who has ever lived, and she didn’t intend to kill or even injure him-but in the glow of their blades they gaze on the other like a stranger. and that is the last time they see each other for six years.

in the ensuing span andrie is, as far as the galaxy at large knows, the only remaining jedi. just as she did during the battle of yavin so many years before, she attaches herself to leia because she has nowhere else to go; though she will occasionally fight directly with the first order, her main priority is keeping her sister-in-law safe. the two women become even closer, a decades-long friendship strengthened in the grief of losing their husbands-although andrie angrily rebuffs the suggestion that she could divorce luke in abstentia for abandonment. their vows were sworn in the living force, and words spoken that way cannot be undone. for as much as she resents him for the fate he’s shoved onto her, for as many mornings as she wakes wanting to die, she still loves him…and that love is what moves her to accompany rey to ahch-to, to at least seek his help in rey’s training and the ongoing war.

the reunion isn’t precisely a joyous one. he’s angry that his exile was disturbed at all, let alone by them; she is confounded by his refusal to train the girl and still deeply hurt by the way they parted. at long last they have it out, spilling their pain and their fear on the green slopes of temple island over the course of several days. it’s raw, it’s bitter, but it must be done. for at last luke is persuaded to aid the resistance in their darkest hour, his force projection lending them valuable time to flee crait. though he is greatly weakened by the effort, he does not die-his wife and sister add their own power to his, and a small team is ready to transport luke off the island to receive the care he needs.

even after the end of the war, and the slow arduous work of rebuilding the jedi order with their new apprentice rey, it takes luke and andrie a great deal of time to rebuild their trust and heal the anger that drove almost impassable rifts into their marriage. at times it seems impossible, but they hold to the little motto they created in the early heady days of their relationship: “you and me, down the line.” and as they teach a new generation together, slowly allow each other back into their hearts and living space, their connection is arguably the strongest it’s ever been.

and now we rip the band-aid off: andrie outlives luke, and leia, and han, and nearly every other human she fought in the rebellion with. when her husband’s death comes at 78 (his body unable to cope any longer with his chronic injuries, his mind fully at peace with joining the force) she is with him, reassuring him of her devotion until his last breath. she’d known his passing would be painful…but she hadn’t prepared herself for the magnitude of that pain. for some time afterward andrie withdraws from leadership of the jedi order, leaving it in rey’s capable hands, spending her time in deep meditation and annotating the sacred texts for future masters, occasionally visited by the ghosts of the Jedi who proceeded her (including luke after a few years)-and consumed by mourning for the man she loved for 60 years. she sinks into so deep a depression that luke himself must plead for her to let him go, to spend the time left to her shaping the minds of the padawans and providing counsel to rey. to live for him, not slowly die for him. and until her own death at 94, despite the lingering weight of his absence, that is exactly what andrie does. the girl born largely unwanted and unloved on a tatooine moisture farm dies a venerated jedi master in the temple she helped to rebuild: a beloved friend, an honored hero, a surrogate mother, and a cherished wife.

and there we have it. as always, questions and comments in my ask box are welcome!

#ask #andrie #luke skywalker x oc #i’m sorry #i do like her i promise

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tremendouskoalachild · 1 year

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Star Wars (1977) #02: Six Against the Galaxy

Roy Thomas, May 10 1977

What's not to love about this cover? Obi-Wan's red (pink?) "lightsabre". Luke straight up shooting a guy. The colors. The poses. The creatures. The mug (do seedy bars serve drinks in mugs??). And of course, "LUKE SKYWALKER STRIKES BACK!"

Also lol at wookieepedia throwing shade

The second page graces us with a majestic unconscious Luke, who even looks like a teen for once:

The scene in Ben's home - rather uncharitably referred to as a hovel by the narration - plays out in a different order of events from the final film - first Leia's message, then a discussion of Ben's past. I'm actually not sure why they ended up switching them - Artoo's message seems like the obvious place to start a conversation and Leia's mention of Ben's clone wars history is a good segue into the rest of the revelations.

The contents of the message are also somewhat different from the movie, and omit or change quite a bit from the fourth draft of the screenplay as well:

So in this version, Bail's name is still Antillies (not even Antilles) and Ben served the Old Republic, not him specifically as she says in the film. In the script the Rebellion is also explicitly referred to as the Alliance to restore the Republic (unlike the films, which use the terms Rebel Alliance and Rebellion). I don't really know what to make of Ben being called both a general and commander in the same context but whatever. Interesting that the iconic line "you're my only hope" is a later change - still, there is some inconsistency with the first issue:

I find it kinda funny how "the Force" is always in quotation marks. No version of the screenplay I've seen does this so I'll just assume it's all Mr. Thomas.

The discovery of the destroyed sandcrawler plays out like in the film. Afterwards we get Luke shouting for Aunt Beru and Uncle Ben:

Roy Thomas did write Spider-Man comics and it's cute so I'll forgive it. Let's say that Luke is in a lot of distress and just received lots of weird information about his heritage and maybe his comic version sees Ben as more of an uncle figure than Owen at this point idk

I'll also highlight this panel just because Luke's pretty in it:

In the cantina we finally get the fight promised by the cover. The alien who seems to have a problem with Luke (I don't want to call the character Ponda Baba as he lacks both the soulfull eyes and mandibles) says his line from the script (which is apparently still an actual quote as seen in the novelization, though I don't see how it relates to what is said/growled in the movie. Maybe Aqualish or whatever language is spoken here just has a unique transcribing system I guess). The rest of his lines seem to originate in this comic though. I also enjoy the "we have the death sentence on 12 systems", which differs from both the fourth draft and final film. They're besties ❤.

Yeah Ben just bisected those two. Alright.

Next, Chewbacca makes his appearance! I'm not sure why the narration feels the need to insult his looks though.

The bartender seems to be less enthusiastic about his snitching than in the film or script. The line interesting me here is the one about Han obviously not having a lightsaber - why is that obvious? Sure he's a loser but that's just mean. And why couldn't Chewie be the one slicing people up.

This might be a longshot but I've been fascinated by the third draft and the idea that "laser-swords" are much more common. Maybe this scene is a holdover from that?

Next we get the Greedo scene. His death is beautiful (the colors? the shading? the exploding lines? the pose?) and the fact that Han has his blaster in full view seems to imply he's just an insanely quick draw. 10/10 no notes.

Han's next scene is not quite as cool - in fact, it's the horrible deleted Jabba scene that never should have existed. I'll take it though, just for the awful early Jabba design.

I mean just looks at this yellow otter-walrus thing with terrible fashion sense. I'm pretty sure it's physically impossible to feel threatened by him.

I also greatly enjoy this interpretation of star destroyers. Why can't they fly like this in the films...

The banter inside the ship is pretty much word for word movie dialogue. I do love this 3PO pose:

And the final panel is honestly amazing!

Though that ship definitely needs greebling.

Closing remarks: this issue is kind of light on weird He-Man Luke. His incredible expressions make up for it though.

#sw comics readthrough

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mcrcki · 1 year

Photo

Was that [WILLA HOLLAND]? Oh no no, that was just [LEIA ORGANA], a [CANON CHARACTER] from [STAR WARS]. They are [TWENTY FIVE] years old, use [SHE/HER], and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long.

how long has your character been here -

leia technically has been here for nearly seven years now. she’s been in dc since she was twenty three, and while for plotting sake i have her age on pages frozen at twenty five, she is almost thirty now.

what is your character’s job -

president of the united states leia organa at your service

where has your character been pulled from in their fandom -

leia is pulled a few months after the battle of endor and the end of the galactic civil war. she was specifically on her way to a meeting with mon mothma about the role she would be taking in the new republic when she entered hyperspace and woke up in dc. that’s the last thing she remembers from home.

has any magic affected your character -

multiple times, yes. when leia first arrived in dc, she was completely unaware of her life back in her galaxy. she had originally thought she grew up in a political family, her father being the senator from oregon, her mother being a state representative. in that time is when she and sheev grew to be close friends, and eventually running for office together while both unaware of the true reality behind their connection. during one of the first storms in dc, leia had gotten caught up in the magic which brought her memories of home back for the past few years. two summers ago however, for reason we’ll get into i promise, she went unaware again, was the absolute worst and regained her memories during the jumanji nightmare. so, while she is completely aware now, she was unaware for a few times on and off. you never know though, third time’s the charm, that might stick this time around

extra information -

we know the drill by now right? i’m going to write a novel for no reason and apologize for how long i will go on gushing about the space mom

background :

let me just start by prefacing this with i pull pretty much everything i know and write about leia from legends canon. i really don’t follow new canon at all. of course, for rp purposes we’ve meshed the two and i love the solo family and their four messy kids, but i do write leia solely from legends and the path that life took.

a woman of too many names and titles. born leia amidala skywalker, younger twin to luke skywalker, the only daughter of padme amidala and anakin skywalker, she and her brother were separated at birth following the death of their mother and the fall of their father. it was the safest option. they would be hidden away from vader and palaptine. they should have been safe that way.

adopted by the organa’s, leia became the crowned princess to the alderaan throne, thus being known as the princess leia organa of the royal house of alderaan. and while she always knew she was adopted, she never knew about the family that she had lost to the force. her parents, bail and breha organa did everything they could to keep leia safe from that. she had at first, not shown any signs of the force.

unfortunately she did reveal a skill in it around the time she was two, and was soon on the empire’s radar for the incident.

might have been a baby but hey, gotta start pissing the emperor off from a young age.

while she never knew her twin growing up, leia had grown up with her best friend, and adopted sister, winter celchu. the two could not have been more different and yet as thick as thieves. winter was the perfect example of refined and regal, it didn’t take long for people to mistake her for the princess of alderaan. where leia was often mistaken as “a domestic girl”. which leia didn’t mind really. she never wanted the pressure of being the princess, to have to go through all of the training that her aunts would push on her. (she appreciates it more than she could have ever imagined now)

honestly shout out to winter for literally everything. the girls used to switch places, winter going to plenty of events as leia so that leia could sneak out of the palace and “create mischief and visit inappropriate boys”. this is something the girls carried on their entire lives, and even now winter will cover for her as president at least once a week.

leia really was just a rebellious child and i apologize to bail and breha for the nightmare girl she was. she was kicked out of almost every single school on alderaan, one of them because she staged a protest for not giving the students fresh squeezed juice, at seven. and another because she broke into the school’s speaker system and changed the programming so that any mention of “emperor palpatine” was replaced with “emperor fuckface” and the empire’s anthem was replaced with the anthem of the old republic. she was like 13 at the time.

she was mostly homeschooled after that by tutors.

honestly i could go into everything leia did as a child because dear god she got in so much trouble she was a terror. like dropping a water balloon on tarkin’s head. truly read her legends wiki, it’s so funny.

proficient in far too many languages, it was her favorite thing to learn and one of the only tutors that held her attention. that and her self defense teacher, but that was to be expected.

either way, leia learned that she hated most of high society, the way they all thought they were better than everyone, the lavish parties while people suffered and she, along with her father’s hand in training her for this, had decided early on that she wanted to change the galaxy she lived in.

bail had trained leia for this. she was the youngest senator ever elected, at just eighteen when she was formally introduced to the galactic senate and palpatine himself.

she was only seventeen when her father started to bring her into the fold of the rebellion.

when her father stepped down from the senate, leia officially took his place and subsequently used her diplomatic immunity and cover for her ship to run secret missions for the rebellion. it began her first steps into her double life of senator and rebel.

this was around the time that mon mothma had taken leia under her wing and she grew even closer into the senate but also the inner workings of the rebellion. she was meant to fully take over the rebellion thanks to mothma’s teachings.

this is about when we get to the events of the original trilogy so !!

JUSTICE FOR ALDERAAN.

life in dc :

alright deep breath everyone.

first and foremost, let’s just talk about the solos. leia is a mother of four, grandmother to three, and aunt to one. and she loves each and every one of them with all her heart and soul. her kids are her life, her grandchildren hold all of her heart. truly is just a very family oriented person, despite her workaholic tendencies, she would do anything to keep her family safe.

she is married to han solo, having eloped right before the halloween gala of 2022. they had kept it rather quiet, and were going to announce it to the family later until SOMEONE had to go and get themselves skewered again..... smh.

she is kinda still the worst. i’m so sorry to any agent ahsoka assigns to her detail because leia is a runner. there are far too many times that ‘nebula’s disappeared’ is called over the radios. but listen she’s got her blaster and her own lightsaber now, it’s fine

she was in the process of training with the force. she knows she’d never really be a jedi, she didn’t ever want to be a part of the order like that. and while she was doing well, learning how to control the force within her, there was always a darkness in her. one that she couldn’t fight off forever. the actual use of the force is something that still scares her. it’s a fear that she only talks to luke about, the both of them having an understanding about the darkness that continues to call to them.

her anger takes over far too often, not thinking clearly when it does and it leave a perfect opening for manipulation. for her own fall. to make the mistakes of her father. and that terrifies her.

she wanted to be good, she wanted to be strong, but she just doesn’t think it can happen. her greatest fear is that she will fall to the dark side as vader had, that she won’t be able to fight it. and with each encounter with palpatine, she fears he’s making more and more progress on that.-- i wrote that like two years ago AND OH BOY DID WE FORESHADOW.

she’s fought with palpatine about four ?? times now, three of them discreetly, but another when she tried to kill him. a futile attempt that ended only with leia falling and her brother’s death only being mirrored instead of avenged. she wants to forget it ever happened but knows she can’t.

she doesn’t think she can ever really forgive her father for what he did. she knows, somewhere deep down, that one day she will find a time to forgive him, seeing as how one of her sons is named after him, but she still has nightmares about what vader did, about the days she spent locked in her cell on the death star. often she will close her eyes and clear as day feel vader’s hand on her shoulder, forcing her to watch as alderaan was destroyed. those days set her back.

right now, leia’s main goal is just keeping her kids safe. keeping luke and han safe. and trying to keep herself from falling. but she’s also made up her mind, that if any of her family is to deal with the dark side, leia will be the one to take that fall. she will let herself fall under palpatine if it ever came down to that or her family’s safety. - big fucking oof to that one lMAO

god there is probably more i could ramble about, like certain things that happened in the og trilogy or headcanons about her and the force or her and her family or her and her job. who knows. i will probably do some like head canon posts for more details about like her and jabba or her and what happened on the death star idk glkdfjg

BUT if you want to know what’s going on with sith vibes, here is the link to that update, since it’s where we’re at currently with leia !!

anyways once more sorry for the length but also as always, throw a middle finger into the sky for the space momby, carrie ♥

connections :

✩ secret service agents

a long standing connection i’ve had up on the main. truly anyone is free to apply for this, if you need a job, the agents are there for you!!

not all of them will work with leia directly, but she would definitely know all of their names, as she cares a lot of everyone who works for/under her.

just be warned, if you are on her personal detail, it’s probably meant to mess with you because leia is known for disappearing from her detail whenever she feels like it and getting into one mess after another

definitely be ready to have “nebula’s disappeared” be part of your daily vocabulary.

✩ white house employees

this can be anything from her cabinet members to a maid, truly anyone who works in the white house would definitely know her

leia doesn’t like to have this big separation between herself and the rest of her employees so feel free to have your characters work in the white house and be friendly with the president!

✩ people in politics

i mean of course she would know just about everyone in politics, but she definitely would have friends she would have business lunches with, go out for some drinks after a long day, all that jazz

✩ people outside of star wars

leia has been in the city for 4+ years as well, she would be pretty much all over, going to any and every fundraiser, doing speeches at schools, visiting different jobs etc

so she would realistically know a bunch of people from all over the city, both good and bad interactions, feel free to plot these out with me!!

✩ friends outside of politics

people she would know that she doesn’t have to talk shop with, someone who maybe she meets on one of her many adventures running away from her agents

just about anyone she can just be leia with

✩ opposing politicians

my love is very very liberal , she is not always going to rub people the right way with very progressive thoughts and actions. she’s the youngest president in history and that can be to her detriment sometimes. on top of all of that, there have been how many disasters under her administration within the city?

point is, she’s not always going to get along with everyone, and i would love to explore some people who are definitely against her re-election, people who oppose her that she has a very strained professional relationship with etc

just tension all around !!!

#hw: intro #l. intro #long post tw #death mention tw

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livebloggingmydescentintomadness · 4 years

Text

the cockles masterlist, part 1

split in six for link limit reasons

WARNING: this post glitches and crashes on mobile. it’s recommended you view this on your desktop, or at least on your mobile browser rather than the app. if my desktop theme is hard on your eyes, try an extension such as Just Read or Reader View to customize the layout and colors.

if you’re still having trouble viewing, or if you don’t want to have to switch between the five posts, here’s all of the links compiled into a google doc.

welcome to the cockles masterpost, a labor of love/insomniac hyperfixation.

i recently wrote this cockles manifesto, but after it got a lot of notes and i kept adding more links to it, i decided i should just go through my 8 years of archives and compile all the cockles posts in a much more accessible and navigable way. after everything with the series finale and destielgate, i figured we could use some happiness, and it turns out there are a lot of people who’ve never heard the cockles gospel.

important disclaimer: yes, i do think that jensen and misha have a private romantic/sexual relationship, but no i do not, in any way, think that they have ever cheated on their wives. we think they are polyamorous, which is a real and valid thing, and misha is openly poly. some people love more than one person, and that’s okay. their families are close and we love and support all of them.

second important disclaimer: despite the amount of innuendo below, this is not about fantasizing about two hot guys fucking. cockles is about the joy of witnessing two people who love each other and make each other happy and are disgustingly cute together. we’re not fetishizing, we’re just appreciating what they publicly share with us.

third important disclaimer: because some of y’all don’t know, the cardinal rule of cockles is that we don’t talk to cockles about cockles. DO NOT leave any comments on their social media accounts implying anything. not even green and blue hearts. they know that we know, but it’s on us not to make it weird. if we’re too obvious and say too much, they might start sharing less. don’t say anything.

NOTICE: if this list is too long or you don’t know where to start, i wrote a post that one might call an illustrated guide to cockles that breaks down many of the most important moments and what i think they mean.

for the sake of my sanity, these are in no particular order.

last updated: 3/8/23

🐚 denotes new content

part 2 (#pray4jensen, gag reel hijinks, some posts i’ve written about cockles and rps)

part 3 (know your cockles history, the intimacy)

part 4 (the glory of jibcon)

part 5 (just for cute)

part 6 (jibcon continued, just for cute continued)

That’s Suspicious:

jared Knows part one | part two

that time misha flashed his crotch at jensen and jensen visibly gulped (op has me blocked, idk why, so i can’t reblog) (oh wait i just found it in my archives, but the commentary on the other one is intriguing)

another post about the previous incident i was able to reblog

10x05 “they’re a couple in real life”

“he mentioned that you have some video of him, jensen?”

jared knows + jealous jensen

“misha’s been working out!” “he has though, hasn’t he?”

jensen falling out of his chair over misha being called straight

“the season i met my wife... isn’t this the season you met misha?”

the vaseline comment

jared putting jensen’s arm around misha

“misha started a fire? he’s pretty hot.” (misha: the acceptable nomenclature is smokin’)

the almost kiss?

another almost kiss... ruth connell points it out

misha “has the legs” for a princess leia bikini

“i’d love to do a western slash romcom with misha” (bonus: full-body shake)

“he sounds like that in the morning.” “how do you know?” | video

“whoa, that’s really romantic.”

jared says misha slept in his apartment, “it didn’t mean anything” (bonus: “he’s jealous!”)

misha’s favorite thing to do in his free time

“i would wanna be a fallen angel.”

“talk about a spoiler alert.”

jared suggests jensen might want to be one of misha’s “toys”

jared: “dog [sticking its face in jensen’s crotch] thinks it’s misha!”

even robert singer knows

“this is not misha, you know that right?”

misha, your fly is open... | leaning in to look at his fly is normal right?

the mishalecki/cockles difference in touching | another version

fan: “happy birthday to me!” jared: “misha?!”

midday pants change? 🤔 misha’s shirt turned inside out?? 🤔

“I just have a quick question about the photos that you took with Misha”

leaving the bathroom together?? (after jensen already left another bathroom, then went in with misha to another bathroom)

“let’s put jensen in the closet.”

jensen’s shifty eyes

jared saying that jensen named his chest hair misha

the way they sit when all three of them are on stage

the time jensen implied they woke up together and then got flustered as he backpedaled

the onstage moment that jensen seems to imply that there are two different people he’s in love with

s15 box set put jen/mish photo parallel with jared/genevieve

mark sheppard’s comment about misha loving jensen

the time jensen called misha a hemorrhoid and s.e. hinton, who has spent a lot of time on set, asked “how do you know?”

so misha showed up to his charcon ‘21 saturday panel wearing the same clothes he was wearing friday night... with the addition of what looks a lot like one of dean’s jackets

jensen and misha wearing two different shirts by the same brand, which misha definitely didn’t buy for himself

the “@jensenackles is too tired and lazy to say thank u to chicago, so i’m doing it” tweet that misha quickly deleted

the man just off-camera in jensen’s cabin video sure as hell sounds like misha

jensen posted photos of himself in a portuguese shirt from a german store shortly after misha took trips to portugal and germany

jensen wore an australian brand shirt not long after misha was in australia

jensen’s blue and green bracelet at jib12

misha tells fans it’s jensen’s fault he was late for photo ops

jensen changed his shirt in the middle of the day, around the same time they were both late for their ops

jib instagram post framing rob/ruth and jensen/misha the same way

wearing similar peace symbol shirts by the same brand 🐚

both seen with... um... white... stains... on their clothes... 🐚

jensen sees misha stick his tongue out, slaps himself in the dick to calm down 🐚

mishananigans:

calling jensen “sweetheart” | gifs | video with clearer audio 🐚

“sorry your camera operator keeps checking you out like that”

walking all the way over to be next to jensen on the red carpet

“jensen is very submissive”

“you’re asking jensen to hit on me? that’s definitely something he will easily do.”

