#but being entered already says a lot about Krista

[evolvingsidekick]

Every (I think) Yagp ED's been entered to this year

Seattle, Jan 4–7 (won 1st+1st)

Salt Lake City, Jan 14–16 (won Hope Award)

Las Vegas, Jan 25–28

Boston, Jan 25–28

Phoenix, Feb 8–11 (with MBA)

Denver, Feb 22–25

San Francisco, Feb 22–25

[reynie-muldoons]

'Depends on the Wagon' liveblog!

I saw someone do timestamps in their liveblog and it was absolutely lovely, so I think I'll try that too

1:55 why does Curtain sound like an mlm ceo LMAO

2:07 WOW ASSHOLE 😂😂 waving off your own teacher when he was complimenting you is not the vibe

2:17 so Dr. Curtian is only available through chain emails. Got it.

2:27 he seems like the kind of asshole to say that people on welfare are lazy and exploitave but then like, not pay his taxes

2:42 I DON'T LIKE HOW HE SAID THAT, THAT WAS CREEPY

2:47 oooooh Constance, always asking the right questions

3:05 Kate, why are you yelling, it's literally past curfew 😂

3:35 oh hai Jackson.. gtfo

4:22 oh yeah, the best way out is through the hallway that Jackson just entered. Good plane, babe.

4:25 soooo Kate Depending On Friends arc :)

4:59 AYYY HI RHONDA!!

5:13 why do I kinda fucking love then all deciphering the Morse code together

5:20 so the kids use the gemini riddle? Not the adults???

5:36 his face when he figures it out 😭😭😭

5:46 Nathaniel? Guess that's Dr. Curtain's name now. Less ridiculous than Ledroptha, but you dont get the badass Let Drop the Curtain reference

6:53 okay so no one knew he had a brother? But he did???

7:21 his faaaace 🥺

7:29 AWWW HE COULDNT BRING HIMSELF TO SHARE 😭😭😭 okay I'm kinda on board with the change if they can make it work in the long-haul

7:42 hi Milligan, good timing 😂

7:56 "not the time.........I'll take a dozen" Number Two my LOVE

8:23 interesting. I dont think Mr. Benedict was adopted in the books? He certainly didn't let Violet's family, the Hopefields, because he knew their financial troubles would be even worse. So who?

8:54 ohhhh dear, stages of grief at work. Maybe don't do that

9:05 I talked about this in the MBS discord server, but I think the show is really nailing Mr. Benedict's feelings. He's always been an emotional person, but he has to be so careful. Bottling up your feelings only leads to bigger feelings later. It makes so much sense for Mr. Benedict to be a whirlpool of strong, repressed emotions.

9:11 MILLIGAN'S FACE JAHAHS

9:34 RHONDA'S FACE HAGSKDGDJ

9:40 Mr. Benedict, sweetheart 🥺❤

10:01 "brothers stick together" why does it sound like he's talking about Reynie here 😭😭😭😭

10:12 that is a good ass point, Mr. Benedict already lied to them once

10:21 it makes sense for Sticky to be the one questioning the most because of his anxiety, but damn

10:46 AWWWWWW

10:56 KATE MAKING A BED FORT KATE MAKING A BED FORT KATE MAKING A BED FORT

11:00 I dont like how aggressive Kate is but it makes sense considering she's been in the circus for years, taking care of herself for far longer than she hasn't. She's not good at depending on people, and she's not good with difficult people.

11:10 Yeahh, Constance gets it!

11:40 Yeahhh, Constance gets it

12:55 that teacher seemed pretty nice last episode, nice to see that they're not what they seem just the same as Dr. Curtain lol

13:28 CONSTANCE I LOVE YOU 😂😂

14:00 "check again" okay so Krista from the tests and Martina give off the same vibe.. perfect 😂

14:16 "yeah......hang in there :D"

15:05 all of the apologies to the general class.. he's such an anxious sweetheart. He's really reading as autistic to me.

My sister just called me 😑 it's like 8 am, I answered her like "did you ever consider that you might be waking me up?" She did not consider that 😂

15:22 Martina's face just growing more and more annoyed and disgruntled HAHA

15:29 that was CORRECT?? WHAAAA

15:51 throwback to when I compared Dr. Curtain to an mlm ceo.. definitely like a cult

16:44 ohhhh Martina

17:30 CONSTANCE HEARING VOICES HELLOOOOO

18:22 ayyyyyy helper man

18:40 he seems too cheery to be a helper .-. The helpers all being super sad made [redacted]'s story make a whole lot more sense

19:35 aaaand now we get to it. You know, it really does seem a lot more cultish on screen than in the book

19:53 WAIT CONSTANCE GOOD JOB PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER 😂😂😂😂

19:53 that cut to Milligan making that exact face was INCREDIBLE

20:05 was he tryna leave? Yeah, good fuckin luck bucko

20:10 "critical papers at home" my ass, they packed everything up

20:24 the stages of grief back at it. 🥺

20:38 their relationship >>>>

21:00 "located in the..?" *description of envelope* "located in the....?" *more description* "located in the????" 😂😂😂😂

21:34 ohhhhh Thursday must be the student ranking day

21:56 Martina seems like the kind to throw out "pick a god and pray" as a crit quote 😂

22:07 I don't see any of the Society'a names on the list. Maybe they havent been there long enough

22:17 OH SHIT JK THERE THEY ARE

22:25 ohh Kate and Constance

22:55 the combination of the ferry horn and the bell makes it weirdly grim

23:55 them bringing Kate up and reminding her that she's needed 😌✨

24:29 hi Milligan bb ilyyyy

24:35 real good lookout guys, y'all are so well hidden

24:52 AYY HE'S DOING IT KATE STYLE

26:31 "visionary" is a word for it

26:31 I really kinda love that Number Two and Rhonda are going to such depths to try and help Mr. Benedict figure this out for sure

26:56 Mr. Benedict fully walking away while they talk about his brothers accomplishments 😂 I'm laughing, but poor guy

27:08 his FACE 🥺

27:28 HERE'S THAT TANTRUM FROM THE TRAILER

27:28 take your guesses how many times will he fall asleep

27:50 "he just has to work through some things" you dont fuckin say

27:55 you mean to tell me he had a full blown meltdown and they didn't show him falling asleep once??

28:35 like father like daughter 😌✨

29:10 ayyyy secret desk compartment

29:19 honestly I'm surprised there were actually papers he needed and it wasnt an excuse to go confront Dr. Curtain

29:32 oh shit, how'd they manage to get that far inside? No one was there to guard it, but the maze itself is a security measure

29:42 KATE STYLE STRIKES AGAIN

29:47 ooooh I like Dr. Curtain's office

30:01 WAS THAT SQ AND DID HE JUST CALL DR. CURTAIN HIS DAD

30:41 birds have careers. Got it 😂

30:50 JOURNAAAL

31:02 the fox?? Reynard the fox???

31:27 ohhh here we go, Dr. Curtain sees himself in Reynie only to resent it later

31:37 Mr. Benedict called Reynie a leader once too.. the parallels have ✨begun✨

32:12 is this the "keep your enemies close" conversation??

32:15 I'm honestly surprised he called him Sticky and not George

32:42 IT IS SQ IT IS SQ IT IS SQ

32:59 sooo that starts by not letting his caution down with you

33:11 Dr. Curtain congratulating himself mid-conversation on saying something deep is so in character

33:20 "I was betrayed by someone very close to me" so that was Mr. Benedict. Who the fuck else would it be

33:23 WHAT DID I SAAAAY

33:31 oh noooo Reynie starts doubting Mr. Benedict here? Is that the move?

33:43 that transition was so pretty stoppp

33:53 again how hasn't he fallen asleep

34:55 ayyyy journal snooping

35:05 Constance, my love, you are cut throat

35:11 Milligan is in the DRYWALL? ohh buddy be careful

35:21 omfg are they talking about water polo 😂 I love that that's the sport of choice

35:51 ayyyy they put the Milligan dots together too. Shame the guy's not with them rn

36:36 so Mr. Benedict brings up cheating first? I really like how we get to see the adults riddling out what to send back, we didn't get that at all in the books

37:46 I LOVE THAT THEY KEPT "don't get caught"

38:51 Kate riddling out the island schematics engineer style is so like her

39:07 they're just walking out the door?? Huh???

39:29 babe... turn off your flashlight

39:33 AND THAT'S WHY

39:58 is that the precursor to chuckroot?

40:38 the papers were from his orphanage 🥺🥺🥺

41:14 why does that break my heart

41:19 Dr. Curtain and SQ doing shit together it just.. so heartwarming

42:00 HAHA

42:16 okay, so show!Curtain is a kissass 😂

42:35 wait wait wait so Dr. Curtain is actively trying to contain his brother? That would explain why the Recruiters were looking for him and weirdly not the kids

43:25 "power wants to be free" sounds more like a personal mantra than a conversation between engineers

43:41 YES A LETTER TO MISS PERUMAL

44:02 more voices. Poor Connie girl 🥺

44:36 he loves her so much 😭😭😭

44:45 SHE TRIED TO SEND HIM A CARE PACKAGE

45:13 WORRIED MOM TIMEEE

[alitaimagines]

“I can’t wait to fall in love with you, you can’t wait to fall in love with me, this just can’t be summer love, you see.”

character: levi ackerman - ATTACK ON TITAN

note: this is my CEO au! I’ve been meaning to write this for so long but i’m barely getting around to it. there could be multiple parts to this. 

you were sitting down at one of the common room lunch tables with Eren, Mikasa, Sasha, and Armin. the company all of you worked at tended to break all of you at the same time so it wasn’t unusual to see the six of you together for lunch or small breaks. 

“are we still going out tonight?” Sasha asked with a mouthful of baked potato, “more than likely,” Mikasa said with a monotone voice, “I’m not going to be in charge of any of you like last time,” she added. 

you knew she was hinting at you with that comment. you tended to go a little overboard with the drinking at times and she, on more than occasion, had to carry or take you back home. Eren, Reiner, and yourself were the ones who usually went all out. 

“aww, come on,” you mocked as she gave you the finger, “I need the small break! I’ll make you breakfast in the morning!” you offered as Sasha immediately perked up, “I’ll take care of ya, ( your name ),” you couldn’t help but laugh, “yeah and if I leave you to take care of me, it’s going to be Connie taking care of us,” you interjected. 

Sasha knew you held a point. you took a sip of your soda before releasing an unintentional burp, “wow, good one!” you heard one of your superiors say. 

Armin stared down at the table realizing your three bosses were right behind you. you didn’t even want to look back at them knowing what you did was extremely inappropriate. 

“hello Mr.Ackerman,” you whispered as you tried to hide the embarrassed feeling you had, “my break is done in five minutes so I’ll be over to my desk in a matter of minutes,” you explained. 

you heard Hanji laughing making you even more nervous, “aw Levi! you have your assistant terrified of you! that’s no way to have them,” Hanji remarked as you felt yourself wanting crawl in a hole and die. 

“you went through six assistants before Moblit,” Levi threatened as Hanji remained quiet, “exactly, watch it,” you pulled your things together before looking over to Mikasa, “remember I need to stop at my house for my night bag before heading over to yours. you already know how I am after I drink,” you whispered as she nodded. 

you grabbed the files you were supposed to work on and followed your boss to his one o’clock meeting. your mind was still stuck on the action you had did in front of Levi and felt yourself get embarrassed all over again. 

“going out tonight, ( your name )?” Hanji asked a bit loudly, “uh, yeah. a few of us gather at the bar a few blocks down from here every Friday after work,” you explained trying not to out anyone as unprofessional.  

she nodded, “how fun! how come you never invited any of us?” she asked as you felt your face heat up instantly, “uh, I, we, never thought our bosses would be interested in going out with a bunch of low rank employees,” you managed to say through your flustered state. 

“Hanji, enough,” Levi stated as she rolled her eyes, “I think we both know someone who could use a night out,” she suggested as she pointed to Levi, “but seriously! at least invite me out sometime!” she added. 

you nodded as you thankfully made it back to Levi’s office with Hanji now finally stopping her hundred question game. 

Levi unlocked the door as the both of you walked in. you knew Levi tended to have the last of his meetings towards the later part of the afternoon but for some reason, he had one scheduled right after your lunch hour and wanted you present for it. 

“would you like me to take notes for the meeting, Mr.Ackerman?” you asked him as you shuffled through a few pieces of paper, “clearly,” he muttered as you nodded. 

for the first few months of your time with the company, you had always gotten a bit upset at the way Levi talked to you but as you continued throughout the years here, you learned to live with the fact that Levi literally talked to everyone that way. 

“of course,” before you could say anything else, you heard a knock on the door. you expected it to be Levi’s client but it wasn’t, “Reiner!” you exclaimed a bit happier, “is there something you need?” you asked as you welcomed him in. 

he gave you a smirk before entering the office, “mind giving this to your boss, sweetie?” you nodded as he handed you the papers, “what are they for?” you asked as he shrugged, “Mr.Smith just told me to give them to him. anyway, you goin’ out tonight?” he asked. 

“with Eren and the rest of them? yeah, we’re meeting at Benny’s at like seven,” you explained, “then I’ll see you there, babygirl,” you rolled your eyes at the nickname, “yeah, you’re only excited that I’ll be there because Krista isn’t,” Reiner remained quiet, “exactly, goodbye Reiner.” 

you went back to Levi to hand him the papers, “Mr.Ackerman, Reiner dropped these off on the behalf of Mr.Smith,” you whispered as he basically snatched the file from your hand, “thanks,” he muttered without giving you a second look. 

your face went to confusion as you tried to figure out why he was more upset than usual, “is there something wrong?” you asked genuinely. Levi, for the first time looked up at you, “I don’t appreciate such PDA in my office, ( last name ),” you started laughing at his comment making him even more angry. 

“that wasn’t PDA, sir,” you tried to say, “Reiner is that way with all the girls in the building. if that was PDA liked you claimed it was, I wouldn’t have rolled my eyes as hard as I did,” you added. 

a sense of relief went over Levi, one that he had never felt before, “plus, I would never give Reiner the time of day. I like my men older, with a lot of life experience,” you said honestly. 

“great to know ( last name ),” he replied as you gave him a smile, ��better to be honest than to be a liar. plus, I believe Braun has eyes on Ms.Rals assistant,” you inquired. 

Levi’s eyebrows fluttered in confusion, “correct me if I’m wrong ( last name ), is Reiss not involved with Fritz?” you nodded as he became more confused, “Reiner doesn’t know how to handle a no. I’m surprised, however, that you would know of such a relationship,” you mentioned, “you don’t seem like the type to know of company gossip.”  

"it’s not hard to tell when she is wrapped around Reiss’s finger,” Levi countered, “besides, I know more than you think I would,” you laughed as you stood up and sat down on the ledge of his desk.  

you knew that if it had been any other person, even Erwin and Hanji, sitting on top of his desk, he would have immediately kicked them off, claiming that they were getting everything so dirty. 

“really now?” you taunted, “like what? I wanna know the tea you’ve heard around the company!” you crossed your legs as Levi couldn’t help to actually take you in. 

Levi had never really payed much attention to his assistants before. he had gone through so secretaries and assistants that he eventually stopped paying attention to them. 

you were different however. you were afraid of him, as was everyone when they first signed up for the job, but as you got more comfortable around him, every now and then you would tease or taunt him. 

there was something that stood out to him about you. maybe it was your looks or maybe it was the you treated him, whatever it was, his mind would wander to you at times. your smile whenever you laughed at something Hanji did made his heart stop, even for a second. whenever you touched his arm or hand on accident, it felt like there was a burning sensation afterwards. 

“that’s for me to know and you to find out,” you went over to your desk and took out a bag of Pepperidge Farm cookies before going back to ledge of the desk, “would you like some? I don’t think I seen you eat lunch today,” you mentioned. 

Levi was hesitant but his mind took over and pulled out the Milano cookie, “please, I want to know! I’m very interested in this company gossip,” you exclaimed making Levi laugh before shaking his head no. 

you huffed in playful annoyance. 

“no fair! I told you everything I knew,” Levi knew that was a lie, “okay, maybe not everything,” you replied truthfully. 

for what felt like a mere few minutes actually ended up with the both of you talking for a few hours. you knew both of you had work piled high but that suddenly seemed to leave both your minds as you continued to talk. 

you heard your phone going off indicating that it was time to head home, “hey, Levi?” you asked, “we’re all going to be at the bar a few blocks down. you should come by,” you asked a bit nervously. 

Levi hadn’t been asked out anywhere in years. the last time he went to anything like that, he was still in his twenties. 

“I’ll see if I can make time in my schedule,” he replied making your eyes roll, “come on Ackerman, when’s the last time you’ve done this?” you asked as he remained silent, “exactly! Benny’s, nine o’clock,” you reminded before grabbing your Fjallraven Kanken bag and leaving. 

Levi stayed at his desk long after you were gone. his mind contemplated whether to take your invitation but his thoughts got interrupted as he heard Hanji and Erwin walk into his office. 

“go home Levi,” Erwin said as Levi shook his head no, “you should!” Hanji added, “it’s a Friday night. enjoy the fucking weekend for once.” 

Levi immediately kicked them out as they laughed to themselves. he took his phone out of his pants and did something he hadn’t done in YEARS. 

Hanji had downloaded a few social media apps to his phone once and although he never posted anything, he was still logged in. with you being so tech savvy, he was sure that you had an account somewhere. 

Levi searched through multiple peoples accounts until he stumbled upon Eren’s and got to yours. you had posted a few things to your Instagram story and clicked on it.

the first one was the photo you wore to work. the second was you at lunch with Eren, the third was of you and all the girls are the bar, and the last one was with you and Reiner. you were on his back, in a piggyback form, as you held onto Reiner’s chest a little too tight for Levi’s liking. 

Levi thought of his predicament and in the end, his mind won. he was going to meet you at the bar. he quickly shoved everything in his desk before grabbing his backpack and keys. 

you had no idea if Levi was actually going to come or not but every now and again, you would look at the door. a few noticed but didn’t say anything. 

“come on, let’s go and dance,” Reiner asked you as agreed with hesitance. 

the bar was almost blacked out that you could hardly recognize Reiner’s face as you danced against him. the lack of romance was noticeable as Reiner looked at other girls to dance with. 

“the brunette in the back is eyeing you,” you whispered to Reiner, “go to her, I’m gonna get a drink,” Reiner gave you a silent thank you before going towards her as you made your way to the bar. 

as you waited for your drink, you watched the door and felt your jaw drop noticing who walked in. 

Levi 

you knew that if you kept him out of the group, he would feel less awkward and a lot more willing to dance or even talk to you. like you had mentioned earlier, you were glad the lights were so dim that to the eye, they wouldn’t even recognize that it was Levi. 

you grabbed your drink before basically darting to Levi. 

“hey! you made it!” you screamed as he chuckled, “you threatened me, I really didn’t have a choice,” he joked making you roll your eyes, “come get a drink, they’re kind of cheap here,” you told him. 

Levi nodded as he followed you to the bar. he ended up ordering a Hennessy neat as the two of you remained sitting and talking. 

one drink turned into a few before you convinced him to dance at least one song with you. Levi followed you, albeit a little annoyed, but as soon as you got him to the dance floor, you turned around and danced against him. 

“just relax,” you whispered to him before grabbing his arm and pulling it over your shoulder to hold it, “enjoy tonight.”

Levi tried to dance back but with himself feeling a bit drunk and not having danced like this in years, he felt a bit stiff. you on the other hand were vibing straight to the song playing. 

once Levi finished his drink and you were still dancing with him, he turned you around and looked at your ( colored ) eyes. you gave him a genuine smile before relaxing into his arms. 

“But let me buy you drinks, better yet rings. Do it how you want it done, girl and who would of thought that you could be the one 'cause I can't wait to fall in love with you.” 

Levi without thinking went in for a kiss. you were a bit stunned at the sentiment but reciprocated and kissed back. you wrapped your arms around his neck as the soft make out session continued. 

“my place? it’s not to far from here,” Levi mentioned as he kind of hoped you said yes, “after you Levi.” 

ALITA 

[geekxgoddess85]

Very Bad Things

~PROLOGUE~ How It Began

“Are you sure a-about this Armin?”

“Of course, I’m sure. You trust me, right?”

Eren bit his lip, giving his childhood best friend a worried look. The two were currently on summer break from Trost University, going into their senior year. For Eren, junior year was a nightmare. If he was to be honest with himself, he had been slacking for the past two years so, when junior year came, he had to buckle down and keep his nose in the books in order to be able to pass the necessary courses to complete his credits. For college, staying an extra year on the count of not passing a course or lack of credits was more normal than one would think. But for Eren, he wanted to make sure he graduated the same time his friends did.

It was one week into summer break and Eren still felt the stress from taking his finals. It was the reason Armin was in his bedroom at the moment, making an account on—on behalf of Eren— on an adult live cam site called Strip ‘N Chat. Eren didn’t know how to feel about it. It was one thing to watch porn videos, but to actually interact with a person via webcam was kind of unnerving. Armin mentioned it was a great way to let off steam and when his best friend brought the idea to him, Eren was a bit…perturbed about it all. It was ironic, though. During their entire lives, Armin had been the conservative, stick-in-the-mud prude who used to balk at the very thought of sex, while Eren was the extroverted, loudmouth rebel. Three years into their college career and look at how the tables turned. Eren was still��well…Eren, but he found himself as the prude. The crazy thing was, Armin lost his virginity their freshman year during a frat party to Jean, of all people, while Eren was still a virgin. After his little tryst with Jean (and a couple of times afterwards), Armin began to blossom and open up in all ways, including sexual. He was openly gay and sexually active. And fucking proud of it all too.

The shit was crazy.

“Okay. Done.” Armin smiled and sat back in his chair. “You’re all signed up and I got ya’ logged in. Here’s your username and password.” He grabbed Eren’s sketch pad and began writing the information down. “Username is SlickxJagger and your password is Sk8terB0i30.”

Eren raised his eyes. “Slick…x…Jagger?”

“Yeah, corny, but cool, huh?”

“No!” He argued. “I sound like a washed up 90’s porn star!”

Armin shrugged and blinked his eyes innocently. “It’s a porn site, Eren. Everyone’s username sounds like a washed up 90’s porn star. Now, you’re all set! I loaded up that pic of you at Krista’s pool party.”

Eren sighed. He knew what picture Armin was speaking of. He posted it on his Instagram and had gotten a ton of likes. He didn’t think it was anything special. It was just him, with his red and white swim trunks on, holding up the hem of his shirt with his teeth, exposing his abs and various fake tattoos. He had grown his hair out—almost to his shoulders—and was a damp mess of a bird’s nest. Because of that and his long bangs, his face was pretty much hidden, though the sun light had shone just right on his sea green eyes, which caused them to sparkle and almost glow. “What do I do now?” He blinked owlishly.

Sitting forward, Armin clapped his hands onto the top of his knees. “Fill in your profile and filter out what you’re looking for. Then you can pick which Cam Model you like and subscribe to them. Every time they go live or post a pic or video, you’ll get a notification. Remember, some of that shit, they charge you tokens. It’s usually the more risqué stuff. The amount is based on their own discretion. And if you want one-on-one’s, you definitely have to pay out the ass with tokens.”

Biting his lip, Eren looked at his profile. He filled in the basic information about his age, height,  and build, and his likes and dislikes. He answered everything to the best of his ability and honestly. The only thing he lied about was his name. Instead of his real name, he decided to use ‘Jagger’ as being his first name. He didn’t provide a last name. His preferences came next. He started clicking the various boxes. “Um….okay, I like brunettes. Height doesn’t really matter to me. A muscular body would be nice. Don’t care about ethnicity…..” He continued to click away, with Armin helping him on certain things. “Is that all? Did I miss anything?”

“Yes, you sure did,” Armin replied, with a devilish grin. “And I know exactly which to pick out of Twink or Daddy. Click on Daddy.”

Eren winced. “Ew!”

Rolling his eyes, Armin sighed. “Not that kind of Daddy, Eren. Duh! Daddy kink.” He watched his buddy blink cluelessly at him. “I can’t believe you don’t know what that is. Even I know, dude. It’s when a younger male twink is enticed by an older male ‘Zaddy’. That’s the gist of it. If ya’ wanna know more, google it!” Standing, Armin slapped his hands down on Eren’s shoulders, before wrapping his arms around Eren’s neck, hugging him from behind. “I gotta go. Mikasa asked me to fill in for her at the Café. Did you talk to Annie about your schedule?”

Eren raised his own arms up and behind him, awkwardly wrapping them around Armin’s waist…or trying to as much as he could while sitting in his red and black gamer chair. “Yeah. I have the same schedule as you now so that I can catch a ride with you.”

“Great! I’ll see you tomorrow night.” Armin kissed the top of Eren’s head, before taking his leave.

Eren gave his buddy a lazy wave goodbye with a lopsided grin. When his bedroom door closed, his smile died down and was followed by a heavy sigh. He still didn’t know about this whole cam thing. But he was always up to trying new things. And if Armin liked it, then maybe it couldn’t be that bad.

