#candycity writes

[candycityy]

—shoutout to @avadescent for inspiring me to write offended-attention-deprived levi. because why not right? right.

Levi isn't an unreasonable man.

Rude, sure. Neurotic, well, maybe. He's aware of his flaws, thanks, but as far as he's concerned, unreasonable has never been one of those.

And yet—looking down at the hopeful expression of his subordinate, he feels the irrepressible urge to say something wholly unreasonable. Something like no.

"It'd be a really good opportunity," Petra says, as usual catching on to his thoughts far too quickly for his comfort. "The Military Police has never showed any interest in us before, this could be a real chance to rally some support—"

"Some extra coin, you mean," Levi interjects drily. Far too used to her captain's cynicism, Petra presses on, unperturbed.

"Besides," she adds, "it's just for a week. And the commander—"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it." Levi waves an irritated hand. "The Military Police is in town, they finally manage to get over their massive fucking egos long enough to realise how shit their fatality rates are against actual titans, as opposed to the scum—"

"Captain."

"Criminals," Levi amends, "that they waste their time chasing after, most of the time. And now they want a tour guide to show them around. Fine. But why you?"

Petra levels a glare at him—the only one of his soldiers who'd have the guts to do so—and he feels a stab of grudging respect. "Are you insinuating that I'm not qualified, sir?"

"Just asking why."

"In that case, sir, I'd wager that the commander," she enunciates the world pointedly, "nominated me because I'm nice and friendly and have the second-highest kill count in the Corps. And unfortunately, the soldier with the actual highest kill count has approximately the charm and charisma of a dead slug."

He narrows his eyes at the soldier, who immediately schools her expression back into one of wide-eyed innocence. "You're an insubordinate brat, Ral."

"I'm saving you from having to deal with the MP yourself, sir," Petra says patiently. "You know that if you don't give me permission, Commander Smith is going to go after you next."

They stare at each other for a few seconds, locked in stalemate. Finally, Levi sighs.

"Fine," he mutters. "You can be their tour guide, as long as you keep up with your training in your own time. And, Ral?"

"Sir?"

"For fuck's sake don't be too nice to them."

Petra's answering grin is wry and knowing, even as she lifts her fist to her chest in a flawless salute. "I'll try, sir."

==

The lounge is unnaturally quiet.

Apart from the sound of his pen scratching onto the seemingly endless pages, and the occasional murmured curse from Auruo whenever Gunther takes yet another one of his pawns, there's a strange, heavy silence permeating the ordinarily cheery room.

In his corner, where he's aimlessly folding bits of newspaper into a series of increasingly complicated figures, Eld exhales loudly. "I miss Pet," he declares, morosely tossing a miniature bird into the trash can across the room and missing by a clear metre.

At Levi's glare, he goes to collect it quickly enough.

Auruo snorts in a show of derision. "What for? The peace and quiet's a nice change." He steals a quick, hopeful glance at Levi, who obligingly pretends not to notice.

Privately, Levi agrees with Eld. The squad has been unusually quiet without its sole female member, and he's on more than one occasion during training found himself looking over his shoulder, expecting to see Petra's lithe form at his back, ready to sweep in for an assist.

And. even though he'd sooner stab himself with a blade than admit it, the tea he's been forced to make in her absence—as careful as he's been with his technique—just isn't the same. He takes a sip and wrinkles his nose with annoyance.

"It's only been two days," Gunther says absently, ignoring Auruo's sound of protest as he neatly plucks a knight off the chessboard. "And she seems to be enjoying it."

"Is she?" Levi goes. He flicks off a stray bug with the tip of his pen, and savagely crosses out a misspelling.

"Yeah. An old friend from the Cadet Corps is in the lot that came in with the MP, she mentioned she'd been catching up with him."

"An old boyfriend, more like." Auruo hisses in exasperation when Gunther swipes yet another piece. "Michael, right? I remember him. Smug little slimeball, he was."

Levi stiffens. "She didn't mention that," he says, as casually as he can. Gunther shoots him a curious glance, which he ignores.

"Yeah, well, why would she?" Eld yawns and gets to his feet, stretching. "This blows. I'm gonna get some sleep. Later."

Levi sips at his tea, feeling violently and inexplicably irritated despite the would-be comfort of the familiar brew. The feeling doesn't fade, not even when the chess game ends with Gunther's resounding victory and both men traipse out of the room, leaving him alone in the quiet.

He dots an i with more severity than strictly necessary and decides to call it a night, too.

==

Petra continues to spend the better part of the next week flitting off to attend to their unwanted guests. With every activity that she doesn't turn up at, Levi finds his mood turning a shade fouler. Training isn't as productive. The whole squad is off their game.

Also, he misses her.

That evening, the lounge is empty. The rest of the squad has gone off to town for a much-needed drink, leaving Levi alone behind to tackle yet another stack of paperwork.

He's worked himself into a monotonous rhythm when the door swings open and Petra steps in, looking exhausted but content. Against his will, Levi feels his mood lift a fraction, although he keeps his scowl firmly in place.

"Captain," Petra greets with her usual smile, flopping down on her favourite spot at the sofa, "where's everyone?"

"Town," Levi replies shortly.

"Oh?" Her smile turns into a yawn, and he notes with an odd feeling the shadows under her eyes. "I need a drink, too. The MP visitors have been a handful. Did you know that most of them have barely touched their 3DMG after graduating? They're so rusty, they make Hanji's gear look positively shiny."

Levi has to stop himself from snickering; the squad leader is notorious for failing to maintain her gear, much to her second-in-command's constant despair. He has to force his expression to remain icy. Petra looks at him curiously.

"Anything the matter, captain?" she goes. He shrugs.

"Not really."

"That's not the same as no," Petra observes. Levi casts her a dark glare.

"Insubordinate," he mutters. "Just...hasn't been the best week."

"Because of me?"

Levi stares down at his paperwork.

"Maybe," he finally replies. Still refusing to meet her gaze, he asks, casually, "So, did anything exciting happen?"

He's still not looking at her, but he can hear the frown in her voice as she shakes her head. "Not really."

"That's not the same as no," Levi echoes. His subordinate rolls her eyes good-naturedly.

"One of my old squadmates, back in the cadet corps, was being annoying throughout," she admits. Levi tries to keep his expression composed, even as something in his chest seems to lift, for whatever reason.

She clears her throat, seemingly eager to move on to the next topic. "Apart from that, the most exciting thing was probably seeing the captain of the MP almost lose his lunch after we showed him Hanji's lab."

Levi finally allows himself to snort. "Shitheads."

"Shitheads," Petra agrees. Her lips quirk into a tentative smile. "I missed the squad, though."

It's phrased like a sentence but sounds more like a question.

He makes the mistake of looking at her. Her cheeks are red, and there's a light in her eyes that seems nervous, almost shy. Yet she meets his gaze with a kind of determination. Questioning. Hopeful.

It's an unusual look for the girl who cuts down titans without batting an eyelid. Something in the back of mind tells him that her words are layered, but he forces himself to focus on the outside.

"The squad wasn't the same without you," Levi finally replies. It's not nearly enough, even he knows that.

Still, it's sufficient to make her whole countenance brighten and her smile shift into something different, whole. He realises belatedly that the dark, irritated cloud that has persisted in the back of his mind for the past week has dissipated almost entirely.

He shoves away the realisation quickly. Petra just smiles at him, seeming to know his thoughts before he can even begin to wonder at them. As usual.

"It's good to be back, captain," she says softly.

"Good to have you back, Ral."

[candycityy]

thank you emily for the collab!! i had so much fun ❤️

a drizzle of earl grey

co-written with @candycityy <3

Rated: G

Summary: Petra finds herself enchanted by the reclusive trapeze artist who soars through the air like a summer night’s dream.

For Rivetra Week 2021: Carnival

Read it here!

[acaddicts]

Meet your Admins!

**Not all admins are pictured above**

>Click their title/name to see their posts on our page<

Head Admin: @sunflowercrosser 

Name: Amy-Louise

Nickname: Ames, Amylou, "Queen"

Age: 20 Birthday: 24th November Timezone: BST (GMT in Winter) • Best Available: after 5pm Fave Villager/NPC: Rosie|Phylis Fave AC Game: New Leaf About Me: I am a full time carer at the moment. Originally a secretary. I have a puppy called Sox. I am a devoted auntie, and love spending time with my family. Originally from Northern Ireland. Suffer with several chronic illnesses.

Co-Head Admin:

🌿 Name: Eliana 💕 ✨ Nickname: Eli, El 🌿 Age: 18 😱 ✨ Birthday: July 2nd 🌿 Timezone: EST (I think EDT in winter??) ✨ Best Availability: I’m active 90% of the time if I’m not in school or at work 🌿 Fave Villager/NPC: L O B O npc is Sable ✨ Fave AC Game: Honestly New Leaf it’s really great 🌿 A little about you: I am a mother to a chinchilla, I like to play guitar, I’m a huge sims fan, did I mention my chinchilla? And I love everyone here so much💕

Head Artist:

• Name : Cynthia • Nickname : Anakya • Age : 23 • Birthday : February 5 • Timezone : Est • Best Availability : Night • Fave Villager/NPC : Spork • Fave AC Game : New Leaf • A little about you : Im Canadian french. Im a big fan of plushies I think I have an obsession with plushes. Im a big gamer, if I have some free times im probably drawing or playing pc or ps4.

Head Security: @wickedwitchofacnl

• Name: Michelle • Nickname: Mish, mama Mish • Age: 24 • Birthday: October 1st • Timezone: EST • Best Availability: Pretty much at any time, except between midnight and 7 AM • Fave Villager/NPC: Skye • Fave AC Game: ACNL • A little about you: I am a mom of 2.5, I like to be outside and write. I hope one day to become an L&D nurse, or maybe an OBGYN. I love to read and my favorite animal is a penguin.

Co Head Security:

- Jessica - Jess - 19 - 24/09/98 - probably best available in the evening time or late afternoon or weekend mornings (or day cause I'm allowed on my phone at work ) - UK time zone (can never remember proper name lmao) - Benjamin has been my fave for about 5 months but it always changes 😂 - new leaf probably I've spent the most time on it - uh I'm pretty sure you all know me by now, but I have a cat called Murphy who is my fave boi, my created gecko called morph and two fish called tipp and ponyo.. and broccoli is my fave vegetable could eat it all the time 🍒

Head Hacker:

- Candyce - Candy - 17 - January 16, 2001 - Central (USA) - It differs, but usually at night - I love Pudge :) - City Folk - I love cats, plan on becoming a graphic designer, work at a bubble tea shop, and I have celiac, body dysphoria, and lots of anxiety disorders. I've fully recovered from depression and mostly from my eating disorder (it turned into the dysphoria). I'm in a long distance relationship of 4 years and I like to play Wizard101    

Co-Head Hacker: @ladykayacnl

• Name - Kayla • Nickname - Kay, Kaylala, Layla, Kayduhx • Age - 27 • Birthday - September 11 • Timezone - Central • Best Availability - All day • Fave Villager/NPC - Cookie! <3 • Fave AC Game - New Leaf :) • A little about you -I've been married for 8 years and I have 5 kids! I'm an Air Force Veteran :). I love tattoos, music, anime, reading, coffee, and helping people! I suffer from resting bitch face, PTSD, and anxiety. I'm generally really nice until someone messes with my family (both IRL and my Addicts family <3).

Head Services Admin: @chibi-bat

Name: Keisha

Nickname:Red 🦇 Age: 24 💜 Birthday: July 20th 🦇 Timezone: PST 💜 Best Availability: Anytime 🦇 Favorite Villager: Gayle & Lucky 💜 Favorite AC Game: New Leaf 🦇 A Little About Me: I am a natural redhead, a mother of 2 boys and have been with my soul mate for 7 years. (We are officially getting married October 27, 2018) We also have a Jack Russell called Kaia. I love video games, am currently obsessed with Paladins & Overwatch. My dream is to become a published author! I am obsessed with bats, foxes, and all things spooky. My favorite time of the year is fall and I love when it rains. 🎃

Head Landscaper:

🌸 Name • Laird Deanna 🌸 Nickname • Marshmallow Melli (Long story) 🌸 Age • 27 🌸 Birthday • 3rd April 1991 🌸 Timezone • GMT 🌸 Best Availability • Evenings and late nights. 🌸 Fave Villager/NPC • Stitches and Sable 🌸 Fave AC Game • New Leaf by far 🌸 A little about you • I come from one of the largest clans in Scotland and proud of it. I also followed in my families footsteps and am a trained seamstress. I make a lot of clothes for myself, headbands, turn up trousers so they don't drag on the floor cuz I'm a short ass, even made a couple of quilts in my time (currently planning another one)

Co-Head Landscaper:

• Name - Stephanie • Nickname - Don’t really have one but I dislike being called Steph! • Age - 27 • Birthday - January 14th • Timezone - CST • Best Availability - Evenings/Nights/Weekends • Fave Villager/NPC - Ankha & Labelle • Fave AC Game - New Leaf 🍃 • A little about you - I’m a pharmacy technician, licensed esthetician and video game addict. I loooooove cats and baking is my favorite hobby besides ACNL 😍😝