“i’d take jensen home”

misha gazing at jensen

“jensen’s the horse”/”my kids have seen jensen having sex many times”

more “jensen is the horse”: “do not tweet that fanart to me”

“my favorite prop is dean”

hugging jensen

only clapping for jensen

“jensen is like spinach... soft and wilts easily”

imitating jensen’s “hey big boy” | more

messing with jensen’s ear onstage | more gifs

kissing a stuffed animal while making eye contact, names it jackles

calls jensen “tidy”

misha says he only does fake orgasms with jensen

gets talked into improvising a song by jensen

says that jensen’s trailer is covered in photos of him

“you’ll always be my princess”

talking about clothes sharing

grabbing jensen by the hair???

misha’s tell | misha’s other tell

sticking his finger in jensen’s nose

spilling tea on how much jensen loved dressing up as cowboys | “he showed up on set with his own cowboy hat in a box” 🐚

“tell your gishwhes story”

drew hearts all over jensen’s face

“with you it’s like my friend and protector.”

tweet about jensen’s bowlegs

that time misha put on lipstick and kissed jensen’s picture

“i use that same [dean] pillow”

draping himself on jensen’s shoulder

that smile

“It warms the cockles of my heart. Words chosen carefully.”

blowing on jensen’s ear

“jensen sings to me all the time.”

whatever misha’s hand was trying to do here

“jensen doesn’t have any annoying qualities.”

“that. mother. fucker.”

that time misha said “or him” and looked sad :(

putting his leg over jensen’s shoulder

“i’ve been told that we stare at one another’s eyes longingly.”

heart-eyes at sdcc

answering if the handprint was modeled after his hand

throwing gummy bears at jensen

calling a scene of jensen he directed “sexy”

“dean would probably be attracted to me”

misha very carefully trying to answer who would be the king to his queen

“jensen wants a body like mine, and that’s understandable.”

TSA America - Just Relax - a 2013 short misha (and vicki) made where he plays a tsa agent who searches, fondles, and almost kisses a blond southern man. danneel has a cameo as the wife of the southern man | some gifs | more gifs

evidence that misha is bisexual

“i would choose to be the car, because dean would ride me all day.”

talking about how he and danneel love each other, how danneel ordered dabb to write a scene for the two of them

misha bought jensen knives for their anniversary? (11th anniversary gift is steel)

further speculation on misha’s comments alluding to traditional anniversary gifts

the “why would you want to wear a cowboy hat in vancouver?” bit from the mockumentary

the “misha is alma” theory + my analysis | alma tag (remember not to leave any comments implying anything or i will hunt you down.)

misha’s “i might ship something between us” post wishing justin bieber jensen a happy birthday

a video of misha calling jensen “jens”

the alma separation + reunion poems (one day later misha posted a video of himself at the beach)

“what is jensen’s favorite road trip snack?” jared and misha visibly write down “cock” | gif of it

“nice ass”

mirroring jensen during the jib closing ceremony

misha: “we all know which one of those guys we wanna bang.”

misha’s text about missing his “blanky” that he kept in jensen’s apartment | possibly wearing jensen’s shirt in it

implying that jensen is the “most handsome, charming member of the supernatural cast”

misha being thrilled that he’s on top of jensen

“it really warms my cockles”

breakdown of misha’s 2021 trip to colorado. hillary swank posted a video of misha riding horses with her, and she lives in the same town as the ackles’. to our knowledge jensen wasn’t there at the time, but he likely visited danneel and the kids.

the time misha talked about cockles rpf onstage

“it’s easy for our clothes to get mixed up, that’s all.”

misha saying he wanted his character to have sex with “one of the boys”

gishwhes item: “jensen ackles thinks he’s such a tough guy now that he’s soldier boy, but we know that he’s just a big softie. prove it: create a portrait of jensen as soldier boy, all out of skittles gummies.” + misha’s dumb tweet about it

gishwhes item: “jensen kayakles really floats our boat. compose a rollicking sea shanty to wish him well in his new role as soldier buoy on “the boys”.

when misha posted a photo of himself splayed on what appears to be the bed in jensen’s trailer

misha’s tweet about being part of a queerbaiting ship, versus an actor with “CRAZY EYES and a knife in his pocket!”

misha’s heartfelt reply to the ackles’ post about his poetry book

misha’s poem ‘men in woods’ and how it might be about jensen | more theorizing

calling jensen “stud” after his role in rust is announced + fucking amazon tweeting about the “stud” tweet

watching jensen from backstage at denvercon

tweeting that he was “up all night” after the tragic death on the set of jensen’s movie rust, saying he sends all his love to jensen

when asked if he thought dean and cas’s wedding vows should include the word “obey”, misha spontaneously declared that he would like jensen to say that to him. “whatever you say, mish.” | video

“@jensenackles, you could probably use a shave, but you’re a tad too slim to be a “bear”.”

misha liked a post tagged with 'jenmish’

collection of misha’s hearteyes

“jensen thinks i’m a god? i’ve picked up on that vibe a lot.”

discussing how their response to photo op requests to kiss each other on the mouth is “sure, why not”

misha’s “here’s looking at you, birthday boy” post

his and jensen’s battle to have the lower voice on spn

“i felt like jensen posing in a photoshoot”

“get your own colors, jensen”

gish item: “macaroni art of jensen mac-kles. (you can add some cheddar but this is already pretty cheesy.)”

“you’re thinking of dean that’s handsome. jensen is actually quite challenging to look at.”

billie eilish: “what’s jensen like?” misha: “hung like a field mouse”

biting his lip while jensen talks about soldier boy’s codpiece

misha's story of jogging together and nearly falling on ice 🐚

misha drew a heart on a picture of jensen wielding handcuffs 🐚

"i don't remember doing a sex scene with jensen" 🐚

"dentstiel" post 🐚

misha's tweet about the cockles easter egg in the last of us II | jensen's quote tweet 🐚

and lastly... please, nobody tweet this at misha (or any other cast member), but misha, if you do see this... please don’t tweet it either. thank you.

#cockles #cockles masterlist #jensen ackles #misha collins #mine

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valenhell · 3 years

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From the studio that brought you “I can’t find good Byler fics in the ao3 tag”, comes:

"The Definitive Byler fic rec list"

Literally no one asked for this but because I spent the majority of last year (...and 2019, and 2018...) reading byler fics and coping with life, I thought I’d make a list of some of my absolute favorites.

The other day I was basically starving for some byler fics and the angel @magicalfairy provided me with some of her faves so I thought I’d do the same, because I love reading, and I love all of these fics and I appreciate their writers💗 And fic writers in general, come on!

- This is a mix of long works and one-shots/short stories. - Everything is mostly fluff with a tad of angst and a lot of internalized homophobia conflict. - Every fic is completed, except for the ones I mention that they are not. - I try my best to lay out the stories in a way that I won’t spoil you the plot but also warning you of some stuff you might don’t like. Either way, all of these fics are correctly tagged by their respective authors/owners, so read at your own risk. For better understanding, in between brackets I denote Rating, Words and quantity of Chapters. - I feel like I should clarify, none of these are narrated in the singular first person. None of that “And I told him...”, no.

Long fics

a dream always the same (T, 99k, 35 chapters) What happened in those few weeks between the Battle of Starcourt and the Byers leaving Hawkins. Literally a satisfying and very needed fill in of season three, with a good dose of Mike’s thoughts and conflict. Mike’s characterization is specially amazing in this one. The writing style is amazing and I know the author put everything into making it historically accurate, and it was really sweet. You probably read it, it’s by the amazing sevensided here on Tumblr🧡

Spring Break (T, 120k, 14/15 chapters) The slowburn of my dreams. Lots of internalized conflict and conflict with each other. Conflict within the Party (uhh kind of), conflict with Mike and Will. Byers family has moved and the kids are visiting! Chaos. Characterization is on point. Yeah, I know it’s unfinished, but the fourteenth chapter actually serves as a pretty nice ending.

This is where it starts (M, 148.8k, 24 chapters) Aged up characters. The Party is in college and Will disappears again, but now it’s different. Mike knows he didn’t vanish from thin air, and the discovery he and the Party end up making is pretty insane. Mystery solving/fantasy/third dimension, throw in a bit of D&D and Mike realizing some shit, and you get this marvelous fic. It’s a breath of fresh air. The world building is definitely one of the elements that stands out the most, because it’s very nicely described, it sounds like a dream and it’s completely immersive. Absolute gem of a fic.

there’s a Starman waiting in the sky (M, 30.6k, 8 chapters) Do I need to say anything? Will is out there living his best life and Mike realizes that wow, umm, maybe his best friend looks a bit too nice with that costume... and wait, is he getting horny? It’s actually really fun and sexy.

The Evening Speaks (T, 23k, 7 chapters) In where Mike is a late-night college radio host and Will is the art student that stays up till late to catch up with Wheeler on the Mic. They flirt through songs y’all, this one is really sweet.

heads or tails? (E, 24k, 3 chapters) Aged up characters. I know most people don’t enjoy sex in fics and with specific characters but this one is insanely well written. It’s a slowburn that commits to the tension and with every word you are grasping and anticipating their next move. I think you can find the author here on Tumblr as yousaidyes🧡

The Man of Average (M, 56.7k, 5/? chapters) Aged up characters. No but you don’t understand, the writing here is absolute gourmet. The story is exciting as well, it’s super interesting. Weirdly enough, for being very aged up characters, they are well characterized but they don’t feel like teenagers. They are naturally Mike and Will. The author really captured Mike and Will’s essence. I know, it’s unfinished and it’s updated very rarely, but this is the typical fic you can’t believe someone just posted on the internet for free. I will say though, I think it’s definitely not for everyone. Read at your own risk.

Heartstrings (E, 82.8k, 24/? chapters) Aged up characters. By the same author of The Man of Average. A collection of memories, the road to Mike and Will’s happy ever after. And fucking hell!!!!! You’ll cry and get angry, you’ll cheer for them, then you’ll want to crash their faces together because god dammit you love each other!!! But yeah, same thing here. The writing and the way the story is laid out as a nonlinear narrative is brilliant. And I also think this is one of the best Will versions I’ve read. The author might as well be the og creator of this two characters tbh. You can find the author here as mylesimeblr🧡

Sinners behind the walls (T, 1.5k, 1/1) And because I can’t stop recommending this author, a little thing of Mike tormenting himself but also being too deeply committed to Will.

The Red Envelope series (T/E, 167K, two completed works) Something happens that Will thought was impossible and from there, pure drama and romance. Anything by this author has the potential to become your absolute favorite fic, but this series in particular is amazing. I doubt that any of you haven’t read this, but it doesn’t hurt to put it in this list. I’m pretty sure the author is serendipitous-magic on Tumblr🧡

A New Fight series (T, 91k, two completed works, one WIP) And finally the Star Wars AU that we all needed. But this isn’t your typical “Mike is Han”, “Will is Leia” and “El is Luke”, it’s way more interesting than that, and the author has appropriated the Star Wars world like no other. I’ll admit I’m not a 100% fluent in SW lore but this is amazing to me either way. This author is also on Tumblr, tea-for-one-please🧡

- Yes, most of these are (if not all), in a way, canon compliant/canonverse/canon continuation into fanon. (In a way)

One-shots and short stories

Sundae for Two, Please (G, 4.8k) Steve being the supportive friend and older brother these kids collectively need. (not Jonathan erasure, we love him). Steve is very sweet himself, and this little cute thing through his POV is gorgeous. Yes, it’s byler.

Backstage (T, 10k, 2/2) Jonathan, you forgot to mention to Will how hot your new band’s guitarist is, dude. Now he’s hyperventilating and weirdly flirting with him in the corner. Background Stonathan because why not.

102 Peach Street (G, 3.8k) Established relationship, but not only that, they are married :’’))) PURE fluff. Extreme fluffiness. Diabetes.

sweatshirts and bottled up feelings (T, 3.2k) Or, Mike thinks that the sweatshirt Will wears looks insanely good on him. And kitchens are for lovers.

kiss it better (T, 16.3k) Basically one of the best character studies of a few precise moments of Mike and Will’s relationship and feelings.

will wonders ever cease (T, 11.3k) #i ship will and happiness. Omfg what a beautiful piece of fanfic. Will centric, this kid really deserves all the good in the world.

The Calm After the Storm (T, 1.6k) Tooth rotting fluff, boyfriends in love. Boyfriends being lazy, cuddling, love words, kisses. Boys loving each other’s company... Basically, Mike and Will in their element. What more can you ask for?

neither of us ready to let go (T, 4.8k) That scene from season three, but a bit of a fix it.

Still in love (G, 1k) Domestic, married life au fluff. Y’all, I’m a sucker for established Byler, even if I can’t find many fics with it. But this is very sweet. It takes place in 2020, but I don’t think there are any mentions of the COVID-19 crisis that I remember.

I Nver Find Out ‘Til I’m Head Over Heels (G, 12.5K) Classic 5+1 fic. If you haven’t read it, where have you been? This is your moment. In where Mike keeps inviting Will to the school dances and Will thinks it’s just a joke until he realizes it’s not.

Before You’re Gone (T, 5.9k) Will is leaving Hawkins and Mike thinks this is a great moment for a confession. This one I discovered last friday, thank you friend @magicalfairy 💗

You’re weird Wheeler (M, 4.5k) Mike unintentionally starts a tradition of going to each other to talk about their sexual encounters just after they finish. Will keeps getting more explicit with the details he shares, and he makes his best friend interested. This one is really fun y’all.

Out-Of-Town Friends (N/R, 4.6K) It’s not rated. I haven’t re- read it but I’d say it would probably fall in a T rating. So cute!! Will has new friends and sneaks off every friday and the Party doesn’t know where he is going, so Mike decides to follow him and is surprised.

Snowed Under (G, 1.3k) By the same author of The New Fight series. Mike is spending christmas by himself in college because a snowstorm hits Chicago and Nancy can’t drive to see him, but then he has a surprise visitor. Ahhh just a lil sweet holiday fic. Super cute.

you love me anyway series (T, 7.1k, three completed works) Literally just the cutest thing ever. Established Byler. Will loves to take pictures and he loves taking pictures of Mike. It’s adorable.

you wanna be friends forever (i can think of something better) (T, 9k) This one is so amazing. So. Amazing. From Will’s POV, my kid deserves the world and he gets it.

okay not to be okay (T, 4.9k) Mike is a bit sad but then everything is okay.

can’t hold out forever (G, 18.4k) Y’all!!!!! 5+1 sweetness. Mike has been falling in love since kindergarten. And it’s long af, you’ll enjoy it.

even if it takes forever (G, 1.3k) College short AU, they miss each other, they love each other, they promise all to each other. It is sappy y’all.

clear as day (N/R, 18.4K, 4 chapters) It’s not rated, but I’d say it falls in the T category. Strangers to friends to lovers. And also, everyone is pretty gay; we have our dynamic trio Mike, Max and El as disaster lesbians (and gay). Will works at the library and he is also gay. Lucas and Dustin and Will are the best friends we needed. It’s very sweet and the Party is kind of formed here!

I went overboard with the one-shots, so you must have realized how much I love long one-shots and I favor them over long works lmao but they are all amazing!!! If it’s on this list, I probably read it at 2 am, sobbing in my bed. So. Hope you enjoy it☺️🧡

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phoenixyfriend · 3 years

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Vader Tries to Help

People encouraged me to share the dead dove concept! Yay! It’s a horrible concept with an undertone of comedic absurdity in the sense that you keep waiting to see what awful, incredibly stupid thing Vader is going to do next. Like it’s horrifying but it’s also very dumb.

By moving forward into the fic, you acknowledge that this is intended to be dark and liable to be upsetting, and that you are taking responsibility for your own engagement with the material.

This AU was helped along on discord by several parties but tbh I’m not sure how many of them actually want to be named.

Warnings: Mutual Extremely Dubious Consent (forced by a third party), drugging, irrational behavior (Vader), nonconsensual body modification, forced pregnancy, imprisonment, threatened torture of a child (not followed through on)

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Vader captures Obi-Wan a few years into the Empire. Because Vader is Anakin, but even worse on the emotional bullshit, he decides that he needs to keep Obi-Wan safe but harmless. Vader also got Luke in the whole 'capturing Kenobi' situation, so part of what Vader's thinking about all this is that Obi-Wan tried to protect The Baby and so Vader kind of owes him, obviously.

Palpatine lets him keep Obi-Wan "safe," because threatening Obi-Wan is a convenient way to make Vader shut up and do what he's told. Palpatine can kind of tell that threatening the toddler would make Vader lose his shit and attempt to kill good ol' Palps, so threatening the middle-aged depressed alcoholic being kept in Vader's guest room with Force-nullifying cuffs is pretty good. It's an additional layer of emotional torture on top of the electrocution of Vader himself!

Vader has Obi-Wan taking care of Luke, mostly, because Vader has Obligations and A Job, and Obi-Wan wouldn't hurt Luke, duh. He might try to escape with the kid, but he won't be successful, and Obi-Wan will definitely put Luke's safety first, so that probably won't happen.

This is all fairly normal for a variety of AUs, granted, and not very dark.

But see, Obi-Wan behaves. He's aware of how tenuous the situation is for him and his charge, so he plays nice. And Vader decides to reward that.

By giving him Cody.

There's an implied thought process there that Obi-Wan was fond of Cody, and Cody was fond back, and now that the Jedi aren't around, they can follow through instead of worrying about some silly Code. Vader's nullified the orders to kill all the Jedi, of course, possibly dosed their food with an aphrodisiac so they don't try to talk themselves out of What They Obviously Want.

Now, we’re going to make it a little darker, because why not make things worse by having Vader try to make things better?

Vader somehow twisted himself around to encouraging them to have a baby. This is accomplished through a combination of Sith Magic and nonconsensual surgery, and lots of questionable drugs.

Obi-Wan just wakes up in a hospital bed with a womb one morning, and is informed of the surgery then and there, after it’s already happened. The droid telling him about it is just like "in the Lord Vader's infinite kindness--" and Obi-Wan just.

Anakin.

What the fuck.

What in the actual fuck made you think this was a good idea.

(The Sith Chemicals, probably.)

I feel like Palpatine would maybe even order the pregnancy induction just to torture them by proxy because that's like eight levels of Fuck No and he barely has to do anything except tell Vader that he'd like to see what kind of children a Jedi Master like Obi-Wan has.

Luke needs friends, doesn't he?

Obi-Wan is having some very complicated emotions about all of this because Vader is, in his own absolutely insane way, trying to help.

Anakin wanted babies and Padme wanted babies so clearly, if Obi-Wan and Cody are in love, then they also want babies!

Cody and Obi-Wan very well might not be in love. Anakin definitely could have misinterpreted. It’s probably more angsty if they're just friends who ended up in this bullshit together.

(He's taking baby fever to new and somewhat horrifying heights, because... he would adore Obi's kids.)

(His family button is suprisingly large for a mass murderer.)

Vader Kindly Informs Bail That Obi-Wan Is Alive And Unharmed. Bail was a friend of Obi-Wan's, telling him this is only helpful and will keep Alderaan from getting more rebellious out of personal insult. Obviously.

Vader is almost offended when Bail implies he might hurt Obi-Wan. He kept his son safe, he owes him. Speaking of, don’t you have a child? How old is she, again? It would be Good for her to make friends, wouldn’t it? :)

Palpatine is just like... sitting back and eating evil popcorn as Vader runs around, ruining people's lives by trying to be less of The Worst than before.

Palps barely has to do anything, Anakin's fucking it up on his own!

Could have been just a sly "Kenobi is so attached to young Luke, but now that you've been reunited with your son, perhaps he'd be happier with a child of his own?" Come at it from both "make Obi-Wan happy" and "protect your relationship with Luke" angles.

Vader: I can't have babies anymore due to what you did to me on Mustafar. Obi-Wan: So you're punishing me by forcing me to have them instead? Vader: No! Children are a gift that you have been cruelly denied by the Order that held us in its chains! Obi-Wan: ...oh, right, you're insane. Forgot about that. Somehow.

Big dramatic speech about how the Jedi Order spent so long making them take lives, he’s giving Obi-Wan a chance to create it! To put something good and bright into the world!