Over the next hour, he had gone through dozens of pages of so-called Daddies. That process was a little more frustrating that what it should have been. Eren was picky when it came to who and what he found attractive. Not that it was a thing with him anyway, but he didn’t pick based on looks. He couldn’t because all models were required to wear masks for anonymity sake. He thought that was kind of neat. It gave the models a sexy, mysterious look to them. He had to go off based on their profiles and preferences. He had to weed out a lot of douche-bags but narrowed it down to two: The Captain and Dr. Pain. He was kind of skeptical about Dr. Pain. He looked to be into BDSM and while Eren didn’t have anything against it, he had never done anything like that. But Dr. Pain was 6”2, with impeccable styled blonde hair and chiseled features from what he could tell through the mask. They had a few of the same likes and dislikes. Overall, the guy sounded pretty normal, despite liking ‘a little pain with his sex’ (his own words). The Captain…well…there was something about him. He was a shorty, standing only at 5”3. Eren was a full five inches taller than he was. Not that it mattered. He didn’t think their was a height requirement to being a Daddy, but when he googled it, the norm was the Daddy was always taller and bigger than the Twink. They shared a lot of the same likes and dislikes, but what struck a chord in Eren’s heart was The Captain’s eyes. Even through his white, red, and black mask, Eren could see a pair of piercing blue-gray eyes. Almost a light cobalt. They pulled him in as if he were in a whirlpool, being sucked into the abyss.

‘What the hell?’

Blinking back into reality, Eren shook his head and walked to the kitchen. His stomach was roaring at him angrily to feed it. “Mikasa, are you hungry?” He called out to silence. Armin was gone to work, and it seemed like Mikasa had left to go some place too. So, he was alone.

Sighing, he kicked his door closed with his toes and plopped down on his bed. A sandwich and soda sounded real good right now and that’s exactly what he was chowing down.

It was a couple of minutes before ten when a notification sounded out. He thought it was his phone, but when he checked it, he saw that it wasn’t, he furrowed his brows. “Hm—oh! My laptop!” Scrambling off the bed, Eren rushed to the laptop and pressed on the ‘enter’ key to wake his system up. Checking his email, he saw one new message and blinked slowly. “It’s from Strip N Chat.” Biting his lip, he cautiously opened up the notif; reading every single letter that made up all the words.

“The Captain is now online.”

Swallowing hard, he clicked the link that took him straight to The Captain’s page. It was a simple page. There was a large blank box in the middle of the screen that said ‘The Captain’s Quarters’. The chat was at the bottom. There his stans already there talking to each other, waiting for The Captain to show.

And when he made his entrance, it was pandemonium.

“Hello Darlings, it’s your Captain speaking. Did you miss me?" Leaning forward, resting his chin on the backs of his fingers, he winked on cobalt blue eye. "Have I got a story for my horny little Ship Mates tonight.”

Eren watched a grin spread across his face, which he couldn’t see much of it. Like all the models on the site, The Captain wore some kind of masquerade looking mask that covered majority of his face. Only his eyes, hair, and his lips and chin were seen, as far as his face goes. His body…well that was another story.

“Wow….” Eren whispered, mesmerized by the guy’s body. His shoulders were broad, and his arms were toned. And as bright as day, he sported a winged tattoo on his chest, with what looked to be a matching one on his left hip. “That’s so hot,” he whispered. Eren had a thing for tattoos. He wanted some of his own but was too afraid of needles to get any. But fucking A if this guy didn’t look hot wearing his.

“…but first, looks like we got some virgins in the house.” He smirked; a pink tongue coming out to wet his bottom and top lips. “Come on.” His voice deepened, dropping one octave. “I don’t bite.....unless you beg me for it.”

Those very words and the way he said them sent a shiver down his spine and an electric shock to his dick.

“Crew, say hello to our newest Shipmates RainMan95, PoisonedL0v3r, and…SlickxJagger. Mmmm….hey Slick….just how slick is that tight, little hole of yours?”

“Fuck. Me.” Eren’s eyes went blind. He was caught. Hook, line, and sinker or whatever the fuck it was called. The guy had him. Him and his aching dick that was standing on end, making a tent in his sweatpants.

“Speaking of holes mmmm, wait until you hear this one. It about a cute, little Twink with a bubble butt that I ate. All. Fucking. Night. Long. When I was done with him he had a…Slick…hole too, Jagger.” Captain grinned widely. “Wanna hear the story, Crew?” He lowered his voice and his tone. Sitting back in his chair, he reached into his pants and pulled out his enormous, leaking cock and began to stroke it lazily.  “Get out your dicks, my lovely little perverts. Come stroke with me down memory lane.”

‘Oh no…’

Eren was fucking hooked.

[justanotherlifeff]

Levi Ackerman × reader

Genre: Angst, Hurt/comfort, Fluff, matured themes, slowburn

Warning: There's mentions and descriptions of underage rape and suicidal themes and self harm. DETAILED SMUT IN THIS CHAPTER

(Y/N) POV

Levi and I were on horseback with the military police recruit on our way to the hospital. Everything from last night still felt like a dream. I realised how wrong I was about sexual matters. Dirty thoughts spread across my mind just as I was thinking about last night and I had to fight off a blush. "We should talk to Erwin about everything. Specially after that stunt you pulled in the bar last night." I heard Levi mutter to me as I looked at him to see that he brought his horse closer to mine. "Okay" I replied shortly. The fact that he wanted to say about us to uncle Erwin was getting me nervous. Heck, I wasn't even used to calling him just by his name yet. I knew that he had better judgement though.

We were the first ones to arrive at the hospital. Hanji and Moblit were late. "Erwin, I would've killed you in coma if you woke up any later. I'm tired of the extra paperwork." Levi stated sourly to uncle Erwin as we entered the room. Uncle Erwin smiled and said, "I knew you would Levi. I am grateful for your help. I assume you and Hanji managed everything well while I wasn't there?". When the military police cadet saluted and went off, he said blandly, " Yes we managed the meetings, Hanji is still questioning Eren as he can't remember much from when he got kidnapped, I chose my new squad from the 104 trainee corps recruits, Krista Lenz is Historia Reiss, an illegitimate child from the Reiss family, (Y/N) gained popularity as humanity's strongest woman, I promoted her as second in command and I'm in a relationship with her." He sat down on a chair to the right of Uncle Erwin as he said that.

I kept standing at the foot of the bed. Uncle Erwin looked at him and me with wide eyes and I looked down to hide the blush on my face. "Well, I won't have a problem with you being in a relationship with (Y/N) as long as it doesn't effect any of your performances. I would like to speak to you alone though, (Y/N)." Uncle Erwin said just before Commander Pixis entered the room with his second in command, a red haired girl. I saluted and stood beside her when commander Pixis motioned me to be at ease.

Hanji came in there a while later and explained that the titans in wall Rose were actually people from the Ragako village. Levi seemed troubled by the fact that he had been killing humans all these times. I felt troubled too because I didn't know how to take the news either. When everyone was done discussing the details on the current situation, Uncle Erwin asked me to stay behind in the room as everyone left. Levi tried to reason with Uncle Erwin about letting him stay as well but it didn't work.

When everyone was gone, he asked with a concerned voice, "Are you sure you made the right decision?". I looked at him confidently and said, " This probably was the best decision I ever took in my entire life." "Why is that? " Uncle Erwin asked. "Well, after I got myself into this, I found myself enjoying social activities like going on horse rides. I also found out that talking about things that bother you helps you deal with the problem more efficiently. I feel comfortable with sharing things from my past with Captain Levi because he had a similar past. I felt like my life or emotions didn't matter. Now that someone acknowledges them, living feels worth more than just trying to make my parents proud." I finished.

Uncle Erwin kept looking at me in a comforting gaze and said, "I am trusting your judgement. I know how loyal Levi can be when he wants to be but he never took any woman seriously before. However, since he talked to me about it, that must mean something." he sighed and then looked at me firmly and said, "(Y/N), if he ever tries to hurt you or force you into anything, just come to me. I'll kill him". I looked at Uncle Erwin's fatherly demeanour, smiled slightly and said, "Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself". Uncle Erwin smiled at my reply and said, "It's strange to see how you have grown. I'm proud of you (Y/N). Second in command and having so much reputation at this age? Even Levi couldn't do that. And you're also fighting your fears. I'm glad that you're turning into a strong woman".

" Are you done with your emotional speeches? We need to go and you need to rest before you pass out on us again" I heard Levi's voice from the door. "I'll be going. Get well soon." I said to Uncle Erwin with a smile and walked out of the door to Levi. We reached the courtyard of the hospital to find three carriages waiting for us and Hanji squad. Hanji and Moblit were waiting for us while her other squad members were already inside one of the carriages. "(Y/N)! Get in my carriage this time!" Hanji said as she scooted towards me. She wasn't cheerful as usual and was kinda gloomy. "She's not going with you Hanji." Levi said to her calmly.

"Heichou, please don't mind but I think I should go with Hanji" I told Levi making eye contact with him. He took a look at Hanji and understood that something was wrong and so, let me go with her. When we were on the carriage, I asked her, "Is everything okay?". She looked at me gloomily and said, " No. I predicted that we will have enemies inside the wall but I didn't know how strong they will be. I'll let everyone know the details when we reach the safe house."

The ride was rather quiet which was unusual as Hanji usually talks a lot. I felt worried for her because after that shopping trip, I was certainly more friendly to her than before even if she was irritating. She seemed like a brilliant woman who seemed to not try to bring up my past like most people and talked about topics I wasn't uncomfortable with except her rambling about titans which I figured she couldn't stop even if she wanted to. Of course, I wasn't exactly best buddies with her or anything since that isn't something I do but I was nice to her. Watching her so gloomy made me uneasy.

As we reached, I went in the safe house to find a scared Eren and an intimidating Levi talking about their lax cleaning job. There was hot tea in a tea pot on the table with cups arranged together. We didn't have breakfast this morning so, even if it was afternoon, we decided to have some food. Hanji was clever enough to get the supply cart going to the safe house to send a message to the safe house about making tea and breakfast for us before she went to see Erwin this morning.

The squad, including myself sat at the table with Levi. Hanji and her squad was sitting on the sofa with their tea and breakfast. Levi was talking to everyone about our next move which was to seal wall Maria and asking Armin about his plan and Eren if he can seal the wall with hardening his body. After Eren said that he'll do his best, Levi told Hanji, "Hear that Hanji? He's for it and you're the one who chooses where our experiments will take place.".

To that, Hanji replied gloomily, "Yes, ofcourse, it's my duty. As long as I'm alive..." Levi raised his eyebrows at that and Hanji explained that as much as she wants to work on capturing wall Maria, things in the walls got more complicated and that she wants Eren to lay low for now. I knew this was related to what she told me this morning. When everyone arose questions to these, she broke the news that Minister Nick is dead. Apparently she managed a place for minister Nick in the military barracks so that he would be safe. However, people from the interior military police killed him making the military police our enemies for now.

It was decided that Eren will train with Hanji. After the whole meeting was over, I had to go to my room in here, take a bath and finish Levi's paperworks as he was planning how to train Eren discretely with Hanji. I spent the whole day in my room only getting out for lunch and dinner. In the middle, Levi came to my room, we exchanged a kiss and he took most of the stacks of paperwork back to his room to help me out. Apparently I'm too slow at writing, he remarked. When I was done, it was pretty late at night. I went to bed but I couldn't sleep.

After tossing and turning for a while, I decided to try out the finger actions Levi did on me last night. Rubbing my clitoris felt good but not as much as when Levi did that. I was getting impatient and I needed that tingly feeling that I got last night before passing out. I tried fingering myself which ofcourse felt much better but got me no close to the tingly feeling. I was frustrated and without thinking, I marched off to Levi's door in my nightgown and knocked. When he opened the door and invited me in, I realised that I felt too embarrassed to ask for his help.

"What are you doing here so late? Do you want to say something important?" Levi asked me. "Uh... No it's nothing important. Sorry for bothering you." I blurted out and tried to escape the room but Levi caught me and said, "I know you (Y/N). You wont just go to someone for no reason. Say what you came to say". I blushed hard and looked down at the floor. He came closer and held my hand and said in a soft voice, "Don't be shy (Y/N). I can clearly see you blush. Don't hold it in like having constipation." "I was trying to finger myself but I wasn't getting that tingly feeling that I got before passing out. I need your help." I blurted out. "I see. So, you want me to make you cum." he replied. "That's cumming?" I asked with shock. The books, again, weren't wrong.

Levi POV

"That's cumming?" she asked me with a shocked face. Her obliviousness was so cute that it made me smile. "Yes, that's cumming" I replied. "I want you to do that again" she told me as she was blushing like crazy. I looked at her and sighed. She needed to know that I wanted to experiment more when it came to sex. Last night, I did absolutely nothing with her so that she won't be scared of the idea of sex again.

"(Y/N), what you saw the last time isn’t all there is to sex. There are a lot of things that I want to try with you if you allow me to Things I will do may hurt you just a little bit but I promise you, you will feel good. You have to trust me" I told her as I pulled her close with my hands on her waist. She hesitated a bit before saying, "Okay. I trust you". " You'll have to learn some basics before." I said as I moved away from her towards my bed and signalled her to follow me. I sat down on the bed with my legs down and said, "(Y/N), kneel down and sit between my legs.". She did what I asked her to and I took her chin in my hand and pulled it up so that she would face me to say, " (Y/N), don't ever be embarrassed to talk about sex with me. It's a normal thing that couples do and we already did it once. Don't be shy."

"I'll try" she whispered as I unbuckled my belt and pulled my dick out infront of her. "Now, suck on it. Use your tongue to lick the spot just beneath my foreskin and the top of my dick too." I instructed her. She did exactly what I asked for with really good precision and I was impressed at how good she was. She got me rock hard in no time. The way her mouth felt on me made me want to shove myself deep in her throat. I pulled her hair gently to remove her face from my dick and she looked at me as I did this.

"I'll gag you with my dick. You have to stay calm because you'll be hurt if you panic and cough. Just trust me okay? Take a deep breath" She nodded to let me know she’s ready as she had her mouth on me again. I grabbed her hair and pushed her head along my length. She was calm but I could feel the muscle spasms of her neck. I stayed there for a few seconds and then pulled her back up. She gasped for breath and when her breathing was back to normal, I repeated the process. I did this for a while till I felt like I needed to fuck her properly. I let her go and undressed her. I didn't want any foreplay because she was dripping wet and I was impatient.

I opened my own shirt off before impaling her with my dick. She hugged me tightly with a soft moan as I did that. Without giving her any time to settle to my size, I moved inside her vigorously. I felt her vagina squishing me, i felt the slimy warmth with the small bumps inside her which released volts of pleasure from my dick to all over my body. "Levi... Levi... Levi..." I heard her gasping my name, holding me tight, getting ready for an orgasm. Before she came, I pulled out. I had other plans for her. She groaned in frustration. I sat back on the bed and said, "(Y/N), sit on my lap and spread your legs". She did exactly as I said. She rested her head on my chest and I fingered her. Her soft moans turned into her gasping my name again and I removed my finger as she was reaching an orgasm again.

"NO! DON'T STOP!" she whined in frustration as I pinned her down on the bed and said while kissing her neck, "I won't let you cum if you don't trust me.". She became quiet after that and let me kiss her and bite her neck giving her hickeys. After a while, I positioned myself and got inside her again. She wasn't expecting the quick change in actions and gasped loudly. I pounded into her fast making her orgasm as she shouted my name out digging into my back. I reached my orgasm by watching her lewd expressions.

When I was done, I slumped down beside her on the bed. She was still breathing heavily from the orgasm still recovering from it. I realized that I forgot to pull out because she looked so darn good. I got up to get a handkerchief so that I could clean her down there. She laid down and watched me clean her up. When I was done, I told her that we need to take a bath. She got up and followed me to the bathroom. She snuggled close to me in the bathtub because the water wasn't warm. After we were done, she proceeded to wear her clothes. " Why are you wearing those?" I asked her. "I need to go back to my room right?" she asked with slight confusion on her face. "Stay here" I told her in a demanding voice. "Won't there be a problem if someone goes in my room and doesn't find me?" she asked. "If that happens, we will manage something. You're staying here every night from now on. It helps me sleep." I told her in a matter of fact tone.

She looked at me for a while trying to process the fact that I asked her to stay with me every night out of nowhere and then she just headed to the bed leaving her nightgown on the floor. I folded it and folded my own clothes which were on the floor too and got on the bed beside her, put an arm around her and drifted off to sleep after a few minutes

(Y/N) POV

I woke up the next morning to find a lightly snoring Levi spooning me. I enjoyed his warmth for a few moments before getting up and going to his bathroom to wash my face. When I came back, Levi was sitting on the bed waiting for me to come out. "Did you sleep properly?" I asked him. He said "Yeah I did" with an yawn. He was naked like myself and I really had to admire the view I got. His pale skin glistened in the sunlight coming out from the window beside his bed.

"Come here" he demanded while sitting on the bed. I walked to him and he motioned me to sit on his lap. I did what he asked and he pulled me close and kissed me on the lips. We made out for a while till I pushed away from him with a chuckle and mentioned, "I need to make breakfast. We really should stop now" with a smile. "Okay" he answered with a grin and slapped my ass slightly when I got up. I was shocked by his action for a moment but I realized that I kinda liked it. I wore my nightgown and went back to my room to take a bath and wear new clothes.

When I was done bathing, I wore a casual shirt with a long skirt and used a scarf to cover up the hickeys that Levi gave me last night. I went downstairs and took out some bread and got jam on it and made tea. Levi was the second person to come down and he poured his tea from the tea pot and took some bread and jam for himself. I did the same and sat on the chair closest to him. He always sat on the head of the table. Hanji and her squad, Eren, Mikasa, Armin, Connie, potato girl and the guy who always used to fight with Eren came down after a while.

Hanji just took her tea and bread and commanded her team to do the same and ran off outside to "prepare for training" looking very excited. Potato girl looked excited as she saw all the bread on the table and tried to eat all of it and I had to tackle her. "Oi potato girl! I'll break your neck if you take one extra bread!" I gritted my teeth as I struggled to keep her away from the bread. "I thought everyone forgot about that!" she gave an exasperated groan. "No one forgot that, Sasha", Connie answered with a sigh. " I didn't know you had a name expect potato girl before now" I added. She stopped struggling and looked embarrassed about her alias.

As we were eating, Eren and that guy, who's name apparently was Jean, got into a fight again. Levi motioned me to stop them and I just walked between them and held both of their punches with both my hand. "Stop acting like uncivilized baboons. I expected you to be a bit more matured than this, Eren. You are in the special operations squad so act like it." I glared at both of them and Eren just stormed off from the room with Mikasa running after him. Jean on the other hand sat back on the table giving occasional glances on my way.

"(Y/N), meet me in the clearing in 10 minutes. I need to see if your hand to hand combat is as good as before. And I think you need to learn how to use a knife. As second in command, you need to know all sorts of self defence techniques as possible specially in a situation like this. And say Eren that Hanji is itching to do experiments on him." Levi told me as he got up from his chair. "Yes Heichou! I'll be there in 10 minutes!" I answered standing up as Levi left the room without a word.

When I was going to get Eren, I heard Jean shout out, "(Y/N)! Wait!" I stopped and looked back at him as he stumbled towards me, "Uh, well, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for being so immature back then. It was stupid" he mumbled with a nervous smile. "It's okay." I replied shortly before turning back again. Again, he shouted, "Wait!" I turned to him, looking uninterested. "Uh, I just wanted to say that your hair looks nice" he chuckled nervously after saying that. "Okay. Anything else?" I told him looking absolutely uninterested by whatever he had to say. "Uh, no. Good luck while training" he said as I was marching away exactly when he mentioned that he had nothing more to say.

I went to Eren, who was sitting outside with Mikasa and said him that Hanji is waiting for him in the clearing and went there with them as Levi instructed me to go there too. Levi took me a bit far from there and gave me a pocket knife. "You need to be able to kill people with this without a scratch. If you can bring me down once, I'll consider you to be ready. I learnt some techniques from Kenny and I'll teach those to you. You remember what I said about him right? You still won't be able to bring him down if he’s given a pocket knife and you’re given a sword. Then again, you won't ever see him" he said as he proceeded to show me everything he knows.

It was evening when I was done with training. I went to take a bath and after bathing I had to go to the watch towers as it was my turn to keep a watch. I took a bath, washed the bruises from my training session with Levi. I lost some hold on how good I was because I didn't practice hand to hand combat for a while. The fact that he had a knife didn't help either. I had a few minor cuts on my hands and legs too. When I was done, I went to the watch tower and climbed up there. Jean was sitting there and he stood up as I came.

"That shorty really hurt you didn't he? I hope he gets eaten by titans someday." he grunted. "Well, it was required. You can't learn things by being completely unscratched... And, I hope he never gets eaten by titans. We need a leader like him." I answered earnestly and kinda pissed by his comment. However, I hoped that he wouldn't get eaten by titans for other reasons too. Jean definitely didn't expect this reply. "How do you not hate him?" he asked with a surprised tone. "I just don't. He does what needs to be done. I don't see anything to hate in him" I replied calmly.

"So, you can like someone who beats the shit out of you?" he scoffed a bit angrily. I didn't understand why he was angry though. "I can like someone who can teach me things to become stronger and not die. He makes us do these because he doesn't want us to die. I think it's a nice thing to do." I answered to that trying to continue being calm. "We kill titans! You're humanity's strongest woman! Why would you need extra training for beating humans?" he questioned with an exasperated groan. "Because humans are worse! The worst thing a titan can do is kill you but humans can do things that makes you wish you were dead all your life!" I lashed out with frustration because of his nagging.

He became quiet after I said that. He probably understood that the last thing I wanted was him to be there and so he got away. I didn't feel bad about lashing out on him because he was being completely unreasonable and I didn't like the way he talked about Levi. The sky was getting darker by the minute. It was a cloudy night. I heard someone getting up to the tower and noticed that it was Mikasa. "Hey" she said as she sat beside me. "Hey" I sighed. I was in a bad mood because of Jean.

"Who gave you the hickeys?" she asked. My mood shifted from angry to sheer panic as I looked at her and said, "What are you talking about?". "Well, I could see something black underneath that scarf." she said in a matter of fact tone. I didn't know how to reply to that. "Was it Eren?" she asked me with a cold stare. "Eren is like my younger brother" I replied with a disgusted look. She calmed down as I said that. "Well, if it wasn't Eren, I don't really care who it was." she answered with a smile. "You really love Eren don't you?" I asked her with a sympathetic smile. She sighed, "I wish he understood..." I didn't know how to console her.

"So, now that you got out of your 'not getting emotionally attached' ban, why are you still so cold to everyone? I heard you shouted at Jean for looking out for you?" she asked me. "It's just how I always was. I never really cared about what others felt because of my attitude. You heard about that Jacob incident from the newspapers right? My parents were scared of me after that. It hurt me because I cared about them so I decided to stop caring. Now I'm making the same mistake again and I just can't stop myself because he just doesn't judge me for what I am" I sighed to her.

"Well, I'm living to protect Eren and Armin. I'm not a strong willed person like you but I can say one thing. These people in the special operations squad, they mean a lot to me. I'll try my best to save all of them if their lives are in danger and I don't regret it. They care back too. You should know how good it feels when someone cares about your life right?" she asked. "Yeah I know." I muttered trying to weigh the depth of her words.

She was right. Now that I conquered my fears about caring, why should I still keep myself separated? It's true that I'm not particularly friendly but that doesn't mean I couldn't care. Isn't that what Levi does? Isn't that why he is so strong? He wants to protect everyone too and that makes him stronger. Wouldn't that make me stronger too? I remembered the promise I made to myself years back. "I'll avoid being hurt". To avoid being hurt, you have to be strong. To be strong, you need to be hurt in the first place. I made my decision. "I guess I'll try to care" I told Mikasa with a small smile. She nodded at me and said, "It's for your own good.". I replied, "I know".

Levi POV

I heard the conversation between (Y/N) and the gloomy brat. I had to agree with her. Caring about my teammates got me where I am. After Mikasa left, I went up the watch tower to sit with (Y/N). "I'm getting a lot of visitors today" she stated as I sat down beside her. "Well, I was here when you were talking to that gloomy brat. I decided not to interrupt because she was right. You do have to create a bond with the team. When you care, you want to fight harder for them and that makes you more efficient" I told her. "I figured that's how you do it." she replied. The sky was clearing and there were stars filling the sky. It reminded me of my last night with Farlan and Isabelle.

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Just imagine the music from that scene in the No Regrets anime when Levi was looking at the sky with Farlan and Isabelle.]

"The sky looks beautiful" (Y/N) said, her face showing her admiration. She looked beautiful in the moonlight. I put an arm around her and answered "Yeah it does". "I cried with I saw the sky for the first time after coming up from the underground." she whispered. "I smiled when I saw the sky for the first time" I told her as I was reliving the memory. I wasn't gonna let her die too.

To be continued...

