#sam yao

This is based on a headcanon and art I posted a while back :)

Sara shrieked in glee as Five swung her through the air, across the threshold into her room. They pretended to almost drop her, before bringing her to a soft landing on her cot.

Paula settled beside her, and Five stepped back to join Sam, sitting on a parallel one. He began his story, Sara listening intently while Paula gently worked a moisturizing oil through her hair. Sara hadn’t wanted to take her braids out, but Maxine had been missing for far too long and the roots had begun to get tangled. 

Five sat, listening to the story, adding in sound effects at appropriate times as they usually did… knowing what was coming.  

When the story ended, all three adults stood, but lingered. Sara looked between them, confused. 

“Sara, sweetheart”, Paula began, “…we’ve just had a talk with aunt Janine”

“What’s happening?”

Sam took a deep breath. His voice was low but steady, “Five’ll be away again… for a little while”

Before they knew it, she had leapt out of bed and had them in a tight hug around the waist. 

Her little voice was muffled against their hoodie. “…why must you?” 

“Janine needs me for a mission”

“It won’t be nearly as long as before”, Paula offered. 

Sara made a little sad sound, and Five gently rubbed her back. 

Finally, after what must’ve been several minutes, she let go. “…when will you go?”

They grimaced. “…tomorrow”

Tears welling in her eyes, she turned around to face Paula. “Mummy, promise you’ll wake me”

“I promise, darling”

“I won’t leave without saying goodbye”, Five added. 

“…okay”

“Time to say goodnights now.” Paula pulled Sara into a hug and kissed her on the cheek. 

“Goodnight, love.” Still too weak and in too much pain for Sara’s enthusiastic hugs, Sam instead held both her hands and kissed her forehead.

“Sleep well.” Five grinned, tousling her hair. 

___

They stepped out into the ship’s hallway, the slow thrum of drizzling rain quietly emanating from the deck, above them. Sam was silent, save for jagged shaky breaths. 

Though they had spent the past few days all catching up after Sara had been put to bed, Janine sometimes joining as well, Paula seemed to notice the anxious tension in the air that night. She bid them both goodnight, and headed to the room she had been staying in. 

Five glanced in Sam’s direction. He was looking away, but they could see the glimmer of a tear running down his cheek, and his hands were tightly clenched. 

Not knowing what to say, they gently put a hand on his arm. 

He quietly spoke, voice low, damp, and a bit scratchy. “…I wish you didn’t have to go” 

“…me too”, they whispered. 

“I’m not sure if- …” he sighed- “…I’m really sorry, Five… I- it’s just… it’ll be really difficult, saying goodbye again, after everything”

“…I’m not looking forward to it either.” And they knew it was several times worse for him. He had genuinely believed them dead, he had believed himself soon to die, he had been very sick and still to some degree was. They had seen the nightmares, the panic attacks, the small facial twitches that still had yet to fully leave him. And they had seen the the look on his face when Janine had announced this plan. “But it should just be for a few days… and we’ll both have other things to focus on”

“Still…” He stopped in the middle of the hallway, causing Five to do the same, and embraced them.

He was still weak from his time in the cell, his body fragile from malnourishment and deconditioning. So they were careful to be gentle as they hugged him back, despite the force of the worry and love within them. 

“Be safe, alright?”, he whispered, leaning against them. “I can’t lose you again.” 

“I promise.”

They stood there for several, all too short, minutes, until finally they released one another. 

Even still, his eyes lingered on them, staring, as if he was desperately trying to memorize every square inch of their face. And they found themself doing the same, taking in everything from the pink newly-rehealing scars scattered across his cheeks, to the pinpricks of lantern light reflecting in his dark eyes like stars against the night sky. 

After a long moment, they pulled their hoodie off their shoulders, haphazardly folding it in their hands. He looked down at it, and quietly they remarked, “…I probably shouldn’t wear my number for this one… hold onto it for me?”

Without a word more about it, he accepted it, before taking his own, bright orange one, off as well. He held it out to them, murmuring, “…don’t want you to be cold out there”

___

“Daddy?”

Sara stood in the doorway, silhouetted by the lantern light behind her. 

It took Sam a moment to steady his voice and compose himself, quickly swiping at his eyes with his sleeve. “Hey love, do you need water?”

Before he could get to his feet, she was at his side, climbing up onto the cot where he sat. He stopped, looking down at her with a gentle smile. Glossy eyes stared back up at him. 

“…I miss Magic Five… I’m scared” 

“Oh…” He cleared his throat. “I miss them too, I know it’s difficult, but Five’s a hero. They have a really, really, important job to do, and they’re the best at it. But they also love us and always come back” 

“…then why do you have their jumper?”

“…well, it’s sort of like they’re undercover, like a spy! They wouldn’t be very sneaky if they were running around with their name on their back”

“Oh” 

She scooted a bit closer to her dad, and he put a gentle arm around her. Still she stared up at his face. 

“…why are you crying, daddy?”

He hesitated. He had been trying to be discreet, but now that she’d clearly noticed anyway, he dried his eyes on his sleeve once again. 