Poor Cody is like. "General, I am very fond of you but I'm having a million panic attacks at the same time because of the mind control, and also Vader is under the impression that we're in love and I need to be your stud? I wasn't aware you could have children--" "I can't. Or at least, I couldn't, but Anakin is... creative." "...what."

I don't want to actually objectify Cody in the narrative past the point that Obi-Wan himself is, because nnnnngh racism and clone stuff, so I'm going to say Cody was in love with Obi-Wan, and would have been okay with at least discussing the whole baby schtick if not for the absolutely horrible circumstances.

Like if the war had ended normally, and Obi-Wan had expressed a desire to retire, unlikely as that was, then Cody may have suggested a dinner, and they could have gotten married and then eventually adoption...

(Cody had a lot of fantasies he didn’t let himself think about too hard.)

But no. It's this... weird Vader-inspired bullshit.

I'm just so invested in Vader trying to help but making things legitimately a million times worse.

He wants to help :) Oh god, he wants to help.

Why aren't people more appreciative of how hard I'm helping them? - the Anakin Skywalker story

With less time to stew and also getting handed what he wants, Vader could absolutely flip on a dime the second he saw Luke being protected, and go from “I hate you” to remembering that Obi-Wan said he loved him, and now he must keep Obi-Wan safe out of debt and he just... he’s playing house.

Vader throws Obi-Wan a baby shower after the pregnancy is confirmed. Bail is invited, because Obi-Wan doesn't have a lot of friends still alive. Vader decides Bail is top of the Obi-Wan’s Friends List.

This is the first time they've seen each other in two years. Obi-Wan is heavily pregnant despite Bail knowing full well he didn't have the plumbing for that before the Empire rose. Cody is there and emotionally exhausted but more lucid than most troopers. Luke is running up to Leia because New Friend!!!

....there may be MORE of the 212th and 501st at the baby shower, with “kill all Jedi” orders revoked, of course. But it will keep the children safe!! And Cody and Obi-Wan can see their surviving friends!!

Cody: I'd be much happier to see my surviving troopers if they didn't all still have chips in their heads. Obi-Wan: I feel much the same. Vader: [404 error]

Bail and his family might be there at blaster point, but aren't you happy to see them, Obi-Wan??

Obi-Wan's endless trauma is honestly somewhat curtailed by the incessant need to facepalm at Vader’s bullshit

Obi-Wan and Cody both outwardly have a very "there are much worse people I could be stuck with in this situation but obviously I wish I'd had a choice, no hard feelings" attitude at each other.

Internally, Cody is suffering because this is NOT how he wanted his crush to be realized, and Obi-Wan is just suffering, period.

Cody: How did he even choose which of us ends up pregnant? Obi-Wan: He thinks I need to be protected, and that he needs to keep me safe. Cody: ...he does realize that you're better at-- Obi-Wan: Cody, he's completely lost it. No! He doesn't realize!

I feel like over the course of the year or two this plot unravels towards Palpatine getting murder-deposed and Anakin getting locked down, part of the driving force to Vader not being Vader anymore is that Luke actually really loves Uncle Obi and always starts fussing and going "Ben's sad" whenever Vader dismisses what Obi-Wan wants in favor of what Vader thinks Obi-Wan wants, and Vader can't deny his child anything.

Luke cries because Palpatine Feels Wrong like, once or twice, and Anakin goes “oh, okay, assassination time.”

#Obi Wan Kenobi #Anakin Skywalker #Luke Skywalker #Commander Cody #Codywan #Darth Vader #Bail Organa #star wars #dubcon #situational dubcon #nonconsensual surgery #medical abuse tw #forced pregnancy tw #nonconsensual body modification #Vader Tries to Help AU #Phoenix Posts #dead dove do not read #dead dove

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shatterpoints-and-fractures · 2 years

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Star Wars AU Ideas Masterpost(?)

Okay, I have a lot of ideas about how the Star Wars might be changed around to my interests, often inspired by other artists.

My Three Main AUs

Something Done to Change It: In which Anakin passes out after making his first Major Bad Decision of the Day, thus manages to prevent himself from making the next few Bad Decisions of the day. Vader-ized against his will, yet still soured against his would be allies, the Empire gains a much more dangerous enemy.

(Main AU, based off @radioactivepeasant‘s Doomvader AU, but a massive Legends/Canon fusion starting at A New Hope and encompassing events up a modified Force Awakens/Fate of the Jedi event in 38 ABY).

To clarify, A New Hope begins normally, but begins to spiral rapidly when the twins reunite. Featuring earlier meeting of characters I like, A New Jedi Order that stands firm, and increased attention paid to the Eternals of Mortis.

By the Skin of their Teeth: Ahsoka raises concerns with Yoda, Yoda raises concerns with Mace Windu, Windu offers some reassurance to Anakin, Anakin stuns everyone by making A Good Choice. The Republic and Jedi Order survive by the skin of their teeth, and nineteen years later, the Twins Skywalker find themselves at the forefront of emerging threats new and old.

(Other Main AU, based off nickducoteart from instagram’s A New Darkness AU, where Anakin doesn’t interfere with Windu, but Palpatine escapes. Team SkyWindu manage to alert the Jedi about Order 66, so the lion’s share of the Purge’s damage is averted. Palpatine is thought dead, and certain...revelations leave the galaxy in chaos, and unstable nineteen years later.

Ft Luke-Ahsoka, Leia-Obi Wan, & Mara-Maul apprenticeships, High Republic fashion Leia, Ranger’s Apprentice references, Big Sis Katooni, MaraLuke otp, MaraLeia crush, and MaraEzra brotp.

Fractured Galaxy: Palpatine decides the Queen of Naboo needs to be under his thumb. Padme grows up a rebel, Anakin a Khyber monk, and the first Jedi to kill a Sith in an eon kickstarts a heresy. A third faction emerges in the Clone Wars, in which Palpatine holds no sway.

(Other other Main AU, based off some various ideas I’ve ran cross on this humble site. Padme isn’t elected Queen, rebels against the Trade Federation, and becomes much less willing to play ball with the Republic, two Jedi are accompanied to Naboo by a certain blind monk, who Anakin & Shmi end up following. When the Clone Wars arrive, the Seperatists are much more numerous, but divided between the CIS and the Free Systems Alliance, to whom Obi-Wan and an increasing number of Jedi begin to defect.)

Featuring Padme vs Dooku verbal duels, discussions about the morality surrounding the clones and the Jedi’s place in the military, zen Anakin, Zule Xiss and the Padawan Pack(look them up), and a Palpatine not in control of the situation.

Other AUs

Obi Wan raises the twins as Mandalorians

General situation swap between five post Order 66 potential Jedi (Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa, Ezra Bridger, Mara Jade, And Galen Marek/Starkiller)

Including situations where Luke and/or Leia are raised by Ahsoka, together in whatever location(Obi Wan, Alderaan, Tatooine, parents, or even Sith), Ezra and Mara as partnered imperial agents, and Galen Marek raised by/apprenticed to Luminara Unduli.

More Jedi survive Order 66/clones are more aware of chips/able to miss shots resist enough to allow more survivors.

Padme survives, but Anakin doesn’t. Possibly featuring Force Wraith Vader created from Anakin’s negative emotions.

Shmi was a Sith once, now a slave. Her hatred has faded, yet the fury remains. She may have once dedicated her life to the Jedi’s destruction, but now they may be each other’s salvation.

Young Jedi Knight Depa Billaba is dispatched to respond to a rebellion (slave uprising) against the Hutts on the world of Tatooine. Things go meiloorun shaped, and Depa finds herself nose to blaster point with the rebellion’s leader, a very force sensitive, very pretty young woman with an even more powerful baby strapped to her back. A Depa/Shmi rarepair fic.

And my funniest, Luke is childhood friends with the Tusken warrior who kicks Boba Fett’s ass, saves him from the others to attack him, and generally just tags along when things get moving.

#Star Wars AU #Star Wars #Luke Skywalker #Anakin Skywalker #Leia Organa #Ahsoka Tano #Clone Wars #Expanded Universe #Prequel Trilogy #Original Trilogy #Something Done To Change It #By the Skin of Their Teeth #Fractured Galaxy

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canary3d-obsessed · 3 years

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Restless Rewatch: The Untamed, Episode 23, second part

(Masterpost) (Other Canary Stuff)

Warning: Spoilers for All 50 Episodes!

Nature Abhors a (Power) Vacuum

Jin Guangshan, Nie Mingjue, and Lan Xichen have gathered to decide what to do about the remaining Wen people and also what to do about the Yin metal. They have not invited Jiang Cheng to this discussion, or blowhard Clan Leader Yao, despite those clans having been hit particularly hard by the Wens in the course of the war.

The three of them have a conversation about what to do with the Wen captives, showing their different attitudes towards killing.

Jin Guangshan: Killing is awesome, particularly in project management. It's just so efficient. Nie Mingjue: Killing is necessary, and a little bit fun, too. Lan Xichen: Killing is necessary, sadly, but we can randomly spare some women or old people, as a token sign that we’re not monsters. Kind of like when you have a fancy dinner and include a tofu dish for the vegetarians. Nie Mingjue: Nobody likes tofu, Xichen.

Jin Guangshan says he's looking for the Yin Iron and that they can't let any Wens or "ambitious people" get a hold of it. By ambitious people he means Wei Wuxian, not himself and his murder kid. Lan Xichen realizes this right away but doesn't, you know, do anything to contradict him. Jin Guangshan says he's asked "A-Yao" to look into it. Which is smart, because A-Yao is already in cahoots with Xue Yang, who actually has the piece of Yin Iron they're looking for.

Getting Jiggy With It

Then Jin Guangshan introduces Meng Yao, now renamed Jin Guangyao, in a weird twist on generation names. He has given him the name of a sibling or cousin of his own generation (starting with Guang), rather than a name of the next generation (starting with Zi). JGS says that JGY just recently learned about about being related to him, although we know perfectly well that's not true.

And they both talk like he appreciates JGY's efficiency and helpfulness, but that's not why JGS has him at his side. He has taken him in because he is a steel-eyed murder bot, not in spite of it.

(OP does not believe that Jin Guangyao could have been a good person if only his dad had let him hold Jin Ling that one time, as some have argued. Dude killed his own child because there was a chance he might be disabled in a way that could lead to gossip. Dude is a stone cold killer.)

(more after the cut)

In the language of CDrama costume (which is not, precisely, the language of actual historical clothing), Jin Guangyao has chosen to dress as a minister instead of as a chevalier. This is partly an artifact of his mother's ideas about a gentleman. It also suggests that he’s content with the sort of career that's available to a bastard of a noble house--not inheriting the noble title, but having enough favor to rise in power.

It may also be a ruse to make him seem like he's not a strong cultivator and not a strong fighter, when in fact he is both, at least by the time he’s throwing death chords at Jiang Cheng, much later in the show.

Mingjue makes all kinds of grumpy faces and snarky remarks to let everyone know that he fucking hates Jin Guangyao. Xichen agrees to his “nice refugee camp with only a little death” plan, with no qualifications.

Now we get to see Jin Guangyao's manipulation of Lan Xichen. Lan Xichen says that Nie Mingjue wants a plan that’s more killy, because he believes in punishing evil. JGY deliberately misunderstands this, pretending that Lan Xichen said he, JGY, is evil, kind of forcing LXC to reassure him and take his side in an argument that isn’t actually happening.

They have a little handholding while bowing, and then after Lan Xichen leaves, Jin Guangyao puts on his evil face and has all the prisoners killed behind the big closed door.

This is done in such a violent fashion that the blood apparently flows up several stairs to the door, and over the tall raised threshold, before flowing downward toward the camera. Some evil is so extreme that even traditional Chinese doorway architecture can’t stop it.

Run To the Rock

Then we go outside to where Wei Wuxian is standing on a rocky outcropping, thinking it would be a good strategic spot to choose if he's ever in a battle where he wants to commit suicide right quick.

Lan Wangji comes to join him and admire the view, not knowing yet that this view, or one a whole lot like it, is going to be seared into his memory for most of his life.

Lan Wangji is becoming more and more committed to Wei Wuxian, more and more inexorably joined to him, but he still doesn't agree with him. So they each have this comfort in each others' presence at the same time as being massively in conflict.

Wei Wuxian asks him what he thinks of all the politicking and murdering. Who is good and who is evil? LWJ doesn't answer because WWX is leaking black smoke, so he grabs him and tells him to concentrate. Lan Wangji is, incidentally, wearing Princess-Leia quantities of lip gloss.

Lan Wangji asks if Wei Wuxian would like to learn a new tune, "Absterge" according to Netflix. The fuck? [op looks it up in the dictionary]. "To cleanse, especially by wiping." Also known as aftercare. Netflix. Honey. This word is MIDDLE FRENCH. Will you knock it the fuck off?

So anyway, instead of answering his question about who is good and who is evil, LWJ asks if he wants to learn a song called "Cleansing." Wei Wuxian says “hey babe, are you fucking kidding me?”

His actual words are "you doubt me too?" meaning "you think I also took the missing 4th chunk of Yin iron to make my ugly tiger amulet, rather than obviously having used that giant sword I pulled out of the turtle?"

Lan Wangji mentally replays Wen Ruohan's questions in his head--the questions he barked at Wei Wuxian right before choking him unconscious--which Lan Wangji also feels entitled to know the answers to. Fuck you, Lan Wangji. He answers WWX with "when did you forge your amulet?" Which is his way of saying "yes, I doubt you."

Wei Wuxian kindly refrains from saying "while we were on a break, bitch" and instead tells him the exact truth--I found a yin iron sword in the turtle--but says it in his patented "make it sound like a lie" way.

LWJ keeps grilling him, eventually coming out and saying dude, you knew the sword was Yin iron, why did you need to use it?

This is the crucial question--why WWX broke his first promise, to Lan Yi, which was to try to get rid of the Yin Iron. He won’t tell anyone the answer, which is that he needs to use it because he can't cultivate normally, because he lost his golden core. He made a lot of promises before that happened, and he probably expected to keep them. But without his core, everything changed; without his core, he’s a different person, so it’s maybe not fair to expect him to honor his previous promises.

I’m reminded of my grandfather, who was the oldest son of an old southern US family, with lots of expectations as the firstborn. He went off to WWI as a soldier, expecting to die. He didn’t die, and so from that point on, he regarded his life as a gift. He felt could do whatever he wanted with it, and let go of expectations from before the war. He moved to Paris and took up with a glamorous divorcee 7 years older than him (my Grandma, eventually).

The actual point of that story, other than OP having cool grandparents, is that when you think you’re going to die, and then you don’t die, your ideas about what you owe to people can change quite a bit. Wei Wuxian expected to die in the Burial Mounds; he expected to die at Nightless City; he expects it, over and over, and each time he doesn’t die, he gets further and further from being what everyone else wants him to be. And--a lot like soldiers returning from a war-- NOBODY in his life knows how to talk to him about it.

Wei Wuxian tells Lan Wangji to back off, Lan Wangji says why aren't you letting me help you, and they are once again on the edge of the same fight they keep having. Lan Wangji does some impassioned arm holding while Wei Wuxian says he's not like Wen Ruohan.

Romantic Duet #1

The argument is interrupted by screams and killing, so they go to check it out, and find the Jins hunting down some prisoners for sport. They arrive in time to save two people. Yay?

Jin ZIxun acts like a jerk, as always. The new element is that per Jin Guangshan, anyone concerned with Yin Iron shouldn't be alive. He says that the Lan and Nie clans agreed, and challenges Wei Wuxian. Lan Wangji stops him from responding, grabbing his wrist.

The Jins leave and Wei Wuxian refers back to their earlier conversation, saying there will be more resentful spirits now and that "Rest" is the music to play, not "Cleansing."

He gives Lan Wangji a long look and then pointedly removes Lan Wangji’s hand from his wrist, by holding his hand, which is some next-level mixed signaling. Lan Wangji totally deserves it at this point, though. He keeps pushing and pushing WWX about his cultivation method, but he refuses to discuss the underlying morality of it, or the morality of the killing going on right in front of them.

WWX walks off, leaving LWJ to stew in his own juices surrounded by a bunch of fresh corpses.

Lan Wangji fails his saving throw against the guilt trip, and sits his ass down to play Rest, just like Wei Ying told him to. So switchy! Wei Wuxian, out of sight but not out of earshot, hears him and accompanies him on Chenqing.

This scene is slightly ridiculous and a whole lot sublime. Ridiculous because it's their first time playing music together, so it's a super slow, romantic, extended scene, but they're surrounded by corpses. And not the helpful, friendly, third-wheel-on-a-date type of corpses.

It's sublime because the occasion of their first beautiful, literally magical duet is an argument. And they are joining together to play beautiful romantic music - as a service for the dead. And they are doing it while they are on literally opposite sides of a literal killing field. And Lan Wangji is sitting literally in the middle of a wide open road; the sort of road that they will both reject, metaphorically, later in the show. There is so much about their conflict and their journey that is encapsulated in this one musical moment.

Lan Wangji, by playing the song Wei Wuxian said was needed, is telling WWX that he took his words to heart, that he is listening, even though they're at odds.

WWX, by stopping and playing with him, is acknowledging this. And by settling the dead souls together, they are both reinforcing their dedication to doing what's right even as they both struggle with knowing what that is.

When Other Friendships Have Been Forgot, Ours Will Still Be Hot

Now we have the sworn brothers thing. I understand, plot wise, why this has to happen, but why would Nie Mingjue ever agree to this? Lan Xichen's puppy eyes are just that persuasive?

If they ever crack your spine, drop a line If they ever cut your throat, write a note If you’re ever in a mill and get sawed in half, I won’t laugh (HA HA HA HA)

Tedious Party Time

Now there's a cultivation party, which is about as excruciating to watch as it would be to attend.

Everyone is lining up to praise Jin Guangshan. To be fair, he did provide shelter for most of the smaller clans while the war was going on. So being grateful is appropriate, but Clan Leader Yao practically breaks his own neck kissing Jin ass. Yao says JGY’s contribution was the greatest of the war, adding, "fuck Wei Wuxian; everything is his fault."

The Jiangs show up wearing mourning belts that show off their itty bitty waists, and Jin Guangshan makes shifty eyes like a cartoon landlord when he sees them arrive.

JGS praises Jiang Cheng, and asks when his fancy clan-leader ceremony is going to happen. Jiang Cheng says he's still in mourning so it's not appropriate. JGS is like “Oh...yeah," as if he totally forgot about all the Yunmeng slaughter, and talks up his friendship with Jiang Fengmian. He acts comforting while WWX manages not to barf.

Then the Lan clan shows up and there is nice encouraging chit chat between LXC and JC...

...and just, SO MUCH mournful staring between Lan Wangji and Wei Wuxian.

Then the Nies arrive. Jin Guangshan tells Nie Mingjue he's late, and that everyone's waiting for him. That might be true in the script but it’s clearly bullshit on the screen, where the Lans and the Jiangs are still milling around looking for the coat room.

Nie Mingjue--who, let's remember, JUST swore to be brothers with Jin Guangyao--looks at him like he's something that fell off a garbage truck. Lan Xichen jumps in to maximize the discomfort by pointing out that Jin Guangyao should address Nie Mingjue as Big Daddy Da-ge from now on.

Then the Jins offer Nie Mingjue the giant fire throne because...he's the leader of the Sunshot campaign, I guess? Of course it's all a manipulation tactic, designed to make him say he won't sit there, so that JGS can elevate himself to head cultivator, or something? And sit in front of the throne but not on it? Cultivator succession seems kinda arbitrary.

I swear to god, it wasn't until I was clipping this episode that I realized Wen Ruohan had two thrones and they're in different rooms from each other.

Finally everyone goes to sit down, but because there hasn't been enough fucking awkwardness, JGY stops WWX to ask him what's on his mind. WWX asks him why he's not carrying his sword, which made me laugh and laugh. Wei Wuxian must have been just waiting for a chance to ask someone else that question for a change.

Jin Guangyao says he threw it away, because it was just a random sword, but he really means he had it made into a sneaky murder belt, that he will be using again in 13 to 16 years. They both fake-laugh and trade Mean Girls insults pretend to like each other.

Everyone wanders around toasting each other. Lan Wangji goes to find Wei Wuxian, after first making sure that his hair looks good.

Wei Wuxian is lying around on the steps, sprawling and drinking wine, and not, incidentally, looking for Lan Wangji. He continues to not seek him out and Lan Wangji continues to chase after him.

Wei Wuxian says "how about playing Cleansing?" but Lan Wangji says he's learning a new score. It looks like it's going to be another argument, but then Wei Wuxian smiles and kind of praises Lan Wangji for being stubborn.

Awkward Marriage Proposal

Just then everyone inside starts cheering for Jin Guangshan to give a speech. Jin Guangshan is making a move to marry Jiang Yanli to his son, which is a big time power grab, given that the Jiang Clan is 1. vulnerable and depleted 2. has control of the Yin tiger amulet.

We get a very rare glimpse into Jiang Cheng’s inner mind, where he thinks that saying yes isn’t a great idea, but isn’t sure what to do. This marriage would make his sister happy, but could destroy the Jiang Clan's independence.