Taglist:@reality-is-often-disappointing, @kingtamakimurder

[babybottlepop96]

Jorogumo Chapter 2

Warnings: none that I can think of

The drive to the “murder” sight was short, only about another twenty minutes from the motel the group stayed at. You just listened here and there to the conversations around you while taking in your morning caffeinated drink. Jean and Connie were talking about some new video game they were playing called Nioh? Nile? Lego? You weren’t really paying attention, video games were a forgein concept to you. Levi was yelling at Hange because she put her dirty chucks onto his dashboard, Armin and Eren were discussing something about cheeseburgers? Ymir and Krista were cuddling and talking about whatever they were going to do when they got back home and Mikasa was sitting across from you, talking about something that, you once again, weren’t paying attention to. 

Levi waking you up at seven in the morning was somewhat of a struggle. You really should be used to it by now from how many times you and your friends convinced him to take time off work to drive you halfway across the country, but you could never really get used to waking up that damn early.

“Levi! I’m hungry!” Connie whined, scrunching his face up as if he was dying from hunger pains.

“I told you to eat the free breakfast the motel offered before we left.” Levi spoke, his voice sounding bored and irritated at the same time. 

“But they didn’t have waffles!” Connie continued to whine, plopping himself down on one of the bunks.

“Quit your complaining and eat this.” Ymir said while tossing him a protein bar. “Next time, listen to what the old man tells you to do. I don’t have the patience to sit here and listen to you bitch about fucking waffles.” This caused the entire group to laugh, even Levi chuckled a bit, though he tried covering it up with a cough. 

“Oh! Look! Were here! Levi pull over there! We can set up in that clearing!” Hange spoke excitedly, pointing her finger to the open spot where the truck from ten years ago was found.

“Fucking finally! That was one of the longest road trips ever!” You sighed out, to which Jean put his arm around your shoulder.

“Come on sis! Let's go take a quick look before Captain Levi decides to make us sanitize the dirt before he sets up the chairs.” He whispered into your which caused you to giggle.

“Yeah, let's go before we have to bleach the air.” You and Jean walked towards the wooded area, two small crosses stood in the dirt, Emilee and Jason’s names each written on one. “It's sweet.” You spoke after a moment, a soft breeze flowing through your hair.

“What is?” Jean asked, looking at you quizzically. “The fact that people died and vanished here?”

“No you ass butt.” You lightly pushed him.

“Don’t you dare go quoting Supernatural to me! Especially with how Cas-”

“No! Shut up! Don’t spoil it! I haven't finished it yet!” You covered your ears and you let out a laugh. “No, it’s sweet that even though no one knows what happened to Jason, that they still decided to memorialize him with the girl he loved.” You smiled gently, still looking at the small wooden crosses, small purple and orange wildflowers scattered amongst them.

“Yeah, I wish to find love like that one day.” He grinned.

“Stop being a fuck boy and maybe you will.” You shoved him as you finally entered the wooded area. 

“Over there.” Jean spoke, pointing to a specific patch of land.

“How do you know that's the spot?” You questioned, crossing your sweater clad arms across your chest.

“Did you even look at the crime scene photos I printed out?” He asked in disbelief. 

“Yes! Of course I did!” You huffed and looked away. “But just tell me anyway.” Jean groaned at your ability to not do anything for yourself at times.

“The bushes and the trees to it, it's the exact same as this photo.” He pulled out a folded up piece of printer paper that showed a photo of the crime scene after the body had been removed. 

“Oh, I see it now.” You walked up to the spot on the ground and touched the soft, dried soil there. “And she was just… drained of her blood? It is almost like a vampire. Did you get any toxicology reports? Could you find any? Maybe there was something else that could’ve caused that?” You asked, looking at your brother.

“Armin got that covered, you know, computer nerd and all.” He shrugged.

“Stop calling him a nerd!” You smacked his arm, causing him to laugh.

“What? Someone got a crush on blonde haired, blue eyed, computer wiz?” He teased, causing a small blush to tint your cheeks. 

“No!” You defended but Jean saw right through you.

“You do!” He wheezed, “Oh my Walls! You have a crush on computer boy!”

“Stop! I do not! And don’t quote anime to me you weeb!”

“A proud weeb, thank you very much.” He smirked while you huffed and willed the growing blush on your face to go away.

“Hey! Brats! Get over here and help set up this shit!” You two heard Levi shout from the edge of the woods. 

“Come on, let's go before Levi has an aneurysm.” You groaned, the two of you leaving the crime scene behind for now.

~~~

“Come on Sasha! Share some of those candies you got! I’m still hungry!” Connie whined, he was on his hands and knees practically begging his girlfriend to share her candy. 

“No! You should’ve gotten your own!” She smiled smugly and continued to munch on her snack.

“Connie! You're getting your pants dirty! You’re not getting into my RV with dirty ass clothes.” Levi scolded as Connie quickly got up and brushed his jeans off. “Here, use this.” Levi tossed him a small travel sized bottle of hand sanitizer.

“Damn, you really are a germaphobe aren’t ya, Levi?” Connie jokes, but all he received was a glare in return. 

Set up went smoothly, or as smoothly as it can when half the guys were goofing off and the girls were getting pissed off by the lack of help. Levi was about to commit another murder in the same spot that happened ten years ago.

“Okay, now that we have everything set up,” Armin spoke from his spot at the bench underneath the awning, laptop and other equipment set up around him. “Do we want to check out the crime scene?”

“Actually, I think (y/n) and you should stay here and look over the toxicology reports you found. (Y/n) was asking about them when we first got here. Isn’t that right, Sis?” Jean smirked as you slapped him subtly, he snickered. “The rest of us will go to the two sights, the one were Emilee died and the spot where Jason vanished.”

“I’ll stay and get lunch started.” Levi stated, he was NOT going into the woods.

“Oh, sounds good!” Armin smiled and moved over for you to take a seat next to him. As you sat down next to Armin, Jean sent you a subtle wink, which you replied with a not so subtle middle finger. Jean laughed as he and the others walked to the woods or to the spot where the truck was found.

“Okay, so what did the toxicology reports say?” You asked Armin as you scooted closer, shoulders just slightly touching each other’s, eyeing the laptop. Armin let out a small cough, cheeks tinting a light pink as he brought up the report.

“Well, obviously, the strangest part was the vampire or spider-like bite on Emilee’s arm and the fact that her blood was drained. Completely dried up, not even a speck of blood was found on the ground.” You nodded as Armin spoke, listening intently. “Now, something else I found was never disclosed to the public, was the fact that there were traces of an unknown poison or venom of sorts found in her organs.”

“Like a spider or a snake bite?” You asked, eyebrows furrowed in confusion and concentration. 

“Yes, exactly! But the spaces between the bite wounds are too far spaced out to be a normal spider or snake. It’s about the width between a human’s canine teeth.” Armin further explained. “And the venom or poison or whatever was found at the bite mark, meaning that that is where the poison was given.”

“Couldn’t the ‘bite’ wounds just be from a needle? Because it would be impossible for a human to have something like that in their teeth.” You suggested.

“Already thought of that, there are no known needles to have that big of a width, the bite was from a human. But no one in the area or any one anywhere has natural or unnatural teeth like that.” He spoke, closing the laptop. “Oh, I should also mention that the venom they were able to get from the entry wound was found to be similar, not exactly, but similar to the properties of the venom from a Joro Spider. But they are normally found in places like Japan, China, Korea and even in Georgia here in the United States.”

“But none have been found here?” You asked, taking in all the information Armin just dumped on you.

“No, not around here. So that’s another mystery, if it was a murder, then how the hell did he even comit the murder since there no logical answer, and where the hell did he go? We live in a time where it’s almost impossible to be like the Zodiac or Jack the Ripper. Another question is what form of toxin was put into her body? We know it's similar to the Joro spider, but it has too many different differences to be from that spider or any known spider itself.” Armin sighed as he leaned back in his seat. 

“Maybe we are dealing with the supernatural.” You teased the blue eyed genius, he laughed at your silly notion.

“Fortunately, there are no such things as the supernatural. Everything can be explained through logic and facts.”

~~~

“So, Armin and (y/n), huh?” Eren asked Jean as Hange looked over the spot where Emilee was found. 

“They totally like each other. It's so obvious!” Jean smiled as he tried to peep at the two through the threes, which was practically impossible. 

“I think they would make a cute couple.” Hange spoke as they moved some dirt and foliage around and Sasha looked up into the trees as she snacked on some chips.. “They would be like, the nerd and the adventurer. The nerd makes sure his girl is well knowledgeable in anything she decides to do before doing it. Protective. Like a knight in shining armor, except his armor is his laptop and big brain.”

“She would be good for Armin. He has had a lot of trouble with girls, but (y/n) is nothing like the bimbos Armin usually goes for.” Eren confessed, crossing his arms as he looked around. “What exactly are we looking for, Hange?” 

“Anything that shouldn’t be here. I know the police and the forensics team already did a thorough sweep through the area, but that still doesn’t mean they didn’t miss something small.” She got practically nose deep into the dirt, eyeballing each individual grain, surely Levi will be pissed to see her face covered in woods. 

“Something like this?” Sasha came back to the others holding something shiny in her hand.

“What is that?” Jean asked as Sasha shrugged and handed the object to Hange.

“It's… It's a locket!” She exclaimed, opening the dirty piece of silver. “It's Emilee and Jason. Where did you find this!?” Sasha pointed to the nearby tree.

“It was in a hole at the base of the tree trunk over there.” Hange ran past them and began her search around the area Sasha pointed out.

“Nice work Detective.” Jean joked and Sasha smiled proudly.