Mods

Alanys. 🌌Nickname: Ally or Marie. 💜 🌠Age: 16. 🌌Birthday: October 18th. 🎃 🌠Timezone: AST. 🌌Availability: 3:30 pm to 10:30pm on weekdays, 12:00pm to around 3:00am on weekends. 🌠Fave villagers/npc: Marshal, Merengue, Étoile (even though I'll never get her card 😥😭) and Resetti. 🌌Fave ac game: New leaf. 🍃 🌠A little about me: I'm from Puerto Rico, I speak spanish and love to teach people about it if they ask, I'm going to uni next year and I absolutely want to be a psychologist. I love to help people and hear a thank you, and for some reason I like to hold doors open for everyone. 😂 I love to read about anything Greek mythology, and sometimes I create my own characters based on it. 🏛 My fav games are Resident Evil 4, Metal Gear Solid, God Of War, Danganronpa and two games on my phone called Mystic Messenger and DBZ Dokkan Battle. My fav food is pasta! 🍝 I hate coffee, but I love hot chocolate, and I have a thing for strawberries, strawberry frappes/smoothies and strawberry popsicles. 🍓 I love spending time with my bf and my mom, mostly when I acompany her to go shopping or help her cook! I like watching cooking videos even though I can burn water. 😂 Other than my main hobbies, I like to read/write fanfics, look at memes, listen to music, dance, and play with babies and animals. 💕 Used to want to be a part time babysitter too haha! 💜 And I also love anything related to the galaxy. 🌌💕

Andrea Nickname🌻 •Andi Age🌼 •19 Birthday💫 •30.12.98 Time zone✨ •UTC + 2 Best availability⚡️ •Depends, but normally 12 pm - 8 pm Fave villager/NPC🌷 •Bob is by far my favourite villager! He is my baby. My favourite NPC would be Isabelle, she’s so sweet. Fave AC game🌟 •New Leaf A little about me😸 I love cats. Almost everything I own is cat related. I currently work in a kindergarten (whenever someone is sick I come in), but my dream is to become a dementia nurse. I’m engaged and we live together in a small apartment in Northern Norway. I struggle with my mental health, but I try my best to beat it and do my best to help out in our lovely group. When I don’t play AC or do admin stuff I play other games (Skyrim, Pokèmon) or watch Netflix😎

Ashleigh

🌺 Nickname: Ash 💖Age: 23 🌺Birthday: 19/12 💖Timezone: ACDT 🌺Best Availability: Anytime 💖Fave Villager/NPC: Bluebear 🌺Fave AC Game: New Leaf 💖A little about you: Other than ACNL, I love playing Sims 4 and Pokemon. My favourite Pokemon happens to be lucario.

Ava

🌈Nickname: Vee 🌺Age: 15 (Mentally 5) 🌈Birthday: January 1, 2003 🌺Timezone: CDT (CST during winter) 🌈Best Availability: I’m available about 70% of the time when I’m not in school 🌺Fave Villager/NPC: Favorite villager is Bob (we share the same birthday!) and my favorite NPC is Isabelle 🌈Fave AC Game: New Leaf 🌺A little about me: Starting in September, I will be a sophomore in high school. I suffer from depression and anxiety. I’m in a very unhealthy relationship with my boyfriend but I’m staying in it anyway because I find it too hard to break up with him. My parents are divorced, so I live with my mom until I am old enough to legally move out, but that doesn’t bother me since I get to live with my three year old sister (I swear she’s the most adorable thing ever) and I’m looking forward to having a baby brother sometime near September! I love video games (but nothing can beat Animal Crossing, in my opinion). I also love hanging with friends, reading, and coffee! And of course, the Addicts family❤️

Berkeley

• Nickname: Borkeley, Jo • Age: 23 • Birthday:June 28th, I'm a cancer! • Timezone: EST • Best Availability: Anytime really. • Fave Villager/NPC: Lily + Sable • Fave AC Game: New Leaf or Population Growing • A little about you: I'm a married cat mom, I'm a twitch streamer + i love Gavin Free. Thats about it!

Christina

• Nickname - Chriss or Vicko • Age - 21 • Birthday - July 24th • Timezone - UTC - 6 CST • Best Availability - Mornings and at night • Fave Villager/NPC - For NPC's, Kapp'n and the Porter, for villagers uff I have lots but specially, Molly and Muffy 　. • Fave AC Game - New leaf • A little about you - I love potatoes, anime and manga :3 , also I'm a student from college, I love doing pics editions, draws and such, so if you guys ever need help with thigns related to this, you now know who to call ;) I also can give spanish classes 😝

Emma • Nickname: I don’t really have one but if you call me Em I’m fine with that! • Age: 24 • Birthday: 16th of December • Timezone: PST • Best Availability: Evenings, nights, and weekends • Fave Villager/NPC: Tex and Lottie! • Fave AC Game: New Leaf 😍 • A little about you: I’m a substitute teacher and I’m in the process of going back to school to get my teaching degree! I hope to be an English teacher at either a middle school or a high school. I love reading and writing and I’m really passionate about sleeping 😂

Hanna Nickname: none Age: 22 Birthday: 4th August 1996 Timezone: GMT (Germany) Best Availability: most of the time, but the highest chance is in the evening Fave villager/NPC: Colton, Lobo Fave Ac Game: New Leaf A little about you: My AC passion started with ACWW and I also love Pokémon (Eevee is my fav) and other RPGs like Skyrim and Fallout. I also love my pets (I have a lot^^), reading books and draw some stuff. I’m a student and study the science of language and and literature (but mostly german literature).

 Hannah 👑 Nickname: Han 👑 Age: 24 👑 Birthday: Feb 7th 👑 Timezone: GMT/BST 👑 Best Availability: Evenings and Weekends 👑 Fave Villager/NPC: Chrissy & Cookie, Celeste 👑 Fave AC Game: New Leaf 👑 A little about you: My favourite Pokemon has always been and will always be Vulpix, so when Alolan Vulpix was revealed I lost my shit. I have anime, I write fanfiction, I write stories and edit for a living, I play a lot of other games like League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Persona, Bloodborne - you name it I've probably played it, I love sunflowers and roses, Sailor Moon is my life and aesthetic forever, and finally, I have three cats <3

Jennifer  • Nickname: Jen or Jenny • Age: 21 • Birthday: February 9th • Timezone: UK, GMT • Best Availability: Late night • Fave Villager/NPC : Whitney and Skye • Fave AC Game : New leaf • A little about you I work in retail maybe 2 days a week, I love animals, Disney, games, drawing, reading and writing. Im self teaching guitar and writing songs as a hobby. Tryng to be a vegetarian which is going well, haven't ate meat in a week, yay. The tv shows I like vary in type, I like: The walking daed, Once upon a time and A series of unfortunate events. Movies I like are mostly Disney , the lion king most of all. I also love animals , especially my dog Amber. I do hope to run my own business to rehalibitate pets and wild animals to find homes and re release the healed ones back into the wild. I also appreciate kind and loyal people 💜

Mollie 💖 Nickname: MolflakeMagic (my main gamer tag & online name) 💚 Age: 19 💖 Birthday: December 1st 💚 Timezone: GMT / BST (UK) 💖 Best Availability: Currently Afternoons through to Night unless I'm with family or my boyfriend :3 💚 Fave Villager / NPC: Goldie!! 😍😊 💖 Fave AC Game: Animal Crossing City Folk 😍😊 💚 A little about me: I'm generally very goofy and always looking to make people laugh and smile. I'm currently preparing to move to Nottingham to study at University in September, so essentially preparing to be an official adulty adult xD I play lots of League in my spare time but also love to design on New Leaf, and I'm currently working on completing all the collections for the museum. I also love to dance and I'm also currently starting to learn Japanese :3 When not with my goofball boyfriend or at home, you can usually find me at my grandparents with my doggy Poppy 😍😊

Panyia 🎀 Nickname: Pan/Panini/Pancakes 🎀 Age: 20 🎀 Birthday: Feb. 16th 🎀 Timezone: PST (soon to be HST) 🎀 Best Availability: Depends, usually 12pm - 10 pm 🎀 Fave Villager/NPC: Coco/Celeste 🎀 Fave AC Game: New Leaf 🎀 A little about you: I’m soon-to-be engaged, going to be moving in with my partner very soon. Im usually playing any Harvest Moon game series when I’m not playing AC and helping out with the group. I’ve played other games but it’s too many to name lol. I love watching anime too! They all help me with my mental health and depression, which I try not to let them get to me when I’m helping out with our group ❤️

Ruth 🌸Age: 21 🌸Birthday: 25th December 🌸Timezone: BST/GMT 🌸Best Availability: Usually evenings or any day that I’m off work 🌸Fave villager/NPC: Apple and my fave npc is Kicks ❤️ 🌸Fave AC Game: New Leaf 🌸 A Little about me: I have lived in the south west part of the uk all of my life with my parents and older brother. I love cats so much, I used to have a black cat called Twinkle but he was very ill and passed away from a heart murmur at only 7 years old. I now have a calico called Poppy who I love very much ❤️ I have suffered from anxiety and depression, with the occasional severe migraine (to the point I passed out) since 2013 (but thank goodness I’m nowhere near as bad now) I also love an incredible KPop band called BTS (you may have heard me talk about them already 😛) and playing games like Animal Crossing and Zelda ❤️ Sorry I’m rambling now 😂😂 

[hopbrewco]

Comedy Night featuring Candyce Musinski

Candyce Musinski is a stand-up comic, writer, and actor based in Brooklyn, New York. While living in New York, she has performed in famed clubs such as The Comedy Cellar, New York Comedy Club, Comic Strip, and Gotham. Nationwide, she has performed at several other well-known venues, including the Laugh Factory, Funny Bone, and the Stress Factory. But her favorite place to perform is in hostel basements and old man bars.

Candyce produces and hosts the comedy show, “Not Right Now Comedy,” which has been featured regularly in TimeOut New York magazine. Candyce and her cohost, Meagan Walsh, have been running the show in Brooklyn for over six years. They have also taken NRN Comedy on the road for nationwide tours.

Candyce also runs and hosts another comedy show, “Dive Bar Blondes,” with comedian Kendra Cunningham, in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Since last year, Candyce has focused on writing and online Zoom shows. She has also performed spots on dozens of outdoor/rooftop comedy shows, including “The Tiny Cupboard.” After ten years of comedy in New York, Candyce plans to move down south to discover the comedy scenes she has heard so much about.

[bazzledazzled]

Chai Tea

Description: Alyce fic written for @insomnialexwriter​ for Christmas. Coffee Shop/Supernatural AU

Pairing: Alyce

Warnings: Angst, fluff

Word Count: 3k

The tray wobbled in my grip, the tea cups clattering. My apron was already stained with hot chocolate, tea, coffee, and somehow cupcake frosting. To say my first day of work was not going well would be an understatement. It was a disaster. 

I tripped over my own two feet at least twenty times, causing my tray to topple onto the hardwood floors of the cafe. I broke at least ten cups and saucers and I’m pretty sure my manager is thinking about firing me on the spot. My hands shake as I pour a cup of coffee, spilling some on my hands. I intake sharply, quickly putting the coffee pot down and running my hand under cold water, wiping the counter. The door dings, signaling that someone else has walked into the door.

“Be there in a sec,” I say, drying off my hand. I finish pouring the coffee and call out the name for it, not bothering to serve it to the stupid table. I’m alone out here and I feel overwhelmed.

I go to the cash register, setting it up for another order.

“Hello welcome to 12:42 may I take your order?” I look up and my eyes connect with beautiful brown ones and my breath catches. They push their hair out of their eyes, looking up at the menu and I wonder what the little flip my heart’s doing is.

“I’ll have the… chai latte with honey,” they say with a smile. A blush spreads across my face and I gulp.

“Is that for here or for to go?” They think for a moment before saying, “For here.” I fumble to grab the cup and I set it up to make it. I punch in the numbers and say in a shaky voice, “That’ll be three dollars and ten cents.” They fish money out of their pocket, their purple hair falling over their face again. I can’t look away from them.

“Keep the change,” they say, holding out a five dollar bill. I gulp and take the money, squeaking slightly when my hand brushes theirs. They walk off and head to a table, pulling out a laptop and typing rapidly and looking like they’re doing some pretty intense stuff. I then remember that I have a tea to make and I scramble for the ingredients, bumping my head on the counter when I get a gallon of milk from the fridge. I huff, sitting on the floor and questioning my existence.

I finally manage to get the tea perfect and I set the cup on my tray, walking towards the customer from earlier. They look up and smile, causing me to stumble.

Everything after that seemed to go in slow motion. I tripped over the untied laces of my converse decorated with a bunch of fandom junk and the tray flies forward, dumping the tea on the mysterious person. I fall into them, both of us sprawled out on the booth. I gasp, scrambling up, willing myself not to break down in tears.

“Oh my gods I’m so sorry I’m super clumsy I didn’t mean to—“ They laugh.

“Don’t worry. It’s okay… Candyce,” they say, checking my name tag. I blush. They look around.

“Are you here alone?” I nod slowly. They huff.

“Of course you are. Look it’s okay, it’s okay.” I rub my eyes.

“It’s just my first day and I don’t know what to do—“ I hiccup and they put their hand on my shoulder.

“Hey it’s okay. I’ll help you clean up the mess.”

“No-no you don’t need to—“

“But I want to. The names Alex,” they say with a smile. My heart flutters the tiniest bit.

After a long moment of extremely flustered behavior, we pick up the broken cup and saucer and clean up the tea. Alex talks to me, calming my nerves, saying how they like my Hamilton t-shirt and my converse. I blush and slowly start to talk to them about my many fandoms. As it turns out, they have many of the same ones and I grin widely, going off and talking about fan theories and how I write fanfiction. They say they do to, but it’s on hold for their novel. I sneakily ask to have a spoiler, but they refuse to give it.

“It has to be a surprise,” Alex says. I sigh.