Fortunately, Wei Wuxian joins the party just in time to fuck up Jin Guanshan’s plans. Will this teach Jin Guangshan not to invite Wei Wuxian to parties? It will not.

Soundtrack: Friendship, by Cole Porter (from “Anything Goes”)

Bonus:

#the untamed #the untamed gifs #wangxian #restless rewatch the untamed #canary3d-original #my gifs #words:2750

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deniigi · 3 years

Text

hi I have something for y’all called a disaster.

I wrote an Inimitable!Spiderman/Modern Star Wars AU because no one can stop me, not even myself. it is like 47 pages long. I am handing it tenderly to y’all.

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Title: impossible scenario

Summary: Peter runs into some drunk assholes arguing, calling each other Han and Luke. He lets it roll off him until he can’t anymore and eventually finds himself for the first time on the other side of someone more chaotic than himself.

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There was an argument happening under a fire escape. Peter knew about it because a concerned dude wearing a fuckin’ Yankees cap had flagged him down with waving arms and told him that someone needed saving, Spiderman. Some tall asshole was kidnapping a young blond dude, the guy and his too-cool-for-him girlfriend explained. They’d heard the two scuffling.

Peter maybe stared for a beat too long at them because the gal pointed two blocks behind him and said, “That way. I think the blond guy might be drugged. He’s slurrin’ something strong.”

Peter liked her shoes. They looked like Miles’s, but blue.

“Spidey?”

Miles told Peter all the time that he wasn’t cool enough to wear Jordans. MJ and Johnny had agreed. Such sad times.

“Spidey.”

“I got it,” Peter sighed.

The gal tsked.

“Man, you’re too young to be this jaded,” she said.

Peter sighed.

“You’re the third person to say that this week,” he said. “You think I should go back to therapy?”

There was a pause.

“You know that answer, dude,” cool-gal said. “Go save the twink.”

Twink. Got it. Thank you, citizen.

“There are websites for that shit, Spidey.”

Bye now.

“Apps, even.”

Bye, bye.

“BetterHelp or Headspace or somethin’—”

“Two blocks, you said?” Peter asked.

Two blocks away, there was indeed a man with dark hair trying to lift a violently intoxicated twink up onto the first steps of a fire escape. Peter examined his options. There were many ways to ruin a potential kidnapper’s day. His favorite involved coke and mentos, although he’d received feedback that that was a waste of perfectly good food. Down the list was also the option to walk over and scream bloody murder so that the kidnapper shat themselves and dropped their target.

That was good, but Peter was tired and the thought of mustering up the energy to scream at a noticeable volume made his thighs turn to Jell-o.

That left snark and violence.

Today, he would not choose violence. Only for today.

He strode out of his dark temporary residence between two dumpsters directly towards the tall dude and his mark. The mark was a messy one. Bless his heart, he was unwittingly making himself the most noncompliant victim to have ever victim-ed. Every time the tall guy got him almost vertical, he gave up his corporeal form to become drunk slime and ooze back to the ground with various moaning sound effects.

It would have been funny if not for the kidnapping context.

The fact that Peter had been standing there under the beams of two separate side-building security lights and neither of those two had noticed yet was also objectively funny—or would have been, if Peter had the capacity for processing humor at the moment.

Alas. This was what he got for telling Tony that he’d evolved beyond the need for sleep. He got caffeine-pilled. And there would be no true rest until that shit wore off, exhausted as Peter’s body yearned to be.

“Kid, work with me here,” the tall guy said.

“I can’t, I’ll die,” the shorter one moaned.

“Luke.”

“I’ve done my time—thirty years in AZKA—”

“Keep your voice down, oh my god.”

Peter was just standing here, fellas.

“Luke.”

“Why’s it always me? Why’s it always gotta be me? The hell did I do to piss off the whole galax-galaxy? HA. My bad, my bad. The whole universe?”

God, what a mood.

The tall guy dropped his grip on the smaller one and loomed over his puddle of ooze with poison in his gaze.

“People are going to die, Luke,” he said.

“So what? They’re always dyin’. Everywhere I go, people’re dyin’ and when it’s not them dyin’, you know who is?”

“Kid.”

“ME.”

“So you’re just gonna wallow there, feelin’ sorry for yourself?” the tall dude snapped.

“Sure am,” the puddle of ooze hummed.

This was not a kidnapping. This was a come-to-Jesus in the back alley of a bar. Peter was not needed here. He turned around on his heel and stopped when he heard a sharp intake of breath.

“Is that?” someone whispered.

“Don’t mind me, pal, just your friendly neighborhood—” he started.

“Look what you did,” Tall and Handsome hissed at Ooze-Man. “Someone went and called Spiderman on us.”

Peter lifted a brow as Ooze-man ripped its chest up from the asphalt and composed itself back into a human shape with fluffy blonde hair and huge wide eyes.

“Omigod, it’s Spiderman,” the guy said. “Wait, no. Gimme a hand. No, not that one, fuck off, nevermind, I don’t need you.”

He drew himself up to standing, only leaning slightly on his buddy there and gave Peter as lopsided smile.

“Hi, there,” he said with a twang that Peter couldn’t place. “Were you lookin’ for someone, handsome?”

Ah, they had reached the time of night when all the drunks needed to tell Peter things he already knew about his ass. He loved this time.

Not to mention that this dude looked eerily like Johnny. Scarily like Johnny. So much like Johnny that Peter almost wanted to take a picture of him to send to Sue so that she could print up some lost and found posters.

“Just lookin’ at you, babe,” he said. “This guy botherin’ you?”

The tall guy blanched and then grabbed at his face in horror. Peter swallowed his laugh.

“He sure is, hon. You got time to rescue me?” Blondie crooned.

“Luke, please. Please.”

“Because I’m in real distress,” ‘Luke’ said with a pout mighty enough to fell Thor.

“You sure seem like it,” Peter said. “C’mere. I’ll walk you home. Leave that tool, he ain’t worth your breath.”

He held out an elbow like proper gentleman and was pleased at the hand that Luke laid over his heart in response.

Peter could imagine Johnny’s face in six different expression of jealous horror at a selfie taken with this look-alike. Each was beautiful in its own special way. As payment for being referred to counseling by the public, he at least deserved to receive at least two of those faces.

“You mean that?” Luke asked him.

“He doesn’t,” his tall companion said.

“I sure do, where do you live? I’ll walk you,” Peter said.

“Oh my god, I’m gonna cry, he’s gonna escort me,” Luke said, all choked up and fanning his eyes lightly.

This tall friend grabbed him before he could escape, though, and pulled him back behind his own body.

“Listen, Spidey, this is a misunderstanding,” he drawled. “I know this idiot—he is technically my idiot— and I’m the one escorting his ass home. Thanks, though. You’re a real menace. Beat it.”

MMMMMMM.

And here Peter had been planning on being jaded and miserable this fine night. How could he now when this dude was ticking every box that made him feel alive?

“What’s your name, dollface?” Peter asked across the short distance.

“None of your business,” Tall Guy answered abruptly.

“Luke,” Luke said around him. “Are you gonna save me?”

“In just a minute,” Peter said, striding forward with a hard roll in his shoulder and deep drop in his knees.

It was amazing how Tall Guy wanted to take some steps back all of the sudden. Peter couldn’t help but let a smirk widen his face as he advanced.

“Okay, hang on now,” Tall Guy said with both palms out in front of him. “You don’t know what this is about, Spidey. You don’t want to get involved with this, trust me. He’s just bein’ dramatic. No need to get testy.”

“You sure do a lot of talkin’ for your friend there,” Peter noted through his grin.

“Yeah, Han,” Luke said.

Ha.

Han. Han and Luke. Ned was gonna be enraptured when Peter told him about this later.

“Luke. Back me up.”

“Why should I?”

“Because,” ‘Han’ finally snapped. “I’m not doin’ this because I want you to suffer, alright? I don’t want nothin’ to do with it either, okay? No one does. But it’s this or—”

“Or everyone else,” Luke finished for him in a strangely toneless voice.

Han sighed.

“It’s always everyone else,” Luke said.

“Not here.”

“Why’s it always everyone el—No, no, here. Why not? We’ve got fucking Spiderman in our midst, how much more surreal can this moment get? No. You listen to me, Han—”

“I’ve been listening to you all damn evening and you know what I’m hearing?”

“—I lost my life for this. I lost my home, my aunt, my uncle, my hand—”

“I’m hearing you making this about you.”

“—everything I ever knew, and I tried to make it right, didn’t I? I made the school. I gathered the kids—”

“And it’s not just about you this time, kid. It’s not about you, it’s not about me, or Leia, or Chewie or—”

“—I lost my kid and the love of my life, and I finally get a second chance at finding them and giving them the goddamn happy ending they deserve, and the next thing I know—”

“Luke, you’re the only one,” Han said.

“I WAS NEVER. THE ONLY. ONE, HAN,” Luke roared out of absolutely nowhere, sober as a saint. “I was never the only one. EVER. Ahsoka. Go find her. She’s everything that I’m not and more. She’s the real—”

“Luke.”

“Stop saying that name. I HATE that name. I would do anything for twenty goddamn seconds where I didn’t have to be him.”

“You don’t mean that,” Han said quietly. His shoulders had rounded out and become black and heavy under the weight of their shadow. Luke’s eyes, however, looked like topaz.

“I mean it,” Luke said.

Oho.

So shit had gotten real tense, real fast, so Peter about to make a decision that was gonna make Shelley so proud of him she would weep when he finally slunk back in through her office door.

He was leaving. He was turning around and taking a wee jog. Maybe turning a corner, having a little jump over a fence, up a wall, to a place as far away from this one as superhumanly possible.

Bye, bye.

“This galaxy needs you, Luke.”

Peter stopped five paces away.

“They need you,” Han repeated. “And I need you.”

Peter slowly looked back to see that Luke’s face had twisted sharply out of the light, towards the alley wall.

“I’m sorry that we met again like this,” Han said quietly. “I’m sorry it’s always you. You don’t deserve this. No one deserves this.”

“Shut up,” Luke said.

“But if you don’t do something, then it won’t be just me and you and all these random others sliding back into that cesspit we all barely crawled out of.”

“Stop.”

“You’ll never find him if things go back the way they were.”

“You—you don’t know that. There—maybe—”

“Luke. Listen to me. Please.”

“Maybe there’s a chance—”

“Luke,” Han said reaching out and putting a hand on Luke’s shoulder and clenching it hard enough that Peter should see the bunched fabric, “Do you want Din to live through this shitshow a second time? Hasn’t he suffered enough?”

Peter shivered. The pressure at the base of his neck was building. The Spidey Sense wanted to hiss in his ears like white noise. It pinned him where he was, staring over his shoulder at those two solid shapes, one digging a hand into the flesh of the other.

His stomach turned.

Luke said something that Peter couldn’t hear. Han pulled him toward his own body by the grip he had on his shoulder. At first, Luke seemed to stagger, like he was walking on black ice. He stopped a single step away from Han’s body, still with his face angled severely away. Han said something to him.

There was a long pause, then Luke seemed to fall forward. Han caught him and crushed his head into his shoulder, lowering his own until it was almost touching Luke’s ear. They clung to each other.

Luke was crying.

The Spidey Sense started to crackle and pop in Peter’s ears.

“I gotchu, kid,” Han said in a rasp. “I gotchu. We’re gonna get through it.”

Peter blinked once and finally unlocked the muscles in his neck. He wasn’t meant to witness this. He held out a wrist and fired a line.

It was weird.

It was just weird.

Something wasn’t right. And Peter couldn’t make his stomach not writhe about it.

Luke.

Han.

An offhand mention of like, characters. Character names. They were character names. Leia, Chewie.

Peter had heard of people who lived their lives honestly believing that they had been other people—fake people—in past lives, but like, damn man. Why would you put yourself in a position like that were you were moved to actual tears for some elaborate street-drama?

Maybe it had been a joke? That was the only thing he could think it could be. Maybe the universe had gazed upon his hubris at work and gone ‘ah yes, I know what this young man needs: emotional confusion at midnight on a Thursday. That’ll fix him.’

If that was the case, then yeah. Good job, universe. Good job, larpers. Y’all are equally sick.

But if not—and Peter no longer lived in a world where he could rule out any possibilities—then he had just witnessed—Dude, he’d just witnessed—

He couldn’t even think it. It was beyond him. It was so far beyond him that like he might have a real stroke taking the thought seriously.

There was only one person who could hold that kind of information unscathed.

Only one.

PP: Ned. I need you to listen to me and tell me I’m not crazy.

NL: no promises but go on

PP: I think? I just saw? Luke Skywalker? And Han Solo? In an alley behind Kitty’s?????

NL: fascinating

JS: Say more

PP: who let you in here?

JS: you?

PP: SECURITY

NL: Peter say more

PP: I can’t there’s a nerd in here and it’s vibrating at the wrong decibel. SECURITY???

MJ: yeah?

PP: I’m trying to have a breakdown. Can you remove Matchstick please?

MJ: what kind of breakdown

JS: he thinks he met Luke Skywalker

PP: Security has failed me. God?

NL: Peter can you name three things you can see.

PP: I am not manic. I am in touch with reality. I’m just having anxiety because I just fucking saw two people calling each other Luke and Han fighting behind Kitty’s. Like real fighting.

JS: nicknames?

PP: I—

PP: oh my god nicknames

PP: Johnny I’m so sorry I ever doubted you. never leave my side

JS: 😊

MJ: wow that’s cringe. Imagine naming yourself after SW characters

NL: does kitty do a cosplay night now????

PP: idk it was wild. People thought that ‘Han’ was trying to kidnap ‘Luke’ but when I got over there, Luke started flirting with me and then shit got real and they started arguing over like him hating his name and not wanting to do something and losing everything or some shit

NL: that’s a lot. I’m sure it was nothing, though, peter.

PP: yeah it was. My SS has been going nuts ever since I left. You think they bugged me?

JS: yes I will come search your body imminently

MJ: my job storm, back off

JS: after MJ has finished prelim checks, I will then search your body for you out of the kindness of my heart ❤

NL: that’s weird, the SS doesn’t usually freak out about cosplayers

PP: ikr?

NL: lol imagine if they were serious

MJ: don’t say that

JS: well now we have to lean in. thanks ned

JS: they were definitely real. God they were so real. You hear that Fate? You got us. They’re definitely real.

PP: BUT WHAT IF THEY WERE?

MJ: cue breakdown

NL: that would be so fucking funny. Luke Skywalker and Han Solo trying to save the world from the hellscape of nyc. The rats alone would thwart them.

PP: ned I’m freaking out

NL: oh you mean you��re actually freaking out?

PP: deeply

NL: oh shit sorry. I’ll be over, have you slept yet?

PP: NO

MJ: on it

JS: can I join?

NL: no johnny

MJ: no johnny

PP: 😭

JS: one day our love will build a bridge, peter. In the meantime I am stroking your ear comfortingly from midtown

Need and MJ’s weight pinning him to a mattress brought sleep but not necessarily comfort. They both thought that this was a sick joke someone had played on him that was now destroying his psyche. They thought that the couple pointing him back towards the cosplayers had been in on the joke.

Peter would have agreed with them if it wasn’t for the Spidey Sense. Everything else lined up perfectly.

Ned sighed in the morning and told Peter to go talk to Wade.

Wade’s hallucinations were, by far, more auditory than visual, but he stayed quiet while Peter talked his ear off over the phone in his locked office. He waited until Peter had run out of words to describe the feeling of impending doom and then huffed a bit of a laugh into the receiver.

“Them Star Wars people are unreal, Pete, you know this,” he said. “Look at Ned.”

Ned was perfect.

“Take off those rosy shades, hon. Now, look again.”

Ned had perhaps memorized the entire scripts of the first three movie and 90% of the spaceship names and the jedi lineages.

“Uh-huh. Keep going.”

Peter didn’t want to.

“We all gotta do shit we don’t want do.”

Fine.

Ned’s goal in life was to go to his wedding in a stormtrooper suit.

“Keep going.”

Every Lego project they’d built together since 13 years-old had been a Star Wars-related one. When Ned had decided to move out of his parents’ place, he’d shed actual tears over MJ and Peter mutually suggesting that he sell some of his memorabilia.

“Will this delightful buffet before our very eyes, what is the likelihood of your two pals being drunk larpers in too deep to quit?” Wade asked.

73%.

“Uh-huh.”

“Thanks, Wade.”

“No problem. Although, now I gotta see this. You said they were behind Kitty’s? You think I can get a stormtrooper costume in 8 hours?”

“They’re not still gonna be there, Wade,” Peter huffed. “It’s 10 am.”

“You ain’t know that. What if Luke Skywalker’s a useless drunk, huh? You ever think of that?”

No.

“What’d he look like?”

Peter groaned.

“He looked like Luke Skywalker,” he said. “Blond hair, blue eyes—sort of like a chipmunk that forgot its stripes.”

“I’m onto you, Skywalker.”

Peter hung up to Wade’s cackle. He slouched low and tapped his pen against his desk. Then against his fingers.

He stared at the edge of his keyboard.

“What’s the weirdest thing you could imagine, Pete?” he asked himself.

PP: sam

SC: yeah?

PP: do you like star wars?

SC: nah

PP: you’re perfect

PP: do you believe in past lives?

SC: like spiritually or culturally? I know I was a cult-kid for a min there but before that we were Buddhists and like, past lives are part of the package

PP: that’s cool. What do you think of people being reborn as themselves again like, 500000000 years later? From a galaxy far far away?

SC: I don’t think about those people

PP: okay well, hypothetically. Let’s say that you were going to imagine someone who embodied that whole spirit. Who would it be?

SC: Buddha

PP: not buddha

SC: is this a riddle? Is it Jesus?

PP: THOR. Thank you this has been helpful ily bye

Mr. Stark asked him over a cup of viciously black coffee why Peter was seeking out the demigod of his present nightmares.

That usually meant that he and Thor had disagreed on basic physics principles again. Peter took that also to mean that the demigod was still in the building. Possibly loose.

“He’s with Banner,” Mr. Stark said scathingly.

“Thanks, you’re amazing,” Peter said as he sailed out of the room.

Thor was sitting on Dr. Banner’s lab table, despite Dr. Banner telling him to get off no fewer than two times in the five minutes that Peter was in there, schmoozing and making pleasantries. He warmed Thor up to the home-run hit by asking him all about past lives and present lives and what the soul was on Asgard. Thor was only too happy to explain a load of nonsense that made Banner roll his eyes and poke at his muscles with a thermometer.

“So, hypothetically speaking,” Peter drawled in a very casual lean, “With the infinite galaxies and universes, etcetera, there could be one where Star Wars people exist. And so hypothetically, they could get reborn into a universe like ours.”

Thor blinked at him.

“You remember the laser swords?” Dr. Banner deadpanned.

Thor lit up.

“I suppose it’s possible,” he told Peter indulgently. “But if that was the case then it would be a long tragedy, no?”

…yes…

Say more, Thor-man.

“Well,” Thor said with a big, happy smile, “The series of events that unfolded in that story seemed to me to be one of triumph and tragedy. With one would come the other—that’s how these stories work, yes?”

…yes.

“So if Master Luke Skywalker and his companions arrived into our space here, then they must experience the same in order to be themselves,” Thor said, bobbing his head in pity. “Perhaps what would look like a new start for such people would result only in terror and disappointment until the same conclusion was reached.”

Peter felt his own grin twitch.

“So it’s not impossible?” he asked.

Both Thor and Banner looked at him quizzically at the same time.

“Peter?” Dr. Banner asked. “Is this coming from somewhere?”

Peter’s grin twitched so violently, it turned into a grimace that even superstrength would not let him maintain.

“Can I borrow one of you?” he asked.

Wade was not happy to be met outside of Kitty’s in the middle of the day, especially because his stormtrooper outfit, in his words, ‘did no justice for the size of his balls.’

Peter was ignoring that. He dragged Thor past Wade’s righteous anger until he was standing on the place where the other two had stood the night before. Thor stood there gamely.

“There,” Peter said. “Any like, energy signatures?”

Thor glanced around and shrugged.

Wade scowled at him and hounded him off the spot so that he could stand there instead.

“I feel nothing,” he said, devoid of emotion.

“Same,” Thor said.

Damnit.

“Perhaps you are—”

The Spidey Sense smashed through all of Peter’s sense and screamed at him to get to the street.

Get to the street. Get to the street. Get to the—

There.

Across the way. Chipmunk, no stripes.

That was the guy from the day before. He was on the opposite sidewalk smashed in with the crowd, dragging a hand through his hair and laden with a backpack and two separate totes. He was wearing a strange set of clothes—a mash of casual and formal—and seemed to be in a hurry, the type of hurry that involved pushing past folks at a half-jog and not stopping at streetlights.

“Got ‘im,” Peter hissed.

“No shit?” Wade asked over his shoulder.

Thor made a sound of interest.

“I see him, too,” he said. “What incredible energy, I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Wh—

Peter whirled on him.

“Don’t you fucking say that,” he warned. “I’m gonna go distract. You two, on my six.”