“All in a day's work!”

~~~

Later that evening, everyone sat around the campfire, roasting hotdogs and making smores. They all discussed what they found, Connie, Ymir and Krista found nothing around the spot where the truck was left, Levi obviously didn’t do any searching so he was just listening to everything else, Armin and yourself explained what you discussed about the toxicology reports and your questions and conclusions, and Hange rambled on about the locket Sasha found. “Okay, Brats. Let's get this shit cleaned up so we can go to bed.” Levi spoke and everyone did their part of the cleaning.

“Hey, Connie.” Sasha whispered, getting in close to Connie’s ear. 

“Yeah, babe?” He turned to look at her, smiling bright as always when he looked at her.

“Want to see the spot where I found that locket?” She asked, obviously she was excited she was the one who found an important piece of evidence missed in the initial search.

“Yes!” The two snuck off towards the woods while the others piled into their respective beds and couches.

“No fucking in my RV! I’ll cut your asses off and put them above my fireplace!” Levi shouted from his place in the front seat. 

“Levi, you’re no fun.” Hange teased from the bunk behind his seat.

“Shut it, four eyes.” Hange giggled at the stupid insult Levi gave her back in their college days.

“Where’s Connie and Sasha?” Krista asked as she slipped into Ymir’s warm embrace on the pull over couch.

“I saw them sneaking off towards the woods.” Jean said, wiggling his eyebrows.

“As long as they aren’t fucking my RV, I don’t care.” Levi grumbled, closing his eyes letting his eyes rest. Suddenly, the RV door swung open and slammed against the counter behind it. The group looked towards the door to see Sasha, wide eyed, panting and covered in something red.

“Holt shit! Sasha!” You jumped up from your designated bunk and ran to your friend. What happened?!” Sasha stayed silent.

“Wait, Sasha?” Sasha turned her head towards Jean. “Where’s Connie?” Everyone looked at the brunette girl, eyes wide and ears listening. 

“Gone.”

[jazy3]

MerHayes Interview Thoughts Part 1

Some thoughts I have on the comments that Krista Vernoff has been making in interviews lately about Meredith, Hayes, and DeLuca. First off, I try to not to read that stuff as it is often misleading, but I had a feeling people were going to ask me about it so I did. I'm glad to see Krista talking about how Meredith and Hayes are equals, how great their chemistry is, and that they are going to be exploring that next season. Makes my heart happy. Based on Krista's comments it's likely that Hayes will be upped to a main character next season which also makes me happy because he's great! I also love that Krista pretty much admitted that while she's still carrying a torch for Meredith and DeLuca because she's the one that put those two characters together they don't work on screen and everything they tried to make work didn't.

If you actually read the articles all of the comments about it being a love triangle or Meredith and DeLuca being a couple come from the interviewers or Krista responding to a direct question where those things are implied or outright stated. This is bad journalism in that it puts the person responding in a difficult position in that in order to be factually accurate they have to disagree with the interviewer or tell them they’re wrong and are forced to adapt their answer to what the interviewer clearly believes. I also noticed that in a couple of the interviews I read that the interviewers kept pushing Krista for a straight answer as to who Meredith ends up with and kept pushing her on points she’d already addressed.

Again, this is bad journalism as they’re asking for answers they know the other person can’t possibly give which puts them in an awkward position. Because let’s face it, if she gave a straight answer there would be no reason to watch next season because we’d already know what happens. Also, no one on the planet can give a straight answer about anything right now because the whole world is on lockdown due to the quarantine. At this point, they have no idea when they’ll be able to film again. No one does. All this to say that I think asking anyone for a straight answer about anything right now is kind of ridiculous and that includes questions about a season that hasn’t even been written yet.

That being said it looks like Krista did her best to answer the bizarrely worded questions she was asked so let’s take a closer look at what she actually said and not what the headlines or the interviewers implied or stated based on their own opinions and the need to generate shock value. If you look at what she actually said it gives me hope. For instance, in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter she talks about how there are many pieces to making television. There's the conversation in the writers’ room, the script you write, and then there’s what the actors do with what they’ve been given to play. She talks about how the storylines that were written for Meredith, Hayes, and DeLuca evolved in a way that they didn’t expect, but that’s a good thing because they wound up way better than what they had originally envisioned because of the way the actors chose to play those roles.

She talks about how when they first envisioned the mental health storyline for DeLuca one of its early incarnations was that it would serve as a vehicle to improve his character and bring him and Meredith back together. That because, “DeLuca has been so heroic and so dynamic in his mental health storyline that, in a strange way, I expected that storyline would illuminate him as a love interest for Meredith and it ironically feels like it's done the opposite.” There are a few things I want to point out here. Notice how she says she thought the storyline would illuminate him as a love interest for Meredith? That implies that she no longer saw him as a love interest for her despite the fact that those characters were still together on the show when they decided on that storyline.

What Krista is saying here is that when they originally wrote the mental health storyline for DeLuca they expected the character to rise to the challenge and address his issues. They expected him to become this dynamic hero and that through this storyline he and Meredith would come together as this great medical team and find their way back to each other, but because of the way the actor chose to play the character that's not what happened and you can really see that on screen. We didn't see DeLuca rise this past season. We saw him fall spectacularly.

This storyline was supposed to bring Meredith and DeLuca closer together, but instead it pushed them farther apart. It was supposed to help resolve their issues, instead it only served to exacerbate them and emphasize why they don't work. It was meant to illuminate him as a suitable love interest, but instead it turned him into this cowering figure and in his place Hayes rose as the dynamic romantic lead that Meredith deserves. Krista goes onto say that it’s been amazing to watch the actor resonate with the storyline and that there’s a part of her that feels like if DeLuca got the right kind of treatment and worked on himself he could potentially become a human being with the kind of life experience that would help him rise to Meredith's level.

Personally, I don’t think that’s possible so my hope for Season 17 is that they’ll find a way to wrap up DeLuca’s storyline with regards to Meredith so that both characters can move on. Krista then talks about how in contrast the character of Hayes rose this season as a great new love interest for Meredith and how Hayes is a man that’s entered Meredith’s life unexpectedly, co-signed by Cristina, and how the audience has seen the pain he's survived and how, in so many ways, his life experience really mirrors Meredith's. Krista calls all of this a love triangle in response to the interviewer phrasing it that way, but what she goes on to describe isn’t really a triangle at all. What she’s basically saying here is that while she still ships Meredith and DeLuca together, she recognizes that they’re not working on screen. They had two seasons to make it work and they couldn't.

I’m really glad that they actors chose to go that way with their performances because to be honest the original incarnation of DeLuca’s storyline sounds dumb. Krista’s comments imply that the mental health storyline was supposed to make DeLuca into some kind of romantic hero and would somehow bring him and Meredith back together. This makes me sad because it implies that Krista Vernoff and the writers of Grey’s Anatomy don’t actually know anyone who suffers from Bipolar Disorder. I have family members that do and there is nothing romantic or heroic about it. It’s a disease. It sucks.

One of the worst parts as it’s been described to me is that so many of the medications you have to take for it make you flat to the point that you go from feeling everything, the highs and lows, to feeling nothing. You’re flat all the time. That’s not to say that people with Bipolar Disorder can’t live full and happy lives they can. But it’s challenging and the medications you have to take can create as many problems as they solve. I know everyone’s experience is different, but the notion that having a mental illness makes you some kind of hero or could possibly turn you into a romantic lead is just insulting to me. I’m really glad they didn’t go that route and that Giacomo Giannotti didn’t play the character that way. While I don’t like DeLuca as a character, I can’t deny that the actor did an amazing job with those scenes. He really sold just how sick DeLuca was and how badly he needs help.

It seems clear from the interview comments Krista has made and what we saw on screen this season that the storylines for Meredith, Hayes, and DeLuca went through several different incarnations and ended up in a different place than originally envisioned. Based on the information we have this appears to have occurred for two main reasons. The first was that the actors’ responded to and played their roles differently then expected and seeing how great that was the showrunners and writers leaned into that chemistry and those performances and ran with it. The second was the sudden and unexpected departure of Justin Chambers halfway through the season.

Chambers was originally expected to be there all season. It seems pretty clear based on what we did see that Alex was supposed to come back to Grey Sloan with the rest of the doctors and head up Peds again. And you can kinda see part of that in the storyline that did go to air. It appears that Alex was supposed to return to Grey Sloan and that he and Hayes were supposed to co-chief Peds together. This was well done from a writing standpoint in that it gave the writers lots of room to play, but also gave them an easy out if the actor they hired to play Hayes, Richard Flood, didn't work out. This was necessary for them to do because literally every single actor they’ve hired to play a love interest for Meredith since Derek died, and Patrick Dempsey left the show, has ultimately fallen through for one reason or another.

This has been touched on in various interviews given by the cast and crew over the last few years. Ever since Patrick left, they’ve been trying to find a new suitable love interest for Meredith that worked well on screen and that fans liked. Following Derek’s death, the cast and crew felt strongly that Meredith should be single for a while as losing your spouse and the father of your children is a devastating loss and should be dealt with tactfully. Ellen Pompeo has gone on record saying that she felt very strongly about this. Instead the Studio forced their hand and made them hire a new love interest.

Why? According to Ellen, the Studio thought the show wouldn’t survive without Patrick and so while she was on vacation in Sicily, trying to relax after the show wrapped for the season, they sent her pictures of men and called her up saying, “What do you think of this guy?" Over and over again. Classy right? Ellen was livid and rightly so. She couldn’t understand why the Studio was in such a rush to replace Patrick and immediately give Meredith a new love interest. The Studio believed that she couldn’t carry her own show so they forced them to bring in a new love interest for Meredith the next season.

Which is a big part of the reason why there’s an episode that encompasses an entire year. Because otherwise Meredith would have started dating right away before Derek was even cold in his grave because the Studio forced their hand. So, faced with a situation that no one was happy with they hired Scott Elrod to play William Thorpe and create a transition point for Meredith. They then hired Martin Henderson to play Nathan Riggs, who they knew and liked because he had worked on another Shonda Rhimes show Off the Map back in 2010. They did their best to make it work, but it was clearly way too soon for Meredith to be dating again and as much as I loved Meredith and Riggs together you can see the reluctance and the anger that Ellen felt in her performance.

As anyone else could have predicted fans were not happy about this either as it was way too soon. And eventually, the Studio got it and gave them the go ahead to end that storyline. And that’s why the write off is so sudden. As soon as they were given the go ahead they immediately wrote Riggs off to go be with Megan and Farouk in California. And Martin Henderson was fine with that because he told them from the beginning he didn’t want to be on the show long term which they were fine with because bringing him in was a temporary measure to pacify the Studio until they finally got it.

Following Patrick’s departure the ratings for the show actually went up and the show continued to thrive which eventually resulted in the Studio backing off with their ludicrous demands and allowed the showrunners and writers to regain creative control over Meredith’s love life. Following Henderson’s departure it was reported by TV Line that the show had cast a new love interest for Meredith to replace Riggs and that this new character would be a hot foreign doctor whose parent was also a famous surgeon. I remember reading about that at the time and being really excited for it. I loved Meredith and Riggs together and I was really sad and shocked to see him go. But then Season 14 came and went and this new love interest never materialized.

They did come close once when they cast Scott Speedman to play Nick Marsh and did a whole episode about Meredith opening herself up to love again and connecting with him. From what I’ve read the cast, crew, and Studio wanted him to be Meredith’s new love interest, but Speedman had just finished a several year run as Baz on the show Animal Kingdom and wanted to try something else before committing to another tv show.

It eventually came out during the summer break between seasons 15 and 16 that they had hired someone to play a new love interest for Season 14, but then the news got leaked to the press and spoiled the surprise. After that they were forced to scrap that storyline and what they had originally planned turned into the Marie Cerone storyline about Ellis Grey and the Grey Method. I loved that storyline, but I was heartbroken when I found out that the information getting leaked to the press was the reason we had to wait so long for Meredith to get a new love interest and why we wound up with the disaster that was Meredith and DeLuca. 

Having regained creative control over the storylines regarding Meredith’s love life they were finally able to do the storyline that they had originally planned in Season 15 with Meredith hiring a matchmaker and going on a bunch of blind dates. I expected based on what they set up with CeCe the matchmaker that Meredith’s new love interest would come from one of these blind dates. But then they started having both Link and DeLuca pursue Meredith. They spent a lot of time showing us what a great guy Link was and how he took the time to get to know Meredith and do nice things for her. In contrast they showed DeLuca to be a bumbling mess, who her friends couldn’t stand, who didn’t know Meredith at all, and was only interest in dating her not being a part of her life.

Which is why I, like a lot of fans, was so surprised when Meredith stood Link up and started dating DeLuca with no explanation given for either. Following that Amelia and Link got together and as I think many will agree they’re great together and are obviously a better fit. Prior to the conference episode Link and Amelia only had one small scene together that I can recall which makes me wonder if they shot a deleted scene together where their chemistry came through and the writers decided to put them together instead.

During Season 15 when Meredith had just started dating DeLuca, Ellen was interviewed at an awards party and was asked about her potential love interests. She said that Meredith had chosen DeLuca for now and that one of the challenges about having a show go this long is that it’s hard to find actors who are willing to be on a show that’s already so established long term. This makes it sound like they were in the process of hiring a substantial new love interest for Meredith for Season 15 and it fell through because the actor was offered a part on a new series or perhaps a movie role. With this context, the about change of face we saw in the second half of Season 15 starts to make sense. A few different scenarios are possible here.

One, they hired Chris Carmack to play Link with the intention of making him Meredith’s new love interest, but then realized he worked better with Amelia and then decided to put Meredith with DeLuca as they had already set that up. Two, they did all of that and then when they realized Amelia and Link worked better together, they decided to have Meredith date DeLuca to create a transition point, before introducing a new more permanent love interest only for the casting to fall through at the last minute.

We’ll probably never know what the real story is, but it seems clear that the only reason that Meredith and DeLuca wound up dating or being anything more than a hookup or a brief fling is casting for Meredith’s new permanent love interest fell through. You can tell that once they decided to go for it, they tried to give DeLuca more depth by giving him part of the backstory that they originally wrote for the love interest that was supposed to appear in Season 14.

As many other people have commented on, while Ellen and Giacomo are friends in real life it’s pretty clear that Ellen is not into the Meredith and DeLuca pairing and that really comes across on screen. They’re both good actors, but they come across as so wooden and stiff every time they’re on screen together in what is supposed to be a romantic way. From the fragments of interviews I did read from Season 15 and the break between seasons 15 and 16 when the showrunners brought the idea of bringing the two characters together to the actors were both really surprised and confused.

Ellen’s opinion on the pairing clearly hasn’t changed whereas Giacomo seems to have really gotten into it which is a shame considering that they have absolutely no chemistry and don’t work at all. When Season 15 wrapped Krista did a post-mortem interview which I read to try and understand the cluster eff that was the second half of that season and it only left me more confused. The show that got described in that article sounded nice, but it had absolutely no relation to the show that actually aired that season.

It appears based on this that during Season 15, the first season not to have Shonda Rhimes’ direct daily oversight as she moved on to other projects, the perception of the cast and crew as to what was working on screen and the reality was wildly off base. It’s also possible that they knew certain storylines weren’t working, but they hoped that if they talked them up enough and gave the fans more time to get used to them they would warm up to them. This might explain why they decided to keep pushing ahead with the storylines they had planned, rather than what actually worked on screen during the second half of the season.

As we saw that straight up didn’t work and it appears that they realized it too because in Season 16 they retconned, changed, and fixed all of the storylines that didn’t work from the previous season. In fact the only two major storylines that they kept were the pairings of Amelia and Link and Teddy and Tom because those were the only storylines out of that season that really worked. As I’ve said before I’m very glad that they did because this resulted in the introduction of Hayes as a character.

While I’m strongly of the belief that Meredith and DeLuca make no sense as a pairing and should never have happened, one of the silver linings of that storyline is that in enabled the show to finally hire a permanent love interest that worked. I noticed that during and after Season 14 every other article that came out about the show was about who Meredith’s new love interest would be. So, in a way it’s not surprising that information got leaked to the press because they absolutely hounded them about it.

After Meredith got with DeLuca the media attention subsided which allowed the show to hire an actor to play Meredith’s new love interest that actually worked and keep it a surprise. I remember when they announced that Hayes would be joining the cast. I remember being annoyed because I wanted Alex back at Grey Sloan and I saw a lot of people speculating that he was a new love interest for Maggie. This redirected attention allowed the show to hire a new actor to play a permanent suitable mature love interest for Meredith without the entire storyline getting spoiled.

Also, you’ll notice that in creating Hayes as a character they used the other part of the backstory they had crafted for the Season 14 love interest that had to scraped. I think these two storylines really showcase how the right casting and the right set up can make all the difference. As my Tumblr friend @onthetrailtohappiness once said DeLuca was never intended to be a love interest for the show’s main character. Suddenly forcing him into that role didn’t change that. The set up wasn’t there and shoehorning in a backstory for him that was taken from an abandoned character to magically give him something in common with Meredith after he’d been on the show for several years didn’t change that and it clearly didn’t work.

The character of Hayes on the other hand was clearly created to be a love interest for Meredith. You can tell from the way they gel on screen that they did a chemistry test with the actors and I’ve read that Ellen herself was part of the casting process. They took the unused backstory that they had and built it into his character from the beginning which is why Hayes works so well. That and the actor does a great job playing him and giving him a depth and a complexity that makes him really interesting and fun to watch. Part 2: https://jazy3.tumblr.com/post/620941935846293504/merhayes-interview-thoughts-part-2

[calzona-ga]

SPOILER ALERT: The story includes details about the season-finale episode of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy. While it wasn’t the planned ending, tonight’s Season 16 finale of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, written by Mark Driscoll and Tameson Duffy and directed by Deborah Pratt, was fitting. Indeed, this season was cut short due to the halting of production in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

You can’t be the longest-running medical drama on television without overcoming some challenges, and Grey’s already has proved its ability to pivot when the unexpected happens. The production shutdown was is the second major curveball for the show this season after original cast member Justin Chambers’ abrupt exit. No word on whether the four unproduced episodes from Season 16 will roll over to the next season. But this episode, titled “Put on a Happy Face,” had enough to tide us over until Season 17.

Let’s start on a positive highlight. After Richard (James Pickens Jr.) experienced hallucinations as well as a very intense and very public breakdown, fans feared that they might be losing another veteran Grey/Sloane surgeon. Determined not to accept his Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and Andrew DeLuca (Giacomo Gianniotti) worked around the clock to pinpoint the problem, with DeLuca coming through with a game-changing discovery: His dementia was a result of cobalt poisoning from a hip replacement surgery.

Not a hard fix. Dr. Link (Chris Carmack) was brought in to remove the cobalt, and it appears that Webber is on the road to recovery with his health. However, his marriage to Catherine is not out of the danger zone. Turns out the hallucinations had nothing to do with his marital discord. “Did you stand by me while I was being fired? You buy my hospital to humiliate me, or is that my mind playing tricks, too,” Webber contends before sternly kicking Catherine out of the room.

Meanwhile, DeLuca, who has been exhibiting erratic behavior and angry outbursts all season, isn’t able to bask in his incredible catch. Instead, has a breakdown of his own — signaling that it might be time to address his bipolar disorder-like symptoms, which are similar to his father’s.

DeLuca and Grey have become quite the medical duo this season but still couldn’t figure out how to make their romantic relationship work. It’s unclear where that will land next season as a new contender entered midseason — and he goes by the name of Dr. Cormac Hayes (Richard Flood). The two seem to have a connection, though it appears to be on a friendly level at this point (Hayes was a present sent to Meredith by “her person” Cristina Yang). Could this be the next Grey’s love triangle?

Elsewhere, Amelia Shepherd (Caterina Scorsone) finally had her baby! And she opted not to have an epidural because she’s an addict, and the epidural has fentanyl in it. While baby daddy Link wasn’t able to be present during the birth (he was performing the surgery on Webber), she had fellow “pregnancy club” sister Miranda Bailey (Chandra Wilson) by her side. The two share a tender moment when Bailey hops on the bed to support Amelia as she is giving birth, calling back to the time when late George O’Malley (T. R. Knight) did the same for Bailey during her labor back in Season 2.

Alas, not everyone got a happy ending. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) and Teddy Altman (Kim Raver) were set to walk down the aisle, but Teddy needed her one last go-round with Tom Koracick (Greg Germann). Unbeknownst to her, she somehow recorded it and sent it to Owen, who had to endure the embarrassment of hearing it while in the OR surrounded by his colleagues. The wedding eventually is postponed, with Owen giving the excuse that he was pulled into surgery last-minute. In typical Grey’s fashion, there is never a wedding without drama.

Deadline spoke with Grey’s Anatomy showrunner Krista Vernoff, who unpacked the final episode, hinted at what’s to come next season and revealed what storylines she wished they were able to air this season. She also weighed in on the fan reactions to Alex Karev’s controversial exit.

DEADLINE: The Season 16 ender wasn’t what was expected, but like you said in your tweet, it was very satisfying, and a fitting Grey’s ending. How do you plan on carrying over the storyline to next season, or is there a plan to carry over the storyline from the last four episodes to next season? KRISTA VERNOFF: I have not formulated that plan yet. In about four weeks, I’m going to get in a room with the writers, and we’re going to talk about all of it. I know that a lot us are having brainstorms since we have so much time at home. A lot of us are texting each other, and going, “Oh, what if we did this? What if we do that?” So I have a feeling that their stories are going to change some, from what we had planned, and that we’ll repurpose some of what we had written and use it in the early episodes of Season 17.

DEADLINE: The production shut down was the second major curveball for the show, after Justin Chambers’ exit. What were your thoughts on the reaction to his exit?VERNOFF: Well, you know, I haven’t been commenting on this much, but I just did an Instagram Live where I said that, so, I’ll say it to you too. I believe that there would’ve been at least as big an outcry if we had killed that character off-camera, and those were our choices. It was kill the character off-camera, or come up with some believable way that he gets his happily ever after, and some of the fans have posited, ‘well he could have just been off-screen in Seattle like April Kepner, but then you’ve got an actress on the show who doesn’t get to do any of the fun, sexy, playful thrill that we’re known for, then you penalize the actors who are staying on the show by limiting what you could do creatively with them. So I was really proud of that episode. I think Elisabeth Finch did an extraordinary job with a nearly impossible task.

That episode made me cry. It made me laugh. I felt really deeply. I felt satisfaction, and I will say that I have received a great many comments from fans who felt the same way, but the angry people are always the loudest ones.

I wasn’t surprised by the fan reaction, but I know it would’ve been equally angry if I had killed him — so it was like, these are your choices, and I felt really happy with what we chose.

DEADLINE: The fact that you didn’t kill the character off also leaves the door open that we might see them in the future. So is there any chance of [Justin Chambers] or Katherine Heigl, ever coming back? VERNOFF: When I left the show in Season 7, people asked me if there was any chance of me ever coming back, and I was smart enough to say, “Never say never.” Here I am, so who knows?

DEADLINE: Jo was able to accept Alex’s decision in a short amount of time and come to terms with everything. Did that have anything to do with her character’s stint in the psychiatric hospital, at the beginning of the season? VERNOFF: Yes. Jo had had such a dramatic, emotional, painful arc, the second half of Season 15. None of the writers, frankly, none of us wanted to see her go back down into a hole. One of the things about the way the character was written off is that she had a lot of time to wonder, and to fear the worst, and I have found in life that when you have a lot of time to wonder and fear the worst, then when you get an answer, even if it’s terrible news, it feels better than not knowing. And it helps you move on, more quickly.

DEADLINE: I want to just touch on Richard’s illness. Is it safe to say that he’s out of the danger zone? Also, did his illness contribute to anything that had to do with his relationship with Catherine? And what can we expect from that couple in the future?We’ll start with the illness — is he in the safe zone now that they’ve caught it early and treated it? VERNOFF: Yes, and I thought that that was one of the most amazing things about this diagnosis was that the cobalt poisoning thing is real and it really can cause all of those symptoms. It can cause dementia-like symptoms. It can cause Parkinson’s-like symptoms —  tremors, hallucinations — and the amazing thing about it is that once you diagnose it, and you get the leaky hip out of your body, you can recover, totally. That felt, just as the storyteller, an amazing thing because it let us give Jim Pickens this really rich, rich material, without us having to permanently disable his character. I think that that was an amazing ride for the fans, because the outcry of we’re showing symptoms that don’t feel like they have cures.

There’s not really a cure for Parkinson’s. There’s not a cure for Alzheimer’s. So I know everyone was in a panic, and so, we got to tell this really satisfying story, and we got to let people know that sometimes, there’s another diagnosis for those symptoms, which we found fascinating, as a group of writers who write medicine, that it’s so rare to see something this satisfying.

DEADLINE: Did the symptoms from the cobalt poisoning have anything to do with his attitude toward Catherine? What’s in store for them? Can we still hold out hope for that couple? VERNOFF: I think you can always hold out hope for any couple on Grey’s Anatomy. You never know where it’s going, and I think that the way we designed this was that the fracture, the real fracture in Catherine and Richard’s relationship predated the cobalt poisoning.

So the way we imagined it was that, with the depression, everyone thought it was related to his divorce, and it was actually a symptom of cobalt poisoning. And then the tremors were a symptom of cobalt poisoning, and then the hallucinations, so that when he forgave her, he forgave her in a hallucination. And when he was well, he remembered the actual events from his life, for which he has not yet forgiven her. The reason that I hold out most for that couple is that Catherine rediscovered her deep and profound love for Richard when she almost lost him. I think that that may enable her to apologize in the way that Richard will need to hear.