“Mmkay.” I finish out my shift and they stay, surprising me slightly. I figured they’d leave after they finished their tea that took twice as long to get to their table as it did to make. Before I knew it, I was starting to close up shop, yet they still sat there.

“Hey uh you kinda should get going…” I say to Alex, who’s the only person in the cafe. They look up.

“Hmm?”

“It’s getting late…” Alex looks outside.

“Shoot my parents are going to be mad.” They gather their stuff, shoving it in their bag and I turn a rag in my hands, nervous. They smile at me.

“Are you working here tomorrow?” I hesitate and nod. They grin.

“Well then I’ll catch you tomorrow?” I gulp and nod.

“Awesome.” They give me one last smile, then rush out the door, shrugging on their backpack. I may be swooning but I’m not entirely sure.

I start to wipe off the tables, putting the chairs up. I’m almost finished cleaning up when a chair falls off the table, causing me to jump. I take a deep breath, walking over to it and putting it back on. As I do another chair falls. I furrow my brow and put that one up as well.

Then they all fall, causing me to yelp. My eyes go wide and I turn to the doors. They slam and a jar of sugar crashes on the floor, shattering. I run to the doors, adrenaline rushing through my body. I push at them and they don’t open. I gasp and the bookshelves start to shake, books falling on the floor. My breathing starts to get heavier and I bang on the doors.

“HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!” I keep yelling until my voice is hoarse, but nobody seems to hear me. I turn around seeing a glowing figure. I don’t know why but he vaguely looks like Simon Snow. I furrow my brow.

But I don’t get a chance to solve the mystery because a book flies forward and hits me straight in the face. The doors behind me open as I fall against them and into someone’s arms. I look up.

“Al...ex?” Then, I pass out.

When I wake up I hear beeping and I bolt up. I’m met with Alex again and I gasp. They push me back down, telling me to calm down. I rub my head.

“What… What happened?”

“You hit your head. I heard you screaming and I thought someone tried to attack you. But when I got there nobody was there.” I scratch my head, trying to remember. I groan. Today has been awful.

Alex sits on my bed, taking my hand. It’s completely strange, having this stranger hold my hand, but it’s oddly comforting.

“Are you okay.” I take a deep breath.

“I think so? I mean I have an awful headache but yeah.” They smile a little and I smile back.

“What happened?” I rub my eyes, wondering if that’s what I actually saw.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I did.” They smirk.

“Try me.” Taking a deep breath, I explain what happened, my hand instantly tightening on theirs as my heart pounds with the thought of it.

“Is it just me or did you just become the introduction of a Supernatural book?” I gasp, a grin spreading across my face.

“You’ve watched Supernatural?” Alex nods, grinning widely. It takes me a moment to process the fact that we like the same book series, and even longer to process what she just said.

“You don’t think—“ I don’t even have to finish. She knows what I’m going to say.

“Definitely.” I run my hands through my hair, gasping.

“Holy freaking schnitzel.” My head hurts. Does this mean that angels and demons and spirits are all real?

There’s a knock at the hospital door and me and Alex jump. The doctor walks in.

“Everything seems to be good here. The FBI are here to ask you a few questions.” I turn to Alex and Alex turns to me.

“Agents Jones and Winchester,” a voice says, walking through the door. I slap Alex’s arm excitedly, just to make sure she is seeing what I’m seeing.

“Would you care to explain the scene to us, Miss. Rayburn?” I gulp, then explain what happened. They nod along, exchanging looks every so often. Alex perks up when I describe how the ghost looks.

“Wait Simon Snow? As in, from Carry On?” My jaw seems to drop even further.

“Okay we need to have a full on conversation about fandoms ASAP.” Alex laughs in an adorable way and I blush. Sam coughs and then we seem to remember that they’re still there. Then we seem to remember that they’re freaking Sam and Dean Winchester.

“Oh my gods you guys are real,” I burst out. They furrow their brow. Then a look of understanding passes across Dean’s face.

“Supernatural.” We both nod, looking at them with admiration and amazement. Then, before we can stop ourselves, questions and questions pour from our lips, all about ships and theories. They look like they feel awkward.

“Uh we have to go….” And then they go.

A few weeks later I was out of the hospital like nothing happened. My parents were a little more protective over me, but for the most part things stayed the same. I had a few weeks off of work, for recovery and stuff, and I found myself grow closer and closer to Alex. We seemed to hang out almost constantly, laughing and giggling about fandoms and ships and weird things going on in school. We liked to bake cookies and scones with each other, our elbows accidentally knocking together a few times on the tight counter space.

Our first sleepover was spent pointing out everything wrong with every movie adaptation of a book ever. To start, of course, we had Percy Jackson.

“Even Percy now doesn’t have a shot at defeating Annabeth in a duel,” I say, shoving kettle corn in my mouth. I reach my hand into the bowl the same time as Alex does and our hands brush, causing me and them to blush. We quickly turn away from each other.

“Exactly,” they say, focusing their eyes intently on the screen. Meanwhile I’m looking into their face.

“Like you can’t just learn how to wield a freaking sword that fast Percy. I don’t care if your the son of Poseidon.” That causes me to giggle and Alex to turn to me, smiling shyly.

“They messed up these movies really badly.” I nod, grinning toothily. “That’s the way of the fandom.”

Halfway through the extreme movie marathon my eyes start to flutter. I don’t know when, but somehow me and Alex started to move closer together, arms wrapped around each other and cuddling. I feel safe and warm there, like nothing can hurt me, no monster or ghost or anything. Sure, the danger seems to have passed, Sam and Dean are gone, but that doesn’t mean that the dreams stopped. I keep remembering being trapped in that room, trying to run away but having nowhere to go.

Alex’s hands softly run through my hair and my breath catches. “You tired?” They ask. I gulp, trying to calm my racing heart and nod. They start to move away and I clutch onto their arm.

“Where are you going?” I ask. They smile a little.

“I know you’re the host, but I’m taking the couch.” I gulp and the words escape my lips before I can stop them.

“Stay.” Something I can't put my finger on passes over their face, and a small part of me hopes it’s the same adrenaline of this weird feeling going through me, but the tiny voice in the back of my mind whispers, “No homo.” I sigh.

They lay back down inches from me, our faces so close that I can feel their warm breath on my face. I blush even more. They’re eyes scan mine.

“Candy… you okay?” Everyone calls me that, but it seems extra special when she does.

“What do you mean?”

“Since the attack.” I take a deep, rattling breath.

“As good as I can be.” They run their hands through their hair.

“Chuck I should’ve stayed.”

“And done what? Fight the air?” They huff.

“I don’t know.” Their eyes flick away from mine and I grab their hands just because it feels right.

“It’s not your fault. Plus the ghost is gone and we’ll never have to worry about it again.” They sigh and nod, smiling at me. That’s when three words slip out of their mouth. They ring in my ears all night.

My eyes flutter open slowly, feeling heavy. My eyes go to the clock, wondering what time it is. It’s three am. I rub my eyes.

Everything is silent and still, the wind outside being the only thing making any noise. I sit up, debating on going back to sleep.

That’s when the TV turns on. The weird thing is, this time it’s on Netflix, playing Voltron. I scramble for the remote, trying to turn it off, but it doesn’t turn off. I get up and try to manually turn it off, but it doesn’t work.

Then, like some horror movie I’ve never seen, a figure starts to emerge from the TV and I yelp, waking Alex up.

“What’s going on?” They say, their eyes locking with mine before they even move. I’m pale and I can’t move and they rush towards me, pulling me into a hug. “What’s wrong?” I point to the figure. It now seems to have taken the form of Lance.

“Lance?” Alex seems confused. Then the ghost or whatever it is turns towards us.

“Why did you kill me, Candyce?” he says. I whimper, confused. From my notebook, sitting on the floor, another one of them springs up, this one taking the form of Damon from Beyond the Pages, a book I abandoned years ago.

“Why did you kill us?” Alex pushes me behind themselves, brandishing a book. Everything is so confusing.

“Why do they think you killed them? They’re fictional characters.” I whimper, not knowing what is going on. We move back and I trip over the table. From the book Alex holds, Simon appears again.

“You killed us. Now we’re going to kill you.”

“WHAT THE CHUCK ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT?” Alex screams, pulling me close. I think and I think long and hard. My eyes fall on my notebook. I gasp.

“What?” I grab Alex’s arm.

“They’re book characters I wrote fanfiction about. Fanfictions where I killed them.”

“Curse you and your insanely good angst fics,” Alex growls. I blush.

“They’re not that good…” They turn to me, their face completely serious.

“Yes. They are.” A lamp flies up and hurtles towards us before I even have a chance to protest. I only dodge it because Alex pulls me to the ground, blushing slightly.

“Sorry I didn’t want you to get hurt.” Now I’m blushing.

“They have to be coming from somewhere,” I say as a new one starts to take form. They look an awful lot like Castiel, yet another character that I’ve killed through heart throbbing fanfiction.

“The journal!” Alex shouts.

“What?”

“That’s where you write all the stories.” My eyes light up.

“You go get the salt. I’ll get the journal.”

“But—“ I don’t listen to their protests. I creep behind the couch, snatching up my notebook. A ghost races towards me and I yelp as it knocks me to the ground. I look around for something to hit it with and my hand flies to my iron necklace. I quickly take it off and hit the ghost with it. It vanishes and I scramble to my feet. I race up the steps where Alex is in the kitchen with the salt and a lighter. We race outside, the cold biting our faces. I throw the notebook on the ground and Alex salts it.

The ghosts come out into the backyard and I hear my dog barking.  Alex takes my hand.

“Ready?” I nod and they light the match.

But before they can burn the book, a ghost attacks Alex from behind, their hand hitting a rock.

“Alex!” I shreik. I see blood of and tears well in my eyes. A ghost lunges for me and I close my eyes, wondering if this is how I die.

Then I hear gunshots and they back away. I open my eyes to find Sam and Dean.

“Wha—“

“BURN THE DAMN NOTEBOOK!” I scramble for the lighter and set the notebook aflame. One the ghosts disappear I scramble to Alex.

“Alex!” I scream, my voice hoarse. I don’t know how to find their pulse and I don’t know if they’re breathing. I start to fear the worst as I bury my face in they’re shoulder, holding them tightly. They gasp and relief floods over me.

“Candy—“ they say. I pull them closer, my body shaking with a sob.

“Gods Alex you scared me.” I nuzzle them and they smirk slightly.

“It takes more than that to kill me, Candy.”  

A few months later I was still working at 12:42. Alex seemed to visit everyday I was working, making sure I was okay and tipping me a generous amount. I begged them to stop, but they never did.

It was Christmas. Snow was falling outside, painting the scene in a beautiful shade of white. We were busier than ever and I hardly had time to talk to anyone, but today was one of our slow days and I was hanging up Christmas decorations when Alex walks through the door, looking like a goddess as she shakes the snow from her hair and beanie. They look up at me on the ladder.

“Christmas decorations. Sweet.” I smile.

“‘Tis that time of year.” They smile back and go over to the decoration box, rummaging through it.

“Can I help?”

“Sure.” Soon all the decorations are up and I turn to Alex, a cheesy grin on my face that only comes when I’m around them. Quickly, before they can change their mind, they hold up something.

“Mistletoe,” they say quickly before kissing my cheek. I go as red as the berries on the mistletoe.

“You missed,” I murmur

“Huh?” Then I pull them into a kiss.

[auntiem4cabs]

  POLAND-

Lawrence E. Frichtel Jr., 82

Memorial Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 8,2011 at St. Paul the Apostle Church in New Middletown , for Larry E. Frichtel Jr., 82 of Poland, who passed away Wednesday afternoon at his residence surrounded by his family. Larry was born February 28, 1928 in Latrobe, PA, a son of Lawrence E. and Margaret A. Chernitsky Frichtel Sr. and has been a resident of the Youngstown area since 1936. He graduated from South High School with the Class of 1946. Larry was a veteran who served as a United States Marine during the end of WWII and the Korean War. He worked for the United States Post Office as a carrier and a labor relations representative and retired after 41 years of service. He was past president of the letter carrier’s union NALC#385. He leaves his wife of over 50 years Rosemary Dugan whom he married May 7, 1955. He will also be sadly missed by his son, Thomas J. Frichtel of Boardman, his two daughters , Mary Virginia Frichtel Williams and Margaret “Meg” (William) Harris both of Boardman; three sisters, Lillian (Albert) Pishioneri of Freehold, NJ, Dolores Kotheimer of Sharpsburg, GA, Tressa (Don) Best of Salem; four granddaughters, Candyce Frichtel, Ashlie Frichtel, Briana Harris, Sheila Harris; two great-grandchildren, Zailin Gatts and Carlie Ann Wolf. Besides his parents he was preceded in death by his step-mother Tressa Frichtel and three brothers, James, William and Robert.

Nine years ago today, my dad went home. I can barely write about him because if I could use ONE word to describe him, I would have to tell you how humble he was. Then again I would have to tell you how honorable he was. And loyal, to everyone he came in contact with. Honest. My dad was the most honest man you will have ever met. Oh, and wise. Wise to a fault. He had these ‘gifts’. I probably couldn’t think of someone who was like him. My dad, served twice in the Korean War. My dad grew up during the depression and oddly , he never spoke of it. And more than that, my dad never spoke of his past. He was quiet about things that affected his life in not so good ways. When he was 5 years old, he found out from neighborhood kids that his ‘mom’ was not his mom. My grandma passed away and my grandpa remarried, but they never  spoke of that. He never knew that my grandma  wasn’t his real mom until he was made  fun of for  not having a mom. I didn’t find this out til I was in my 30’s.  Other things about my dad, I found out and he never intended to announce things. I didn’t know he served in Korea two times until his passing. He was never boastful about being a Marine, obviously. His time in the military was not a topic of conversation. My dad. 50 plus years he and my mom were married. What a testimony. 