Peter broke four traffic laws on his way around the block. He swung himself around a corner and fucked up the collar on his labcoat and counted to four before stepping out right into ‘Luke’s path.

They collided. Luke stumbled back and dropped one of his totes.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry,” Peter blustered. “Are you okay?”

Luke swore and dropped down without answering, collecting the odd ends of metal that had clattered out from his bag and now rolled loose over the pavement. Peter stooped to join, gathering rings and pipes of all sorts of sizes in his hands. Oncoming folks gave them a wide berth.

It took a moment for Luke to realize what Peter was doing, but when he did, his shoulders went stiff as a board.

“DON’T TOUCH THOSE,” he snapped, just as Peter made to pick up a little plastic bag with a wad of tissue inside it.

Peter froze.

“Oh. Sorry,” he said.

This time, Luke finally met his eye.

“Oh, Jesus. No. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Luke blustered, “Thank you. I’ll—I’ve got them. Thank you, though. It’s okay.”

He took the metal out of Peter’s hands and stuffed them back into his bag. He snatched the plastic bag before Peter could touch it and put that on top.

“Excuse me,” he said as he stood. “Thanks again.”

And just like that, he hurried off past Peter down the pavement.

Peter watched him go.

“Catch?” Wade asked softly from the corner.

“Negative,” Peter said, reaching into his sleeve and holding up the thin aluminum tube he’d hidden up there by the edge of his shirt-sleeve.

It was shiny and longer than he’d expect for any plumbing project. The inside appeared to be coated with some sort of heavy, non-reactive material, and half of the outside had grooved bands carved into it.

“Someone’s building something,” he said.

“Mid-century sink?” Wade asked, taking the tube.

“Nope,” Peter said.

NL: That is a lightsaber hilt

NL: where did you get that? It’s like mega accurate. Was it etsy?

PP: I stole it

NL: give it back

PP: I can’t I stole it from Luke Skywalker.

NL: Peter.

NL: we talked about this.

PP: He’s Luke Skywalker. I swear on the grave of my mother

MJ: this is a problem. This is now an intervention.

PP: I will prove it. If he’s Luke Skywalker, then he will do ANYTHING to get this thing back.

NL: and if not?

PP: then I will wait two days before politely tracking down his home address and then I will return it via wall crawling

JS: UM

JS: SORRY

JS: PETER CAN YOU CALL ME?

PP: no

NL: no

MJ: no

JS: are

JS: are you sure??? Because there’s a guy in Reed’s lab right now talking to him and Sue, asking SUPER politely for access to—I shit you not—the crystals we picked up from that space trip the other day???

NL: …

PP: …

MJ: …

PP: AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

MJ: fake

NL: no way

PP: WHAT’S HIS NAME, JOHNNY BOY????

JS: I can’t

PP: nope you gotta

JS: I can’t I’m gonna cry I didn’t ask for this

MJ: out with it

NL: please say it’s obi-wan

JS: HHHHHHHHHHH

JS: nope

JS: just a guy named Ben 🙃

PP: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

PP: I told you motherfuckers

JS: right. So like. Awkward. But you uh, know that hilt thing you have?

PP: …is Obi-Wan Kenobi about to beat my ass, Johnny?

There was something about putting the hilt into the palm of someone more famous than Captain America that made Peter’s knees weak.

It did not help that Luke Skywalker had flirted with him the other night.

It did not help that Luke Skywalker didn’t recognize him as Spiderman.

Nothing helped, really, especially when those big topaz eyes lifted and Peter could see that their rims were red and raw.

“Thanks,” Luke Skywalker—the embodiment of hope itself—said in a soft, defeated rasp.

Every alarm in Peter’s head said to save him. Save him from what? How? Who knew.

Ned and MJ seemed to feel the same way, if the pressure on each of his arms was anything to go by.

“Well, that’s all cleared up, then. Thank you so much for your help; it is deeply appreciated,” a stupidly pleasant gentleman with a perfectly combed beard and lovingly coifed light hair said to the room at large.

Obi-Wan Kenobi—pardon, Ben Kennedi—was far more handsome than any movie could ever dream to make him. What they’d done to him in the 1970s, Peter saw now, was a fucking crime. He watched as this beautiful human being set a warm hand on Luke Skywalker’s—pardon, Luke Naberry’s—shoulder and used it to steer him towards the Baxter Building’s front entrance.

He watched as the two of them, like true Master and Padawan, stepped out onto the landing and opted for the stairs. For one fleeting, unbelievable second, Luke looked back over his shoulder at all of them before taking the next step after his Master.

He was right the other night.

He wasn’t the only jedi. Not anymore.

“So that just happened,” Sue acknowledged for everyone after the door had clicked closed and the sound of footsteps had faded off to nothing.

“I’m going to cry,” Reed announced.

“This is single-handedly the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” Ned said.

“Obi-Wan Kenobi walked into our kitchen,” Reed told Sue like she hadn’t been there right next to him.

“The empire is trying to establish itself under our very feet,” Sue said back a little viciously.

“The real empire,” Reed whimpered.

Wait.

No, go back.

“For real?” Peter asked.

Sue and Reed looked back at the rest of them and then exchanged a look.

Peter was sad now. Depressed and laid out on his side staring back at Valeria’s huge eyes on the floor while Ned and MJ and Johnny asked Reed and Sue two hundred clarifying questions.

Peter didn’t need the specifics. He was thinking back on the conversation that he’d witnessed between Luke and Han Solo—Han Solo who was tall with dark hair and dark eyes and an accent straight out of New Jersey. Solo who had probably been charged with forcing Luke to face the facts in front of all of them because he was the one who Luke trusted most.

But it had shattered them—both of them.

The New Hope had given up everything. He was tired. His heart was torn. He was jaded just like Peter had been that same night. He’d been avoiding the tightrope that Peter had already started crossing, though, probably looking for every possible way to not have to set the first foot on that wobbly line.

He’d walked it before.

Valeria reached out with a chubby, round hand and touched the side of Peter’s face.

“Spiderman,” she said with terrifying understanding, “Someone needs help.”

He wriggled in close enough to bonk heads with her.

“Baby Storm,” he whispered, “I think you’re right.”

MJ thought that Peter needed to leave things alone. She pointed out that he had plenty of problems without getting involved in universe-saving. She gestured to Johnny and volunteered him for the job.

Johnny refused on account of needing to be the prettiest blond in any room. He claimed that if he wasn’t, he had to fight for dominance.

Ned was on the other end of the spectrum. He had 43 reasons why Peter should get involved with things, and 40 of them ended up in the same place which was ‘it would be cool.’

One of Ned’s better reasons, however, involved pointing out that Peter had already stolen half of a lightsaber. He was good and involved now, whether he wanted to be or not. And that was enough for Peter to decide to go on a hunt to give a formal apology.

He recruited Ned to help him locate Luke Skywalker.

That didn’t work.

They tried Luke Naberry.

That didn’t work either.

They ended up going through every possible iteration of every Star Wars name they knew and then filtered out the people who’d been named by exuberant parents and then filtered out anyone who didn’t live in New York and they ended up with fat lot of still nothing.

It was like Luke Skywalker didn’t truly exist in this world.

Until MJ found his Instagram by typing in ‘guys who look weirdly like Luke Skywalker.’

She held the phone aloft in triumph and they all gathered round to gape in awe at her intelligence and research skills.

Luke’s Instagram was nothing but pictures of coffee.

He had one selfie and this selfie was enough to have gotten him onto a BuzzFeed article. In it he was holding—you guessed it—coffee. Iced coffee. One in each hand.

He was shaking them, and one had been labeled with his name—hence the public connection made.

“Someone needs to tell him that coffee is not a food group,” Johnny observed.

“Maybe he works nights,” MJ said.

Ned lifted an eyebrow.

“Maybe this is his job,” he said.

There was a pause.

Some snooping revealed that Luke was an honest to god food website editor. He was a cameraman.

Repeat. Luke Skywalker, cameraman. He filmed all the food hosts for his company’s Youtube channel. He edited videos. He more or less blended into the background of everything, while having his finger prints on damn near everything.

This was a man after Peter’s own soul. They were kindred spirits in hidden identities, content creation, and suffering under a boulder of responsibility too great to cope with.

He had to find him now.

And after they had his Instagram it wasn’t too hard. He seemed to hang out in various parts of the Bronx and Peter just so happened to know some folks out that way.

Louis told Peter that he would never speak to him again if he found, befriended, and then didn’t share Luke Skywalker (the man, the real man, I’m not fucking with you, Louis). But he also recognized a place on Luke’s instagram that he seemed to be working his way through the menu of. He sent along an address and told Peter not to forget his promises.

Angel asked why he was looking for Johnny Storm in the Bronx.

Peter left Louis to rattle sense into her.

He took a walk on Saturday morning. A long walk. A long train ride, then a walk, then a half hour of squinting, and then, lo and behold, he found a blond guy banging his head into the center of an out door metal table across from a woman with heavy braids trailing down the sides of her neck. She was much older than him and drummed white-painted fingernails across her cheek as she thought.

Peter hid and called Ned and MJ for an ID. He peeked the phone’s camera out enough for them to see the other two and then snatched it back.

Ned was about to flip a table.

“That’s clearly Ahsoka Tano,” he said. “She—the braids, dude. Dead give-away. And she put ribbons in them, like what even is discretion?”

Peter didn’t know that person. He continued not to know this person, even as Ned dragged him through a trainwreck of Star Wars lore.

“So she’s a friend,” he said.

“She’s like a jedi, but not like a jedi, she was a jedi, but then she said ‘fuck the order’ and—”

Great. Peter was approaching.

Ned held his face in his hands. MJ told Peter to report back on his findings. Peter ended the call and inched closer, weaving through the crowd and slipping into the coffee joint to see what nonsense they were selling.

It was nonsense with lots of syrup. He could never say no to syrup.

He watched the two outside while waiting for his order. Luke gesticulated to his friend and she spoke, giving reasonable gestures back. He stopped her and dug out his phone and that little plastic baggy full of fluffy material. He answered his phone. His friend took the little bag and held it up to the light.

She frowned at it.

Luke pushed away from the table and walked away to take his call. Peter’s order was called. He grabbed it and swerved out towards the patio.

“Hello,” he said at the edge of Luke and his friend’s table. “Is this seat taken?”

Luke’s friend stared at him.

“It is,” she said. “Move along, hon, you’re ten years too young.”

Wow.

“For your friend?” Peter tried. “Could I leave my number?”

He had this lady’s attention now. She was looking him up and down, appraising. Peter tried not to flex. He stayed cool. Matt-levels of cool. He smiled winningly.

“Alright, why not?” she said, digging through her bag for a receipt and a pen. Peter beamed as he leaned down to scrawl his number down on the back. He got halfway through before he heard a step stop nearby.

“Look alive, kid,” Luke’s friend said. “Hey, Luke, this guy was just—”

“You again?” Luke said.

Peter lifted his head and brows.

“Hi,” he said. “I just wanted to apologize.”

There was a long silence.

Luke’s friend looked between them and then gave Luke a long, judgmental stare.

“You don’t have to,” Luke said. “Thanks, though. How did you find me here?”

Mmm. Beginner’s luck.

“Here,” Peter said, offering his number on the receipt. “If you ever need someone to talk to who gets it.”

Luke’s friend bit her lip and looked away in secondhand embarrassment. Peter ignored her for now.

“Thanks,” Luke said. “You don’t and you won’t. But you’re very pretty.”

Nice.

“You’d be surprised,” Peter told him. “Gimme a text. I’ll leave y’all alone now. Enjoy your coffee.”

He left. But not before hearing, “but that ass, Luke.”

Ned told him that there was no way that Luke was ever going to text him and he was disappointed in Peter’s hostage-taking skills.

But he was proved wrong two hours later and, for his crimes, had to admit Peter’s brilliance publicly.

LS: hi sorry. This is Luke. This morning when you stopped by our table, did you happen to see a little plastic bag on it?

Why yes. The one in Peter’s pocket right now? That bag?

PP: hi!! I did, actually. You guys aren’t very subtle 😏

LS: it’s not coke

PP: I’m not judging

LS: no, it’s not coke, I swear. It’s something INFINITELY more important. Did you happen to see if it had fallen on the ground?

PP: ah, no, sorry. I didn’t see it

PP: OH NO

PP: oh my god I’m so sorry, I think I took it with me when I accidentally took your friend’s pen.

LS: I

LS: what’s your name?

PP: Peter ❤

LS: Peter, you have a fucking problem

LS: I’m starting to think that you want something from me. And listen, you’re a handsome guy, but I’m not available and my type isn’t kleptomaniac. What do you want for it?

PP: well you got me

PP: to talk

LS: about what?

PP: mostly about why you look like you’re a wet phonebook in a bad gutter

LS: a phonebook???? What era are you even from????

PP: I could say the same to you, sir.

LS: I

LS: wh

LS: alright touche. The point is that I’m not going to talk to you. I just need that bag back. It’s a life and death situation.

PP: what are they? They aren’t coke crystals.

LS: how would you know?

PP: what are you, a cop?

LS: NO. This is going nowhere. What. Do. You. Want?

PP: To. Talk.

LS: I’m not going to talk to you.

PP: then why did you ask me to rescue you?

He held his breath.

LS: I didn’t

PP: you did

LS: I didn’t ask you for shit. This is it. What’s your last name.

PP: Man 😊

LS: Man what

PP: That’s my last name.

LS: Peter Man.

PP: oop, nope, sorry. That’s someone else.

LS: …so I’m calling the police, now. That’s what we’re saying?

PP: depends. Do you still need to be rescued?

Come on, Skywalker. Come on, remember.

LS: I never asked you to rescue me.

PP: You did. Think back.

LS: I didn’t

LS: I just made a joke to

LS: WHAT AFAJSDFA DTTH E FUCK

Peter cackled and let himself fall onto his back.

PP: Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ❤

LS: YOU’RE

PP: Just your friendly neighborhood guy ❤

LS: YOU

LS: you

PP: me

LS: THAT’s how the storms knew you

PP: yep 💋

LS: I don’t even know what to say

PP: it’s okay, you don’t have to say shit. The main thing I wanted you to know was that I hear you. And if you need it, I’ve got you.

LS: You’re literally trying to rescue me??

PP: it’s my job

LS: IT ISN’T. How have you never been arrested? how did you find me? Did you track my phone? Is it some kind of spider thing???

PP: yes

LS: I am legally obligated to kill you with the force now

PP: harder daddy

LS: ADaaSDASFSDFSdd

LS: oh my god Han is going to lose his gourd

LS: I’m sorry I just I can’t believe you of all people stole my damn hilt

PP: I’ve got……………………..sticky fingers

LS: go die

LS: no I didn’t mean that sorry that’s a thing with me and my sister. I mean, okay. You got me. Hero of NYC.

Peter’s cheeks were starting to hurt.

PP: I’ll bring them back to you.

LS: Please do, Ben’s about to have a stroke.

PP: you mean obi-wan?

LS: he’s convinced his cat ate them. There’s a staring contest happening. No one has blinked in two minutes and I don’t want to be here for the internal investigation.

PP: where do you live?

Luke sent an address. Peter held his phone high and walked it into the living room where Ned was bitchily composing an Instagram post. He and MJ looked up at the same time.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Peter said. “Luke Skywalker and Co. live in a cemetery.”

It wasn’t a cemetery. It was a funeral home, but close enough.

Luke was waiting outside on the stoop in a cardigan about four sizes too big for him. It was there probably to protect him from the equally large ragdoll cat in his arms.

Peter smiled. Luke stared at him and then shook his head and went through the screen door. Ned gave Peter a biting look.

“Made friends, I see,” he said.

“We’re doin’ great,” Peter told him, hopping up the stairs. “Look at us, totally—”

“Insidious.”

Peter stopped and turned nervously to see through the screen door where Obi-Wan Kenobi had seized both of the cat’s cheeks. Luke continued to hold it with maximum doneness levels.

“Where have you been?” Obi-Wan asked the cat seriously.

“We have guests,” Luke said. “Take your beast.”

Obi-Wan snatched the cat out of Luke’s arms with contempt all over his face.

“You are a villain of the highest order,” he told it.

“Ben. Guests. Please evacuate. I am hosting negotiations,” Luke said.

“We should have named you ‘Sith.’”

“Ben.”

Peter was not going to laugh at Obi-Wan Kenobi. That was too surreal.

“Come in,” Luke said, returning to hold open the screen. “I hope you’re not allergic. There are two of them.”

T-two?

“The other one is Junior.”

Peter stepped over the threshold and found himself in a room that looked like a human birdhouse. It was full of surfaces that were almost completely empty, as though an enrichment object had once lived there but had been removed as punishment. Luke waved Ned and MJ in and accepted their apologies on Peter’s behalf.

Peter ignored them to lock eyes with a creature more stunning than any he had ever encountered. It sat on the kitchen counter by a single clear jar labelled ‘Not Spice.’ It blinked grumpy green eyes.

“Oh, it’s these people again?”

They all looked behind them to see Obi-Wan peering around a doorframe with the first cat draped over his shoulders.

“Kleptomaniac,” Luke said, pointing at Peter. Peter waved.

“Huh,” Obi-Wan said simply. “I will distract Ahsoka.”

He vanished. Luke grimaced after him.

“Let’s go talk in the back,” he said. “There are no bodies, I promise.”

The funeral home had a little deck and a yard small even for this far out in Queens. It was crammed full of plants that appeared to be in a competition to bloom. Luke invited them to sit and then left to make coffee.

Coffee, yes, how had Peter forgotten.

He peeked over the side of the deck down where there was a large stone set in the center of the garden.

“A seeing stone,” Ned whispered to him.

“Oh, how did you know?”

They all jumped.

Peter swore that Obi-Wan hadn’t opened that sliding door. How had—what—

Ned was at a loss for words in the face of one of his greatest heroes.

“I—uh. M-movie? I mean, sorry. It was in The Mandalorian, second season, with the—”

“Yet more television,” Obi-Wan said derisively.

They all stared.

“Can you teleport?” MJ asked him.

“I thought you were bothering Ahsoka?” Luke asked, from inside. He squeezed past the man and his cat with three glass mugs in hand. He set them down on the little square table off to the side of the desk railing.

“I was, but then I got curious,” Obi-Wan said. “And I lost Junior.”

Luke stared at him.

“I’m going to lock you in the basement,” he said.

“Try, try, and try again,” Obi-Wan told him, petting his beloved cat’s head.

“Do you even know who Spiderman is, old man?”

“More television.”

“That’s what I thought.”

Peter had to keep a conscious watch on his jaw, lest it fall open in the face of the most handsome, clueless man on the planet. He watched as Obi-Wan, disgusted with all this ‘television’ nonsense skulked back off into the guts of the home. Luke shut the door behind him.

“So,” he said, holding out his hand. “We’re talking. Fork ‘em.”

Ah.

Fair was fair.

Peter produced the plastic bag from his pocket and handed it over. There was a shout somewhere inside followed by someone going ‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’

“Ben keeps our home ghost free. He terrifies all the wannabee haunters,” Luke said simply. “Thank you for these. I imagine it’s somewhat of a shock to learn that it’s all real.”

It was, but it wasn’t the weirdest thing Peter had encountered by far.

“How long have you lived in New York?” he asked conversationally.

Luke gave him a weird brow.

He seemed smaller than before in that enormous cardigan. Certainly smaller than the movies made him seem. His face was a little thinner too, and his lips seemed to slope into an almost permanent pout.

“About twenty years,” he said. “We were born in California, but Anakin moved us here when we were eight.”

Anakin? Like, Darth Vader, Anakin?

“’Luke, I am your father’—yeah, that guy,” Luke said with a scoff. “Except, you know, he ain’t dead. And he’s the only one who can make Ben remember that tea isn’t a meal, so we keep him around for that and to scream back at Leia.”

Peter was already completely lost to the dynamics of this household. It wasn’t like the books and movies—Ned’s twitching for his phone to take notes was proof enough of that.

“That’s awkward,” MJ said. “So did y’all do like, collective counselling for the past life shit?”

Luke deflated and moaned into his hands.

“It’s not past life shit if your damn name is the same,” he said. “It’s complicated.”

It sounded like it.

Imagine growing up with your apparently-Star War-obsessed father and uncle who’d built a home and a business (presumably) around that shit, only to find out later that they’d done it because it was literally their religion.

What a trip.

“When did you find out?” Peter asked gently.

“Oh, you know. Last week,” Luke said with a bitter grin. “Quit my fulltime job. Dumped my ex. Broke my lease and now here I am. Once again. Back at this place.”

“Do you want a hug?” Ned asked into the awkward silence.

“You’re very sweet,” Luke said. “If I touch another human, I will start crying and never stop.”

Yikes.

Barely holdin’ on by a thread there, buddy? How’s the hyperawareness going?

“Why does it matter, is my question. For you, I mean,” Luke said with a suspicious squint. “You fought a goblin guy, didn’t you? With a hover board?”

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, yeah.

Yeah, Peter sure had done that.

“And like, the bird dude? Didn’t you down a plane?”

Perhaps.

But Luke had blown up the Deathstar, no?