Carefully, he explained, “…I trust they’re safe, but I still miss them”

She abruptly hugged him, and he gasped in pain. “-careful, Sara, love”

I’ve been trying to practice drawing hands, this is my attempt to make that less boring (so this is like, half hand anatomy practice, half scar headcanon chart I guess lol)

I LOVE MotC and am extremely fascinated by how different this Sam is; because, like, he’s SO different, but if you think about it, it totally makes sense! Like, yeah, I guess being raised like 50 years earlier *would* change all those things. He’s stronger/faster, probably because he’d’ve spent tons more time playing outside as a kid in that era; he’s tougher/much more confident fighting, probably because physical bullying was more common then and he would’ve had to defend himself; he’s a little less in tune with other people’s emotions, probably because boys/men were heavily discouraged from being very emotional and so, being a boy that panicked and cried a lot as a kid, he probably would’ve been conditioned to suppress a lot of that (that’s also probably why he’s kind of snarky/rude to Ernie, because he’s stressed as hell by his parents’ expectations he knows they’ll soon find out he’s failing to meet, he’s probably really jealous that all this stuff comes so easily to Ernie, and anger/teasing would have been a much more socially acceptable form of emotional expression than just crying about it like our Sam probably would).

I’m writing a new multi-chapter fic! It’s a plot driven sci-fi story taking place sometime in season 5, and is an AU, not canon compliant. Here’s the first chapter! The rest will be on AO3, it’s called In Another Life, and I’m planning to update weekly :)

“I understand the importance of this little mission, but this route is awfully muddy”

“Your criticism is noted, Mr. Lynn”, Janine briskly answered over their headsets. 

“Yeah, uh… your route today isn’t the most pleasant, sorry to say”, Sam added, “I mean, we’re looking for supplies that haven’t been raided yet, so ‘places no one normally chooses to go’ is sort’ve the goal today”

“Which also means that you will be heading deep into a forest full of zombies, deep enough that it will be difficult to avoid them, and our radio signal may not be able to be relied upon. Remain alert, and keep your weapons at the ready”

Five nodded, though it would only show to Sam and Janine as a bobbing in their headcam footage, and tightly gripped their baseball bat. Peter was walking at their side, and Tom was just slightly ahead, moving through the underbrush with such silent precision it was almost unnerving. 

“I am, I am, not that it really matters for me, does it?” Peter responded with what Five was reasonably sure was only joking annoyance.

“You are the one with the gun, Mr. Lynn. If a threat arises, I expect you to act to protect Runner Five… and Tom, if he is not the threat in question. If-“

“-if Tom makes a wrong move, shoot him, I know!”

“…yes. Very good.” 

“Uh… Janine? What’s that on Five’s cam?” 

They could hear Sam tap the screen, and a rustling that must’ve been Janine leaning in to get a closer look. Five, for their part, stayed still so that whatever Sam and Janine were looking at would stay on cam, their eyes sweeping the area. 

After a moment, they saw it; it was so coated in moss and ivy, it was nearly perfectly camouflaged against the surrounding dense forest. Amongst the mass of green, tiny slivers of wood and glass peaked out. 

“Well spotted, Mr. Yao. Runners, do you see the structure in the direction of Five’s camera? Whatever it is, it appears to not have been disturbed in several years. It is very unlikely to have been raided.”

Peter leaned close next to them, taking a moment to scan the area, before making a sound of understanding. 

Tom, too, walked in their direction, stopping to stand a few steps away. “I see it. Are we going in, Jane?”

“I believe that would be worthwhile, yes. Exercise caution, all of you. We are not in a position to take unneeded risks.”

The three of them approached. Tom was quick to locate the door beneath the Ivy from the different texture of the visible slivers of wood in that section. With all of them working together, it took only a few minutes to tear through the overgrowth. 

“Here’s hoping it’s not locked…” Peter grabbed the handle, and, with barely any force at all, it swung open. 

“Five, could you please shine your torch in there? It’s too dim for the camera”

They did. The sight that met them was… bizarre, to say the least. 

“It looks like… some form of supercomputer. I haven’t seen anything like it, have you, Jane?” Tom walked into the cabin, looking more closely at the massive machine that nearly filled the space in its entirety. 

“I… have not. It is very odd” 

Five followed Tom, Peter trailing in behind them as well. They slowly began to circle the machine, shining their light across its many surfaces. 

“Guys… should we maybe… not do this? We have no way of knowing what this thing does, and it’s sat abandoned all this time, mightn’t there, you know, be a reason?” Though he was clearly trying to sound calm, the nervous edge to Sam’s voice was obvious. 

Five looked up to the others to see their reactions. Personally, they wouldn’t mind moving on, to ease Sam’s worries if nothing else. 

Tom shrugged, seemingly of similar mind. Peter however was still engrossed in the panel he had been investigating. 

“Don’t you want to know what this does? How could you not be curious?”

“I… well, I am curious, actually; but it’s just not worth the risk.”

“Such a worrier! Come on now, Sam. Always so protective, overprotective, some would say… especially when Five’s here”

“Hey!” He scoffed, then sighed, his voice returning to his previous, soft but serious, tone. “Look, we can go back to explore this some other time, maybe after getting Abel back. We’re not in a position to take risks at the minute! We just aren’t! Please, just, leave it be. If one of you got injured, it’d-“

I thought about giving him my headcanoned scars, but I decided to go for his season 1 look instead. I painted his eyes and hair and eyebrows darker and made his clothes (except for the jeans which I just tailored to fit him)

As soon as I saw this doll I knew it would make a perfect base for Sam, I love this face sculpt for him, it’s got that perfect subtle smile, and the face shape is exactly right