I’d like to tell you what a warm and loving relationship my dad and I had, but I can’t. We didn’t have any relationship at all. Him and my sister and brother were close. He taught them about finances and he showed them how to live right. I was quite the disappointment. Every time I turned around, I disappointed my folks. The last year or so of his life was our best time. I came home from California and spent most of my time with him and my mom. My dad had a rough last year. He suffered and passed away from COPD. But not one time did he complain. He could have shut me out like I did him, but he welcomed me back and on New Year’s Day, evening, he called me in his bedroom and said “Thank you for making this New Years so good.” He asked for German Chocolate Cake and pork and sauerkraut for dinner. “Thank you for cooking and the cake was perfect. Thank you for helping your mom out, and its good for you to spend time with her. I wish we would have always been this way with each other.”  We said goodnight and I bawled the entire way home. He went to bed and never woke up. He passed away 4 days later. I miss that man. I miss everything we should have had. He wasn’t an ogre, and if I weren’t such a rebel, we could have had much more than we ever did. 

  My dad had 4 loves in his life. Gifts, given to him by my brother and sister. Candyce, Ashlie, Briana and Sheila. They were the light of his life. They were his world. He never missed an event with those girls. All he talked about were his granddaughters. He  vacationed with them, he took them out, he kept them busy all summer long. He radiated when he spoke of them. He loved them so dearly. I truly believe that the worst day of his life is when my niece Briana was crowned homecoming queen and he was too sick to come and see her get crowned. Boy did he love those girls. 

  I would go and sit with him in his last days. That gave my mom a chance to nap, or go and grocery shop, or just drive up and down the street for a few minutes. 9 years today I went over and sent my mom to bed and asked if he would like me to read to him, or shall we watch Judge Judy. I told him he would probably like me to finish the book I was reading to him. I always prayed for a reaction to my jokes, or when I would bother him with questions. Just hoping for a sign of life. “We” decided to finish the book. It was 2:20 and I noticed how parched he was. I asked him if he wanted a Rolling Rock… so instead of a cold beer, I swabbed his lips and mouth with cold water. I was talking to him. And I said “Dad, if you are tired, its okay to let go.”  And…he did. The moment he took his last breath, my niece Candyce called and she asked if grandpa was okay.  She felt like he wasn’t and needed to know. Her and Ashlie live about 45 minutes from here and she said “we are on our way”. I had to go wake up my mom.   “Mom” I said, and she jumped up and knew. My parents, my aunt and uncle and Paul and I are body donors at The College of Medicine in Rootstown

( https://medcure.org/donor/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAr8bwBRD4ARIsAHa4YyKdyXTn_dxrcSJbXCOCfwN-jlk5K07C9_LyoVS5gC1snYU9_1Syu5saAghwEALw_wcB )

and you only have 4 hours to get the body to the college. So I called there to let them know, my sister called relatives and my brother started cooking. We knew the entire family would want to come and say ‘goodbyes’ before the took him away. One of the guys who came and took his body said “Larry Frichtel? I worked with him at the Post Office! Wonderful guy, I ‘m sorry for your loss. And what a loss it was. 

I love you dad… until we meet again. 

    My Dad POLAND- Lawrence E. Frichtel Jr., 82 Memorial Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, January 8,

[thoughtsofdarc]

Wow, just fricking wow! I am just, wow. Loving this! The pacing and detail is beautifully done. I am so excited for this, thank you for writing it! Candyce

Thank you so much for reading! ❤️

[writeofjayysenn]

The Dream that Analyzes Itself

I woke up this morning shaking and confused. My dream had been talking to me. And in it, I had found enough inconsistency to make my friend disappear. It began on the final note of what I can tell by the emotions I felt must have been a perfectly and powerfully performed song. I was singing at a mixed student and alumni talent show at my high school along with my two best friends. One sat down while the other told a joke and laughed the way only my real friend Coral can. She went to sit down, and I grabbed back my microphone to tell everyone about my friend Coral. "As you all know, I now work at Best Buy Corporate." I realized I've said the next part dozens of times in real life and should probably find a new way to tell the story. "We have 4 buildings, with 6-8 floors each that are two city blocks long. When my friend Coral laughs, sounding just like... like..." I stop as I'm looking at my friends sitting on a bench in the back. I had said "my friend Coral" as I met eyes with one of them, and couldn't now figure out her name. The situation made itself worse when I noticed she was a "fat chick" as Coral loves to call herself, had her legs wrapped for lymphedema therapy, and was sipping on a strawberry smoothie from Jamba Juice. The only thing I could find that made her unlike Coral was that she was black and from school, not work. And... she could sing. But Coral being kicked out of choir is a different story. "What's your name; I can't remember." "You think I'm telling you my name when you announce to the whole school you can't remember? That's on you, baby." "C'mon - I just can't remember because I said Coral's name while looking at you!" I realized now I obviously had told her about Coral before. She just stared at me with a judging glance, refusing to give in. I lay my microphone down on the stage and go over to her. She was nearly in tears. I looked deep into her eyes and began to recognize her less and less, rather than more strongly. She gave me clues, but not her name, telling me she's "named after the most famous fat black lady ever." It doesn't help. I look over at the other friend, Candyce. "I know your name, you're Candyce." I look back at my other friend. "Now why don't I know your name?" I mull over all the famous black ladies I can think of, realizing none of those names match the name of any friend I had in high school. "I don't have a friend named after a famous black lady." Poof! She disappears before my eyes. I'm startled, but keep my composure. I look to Candyce as she begins to talk to me in an aggravated, judgmental tone. "You didn't know her from high school, now did you?" I realized I didn't. "You didn't have ANY friends in high school, did you?" I realized I didn't. "I'm not real either, but I'm here to talk to you. Aretha didn't exist. But you just had to go and figure that out and make her disappear. Do you know how hard it is to get somebody back when they've been pointed out as an inconsistency in a dream?" "I'm sorry. Really. Why do I know your name then? I even know you hate being called Candy, but everyone keeps doing it today because you're sitting on a short bench, so they pass that perception into the name they call you. But you didn't exist, so why are you still here?" "I'm not an inconsistency - I'm a moderator. Enough about that. Aretha is your projection of Coral. That's why you associated them. But your associating them was the mistake. You were supposed to win the contest! You've become so close to Coral you forget you've only been friends with her for two years. You perceive her the same way people perceive a life-long friend, without realizing that's a forward-looking perception, not historically based. She didn't have a name because I didn't realize she'd need one. You weren't supposed to make a speech about Coral. I made her name Aretha and put it in your brain, and you got it, but didn't believe it. The damage had already been done. Oh well. I don't exist, we all don't exist, only you exist. The point of this dream was to show you how important Coral is in your life. Don't mess it up. And never EVER forget her name." And - I woke up. Did my dream just talk to me? Did it just psychoanalyze itself? I got up, used the bathroom, walked into the living room, and flopped down into a chair, mulling over the experience. I decided if I'm going to think it through, I should at least write it down for everyone else. If you've got a friend who's important to you, make sure they know it. And by all means, don't forget their name.

[clearlyseverepolice-blog]

Time Management  - 4 Powerful Benefits Of Effective Time Management

In our life too we have some things are usually very close to our souls. It means you execute, watch your data, then shift your strategies driven by what the information tells your http://clarityconsultants.com/what-we-do/ #x-organization-development">site . Yes clues about is very funny. Sadly though, provides you with is possible. Its true because many of your styles and approaches that computer programmers take when writing software are not pretty. Worse still, I've not yet check out these common styles, techniques, quirks or approaches someplace. Which means that we do not talk to fix it. Delegation but another skill you require. When you move into a team leader role, you will to on-line to pass the working on to people Clarity Consulting your business. This includes a blend of knowing what your team is doing, and knowing their experience. Juggling the priority of one's team's job is another part of delegation and team leaders. So there it is eat less and exercise more to shed pounds. Simple. So why isn't content marketing strategy ? Well here are a couple of simple strategies to help you remain on track and shed the excess weight you really would like.

It astounds me when i work along with a top executive that does not understand the basic concepts of project management definition. For example; people like you have we need a planning place? If you do not plan you don't need a schedule or any idea exactly what the tasks are, or how many people you need to. You don't know to understand purchase, build, or need space for the purpose of. I'm not sure how and where you start without a thought. 4) AVOID FAD DIETS: You cannot lose weight quickly and keep it shut off. I will repeat this after again. You cannot lose weight quickly and keep it off. There is no super food or exotic system, there is no that offer genuine results that work. The maximum body fat you safely lose is 2-3 pounds 7 days. This takes genuine effort and may not be done right away. In my coaching practice and Consulting and speaking engagements, I soon found that beauty wasn't the only issue misrepresented. In fact, along with time back links us reach midlife, surely has been plagued with millions of messages which usually anything but supportive. I will state you that, without fail, EVERY SINGLE TIME I talk to some prospective new private investor I remind them or bring up in one method or another that substantial making more money by investing with me because natural habitat getting nickel & dimed on fees and other outlays that eat away at returns occasion. It's very, extremely important that possess to a strong unique selling proposition possess market to and seek the advice of private professionals. Setting yourself apart by not chipping away at their nest-egg with non-value added is really a good thing to boost your wrapping. Only till you have assumed a viable personal management plan will you be able to obtain professional popularity. Knowing how to plan out your normal activities with precise organization will teach you the skills necessary to focus on goals (personal or professional) and achieve them. For example where an individual store the records? The Japanese word for DIFFICULT is definitely not so much different from Everyday terms. And training module process in preparing for your PMP exam is selecting some of PMP simulators. You've sunk billions into this HP-UX thing over the years and months. If you just aim for it lifted, that fees are $4500 to 5000. Outcome 1: Greed and corruption win. write complex software, taught project everyone involved project, software developer business, careers, computers and technology, management, fitness & exercise, fertility & pregnancy, drugs & medications, diseases & conditions, dieting & weight loss, alternative medicine, health, computers, software, productivity, career management, web design, internet and businesses online, certification tests, automotive, weight loss, health and fitness, real estate, marketing, reference and education, education, small business, project management I'm Candyce and Excellent it. She is really fond of to do aerobics and she'll be starting something else along going without running shoes. Georgia has always been home. The job I've been occupying sodas is a librarian and it is something Prefer enjoy.

[fatmiddleagedginger]

2016: My Year in Review…

January 5th, 2017

    Here we are in 2017 and as with every New Year, we make our resolutions to save money, lose weight, write that book we’ve been talking about writing for years, maybe find love, or resolve to stay single. But one thing I think we can all agree on is that 2016 absolutely sucked! This year in particular was like having a relationship gone sour. At first it started out really good, but then by the end, 2016 became that really abusive boyfriend that we wanted to be rid of once and for all. So here are my top 10 reasons as to why 2016 should be killed with fire. But there were also some good things too which I will share later in this blog.

10. We 80’s kids had our childhood destroyed before our very eyes!

    There have always been deaths of celebrities, that is a given. But why did this year in particular hit us hard? Well, maybe it was like 2016 decided to say, “Hey… you got a nice childhood there. It would be ashamed if… well you know… something happened to it.” At the end of 2015, David Bowie released Blackstar, which was his greatest album ever (Lazarus gives me chills every time I hear it). Based on the success, we all thought it was going to be the year Bowie and then the unthinkable happened. Blackstar was released on January 8th, 2016, and then two days later we lost one of the best artists of our generation.

    But it didn’t stop there! 4 days later, we would lose Alan Rickman, followed by Vanity, Gary Shandling, Chyna, Prince, Patty Duke, Muhammad Ali, Gary Marshall, Alexis Arquette, Kenny Baker, Gene Wilder, Pete Burns, Janet Reno, Leonard Cohen, Florence Henderson, Ron Glass, John Glenn, Alan Thicke, Zsa Zsa Gabor, George Micheal, Carrie Fisher, and Debbie Reynolds. With these deaths, it was almost like 2016 took a massive shit on our childhood and didn’t care.

Check out the full list of celebrity deaths here.

9. #BREXIT

    Ever since I was a kid, I have always wanted to live in the UK. But this year, especially with #brexit, it has really opened my eyes. And if anything, this particular event kind of foretold our future here in the states come November (I will go into that later on). Since leaving the EU, hate crimes in England against Muslims and other minorities have risen by 42%. A total of 3,076 incidents were recorded across the country between 16 and 30 June – a dramatic increase on the 915 reports recorded over the same period in 2015. Also the British pound has dropped by 14% compared to the US Dollar and by 13% compared to the Euro. The last time the British pound dropped this low was 31 years ago.

Pound Drops to Three-Decade Low against Dollar on Brexit Concerns

Hate crimes surge by 42% in England and Wales since Brexit result

#8 Aleppo

    For those of us who had just been made aware of this war in 2016, this is not a new war at all; in fact this civil war has been going on for years. Thousands of men, women and children have been killed in the conflict. But the level fighting has only escalated just this year alone.

Authorities scramble to evacuate 50,000 civilians from Aleppo

Mass graves filled with mutilated bodies discovered in Aleppo: Russia

#7 Nice Terror Attack

    Bastille Day is a big deal, and a time of celebration of French independence. But all of that would be come crashing to an end when Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a 19 ton truck at high speed through the crowd, killing 86 and injuring hundreds. ISIS would take credit for this catastrophe.