“These things are not equivalent,” Luke said flatly. “I joined a rebel alliance. There were loads of us.”

Mmm. Perhaps so.

“God, how old are you even? You look 22.”

Peter gawked.

“I’m 27,” he said.

Luke did a double-take.

“That’s a lie,” he accused. “Tell the truth or be compelled.”

“By the Force?” Ned asked hopefully.

Luke blinked at him. He pointed at the glass sliding door which revealed Obi-Wan holding Junior the cat above his head by the kitchen sink.

“The Force,” he said.

Ned’s face fell.

“Do we not have the Force, here?” he asked.

Luke flinched.

“Listen,” he said abruptly, “We’re workin’ on it. This isn’t our original galaxy. The rules are all different. The only one who’s managed to make even a spark happen is Obi-Wan so far, but as soon as we find Master Yoda, it’s over. We’ll already have won.”

“You lost Yoda,” MJ mused.

Luke stammered and caught himself.

“We lost a lot of people,” he snapped. “It happens when you shift galaxies. Anyways, that’s what the stone is for.”

MJ glanced back at the stone and then leaned her forearms onto the small table.

“So, let me get this straight,” she said. “You jedi folks all popped up over here by some cosmic accident. You don’t have the Force. Most of you don’t even remember who you are. You lost your most experienced Master, and you’re going to fight the Sith?”

Peter stirred his coffee nervously.

Luke’s eye twitched.

“We don’t need the others,” he said. “We only need the Force. To fight the Sith. Yes.”

MJ frowned deep and held her chin with both hands.

“So you need the thing you for sure don’t have the most,” she said.

Luke opened his mouth, but not before the window by the door snapped open and Obi-Wan leaned out to say, “We always have the Force.”

Luke covered his face in despair.

“I was listening from the kitchen window,” Obi-Wan told him lovingly.

“GO FIND CODY ALREADY,” Luke roared at him.

“I did, he’s right here,” Obi-Wan said soothingly, stroking his angry cat.

“The other Cody.”

“Oh, I am trying, don’t you worry.”

“Ben, so help me God—”

“Force.”

“SO HELP ME FORCE—”

Star Wars had really left out the part about Luke’s explosive temper. Peter winced, but Ned laughed and the sound seemed to have a calming effect on Jedi-on-Jedi crime about to take place in the kitchen. Obi-Wan appeared pleased with this development and emboldened. He wove past Luke out onto the desk and came over, cat and all, to point down to the seeing stone in the middle of the garden.

“Others who feel the Force’s energy will be drawn to it,” he told Ned fondly. “It’s how we got Luke back home.”

“It’s not,” Luke said. “You called me.”

“And so others will also come,” Obi-Wan said with confidence. “The most important thing is that we believe in the Force. And from that, we will find guidance and power and—”

“He means Yoda,” Luke translated. “He’s been putting frogs on it as an offering, even though me, Ahsoka, and Anakin told him that this is a human’s world. A human’s world, Ben. Even if he did eat them, he’s not eating them raw.”

“Don’t be discouraged by Luke’s attitude, he is very stressed,” Obi-Wan told Ned and Ned only affectionately. “I told him not to be, you see there are four of us here already, and the Chosen One is among us.”

“Anakin told you to stop calling him that,” Luke moaned, massaging his temples.

“He was the first to be aware of our present situation,” Obi-Wan said.

“He took a hallucinogen and had a paranoid breakdown,” Luke pleaded. “Ben, please. Go inside. Think of your blood pressure.”

“Perhaps, but it was a useful breakdown, was it not?”

“I am so sorry for him, he’s getting senile,” Luke said to the rest of them.

“Your energy is different,” Obi-Wan informed Peter out of absolutely nowhere. “Are you also Force-sensitive? Were you drawn to the stone?”

Er.

No.

Sorry?

“He’s Spiderman,” Luke said, gesturing pointedly. “Remember Spiderman?”

Obi-Wan did not. Peter suspected, actually, that Obi-Wan still used phonebooks, if he used phones at all, that was.

Luke took a deep breath and let it out.

“Okay, let me just lay it out,” he said. “We’re doing the best we can with what we have. You don’t have to get involved with this. We appreciate your help, but what would help us even more is if you stay out of it, alright?”

Yeah, okay. Sure. Peter could respect that.

“Amazing. And don’t tell other people.”

Understood.

“Unless they’re Force-sensitive,” Obi-Wan said. “In which case, ask them how they feel about rocks.”

Luke just stared at him coldly this time.

“You didn’t used to be like this,” he said dangerously.

“No, I used to be stressed,” Obi-Wan told him. “But you and Ani are doing that for me, so I have resolved to be a free spirit. Nice to meet all of you. Have more coffee. I don’t like this one; I will have it out of the house by sundown.”

He left, and possibly for good this time. No one knew what to say in his absence.

“So,” Peter tried, desperate for something to break up the tension. “You said a few days ago that you were looking for someone?”

Luke finally stopped making growling faces towards the sliding door. He lit up like a bulb.

“I am, actually,” he said.

Luke was looking for a very particular person named ‘Din.’ He described him as ‘six feet tall and covered in armor.’ He asked if they knew of such a person.

Peter had to shove a hand against his mouth in case he made an unwanted connection between this description and Obi-Wan behavior.

“Haven’t,” MJ said. “Who is he?”

“My husband,” Luke said.

Ned choked.

Peter choked.

MJ tilted her head.

“You have a husband?” she asked. “I would have remembered a husband in that series.”

Luke leaned his chin on his palm and gazed sideways over the city. He seemed to sigh.

“I don’t know why he isn’t connected to me in the media created here,” he said. “It’s probably because he’s always been very shy.”

Oh, aw. Peter loved that. The contrast between them was heart-warming.

“We had a son together,” Luke said. “His child. He brought him to me. One of my students, at first.”

Hang on a minute here.

Peter exchanged a glance with Ned. Ned tried very hard to pick a way to approach this sensitively. He landed on asking, “What was his name again?”

“Din,” Luke said. “Din Djarin.”

Ned cringed.

“He was a Mandalorian,” Luke explained. “Very, very, very shy. Like, he would rather chew off his own leg than make small talk with a stranger. I think, before I knew all this, I was still subconsciously looking for him. All my exes are the same type.”

That—

Okay, so like.

Did these people own a TV?

“Do we look like we own a TV?” Luke deadpanned. “No. If Ben senses anything bigger than a datapad happening in this place, he’s driven to madness and breaks it.”

UH?

“He doesn’t actually break it,” Luke sighed. “He just finds a way to make it unusable—putting clothes on it, disconnecting the monitor, that kind of thing. He thinks they waste electricity.”

What a guy. Peter wanted to put him and May in a room and see what conspiracies they could spin together.

“Why do you ask?” Luke asked.

Ned cleared his throat.

“Do you have a, uh, datapad, then?” he asked.

“DIN. That’s DIN. He’s got his own show. Oh my god, that’s—stay right there. Don’t move.”

Bless this man. Peter wanted to hug him so bad. They’d lost him to the staircase leading up from the second floor to the attic. Peter wondered who he was showing the tablet to.

Maybe Obi-Wan?

“I told you this already,” a voice up there said.

“LOOK AT HIM.”

“You’re killin’ me, smalls. We had this exact conversation last week. Did you forget?”

“You knew where he was.”

“Alright, alright. Downward march.”

Anakin fucking Skywalker came down the stairs with a handful of Luke’s shirt in one hand and the tablet shoved under his other arm. He paused and frowned at the three of them in the kitchen frozen in shock, and then apparently decided that that didn’t matter. He carried on dragging Luke with him towards the kitchen counter. He dropped the tablet onto it and Peter realized that the lower half of his sleeve on that side was empty.

He watched as the guy let go of Luke and chased the not-angry cat off the counter, cursing.

“Alright, this?” he said, tapping on the tablet. “Is the link I put here.” He rapped the same finger on what Peter now saw was a whiteboard covered in rows upon rows of symbols that he’d never seen before.

“Din here? Din here. You see?” Vader told Luke with untold patience.

“I can’t read that,” Luke moaned. “You lied to me.”

“It’s up in the kitchen, Luke.”

“You’re a liar and a cad. Do it in Basic.”

“This is Basic.”

Oh, dear. All that fanfic about Luke meeting Darth Vader and having a breakdown was looking real embarrassed now, wasn’t it?

“If it’s Basic, why can’t I read it?” Luke demanded.

“Because, like I told you last night, the night before, and the night before that,” Vader said painstakingly, “It doesn’t all come back at once. It’s going to take time.”

“We don’t have time,” Luke snapped.

Vader leaned his head back with half-lidded eyes. Luke didn’t look even remotely like his kid, even with him looking all pre-quels-like now.

“We talked about this, too, remember?” Vader asked.

Obviously not. Luke was distressed. He had eyes only for the tablet now.

“No, of course not, silly me,” Vader said. “Why are humans here?”

“Ahsoka went home,” Luke said.

“Thank you, that was not my question.”

“What was your question?”

“Why are non-order humans here?”

“I told you, Ahsoka went—”

“Son, I will kill you if you continue to act like Obi-Wan,” Vader said without missing a beat.

“You can try,” Luke said offhandedly. “But only one of us has two handed grip.”

There was a long stare.

“It’s Obi-Wan,” Vader told him. “Why do we have living guests?”

He gestured back to Peter, Ned, and MJ like they were flies on a set of blinds.

“Oh, because that’s Spiderman and he stole your kyber crystals,” Luke said.

Vader rounded on Peter, and Peter actually felt fear.

Vader blinked once.

“This may as well happen,” he decided somehow placidly. “I’m going back upstairs. Where did your grand-master go?”

“Into the mist,” Luke said. “Can you feel Din?”

“Negative, ghostrider.”

“When the Force chooses you first out of favoritism, can you feel for Din?”

“Ah yes, can I feel for your Force-repellant life partner with all of the Force energy that I do not have? Yes, I sure can.”

“Thanks, Dad.”

“Anytime, primary monstrosity of my loins.”

UM?

This felt a little hostile for Peter’s tastes. Not that it wasn’t earned. Clearly it was earned. It was just horrifying.

“Guests, you are dismissed,” Vader said in their direction. “Unless you’re drawn to the rock outside, in which case, you may stay. Otherwise, do not darken this doorstep again, or else we will leave you with the other dead in the morgue.”

“Thanks for bringing the crystals,” Luke said from behind him. “And for talking. I do feel better, actually.”

They left the funeral home. Obi-Wan was outside by the mailbox as though waiting for them. Peter wasn’t sure he had any emotional energy left to approach him with.

“Thank you for speaking to Luke,” he said as the three of them attempted to pass unnoticed. “It’s good for him to talk to others his own age.”

Uh-huh. Good night, sir?

“Good night, Peter, Ned, and Michelle.”

They hadn’t given their names.

They definitely hadn’t given their names.

Ned wasn’t sleeping for two years. He made this clear with a lot of clapping gestures and then rolled around on the floor, talking about all kinds of shit that Peter couldn’t decipher. MJ watched him and flicked her eyes up to Peter with concern on her forehead.

“That family is cinematically dysfunctional,” she said.

Correct.

“They’re barely their own characters.”

Correct.

“What now?”

Peter wasn’t sure. The best he could think of was to just keep an eye on the situation. Maybe check in every couple of weeks?

“If you say so,” MJ said. “I think you made Ned’s life, by the way. Good job.”

Peter tried checking in every two weeks. It started because he happened to hear of a tunnel collapsing in Queens nearby the funeral home. He texted Luke to ask if he needed a save and all he got back was a ‘well, not anymore.’

After that, Peter kept a close eye on happenstances occurring around the city. There were more than he bargained for. And when he glanced at Luke’s Instagram after the first week after the tunnel collapse, he noted that two of the nails on the hand Luke held his coffee to the camera with had gone completely black.

That was worrying.

Peter was used to be the danger-prone asshole in his friendgroup. He did not like this role-reversal. MJ asked him sarcastically what the problem was.

He texted Luke again.

PP: how many nails do you have left bro?

LS: we put a hole in one to release the pressure

PP: that don’t sound great bro.

LS: it’s fine. Oh, but good news

PP: oh?

LS: the most predictable thing ever has happened. The Vader has regained force power

PP: that’s worrying

LS: ? why?

PP: won’t he go dark?

LS: ah, no. He fucked up and raised me and Leia with Ben this time after our mom died. He had his chance to go dark and traded it for 8 consecutive hours of sleep instead.

PP: I truly don’t know what to say

LS: It’s fine we did 12 years of family therapy after the accident so we are no longer on the DSS watchlist

PP: I know less what to say

LS: he won’t find din :/

PP: is that your priority right now?

LS: aren’t you supposed to be spiderman or something? Don’t you have chaotic things to say?

PP: you know normally I do, this is literally out of character for me. but I think you also might be absorbing my chaos.

LS: that’s fair. I have that effect on people. Hey, is your buddy Ned available to chat? He knows more than I can remember about my old life. Can I borrow him?

That sounded like a horrendous decision.

PP: yeah let me get you his number.

LS: thanksssss

Ned reported a few days later that his services were needed at the funeral home. He was leaving them all now to befriend Luke Skywalker as was his true destiny.

He came back a few hours later and reported that his services had been helpful and he was pleased to say that Darth Vader was now the official herder of ‘wans’ in the house. This included all Obi-Wans and padawans.

He seemed to be the only guy there who could like, retain information given to him for some reason. He accepted this as his lot in life and went around repeating the same things to the others ad nauseum until they finally stuck for them.

Peter wondered if that was his personal hell.

Ned didn’t think so. He thought the guy was pretty chill about it and had probably been doing it for a while now. He did it more for Ahsoka Tano and Luke than he did for Obi-Wan. Although that was probably because Obi-Wan appeared to be on a hunt that made all non-relevant information given to him slip off his back like water.

Another two weeks. Another text.

PP: hey luke, I saw you drowning on the news. You okay?

LS: GOD my ex-workplace keeps calling welfare checks on our house. We’ve had more cops here then flies these last few days.

PP: ex-workplace is one way to refer to your old job. Sounds like they cared about you. What did you do?

LS: preschool teacher.

Peter was going to lose his shit right here on this bed.

PP: was that your calling?

LS: that was Luke Naberry’s calling. Luke Skywalker’s calling is to make the lightsaber go vrrrrrrm

PP: you honestly terrify me

LS: thanks han says the same thing. OH. HE FOUND CHEWIE.

PP: no shit??

LS: yeah I told Ned, not you. But yeah. He found him lugging boxes for a bodega. And now they both work at the same bodega. Which like, objectively, is a bad thing because Han was a UN translator.

PP: I’m

PP: sorry

PP: what?

LS: I know he was all respectable and shit. It was awful. I can look at him again without feeling like I’ve failed in every part of my life.

PP: dare I ask what your sister does?

LS: lawyer

PP: not senator?

LS: we’re not old enough to be senators.

PP: every moment becomes more concerning than the next. You fascinate me. This is why they put you in like, all the films.

LS: because I’m sexy yeah

PP: that too

LS: not to you. I’m off-limits bub. I’m married.

PP: how’s that going for you?

LS: Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

PP: I see. So no Din yet?

LS: I will find him if it kills me

PP: that’s so romantic. Hey you should watch that series. They gave him a little green yoda in it. Really cute.

LS: that’s my son you piece of shit

There was no winning here.

MJ asked him a few weeks later if he was still keeping up with the Jedi drama since the whole city had recently decided that Peter was a snack.

Obviously he hadn’t.

She told him not to worry, Ned had. She told him to talk to Ned, so he went and talked to Ned with a heatpad in one hand and a coldpack in the other.

Ned patted at him sympathetically and informed him that Luke had reunited with the Force. It was going poorly for him, mostly because the Force wasn’t used to people being in touch with it in these parts of the universe. It kept telling each of the jedi that there was a disturbance and then luring them to each other to fight to the death.

Luke described it as the Force-equivalent of an auto-immune disease.

They’d taken to gathering in the living room of the funeral home to meditate in a circle, as though to calm the Force’s anxiety while scenting each other for protection.

It had a 40% success rate. Everyone was sleeping in locked rooms for the time being, just in case someone got compelled to do something rash.

Peter asked Ned if he’d finally lost his crown as King Chaos of NYC.

Ned patted him on the knee more firmly than before and said that he could regain his crown by introducing a calming element into the jedi household.

Peter had his pride to defend, so he asked what that element ought to be.

Din Djarin, the Mandalorian, the leader of all Mandalorians, was bound to have a name that looked nothing like the one they had for him. Luke nearly exploded when Peter approached him to asked him (and his taped fingers) more about who Din Djarin was outside the name.

They proceeded with caution, however. So far, Peter and Ned had discovered only dissonance between Luke’s account of his life partner (his ‘heart, stars, sun, and sand’) and the guy on the screen for the tv show. That was to be expected, given that they had met Luke now and learned of his somewhat explosive personality.

But even still, Luke’s description of Din Djarin as ‘kind, compassionate, tender, shy, emotionally stable, dependable, sweet, caring, and hunky’ seemed slightly biased.

Peter just wanted to know how tall this guy was. Hair color. Eye color. Skin color. Blood type. That kind of shit.

Luke said that Din had brown hair, brown eyes, Type Who Knows What blood, and was about six feet tall. He had no idea how much he weighed. He’d never had need for that information. He knew that Din was human, which was probably helpful in a galaxy far, far away. He knew that he spoke Mando’a as his first language, then Basic, then a whopping fifteen others. And he knew that Din was probably looking after their son.

Vader asked Peter over a mug of coffee (also labeled in the funeral home’s cabinet as ‘not spice.’) if Spidersenses could overcome a dearth of information. It took Peter a few moments to realize that he was sympathizing with him.

“You’re not going to find Din,” Vader told Luke. “You need to look for the kid. You’ll find the kid first, you always have.”

Luke took his coffee and poured it down the drain.

Peter decided that he didn’t want to get in between that burgeoning battle. He told Luke to text him if he remembered anything else.

Wade was pissed that Peter had been meeting and ‘cavorting’ with Luke Skywalker without him. He claimed ownership of the Din Djarin mystery in order to cram himself into Luke’s good graces. But quickly, he ran into the same stumbling blocks as Peter.

Din Djarin was six feet tall with brown eyes and brown hair.

That was what they currently had to go on.

Wade would have torn out his hair if he had any, but he stopped himself and accepted the challenge. Peter watched over his shoulder as he chicken-pecked his way into a list of social security numbers held by the NYC State ID issuing department and started methodically filtering names that did not sound like ‘Din.’

He started broad with all ‘D’s and then narrowed it down further and further and further until he was left with a shitload of Daniels.

He stared at the screen before him and vibrated.

Peter massaged his shoulders before he cracked.

It helped. Wade started filtering by height, then by eye color. Then by hair, and only ended up with several hundred people.

He vibrated again, but this time, Peter couldn’t help him.

He sighed. Wade said that there had to be a better way to do this. He got up.

Wade made about four thousand missing posters with the name Din Djarin on them which he recruited the whole team to plaster up around NYC. This was not a request.

Miles asked him why they were doing this for a tv character and had to be let in on the gig.

He lost his shit.

Louis tried to retain his shit.

Angel still didn’t know how the whole jedi thing worked.

Dave hummed and haw’ed and took his time in calling bullshit. Wade asked him to look deep into his eyes and ask if he was entertaining bullshit that fine evening.

Dave changed his opinion and took a stack.

There was no way that shit was supposed to work. There was just no way. A) because Wade had the worst ideas of all mankind and B) because Peter had the worst luck of all mankind. So the two of them together should have destroyed all the prospects of success for that job.

But instead, while they were hatching a new plot involving setting up a sham sociological study for people who responded to Star Wars names, Wade’s phone went off.

He grabbed it and opened the message and lo and behold right there was a note that read,

“I hope you are not a reporting body because this is going to sound certifiably insane, but I think I might be the guy you’re looking for?”

Wade screamed.

Peter scolded him not to get too excited too soon. They had to see the man first.

Wade texted furiously, asking for a picture and got a message back that said, “please do not dox me.”

They got no answer until Wade promised not to dox the guy.

And then they got an image of a man with brown hair and brown eyes with olive skin. His face was remarkably square. The picture wasn’t just him, though, he had in his arms a little boy with a head covered in tight ringlets. His eyes were so dark they were nearly black and he was maybe two years old.

The caption said, “apologies, my son needed to be in the picture.”

Wade cooed and entered Dad Mode to ask how old the baby was and what he liked to do and Peter lost the fathers to that small talk for a while before Wade oh-so-casually asked, “So you feel like you’re from outer space?”

“It sounds strange,” the guy on the other said wrote back, “But I do. Like every day I wake up and look in the mirror and something is wrong. I feel like I’m always forgetting something when I leave the house. I watched the tv show of the guy who’s name was on your fliers and the kid in it reminds me so much of my son. It’s eerie. They make the same sounds. He made the same sounds before we even watched that show.”

Wade whistled.

“I think this is him, Pete,” he said. “He called Baby Yoda a ‘kid’ not a yoda.”

Peter stared. He hadn’t even caught that. That was smart as hell.