DEADLINE: Speaking of forgiveness, in true Grey’s fashion, there’s never a wedding without any drama, as we saw with Teddy and Owen. We’ve seen their relationship woes throughout the series, and this season felt like they were going to finally get it together and find each other and have their happy ending. Why haven’t they quite found that happy ending, and can Owen forgive Teddy? VERNOFF: I think that those are questions that we will have to explore in Season 17. I will say that of all the storylines that were left hanging, that is the one that I was the most disappointed about. Actually, there were two: I’m disappointed that I cannot give Teddy — we had an episode coming up where we were able to better articulate and better understand what’s prompting Teddy’s behavior, and we don’t get to air it. Who knows, maybe it’s going to change between now and when we’ll actually shoot it for Season 17, but I feel for Kim Raver. The amount of standing is high, and we’ve left her in a strange place. It’s compelling, and why? Your question is big. Why? Why would she sabotage — why, when she was finally getting her happy ending, did she sabotage it? I think it’s the super-rich area personally.

And then the other story that I was really disappointed that we couldn’t complete — and I will tell you that I haven’t told this to anyone else, but we did a story where there as a victim of human trafficking, like two episodes ago, and DeLuca we got recognized it but he was in such a mentally compromised, manic state that nobody listened to him and the girl left. We had an episode where she comes back, and I am really sad that we can’t air that episode this season because it felt important to offer that kind of hope to people who are living that experience. I may still complete that story next season.

DEADLINE: I want to touch on DeLuca, who has gone through this really rocky journey with Meredith this season. Although they haven’t really been able to figure out their personal relationship, they’ve proven to be a great medical team. What can you tease about this couple? Last season, we talked about Meredith being ready for love. What can we tease about this couple in the future? Is somebody else going to throw a wrench in everything? Somebody by the name of Hayes? VERNOFF: There is hope for Meredith and DeLuca, and I think that there is hope for Meredith and Hayes. I will be fascinated to see how that storytelling emerges in season 17 because this story played in a way that I didn’t picture. You know, you write a thing, and then the actors play it, and then it gets all put together, and then you know what the story is. You don’t know how it’s going to play when you write it. It’s been amazing for me to watch this story this season. I feel like Giacomo has been so compelling, and DeLuca has risen so much, and simultaneously, Hayes has been really compelling and feels very much like Meredith’s equal. At this point, I’, not even sure which couple I’m rooting for, and that’s always an exciting thing.

DEADLINE: Yeah. We love our love triangles on Grey’s. VERNOFF: Yeah. Yeah.

DEADLINE: One couple might have found their happy ending, it seems, is Amelia and Link. The birth of the baby was such a nice ending to a season full of ups and downs. Was that one thing you were excited about? To see Amelia who had her complications with her first pregnancy, and this one turned out fine. VERNOFF: Yeah. I love that story and I am so grateful that … we got to air it this season. It would’ve been really a bummer if we hadn’t made it there, this season. So, that was just luck and I’m grateful that it was in that episode. I love that scene where Bailey gets in the bed with Amelia, and we call back to when George got in the bed with Bailey and it’s just so beautiful. It was pitched by Meg Mooney, who’s been with the show for 15 years. It made me cry when she pitched it, and it makes me cry every time I watch it. I, like everyone else, at this point really am loving Link and Amelia, and I was so happy. That ending for them felt so hard won this season.

DEADLINE: Is the next season being envisioned as the final season since it’s the second of the two-year pickup, or are you guys having conversations about potentially more seasons? VERNOFF: You know, what I always say to this question, is my answer again today, and that is: I will not start planning the end of Grey’s Anatomy until Shonda [Rhimes] and Ellen and ABC all sit down together, tell me that this really the end this time. The truth is those conversations might be being had if we weren’t dealing with a global pandemic, but everyone’s gone home, and I suspect we’ll start talking about that in a month, or two.

DEADLINE: Speaking of this global pandemic, obviously Grey’s is known for taking things that are happening in the world, and incorporating it into the series. Are there any plans to reflect on this current pandemic on the show for next season? VERNOFF: I haven’t had a minute yet to sit with the writers and talk about it. So, we’re all at home, and we’re on hiatus, but in about four weeks, we’ll gather, and we’ll talk about it. I have a hard time imagining that we don’t have to acknowledge this massive thing that we’ve all gone through, in our fictional world, too, but I have no idea how. I don’t know what it’s going to look like.

DEADLINE: Station 19 — we still have more episodes coming with that series. Are we going to see any of the Grey’s characters in the final couple of episodes? VERNOFF: Yes. Happily, yes, you are. The Grey’s characters are all over the last two episodes of Station 19. So, that is a really nice treat for the fans, too. Many of our Grey’s characters are in Episodes 15 or 16 on Station 19.

[imaginesnkdorks]

The Game (Jean x Reader)

Pairing: Jean Kirschtein/Reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Dirty jokes and innuendos 

Summary: You and Jean are rivals. Everyone knows that you hate each other’s guts. After humiliating Jean in front of everyone, he figured out a way to make you freeze in your spot. But hey, you’re a quick learner and was soon beating Jean in his own game. Problem is you both enjoy it a little too much.

[a/n: I’ll think of a better title. But yeah, hope you guys enjoy this one... and that face he’s making in the gif? Lovely haha]

         It was another boring day. Instructor Shadis left us to our own devices – as if we’ll take hand-on-hand combat training seriously without him. As expected, Sasha and Connie is goofing around, so does many others. I know this isn’t really graded, but I’m in the mood to kick some ass… and that ass just put a spotlight on himself.

         Jean was going on about how he’s the best at the maneuver gear, lecturing anyone who would listen to his horse face. As if he could still fool us. People already saw how much better Mikasa was at everything than anyone. And not to brag, but I’m not too bad myself. Could wipe the floor with Jean’s smug face.

         “Bold of you to claim you’re the best when Mikasa’s right over there and I’m standing right here.” I displayed my smuggest grin and waited for him to react. I pretty much know now how prideful and egotistical this boy could be.

         “Ha? Why don’t you come and say that to my face?” Jean challenged, to my delight. He really bit onto that, didn’t he? It’s clear he’s annoyed with how red his face has gotten. I’d never say this out loud, but I do enjoy seeing him like this.

         “Fine.” Was all I needed to say to begin our showdown. The people around us began to cheer for either Jean or me. Yeah, apparently there are people who do believe in his talents.

         Jean has a habit of keeping his left open, all I have to do is to take advantage of it. Throwing a feint and his left side was open! “Gotcha! Hyaa!” A kick to the side of his head and he’s on the floor!

         “Wow! Y/N kicked you ass that fast?!” Connie loudly mocked Jean, who’s now holding his head and writhing on the ground, cursing me.

         “How does defeat taste like? Salty like your tears?” I quipped, earning another round of cheers. Damn, this feels good! “I’ll get you back for this!” Was all Jean said before I left him in the dust.

----

         “Ugh, how much longer before we get to rest?” I can’t help but whine. Carrying a huge rucksack and being bundled in thick clothing is uncomfortable enough already, but we also have to hike in the middle of a fucking blizzard! These aren’t training but torture!

         “You’re always so dramatic. I guess that’s how weak people’s brain works.” And it’s just my luck to be in the same team as Jean Kirschtein. It’s been weeks since we fought – well, more like I wiped the floor with him – and he hasn’t stopped goading me like this. It’s honestly more tiring than annoying. Still, the frustration of our current situation can’t help but manifest in me wanting to strangle the life out of him.

         “Come here and I’ll show you what a weak person’s brain looks like.” I said, clearly implying that I’d bash his head, but he got me. “Oh, so now you want to show me your brain?” He was smiling so much you’d think the blizzard froze his face. I went in for a punch, but Reiner caught my hand in the air. Right, he’s here.

         “Stop it, you two!” His huge fist was wrapped around mine, its warmth permeating through our thick gloves. Wow. We’re in the middle of a fucking tundra, wearing thick gloves and Reiner’s hand is still very warm… like super warm it’d probably steam! “Jean, stop being rude to Y/N!” Reiner continued, totally taking not only Jean but also me, by surprise. He’s taking my side! “Y/N, if he tries bothering you, he’d have to face me. No need to hurt your fist with his face. Here, I’ll help you with your load.”

         “What?” Was all I could utter as Reiner carried both his and my rucksacks. I think I’m rooted – no! Frozen to the ground. “What just happened?” I asked again. Despite the blizzard, I heard a whistle coming from Jean. “Would you look at that? Reiner actually left you speechless! If I only knew that… oh!” Jean started to laugh like a madman. I don’t like the sound of that.

         “What? If you only knew what?” This past few minutes, all I’ve been saying was what and I am so tired of it! I need answers, damn it! To my surprise, Jean leaned in his horse-face close to mine. Real close that I noticed his lashes are quite long – ah! What am I doing ogling his eyes!

         “Nothing to concern your pretty head with, sweetheart!” Chills went through my body. And it’s not from the raging blizzard around us. Jean gave me a wink before facing straight ahead.

---

         We are stuck in the cabins. It isn’t really a surprise seeing that the weather only got worse. So was Jean’s… whatever the fuck he’s doing. After that little bit outside, Jean tried, again and again, to enter my personal space, winking shamelessly you’d think he has something in his eyes. As much as it pains me to say, this makes me flustered and I can’t think of anything to say or do. Good thing I’m not bunkmates with Ymir or I’d never hear the end of this… being powerless to Jean’s… Charms?

         And it’s just my luck that Jean is standing in front of our doorway, a shit-eating grin on his face. “What do want?” I asked, annoyance very evident on my voice, my face and maybe even my posture. He didn’t take the bait. He was still all smiles while I’m the one getting angrier by the minute.

         To my surprise, Jean pushed me to the wall, arms barricading me in. “H..hey!” His face closed in on mine again, so close I could feel his warm breath. “Had I known I have this effect on you, I would have done this all the time. Seeing you flustered like this?”  I can’t believe it was even possible, but Jean somehow got even closer and my eyes closed on their own. My heart pounding so loud it’s almost all I could hear until a soft and gentle chuckle right by my ear. And just like that, Jean was already walking away when I opened my eyes.

         After trying to catch my breath, I entered my bedroom to see Krista already in her sleepwear. “Oh, Y/n! Your face is so red, are you alright?”  She rushed from the bed to where I’m rooted in my spot in front of the door. Her blue eyes peered at me curiously and full of concern. I shook my head and muttered a weak “nothing.” Before changing to my sleepwear.

         I was already lying on the top bunk when there was a sudden knocking to our door. I heard Krista walk over and open it, then heard Ymir’s loud voice. Ugh, could this day get any worse?

         “Ah! Krista! Why don’t you switch with Annie? I’d love to share a room with you!”

         “Shhh! Y/N is probably already sleeping. And no, we can’t just do that! You really need to get along better with people other than me.”  Ymir was not convinced and tried to persuade Krista more and louder. “Hey! Will you at least quiet down? I’m trying to sleep here.” Ymir turned her attention to me, and with a cunning glint in her eye, she stepped closer. She’s so tall it’s easy for her to keep eye contact with me this close even though I’m lying on the top bunk.

         “Why Y/N! Jean was laying it on thickly earlier, huh? I knew that idiot liked you! And you seem to like him, too!” Color me surprised. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I said, sitting up… or lied. I kind of know what she’s talking about. “Oh? You were a blushing mess! First time I ever saw you tongue-tied in Jean’s presence; you know! Maybe all those times you kicked his ass before he should have just kissed you and you might have dropped on the floor!”

         Krista was scolding Ymir for teasing me like this, but I think I just realized something. She’s right, I might have dropped to the floor – not because I like Jean or something! But when Reiner held my hand and I froze, Jean must’ve thought he could do that to shut me up! Ooooohhh… I know what to do now!

---

         It’s early in the morning and the weather is better than yesterday. A lot better it might be sunny later. I have kitchen duty today, and thankfully there’s maybe only fifteen of us here. That means less cutting and peeling. That also means less help, apparently. Jean was already in the kitchen when I got there, and it would be just the two of us. Great.

         He’s already started on the broth and is peeling potatoes. At my arrival, he had this brilliant smile. It gave me pause. I’d never say this out loud, especially to Jean’s face, but he does have a beautiful smile. “Good morning Y/N.” Jean made a show of slowly setting down the knife and potato he’s holding, giving me his full attention. “So, how do you like eggs in the morning?” His wink was infuriatingly attractive, pretty much like the rest of him when he’s confident.

         Wait – I can’t let him affect me so much I’d stop functioning! I decided last night to give Jean a taste of his own medicine. Taking deep breaths to calm down, I decided to start with my plan now. “I’m not really into eggs. More of a sausage person, really. Long and thick ones.” Okay, that was very dirty. Definitely, something I’d never say to anyone for real. Oh, my goodness. I was met only with silence, though. Turns out Jean turned the brightest shade of red I’ve ever seen him, and his mouth was quivering – like he can’t decide what to say or if he could actually say something.

         Success! This gave me the courage to do more… damage. Biting my lip, I walked closer to Jean, tiptoed and whispered to his ear, “I know the game you’re playing, Jean. Very bad of you to try and beat me this way. But…” I paused for effect, putting a hand to his chest and goodness! His heart is thumping wildly! This is fun! “I like bad boys.” And I gave him a wink. Might I say, seeing him speechless like that is very satisfying.

         ---

         Cooking breakfast with Jean was surprisingly not awkward. Maybe it was the high of being successful at making him flustered. I don’t really care. But he was quiet through it all, and once the redness was only on his ears, he looked like he was deep in thought. And I have an inkling it won’t be good. By lunchtime I know it wasn’t good.

         The moment I entered the dining hall with Krista and Ymir, Jean and I locked eyes. I was right, his confidence was back, and a rather smoldering smile was on his face. Since this is a small dining hall, we are seated across from each other. Phew, I guess it’ll be a showdown then. And then he began.

         “Y/N, I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave.” Jean said, mirth playing on his eyes and lips. “Oh?” I inquired, raising a brow to him. My, I really am better at taking his flirtations head-on now that we’re on the same page. “You're making the other girls look bad.” He said, throwing yet another one of his winks. I can’t help and smile at that. That was good. Real good.

         “Whoa! You’re saying that to Y/N when Krista is right beside her? Love makes you blind, huh?” Connie asked. Love? Wait! He just insulted me! “Hey! What are you insinuating, you bald midget!” Yes, I have a temper. “I’m not bald – “ Connie was about to say something more but Jean cut him off. “Yeah, what are you saying?”

         “Ha, the lovebirds are teaming up against Connie.” I heard one of our fellow trainees say. Lovebirds?

         “Alright! I’m sorry!” Connie surrendered. The rest of the meal went back to what normally happens – just idle chatter. But Jean and I won’t stop throwing exceptionally flowery words towards each other, making those sitting around us amused and uncomfortable.

---

         Weeks passed and our game continued. Even during training where I missed a titan dummy’s neck because Jean said something about me calling him daddy. He just took it to a new level, his effect becoming… intense.

         I have to think of a way to get back at him. Sitting by the pond at the back of our barracks should help me focus better. But Jean kept popping up in my head! I know I’m doing this to get back at him, make him lose points at training… but the way he’d smile at me or how he’d light up when I walk in the room makes me feel things. Which is dumb because, for him, this is all about pushing me out of the top ten! That thought makes me sad, actually. Ahhh!

         “Thought I’d find you here.”

         “Jean?” He smiled, and maybe it’s the stupid part of me but it looks so beautiful and genuine.

         “You always run out here. And it’s pretty boring inside without you.” Jean confessed. Is that redness creeping up his neck? Am I hearing what I want to hear? Silence enveloped us. I don’t really know what to say. I can’t remember a time where Jean and I weren’t fighting. Oh, our first week. We used to talk here during our breaks. Then somehow, we became rivals.

          “Y/N, you’re awfully quiet.” Jean asked, leaning in closer. And like instinct, my head decided to play with him. Dipping my hand in the pond, I flick a tiny bit of water at him. The confusion evident on his face, and I just say "Well, now that we're both wet..." Now what? I didn’t think of what would happen next. But Jean did. For half a second his eyes were very intense then he took hold of my face. His touch was like fire and lighting all at once and against everything in me, my eyelids fluttered closed.

         I felt his breath on my lips shortly before I felt his. His lips on mine. Jean is kissing me! My hands traveled to his head, threading through his hair. I can’t help but melt into the kiss. But then it was over.

         Jean had this wild look – like something really good happened to him. I can hear my heart’s pounding in my head – which is impossible, right?

         “Wow.” Was all he said. “Let’s do that again.” I can’t help but agree. “Yeah.” I said back.

Copyright © 2019 by imaginesnkdorks. All rights reserved 

[xtrashmammalstefx]

Asshole (A Nikki Sixx x Reader Smut)

Requested by: @xcazzax

Warnings: Smut, cussing, honestly it’s Motley Crue what did you expect?

If there’s one universal fact I’ve learned since agreeing to be a personal assistant to my older brother’s band it’s this: Nikki Sixx is a fucking asshole!

I swear the dick had had it out for me since day one, and for no fucking reason too. Mick had just introduced us when he first came at me like a fucking nut job.

“Get out,” he said. We were gathered at his place, the guys needing to work on new music. I was ready to help out in any way that I could but, um, well…

“Why?” I asked.

“Because you’re fucking distracting everybody,” Nikki snapped at me. “In case you haven’t noticed sweetheart we’re a rock band and your employers. We’re not your friends, free dicks that you can fuck, and we’re no fucking babysitters. So do us all a favor and let the door hit you on the ass on the way out.”

“Do you get off on being such an asshole?”

“Almost as much as you get off on being a bitch!” He said lighting a cigarette.

“EXCUSE ME?!”

“You’re excused,” he said blowing smoke in my direction.

I balled up my fists fuming, but before I could start throwing punches Mick was pulling me towards the kitchen. “NOT FUCKING COOL MAN!” He snapped at Nikki. Once in the kitchen, he let me go and turned to me. “Look, Y/N, I can bullshit you and say he’s an absolute fucking peach when you get to know him. But since you’re my little sister and I love you and all that I’m gonna tell you the truth. Being an asshole comes easy to Nikki. It’s the only way he really knows how to be.”

“And that’s supposed to make it okay?”

“Fuck no! We have a hard time trying not to kill the son of a bitch on most days,” Mick laughed. “The trick is not letting him get to you.”

“You know we’re talking about Nikki right?” I said, “How the fuck am I supposed to NOT let him get to me when he’s proven himself able to press my fucking buttons?!”

“By not losing your head for one,” he said. “Keep in mind, Y/N, just because his shell is tougher than a fucking turtle’s don’t mean it won’t crack.”

“When did you get all wise old man?” I teased.

“Ha ha,” he rolled his eyes. “By the way, you can stick around today fuck what Nikki says.”

We then stepped back into the living room. “The hell are you still doing here?”

“Earning a paycheck shithead,” I said. “By the way the fact that you thought you could scare me off is adorable.”

He let out what sounded like a hushed angry growl. “You could’ve at least gotten me a beer.” I threw a pillow at his head. “Bitch.”

“Asshole,” I muttered.

Time passed as they continued to work on their album. During that time I started to realize that if Nikki did have a shell it was going to take a moment with the power of a fucking nuke to crack it. He was ruthless but I persisted.

Every now and then I would give the guys my input on their songs (which Nikki took with a grain of salt). One song, in particular, hit me really fucking hard. It was called ‘Home Sweet Home’ and it was a fucking masterpiece.

“Guys that was fucking beautiful!” I exclaimed one day after they finished recording it.

“Yeah?!” Tommy said smiling from ear to ear. Aside from my brother he was my favorite member of the band; mostly because he never failed to make me laugh with his stupidity.

“Yeah,” I said. “It has a lot of heart and just fucks you up in all the right ways. Which one of you wrote it?”

“I did,” Tommy said proudly. “With, uh, a little help.”

“Who from?” I asked noticing how nervous he got. In fact, Tommy, Mick, and Vince all had a look of ‘oh shit’ on their faces.

Vince was the one who lifted his hand and pointed his thumb in Nikki’s direction.

“You’re shitting me!” I said stunned. “You mean to tell me that this son of a bitch has a fucking heart?!”

“When convenient,” he huffed. “Otherwise it’s a big fucking black hole like yours sugar.”

“Don’t call me that,” I cringed. He just laughed and walked out to have a smoke.

After the recording came the tour and fuck did things get worse.

According to the bunk assignments I was situated in the middle between my brother and Vince. Nikki had the bunk across from me beneath Tommy, and he damn well knew that.

I lost count on how many times I came back onto the bus to find Nikki fucking some groupie on my bunk. “FOR FUCKS SAKE NIKKI!” I snapped on one occasion after the millionth time I caught him.

“FUCK OFF Y/N!” He snapped on me.

“IT’S MY FUCKING BUNK ASSHOLE! YOURS IS THE ONE THAT SMELLS LIKE ASS!”

“Actually that smell might be from mine,” Tommy laughed.

From behind my curtain, I could hear Nikki growl in frustration. “WILL YOU TWO SHUT THE FUCK UP?!”

“GOD NIKKI JUST HURRY THE FUCK UP ALREADY!” said the female voice joining him.

“Oh, I see,” I laughed. “You have a limp dick and that’s why you’re so bitchy all the time!”

“FUCK YOU!��

“No thanks,” I walked away laughing my ass off.

Finally, after months on the road, the time came when we were able to crash at a hotel. Being a lady I got my own room and could only pray Nikki would keep his fucking groupies out of it.

One night after Mick and I had gotten back from dinner their manager approached me claiming there was a change in the setlist (thanks to Vince who thought the original order wasn’t as fantastic as it could have been) and that he wanted me to deliver copies of them to Tommy and Nikki.

I could hear noises from the other side of Tommy’s door so I slipped the setlist in the crack underneath and moved on to the rat. I didn’t hear much from his room so I let myself in. He was in the process of stripping a bottle blond from her clothes. “What the fuck Y/N?!”

“Sorry to intrude but Vince changed the setlist,” I said tossing him the paper. “Good damn night.”

“Fucking knock next time!”

“I don’t use manners on assholes!” I said making my way out the door.

“BITCH!”

“DAMN PROUD OF IT!” I snapped back closing the door.

I went back to my room, took a long hot shower, and changed into my pajamas; an Iron Maiden t-shirt and plaid shorts. I’d been tossing and turning for what felt like a long time when…

“YOU FUCKING BITCH!” Nikki burst into my room slamming the door behind him.

“What the fuck?!” I nearly jumped. “ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?!”

“YEAH! YEAH, I AM! THANKS TO FUCKING YOU!”

“What the fuck did I do?!”

“YOU FUCKED ME UP!” he snapped at me. “I HAVEN’T BEEN ABLE TO BANG A SINGLE PIECE OF ASS THANKS TO YOU!”

“Are you serious blaming me for your limp dick?!”

“YOU’RE THE REASON IT’S FUCKING LIMP!” he shouted. “AND KRISTA JUST FUCKING LEFT AND YOU KNOW WHY SHE FUCKING LEFT?!”

“‘Cause you couldn’t get it up?” I teased.

“Because she said I changed when you entered my fucking room!” Nikki said glaring at me. “She said I looked at you differently than I did her. I told her she was fucking nuts!”

“Charming,” I said my voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Then she told me why I looked at you differently,” he said gritting his teeth. “You wanna know what she said before she walked out on me?! WHY I FUCKING LOOKED AT YOU DIFFERENTLY?!”

He was on my bed crashing his lips to mine before I had a chance to say anything. And to my great surprise, I fucking liked it. Nikki pulled back when I didn’t kiss him back. “Fuck!” He started walking away but I caught his hand before he could get too far. He looked back on me confused.

I reached up and pulled him by his shirt bringing his mouth back down to mine. He kissed me hungrily; his body trembling. I inched my hands up his shirt until he got the hint and took it off. He then lifted mine off over my head. “Fuck I love Iron Maiden...but I think I love you more.”

Nikki became an entirely different man then. He was sweet and vulnerable and not the tough asshole he always appeared to be.

“Asshole,” I muttered.

“Bitch,” he smiled.

We continued to kiss and rid each other of clothing until there was nothing left.  Nikki kissed me sensually as his limp dick finally became harder than the neck of his guitar. He pulled back. “God I fucking love you,” he whispered before pushing himself in. We both moaned at the thrust as though getting a release we both desperately needed.

Nikki moved in me differently than he had with the groupies. With them, he was wild (and that’s just based on the sounds) but with me, he was gentle...passionate.

I would run my hand up his back only to feel him tremble at my touch. “Fuck, you drive me crazy.”

After a while, he began thrusting faster and harder. “Nikki,” I moaned. “Fuck baby…” He then found my sweet spot and started using it to his advantage. “OH FUCK!” I clung to him as he continued to hit that spot with his length. A familiar tension began to build within me. “NIKKI!”

My toes curled up and my spine arched as I came. Nikki’s thrusts grew sloppy after that until…

“FUCK!” he growled painting the inside of me with his seed. He held onto me until he was completely empty. Breathing heavily he pulled himself out and laid down beside me. I turned and placed my head on his chest.

“H-How long?” I asked.

“How long what?” he asked.

“How long have you loved me?”

He sighed. “Since the second you walked into my door.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” he said.

“Then why act like I was the worst person you knew?”

“Because love is the most foreign emotion I have ever felt. Hate I was used to; I got plenty of it from my parents and vice versa. But love..?” he shook his head. “I’ve never felt that before or had anyone feel that for me. So when I felt it for you I freaked out. I thought… fuck here we go again another person for me to care about only to have her break me into a million pieces. I didn’t want to go through that so I avoided it and tried to get you to be as distant as possible. You’re perfect Y/N. Too perfect to have an asshole like me fuck everything up.”

“Nikki shut up,” I said shaking my head. “You’re not the only one who tried to avoid the inevitable. I’ve had my heart broken so many times by assholes I thought I loved that I didn’t know if I could go through it again. I didn’t know you would be so different.”

“So will you be mine?” Nikki said brushing my cheek with his hand.

I smiled up at him and nodded. “So does this mean you’ll stop being an asshole?”

“To you yeah. The other’s are still fucked.”

“Really?” I laughed.

He laughed with me. “Babe the day I stop being an asshole is the day you stop being a bitch.”

“So never?”

“Exactly.”

Nikki and I were together for a long time after that and eventually, he asked one big fucking question.

“Y/N will you be Mrs. Asshole?”

[emma-nation]

Thinking Of You (Mona x MC Fanfiction) - Chapter 10

You said move on Where do I go? I guess second best Is all I will know

Summary: Years later, Allison has everything she wants, a brand-new internship as a doctor, a handsome boyfriend… but her first nightshift won’t go as expected…

Genre: Romance, Angst

Tag list:  @zoe6111, @simsvetements, @whoinvitedalx, @abunchofbadchoices, @kamilahmademedoit, @talkinlikeateen, @eagle-one-1, @andreear17, @monagf, @fal-carrington, @crazzyplays, @honorablebicycle, @teja-desai, @iam-the-fuckin-queen

Notes:

- English is not my first language, forgive me for any mistakes.

- My apologies for taking longer to update this week. As I mentioned previously, I had issues with my internet service. Also, I re-wrote this chapter as the original version had gone to angsty and dark. I hope you like what I did :)

- I’m having issues to tag people on my posts, please forgive me if it doesn’t show in your notifications. I re-typed the tag list and if your name has been removed is because Tumblr didn’t let me tag you.

“Dr. Carlson, Griffin,” Allison gulped. “What are you both doing here?”

She needed to act naturally. Two extremely dangerous criminals were standing in front of her and if they suspected she knew the truth, they’d be capable of anything.

“There she is!” Mr. Wheeler emerged from the kitchen, for her relief. “Allison, darling, where were you? Dr. Carlson and Griffin have been waiting for over an hour.”

“I’m sorry, dad. Mona and I… we spent the night with her mom.”

She discreetly gave him a signal, indicating what they had been up to.

“Oh, her mom. That’s true. Is she doing well?”

For her luck, he understood.

“Better than expected,” she proceeded with the lie. She looked at the Carlsons, with a fake smile on her face. “My friend’s mother is a little bit sick. I spent the night watching her.”

“Doesn’t she have a heart of gold?” Dr. Carlson grinned. “Just like my son, here. This is why Allison is more than welcome in our family.”

“She is, my girl is exactly like her mom,” Mr. Wheeler started serving breakfast. “Always helping everyone around her.”

The door clicked open. Allison’s heart leaped inside her chest. For a minute, her anxiety made her forget Mona was outside, only placing her car in the garage. If she didn’t play according to the plan, she could put them all in danger.

“Allison,” she entered with a scowl on her face, “is there anything wrong in there?”

“Mona,” Allison rushed to her side, “no… it’s only Dr. Carlson and Griffin, dropping by for a visit.”

“Wait,” Dr. Carlson observed her, “I think I know you.”

“I know you too, Doc.”

Mona crossed her arms, looking at him in a threatening manner.

“You do, Dr. Carlson,” Allison tried to fix the situation. “Mona was my first patient at the hospital and we kinda became friends. It was her mom I was checking.”

“The criminal, dad,” Griffin added. “She served a lot of time in prison.”

Mona let out a sarcastic laugh.

Allison discreetly elbowed her.

“Right that’s me,“ she stopped. “The most dangerous criminal in LA.”