#6 Donald Fucking Trump!

    Right wing wackos rejoiced when this overgrown Cheeto was elected. Some even compared his to Jesus Christ and even thanked God after 8 years of Obama. Also since this election, hate crimes against minorities, women and Muslims have gone up here in the states. Unfortunately, now that Trump is in power, it will be empowering more white racists to be open with their hate, all while saying it is their freedom to say whatever they want. And our President-elect looking into the camera during a recent 60 minutes interview and telling his followers to ‘stop it’ just isn’t enough.

#5 Pulse Nightclub attack

    On June 12th, a man called 911, pledged his allegiance to ISIS, and walked into PULSE Nightclub in Orlando with a gun, killing 49 people, and wounding 53 others. This was biggest incident of violence and loss of life in the LGBTQ community. Most of the victims were Latino. The standoff lasted for about three hours until the shooter was killed by Orlando police.

#4 Y’all Queda aka Vanilla ISIS aka Ammon Bundy and his Posse

    Yes! We are going there! Earlier in 2016, Ammon Bundy and his cronies decided to take over a federal government building in my home state of Oregon. They were armed with semi-automatic rifles, but yet, they were not deemed terrorists! These inbred sheep fuckers seized control over a wildlife refuge near Burns, Oregon. But even though they did the exact same thing as ISIS and other known terrorist groups, Ammon Bundy assured the press that they were not terrorists, they were just patriots. So as a result, their little standoff lasted about 42 days, and during this time they were asking for snacks from supporters, but they all they got were dildos and lube! But if they were that desperate for snacks, they should have taken a cue from the Donner party.

      Eventually, Bundy and his gang were acquitted of all charges, which I personally think is bullshit. Now if Y’all Queda had not been white and did the exact same thing, the standoff would not have lasted as long. If anything, this event has shown me that when it comes to skin color and religion, there is a double standard.

#3 Harambe

    On May 27th a three year old boy fell 15 feet into a gorilla cage at the Cincinnati Zoo. Over the next 10 minutes, Harambe became increasingly "agitated and disoriented" by the screams of onlookers. He dragged the child through the water, occasionally propping him up when he sat, or pushing him down when he stood. Harambe exhibited "strutting" behavior—walking around with legs and arms stiffly extended to appear bigger—a bluffing move, though one with inherent danger should he throw or drag the boy around too roughly. Harambe then carried the boy up a ladder out of the moat onto dry land. Afraid for the boy's life, zoo officials made the decision to kill the gorilla, doing so with a single gunshot. Cincinnati firefighters said the boy was between Harambe's legs when the shot was fired. Harambe was killed one day after his 17th birthday.

      Some say the zoo was to blame, and others say the parents were to blame. From what I read and what I saw from the videos and pictures that circulated that day, it was apparent that Harambe was trying to save that child’s life. And as a result of him being shot, this poor gentle creature had become an unfortunate internet meme.

#2 Why #alllivesmatter just needs to stop right now

    With the police shootings of many African-American people happening all throughout this year, some of my fellow white people have posted the hashtag #alllivesmatter, and to be perfectly honest this makes me cringe. I as a white person used this hashtag at first, thinking I was standing in solidarity with my black brothers and sisters, but the reality is that it made me look like a racist asshole. Especially with the climate of this recent election season, a lot of Trump supporters were also using this hashtag making it null and void. Sure all lives do matter, but those that did use this particular hastag, actually started picking and choosing which lives did matter to them. So as white allies, #alllivesmatter needs to die in a fire right fucking now, and we need to acknowledge that #blacklivesmatter because our black friends and loved ones need us.

      And also let’s stop speaking for the black community, let’s sit back and listen to them. As white people we need to be aware of our white privilege. And what I mean by that is not high jacking a thread online written by a person of color, not whitesplaining to our black friends on issues that affect their community when it comes to police brutality and cultural appropriation (I have fellow white friends who do this), and most of all just using our white privilege for good instead of evil. And when one of our fellow white people uses that hashtag online, we need to call them out on it and explain why it does more harm than good.

#1 The US Election

       I will not lie! This has been a shit storm to end all shit storms. In the primaries, I voted for Bernie Sanders. But I did promise myself that no matter who won in my party that I will vote blue no matter who. So when the elections of November came up, I took my ballot to the ballot box and casted my choice for Hillary. I had some reservations about Mrs. Clinton, but I knew she would have been a better choice than the overgrown Cheeto that we have now. If this election has shown me anything, we still have a long way to go before we can combat sexism, misogyny, racism, xenophobia, religious intolerance, homophobia, and hatred before we can move forward as a civilized society. And it also showed me, and the rest of America, that Electoral college is an antiquated system that no longer needs to be in place since they do not listen to the will of the people. Just look at what happened to Al Gore in the 2000 race.

       But I’m going to end this blog on a negative note. Even though 2016 sucked for the most part there were the top 10 things things that made us smile such as…

10. Chewbacca Mom

    After watching this video, I have to say it was the best four minutes of my life. Candyce Payne is a mom who not only broke the Facebook video view record; she made us laugh with her, and we will never see a Chewbacca mask the same way again.

9. Unemployment hits the lowest level since the recession

    In the last two months of 2016 the unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent which was the lowest in nine years! So suck on that Obama haters!

8. Women of color make history on election night

    Several women of color made political history when they were elected to prominent leadership positions within their respective states. California Attorney General Kamala Harris became the first black woman elected to the U.S. Senate from the Golden State; Ilhan Omar became the first Somali-American lawmaker in the U.S. with her election to the Minnesota legislature; Catherine Cortez Masto became the first Latina senator in history when she won her U.S. Senate bid in Nevada; and Pramila Jayapal became the first Indian-American congresswoman with her victory in Washington state.

7. Madonna becomes Billboard Woman of the Year

     During the Billboard Women in music awards the icon delivered an emotional speech addressing sexism, misogyny, feminism in the industry by saying….

 "I stand before you as a doormat. Oh, I mean, as a female entertainer. Thank you for acknowledging my ability to continue my career for 34 years in the face of blatant sexism and misogyny and constant bullying and relentless abuse."

 "People were dying of AIDS everywhere. It wasn’t safe to be gay, it wasn’t cool to be associated with the gay community. It was 1979 and New York was a very scary place. In the first year I was held at gunpoint, raped on a rooftop with a knife digging into my throat and I had my apartment broken into and robbed so many times I stopped locking the door. In the years that followed, I lost almost every friend I had to AIDS or drugs or gunshots."

 "In life there is no real safety except for self-belief."

 "I was of course inspired by Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde and Aretha Franklin, but my real muse was David Bowie. He embodied male and female spirit and that suited me just fine. He made me think there were no rules. But I was wrong. There are no rules -- if you're a boy. There are rules if you're a girl,"

 "If you're a girl, you have to play the game. You're allowed to be pretty and cute and sexy. But don’t act too smart. Don’t have an opinion that's out of line with the status quo. You are allowed to be objectified by men and dress like a slut, but don’t own your sluttiness. And do not, I repeat do not, share your own sexual fantasies with the world. Be what men want you to be, but more importantly, be what women feel comfortable with you being around other men. And finally, do not age. Because to age is a sin. You will be criticized and vilified and definitely not played on the radio."

 To read more of Madonna’s Billboard acceptance speech, click here!

6. Leo DiCaprio won his first Oscar

     Fifth time's the charm! After four previous acting nominations — but no wins — at the 1994, 2005, 2007 and 2014 Oscars, the Revenant star finally walked away with a golden statuette at the 2016 ceremony in February. And all he had to do to get it was eat raw bison liver and sleep in animal carcasses in the freezing cold. We'll never let go of the memory of his speech and BFF Kate Winslet's heartwarming reaction. Congrats Leo, you’re no longer Susan Lucci!

5. The Cubs won the World Series!

     Cleveland Indians fans would probably put this one in the "Bad" column, but the 2016 Fall Classic was baseball at its best. After a 108-year championship drought — and a decades-long curse involving a goat — the Cubs made history on November 2 when they beat the Indians in extra innings in game 7 to win the franchise's first World Series title since 1908.

4. Moana breaks Disney barriers!

     Disney introduced its first-ever Polynesian princess in November's Moana, which featured songs by Hamilton visionary Lin-Manuel Miranda and the voices of Auli'i Cravalho and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Though there was some controversy surrounding the film — particularly regarding the portrayal of Johnson's demigod character, Maui — the movie was well-received by both critics and audiences and established Moana herself as one of Disney's strongest female characters.

3. The cast of Hamilton calls out VP Mike Pence!

    On November 18th, the cast of Hamilton had a special guest in the audience. And here was what actor Victor Dixon had to say…

 “You know, we have a guest in the audience this evening, and Vice President-elect Pence, I see you walking out, but I hope you will hear us just a few more moments. There’s nothing to boo here, ladies and gentlemen. There’s nothing to boo here. We’re all here sharing a story of love. We have a message for you, sir. We hope that you will hear us out.”

 “Vice President-elect Pence, we welcome you, and we truly thank you for joining us here at ‘Hamilton: An American Musical.’ We really do. We, sir, we are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us, our planet, our children, our parents, or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights, sir. But we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and work on behalf of all of us. All of us. Again, we truly thank you truly for seeing this show, this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and orientations.”

      Now of course Trumpy got all butthurt and started tweeting like a mad man demanding that the cast apologize and that the theater should be a safe space. Well theater from the beginning was never meant to be safe, so my suggestion is when Hamilton comes to your town, start getting tickets asap!

2. DAPL got shut out of Standing Rock

The announcement to reroute the pipeline should be seen as a win, Cat says, but that represents just one battle in an ongoing war.

"It's a human-rights war as well and requires understanding what it means for those who are part of a marginalized community and what injustices [to them] have done over time," she says.

She says she's come to know some of the Standing Rock Sioux who live in abject poverty and are here fighting the pipeline.

"They gave up everything to be here," she says. "They have nothing but this."

Blaze Starkey, a Lakota educator from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, sees the Army Corp's decision as "a great step toward victory for everyone at Standing Rock and for everybody in the world that cares about living in a just place, in a clean place and in a place where people respect each other and the Earth."

 Read more here.

1. Grandma who texted the wrong teen for Thanksgiving

    And then there was this awesome lady right here!

So now here’s to 2017! Let’s all make it the best year ever! 

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[candycityy]

51. "I'm your husband. It's my job."

<3

Based on @levetras' super old headcanon.

(You can also read this on AO3!)

It's only when Levi strides into the med bay for the third time that week, looking none worse for the wear despite his self-proclaimed "flesh wound", when she finally catches on.

In her defence. The captain has always never been the type to admit to weakness of any kind, injury and sickness being no exception. So when he'd limped into the med bay earlier that week, claiming that he'd fallen off his horse, she'd actually been concerned. And when she'd failed to find any real injury on his person, she'd chalked it up to her own ineptness as a medic; after all, her medical experience extends only to the six months of training she'd gotten at the local medical school before joining the Survey Corps as a teenager.

She'd eventually discharged him, with only the slightest hint of suspicion emerging when the doctor had pronounced him in the pink of health, and he'd left without protest. The suspicion had grown slightly two days later, when he'd come in complaining of a stomachache, but point-blank refused to take any medicine.

"I just need to rest here for a bit," he'd insisted, and spent the rest of the day interrogating her about her pregnancy symptoms and honest-to-goodness taking down notes, quite as diligently as though he were in the middle of an inter-regimental strategy meeting. In fact, maybe more.

"Again?" she asks shrewdly, as her husband flops unconcernedly into his usual bed. "A flesh wound, really, Levi?"

To his credit, he looks at least a little bit abashed when he pulls up his pant leg, revealing nothing more or less than...a grazed knee.

It's so shallow, a toddler could probably walk it off.

"It might be infected," he tries, when Petra just stares at him in speechless incredulity.

"Infected." Her tone is flat and affectless, and she momentarily wonders if she's been spending too much with him.

He shrugs candidly. "You never know. Anyway, I'll be back in action tomorrow. Eld's taking over the cadet training today, no harm done." He swings his supposedly injured leg back over the edge of his bed with an easy grace, cracks open his notebook, and looks at her, suddenly alert. "So. How are you feeling today?"

Honestly. "Who's the medic here?" she demands, swabbing at his not-particularly-injured knee with a kind of aggressive impatience. He doesn't even flinch at the sting of alcohol, just flips through the notebook and mutters something under his breath.

It sounds, suspiciously, like "mood swings". Petra's temper flares.

"You don't have to babysit me, you know," she says, sweeping to her feet imperiously. "I am perfectly capable of handling myself. I'm pregnant, not an invalid, and I'm not even in the field. The cadets that you ditched today—"

"I didn't ditch anyone, I was injured in the line of duty."

"Ditched," she repeats with a ringing finality, "they're most definitely more in danger than I am."

"You never know," he drawls, "the ceiling might cave in on the med bay...there might be an epidemic. Hanji was just predicting one last week, something about bat-borne viruses..."

She pretends not to hear him.

"So, as your doctor," she says, signing off on his medical excuse form with more force than strictly necessary, "I declare you medically fit. Now get off your ass and back—into—the field." She punctuates each word by prodding him, hard, in the forearm, with her index finger.

He catches her hand mid-prod, ignoring her irritated exhale, his thumb brushing the silver ring that sits at her fourth knuckle. When he looks at her, his eyes are uncharacteristically soft, and she feels the indignation drain out of her, despite her best efforts.