“So what now?” he asked.

Wade sniffed.

“Get Skywalker to send you a selfie,” he said.

PP: Luke are you pretty right now?

LS: My face is intact

PP: take a selfie and send it to me

LS: cannot do that. Face is intact is a baseline situation. Let me find an old one. Oh, they all have my ex in them. This is awkward.

PP: it doesn’t matter I can crop it.

LS: no I have to be cute or I’ll perish hold on

PP: are you sure you’re not Johnny Storm?

LS: yes, he’s got loads of muscles. Sent.

Selfie acquired.

Luke looked very smiley in it. His eyes were blown out from the lighting, but it showed his sloping smile and his low, back-set dimples. Peter sent it to Wade. Wade sent it to his new friend.

They waited.

They waited five minutes.

Then ten.

Then half an hour.

Then nearly two.

And finally, Wade’s phone rang. He picked it up and set it on speaker so that Peter could hear.

“Hello?” Wade said.

There was a long pause.

“Where did you get that picture?” a low, almost smoky voice demanded on the other side.

“A friend,” Wade said sleazily. “You know him? He’s a cute little thing, ain’t he?”

It took the dude on the other side of the line worryingly long to respond.

“What do you want?” he finally asked.

Wade brought his head down in interest.

“What’re you willing do to?” he asked.

They waited. Peter didn’t know what was taking this guy so long to—

“Anything.”

Ah.

Okay. That.

That sounded about right.

Wade cackled.

“You know his name?” he asked.

“I do,” the man said.

“What’s his name then, pal?” Wade asked.

“It’s none of your fucking business.”

Holy shit. Holy shit. Peter clutched the back of the couch. Wade was grinning so hard, Peter could see it through his mask.

“You want him, you need to show me that you know who he is,” Wade said. “I ain’t got ‘im here, but I know where he is. Come on, big boy. Who is he?”

Peter could hear the man take in a deep, shaky breath.

“His name is Luke,” Din fucking Djarin, the Mandalorian himself, said.

Din fucking Djarin’s name at the moment was Danny Jabaran. He stood six feet tall with a medium build and that baby of his in his arms.

He was not afraid of Wade.

He was not afraid of Peter.

The suits didn’t scare him; this man was a space warrior. The leader of the space warriors. Peter was humbled to stand in his presence, old jeans and tattoos and all.

“Vigilantes,” he acknowledged.

“Deadpool,” Wade said, offering a hand. “And this is?”

“Grogu,” Djarin said.

Baby Yoda lifted his big liquid eyes up to Wade and blinked twice. Then he wriggled around and hid in Djarin’s neck. Djarin put a hand on his back and didn’t drop eye contact.

“Tell me everything,” Djarin said.

Ned screamed. Michelle screamed. Peter reminded them that he had neighbors and invited Mr. Mand’alor to sit on the couch for a bit while he called Luke.

Michelle claimed the spot next to Djarin and asked Baby Yoda Grogu for his little hand. He studied her and hid again, making a prolonged sound of distress that Djarin cut off by saying, “Hey. Manners.”

This somehow made baby Grogu turn back to Michelle to stare at her offered hand.

He took it. She shook with him and then took hers away.

Grogu perked up and reached for it again.

“You’re the Mandalorian,” Ned said.

Djarin looked right at him.

“A Mandalorian,” he corrected.

Ned blinked back tears.

“You’re so cool,” he creaked.

Djarin frowned.

“You...are too?” he tried.

Ned wept into a fist.

Peter left them to call Luke in his bedroom. Luke picked up on the third ring with the start of an ingrained greeting that sounded a whole lot like a customer service recording. He caught himself, though.

“I have someone I’d like you to talk to,” Peter said. “I think you might want to sit down.”

Luke’s unusual quiet on the other side made Peter grin.

“Are you sitting?” he asked.

“I’m sitting.”

“Alright, one moment,” Peter said, walking out into the living room. Djarin had edged far, far away from Ned, as far as he possibly could without being rude. He looked up when Peter came over and sat down on the arm next to him.

“Say hi,” Peter said.

Djarin frowned at him and then the phone.

“Who’s that?” he asked.

Peter waited. Djarin lifted his head over to see the phone’s screen.

“Hello?” he tried.

“Din?”

The Spidey Sense crashed through Peter like a tidal wave.

Djarin had gone completely still.

“Din? Is that you? Can you hear me?”

“Shit,” Djarin said, lifting a hand to cover his eyes. “Goddamnit. Jesus.”

“DIN.”

“Dank Fucking Farrik.”

“Oh my god.”

Baby Grogu’s face snapped toward the phone with huge eyes. He grabbed at Djarin’s collar, then his jaw and started bouncing a little in his arms.

“Bu?” he asked.

Djarin couldn’t make himself move.

“Grogu?” Luke asked. “Hey, baby, is that you, bubba?”

Grogu grabbed Djarin’s face urgently, so that he couldn’t hide his raw eyes anymore.

He pointed at the phone.

“Yeah, I hear ‘im, kid,” Djarin said.

“MMMMM. Gib.”

“Ah. That’s not ours. We don’t grab. We ask,” Djarin reminded as Grogu pleaded for the phone. Peter snickered and gave it to him. He just held it, staring.

“Do you wanna see him?” Peter asked. “Luke, can we maybe video chat?”

“Y-yeah,” Luke said. “Hold on. Oh god, my face. Uh, hey Din are you still near-sighted, hon?”

Djarin huffed a laugh that turned into a whole-body tremor.

“I got contacts,” he said a little hysterically.

“You got WHAT?” Luke yipped, “Okay, no. No, I gotta. Be still, this heart. Okay let me just take off the butterflies. On moment, Grogu, Daddy’s just gotta dunk his face in the damn sink.”

MJ bounced her eyebrows at Peter as he gently took the phone back from Grogu and tapped on the camera. He offered it back the kid and received a deep gaze of wonder in return. Djarin turned the screen right-side up in his hands.

Luke finally turned his camera on and revealed himself to be very swollen in the jaw with damp hair and a cut very close to the rim of his left eye.

Grogu screeched.

Luke laughed.

“Look at you,” he said, “I’m gonna cry. Oh my god. Where’re your ears, pal?”

Grogu analyzed this reaction for 2 full seconds and then shoved the camera right into his dad’s forehead. Djarin took it from him and liberated himself so that he could see Luke who was clutching at his face, absolutely already sobbing, bless him.

He looked up to see Grogu and instead got Djarin and finally just broke right in half.

Peter swallowed back the growing lump in his throat. His eyes were starting to warm a little.

Djarin found a watery smile in himself.

“I know you’re not cryin’ because of me,” he said gently.

“Where’s your helmet?” Luke sobbed, wiping viciously at his eyes. “People are watching, you harlot.”

“I know,” Djarin said. “I lost it.”

“I’m so sorry.”

“Luke.”

“This is all my fault. I should’ve—I should’ve—”

“Luke,” Djarin said again, full of warmth, “You died for us.”

Luke shook harder than ever.

“There is no greater sacrifice a warrior can make,” Djarin told him. “I was honored for you to have made it for me and our son. This has always been the Way.”

“This is the Way,” Luke stammered.

“I missed you,” Djarin said. “Where in God’s name have you been?”

“I was a preschool teacher in the Bronx, man, I dunno what happened,” Luke said tipping his face up to force the tears back in.

“In the Bronx? Where?”

“Uh, off Allerton and Lurting?”

Djarin started shaking with laugher.

“I work off Laconia and Mace,” he said.

“You what?”

“We’ve been blocks apart this whole time.”

Awwwwww.

“I’m going to stab myself,” Luke moaned. “I’m going to stab myself in the arm. I was right there and I sold out for my part-time gig barely weeks ago. Oh my god. I’m going to—move, old man, I’m suffering—Wait. Din, did you find your parents?”

Djarin stood up and held the phone out straight.

“Where are you right now?” he asked.

Look at all these people hugging each other.

Look at them crying all over. There was a baby in there, wailing because he was so happy to be back in the arms of his other dad.

Aww. AWWWW. Peter was getting emotional again, he was going to see himself out.

“Wait. Peter.”

He looked up to find Luke holding a hand to him.

“Thank you,” he said. “You really are a superhero, you know that?”

Yeah.

Sometimes, he did.

The city had plenty of problems as it was, yeah, more now with a bunch of jedi running around, linking up with each other and spreading memory like mushroom spores. But it didn’t feel that much different.

What it felt like now was Ned showing Grogu how to hold his hand at the seeing stone in the funeral home’s back yard to make the Force happen while Obi-Wan reported cheerfully that the cat perched on it was still not levitating.

It also felt like watching Luke freak out over text to Ned and Michelle about his ex losing their mind at him dumping them after two years to marry this random mechanic within a week of getting together.

Peter got to see this from new angles, too, one of which was the bottom of the funeral home’s attic stairs, which Anakin Skywalker liked to sit on while his grandkids—both Grogu and Han Solo and Leia Organa (pardon, Leia Naberry)’s son—came over to show him things that he was very well aware of. These were stolen from him by Auntie Ahsoka and her friends who Ned knew and Peter did not.

And there was something warming about how even these folks—people from a galaxy far, far away, occasionally needed a Spiderman.

#spiderman #starwars #dinluke #inimitable verse #ficlet #this is the niche of the niche but I know like 5 of you read both my mando and spiderman fics #so this is for you doll #and also the fact that I have a fucking PROBLEM

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writtenvideoessay · 2 years

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Star Wars is a Dystopia

The Star Wars original trilogy depicted an interconnected universe with hundreds of different alien races, and, of course, the powerful, controlling, and ever-present Empire. From the start of the movies, we, the audience, are told that the Empire is bad, an evil force taking over the universe. However, when one looks closer, it becomes clear that the Empire is not merely evil but is, in fact, a dystopia. A dystopia is a society that is the cause of suffering and pain. More than that, a dystopia is the corrupted version of a Utopia, the perfect place. The Empire attempted to create the perfect universe -- a universe without conflict between differing societies and opinions. Palpatine, the Emperor, decided the only way to create such a perfect universe was for it to be controlled by a single man. With a single military and justice system, conflict would be eliminated, and everything should be perfectly peaceful and just. Unfortunately, as one might expect, putting all the power in the universe in the hands of one man does not a perfect utopia create. The Empire is Palpatine, and his will is the Empire’s will. The Empire, under Palpatine, became, rather than a force for peace, a force propelled by greed and controlled by fear. The Empire demonstrates three necessary characteristics of a dystopia, control through fear, dehumanization of both their soldiers and their enemies, and oppression over a lower class. We first meet the Empire when Stormtroopers board Princess Leia’s ship in search of missing Death Star plans.(00:02:30, A New Hope) Immediately we know two things: The Empire is willing to kill to get what it wants and has little regard for the lives of their soldiers. As the Stormtroopers work their way through the ship, both the rebel soldiers and the Stormtroopers suffer casualties. There is no discussion of the deaths, and Stormtroopers seem uncaring of their fellow soldiers’ deaths. The Stormtroopers themselves are one of the most obvious pieces of evidence of a dystopian society. First, there are thousands of them. We only see a couple hundred, but we know that there are more on every single ship of the many fleets of the Empire. That means thousands, or millions, of people were conscripted or joined the Empire as soldiers. The Empire uses the sheer mass of this gigantic army to induce fear in anyone who might oppose it. Moreover, this massive army is not just a peacekeeping force. The Empire has no qualms about using these soldiers to kill innocent civilians, further instilling fear among the population. In the first movie, we see the aftermath of that, when Luke returns home to the sight of his Aunt and Uncle’s burned corpses.(00:40:30, A New Hope) In fact, we see the Empire kill innocents more than it kills rebel soldiers. Second, the Stormtroopers armor, now one of the most recognizable pop culture references, are specifically designed to be uniform. Each one is exactly alike and hides the wearer's face. This is a classic dehumanization tactic of literally making them not appear human. Third, they are not given names. The one time a Stormtrooper is addressed on screen, he is called “TK-421” by a superior officer on the Death Star. (01:08:22, A New Hope) In later Star Wars movies, there is more nuance given to the idea of the Stormtrooper with the existence of Finn, or FN-2187, but their treatment remains consistent with the Stormtroopers from the original trilogy. The Stormtroopers represent both the dehumanization tactics of dystopias and the Empire’s control through fear. Almost every planet that the audience is shown has Stormtroopers stationed there. The only places we are shown that do not are Hoth and the Dagobah system. Hoth is an uninhabited ice planet that kills anything on its surface, and the Dagobah system is a swampy marshland inhabited only by Yoda. Every other inhabited planet has Stormtroopers stationed there, indicating the Empire has a stranglehold over the entire universe. One could assume that they are peacekeepers, but they completely ignore the murders that happen on Tatooine. When Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi attempt to find a pilot to get them to Alderaan, Kenobi kills one person, and cuts the arm off another.(00:46:55, A New Hope) The Stormtroopers, despite being just outside, and fully within earshot, do nothing. Why would the Stormtroopers be stationed on a planet except to make sure things remain peaceful? The answer is: to inspire fear in the locals, thereby increasing both Palpentine’s already impressive control over the citizenry and his power. The Empire does not care at all about the criminal activities of Jabba the Hut and his compatriots. It willfully ignores murder and other criminal activity because it can always use criminals to its advantage. Tatooine is a prime example for two of the major ways the Empire uses fear tactics. The first being the continued presence of Stormtroopers on a peaceful planet. This does not deter criminal activity but rather the possibility of rebellion. When you know there is a highly trained military force occupying your planet, it is that much harder to entertain the ideas of rebellion. The second is the Empire ignoring Jabba’s criminal activities. By allowing Jabba to do whatever he wants, the Empire gains two advantages on Tatooine. The civilians are now scared of both the actual Empire and the criminal empire, and a potentially dangerous and armed faction now has no reason to go against the Empire. The criminals we see on Tatooine and throughout the universe are almost as highly trained as the Stormtroopers, if not as populous. By allowing criminal activities to continue with minimal interference, the Empire neutralizes a potential threat. The Empire not only has soldiers stationed on every inhabited planet, but it also can destroy entire civilizations at will. The existence of the Death Star is as much a threat as a real weapon. Its incredible power can only be used against full sized planets, not small fighters, or ships, meaning that it is purposefully designed to instill fear more than fight. The name itself is terrifying, the Death Star, and is used to inspire fear of the power the Empire holds. When the Empire destroyed Alderaan, it sent a message to the whole universe that Palpatine is willing to destroy entire planets to maintain absolute control. Governor Tarkin, the man who built the Death Star, says that he wants to test out the capabilities of the Death Star’s weapon system.(00:58:08, A New Hope) This is only partly true. The Empire wanted to use it, of course, but Palpatine also wanted to prove that it could work. The ability to destroy planets is a horrifying prospect, and it absolutely inspires fear in the rest of the universe. It becomes a dangerous prospect to allow rebels anywhere near someone’s planet, for fear that the Empire would discover it and destroy the entire planet. Later in the movie, the Empire dissolves the Galactic Senate, and Governor Tarkin says that it does not matter because fear will keep the locals in line.(00:37:38, A New Hope) The existence of the Death Star allows the Empire that much more control over the universe. The last characteristic of a dystopia is one less often attributed to Star Wars because the oppressed group is not one most audience would think about. The droids in Star Wars are shown to have emotions, human intelligence, and absolutely no respect from anyone. C-3PO and R2-D2 are the most well-known droids and both are often shown having fully human emotions. C-3PO is terrified of being de-activated and sold as spare parts, and he forms clear attachments to most of the people in the resistance. In particular, he is shown to have a strong attachment to R2-D2, worrying over him multiple times in the movies. R2-D2, likewise, shows human characteristics. Specifically, he is brave and determined, as shown when he risks his life several times for the resistance. Despite the human levels of intelligence and emotion, the droids are second-class citizens. They are refused service at a bar in the first movie, tortured and taken apart in the second, and nearly killed in the third. While there is a general bias against the droids on the part of everyone in Star Wars, this negative treatment stems from the Empire. The Empire has a very strict line of thinking, if something is useful, use it, otherwise get rid of it. Its opinion on droids stems from the same thing, and that thinking trickled down to the civilians. The Empire has no problem using droids when necessary but never allows them even a hope of citizenship. In fact, calling them second-class citizens is too positive for the way they are treated. They are slaves that can be literally taken apart and put back together in whatever way the Empire wants. C-3PO calls Luke master throughout the trilogy because Luke bought him, and he sees Luke as his owner. In the third movie, we see a random droid being tortured with hot metal on its feet. (00:11:04, Return of the Jedi) By the sound of its screams, we can assume that it does in fact feel pain, a part of its programming that could have only been added to control it. The Empire forces these fully intelligent and emotional beings to work for them as slaves with torture as an incentive. Even looking beyond the canon of the movies, much of the Empire is based on a real-world authoritarian state, Nazi Germany. The Stormtroopers are based on specialized Nazi troops of the same name. The general fear and awe that surrounds the Emperor is very similar to the way the Nazis treated Hitler. In the second trilogy, the Imperial Order has a salute very reminiscent of the Nazi salute. Learning about and understanding the Empire in Star Wars can help us understand real world dystopias. “Art imitates life”, and we can use that to recognize dystopias or even regular injustice. People must learn about this type of thing to stop it if they see it in the real world. Star Wars may be fun movies with terrible special effects, but they are also a blueprint for what could happen if one person is given too much power and uses that power to enslave those with less means to protect themselves. The parallels drawn between the Nazis and the Empire were entirely purposeful. Now, it was probably just to make an easy antagonist that viewers will automatically hate, of course, because they’re Nazis, but it evolved beyond that to serve as a reminder that fascism and tyranny can be anywhere, even in fun Sci-Fi movies.

#star wars #writtenvideoessay #essay on star wars #luke skywalker #han solo #princess leia #tw torture #star wars is a dystopia #emperor palpatine #tw nazi #stormtrooper

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darkisrising · 3 years

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I’ll take you at your word, by DarkIsRising

This Dinluke may very well be the softest, fluffiest, most tooth decaying-ly sweet thing I’ve ever written. Read here or on ao3 if that’s more your thing. I’ll take you at your word Luke is a very attractive man.

Din hadn’t noticed at first, what with all that was going on when they’d met, or even at the second because holocomm blue is not the most flattering—or steady—light. By the third time, though, Din notices because he’s not as oblivious as certain beings the galaxy over seem to think him to be.

He notices how light Luke’s eyes are and how laughter seems to hang in their corners even when he’s at his most Jedi-serious. He notices that Luke’s hair is always perfectly laid down across his forehead and sometimes wonders what kind of Jedi magic must make it so, even as his fingers twitch to muss it all up. He notices that there are dimples that flare across his face when he’s in just the right mood. He notices there is a magnificent brightness that surrounds him even when there’s yet another power failure at his temple—”I thought I’d fixed that kriffing thing! Hold on, sorry, this is embarrassing”—and all Din can see of Luke is thanks to his helmet’s heightened sensors.

But by far the most attractive thing about Luke isn’t his face, which is beautiful, or his physique, which is impressive, or his voice, which could drive a celibate to distraction. No it’s how eager Luke is not just to teach, but also to learn.

When he asks if they might spar together, Din’s expecting a brutal display of skill and dominance. What he isn’t expecting is Luke asking Din to show him that move again—”Wait, is this how it goes? Or is your weight on the other foot?”— and wait patiently as Din corrects his posture, gifting Din a rattler-flash of a smile in return.

When he asks about Din’s covert—”Whatever you want to share with me. It’s also okay if you need to keep stuff secret.”—Din can tell there is more than puerile curiosity in his questions. There is a real thirst for understanding.

And when he starts to take an interest in Din’s language, asking: “And how do you say ‘tired’ in Mando’a?” on an evening that Din is so exhausted from his flight to Yavin that he answers “Haryc” automatically, it’s no surprise that Luke takes bending his tongue to the unfamiliar word as seriously as all the rest.

“Haryc,” Luke repeats, a tiny frown of concentration forming along his forehead as he repeats it three times more for good measure. “Alright, kid, it’s time for bed. Your father is haryc.”

“Buir,” Din offers and Luke smiles with a nod of thanks, repeating the new word to himself a couple times and then amending: “Your buir is haryc.”

A thrill runs down Din’s spine to hear Luke’s voice wrap around the sounds of Mando’a, though in the moment he attributes his reaction to fatigue.

The next time he hears Luke speak a bright, chipper “Oh, Grogu, look: your buir is awake!” as he’s working over a pan of frying eggs, a spatula in his gloved hand, Din gets that same thrill despite having had a full night of uninterrupted sleep, so he knows it wasn’t because he was haryc, it’s just what happens when Luke speaks Mando’a to him.

***

Luke isn’t just easy on the eyes, or the ears. He’s also magnificent in battle: lithe and dressed in black, lit by the glow of his green saber, flickering through the line of Imp droids as he slices his way to Din’s side.

“What do you think?” Luke asks, casting his black hood back when they’ve cleared enough Imps to take a brief rest and Din spares a quick glance over at him. Sweat dances down from Luke’s forehead and it’s the only sign that this grueling stand-off is taking any kind of a toll on him. “Not bad, right? I think all our sparing has paid off.”