An uncomfortable silence settled all over the living room until Mr. Wheeler invited them all to sit. Allison called Mona to the corner of the living room.

"Go to my bedroom,” she whispered. “Don’t say anything. I’ll meet you in a few minutes.”

“No way I’m leaving you alone with these two…”

“Mona! We need to act carefully. Go.”

After Mona agreed to obey, Allison joined the Carlsons at the table. She had breakfast completely quiet, only listening to Dr. Carlson to brag about his accomplishments to her dad. By her side, Griffin wouldn’t stop staring at her left hand, where her engagement ring was supposed to be. When she finished eating, she was finally ready to put an end in that situation.

“Griffin, I wanna talk to you. In private.”

“Sure, but…” it was the first time Allison noticed the coldness in his voice, “your bedroom is taken.”

“No problem,” she said. “We can talk outside.”

He followed her to the front door. Allison started feeling nervous, unsure of how he’d handle the end of their relationship.

“What’s going on, Allison? Where’s your engagement ring?”

“This is what I’ve been trying to tell you for weeks. I don’t wanna get married anymore.”

“This is okay,” Griffin calmly said, stroking her arm. “We can wait a little longer. We’re leaving to New Zealand in a couple of days and maybe, coming with us, you can change your mind.”

“I don’t think you’re understanding me,” Allison insisted.

“Of course. I should’ve known…” he shook his head in denial, smirking sarcastically. “It’s about that dirty little criminal, isn’t it? I saw it in your eyes as she walked in the house.”

“She has absolutely nothing to do with it! I’m breaking up with you because I no longer have feelings for you. Deal with that, Griffin. I’m not one of trophies to be collected.”

Allison finally could see all the malice and evilness behind her perfect boyfriend. The one she trusted for eight years. For a second, she felt Griffin wished to hurt her physically. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

“You have changed, Allison,” he recomposed himself and told. “Now it’s me who don’t want to marry you anymore.”

“Good,” she gave him a confident look, “I’m glad we’ve reached an agreement. Like the two grown up adults we are.”

He didn’t say anything else. He entered the house, calling his father to leave.

Allison let out a weary sigh. Half of her was relieved, but the other half worried that Griffin wouldn’t accept this loss so easily.

———-

Mona remained silent in Allison’s bedroom, listening carefully to any noises that could be coming from the kitchen or the living room. In one hand, she had her cell phone, ready to dial 911 in case the Carlsons decided to show their true colors. In the other hand, she had a pocket knife she bought at Gramercy Park for self-defense. She never knew if any old enemies from her past would come back for revenge. The only voices she could hear were the detective’s and Dr. Carlson’s. She couldn’t detect any signs of Griffin or Allison. Was she finally cutting the rope, or she would wait until he was locked in a cage? She grinned, hopeful. Minutes later, she heard the front door being opened and then closed. “Allison, what did you tell Griffin?” Mr. Wheeler asked. “The poor boy was so upset when they left.” “I broke up with him, dad,” Allison told, making Mona celebrate in silence. “Our engagement is over.” “What?! Why? What are those markings on your neck???” Mona muffled a laugh. “Sorry, pops. That’s my way of calling dibs.” “Were you really with Mona’s mother last night or this is what I’m thinking it is? Allison, how could you? D-Did you… with HER?!” “Dad! Can we talk about this later? I have important things to discuss with Mona.” “Leave the bedroom’s door open!” Mona started laughing again, but stopped as Allison entered. Her cheeks were shining pink in embarrassment. “Next time we see your mom, I’ll make sure to let her know too,” Allison playfully punched her shoulder. “You didn’t complain much last night.” “I had forgotten about my dad. I spent eight years living away from him, I got too comfortable.” “Speaking of…” Mona cleared her throat, making sure she didn’t say the wrong name on purpose, “Griffin. What was he doing here with his psycho dad?” Allison sat down at the bed, with a serious look on her face. She invited Mona to join. “He returned earlier from Africa. They’ll be leaving to New Zealand in only a couple of days.” “Escape route.” “Exactly,” Allison continued. “Griffin wanted me to go with him. He had everything set for our wedding.” “And?” Mona raised her eyebrows, expectantly. “I broke up with him, of course. I told him I no longer have feelings for him.” Mona grinned ear to ear. “Aaaaannnddd???” “And… we’ll talk about this later. There’s my dad and the investigation. Making sure they’re both arrested before they leave to New Zealand is our main priority right now.” “Okay,” Mona plugged the flash drive on Allison’s computer. “There we have it, footage of Krista leaving the basketball player’s room, the proof she’s related to Dr. Carlson…” “No,” Allison bit her lower lip. “We need more than that before telling my dad. He’ll never believe us without something more concrete.” While Allison was taking a shower, Mona did a research. She connected news from the past few years, of students who died under the same mysterious circumstances, with places Dr. Carlson worked. She called the East Coast police for confirmation. Indeed, they were starting to suspect him at the time he decided to move to California. “Is it enough to build a case against him yet?” Mona asked, after she finished reading. “I don’t know… I still feel we need more.” Mona sighed frustrated and while she was taking a shower herself, she had the most brilliant idea. When she returned to the bedroom, she announced: “We’re going to Krista’s meeting tonight.” ———- “She’s never accepting you in her studies,” was the first thing Allison said about Mona’s idea. But that was before she heard the rest of her plan. Neither of them would be attending the study, Brian was. Being a football player, he’d be easily accepted into her possible drug dealing party. With a hidden camera, he’d be capturing footage straight to Leon’s computer. Allison would provide them money for the camera and ear pieces for communication and Mona… her Halberdier would be easily recognized by Krista and her fancy neighborhood. They’d need a new car. “W-We aren’t going to…” “No, we’re doing worse.” Her father’s dealership was the last place in the planet Mona wanted to be, but there they were. David opened his usual false grin when he saw them. “W-What are you two doing here? I’ve already proved my innocence.” “No need to piss your pants, David,” Mona mocked him. “I need to rent a car, for a few hours.” For some reason, he looked pleased to help, showing them some of his models and talking about their features, giving Mona the pleasure of correcting him all the time. “Really? Don’t you have anything better?” “Mona, just pick one,” Allison rolled her eyes. “You’re not going to buy it. We’re only using it for tonight.”

“May I ask what will you be using the car to?” David asked, looking suspiciously to Mona. “Business,” she answered. “What kind of business?” “The dangerous kind, but no stealing involved.” After letting a small laugh, he told: “Then come with me.”

They walked to the back of his dealership, in a highly-secured warehouse where a few cars were hidden under dust covers. Mona wondered if they were obtained legally or if she had more in common with her father than she imagined. He lead them to the very end of the room, to the last car. “Whoa,” Allison exclaimed as David removed the dust cover. “Double whoa,” Mona traced with her fingers the glistening black painting of the Japanese vehicle. “Who’s that beauty?” “The new Santagata model,” David told. “They haven’t released for sale yet. They sent me one for a test drive, but I’ve been kinda busy. Would you like to take her for a ride?“ “Hell yeah!” Mona grabbed the keys he tossed her and entered the car. The panel had all the technology they needed. She’d be able to connect her cell phone and the hidden camera. While Brian secretly filmed the meeting, Leon would be capturing all the footage on his laptop. The best part, no one would be able to see them behind the tinted windows. “Take down that Carlson bastard,” her father told before she left. “I never liked that man.” “You can be sure I will.”

———-

The study was set to begin at 7pm. After getting all the equipment they needed and convincing Brian and Leon to join their plan, Mona drove the group to West Hollywood, where Krista’s family had a small mansion. "Remind me of why I’m doing this again?” Brian asked. “You owe us,” Allison answered. “We all know your little… secret, remember?” “I don’t,” Leon commented with an interested look. “What’s is Brian’s secret? If he’s gay, this car is the most comfortable place he could ever been.” “Leon, trust me,” Mona laughed, “you don’t want to find out.” “See? Now shut up, nerd,” Brian angered at Leon. “What did we talk about showing more respect?” Allison frowned at him. “That was right after talking…” she cleared her throat, “about malfunctioning things.” The football player scowled and stared at the window. Allison turned on the radio with a special playlist she made for the night. She and Leon started to sing along, while Mona drummed her fingers on the wheel following the rhythm. “You guys are fun to hang out with,” Leon told. “Are you sure you’re really cops?” “Me?! A cop?!” Mona shouted. “Babe, this neighborhood must have wanted posters with my face until this day.” “Because of wild parties you threw?” Brian looked at her intrigued. “No, because of the fancy cars I boosted. But yeah, sometimes we attended the parties to study the territory.” “So it’s really true, huh?” “Twice, actually. I’ve been in a jail twice.” “Wait, this car we’re riding…” “Relax, this is my dad’s. The only thing I’ve stolen recently was Griffin’s fiancée.” She glanced at Allison, who blushed a little. She had never seen Mona looking so happy and relaxed before. Allison couldn’t wait until all of that was over, so they could really enjoy their time together.  She didn’t know if she’d continue her career as a doctor, or if she’d try something different, all she knew is that she wanted Mona by her side. Whether was in LA or anywhere else in the country. Allison smiled and placed a hand on Mona’s knee. “What about you, Allison?” The boys wanted to know. “I’m the detective’s daughter. I was bored with my life, so I decided to join Mona in the investigation.” “The detective’s daughter falls in love with an ex-criminal. You two sound like a 90’s romantic comedy,” Leon said, making Mona roll her eyes.

“This is a compliment, I guess?” Allison laughed.

“The question is, darling. Will you get your happy ending this time or you’re going to break this Bad Girl’s heart again?”

Mona frowned at him, with her cheeks turning a little red.

“Leon,” Allison asked. “Approach,” she whispered the answer in his ear, without letting Mona know what it was.

“What did you answer?” She wanted to know.

“Keep watching to find out,” Leon winked at Allison and they high-fived.

“Morons,” Mona playfully rolled her eyes again.

Only a couple of minutes later, Brian announced they had arrived. After recapping the plan, he attached the camera to the button of his shirt and placed the ear piece to communicate with the rest of the group. He left the car and walked a few steps, headed to Krista’s front door. Mona gave him a sign she could see him on the car’s panel display.

“Can you hear me too?” He asked, testing the ear piece.

“Positive,” Mona answered.

As Brian rang the bell, Krista showed up at the door. Not letting he see much of the inside.

“Brian,” she greeted. “I’m glad you’ve decided to join our weekly studies. Do you know what verse we’ll be studying tonight?”

“It’s a test,” Allison concluded. “A password to let him in.”

“Good one, Allison,” Mona told, remembering the list she saw on Krista’s desk. “Brian? The answer is Proverbs 8:35.”

Brian repeated and Krista let him in. She conducted him to a small office on the back of the house, where a few more students were waiting. Brian sat on a couch and waited for the next happenings.

Krista went to the desk and cleared her throat.

“We’re here tonight for our weekly study. Did everyone bring your Bible?”

The students said ‘yes’, showing their Bibles.

“I-I… don’t have one,” Brian told.

“I’m giving you,” Krista grabbed a Bible from the shelf and handed him.

As Brian opened it, he discovered the middle of the Bible had been removed, creating a secret space to hide stuff.

“Holy shit!” Mona shouted.

“Mona!” Allison reproved her.

“What? She’s the one using a sacred book for… non-christian purposes!”

They turned their attention back to the display. One by one, the students walked to Krista’s desk, taking money from their Bibles and receiving drug syringes in return. Two of them delivered her money, receiving a payment in return and more drugs to be sold. A female friend, who was always with Krista, and Doug, the student who helped her to erase the camera footage.

“Are you capturing this?” Allison asked Leon.

“Straight to your flash drive,” he assured.

“Make copies,” Mona ordered, handing him three other flash drives. “Only to be sure.”

It was Brian’s turn to buy the drug. Krista took the money and gave him one sample of the performance enhancer.

“Only one?” Brian questioned. “Come on, the trainings have started and I want to be in perfect shape for the season.”

“You need to start with a small dose,” Krista explained, keeping her head down and never looking at him, “otherwise your body won’t handle it.”

“And I’ll end like those other students?”

“Possibly. Some died for overuse, so we need to control the amount we sell.”

“The others?”

Krista went quiet for a second.

“Godfather is still studying what went wrong with them, some kind of sensibility.”

“So this is what kills them? Overuse and sensitivity?”

“You’re asking too many questions, Brian.”

“Sorry, I gotta know what I’ll be doing.”

“No problem.”

As the students finished taking their drugs, they started leaving the house. Brian though, was determined to stay until the last second.

———-

“Hey, get out of there,” Mona demanded. “We’ve already got what we needed.”

“Okay,” Brian answered.

As he said goodbye to Krista, another car parked in front of the house. One Mona and Allison were very familiar with.

“It’s the doctor.”

“And Griffin,” Allison added, seeing the two figures leaving the vehicle.

“Brian,” Mona made contact again. “You better hide. The two psychos are getting into the house. Now. I’ll tell you when it’s safe to leave.”

Brian agreed, hiding behind a couch in the living room. He placed the small camera in a strategic position. Minutes later, the Carlsons, followed by Krista, entered the room. Dr. Carlson was extremely angry, while the girl was in tears.

“Know who I spoke to this afternoon? One member of the University administration. He told me the police is THIS close of obtaining the camera footage back!”

“I… I didn’t know! Doug assured me had erased everything, Uncle Em. I swear!”

The man grabbed her by the shoulders, making her look right into his eyes.

“You’ve became a liability, Krista. And you remember what I taught you? What do we do with liabilities?”

“W-We… get rid of them.”

Griffin handed her a gun.

“Do it,” he ordered. “By the time the police comes after you, you’ll have ‘committed suicide’.”

“W-What?!” Krista yelled.

“Fuck!” Mona punched the wheel, unable to believe what her eyes were seeing. “Are you recording this, Leon?”

Leon didn’t answer. His eyes were closed shut and his hands were covering his mouth.

“I-I think I’m gonna throw up.”

“Not in this car. Allison?”

Allison’s eyes were wide and paralyzed upon the scene. Mona squeezed her hand.

“I can’t watch this anymore,” she turned her face away from the screen and grabbed her cell phone. “I’m calling the police.”

“But until they arrive… Brian!”

As she turned her attention back to the display, she watched as Brian lunged at the Carlsons, getting in physical combat with them.

“Run!” He told Krista, while pushing Griffin against a shelf.

The girl took the opportunity, leaving in a hurry through the front door.

“Get out of there!” Mona yelled, starting the car engine. “They’re going to kill you.”

As the older man was stunned by a strong punch on his face, Brian ran away, followed by Griffin. Leon opened the door, allowing him to enter the car as Mona started to drive. She looked at the rearview mirror, Griffin was coming after them.

“Ha! Jerkin doesn’t know who he’s up against.”

Griffin increased the speed, being only a few inches away from the Santagata. Mona narrowed her eyes and rolled down her window.

“What are you doing?!” Allison questioned. “He’s going to see us!”

Mona extended her arm outside, showing the middle finger proudly. Then, she stomped on the pedal, reaching the maximum speed the car had to offer.

“Take that, asshole.”

When she thought they were finally safe, Leon let out a sharp scream.

“Guys! H-He’s aiming his gun at us. He’s going to shoot!”

Mona easily dodged Griffin’s bullets, yet the entire group was in panic.

“Oh my god!” Allison said. “I-I didn’t even know Griffin even had a gun.”

“Oh darling. You need to change your type, because criminal never ends well.”

“Hey,” Mona angered, “watch out the c-word. I’ve paid all my debts with the society.”

Mona passed all the red lights, her car cutting the Los Angeles traffic like a thunderbolt. Griffin was following right behind.

“I don’t wanna die… I don’t wanna die…” Brian kept repeating to himself, crouched on the backseat. “I’m too handsome to die…”

Though he was having difficult to keep up with her pace and skills, Allison’s ex fiancé wouldn’t give up. Mona quickly thought on an alternative to lose him.

“Uhhhh… everyone has seat-belts on?” The group agreed. “Good. Because we’re taking a shortcut.”

She drifted, making the car spin in 180° and changed the direction, following to an overpass.

“Oh no,” Allison said. “You’re not going to do what I think you’re doing…”

“Relax, gorgeous. It’s me who’s in charge of this beautiful machine.”

“It has been years since you…”

It was too late, Mona accelerated. In a dangerous move, she smashed a barricade and jumped off the overpass, sending the car flying in the air. The rest of the group didn’t stop screaming until she landed safely on the freeway. She turned off the car for a moment, taking a relieved breath.

“Is everyone okay?” She asked, panting from the adrenaline. “That coward certainly won’t be coming after us now.”

“I never thought I’d be doing it again,” Allison told. “But I’ll be.”

“Guys?”

Mona looked at the backseat, where Brian nodded and Leon hyperventilated.

She needed to take Brian somewhere safe, after all he was seen by the Carlsons. She couldn’t think of anywhere better than Gramercy Park, where she had some contacts that would ensure him protection for the night. Leon followed along, even if his life wasn’t in any danger.

“Home sweet home,” she said, looking at her surroundings. Allison was still quiet, leaning on the car’s hood. “Up for a walk, to relax?”

Allison forced a smile, wrapping an arm around her waist as they walked together. Mona tried to cheer her up, telling old funny stories about the place and Kaneko’s crew. Then she lead her to the rooftop of an abandoned building.

“For our luck this landscape is still here.”

“What’s is this place?” Allison wanted to know.

“I used come here to clear my head and stargaze. I always wanted to share it with you but… we didn’t have an opportunity last time.”

“It’s different now, Mona,” Allison embraced her tightly. “We’ll have all the time in the world to be together.”

“So,” Mona gazed at her with a suggestive look, “it has been 24 hours and no one was shot, kidnapped or arrested. Is it too soon to ask the question?”

“I thought you may wanted to save it for a special celebration, after Dr. Carlson and his son are in jail.”

“You’re right. Let’s make it special.”

Mona softly pressed her lips on Allison’s.

———-

Still holding Mona’s hand, as she drove them home, Allison couldn’t put off the smile from her face. They were making plans together and talking about the future, everything she always dreamed of having.

“I was doing some research online,” she told. “You still could apply to college.”

“They’d hardly accept me.”

“Come on, you’re such a genius. I was reading your essay and homework.”

“Allison, that’s okay. As long as I find a decent job and a place to live, I’ll be fine.”

Allison cleared her throat. She knew it could be a big step, but after spending eight years apart, she didn’t want to be a day without Mona. Inviting her to move in to her new apartment sounded like a perfect idea for a new beginning together.

“Actually, I’ve been thinking about it. Would you…” the phone buzzing inside her pocket interrupted her. “It’s my dad. He had to rush to the precinct and he wants to see me. Alone.”

“I’ll be waiting outside,” Mona told.

“No, go home. It isn’t safe for you to be alone on the streets, especially with this car. You know what I mean.”

“True, but… be careful you too, okay?”

Mona dropped her at the precinct and they shared a long kiss, before saying goodbye.

Grinning ear to ear, Allison was walking headed to the precinct when she felt a hand on her shoulder. A strong and heavy hand.

“Hello, Allison.”

“Dr. Carlson,” she felt a notch on her throat.

“Do you have a minute for a conversation?”

[mel-is-sanonymous1994]

Exploit Found

Part 1 Part 2

A/N once again I am not an expert in anything. I did my best.

PART 2

NOVA’S POV

The Next Morning

Alarms suck. I groaned, stretched, and then walked into the bathroom. Turning on the speaker, I pressed play on my shower playlist, back to back queen. Once I had gone through my routine I got out dried off and got dressed. At Safety Net Cybersecurity there is a pretty strict dress code. I put on a button up baby blue blouse, a pair of khaki skinny jeans and a dark blue blazer. To finish off the outfit I curled my hair, put some light makeup on my face and a pair of heeled short boots. I took one last look in my full-length mirror. I looked ridiculous. I took some deep breaths and walked out of my apartment locking the door behind me. Driving in New York is basically impossible so I waited outside for a cab, which terrified me. As I waited I saw Elliot walk out of our building.

“Hey, Elliot!” I called waving. He glanced at me before walking towards me.

“Where you headed?” I asked trying to make small talk with my less than talkative neighbor.

“Work.” He said, hands still in his hoodie pockets and his eyes looking anywhere but at me.

“Cool me too, where do you work?” I questioned further.

“Safety Net Cybersecurity, I’m a tech.” He said.

“Woah, that’s crazy, I start there today, however, I'm not smart enough to be a tech, I'm basically a secretary kinda.” I babbled.

“That is crazy, well I gotta go.” He said politely attempting to leave the situation. I got an idea.

“Hey! Wait! Would you wanna take a cab with me? I know it sounds ridiculous but I've watched too many crime shows. I’ll pay.” I offered. He looked like he was gonna say no.

“Pretty please Elliot, I promise I won’t say anything to you the entire cab ride, plus it’s a free ride to work,” I begged. He caved.

“Fine,” he said as I hailed a cab. I opened the door for him to slide in. Once I got in I told him the address with a shaky voice. I kept my eyes on the driver as I tried to control my anxiety. I couldn’t bite my fingernails or play with my hair so I resorted to listing all of my family members in order over and over again in my head.

ELLIOT’S POV

We’ve only been in this cab for 5 minutes but I can tell Nova is on edge, she kept tapping her leg in some sort of rhythmic pattern, her eyes are firmly planted on the drivers back which I can tell is making him uncomfortable. Another two minutes had gone by and the driver had had enough.

“Miss if you don’t stop staring at me I’m kicking you out of my cab.” He yelled. She jumped.

“Hey, Nova, uh what made you decide to move to New York?” I asked attempting to distract her. It worked, now she was looking at me. I once again looked anywhere but her eyes.

“Um, personal reasons.” She said looking back at the driver. Crap. Think Elliot.

“Tell me about your family,” I said. She gave me a surprised look.

“I promised I wouldn’t talk.” She smirks slightly.

“If it will keep you distracted and keep us in this cab then go ahead.” I offered.

“I just met you yesterday, how do I know I can trust you with my family information.” She countered. The stalker, it’s made her more cautious and untrusting. I needed to think of a non-personal question. We drove past a bus with some sort of musical advertised on the side of it.

“What’s your favorite musical?” I asked.

“You know for someone who isn’t very comfortable with talking you sure do talk a lot.” She pointed out. I leaned closer to her to whisper in her ear.

“Listen, I know you are super anxious right now, the driver won’t kill us, unless you keep staring at him,” I said trying to help her. Krista (Elliot’s therapist) would have a field day with her.

“Fine.” She said making direct eye contact with me, I looked away.

“Then tell me, Elliot, tell me about your life.” She countered. I froze. I didn’t expect her to turn my questions on me.

“Nothing to it really,” I said shrugging, she was right, we just met.

“Wicked.” She blurted out now staring in her lap at her hands fidgeting.

“What?” I questioned thinking I missed something.

“My favorite musical, Wicked.” She said smiling at me.

“As for the family, and the reason I moved here questions, we are gonna have to wait until we’ve ridden the cab together for at least a month before I answer those questions.” She said nudging me. I flinched slightly at the touch but brushed it off pretty quickly.

“Sorry.” She said noticing my flinch.

“It’s fine. So are you saying that there will be more cab rides?” I asked. I found it slightly easy to talk to her, it felt like talking to Angela (best friend) or Darlene (sister).

“I mean, I have to get to work somehow and I don’t completely trust the subway just yet, if you don’t wanna ride the cab with me for free then I guess I can ride alone.” She said as she began scratching her palm with her opposite hand. I looked at her palm and noticed it was red and rough, must be a coping mechanism, something she does to keep her anxiety at bay. I sighed.

“I’ll ride with you,” I said.

“Thank you.” She said smiling and blushing. She now rubbed her palm with her thumb. I made a mental note to ask Krista about anxiety mechanisms.

“On one condition,” I said with a smirk of my own. She nodded.

“You promise to talk, it seems to distract you and I’m 90% sure our cab driver here almost kicked us out at the last red light,” I said in a whisper once again. We pulled up in front of the building. She pulled out her wallet. I stopped her and paid for the cab ride.

“But whatever will I talk about?” She asked with a smirk.

“Anything, I once had a friend who talked about TV shows, nonstop for months,” I said shrugging. She nodded as she apologized to the driver and thanked him for giving him an additional tip to the one I gave him. Once we got out he drove off.

“Ok, I promise, but be prepared I don’t shut up.” She said laughing nervously at herself. I shrugged once again.

“I’m a good listener,” I said.

“Hi welcome.” A receptionist greeted us at the door. Elliot showed his badge and then walked to the elevators. I gave a slight wave and he gave a polite smile. I took a deep breath and approached the front desk.

“Hello Ma’am, what can I do for you today?” She asked with a megawatt smile.

“Hi, I am here to see Mr. or Mrs. Brown of Safety Net, it’s my first day,” I said nervously.

“Perfect, ride the elevator to the 4th floor, walk into the main room off of the hall and all the way at the back is their offices, whichever one is in right now will get you started. I nodded and followed her instructions. I walked to the offices and saw only one occupied, Mr. Brown’s. I knocked and waited for the wave to enter.

“Yes?” he asked once I opened the door.

“I’m November Peterson, your new employee,” I said as clearly as I could.

“Ah yes, come sit.” He said pointing to the chair across from his desk. He stood to shake my hand and sat back down once I did.

“Welcome to Safety Net, I'll spare you the full backstory but my wife and I started this company only a couple months ago, after the E corp hack, the wife and I were left with nothing, no jobs, no home, and just when we were trying to start a family.” He said drifting off in thought. I cleared my throat.

“Anyway, once E corp had got back their system and the economy was restored my wife and I went to investors with the promise of opening up a company that is pretty hard to hack, we’ve employed the top tech’s in New York, we handle some of the biggest companies in New York's data, we may be just starting out but we already have over 50 companies in our care.” He proudly stated. I noticed the way his face lit up when he talked about his wife. He reminded me of a younger version of my Dad.

“I’m happy to be a part of that sir,” I said smiling. He smiled in return.

“My wife is currently at a doctors appointment otherwise I would take you over to introduce you, finally starting that family, anyway, if you follow me, I'll show you to your desk.” He said standing and opening the door for me.

“I’m sorry it isn’t more glamorous but this is the best we can do for you right now, you can personalize your desk however you’d like, feel free to help yourself to coffee or water in the break room just down the hall, your phone at your desk is set up with it’s own number and line, if reception receives a call for me or the wife and it’s not an urgent matter it will be directed to your phone, answer it, if we are in our office and it seems important or they will not take no for an answer you can transfer it to us by pressing line 3 or 4, if we are out of the office, take a message, or have them call back, use your own judgement, if they seem like assholes and won’t take no for an answer hang up, they will eventually call back anyway. Any questions so far?” he began my instructions as I looked over my desk. It was a half circle set directly in between the Brown’s offices. It was a clear glass top with a nice desktop and a phone. I shook my head and he continued.

“Ok so your main gig while here will be answering phones, but other than phone calls you will be in charge of inputting the simplified reports, the companies we protect each have a number of tech’s on their accounts, every day the companies demand reports, at 4:45 P.M the techs will send a simplified status of all of the accounts they monitored that day, all you have to do is copy and paste them into the program, just click on the company’s name and that will open a page where you will paste the tech lead’s simplified report press send and then do that for every company, it shouldn’t take you very long. Still following?” He asked. I nodded but was still worried I would forget something.

“For today I’ve asked Mr. Alderson to help you at the end of the day, he is our best tech, he oversees most of the tech leads, he doesn’t like the attention but the simplified reports go through him first, other than that you’ll just be sitting here and being an assistant for my wife and I, until the end of the day when you are inputting data. Sound good?” He asked with a smile.

“Yes, sir,” I said sitting in my desk chair. The desk and desk chair were higher than the other desks in the room so I could just about see the entire office. I saw rows of cubicles and heads buried in computers.

“You will have a company log in, your username is your last then first name, the password will automatically generate once you type in your username, we’ve set up the computer so the first time you turn it on it will only ask for your username, then it will send your cellphone a message containing your password that will self delete in 30 seconds to write it down or if you have a good memory then you are good, but the next time you log into your computer you will need that password, if you ever forget your password or for some reason it isn’t working then you can call Mr. Alderson, like I said he is our head tech, best employee.” I nodded.

“Oh and the last thing before I leave you to it, make sure you turn your computer off or log out before you leave your desk if you forget you won’t be in trouble but it’s how we make sure people stick to their desktops.” He said patting my back. I smiled and nodded.

“I’m just gonna stand here for a second while you log in so that I know you get your password.” He said. I turned the computer on and a screen popped up with the heading, Welcome to Safety Net. I clicked in the textbox that said username and typed it in.

Username: PetersonNovember

Once I had typed in the username another screen appeared asking for the password. I felt my phone vibrate and I saw the password. Mr. Brown looked away as I wrote down and typed in my password.

Password: 6683623771987NP

“Thank you for joining Safety Net.” The computer said in an automated voice.