Damn this man. She unsuccessfully tries to pull her hand out of his grip—to be fair, she doesn't try very hard—and eventually settles by muttering grumpily, "I can take care of myself. I don't nees to be protected, like some sort of china doll."

"You don't," he agreed. "But I'm your husband. It's my job."

Even after a year of marriage, Levi's words still occasionally have the power to strike her dumb. This is one of those times. She counts to ten in her head, and then leans over to gently rest her forehead against his, their hands still interlaced.

"I know," she murmurs. "And believe me, I'll keep you posted, okay? If I even feel the slightest hint that anything might be wrong. I promise I'll tell you, even if I have to strap 3DMG onto the doctor myself and send him running into the middle of a drill." Her lame attempt at humour is rewarded with a snort and a reluctant quirk of his lips, and she feels a small, pleased thrill.

"Fine. I'll stop ditching." He sighs; his breath is warm on her face. "But you better keep your promise, you brat."

"I will." She smiles at him, sweet as honey. "Now, get your malingering ass back to training before I tell the commander."

Drabble challenge!

[candycityy]

rumour mill (special ops ft. 104th crack with a dollop of rivetra because it's the weekend, why the hell not)

Friendship is a confusing thing.

As such, despite Hanji Zoë's sheer oddness—Levi really doesn't know any other way to put it—he counts her as one of his very, very few friends. At least, inside his head.

It's a friendship that most people don't understand, him least of all. But for what they lack in the conventional features of friendship—things in common, trips to town, et cetera—they make up in one particularly powerful phenomenon: gossip.

"Kirschtein tried to send Ackerman a love letter today," Levi reports, the second they sit down at the officers' table. As expected, Hanji's jaw drops in quite a gratifying manner.

"No," she breathes. "How'd you know?"

The captain allows himself the faintest hint of a smirk. "I caught him hovering outside the women's barracks. Apparently there's some sort of holiday coming up—"

"St. Valentine's Day." The mad scientist nods wisely. "I'm familiar."

"Whatever," Levi snaps. "Anyway, he was just waiting outside there for the longest time, like a creep, clutching an envelope in his hands."

"For how long?"

"Ten minutes. I counted." Hanji lets out a muffled scream of laughter, which garners them a very pointed look from Erwin. Levi glares at her.

She shuts up.

"So, then, I finally go up to him and ask him what the fuck he's up to, and the brat looks like he's about to shit himself." He rolls his eyes. "It took some...persuasion...but he ended up confessing that he was trying to pass something to Ackerman."

"How'd you know it was a love letter, though? It could've been something lame, like a report," Hanji points out. He rolls his eyes.

"Four-Eyes, the envelope was scented. But that's not all."

"No!" Hanji repeats, looking like she's on the verge of passing out with excitement. "Then what happened? Did he end up passing it to her?"

"I was just about to send him off, but then guess who walks right out of the door." A wicked gleam flashes in his eyes. "Jaeger."

"He didn't!"

"He did. And then of course the shitty brat demands to know what he's doing there, and Kirschtein gets all defensive asking what he's doing there, and then Jaeger grabs the letter and reads it and I swear, he yells so loudly I was afraid he was gonna go all titan-mode on Kirschtein's ass."

"And I don't suppose the poor guy stood there and let him read it?"

Levi snorts. "Of course not. Kirschtein ended up in the med bay and Jaeger lost another tooth, but whatever, it's probably grown back already. But look." He nods discreetly at the recruits' table, where the two boys are resolutely glaring off in opposite directions, while Mikasa sits in between, obliviously tucking into her potato stew. "I guess they haven't made up yet, the brats."

"Poor things. Love is hard," Hanji says. She sounds almost sympathetic, and perhaps he'd believe she was, if not for the almost maniacally wide grin on her face.

Levi just sips at his tea and smirks.

==

The new members of the Survey Corps stares at the officers' table, where Captain Levi and Squad Leader Hanji appear be deep in conversation. As they watch, the brunette lets out a peal of laughter, and the ordinarily impassive captain's lips quirk into something that is almost a smile.

There's a collective intake of breath. "You see?" Connie whispers heatedly. "The captain smiled. I told you they had something going on."

"I think it's adorable," Krista goes dreamily. Ymir snorts.

"That's rubbish," she declares. "I don't think Captain Levi is capable of like, a relationship. He's too busy being a scary, frigid bastard."

"Keep your voice down," Eren implores, his eyes darting to the table. "And the captain's actually really nice—he's just, uh, got a strange way of showing it."

"Whatever, Jaeger, we all know you have some sort of hero-worship crush on the captain anyway—"

"I do not!"

"As if Eren would ever," Mikasa sniffs. "As if anyone would ever like that shorty, he's so full of himself—"

"Keep your voice down." Eren looks around nervously. "And I honestly don't think Captain Levi has anything going on with Squad Leader Hanji. In fact, if anything..." He lowers his voice dramatically, and everyone leans in, even Ymir. "I'd suspect he has something on with Ms Petra."

There's a shocked silence. Sasha interrupts it by bursting into laughter. "Petra Ral? The lady in your squad?" she giggles. "You've got to be joking, she's way too nice for him."

"And way too cute," Jean interrupts with a snigger. "Although, at least she's shorter than him, ha—"

"I still think he has something going on with Squad Leader Hanji," Connie says firmly. He grins mischievously. "And if there are any disagreements...well, anyone care to settle it with a bet?"

==

"Guys," Eld announces, striding into the room and grinning like he's just won the lottery, "you'll never believe what I overheard at dinner."

Petra yawns. Gunther shrugs. "Don't know, don't care," Auruo goes, wincing as he stretches in his chair. "Training was a bitch today, I just wanna get to bed."

"Well, you'll reconsider when you hear this." The squad's second-in-command leans forward, his eyes gleaming. "The captain and Squad Leader Hanji have something going on."

For a moment, no-one moves.

"Wow." Auruo stares at him with awe. "Did you take a hit on the head with a tree branch this morning or something?"

"Even if it was true, you've some nerve telling us." Gunther rolls his eyes in amused disbelief. "The captain could walk in any minute, you know."

"I'm keeping a lookout," Eld insists. "But it's true! I overheard the kids talking about it, and you know that Captain Levi spends almost all his time with them these days, them and the Jaeger brat. They must've seen or heard something."

"If the captain was dating anyone, Petra'd be the first to know," Gunther points out wisely, and turns to their sole female squadmate, and Captain Levi's alleged favourite "Right, Pet...?"

He trails off when he catches sight of the look on the woman's face. Her usually sunny demeanour has been replaced by something pale, stony-faced, and all in all quite terrifying.

There's an awkward silence. "Petra?" Eld ventures. "Is it...is it true then? About the captain dating—"

"Dating who, now?"

Everyone except Petra leaps to their feet instantly, their eagerness quelling to a deer-in-headlights guilt as the man in question stalks through the doors, as silently and with rather the same, threatening air of a predator cornering its prey.

"Eld, you ass," Gunther mutters out of the side of his mouth at the failed lookout.

Auruo, on the other hand, glances sideways at Petra, who remains seated, the strange, cold fury still on her face, her fists clenched at her sides. "What are you doing?" he hisses. "Get up."

She ignores him. "Captain," she says instead, her voice frighteningly calm, "Eld was just talking about a rumour he'd heard."

The man laughs nervously. "Petra," he mutters through a forced smile, "I don't think the captain needs to hear about this."

She continues on, as though she hadn't heard him. "Apparently," she says, her words taking on a note so decidedly threatening that even Humanity's Strongest soldier starts looking slightly nervous, "you're dating Squad Leader Hanji. Is that true, sir?"

The last word hangs in the air, like a warning. The captain blinks.

And makes a sound low in his throat that sounds almost, incredibly, like a muffled snort.

For some reason, Petra seems to take offense at it. She shoves her chair back, sends him one last look of absolute loathing (the boys suck in bated breaths at that), and flounces out of the room, slamming the door bodily behind her.

No-one says anything. The captain's expression doesn't shift a centimetre.

"...uh, sir?" Gunther finally ventures, after a full thirty seconds of silence. "Are you...all right?"

The question seems to snap him out of his reverie. He rounds on Eld, even as his face remains a mask of deadly calm.

"Where," he asks icily, "did you hear that?"

"The kids," Eld confesses after a moment's hesitation.

Captain Levi mutters a curse under his breath.

==

Several fingers point, at once, to Connie Springer.

He sputters, looking around wildly at the traitors. "It wasn't just me!" he cries, and glares accusingly at his comrades. "Krista, you agreed, too!"

Ymir steps protectively in front of the blonde girl. "Don't you pin this on her," she snarls.

"Well, she did," Mikasa says, as deadpan as ever. "So? What's this about? Is it true, sir?" The recruits turn a shade paler at her blunt remark. Eren elbows her in the side, and yelps as his arm collides with what seems to be a wall of solid muscle.

Levi glares at the lot of them. "You shitty brats really don't have a brain cell between the lot of you, do you," he barks. "I've never heard anything so stupid in my life."

"If I may, sir," Mikasa goes smoothly, even as Sasha hisses at her to shut up already, "if it was rubbish anyway, why waste your time coming after us? Gossip isn't exactly a subject worth your attention.

"Yes, captain," another voice comes snidely from behind him. It's Petra, arms folded and glaring daggers, lips twisted in a frown that looks quite out of place on her ordinarily cheerful face. "Why bother?"

Eren's eyes widen, darting rapidly from the captain to his pissed-off subordinate. A look of gleeful understanding dawns on his face.

"Oh," he breathes. "Ms Petra, you're dating the captain, aren't you?"

There's an awkward silence. "None of your business," Levi snaps, just as Petra replies, "No."

The captain turns to her, incredulously. "No?"

"Did I say something wrong, sir?" she drawls. They glare at each other in a silent argument that goes on for a few heated moments, before Levi finally looks away.

"Fine," he growls. "I'm not with Four-Eyes. I'm...I'm with Ral here. And no-one outside this room needs to hear a fucking word of this, understand?"

"Yes, sir!" the recruits chorus in unison, thumping their fists over their hearts with suppressed grins. Out of the corner of his eye, he notices Connie Springer and Sasha Braus discreetly exchange coins.

He decides to ignore this.

"Anything else?" he asks, folding his arms and turning his best glare on them.

Nobody dares to move. At least, until Eren raises a tentative hand.

"If it helps," he volunteers, "I betted on you, Ms Petra."

Petra doesn't smile. "Thank you, Eren."

==

"Captain!" Eld exclaims, bursting into the room two days later. "Is it true that you and Pet—"

"Fucking hell."

[candycityy]

Hii, Candy! For the Drabble Challenge, 12 and 19 😊

(You can also read this on AO3!)

Newlywed bliss, Levi decides, is sort of like a bubble. Or a vacuum, pick your metaphor.

You get so caught up in the sheer wonder of the whole situation, of shared touches and delirious smiles and and waking up with the love of your life sprawled unglamourously beside you, open-mouthed and drooling and just thoroughly adorable, and your heart swells and you can't think and you forget that the world hasn't stopped spinning on its axis for you and you alone.

In other words, Levi pleads insanity.

So when Petra walks into the drawing room one day with a frozen look on her face, one that's equal parts terror and bewilderment and something else that he can't quite discern, he doesn't know what to think. And then she says it.

"Levi," she says, "I'm pregnant."

Just two words, and his world is upended. He think Petra says something after, but he doesn't hear her; blood roars in his ears, his breath is stuck in his throat, and for the first time in his life, he finds himself shocked into utter silence.

And he realises, that third emotion in her face that he hadn't recognised earlier: it's happiness. A wild, fierce joy, a bewildered and terrified joy, but a joy nonetheless.

His head spins, and he feels, incomprehensibly, the urge to lie down. "Pregnant," he echoes. His voice is hoarse, ragged. "Petra, that's..."

He trails off. He doesn't know what to say. Incredible? Ridiculous? Impossible? Petra seems to recognise the tumult in his thoughts, though, because her expression shifts into a kind of defensive stubborness. As if by instinct, her arms curl over her still-flat abdomen, protective.

"Look," she begins, "I know we hadn't planned on this so early, but if you're thinking of—"

"No," he says. His voice is harsh, decisive, and he takes a small step towards her. "I'm not. Petra, I'm sorry, I was just...surprised. I wouldn't...ask you to hurt it. I would never."

She swallows. Her gaze searching, tentative. "Then...you're okay? You're not mad? Or upset?"

"I don't know how I feel," he says honestly. "I don't know shit about being a parent. Maybe I'll screw it all up, I don't know that either. And I'll be real, this is fucking terrifying." Petra laughs. The sound is like broken glass.

"But," he takes a step towards her, "I know I'll try my damned hardest to protect it. Give it a good life. I mean..." His eyes never move away from her stomach. "It's our baby."

His voice cracks on the two words, and that's all she needs. She almost falls into him, sobbing and laughing all at the same time. "Levi, I'm so scared," she whispers. She sounds dreamy, incredulous; enchanted. "A baby. We made a baby."

Levi's never been sure of anything; his life has been a maze of choice, of possibilities, of maybes and what-ifs. But as he stares down at Petra, her arms still wrapped around her middle, he feels a surge of something fierce and unfamiliar in his chest, something almost painful in its acuteness, and he knows, without a doubt: he would die for this stirring of life that drifts, still blind to the world, in his wife's womb.

==

The first time he tells someone, it's entirely by accident.

They're all hanging out in the lounge, like most nights; they haven't told Erwin, and Petra reckons it's better to wait a little, just in case. Eld and Auruo are bickering away as usual, and somehow, the topic turns to one of their colleagues, who recently put in a request to switch to the Garrison after his wife became pregnant.