“Mhi solus tome,” Din says without meaning to and Luke’s eyebrow quirks a question. “We are one when together,” Din translates and even though there comes the sound of metallic feet marching down the durasteel hall he can feel Luke’s attention hone in on Din’s words.

“Say it again,” he says and when Din does, Luke repeats the phrase.

“Yeah,” he says with a smile. “I like that,” and with their next steadying, tandem breath they launch themselves at their enemy. They are an indivisible whole, and Din’s heart sings, reverberating as loudly in his chest as his beskar echoes through the air when it smashes in an Imp droid’s faceplate.

***

Luke also, Din is glad to see, has a noble heart.

“I hate to put you in this position,” Luke is babbling in the temple’s hangar as his droid whizzes by clicking loudly as he makes their ship flight-ready. “But Leia says the kids are holed up in some tundra wasteland and they haven’t been able to find them yet.”

“It’s fine,” Din says, a fond smile safely tucked away behind beskar. “Go.”

“I feel terrible. You entrusted me with your son and here I go running out on you two, again, for the third time this month—”

“Luke?” he cuts in and Luke’s mouth closes with a snap. “It doesn’t matter if you leave. Mhi solus dar'tome. We are one when parted.”

“Wait can you say that in Mando’a again—”

“Later.” Din huffs a laugh and pushes Luke toward his waiting ship. “Go!”

Luke is also persistent, so it isn’t much of a surprise when he jumps down from his X-Wing’s ladder with a triumphant grin. “Mhi solus dar'tome!” he calls to where Din is waiting with Grogu in his arms. “Did I say it right?”

Din inclines his head and Luke gives out a loud “Ha!” of glee.

“I commed Bo-Katan on the way back and made her teach me,” Luke says and Din mentally adds ‘fearless’ to his list of Luke’s virtues.

***

With Luke generosity is a given.

So it’s to Grogu, who is hoarding their latest shipment of eggs with a raised hand that brims with misused Jedi magic, that Din chastises by saying: Ad'ika! Mhi me'dinui an.”

“Yeah, Grogu,” he says between hiccupping laughs, clearly not nearly as annoyed as Din is. “Whatever he said.”

“We will share all,” Din mutters, wrestling the crate away just as Grogu slurps two more eggs down. “Mhi me'dinui an.”

And Luke, whose ear has gotten remarkably attuned to catching the cadence of Mando’a repeats back nearly flawlessly “Mhi me'dinui an.”

***

But above all of this, Luke is clever. Really, really clever, which is something that can get overlooked between his face and his laugh and his prowess with a lightsaber. He’s also so blindingly, heart-wrenchingly, stupefyingly brave that it shouldn’t be such a surprise when one day, seemingly out of nowhere, he takes Din’s leather-clad hands in his, stares into Din’s visor, and says, “So I don’t know if you mean it or not, but just in case: bal tome mhi ba'juri verde.”

Din blinks at his perfect pronunciation as well as the words he’s speaking.

“Yeah, so,” Luke says, a red flush rushing across his throat and taking over his cheeks. “I think you might have been getting married to me these past few months? And if it’s all a misunderstanding then we can just pretend this never happened—”

“Bal tome mhi ba'juri verde,” Din says, quicker than he’s maybe said anything in his life and now it’s Luke that’s left blinking.

“Oh,” he says. “Oh, well, good. That’s really, really good.”

“Yeah,” Din agrees. “Yeah, it is.”

“Good. Yeah, good,” Luke is nodding, and because no other words come to Din—in either Basic or Mando’a— he reaches up to remove his helmet and catches Luke’s lips in a kiss. ~~~+~~~ Mandalorian marriage vows: Mhi solus tome, mhi solus dar'tome, mhi me'dinui an, mhi ba'juri verde We are one when together, we are one when parted, we will share all, we will raise warriors

#dinluke #dinluke fic #darkisrising fic

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luminouspoes · 3 years

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if something's wrong, you can count on me

summary: reader helps poe with his wounds (physical and emotional) after being captured in tfa

warnings: mentions of torture

a/n: loosely a continuation of my first fic!

read on ao3

You don’t realize how slowly time can pass until Poe leaves. It’s been a week since he left in a nondescript X-Wing to collect BB-8 from Kazuda Xiono on the Colossus, then depart for a mission to Jakku.

Each day moves slower than the last, but time really starts to crawl on the third night, when reports come back that the village Tuanul was destroyed by the First Order. It’s the same village Poe was meant to meet with Lor-San Tekka to retrieve the map to Luke Skywalker. There are no survivors.

On the fifth day, news leaks that the First Order is now looking for two fugitives with a beebee unit. You initially hope that one of the fugitives is Poe, but then Threepio dejectedly rattles off the descriptions of the fugitives, and your heart sinks lower and lower. Neither of them are Poe.

But the droid was unmistakably Beebee-Ate. Every person in the room must’ve shared the same thought at once, a sea of murmurs rushing through the war council in unison. You pick a spot on the wall past General Organa’s head to fixedly stare at. There was no universe where Poe Dameron would let Beebee-Ate be chased so doggedly by the First Order without him, unless —

Could he really be gone? Was he caught in the destruction of the village? Or had he been captured, then killed? You were spiraling, but you can’t stop yourself, each thought coming quicker than the last. The room is filled with too many people and you need to run —

“Hope is like the sun.” Leia doesn’t shout, but she might as well have with the way her words shock you back into the present. The way she holds the room is magnetic. “If we only believe in it when we see it, we’ll never make it through the night.”

It isn’t the empty promises or a practiced speech a politician might make to boost morale. It’s the commanding voice of a soldier, someone who understands, and you believe every word she says.

Her eyes find yours in the crowd. You take a step back in surprise, bumping into Paige Tico by accident. The other woman catches you easily as Leia finishes, “Poe will come home to us. I know he will.”

It’s now the seventh day, and you’re struggling to hold on to the hope Leia encouraged you to keep. The medbay is empty, so Kalonia orders you to go get some rest since Poe’s disappearance has been wearing on you.

Instead of immediately going to your quarters, you find yourself on the landing strip, in front of Black One. It’s almost sundown, so there isn’t anyone else around but you.

You run your hand along the hull, trying to conjure up good memories — like when you first met Poe, that time he went to lean up against a doorway to talk to you but missed and fell, trying to be smooth...the many, many times he followed you around in sickbay, pestering you when you weren’t tending to patients, watching in quiet awe when you were.

“You realize there’s more than one medic in this ‘bay, right? Ones that aren’t juniors and are more experienced?” You asked him one day he came in with a nasty looking blaster wound and asked for you specifically to look him over.

“Yeah, but not all of them are my best friend.” Poe replied with a grin.

Now you’d do anything to see that smile again.

Your eyes sting and it isn’t from the wind. Using the back of your hands, you angrily wipe away the tears. Hope is like the sun. The D’Qar sun is setting now.

You go back inside, numb.

You can’t sleep.

You toss and turn, kick your sheets around your ankles, throw your pillow this way and that, but sleep refuses to come. All you can think about was how quiet the base seems without Poe. It’s still noisy because it’s an operational military base, but there isn’t as much life now.

Golden boy of the Resistance.

He was crucial to this operation, so much more than just an average pilot and soldier. He had the makings of a leader — Leia knew it, Black Squadron knew it, you knew it. In fact, you were pretty sure the only person who didn’t know it was Poe himself.

You kick away the covers, sit up. There’s no way you’re going to sleep tonight, you might as well use this restless energy for good use. You’re pulling a jacket on when somebody raps on your door. It’s urgent, but the softness of the knock isn’t right. It’s like whoever’s on the other side is exhausted.

You hurry to the door, lean over to the panel and press the right button. The door slides open with a hiss and you turn back to see who’s on the other side —

And immediately choke on a sob of surprise.

Because Poe Dameron is leaning heavily against your doorway, one arm wrapped around his torso, eyes barely open. “Hey. Miss me?”

Before you can even utter a response, he tilts forward on shaky legs. You gasp, clutching him so he doesn’t fall to the floor. Every other emotion in your body switches off as you immediately throw one of his arms around your neck and lead him inside the room despite his protests. You drag him to your bed, which he immediately falls onto with a grunt of pain.

His clothes are dirty and his flight jacket is missing. His dark hair is matted down from sweat and — your heart lurches — blood.

“Poe…” your voice is shaky as you brush trembling fingertips to the side of his head. He flinches at the lightest touch and you freeze, withdrawing your hand, eyes stinging again. “Who did this to you?”

“You’ll have to be more specific, which injury are you referring to?”

You catch his eyes with horror. “How many do you have?”

“No idea,” he admits tiredly, leaning his head back to look up at the ceiling. “Feels like a lot.”

You’re in a freefall, every ounce of calm purpose draining out of you in a rush, you’re not just a medic now, you’re a terrified friend. You struggle to catch yourself as his words wash over you.

“You haven’t been to medbay yet?” You demand, feeling a few strands of your hair going gray.

“Don’t have the time, just wanted to see you.” Poe shakes his head, tries to stand up. You shove him back onto the bed. He glares up at you. “I have to report to Leia.”

“The only thing you need to do is get treated!” You retort, sharper than intended. It’s incredible how lifeless the universe seemed without Poe, and how now that you got him back, you kind of want to throttle him for being so infuriatingly stubborn.

“Hey,” Poe says, catching your wrist lightly. “I’m okay.”

“You’re bleeding.” You point out, trying to rein in the panic that is creeping into your chest.

“It’s dry.”

You scoff, turning away from him. Poe’s tendency for the audacious was what made him such a valuable asset to the Resistance, but between that and his commitment to the cause, it led to dangerously low levels of self-preservation. Which you knew better than anyone, as someone who’s treated his injuries plenty of times before. “If you have a debriefing, why’d you stop here?”

You turn to face him, curious of his reaction, but his expression is surprisingly guarded, aside from a false smile. “I told you, I wanted to see you.”

“I know you, Dameron. Your first stop post-mission is always to the General. What aren’t you telling me?”

You’ve spent enough time paying attention to Poe to know when he’s hiding something, particularly when it’s something troubling him. Most people either buy the sarcastic jokes he makes to cover it up or the friendly smile, but you’ve always been too stubborn — and cared too much — to just let things slide.

Poe pushes himself to his feet and gives a slight shrug, not quite meeting your eyes. “I just… I needed to see you.”

The word needed echoes in your head, your heart traitorously doing a tiny flip in your chest while the rest of you tensed with concern. You take a step closer, reaching out for his hand as you try to catch his gaze but he refuses to meet it. You do notice another cut, just along his cheekbone. “Flyboy...” you whisper sadly, “what did they do to you?”

Poe tugs at the hem of your sweater sleeve. “The First Order found us. Tekka wanted me to run, but my X-Wing was toast and they - the village.” His voice seemed steady on the surface, but you heard the underlying effort it took for him to get the words out. You squeezed his hand sympathetically.

“We heard about the village.”

Poe nodded. “Kaz and I had just found an old settlement the day before, blasted to hell by someone who wanted the people there... eradicated. The only thing left was a Tooka doll. I guessed it was the First Order, covering tracks, but then I saw what they did to Tuanul. I couldn’t do anything but watch. The village, gone. That - ghoul killed Tekka right in front of me. Then they took me captive.”

“Troopers beat me most of the first night, then the next morning they sent in an interrogation droid to get the information out of me. I wouldn’t break.” There’s a dangerous amount of pride in Poe’s voice at this, but it almost immediately disappears. “So they sent Ren in. Charming guy.”

Then Poe tenses up, his eyes unfocusing. “It was like he -”

“Like he what, Poe?” You ask as a tear slips down your cheek. Tortured for so long…

“It was like he ripped my head open but he never laid a glove on me. All of my memories, he was there like a ghoul, poisoning them. Demanding to know where the map was. He pulled out all the bad stuff, made me relive every mistake, every failure. Everyone I’ve ever lost - I lost them all over again. Mom’s funeral, Lu’lo, Murran…”

You feel nauseous. Your vision blurs so badly from tears that you have to blink to see Poe again.

“He knew other stuff too, stuff he didn’t see. He knew about the time I crashed my mom’s A-Wing, the fights I had with my dad, Kijimi. He knew about you, our friendship, how I -” Poe cuts himself off, tries to pull away from you and forgets his numerous injuries: the sudden movement flares something up, and he hisses.

You immediately follow his trajectory, grab onto the hem of his shirt, trying to keep him from doubling over. “We need to get you to the sickbay -”

“No.”

You try not to growl with frustration. “Poe Dameron, you can’t just come to my door half-dead in the middle of the night and expect me not to do anything. I care about you too much to allow you to -”

Poe starts to say your name but you cut him off.

“Would you just shut up and let me take care of you?” You snap, glaring up at him as you take another step closer. Poe doesn’t even flinch at your tiny outburst, instead he’s searching your face for something.

“You never let me.” Poe says instead, and you’re gobsmacked.

“What the hell does that mean?”

“C’mon. You wear your heart on your sleeve, you just won’t talk about it. You’re exhausted, I can tell.” Poe continues, and looks back at the messy bed, then back at you, taking notice of the dark circles that have found a home under your eyes in the last week. “If I had to guess, you haven’t been sleeping. Why not?”

You sputter indignantly. How could someone so smart also simultaneously miss the obvious?

“Does it need saying?”

“For me, yeah it does.” He’s so endearingly unaware that your breath catches with a tiny, humorless laugh.

Your face breaks and you know it because your eyes sting and your nose burns as the tears spill over your cheeks. “I thought you were dead. My best friend in the world was gone, and I was left in a galaxy on the cusp of war without you.” You grab a fistful of his shirt, shoulders shaking, the world disappearing around you for all the tears. You weakly thump your fist against his chest, trying to catch your breath. “I thought -” thump! — “ You were -” thump! — “ Gone! ”

Your voice breaks again and you thump him again. “Don’t you ever pull a stunt like this again, I swear to all the stars in the kriffin’ galaxy, I’ll -” you can’t finish the sentence, the words lost in a choked out sob. Your fist goes slack and falls to your side as the grief washes over you.

You feel rather than see Poe pulling you into an embrace. You allow yourself to melt into the hug and weep into his chest as the past week truly starts to set in: the fear, the way you’ve tried to cling to hope despite all the odds, knowing deep down it was probably for naught. The relief of finding Poe at your bedroom door, the anger of what happened to him, the horror of what that monster made him live through.

The tears won’t stop coming.

“Hey, hey —” Poe’s voice is muffled against the crown of your head. “I came back, alright? I’m here.” He pulls back, takes your shaking hand and places your palm against his chest, over his heart, like he knows you need the reassurance. “I’m alive.”

Sure enough, the beat of his heart is enough to ground you back into the present. You take a few shuddering breaths in an attempt to stop your sobs. After a few minutes, you’re finally calm enough to realize the situation you’re now in. Both of you gravitated so close to each other that you’re practically chest to chest, your hand over his heart, with both of his on your waist.

“I’m sorry I hit you.” You whisper, finally getting the courage to look Poe in the face. He looks so sad that you almost want to look away again. “Did I hurt you?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Poe promises quietly. “I’m sorry I scared you.”

You sniffle and quickly dash away a few new stray tears with your other hand. You can’t bring yourself to move your hand away from over his heart. “It’s fine, I’m fine.” You can’t tell if you’re trying to convince him or yourself.

“It’s not fine. If it was fine, you wouldn’t be crying.”

You bristle, wishing you’d held it together until he left for that debriefing. Now you’re trapped in a hole you dug for yourself, stuck under those soft brown eyes filled with so much concern for you that your heart feels like it’s about to burst.

“You don’t have to be strong for me.”

You flick your eyes up back to his. “I’m not trying to be strong for -”

“Would you just let me take care of you?” Poe plows on, using your own words against you. Most of the fight drains out of you as your heart seizes. There’s too much behind that sentence, too many things you could read into.

Because you’ve let very few people in to truly care for you. And it terrifies you, knowing that you’re on the precipice of letting yourself be cared for by the person who probably matters the most. You swallow and argue, “You have a debriefing, remember?”

“A friend needs me, I can spare a couple of minutes.”

“But not to get your injuries checked.”

“Tell you what, I’ll go to sickbay if you let me take care of you.”

“That’s a cheap shot.” You mutter with a withering look, wanting this to be over, wishing he would go debrief Leia and forget about you, that you could just act like this never happened, like you hadn’t just cracked your chest open in front of him. You wanted to go back to the easy banter, the synchronization you shared.

“There’s something you aren’t saying.” Poe says, brushing back a loose strand of your hair.

You close your eyes. There’s plenty you aren’t saying, and a lot more you’ll likely never say. “I don’t want things to change.” You admit quietly. You don’t feel like fighting anymore. You’re just exhausted.

“Why would they change? No matter what, it’s me and you. I’m not going anywhere. Not unless you want me to.” He doesn’t add the more likely possibility that he won’t have a choice but to leave you.

“I don’t want you to leave.” You whisper hoarsely. “You are…” you trail off, focus on the firm drum of his heart still beneath your palm, “You’re an impulsive, audacious, bloody idiot. But you’re my impulsive, audacious, bloody idiot, and I don’t want to lose you. Ever since I joined the Resistance, you’ve been here. You’ve been beside me this whole damn time, and I can’t imagine my life without you. I didn’t realize it until we lost L’ulo — I thought it was you that hadn’t come home, and I was terrified out of my mind…”

You groan and lean into his chest, your cheeks pink, embarrassed by your little speech. “I hate you.”

There’s a smile in his voice when he replies, “That didn’t sound like you hate me.”

You thump him again.

Poe winces. “Is now a bad time to mention I think one of those injuries is a bruised rib or two?”

“What?” You whirl back immediately, eyes wide. “Poe Dameron, you should have said something, I’ve been putting pressure on it for - Force, I don’t even know how long we’ve been standing here -”

“And I thought you hated me.” Poe asks dryly, popping one eye open.

“You know what, if you keep this up, I’m never going to open up to you again.” You warn, shoving him down on the bed. You grab your medkit and return to him.

Poe grimaces. “I was kidding about the ribs.”

“At least let me clean up the blood and close up some of the cuts.”

You stand between his legs as you treat the cut on his cheekbone. It’s small but deep, and you reckon it might scar. There’s no way to be certain though. Once that’s finished, you move away to wet a rag with warm water to begin the process of cleaning up his wound. You work in silence, quietly admiring the fact that for once you have the advantage of being taller than him.

“There, all better.” You announce once the last of the blood’s been washed away. “I can’t check for further injuries with what I have in here, you’ll have to visit the sickbay after your debriefing - and that’s not a suggestion, by the way.”

“Are you going to get some rest now?” Poe asks, ignoring your pointed comment. You dart your eyes away, down to the scrunched up blankets. Your restless energy has died away, but even with sleepiness crawling up at the edges of your consciousness, you aren’t certain if you’ll be able to sleep.

“I don’t know.” You admit quietly, smoothing out your sleep shirt. “I probably should, even if it’ll only be a couple of hours. Major Kalonia gave me today off to rest, but I have a shift in the morning.”

“Are there any patients?”

“Poe, it’s a sickbay. We always have patients, and hopefully by tomorrow morning, you’ll be one.”

“That almost sounds like a threat, Lieutenant.” Poe says, raising an eyebrow.

“It might be, Commander.” You retort with a roll of your eyes.

“You know, I could probably talk to the Major, tell her you worked a shift tonight so you can get some more sleep.” Poe offers. “Since I’m the reason you’re awake, it’s only fair.”

You chew on your bottom lip. “I don’t know - hey, stop that!” You order with a light smack to his arm when he whips out the loth-cat eyes. Poe leans away from your reach so you can’t smack him again, then stands up, and you’re back to having to look up to see him in the eye.

His voice goes soft when he puts his hands on your arms. “C’mon. Let me do this for you, alright?”

You weigh your options for a moment, but you already know your decision is made. You want nothing more than to curl up in bed for a good night’s sleep now that you know your best friend is alive. “Alright,” you whisper, pressing the heel of your hand to your forehead.

“Thank you. Let’s get you into bed, huh?” Without further ado, Poe’s leading you back to the bed. “I won’t shove you onto it like you did me, though.”

You’re too tired to shoot a sarcastic comment back, instead, you plop down on the edge of the mattress, then swing your legs up onto it and under the blanket.

Poe pulls the blanket up over you. Instantly, the coziness is enough to almost lull you to sleep. Your eyes drift shut for a second, but you can still sense Poe hanging at the edge of the bed, so you open one eye to peer up at him and find something indecipherable written across his handsome features. “What’s the matter?”

“Huh? Nothing -” Poe shakes his head, a loose curl falling over his forehead. “Thanks for taking care of me.”

You reach out for his hand and he takes yours, lacing your fingers together. “Thank you for exactly the same,” you tell him sincerely. Watching him, you wish you could ask him to stay until you fall asleep, just so you can keep him a little bit longer, but you know he has to go.

#poe dameron x reader #poe dameron x you #poe dameron imagines #poe dameron imagine #poe dameron #star wars x reader #star wars imagine #myfic

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