“Perfect, ok well, I’ll leave you to it, if you have any questions or need me feel free to come ask otherwise there is a list of phone numbers next to your phone including mine and the wife’s office phone so feel free to call. You are gonna do great.” He said with one more encouraging pat on the back. I felt my phone vibrate once more. Once he walked away I looked at who it was.

Mommy: Hey honey, how is the first day going, we miss you, Mason and Max say hi, they miss their big sister.

Me: It’s going great, just started, it’s a lot but I got this, tell them I say hi, and I miss them more, also tell them that they can text me themselves lol

Mommy: You know the twins, they don’t wanna bother their sister, they think because you are 28 and living in New York you don’t have time for your 16-year-old siblings anymore.

Me: well that is just not true, I always have time for the little miracles, please tell them to text me whenever and for whatever reason, even if it’s just Mason telling me about her most recent attempt at a boyfriend or Max’s incessant need to try every single sport.

Mommy: will do, oh lord Max has moved on to hockey, poor boy.

Me: What happened to soccer?

Mommy: that’s a summer sport dear, and at the end of this year, Mason will be performing at Walleye, she is only going to be on a small stage but her little girl band has attracted quite a bit of attention here in town.

Me: OH MY GOSH, I will have to fly down to see my little sister kill it, but listen I gotta go I'll call you later when I get home to talk to all of you.

Mommy: Oh before I forget, your old house was broken into, James knows you moved, there is no way in hell he would know where since you are so far away but I just thought I'd let you know.

Me: Thank you. I’ll keep it in mind.

I locked my phone and set it down on my desk and took a deep breath, James is continuing to be the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life. I glanced at my computer and saw messages popping up in a company group chat, every single tech in the room had welcomed me to the company. I blushed and took another breath as my phone rang. So it begins.

“Hello, Safety Net,” I answered as cheerfully as I could. This job could either go really good or really horrible, being an assistant might seem easy at the moment but the data inputting, that doesn’t seem easy at all.

[emmabodt]

Mission Success: Chapter 15

Ymir stared up at the ceiling fan, watching while the blades slowly went in a circle before coming to a stop. The freckled girl stood up and spun the star on her ceiling again, laying back down to watch it slow down again. She hadn't slept all night.

Now that she was back home, all the familiar things she was seeing was triggering an aggressive memory attack from Marcel. Every time she closed her eyes, she would see some random things like when he was training with the others(she was happy to note that a certain blonde really sucked), but what reoccurred more often than anything else was the day Marcel died. Over and over, like it was on loop, she would see her Titan leap up out of the ground, reach for Reiner, grab Marcel, and eat him. When she couldn't sleep, Ymir would turn her attention to the ceiling fan. Watching it wind down was oddly comforting for some reason...

A tiny knock sounded on the door before it creaked open. Ymir smiled a little as a tiny blonde head peeped at her from behind the wood." Ymir?... Are you awake?"

The freckled girl propped herself up on her elbows." Yep."

Krista returned the smile on Ymir's face as she slipped in through the door, shutting it behind her." Good. Want to go get some lunch?"

Ymir quirked an eyebrow." Lunch?..."

Krista nodded." It's around one o'clock."

Ymir sat all the way up with a yawn." Oh... Big Blonde and Sweaty Turtle down there?"

Krista shook her head." No, Reiner and Bertholdt left a little while ago to go home."

"Mmmm..." Ymir stretched her arms over her head and craned her neck to let out an audible crack! before returning her attention to Krista.

"What about the weird gal and the snub nosed assho-"

"Ymir, knock it off with the mean names!"

The freckled girl huffed in amusement." Why? My names suit them perfectly. The Porkchop guy has a weird nose and is a complete asshole, the chick with the black hair is really weird, Berty is sweaty and...the turtle just fits him, and Reiner is a huge blonde," she said nonchalantly before giving Krista a mischievous smile." Maybe I should call you the Tiny Blonde... oof!"

"Not appreciated, Ymir. I already have one name more than I should, and I don't need to be reminded of how ridiculously short I am," Krista huffed, rubbing her head as she stepped away from Ymir. One advantage of being her size was the ability to head butt just about anyone in the stomach. However, her hit didn't have much of an effect on her freckled friend.

"Alright, sorry!" Ymir smiled and held her hands up in surrender, not sounding sorry at all." Now, back to my earlier question..."

Krista sighed and brought her hands up to her hair, tying it back loosely as she answered.

"Yeah, they're still down there. It's actually kind of cute; they've been down there a while." The blonde smiled at the end of her sentence while Ymir stared at her blankly.

"Wow, you really are a hopeless romantic."

"Ymir!"

The freckled girl rested a hand on her hip and smiled at the blonde before her.

"I'm not really that hungry right now. Let's find something to do that's not boring."

Krista shrugged." Okay; chess?"

Ymir stuck out her tongue." Hell no; that is really boring."

"...Reading?"

"That's even worse."

"Sewing, cleaning, and talking?"

Ymir shook her head." We're already doing that, no, and no way in hell."

Krista sighed." Then what do you want to do?"

Ymir tilted her head, thinking. What did she want to do? The two girls stood in silence before a fuzzy idea popped up in Ymir's head. A huge grin grew on her face as a mischievous glint entered her eyes.

"I know exactly what we should do, Historia," said the freckled girl conspiratorially. Krista watched her warily.

"What do you have in mind, Ymir?..."

The brunette raised her eyebrows." Let's go exploring."

The blonde blinked." ...Exploring?..."

Ymir sniggered." You know, sneaking around this huge, almost empty place, snooping through people's rooms, messing with the important shit..."

Krista worried her lip between her teeth." Won't we get in trouble?"

Ymir strode forward and grabbed her hand, pulling her out of the door. Krista squeaked at the sudden move, and Ymir chuckled." Not if we don't get caught."

....................................................................................................

Half an hour, a meeting room that Ymir rearranged, a balcony, and a lot of doors later, the duo found themselves...lost in H.Q.

"Ymir, where are we?" Krista looked at the portrait covered walls. There was a lot of men and women watching them from the stone.

"Hell if I know. Best I can say is the Hall of Creepy Staring People," Ymir said casually, also observing the pictures. They seemed...familiar somehow. Not the people, but the pictures themselves. As a matter of fact, the whole hall looked familiar. Must be Marcel...

A sharp tug in her vision proved her right, setting her honey eyes on a door with simple, yet detailed carvings.

"Let's check this out."

Ymir reached out and turned the knob, pushing it open to reveal some sort of sitting room. Opposite the door was a huge fireplace surrounded by comfy looking chairs and a table. On the left and right sides of the Walls were two more doors.

"This looks really comfy," said Krista, trailing her fingers over one of the chairs. Ymir shrugged and walked over to the door on the right.

"You check it out in there. I'm looking in here."

When the freckled girl walked through the door, she immediately saw three more doors, all in a row.

"Hmm... This is interesting..." she mumbled to herself, approaching the door to the far right. In the room behind it was a very comfortable looking bed surrounded by bookshelves of books and the occasional potted plant. The window above the bed also had some small, pretty flowers. In the corner next to a closet stood a wooden crutch with red wrapping. Ymir gave it two blinks and shut the door.

The door in the middle was completely empty, no bed or chair to speak of. When Ymir opened the door to the last door, the one on the far left, she stared in shock.

“ So these are the Warriors quarters...”

The room had a tiny, tiny bed, a small bedside table, and multiple punching dummies. On the bedside table was nothing but a small picture with a little girl and stoic man on opposite sides of a kicking target. Ymir didn't need to look closer to know whose room this was. This was, without a doubt, none other than Annie Leonhart's room.

Ymir suddenly felt a tiny wave of...guilt? Sympathy? Whatever it was, she felt it, and somberly left the room, walking back into the parlor where Krista was browsing through the bookshelf next to the fireplace. At the sound of her footsteps, the blonde turned to face Ymir.

"Find anything?"

"Yep. You wanna know where we are?"

Krista tilted her head a little." Yeah..."

"The Warriors quarters."

Blue eyes blew wide as the blonde carefully stepped back from the bookshelf." If this is their room, we should go, Ymir. This is an invasion of privacy-"

"Like I care," drawled the freckled girl, dragging Krista through the door on the left." Life is short, and a lot more fun when you break a couple rules." Ymir ignored the sudden twinge in her gut. She knew all too well that her days were numbered.

"Ymir...." Krista whined as Ymir pulled her through the door. Just like the door on the opposite side, there were three more doors. Ymir dragged her to the middle one first.

"Nothing in this one," said the freckled girl, towing Krista to the one one the far right.

In this room, there were two child sized beds against opposite sides of the room. At the foot of the bed on the right was a long, slim gun, and the bed on the left had a huge, curled up, man sized dip in it. On the bedside tables were the familiar ODM gas dispensers.

Ymir stared at the beds for a minute before releasing Krista and covering her mouth, trying to stifle a laugh. Krista watched incredulously as the freckled girl's giggles became full blown laughter.

"What is so funny?"

Ymir, who had bent double and was clutching her sides, released herself and started to wave her hand at the beds.

"This....hahaha....this is Reiner and...hehehe...Bertholdt's room...hehehe... You know how big those two are?...Hahahaha....now look at those itty, bitty little beds! Gahahahaha! Look at 'em! How the hell do they sleep at night?! Hehehehe! Look! That has to be blondie's bed; the only way....hahaha....he'd be able to fit would...hehehehehe....be if he curled up into a teeny, tiny, little...hahaha!...big man ball! And he's so big, he broke the bed! GAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Ymir fell to her knees in uncontrollable laughter, rolling onto her back as tears squeezed out of her eyes. Krista watched her with a blank stare and huffed before prodding her freckled friend lightly with her foot.

"Come on, Ymir, let's go explore somewhere else..."

It was a few minutes before Ymir calmed herself enough to stand, exiting the boy's room and leading Krista into the the last room.

The moment she set foot in that room, Ymir felt a chill run down her spine. This room was familiar; so familiar, that she knew it like the back of her hand. Up against the wall was a bunk bed, the top bunk neatly made and the bottom a complete mess. On the top post hung an old,worn leather jacket.

Ymir shivered as one memory after another flitted through her head. A late night talk. A game of cards. Consoling a hurt brother. A quick roughhousing session. A solemn embrace. They flitted through her head so fast, she felt dizzy...

"Ymir! Ymir! Can you hear me?! Ymir!"

The freckled girl blinked rapidly, trying to see who the voice belonged to. When her vision cleared, she saw Krista on her knees in front of her, shaking her by the shoulders. When she saw that her friend had recovered from her spell, the blonde stopped shaking her.

"Ymir! What happened!? Are you okay?!"

Ymir blinked again and rubbed her temple with one hand." Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a couple flashbacks from the guy who had the power before me..."

"His name was Marcel."

Both girls' head whipped around to see Porco standing in the doorway of his room, glowering at them. Krista visibly wilted a little.

"I'm guessing it was you two who messed with the meeting room. Am I right?"

Ymir smirked at him." Technically, that was my handiwork. This place is so big and boring, I decided to explore and mess a few rooms up. Got a problem with that, sir?"

Porco's eyes widened slightly before he huffed." Just go explore somewhere else, freckles. Get out of my room."

Ymir stood up and stretched nonchalantly." You heard the man, Tiny. Let's go."

Krista huffed and slapped Ymir's arm." Don't call me that," she said, passing Ymir into the hall. The freckled girl was about to follow her when she stopped.

"Hey... I just want you to know that I'm sorry. For taking your brother away from you."

There was a beat of silence before he took a deep breath.

"It wasn't your fault for what happened. Pure Titans can't help it."

Another beat of silence.

"When do you think you'll...eat me?"

"Maybe in the next two weeks. Usually they would have had me eat you sooner, but it's being delayed for some reason."

Ymir took a deep breath, both scared and relived. She was still going to die, but she had more time with Krista.

"I see. Sorry again for bothering you."

She was about to walk out the door when Porco spoke again." The exploring idea wasn't yours."

She turned her head to see him smiling sadly." Huh?"

"It was Marcel's. He liked to walk around this place and mess around with the stuff in some of the rooms. It really pissed Magath off."

Ymir looked down at her feet." From what I could tell from the memories, he was a pretty cool guy."

"He was."

"Ymir? You okay?" Krista popped her head around the door to the parlor. Ymir looked back at her before nodding at Porco. He nodded back at her before entering his room.

"Yeah, I'm fine sweetie. You know what, let's go see of we can wonder over to the mess hall from here. I'm starving."

Ymir looped her arm around Krista's shoulders as the blonde shook her head." I'm not sure if they have food down there anymore..."

"Then we can steal some from wherever they make the food."

Krista huffed." Ymir..."

Ymir sniggered." What? It's fun."

"You really are a...a...a..."

"A freckled girl who will be troublesome forever? Yes, you are correct."

Krista nudged Ymir with her elbow." I guess that means I'll have to be your friend forever so you don't do something too bad."

Ymir tensed a little bit as she forced a laugh." Yep. You and I will be friends... Forever."

.................................................................................................................

Word Count: 2207          

Alright! This chapter came out a lot longer than I expected! I hope you all enjoy!

Up next is a little sad, but cute PokkoPikku(Porco and Pieck).

[yodawgiherd]

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Rating: T

>>>Read on AO3<<<

Me? Actually delivering a chapter I promised in due date? Impossible. More importantly Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you are having a great one ;)

Enjoy!

For all his initial doubt about her proposition, Eren had to give Ymir credit where it was due. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves at the club, well, almost everyone, but overall it was a resounding success, much to his surprise. Getting the idea past Erwin was one of the most awkward moments in Eren’s professional career, since he was the one who had to drop the “Hey, can we have our Christmas party in the strip club this year?” bomb on their boss, but after a few seconds of stunned silence, Erwin said that as long as the majority agrees, he sees no problem with it. And just like that, Ymir’s choice was accepted. The turnout was also much bigger than Eren even dared to hope. A lot of doctors, especially older people, respectfully declined the invitation, but still, the bar was almost full of men and women from his workplace, apparently having a good time.

The music was blasting, the dancer on stage was doing a very pleasing choreography, much to the enjoyment of the crowd that gathered around her, cheering her, rather loudly, on. As Erwin was picking up the tab for today, drinks were flowing, and the first signs of the free alcohol could already be noted in the way some medics behaved. Eren was sitting down at the bar, circling his second whiskey of the night in its glass, watching the party. He didn’t really feel like joining the dancer’s crowd, who were at the moment making it rain, and as the rest of the people broke into groups of those acquainted with each other, he decided to rest his legs for a moment. From his perch, he saw Onya, entertaining a rather large crowd with his stories before disappearing in the back to get a private dance. A grin appeared on Eren’s face. The man seemed completely in his element. Well, good for him.

“Yeager!”, a heavy hand fell on his shoulder, “Why are you sitting here all alone? Live a little!”

Ymir. Who else.

“I am living.”, he pointed out, taking a sip of the whiskey. It was pretty good.

“Ah, you know what I mean.”, she sat down next to him, swinging a bit dangerously on the tall bar stool before regaining her balance, laughing. The glass that she held in her hand was half-full, and Eren had the feeling that it was one of many she had tonight.

“D’you miss your girl so much?”, Ymir leaned closer, the alcohol breath hitting Eren right in the face. “Y’know, you could have brought her.”

Of course, he asked Mikasa if she wanted to come, but she was busy tonight, modeling stuff. Unfortunate.

“I don’t see your tiny bag of happiness anywhere either.”, he looked around, “Or do you have her stuffed in your pocket? I mean, she would probably fit there.”

Ymir giggled, punching him in the shoulder.

“She’s not THAT small. Well, at least I think she ain’t.”, finishing her drink with a large gulp, she set the empty glass on the table, “And she couldn’t come tonight. Finishing reports or some shit, I didn’t understand a word she was saying.”

“Good communication is a key to happy relationship.”, Eren agreed.

She punched his shoulder again.

There weren’t many people that knew where Levi lived. Even less would have the balls to come and start beating at his door, shouting his name. Following this equation, it wasn’t hard to decipher just who it was on the other side of the wall. With a sigh, he opened, letting in the wild brown-haired creature.

“Levi, Levi, you must help.”, Hange blurted out, adjusting her glasses.

“Help with what?”, he did his best not to sound too irritated. He still kinda did.

“Mikasa needs you, at the agency. They lack a model for the photoshoot they are having.”

He groaned. Not this shit again.

“C’mon,”, Hange was pressing on, “please? Your sister needs your help, you wouldn’t say no to her, would you?”

“Why didn’t she call me then? Why go through you?”

“Well, she thought you’ll tell her to fuck off, so she asked me to relay the good news to you. It speaks volumes about the relationship you two are having.”

Levi didn’t miss the silent sting in her words. Maybe he should go, even though he really didn’t want to, Mikasa surely earned his help, hundred times over. Ah well, there goes the plan to scrub the kitchen spotless. Again.

“Fine, fine, I get it. I’ll go.”, with a last grunt, he picked up the coat, heading for the door. He can clean the kitchen once he gets back anyway, there was no rush.

The drive through the city was about as nightmarish as he imagined it to be. With Christmas not even a week away, the people were entering their last phase of shopping madness, tearing the shops apart. Those last-minute idiots angered him. Like, you have the whole year to prepare, and you what, have no time? Seriously? He hated people who couldn’t put their affairs in order. Well, hate might not be the right word. More like disliked. Strongly. Normally, he would have no chance to park, if the studio didn’t have a private lot, and after he said that he was expected, and the guard made a quick call to check, Levi was allowed in.

There was another reason why he wasn’t exactly thrilled to be here. Petra, of course. He had no idea if she worked today, or if she perhaps wasn’t a contractor, already long gone, but his throat still tightened anytime someone walked past him on his way to the studio where Mikasa was. Luck seemed to be on his side today however, because he hasn’t seen Petra anywhere, and soon reached his destination, standing awkwardly in front of the door. Swallowing, he entered. And was hit right in the face with the spirit of Christmas. There was fake snow on the scene, sleigh in one corner, while the next was occupied by a tree. Other props were also present, ready to be moved as soon as the ones currently being photographed were covered. It was overwhelming, and Levi stood there for a moment, unable to really process everything he was seeing.

“Levi!”, Mikasa appeared, out of nowhere, dressed in a very stylish set, one that probably cost more than he made in a month. “You came.”, she said, as if she still couldn’t believe it, reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder.

“Of course I came, brat. Hange said that you needed me, right?”

“Oh, yeah, totally.”, Levi could swear that he could hear a shade on amusement in her voice, “We need a guy exactly like you.”. She turned, beckoning for him to follow, and dived back into the crowd, somehow managing to find a way. For all the insecurity and fear Levi remembered, she really seemed to be enjoying herself now. Secretly, he felt proud of her.

“How about you call me next time, and not Hange, huh? No need to drag her into our affairs.”

“Yea well. I had the feeling that you wouldn’t come if I told you what the job was about.”

What was that supposed to mean? Now that he thought about it, he really had no idea what she wanted him to do. But before he could ask, they came to a stop in front of the moustached old guy Levi remembered from earlier.

“Dot, he came.”, the familiarity with which Mikasa spoke to the man suggested that they were working together for some time now. The man, who was apparently in charge of this mess, looked Levi up and down, a large grin spreading underneath the facial hair.

“He really is perfect, you told the truth, dear girl. Just the right figure.”

“How about you stop keeping me in the dark and tell me what this is about, huh?”, Levi snapped, frowning. “What am I perfect for?”

Dot and Mikasa exchanged a glance, and the older man scratched the back of his head.

“We need an elf for the next shoot. We are one person short.”

Elf. A fucking elf. From the expression on his face, Dot wasn’t kidding. On the other hand, Mikasa’s lips were twitching, indicating that she was enjoying this moment very much, as she was most likely expecting him to flip Dot off and storm out of the door. Levi narrowed his eyes. You know what? Fuck it. He came all this way, he can very well dress like a damn elf. What’s the harm?

“Where’s my fucking costume.”

Erwin was surely having fun. Tie on the top of his head, shirt half undone, he was laughing so hard that his drink was spilling. Even with the hour growing late, the club was till about half-full, as the party went on, lively as ever. Onya emerged from the back room just for a few minutes before disappearing again, apparently not having his fill of lap dances yet. Eren himself socialized quite a bit too, and now that he was a tiny bit drunk he only started missing Mikasa more. She wasn’t only his fiancé, she was his best friend too, and he liked spending time with her. Before he could realize his plan for a silent and unseen exit, Ymir appeared next to him, cheeks flushed.

“I forgot to ask you, Yeager boy, what are your plans for Christmas? Any huge party coming up?”, she hiccupped, “Am I invited?”

“Nope, not on Christmas, gonna spend that at home. Connie said that because we are all getting wasted on New year’s anyway, he had no plans of letting us demolish the bar twice in such a short time. So, nothing now. In a week there’s something.”, he smiled, “And both you and Krista are invited. Cordially.”

“Oh my gosh, really? I can’t wait!”, she tried finishing her drink, again, but missed, spilling it all over herself. Luckily there wasn’t much left in the glass and Ymir didn’t even seem to notice. “Krista is going to be so happy, she loves Mikasa. And you, of course.”

“Maybe you should watch her then. That she doesn’t take your little girlfriend away.”

“Oh please, I can’t blame her. If Mikasa offered, I’d go for a roll in hay with her any time of the day.”, Ymir clicked her tongue, “That body…”

“You aren’t having naughty thoughts about my girl, are you Ymir.”, Eren really couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“I’m just saying.”, she gestured with her empty glass, “If she ever wants to experience the other side of the trench, send her my way.”

“I think I heard enough.”, Eren stood up, clapping Ymir on the shoulder. “Merry Christmas you demon.”

A grin was his answer.

On the bright side, Levi wasn’t the only one dressed like an idiot. There were plenty of elves, both male and female, deer, and even Santa, who Levi had creeping suspicion was an alcoholic, sneaking in sips from his flask when no one was watching. They were only background though, as the focus of the photoshoot were the models wearing the highest quality clothes. And Mikasa seemed to fit right in with them, much to Levi’s disbelief. Sure, she wasn’t the most chatty or energetic one, but she was working just fine, following Dot’s instructions to the letter. The old man was shouting something, Levi realized, and the elbow from the elf next to him suggested that he’s supposed to do something.

“What?”, he called back, gesturing that he didn’t hear.

“Elf on the shelf!”, Dot pointed at the wooden structure behind them. If you squinted hard enough, you could say that it was a giant shelf. “Climb on the top!”, the photographer ordered, “We need a person there.”

Well, when you are deep in shit, all you can do is keep swimming. Turning, Levi pulled himself up, not bothering to wait for an assistant to bring him the stairs. He was followed by a female elf, and after they were maneuvered into position, Dot gave them thumbs up and the cameras began clicking away. With my luck, I’ll probably go blind from the flashes, Levi thought, doing his best to keep up the festive expression on his face. The sacrifices you do for your family, those are truly great ones.

“All right, that’s it!”, Dot called, right before Levi went completely and utterly insane, “Amazing work everyone!”

Climbing down from the shelf, he turned to help the girl down, all gentleman like, before walking straight to the changing room to get out of that stupid elf costume as soon as possible.

“Levi!”, a hand grabbed his elbow, making him stop. He turned to face Mikasa, the “Fucking what?” dying on his lips. He saw her before, at the photoshoot, yet not from up close, and she just took his breath away. Her skin was even paler than usual, lips red, lashes dark, overall she seemed like the perfect ice queen, as that was probably the look the make-up artists were going for. Fuck, she was beautiful. That dumbass Eren was the luckiest man in the whole fucking world.

“You can keep the suit!”, she said, grinning, but Levi’s brain was only now coming back to earth and he didn’t understand a word she was saying.

“What suit?”

“This.”, she tapped his chest, “The elf suit! I talked to Dot and we agreed that you look just perfect in it, so he said that you can keep yours. Amazing isn’t it?”

“Totally.”

If Hange ever sees him in this, she’s going to die from laughter, that was for sure.

“So, when do you get back to the shop?”

“You know me, man, if it were up to me I’d be there right now! So many orders to fulfill, so little time.”, the man sighed, “My wife would have a heart attack if I even suggested something like that, I better keep my mouth shut.”

“That’s fine, it’s good to spend some time with your family.”, Eren grinned behind his phone, knowing exactly how much of a workaholic Darius Zackly was. He was the big man, the one who owned the shop he and Mikasa got most of their toys from, but he didn’t like being called just a shop owner. No, he was an artist, in his own words. If there was one thing Darius loved, it was creating custom orders, stuff where he had to do something with his own hands, and admittedly he was fairly amazing with them. His love for work clashed with his love for family from time to time, disregarding that, he was a great friend and an amazing supplier.

“Listen,”, there was a pause on the other end of the line, as Zackly most likely looked around himself to see if the coast was clear, and his voice dropped in a whisper, “you want something custom right?”

“Yep, you know me.”, it was easy to hear the excitement from Darius’s question, and Eren was more than happy to leave his needs in the man’s capable hands. “Most likely even some housework, I got a lot of ideas I’d love to discuss.”

“That’s amazing! Look, I’ll do my best to squeeze you in between Christmas and new year, how does that sound?”

“Wait, you’re going to work? Isn’t it holidays?”

Darius groaned.

“You really think I can spend a week out of my shop? Are you crazy? I’ll give you a call as soon as I’ll get a set date and we can meet and talk about….”, there was another voice on the other end of the line, clearly female, and clearly irritated.

“What?”, Eren could hear Zackly ask, “Work? Of course not, honey. Why would I discuss work when I’m at home, right? It’s… a wrong number, a mistake, that’s all.”, he forced out a laugh. “I was just telling them that this isn’t the house they were searching for, that’s all!“

“I’ll call you!”, he hissed into the phone, hanging up immediately after.

Smiling, Eren put down his own, going back to the task at hand.

Cooking was an amazing activity. The pleasurable buzz of the alcohol combined with the music and the movements of his hands, creating an oasis of absolute calmness around him. Coming from the club, Eren realized that he wasn’t really tired, and the lack of Mikasa in the house forced him to find an activity he could entertain himself with. So, he started cooking. Cut the meat, salt it, turn the heat on. Eren was humming as he worked, slicing the potatoes into neat stripes, the knife not faltering for a moment. He did this a thousand times, after all. As he put the meat in the oven, the door clicked, indicating that Mikasa was home, so he moved to greet her, excited.

“Hey there.”, she smiled, unbuttoning her coat while he moved to sweep her in a hug. He missed her. When they pulled back, Eren fingered the fabric of her scarf, frowning.

“You still wear this old thing?”, he asked, a bit surprised. It was still the same red scarf he gave her, all those years ago. He really had no idea how to do stuff like flirt and stuff, so when they were out, and she shivered he asked her if she was cold and wrapped his own scarf around her, because it felt like the right thing to do. She treasured it, apparently even more than he thought, because she was still wearing it. “Now that you are all chummy with the fashion people, can’t you get something, I dunno, more stylish?”

“I like this one.”, she answered, unwrapping the thing from her neck and putting it carefully on its resting place. Mikasa wouldn’t exchange the scarf Eren gave her for any other, it was invaluable to her.

“What’s smelling so good?”, she asked, squeezing past Eren and walking inside the kitchen, sniffing audibly.

Well, if she wanted to wear the old scarf, he surely wouldn’t stop her. Not that he would admit it, but the gesture was rather romantic, if you thought about it. Following her, he couldn’t hold the smile from his face. Christmas was still a week away, and he was already blessed.

The alarm rang, waking Eren up. He rolled to his side, hand searching and not finding the person he expected. Eyes snapping open, he sat up, scratching the back of his head. What was the day today? Oh right. Christmas. Mikasa was gone, so she was probably downstairs, most likely tearing into the gifts they prepared for each other already. Well, she had a few more things coming her way, but she had to wait for that. No reason to stay in bed, he followed her, just a little bit excited what she got for him.

“Miki?”, he called when he entered the living room, not seeing her anywhere. Rubbing his eyes, he checked the kitchen, only to discover that she wasn’t there either. Did she go out? A bit lost, he went down to sit on the sofa, and as when he reached it his eyes went wide. There she was, lying on the couch, a light smile on her face. But it wasn’t her smile that made him lose his bearing. It was the stuff she was wearing, or rather, the lack of it. There was a ribbon around her neck, ending with a cute little bow, indicating that she most likely intended to be a present for him. A bigger stripe of shiny fabric was wrapped around her torso, hiding her nipples from view, not doing much to cover the rest of her chest. Eyes venturing lower, he could see her panties, a red thong, and the stockings, white and red striped, Christmas themed. The last part of her clothing was a Santa cap, sitting snugly at the top of her head. Swallowing, Eren moved closer, leaning on the furniture. Both because he wanted to take a closer look, but also because his knees really did feel like water. Mikasa watched him approach, the amused expression not leaving her face, and stretched, like a cat, which only made him want her that much more.