"I mean, I get why," Eld says, his lip curling, "I just don't get how. Sitting around on the walls, getting drunk and playing cards all day...I'll never understand."

"Your fiancée might like that, though, wouldn't she," Auruo taunts. The other man rolls his eyes.

"Aria knows I'll never leave the Survey Corps. I plan to live till the ripe old age of seventy and die in a blaze of glory as Supreme Commander, thank you very much."

"Supreme Commander isn't even a title, you ass," Gunther goes from across the room, looking up from his book. "But pregnancy...that's a whole lot of responsibility, isn't it? How do you just go off and risk your life every day, with a kid waiting at home for you?"

Levi's stomach churns suddenly, his dinner threatening to make a reappearance, and his face suddenly feels very hot. He fights to keep his expression carefully blank, but Petra's eyes catch his, narrowing with concern.

"And that's how you ruin a life. Congratulations," Auruo concludes wisely.

"Hey," Petra retorts sharply, "that's not true. Being a dad doesn't mean your life ends, you know. You can still be a soldier, and fight, and everything."

Auruo leers at her. "It's different for you, Pet. Mothers have options...but fathers, they gotta provide for their families, woman. Dying...leaving your wife and kid to fend for themselves...it's not done." Eld and Gunther nod agreement, and Petra makes a face, muttering something under her breath that sounds suspiciously like, 'sexist cows'.

Levi doesn't know what possesses him in that instant. His throat is dry, and he's so lightheaded he feels numb, almost disembodied. He stands up abruptly, and announces, "Petra and I are expecting."

The silence that follows is palpable, thick enough to choke on. He can feel Petra's eyes as Auruo begins to sputter apologies and retractions—"I only meant—but of course, you wouldn't die and leave your kid alone, captain! You're humanity's strongest, after all! You'd never..."

He's still stammering away when Levi turns on his heel without a word, and walks out of the room.

==

The candle in his room has melted into a stump of wax when Petra finds him, later that night.

"Hey," she says softly. She's changed into her nightgown, and her hair, still damp from the showers, tumbles into the hollow of her collarbone. In the dim light of the candle, she looks pale and fragile; hollowed cheekbones, shadowed eyes.

Something deep in his chest wrenches, and he opens his mouth, only to find that no words come out. But she seems to understand his expression; of course she does, she always does.

She walks over to the window, where he stands, staring out of the window, and wraps her arms around his back. They're so nearly the same height that it's a comfortable position for them, her face pressed into his shoulder, her hair brushing the curve of his cheek. They stay there for a few moments in a comfortable silence, just relishing in the wordless companionship.

Petra isn't a patient person by nature. But by now, she knows him; knows how the thoughts whirl insistently in his mind at the height of his emotion, unwilling to settle into the dust. So she waits, her warm breath reassuring on his neck, her heartbeat strong against his back.

He finally exhales. "Do you think they were right?" he asks. The words sound unnaturally loud in the silence of the night. When she doesn't reply immediately, he goes on, "I could...you know. I could join the Garrison, too, or the Military Police. Or leave the military. I could do other things. Erwin would understand, he'd help—"

"No." The word cuts through the room. Gently but firmly, Petra turns him around to face her. The moonlight casts her in silver, turning her into something luminous, ethereal—almost otherworldly.

"Levi, I love you more than anything in this stupid world." Her expression is fierce, intent. "And I won't let you do that. You belong here, in the Survey Corps. And I do, too."

"But just say—"

"I'm not fragile, Levi," she shoots back, her eyes burning with a familiar fire. "Sure, maybe I'm not strong the way you are, but I'm strong enough. I'm not saying I'd be okay if you died—of course I wouldn't—but I'd survive, and I'd keep our child alive, too. And I believe you'd do the same."

Something breaks in him, then, like the shattering of a glass, and he looks up. Petra is glaring at him with those burning eyes, and in that moment, she's so alive and beautiful, the love of his life, the mother of his unborn child. The realisation makes him stagger. He's never felt so complete; he's never had so much to lose.

Feeling as though the weight of the world sits on his shoulders, he nods.

Petra's answering smile is a promise, golden and honeyed and full of light. She draws him in tighter.

"Trust me," she whispers. Her presence is warm, solid, comforting. "Everything will be all right."

Drabble challenge!

[candycityy]

Ooh rivetra and 20 or 76 (or both if you want to ;)) for the Drabble prompts pleeeease 🧡🖤

Note: I did both because what can I say, I love a challenge, hehehe. I hope you like it!

References this earlier drabble.

(You can also read this on AO3!)

So here's the thing, right. For all his flaws—and he does have flaws, no matter what the fawning masses think—Levi isn't stupid.

Sure, he's not probably not cut out for the rarefied, upper-crust intelligentsia that Erwin Smith moves in. And sure, certain idiots of the variety of Hanji Zoë might swear on their dying breaths that he's all brawn and no brain, et cetera, but the truth is, he's got enough street smarts and common sense that most people conveniently overlook his awful social skills.

And that means that contrary to popular belief, Levi doesn't totally suck at social events. The Sina elite tend to misread his frosty bluntness and lack of etiquette as a refreshing, man-on-the-street brand of humour. Which, well, whatever works, he supposes.

Unfortunately, as a matter of consequence, that means that even with a hyperactive three-year old at home, Erwin had point-blank refused to let him off for this year's Midwinter Ball. He'd given him leave for the past few since Ava was still far too young to be left alone at home, but judging by the commander's expression, he's just about exhausted his excuses.

"You know the state of our finances, Levi," he'd said, cerulean eyes earnest and entreating. "We need every coin we can get. And, well, you're always quite popular at these balls, being humanity's strongest and all—not accounting for taste, of course—"

"Oi!"

The commander'd smirked, but his expression had faded back to solemnity quickly enough. "We need you there, Levi. I won't make it an order, but consider it...a personal request. Please?"

Levi'd grumbled under his breath. "Whatever. I'll go, I'll go, just stop looking at me like that," he'd barked.

Erwin had smiled. "I knew I could count on you, Levi."

Cut to the present. It's just past six o'clock, the winter sky only now beginning to darken into a somewhat forbidding shade of violet-grey. He's already dressed in his standard black suit, pacing back and forth the small living room, his eyes darting to the clock every few seconds.

Petra, who's in the midst of removing the curlers from her hair, shoots him an irritated look. "Would you calm down," she hisses, "you're driving me crazy. And Ava's going to pick up on it too, you know."

They both glance at their daughter, who's serenely colouring in a picture in crayon at the other end of the room. The three-year-old is Petra in miniature, from her wide eyes right down to her peaches-and-cream complexion. With just one exception: her hair is just a touch darker than her mother's: more cinnamon than honey.

Levi runs a hand through his hair. "Why aren't they here yet?" he says, for the third time that night.

"Because we told them to come at half past," Petra replies, with somewhat less patience than she'd ordinarily have. "Now get over here and help me do up my necklace, would you."

The metal is cold to the touch, but Petra just smiles softly as he clasps the necklace behind her neck with deft fingers. "Remember our first Midwinter Ball?" she reminisces. "That was pretty fun, wasn't it?"

"Fun for you, maybe," Levi says drily. "I was busy dragging Auruo off the dance floor after he puked and blacked out, remember?"

She giggles. "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that part. But still, that was when we danced together for the first time." They fall into a comfortable, nostalgic silence, and finally, he sighs.

"I still don't like leaving her alone," he mutters.

"It's hardly the first time," Petra says gently.

"I know, but it's the first time we'll be so far from her. And for so long, too—a whole night." His eyes turn contemplative. "Maybe I could just ride back, after the ball—if the weather isn't bad—"

"Don't even think about it," she says sharply. "The roads aren't safe this time of year, especially not so late at night, there's too much ice. We'll be back in the morning, Levi. Don't worry so much."

He snorts. "Easier said than done. Why aren't they here yet?" he asks again. This time, Petra ignores him, instead turning back to the mirror and carefully applying lipstick with a practiced hand.

After the final step—dusting her cheeks with rose-tinted powder—she rises to her feet, doing a slow turn in her gown, a sleek, champagne-coloured affair with a fitted bodice and fluted sleeves, cut out of satin and embellished with tiny buttons down the front. Her delicately curled hair falls in soft waves to her collarbone, just brushing the front of her dress.

"What do you think?" she goes. Oblivious to his sullen silence, she juts out a hip and flutters her lashes at him coquettishly, an action which earns her an eye-roll.

"You're going to make everyone stare," he grumbles. She giggles.

"I have to keep your fangirls away, now don't I?" she teases, with a toss of her head. He's about to issue a retort when a knock comes at the door.

"Right on time, as usual," Petra declares. Levi just scowls.

He'd had been reluctant to get them back after the first disastrous incident, but Petra had insisted that they'd done a good job—"after all, Ava was perfectly fine, wasn't she?" As a result, Eren and Jean have become their go-to babysitters ever since. Levi's loath to admit it, but their daughter has warmed up to them. She's already toddling over to the door with a ready beam on her face, as the boys troop in through the door, faces flushed with the cold.

"Eren nii-chan! Jean nii-chan!" she chirps, plump arms outstretched. "Pick me up, pleaaaase?"

Eren breaks into a grin and obliges. His terror of Levi has subsided somewhat, although he still occasionally trips over his feet whenever he walks past, but he openly adores the toddler. Jean's a bit more reserved, but as Ava begins to babble cheerfully, his expression noticeably softens—even though he claims he's not a fan of babies, Levi suspects that he's secretly just as enamoured with Ava as his comrade is.

Of course, that only makes sense, considering that as far as Levi is concerned, Ava Ackerman is the cutest fucking baby on the planet.

Outside the door, there's the distant sound of approaching hooves pounding against cobblestone. Sensing a farewell, Petra sighs and leans over to give Ava one last hug, as Levi presses a gentle kiss to his daughter's cheek.

"We'll better be off," she says reluctantly. "Boys, thank you so much for taking care of Ava tonight. If anything goes wrong, you know what to do."

All four adults exchange grim, silent glances; they know what's coming next. Levi picks up his coat and shrugs it on. Petra wraps a scarf around her neck.

And with a sigh, they push the door open, and wait.

Three, two—

"Nooooo!"

Ava lets out a ear-splitting shriek, one that seems far too loud to come from such a small baby. Her eyes well up with anxious tears as she comes to the awful realisation that her parents are leaving without her, and she struggles desperately towards them, her face screwed-up and flushed with fury, as Eren doggedly tries to keep her from wriggling out of his arms. Beside him, Jean attempts in vain to ply her with sweets and toys, but she won't be soothed or distracted.

"No, no, no!" Ava wails. Her tiny fists pummel Eren's shoulder, who, to his credit, doesn't flinch, just hefts her up resignedly. "No go, no go! Stay!"

Petra sends him a warning look. And even as every atom of his body rebels against the thought of it...

Levi steps over the threshold, and into the wintry night air.

==

"Levi," Petra says patiently, "you're fidgeting."

She places a hand on his thigh, which, apparently, he'd been subconsciously jiggling all this while. Calming Ava down had taken about ten whole minutes, but Eren and Jean had finally managed to distract her with a game of hide-and-seek—her new favourite—and they'd quietly snuck onto the carriage before she could realise their trick.

They're barely more than a mile from home, but already being away from Ava feels like a piercing, physical pain in the front of his skull, a palpable anxiety that refuses to fade. Even Petra's presence, usually so comforting, doesn't soothe him in the slightest.

"Sorry," he mutters. "It's just—it's fucking terrifying, being a parent." His wife touches his cheek in silent commiseration, and they both sit in silence.

It's as perfect a night as it could ever be, in all honesty. The moon is full and bright, its silvery light beaming helpfully onto their path. The road is almost deserted this evening—Levi supposes most people would rather be safely tucked in the warmth of their homes, celebrating the holiday season with their own families instead of with dozens of expensively-attired strangers.

Fuck it all. Sensing his blood pressure rising, he takes a deep breath. The air is cool and dry and calming. Turning to stare out at the window, he listens to the rhythmic clickity-clack of the horses' hooves, their huffed pants of exertion, the metallic whine of the wheels—

Levi frowns. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Petra starts to ask, and then stills—this time, she'd heard it too. That high-pitched, bell-like sound, that sounds disturbingly like...

She swallows. "D-did you just make that noise?"

He stares at her drily. "I don't think my vocal chords could physically manage that."

"You don't think..." Her jaw drops, and she almost leaps towards the driver's seat in her urgency, startling the poor old man. "Excuse me! Stop the carriage, please!"

The horses have barely come to a halt when Levi disembarks from the carriage in one swift, fluid movement. He strides towards the back of the carriage, where, he knows, there's a small compartment built in, just large enough for their overnight bags and gear.

As well as—perhaps—a three-year-old toddler, if she were crouching quite close to the floor. Like, for instance, in a game of hide-and-seek.

His expression is grim as he tugs open the lid of the compartment. Behind him, Petra looks frozen, her face a mixture of trepidation and incredulity and just the tiniest hint of amusement.

The lid comes loose. "Daddy!" their irrepressible daughter exclaims, springing out of her crouching position. She giggles again, that familiar high-pitched, bell-like sound almost unnaturally loud in the silence of the night. "Mama! Ava came along!"

For a second, both parents are struck speechless as they stare at their cheerful stowaway in wordless horror.

Finally, Petra opens her mouth to speak.

"You don't say," she deadpans.

==

By the time they reach Sina, the ball has already started.

Of course, considering how they had to turn back around (much to the chagrin of the carriage-driver), tuck Ava very firmly into bed (it goes easier this time, considering how exhausted she is from the very dramatic game of hide-and-seek), reassure a terrified Eren and Jean that they're not mad (although Levi still isn't sure, to be honest), and allow them to resume sentry duty before leaving, he figures they actually made pretty good time.

Other than the very pointed, self-righteous look the doorman shoots them as they stumble into the hall, they manage to blend into the crowd with relative ease. They quickly touch base with the rest of the squad and collect two well-deserved flutes of wine before searching for Erwin, if only to reassure him that they did, in fact, come.

The commander is, of course, easy enough to spot, what with his stature and all. And although he initially looks mildly disapproving, his expression quickly turns wry once he hears the tale.

"That's quite a story," he says, nodding politely at a passing noblewoman, who blushes alluringly and bats her eyes. "Although, I suppose I should be glad you turned up at all, considering."

Petra giggles. "Touché. Although, maybe next year, we can bring her along. Wouldn't that be adorable?"

"Over my dead body," Levi says flatly. "But maybe next year, you'll let me stay home, Erwin."

The blonde man sighs and casts his eyes skyward. Around them, the party thrums cheerfully, soldiers mingling with nobles, careful words and casual touches exchanged over good dance and better drink. But although the atmosphere is thick with holiday cheer and inebriation, the commander seems wearily immune. "Maybe next year, I'll finally resign."

Levi snorts and lifts his wine-glass. "I'll toast to that."

Drabble challenge!

[candycityy]

RIVETRA AND 51.

Note: Hey anon! I already did 51, you can check it out here <3 But in the similar spirit of husband!levi, I did 63 instead ("Can you just man up and change his diaper?"). I hope you enjoy it still!

(You can also read this on AO3!)

Petra Ral, without a doubt, is the person he trusts most on the planet. From subordinate, to comrade, to lover, and finally, wife, she has always demonstrated nothing more or less than an unerring sense of judgment.

This trait, of course, is what made her the most reliable person on his squad back in the day, and what allows him to entrust his life—and the life of his daughter—to her.

But. Still.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" Levi asks, for the fourth time that night. His wife doesn't even bother with an exasperated glare this time, just idly turns the page of her book. "And why won't you tell me who you got to babysit? I swear, Petra, if it's Hanji—"

"It's not Hanji, relax," she says lightly, tucking a neatly curled lock of hair behind her ear. "And yes, I'm sure. We haven't had a date night in ages. I think I've forgotten what it's like to actually do an activity that doesn't involve crayons or nursery rhymes."

"But if you'd just tell me—"

"No, Levi." She stands up and smooths down the fabric of her dress—a silky, knee-length sheath the colour of honey. He's seen her in it before, but it still makes his breath catch in his throat; although, to be fair, it's been a while since he'd seen her in something other than a t-shirt and sweatpants.

She glances at the clock, and then at the cot, where Ava is still dozing peacefully—for now, anyway. "They should be here any second."

"They?" he's about to say, when two hesitant knocks come at the door. He starts to get up, but Petra shoots him a warning look and sweeps towards the door. He sits back down.

"Boys, thank you so much for agreeing to babysit today." Petra beams down at their guests, her voice like melted sugar. "Come in." Levi glances up just in time to see...of all people, Eren Jaeger and Jean Kirschtein, wearing twin expressions of wariness.

Oh fuck no.

The words are out of his mouth before he can stop himself. "Petra, you're not serious. Jaeger and Kirschtein? You might at least have tried for one of the girls."

"Mikasa wouldn't come," Eren says helpfully, and then blushes, looking a bit awkward. "She has...uh, a bit of a grudge against the captain still, I think."

"Historia was busy, and I don't think you'd want Sasha anyway, sir." Jean, who's crisply attired in his military wear for whatever reason, looks mildly offended at Levi's brusque comment.

Levi tries to be polite.

"It's nothing personal. It's just that the pair of you don't have any experience with infants," he says, attempting to rearrange his features into that calm, reassuring expression Erwin makes whenever he's faced with agitated civilians.

Judging by their faces, he's still pretty far off the mark.

"Actually," Petra intervenes, "they do. Well, Eren does." She shoots him another warm, cinnamon-sweet smile, and he blushes again. "He said he used to babysit the neighbour's toddler with Mikasa. And Jean...well, it was between him and Connie." When the teenager chafes at the comparison, she adds hastily, "and he's always been perfectly responsible and conscientious, hasn't he?"

"We can handle one infant, sir," Eren pipes up. His face is a picture of anxious enthusiasm, reminding Levi sharply and uncomfortably of a particularly eager-to-please puppy.

"I mean, we kill Titans with no problem, and they're a heck lot more troublesome than a baby, I would think," Jean adds, casting a skeptical look over at the still-silent cot.

"You would think," Levi mutters darkly, and is about to put his foot down, no, absolutely, not, when Petra firmly loops her arm through his and begins to steer him towards the exit.

"See? Everything's fine. We'll see you in a couple of hours, boys! Thanks for doing this again!" she chirps, and frog-marches him out of the door.

"Bye, captain! Bye, Ms. Petra!" Eren calls cheerfully, waving. Levi turns (with some difficulty, considering his wife's very firm grip) to glare at him.

"She's a Mrs. now, you brat," he manages to snarl before the door slams shuts in his face.

==

Despite everything, they have a nice date.

It takes about four glasses of wine and a threat of bodily harm from Petra before he finally stops fretting about Ava—but, truth be told, the rest of the night goes as well as it possibly could have, considering.

"See, didn't you have fun?" Petra teases. There's a blush high in her cheeks from the cold and the wine, and with his thick coat wrapped around her slight figure, Levi figures she looks pretty damn adorable.

He grunts in reluctant assent, feeling unusually relaxed. It's been a long time since it was just the two of them, after all, and he's almost forgotten what it feels like without the constant stress of being responsible for a very small, very fragile human being who he loves with such fierceness that sometimes he feels as though his chest will burst.

He's still revelling in the niceness of it all—the cool night air, Petra's small hand in his—as they walk up to the door of their house. He's seriously contemplating if he should actually get Jaeger and Kirschtein something nice for their trouble—maybe a day off or something, he doesn't know—when he hears a sound that makes him freeze in his tracks.

Next to him, Petra stiffens. The sound fades momentarily, only to re-emerge with a vengeance, and there's no mistaking it: it's a scream.

Levi doesn't remember sprinting to the door and wrenching it open, his heart pumping so fast he can barely breath and Petra hot in his wake, but he supposes he does at some point because in a matter of seconds he's in the house, staring straight into the face of absolute chaos.

The living room is littered with toys and scattered pillows and, for some reason, a lone shoe. The stove is smouldering in a vaguely menacing manner, heavy smoke rising from the burnt remains of something completely unrecognisable. Meanwhile, their beloved daughter crawls quite cheerfully across the floor, beelining for Jean, who's slowly inching away on the ground, his face screwed up with equal parts terror and disgust. A familiar stink wafts through the room, and Levi instinctively wrinkles his nose.

And the perpetrator of the scream: Eren Jaeger, who's hunched over the basin, scrabbling blindly at the trickle of water from the tap, feverishly attempting to wash what appears to be spit-up out of his eyes.

Clearly, none of them have yet noticed their arrival.

"HORSE FACE, CAN YOU JUST MAN UP AND CHANGE HER DIAPER?" he shrieks across the room, his voice coming out noticeably higher than usual.

"WHY CAN'T YOU DO IT?" his comrade yells back, his eyes not moving from the effervescent infant, who giggles at the sound of all the shouting.

Behind him, Petra stifles a laugh.

"BECAUSE THANKS TO YOUR SHITTY BURP TECHNIQUE, I'M NOW BLIND, YOU—" The teenager proceeds to cuss him out quite colourfully, and Levi chooses that moment to intervene.

"What," he goes, lowly, "in the living fuck do you think you're doing?"

The effect is instantaneous, like the firing of a gun. Both boys instantly scramble to their feet and thump their fists to their chests in salute (Eren still blinking furiously).

Petra just giggles and strides across the hall to Ava, who's now babbling happily at the arrival of her parents. "Thanks for babysitting, boys," she goes, taking a cautious whiff of the baby's diapers and reeling at the smell. "Whew. I'll take care of this. Levi, be nice," she warns, before hoisting their daughter onto her hip and strolling away.

He can't help but notice there's a little amused bounce in her step, and his glower darkens.

"Captain—" Eren begins, but Levi lifts up a hand.

"I don't even wanna hear it," he barks. "You—for fuck's sake, go wash your face in the bathroom, the water flow is better there. And you..." he rounds on Jean, who gulps nervously. "You're dismissed. Just...go. Bye."

The boys slump over, looking at him with the big sad puppy eyes (although the effect of Eren's is somewhat diminished by his pained squint). And maybe it's the wine, maybe age or marriage or parenthood has made him soft, but he adds, with utmost reluctance, "Wait. Uh...thanks." He clears his throat. "Take a day off next week. If you want."

It takes a while for them to realise that it isn't a trap of some sorts (seriously, he doesn't get it; why do cadets always think the worst of him?), but eventually, he manages to shoo them off with wide eyes and thank-yous and maybe some mild trauma on Jean's part, but hey, this is the Survey Corps, after all. When he goes back to their bedroom, he finds Petra waiting for him, Ava sleeping peacefully in her arms, a mischievous, smug grin on her face.

"Don't even say it," he snaps.

Drabble challenge!

[candycityy]

—modern!moving-in-together eremika fluff. because fluff is good for the spirit, okay. based on a prompt by @creativepromptsforwriting.

So, here's the thing: Mikasa knows what people say behind her back.

They say she's obsessed with Eren, and fine, maybe she is. Whatever, it'd worked, even though it'd taken about half a decade longer than she'd liked. And they're together now, aren't they? Engaged. Moving into a place of their own. Everything should be perfect.

Everything is perfect.

She repeats it to herself, like a mantra. Even when Eren appears in front of her out of nowhere—like a particularly annoying ghost, she thinks unkindly—right before she can move the nightstand she's carrying to their new room.

She has to bite her lip to stop herself cursing loudly.

"Mikasa," he goes, and she wonders to herself when exactly he'd started sounding quite so much like his mother. "Mikasa, you can't put the nightstand in there."

Deep breath. "Why not?" She hefts the piece of furniture in her arms pointedly.

"It's bad for the feng shui."

"Feng what?" He seems to miss the note of danger in her voice. Because of course he does.

"I consulted an expert," he explains. "I know it's more of a Chinese concept, but the Azumabitos recommended him very strongly—"

"Eren." She shuts her eyes, trying to fend off the beginnings of a headache that's forming rapidly at her forehead, and resists the urge to dump the nightstand right on his shoes. "I. Don't. Care."

Eren frowns. "But—"

"Eren I am carrying ninety pounds of mahogany right now and I swear if you don't let me put this down here right now it's going in the damn toilet." The words come out through gritted teeth, and her annoyance is so evident that even her ever-oblivious fiancé takes a step back.

Taking advantage of his hesitation, she marches straight into the bedroom and sets it down, less rather gently than she would usually have. It makes an obligingly loud thunk as it hits the floor, and Mikasa wonders savagely how much good a dent in the shiny new parquet would do for the damn feng shui.

Eren's wearing that expression, the half-bewildered, half-wary one that's usually reserved strictly for her rare period tantrums. "Mikasa," he ventures, tentatively, "are you all right?"

Before they'd started dating, she'd shake her head no and smile, accommodating as always. But the years seem to have balanced them out somewhat, mellowing his temper and—unfortunately—quickening hers.

Although. In her defense. No-one could survive in a romantic relationship with Eren Jaeger for very long while remaining all reserved and sweet.

But looking at his face, all innocent confusion and sea-green eyes, Mikasa can't help but feel the temper drain from her, replaced by a feeling of distinct sulkiness.

"No," she grumbles, and slumps into an out-of-place rocking chair. "I'm tired and stressed out and you're being excessively picky about everything. Since when did you care about feng shui, anyway?"

Eren chooses that moment to look vaguely sheepish. "I don't. I, um—I just thought...the Azumabitos might like it. They're your family, and, uh." His gaze drops to the floor. "I don't want them to hate me."

His cheeks colour in a manner that Mikasa can only call endearing, and she can almost feel herself melting, those familiar, stupid butterflies fluttering in her abdomen.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," she informs him. He's about to protest, his brow knitting in indignation, when she throws her arms around him and pulls him into a rib-bruising hug.

"You're stupid," she murmurs into his ear. "I don't care what the Azumabitos think of you. I love you, no matter what, idiot."

It's a few moments before Eren responds, but he does, his hands settling gently at the small of her back. Still so tentative and careful, after all these years. The thought makes her smile into his chest.

When they finally pull apart, Eren offers her a tiny grin. "So...we can do this however we want? You're sure? No family input required?"

"Nope." She presses a chaste kiss to his cheek.

"Not even Levi?"

Mikasa shudders slightly at thought of what her annoying cousin might do if he knew their flat was anything less than perfectly sanitary.

"Well," she says, somewhat grudgingly, "we should probably try to keep it clean. If only so he doesn't bully you into doing anything stupid—you really shouldn't let him scare you so much, you know—"

"Have you met the man?" Eren goes defensively, but there's a sparkle in his eye as he says it. His arm finds it way across her shoulders, and she leans in to him, feeling blissfully contented. At least for now, everything really is perfect.

"Hey, Mikasa?" His breath is warm, tickling her ear. She smiles dreamily.

"Yeah?"

"Can we at least put the nightstand in the south side of the—"

"Oh my gosh."