“This.”, he reached out, gently brushing the bow at her neck with his fingers, “For me?”

Talking was hard. Thinking was hard. Hell, most of his body was hard right now.

“Yes.”, she ran her hands up and down her sides, slowly, making his mouth water. “Now are you just going to stand there, or will you unwrap your present?”

With a shaking hand, he pulled the ribbon covering her breast open, sliding it away from her body. This, this was the best Christmas morning of his whole life.

Ymir felt terrible, watching Krista open the gift from her, squirming in her seat. Because, as usual, she fucked everything up. So much time, she had so much time to get something for her, anything, but she forgot. She fucking forgot. She only remembered to get something a day before Christmas, and her last-minute crazy trip proved fruitless, not matter how hard she searched, she couldn’t find anything Krista would like. In a moment of total desperation, Ymir took the ugly sweater Eren gave her at work, as a joke, and packaged it, silently dreading of the storm to come. It had reindeer at the front, or it could very well be a mutant turtle, because the quality of the picture was subpar. And she even had no right to complain, because her gift to Eren was a paperclip. One. Groaning, she hid her face behind her hands, and expected the inevitable.

“Oh my god, Ymir!”, here it comes. “It’s amazing!”

Wait what?

Looking up, she saw Krista energetically putting the sweater on, grinning. It was several sizes bigger, so it hung on her, the neckline reaching almost all the way to her shoulders.

“You… Like it?”, Ymir asked, not believing what she was seeing.

“Of course! It’s so cute.”, Krista jumped to her feet, hugging her girlfriend tight before pressing a kiss to her still surprised face. “Thank you so much!”

“You…Ehm… You’re welcome. Really!”

The shorter girl was already pulling her upright.

“Come on, open my gift!”

All in all, Ymir decided that she really didn’t deserve such a nice person as Krista. But hell, she’ll take it. Any day of the week.

Hange wasn’t laughing. She was looking him up and down, eyes wide, as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Merry Christmas.”, tried Levi, taking a step to the side, “Wanna come in?”

She did, walking past him with the same expression of deep concentration on her face. He really had no idea what she was thinking about. Opening the door in the elf costume he got from the damn photoshoot was a good joke, wasn’t it? But then why wasn’t Hange laughing? As he was about to give up and ask her what’s wrong, she snapped her fingers.

“Gnome!”

Levi furrowed his brows.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re a gnome, right?”

So this is what she was thinking about. God damn it, she was smart, but she could be dense as hell about anything not scientific.

“I’m actually…”

“It makes sense. The green suit, the hat, the pointy ears. See I first thought that you are an elf, but that didn’t really sit well with me. Then I thought that you might be a goblin, but those have sharp teeth, right? So, you must be a gnome!”

He couldn’t do it. Seeing how happy Hange was that she cracked his cryptic message, which in reality wasn’t meant to be cryptic at all, he couldn’t tell her the truth. After all, why did it even matter?”

“Yep, you got me. Not an elf, not a goblin, I’m a gnome.”

He really had to stop acting so nice to everyone, otherwise they would start thinking that he actually cared.

“And you’ve been gnomed.”

Christmas alone wasn’t always a bad thing. Jean woke up late, grabbed a breakfast in relatively empty lobby, and now sat at his room, browsing the internet on his laptop. Nope, not a bad thing at all. It’s important to understand that you always need a time for yourself, to reflect on your present situation, to remember your past and make plans for the future. You should always treat your body, but also your spirit, because you only get one, and are stuck with it for the rest of your days. And this peace he was experiencing now, it was a welcome change from visiting his mother, who would always ask him those stupid questions, like Jean, do you have a girl yet? Jean, how is work? He loved his mom, he did, and would come to visit her soon, that was for sure, but now, all he felt was the silence and calmness around him. Then, his phone rung.

Hitch: Christmas coffee? ;)

Jean managed to be out of the door in about five seconds.

It was good to finally rest from the never-ending bar work, Armin had to admit. His body was aching, as he was pushing himself much harder than he used to, the physical activity soothing. Maybe he should start going to the gym with Mikasa, he thought as he watched himself in the mirror, flexing. Well, long way to go in this department. Grinning, he put his shirt back on and headed to the kitchen, scavenging the room for breakfast supplies. Yet while the peace and quiet was all well and good, he was already looking forward to the parties that would follow. It gave him a pause. He, Armin, was looking forward to parties. Shaking his head, he put the water to boil, opening the fridge with a tug. How the times change. The reminiscence brought back other memories, some pleasing, some not that much. With a sigh, Armin looked out of the window, watching the thin sheet of snow that will most likely disappear before noon.

“Merry Christmas Annie, wherever you are.”

“You really have to go now?”, Sasha sighed, watching Connie dress, “It’s Christmas, you know.”

“I’m sorry, I really am.”, he pulled on his jacket, “But the supplier wants me to meet him today.”

Sasha crossed her arms on her chest, pouting. What kind of maniac set a meeting on a freaking Christmas day? Who’s even working? Sensing her dark mood, Connie leaned in, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

“I’ll try to get back as soon as possible, I promise.”

And with that, she was alone. On Christmas day. Amazing, simply amazing. Groaning, she was wheeling herself away when someone knocked at the door. She turned around, hoping that Connie came back, but when she threw the door open that surely wasn’t her boyfriend on the other side. A girl was standing there, young, and a boy, both looking rugged and in clothes with too many holes in them.

“Sasha?”, the girl asked, looking at the boy and back at the woman. “I.. came to say sorry and..”, her eyes kept sliding back to the wheelchair, no matter how many times she pulled it back. “I’m so sorry for shooting you.”, finally managing to push out her message, she sniffled, wiping her nose with a sleeve, “And merry Christmas.”, she added, more like a whisper than a statement.

Sasha didn’t say a word. Instead, she wheeled herself forward, and enveloped the surprised young girl in a hug.

“Merry Christmas to you too. Gabi.”

The boy’s name was Falco, and apparently they were best friends, since ever. They lived together on the street, joining with a few groups from time to time, but mostly it was the two of them against the world. Gabi didn’t want to talk about her parents, or how she ended up homeless, dodging the questions with sidelong glances and one- or two-word answers. Falco didn’t talk. Apparently, he was very shy, as Gabi claimed, but Sasha didn’t miss the way his eyes scanned the room when she invited them in.

“You know, I can get you help.”, said Sasha, when Gabi and Falco ate the plate of cookies she brought them, hungrily eyeing the table for more.

“We are fine.”, Gabi reached out and intertwined her fingers with Falco’s. “We always find a way.”

Sasha wasn’t about to give up so easily, but apparently she needed more cookies to convince the kids, so she wheeled herself back to the kitchen, pulling another batch from the oven and putting the finishing touches on them. As she came back into the living room, she found it empty.

Honestly, she should have seen it coming. She was stupid, blinded by the appearance of the girl she talked with for so long, the one that for some reason made her heart ache. She should have seen that the sneaky looks Falco kept throwing around weren’t just to map the room, but to find the valuables in it too. They were living on a street a long time, it was the only way they knew. Calm, Sasha put the plate on the table, checking through the stuff that they took. Her wallet was empty, because she stupidly left it in her coat, at least her I.D and credit card remained. It wasn’t much, as most of her savings were in the bank, but gripping the empty leather in her hand, Sasha had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. How did Gabi even find her in the first place? How did she know where Sasha lived? Did she seek her out only to rob her? The regret she displayed when she first appeared, was it all an act? Anger, helplessness, sadness. It was too much. Going back to the kitchen, Sasha pulled out the bottle of vodka they kept there and took a large gulp.

Merry fucking Christmas, she thought.

To me.

[xxwinterchillxx]

Halloween Dance and Some Unfortunate Events

Summary:

Levi is willing to go all the way to get Eren to go with him to the Halloween Dance. But things get complicated since Levi cannot show any sign of intelligence around the German hottie. However, he isn’t taking no for an answer.

Rating - Teen and Up Audiences

Categories - M/M

Relationships - Levi/Eren, background relationships, Moblit/Hanji, Armin/Erwin, Krista|Historia/Ymir

Chapters - 5/?

Read below cut or read on AO3

Chapter 5: My place?

It was 11:55pm by the time I left the Jaeger residence with Erwin. He had on this really goofy smile which I didn’t want to investigate into further. So, we drove in complete silence.

I could tell that I was cold when I saw myself breathing out puffs of vapour. But honestly, I felt damn nothing. My heart was still pounding like anything and whenever I saw my reflection in the car window, I too had on that same goofy Erwin grin.

 I am dating Eren Jaeger.

 ~~oOo~~

 The first thing I saw when I woke up was an angry woman’s face. I got yelled at for like a full 10 minutes by mom for sneaking in late yesterday. But I couldn’t think of anything other than the events of last night.

It was kind of a haze, really. Once Eren asked me out, my mind became so numb. I couldn’t say anything but it’s pretty obvious that I liked him too when I leaned in closer to him, holding his hands.

Then it’s all a blur. I think a kiss was supposed to happen. But that’s when Erwin came in the scene. His hair was messed up and his clothes looked scruffy. That fucking sack of balls didn’t know what was going on so he told me that we should go home because his dad told him that his stupid car should be home by 10. I think that’s when it ended.

Mom’s still mad at me. She somehow missed out on the fact that the costume she spent a day fixing was for a party. It’s not like I drank or anything so I don’t get why she is so upset.

Now that I think about it, I should go and fix up a costume for the dance 3 days from now. Fuck, I’m going with the fucking Jaeger. Oh my gosh, I’m literally going to dance with Eren! It feels so weird thinking about it. But, like, a good kind of weird.

I wonder if we should do a couple costume….

What the fuck am I thinking? That shit’s for 5th graders.

 I think I’d look cool as Belle though. I make a good fucking princess.

  ~~oOo~~

 “…so yeah, still think Levi can’t talk in front of his crush?” I smiled smugly at Hanji, who was sitting in the middle of my room with a blank expression.

“Well, technically, short-stack, you didn’t say anything.”

I faltered for a second after that rude-ass comment, “O..uh, okay but that, like, totally part of my suave sooo yeah.”

Hanji stretched out her legs and lied down on the floor wearing the same blank expression, “Sure, whatever.”

I was about to reply when she interrupted, “So, are you guys going to the dance?”

Squinting, I stated as a matter-of-factly, “Obviously.” I grabbed her phone and texted Erwin to come over. “You know what? That reminds me. What are you guys going as? I don’t want any costume repetition or shit like that. This is the first time I’m going to dance with my cru– boyfriend.”

She instantly shot up from her lying position with an annoying air of dignity, “Yes, about that. Moblit thinks we shouldn’t participate in such chivalrous youth activities.”

“What?”

Smiling faintly, she tried to look cool and all, fixing her hair. It took forever for her to reply. “Moblit thinks that we should instead spend time with each other instead of doing whatever everyone else is doing. He’s so insightful like that.”

Honestly, does anyone else feel the need as much as I do to shove Moblit’s chivalrous dick down his throat?

“My god, woman, does any of your sentences start without his stupid name?”

“Hey, don’t start with me. Moblit’s insightful, thoughtful a-and…,” she couldn’t seem to find any other praises for her boyfriend, “And Eren’s a dumbass.”

I gasped and shot up from my bed, “Yeah? At least Eren isn’t a nagging bitch. Moblit’s a fucking ugly crybaby.”

I think we were about to get into a fist fight (friendship, amirite?) before Erwin appeared.

“Hey Levi. Hey Hanji,” he cheerfully greeted and sat down at the nearest chair. “What’s going on?”

Both Hanji and I immediately forgot our own differences and started picking on him.

Hanji made a face and nudged Erwin playfully on the side, “I’ve heard stuff about you, Erwin.”

Erwin grew pale and laughed nervously, “H-Hanji, what are you talking about?”

She reached her hand down Erwin’s inner thigh and squeezed it tightly, earning a yelp from Erwin. “Bedroom secrets.”

I sneered, “Oh my god, Erwin’s bedroom kinks. That’s so gross, Hanji. Tell.”

“Hanji, no-”

“Armin calls him ‘Daddy Long Legs’!” screamed out Hanji excitedly.

 ~~oOo~~

We’re not really on talking terms with either Erwin or Armin anymore. They’re so overdramatic, my god. The last thing Erwin said to us was not to bother him or his cousin anymore.

And also to stop calling Armin his cousin. What? It’s funny.

Anything involving Erwin’s eyebrows is funny.

On the other hand, Hanji told me that Erwin and Armin are going all Prince-and-Princess this year. So that totally rules out me going in an all-out yellow gown.

“Maybe I should put on my mom’s weird green facemask again and go as Shrek,” I said to Hanji as we ate (without Erwin) in the cafeteria. It was Monday. There were no classes as everyone was busy prepping the entire building for a horror-themed dance. The main hall was being decorated with plastic pumpkins and violet drapes.

Hanji hummed indecisively and took a bite out of her apple, “No, Eren should go as Shrek. You know, like a cool handsome Shrek.”

I laughed, “Yeah. His eyes are green-ish anyway. But I won’t look good with Fiona’s red hair”

“What are you talking about? Obviously, you are Lord Farquad, shawty.”

 Anyways, due to some minor inconveniences, I have decided that my costume isn’t going to be animation themed. That shit’s stupid to be honest.

I’m leaving the decisions to my boyfriend, Eren. My boyfriend Eren Jaeger. Hehe.

We’ve been talking to each other like all the time. Just today, he looked at me and smiled. It was so romantic. I just wish the others would pay more attention to the fact that I’m dating the hottest guy in school but no, they’re too busy trying to find their dates. Bunch of narcissistic fuckfaces.

I looked to the left and saw Eren and his group entering the cafeteria. Almost half the faces in the room turned to them. It was like a different aura spread out. Eren, Mikasa, Krista, Reiner…., the handsomest faces of the school. And Armin walking alongside them, as if he belonged.

I waved a hand to Eren but he didn’t see. I didn’t blame him though. There was a lot happening around him. They were all laughing, tripping each other, punching at times and making a lot of noise. I don’t know why but whenever I see Eren with them, I can literally feel my anxiety choking me.

“Fuck, is that Daddy Long Legs?”

As soon as I heard Hanji, my head whipped back and saw Erwin sitting at the popular table, laughing at whatever stupid shit the whole group was laughing at. That stupid meat-headed traitor. They were chanting ‘kiss’ ‘kiss’ over and over again. Then Armin gave him a peck on the cheek. In the background, Hanji just said, “Ew.”

“You guys are so cute!” Krista’s shrill girly stupid fuckvoice followed the kiss, “Couple goals!!”

I’m so pissed at Erwin. I mean, like, after you yell at your friends for absolutely no reason, you are supposed to repent and then stay sad.  You’re not supposed to laugh a-and fucking hang out with other people’s crushes. It’s totally rude. Like, what did Hanji and I ever do to him?

“Eren coming. 1 O’clock,” Hanji mumbled quickly before walking away.

I didn’t even have the time to react.

 “Hey, Levi.”

I looked up to see his stupidly gorgeous face. He kept a hand on my chair and the other on the table. His brown locks all messy, his hideously green eyes practically piercing through me. The light shining conveniently behind him made him look like a God. He’S sO hOt, fuck me.

“Can I sit?”

I nodded quickly. But like, not too quickly because I don’t want to look thirsty and not too slow ca- stop thinking, dammit.

He sat opposite to me, cupping his god-like face with one of his hands and just… staring at me. I couldn’t even look at his face, let alone his eyes. My eyes darted around to look at something else. Why am I so panicky?!

“Thanks, doll.”

My heart literally crashed and stopped working and I could feel my brain turning to mush. I breathed out heavily in response. Don’t ask me why, okay. I just prayed damn hard that he didn’t notice my antics.

“I was thinking about that dance, you know. About all that costume stuff.”

I sipped my juice pouch, trying to play it cool.

“Eren.”

I don’t know why I said his name. I just did.

Shit, I had his full attention now. His eyes looked up at me expectantly and his eyes literally lit up. If he had a tail, it be wagging.

I just looked at him, not knowing quite what to say. I was mentally trying to piece together a sentence… any sentence to break the tension.

His expression changed and he put up a hand to his cheek, smirking.

“Damn, Levi, you are so cute.” He smiled warmly before he held my hand.

“I was thinking of, you know, Marvel. I love their movies,” he continued, squeezing my hand. “Maybe Deadpool and Spidey?” He paused for a second then added, “I already have their costumes, by the way so like….?”

“Sure.” I replied, kind of proud of myself for saying ‘sure’ instead of some stupid pun about a sea beach.

“I’ll have it mailed to you. Anyways, could you give me your phone number? I don’t have it.”

“Oh! Uh… yeah, sure.”

I blushed when I saw his home screen. The picture was me in that stupid pink panther shit. I internally screeched.

“I hope you don’t mind.”

“Is okay.” I replied, typing in my number. Is okay…. Who says that?

“Cool, thanks.”

He moved his seat right next to mine and asked, “Do you have your phone?”

“Yeah, why?”

I placed my phone in his outstretched hand.

Putting an arm around me, he called my phone before I could stop him.

Panic rose up in me and I instantly yelled, “Wait, stop-”

 And across that stupid iPhone screen, there appeared the dreaded words-

 Futurehusbando    calling….                                           2:09 pm

 The background image just had a zoomed-in picture of me deliberately smiling like a pervert, courtesy of Hanji.

I felt my heart sinking and my face burning up.

Eren looked at the screen for a few seconds before looking up at me with a slightly cocky grin.

“I see you already have my phone number.”

He handed back my phone to me. I kept looking down mostly because I wanted to faceplant myself into the tile floors.

“Well, anyways, I have to get going. I’m sorry but the principal told me to come down to his office like two hours ago so yeah. I promise I’ll call you later.”

He grabbed my face and planted a soft kiss to my forehead before smiling brightly, “Wait for me after school! I’ll drive you home, okay?” He paused for a moment and looked back, “You’re so cute.”

  After he left, I groaned and felt a hand on my back, patting me.

“Damn Levi, you are one unlucky son of a bitch.”

“I know, Hanji. I know.”

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[percyannabeth]

tangled like us

Summary:  Just a little something I wrote about Jane and Thatcher (duo pov). Main prompt: bed sharing.

Notes: Hello! Once again I'm writing about this couple that I adore. I always have a great time writing about them and I can't wait for their book 'Tangled like us' (so that's the reference to the fic's title haha). If you could leave a comment after reading it would be great so I know how I can improve. Big thanks to Abi and Doris for helping me review the fic (ilysm girls!!). Characters belong to Krista and Becca Ritchie.

Read it on AO3

JANE

Yesterday my whole family flew to Greece where Moffy and Farrow’s wedding will take place. I’m still at home finishing packing because I had a last minute appointment with a dentist. It was a friend of Farrow’s who let me go in and assist in some of his consults so I could see if odontology is my passion. It isn’t, in case you were wondering. I was sick within five minutes a consult started.

So here I am putting my last clothes inside my bag when I hear a knock on my door. I spin to find Thatcher there. Since I stayed he stayed too. We’re going to catch a flight at 9 a.m and then we have to drive for a few hours to arrive at the location of the wedding. We should be there by midnight.

“Are you done packing, Jane?” He asks me while entering the room. “Oui”, I answer as I close my bag and put it on the ground. “Let me help you with that”, Thatcher says as he grabs it and look at me “We should get going so we won’t miss the flight in case of traffic”, he adds. “Right”.

It doesn’t take us long to arrive at the airport or get into the plane. The flight goes smoothly and I even manage to take a nap, although it was delayed in an hour. Once we’re in greek soil, Thatcher goes to the counter to take the keys to the car we rented. In no time, we are on the road. It’s already dark but the sight is no less breathtaking.

After two hours on the road I can see Thatcher is tired and so am I, “Thatcher, I think we should stop for the night”, I suggest. “No, I’m fine. We should stick to the schedule”. “Well the delayed flight was not on the schedule so It’s already a lost cause. We can arrive there tomorrow”, I tell him, “Plus you’re almost falling asleep behind the wheel and we don’t want that, do we?” I know I convinced him with that last sentence. We’re all a bit freaked out since the car accident with Moffy, Winona and my brothers. “Ok, fine. We can stop on the next hotel we spot”.

Ten minutes later, we park the car and we enter this cute hotel we found and we go to the counter where this nice lady greets us. “Hello. Welcome to the Vasiliki Hotel! Is it only the two of you?” she asks with a smile. “Hi. Yes. We are only staying for the night so if we could get two rooms it would be great”, I reply. “I’m sorry. All the single rooms are booked so we only have double rooms”. I look at Thatcher to see what he thinks about it but he’s already answering the receptionist “That’s fine. We’ll take a double room and can we take care of the bill tomorrow morning, is that ok?”, the lady starts nodding “Sure. Just let me take your names and here’s the key to the room. It’s number 204. All rooms have a small kitchen and basic ingredients in case you don’t want to come down to eat something. Enjoy your stay”. “Thank you so much”, I reply.

Thatcher takes our bags and we go to our room. He puts them on the floor in front of the bed and says “I’ll take the couch and you can have the bed”. I look over to the couch, it’s really small. “Come on! You can stay in the bed with me. That couch is really small. I doubt you would even fit on it”. “I’ll be okay. It’s not really appropriate to share the bed”, he answers. “You won’t be walking tomorrow if you sleep on that thing. Please, I’m asking you. You can even build a pillow fortress in the middle of the bed if it makes you feel better”. He laughs and looks at me and I stare back to prove my point. He ends up agreeing, “Fine. Whatever you want Jane”.

He goes to the bathroom to change his clothes and I decide to change into my PJs while he’s gone. I put my shorts, then my shirt and when I spin around, Thatcher is leaving the bathroom shirtless and with his hair wet. I can’t help but stare at his chest, his very well defined chest. Suddenly I start wondering if the bed sharing was a good idea after all. It’s not like I’m blind. He’s really attractive and I kind of have a small crush on him. But I know he’d never cross that line so I take a deep breath as he says “I’m sorry. I forgot my shirt on my bag”. I notice his eyes checking me out and spending a special amount of time on my bare legs. “It’s fine. I’ve seen shirtless people before”, I laugh trying to dissipate the tension rising in the bedroom.

I head to the bed with my phone to text my family and let them know we’ll be arriving only tomorrow. While I’m at it, I see Thatcher putting his shirt on and coming to the bed. He hesitates for a moment but eventually he pulls the sheets so he can lay down. I do the same, remembering to put some distance between us in case we move during the night. He stares at the ceiling while I lay on my side and I look at him before saying “thank you for staying behind with me”.He takes his eyes of the ceiling and lay them on me, “you’re welcome. Though it’s my job”. We smile at each other for a moment before I whisper “good night, Thatcher”. He gives me a smile that I hold very dearly to my heart because it’s so rare to get one of those, and he tells me “good night, Jane”.

THATCHER

I like to believe I’m a really controlled person. Usually I am. However, even before I’m fully awake I feel arms around my waist and the smell of lavender filling my nostrils. I open my eyes and I see Jane resting her head in my chest and her arms surround my waist, while her legs are tangled with mine. Somehow during the night, I moved closer to the middle of the bed even though I made sure to stay as far away as possible from Jane. I guess that was pointless considering the current position we’re in.

I really want to say I have the willpower to put some distance between our bodies but I don’t. I remain where I am and take the moment to really look at Jane. Jesus Christ, she’s beautiful. A single strand of her hair partially covers one of her eyes so I move it and tuck it behind her ear. Which does nothing to decrease my arousal. Shit, this shouldn’t be happening at all. I don’t know for how long I stay there just looking at her and feeling the heat coming from her body.

Eventually I take my phone from the nightstand to check the hour. 10 p.m. We slept for a really long time. I should probably make some coffee since it appears we won’t be making it to the breakfast downstairs. Gently I take Jane’s arms and lay them on her sides. I stand up and move to make some coffee for both of us. In the last minute I decide I should make an omelette.

When the omelette’s almost done I see movement in the bedroom. Jane is sitting on the bed and she looks around probably looking for me until her eyes finally find me. She smiles and says “good morning. Thatcher”. That smile. It gets me every single time. “Good morning, Jane. I made some coffee”. She stands up and walks towards me. I pour some in a mug and give it to her. “Merci”, she says in French. I think it’s really cute when she does that. “Do you want to share the omelette?” I ask her. She laughs softly and answers “Sure, it seems we’re sharing a lot lately”.

As we sit on the table to eat, I can tell Jane’s thinking of something. I wait to see if she wants to tell me. I’m being extra careful around her since she gave me a silent treatment that almost made me go out of my mind. What happened with Farrow doesn’t make me proud of myself. I was angry, I was wrong, and I acted on the heat of the moment. Something that rarely happens. But it did happen and I have to take responsibility for it.

I can’t take the silence anymore. “What is it, jane?” She looks up from her plate and stares at me. “I’m trying to decide when I’ll stop being mad at you”, her answer surprises me. “Why are you mad at me? Is it because of the Farrow situation?”. “It is. God, how it made me mad”, she laughs bitterly. “I’m sorry, Jane. I never intended to upset you and I..” She doesn’t let me finish, I’m not sure what I’d say anyway. “It did upset me. Do you want to know why? Because we don’t really get a chance to be happy with someone outside the family. Because usually people only want to take advantage, either they’re in it for the money or the fame or some other poor reason. And when Moffy finally found someone who actually cares for him and makes him happy, you say things like that. It’s not okay”, I notice how badly her hands are shaking and how wet her eyes are, as if she’s fighting the tears. “Jane…I’m sorry. I made a mistake and I regret it. Please don’t cry”.

She takes a few breathes and takes a sip of her coffee. I wait for her to gather her thoughts. “I just…I’m just so happy for him. I don’t think I’ll get that. To be in a relationship with someone I trust because my baggage isn’t very good”, so she’s not really upset about the disagreement between Farrow and I, but then I didn’t think it was the reason. Fuck Nate and those other assholes. “I guess I’m just not good enough to make someone want to stay because they like who I am. Not because I’m famous, not because I have money or because they have this weird fetish they think I’ll satisfy”. I see tears rolling down her face. It breaks my heart. To see her in pain, to see her doubt herself.

“Hey”, I stand up from my seat and kneel in front of her. I wrap her face with my hands “Don’t ever say that again, okay? They were all idiots. You are amazing, Jane. You’re loyal, smart, beautiful, funny and full of passion. Anyone would be lucky to even breathe the same air you do. So yeah all those guys are fools because they had you and they took you for granted. If I had you, I’d never let you go”, she sheds more tears and I wipe them with my thumbs while I continue to speak “Once you find someone who can appreciate, respect and understand you, you’ll have a relationship. Just don’t settle down for anything less. Because you deserve everything and you deserve someone who knows how lucky they are to be loved by you”.

I rise from the floor so I can kiss her forehead. Okay, I’m definitely out of control. I pull back a little to look at Jane. I watch as she looks at my mouth and I can’t help but look at hers. She raises her hands to caress my hair and I close my eyes once she touches me. It feels good. Too good. Before I know what’s happening she throws her arms around my neck and hugs me. Now we are both standing. When she pulls back, I feel the loss of her touch. It’s almost painful. I don’t recognize the sound that leaves my mouth. All I know is that I bend and I grab her neck as I pull her towards my body and kiss her. At first, it’s a chaste kiss but then I feel her tongue parting my lips and making my mouth its home. Fuck. She tastes like the coffee she just drank. I admit I’ve pictured this moment before. Many, many times. But not even in my dreams I thought it would be this good. Or that it would happen, I’m her bodyguard for God’s sake. The thought breaks my euphoria.

I start letting go of the waist I didn’t even realize I was holding, but Jane doesn’t let me. She pulls me harder towards her body and deepens the kiss. I take advantage of the moment to play with her hair, a thing I’ve always wanted to do. I grab her waist again and I set her on the table since our height difference makes it hard to keep kissing in the same position for long. I don’t know how long we keep kissing but eventually Jane lets go so she can catch her breath. She brings her hand to her swollen lips before she asks “did I dream or did we end up sleeping pressed together?” Her question surprises me because I didn’t know she had woken up during the night. “No, you didn’t. If you woke up and we were like that why didn’t you pull away?” I ask her because I’m really curious though I know the answer I’d give. “Would you have? Pulled away, I mean”, I answer her honestly “No, I wouldn’t have.” She smiles a little and says “Exactly. I woke up in your arms and it felt like home, I was safe and warm. So I stayed there. I’d stay there forever if you let me”. I look at Jane and I do my best not to kiss her again. We really need to talk before we do anything else. But it isn’t the place or time. So I just rest my forehead against hers and say “We should go. We’re going to be late”. She nods and we proceed to gather our things to finish the trip.